Aati Kya Khandala Part 3

We decided to push off and within next five minutes touched the Bushi Dam. If you are imagining Bushi Dam to be some sort of huge mass of concrete, spread across acres of land from which tones of water oozes down, then as George Bush would have said it, makes no mistake about it, what we had was something drastically opposite. I am still not sure, what we saw was the complete Bushi dam or just part of it but whatever it was , it lived up to its name. A dam hidden in bushes.

As soon as we braked at the base of the dam ,we were surrounded by mass of humanity offering us to take care of our bikes, shoes, helmets and parking space on simple request to have the wada paav and chai on their tea stalls after we came back from our trek to the dam. We parked the vehicles on the roadside in free parking and proceeded towards the climb. Before you can reach Bushi Dam there is a pool of water which you have to cross on feet before you can reach the base of the dam. We folded our trousers, picked up the shoes in our hands and started to walk through the water. It was slippery and cold but we managed to cross it without any acrobatic falls. PNL was questioned on why he didn’t went for the under water photography in the pool. May be PNL camera didn’t supported it, other wise I am sure that photo freak would have done that also and we would be obliging him striking mermaid poses in the water.

We climbed the slippery rocks and reach the top of the dam. There were Tea stalls all around but surprisingly no one inside them. The dam was filled up to the top. It was like looking into the glass filled with water standing on the Brim of the glass. We literally saved our photo man from taking dive into the water as he stood like his favorite mallu hero Mohanlal on the topmost grill of the dam for what else but a photo pose.

The next halt was to be the trek towards the waterfall. We trekked on the slippery rocks, made more dangerous because of ongoing rains. Higu was crying his BGB’s once again as we finally stopped at the base of the waterfall. I decided to lie near the stream as AJ, Higu and PNL went around nature gazing. Lying near the stream and gazing aimless at the monsoon clouds was one great feeling I experienced after many years. Trust me, there could be nothing as soothing as the feeling of staring with empty minds at the sky above

I was suddenly awaken from my peaceful slumber by loud splashing sound of water and when I saw on my left towards the stream , I saw another dam being constructed in the stream . Well, there was a wrestler straight out of WWF arena, bare bodied deciding to take a dip in the minuscule stream. He lied horizontal to the stream blocking the force of gushing water through the sheer strength of his body mass.

By the time, all the three guys hard returned and I saw Higu and PNL discussing something very seriously. I thought some change in plans in our route might be underway and when I reached closer I knew my guess was correct. PNL and Higu had spotted two beautiful ladies, who had come along with their families to the waterfall and both of them were now discussing how the things would take shape, in case their parents decided to give the hands of their daughters to these two John Abrahams. They had agreed upon who will have which lady as their life partners and were now discussing that me an AJ would take train back to Pune and these two guys will be coming on the bikes along with the two ladies. It was height of creative imaginary and heart filled optimism. I knew it, they are stuck with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) something that bikers and trekkers experience at high altitude and make your mind goes numb. Before the guys could go any further and ask me and AJ to bring their kids also back to Pune, we decided to retreat back to the Bushi Dam base.

The road from Bushi Dam to Lions Point towards Amby valley can be described as the stair case to the clod number 9. Well can’t help it with this comparison, being a Bryan Adam Fan myself. But yes, its undiluted magic to bike along this curvaceous climb to the top of the mountain. Smooth as Silk Road, new shining barricades all along, glittering neon light symbols and cloud falling all over your face, this stretch stirs the poet within you. And it did succeed in arousing the poetic feelings in Higu who with his vast knowledge of slang’s vocabulary came up with following quotes shouting full throttle from the pillion. “Man its plain orgasmic”, “It has touched the bottom of my**”. I knew Higu was having fun and I too was driving pleasure out of the joyous moments that nature can offer you. We have switched on our head lights because of clouds all around us. It was like once again in Delhi with dense fog all around you in winters. We reached Lions Point, it’s a plain spot on the mountain from where you can see the entire valley but because of clouds on the ground nothing was visible. There were many families and tourists al around and makeshift tea stall serving pakodas tea and cold drinks to the people. We stayed their for around 15 minutes and decided to head back towards lonavala. We were in love with the road we cam from and wish to be driving as soon as possible. This entire stretch from the Bushi Dam to Lions point is known as Jal Vayu Marg and is jointly maintained by Indian Air force and Navy. And if you have promised your girl to take her to the cloud number 9, take my advice, a ride on this road will dutifully serve the purpose.

Reaching Lonavala city back we turned towards the highway once again on or way to Khandala.

In Khandala we visited Rajmachpoint and Sunset point which has some real breath taking views of the mountain , waterfalls , the express highway thousands of feet below and off course SRK’s Bungalow. That’s what guide there told us when he charged 5 rupees from all for us to peek at the SRK bungalow from his binoculars. We never knew SRK had four Bungalows in Khandala as all for us saw four different houses from his binoculars. We still don’t know who among is the lucky one to see the real bungalow of SRK.

We plan to head back home as it had started raining and rains on the hills could be real dangerous. PNL was forcibly dragged back as he was still in mode to click some more picks. His second stick of 1288 MB was half filled or In other words still some 100 picks could be clicked. Sensing danger from both PNL and the falling rain, we rushed down before the rains could get us.

We Halted at Lonavala, just to buy chikki for everyone’s homes in Delhi, Mumbai and Kerala and tank up the fuels and then zoomed back to home sweet home.

Any Road back home is soothing and reflective. The road seems easy, the sights seems familiar and even the painful stretch seems to have suddenly become more sober.

Me and Higu touched Pune from khandala in 1.hrs 15 minutes flat. PNL tried once again to overtake us by a giving full throttle chase with his Yamaha, though in his bid to do that he took a wrong turn as a result reached home hours late.

I now stand in front of mirror. Dark eyed, dust covered, tired but extremely happy. One more Journey ended, one more experience gained. What next, a biking trip to Leh perhaps someday. Amen!

Aati kya khandala part 2 .

PNL and AJ join us from behind, PNL waving his hand fanatically asking us for a halt. We stop on a small bridge just below the descent. We are about 40 kms away from Lonavala.

Everyone thought that PNL is once again in Photo session mood as the place where we halted was indeed beautiful .Descent from the hill has just ended, one km of flat stretch and then other long hill in sight to climb. On the left side of the bridge were scenic mountains and on the right side, a long track for railways running parallel to the road. The sight of the crossing train on one side and mountains on the other was amazingly magnificent. The sight was glorified more with PNL standing high up on the bridge barricade and answering the nature calls. I am sure everyone on the passing train enjoyed this sight of being one with nature. After PNL was done with it, he conducted the mandatory photos session and we were off again.

The road after the second descent was surprisingly straight out of the F1 Track. Sometimes life offers you the best only after you have tasted the worst. It was a six lane road with a clear barricade dividing it into two halves. No holes, no bumps , just miles of pure black piece of shiny metal lying quietly as far as your eyes can reach. I started to increase the speed of my bike, 50 -60 -70 – 80 -90, it was sheer fun. The best part about higher CCs bikes like Pulsar is that even at 90 + speed you don’t feel the machine shaking or out of control. It as smooth as it’s on 50 -60.

Suddenly we saw a separate group of 3 bikers overtaking us on the road. Nothing can stir more passion in a biker than the sight of someone overtaking him on the road. Higu gave the war call from the behind. Don’t ask me what because I know you must have guessed what he would have said. Speed throttle was pressed to full. Legs firm on Brakes and we sped off, my bike crossed 90 then 100 and finally for the first time it was touching 110.
A thought crosses my mind, “Speed Kills but it does gives you a ride to heaven”. No doubt it was a ride to heaven. We finally manage to overtake them; they gave us thumbs up sign from the back as the 3 of them turned towards the motel on the highway. The stretch of road ended at the beginning of Lonavala expressway. We stopped there as PNL and AJ were lost far behind.


After about couple of minutes we saw PNL on his Yamaha joining us. Considering the two stroke 100 CC Yamaha he drove it was an applauding performance.

We reached Lonavala city where I guess the only item sold is the Chikki. This sweet delicacy peeks at you from every nook and corner of Lonavala. Everyone from the roadside vendor to the biggest hotel there is hell bent on you to take at least one packet of Chikki back home. But I guess their efforts are genuine as at least one packet of Lonalvala Chikki does deserve to be taken back home on the sheer merit of its taste..

We halt at Maganlal Chikkiwaala , he gave us the map of the place and we decide upon the future route. It is planned that we move towards the Lonalvala Lake for Bushi Dam, from there to Vayu Jal Marg toward the Amby Valley on the way towards Lions Point. From there hit the road back home to Lonavala and from there move towards Khandala to check out Sunset and Rajmachi Points.

We halt at the bridge road over Lonavala Lake. One of the very good photo op sites with Lonavala Lake flowing down under and two huge mountains, turned entirely green because of ongoing rains, joining together at the far end of the road. We stand at the middle of the road with the two huge converging mountains in the background and the Lake beneath us. The way PNL made us pose there with our bikes, each one us was thinking himself to be no less than John Abraham. We did mange to get some admiring glances from the college group trekking towards the Bushi Dam.

Aati Kya Khandala? Part 1

Well I thought really hard what should be the title of today’s post but I guess that’s probably the best one that I could come up, with whatever creativity left in me after measuring 250 Kms of country roads in one single day .

And if you have been thinking this is once again one of those women admiration/deprivation stories that I have been penning off late then I am sorry to disappoint you because what I am planning to write down in next few lines is the account of my first long road biking experience which has nothing to do with being boys or being girls but instead it has something totally manly about it.

I know with use of the phrase being “manly about it”, I may have attracted some of the most twisted glances from my female readers but yes I cant help it, believe it or not when you take on the roads, totally geared , helmet locked, speed throttle zooming on full blast , zip zapping across metallic monsters , where even a slightest judgmental error taken in splits of seconds can leave you with broken jaws and powdered rib cages the only word that can come up in my mind with whatever limited vocabulary I have is simply “manly”.

Please note that during the course of the journey you may encounter certain offensive bikers slang and if you are planning to nail me down on that then forget it because without them any adventurous fun is like “Dal tadka without a laal mirch”. Forgive me for my poorest of the poor creativity with the preceding comparison but you know I have already described the reason for this loss of creativity in the very first paragraph of the post. So if you are ready to eat the dust, face the wind and burn the rubber you are welcome aboard to be the part of one of the most thrilling experiences I had in recent times.

Adventure begins at 7 o clock in the morning when four of us meet at “Prasanna”. It’s the name of the restaurant where we have tried each and every dish available on the menu card in the last two years of our kitchen less existence and yet are every time hopelessly indecisive about what to order, whenever we go there. Translated to English, the name means “Happiness” but to my best of my knowledge nobody has ever left happy from the place after having tasted the food there.

But yes, as the life without a wife must go on, we have finally zeroed down on the only possible edible breakfast of Poha, Sheera, Upma and more Poha, Sheera and Upma, as few of us are really hungry and equally brave enough to go for a second helping and 4 cups of his special Masala tea. Don’t go on the words “Masala tea”, man that Masala could be as lethal as the latest biotech weapons for the first timers. It has made us begged, made us cried, made us screamed to the waiter not to add that special masala to his tea but we are damn sure hearing the begging pleas once again this morning, his dose of sarcastic pleasure is only satisfied unless and until he has made us gulped down that cupful of Masala.

After having survived the breakfast ordeal, we are confident and ready to face any challenge for the journey ahead. The fuel tanks are filled, tiers checked and engines are warmed up and we decide to start off. On the pillion of my pulsar is Higu, my roommate. And on the second bike, Yamaha RX 100 we have PNL and AJ.

Higu has contributed some real good swear words to my vocabulary in the last six months that I have the pleasure of knowing him. We will hear more about them as we move ahead, but yes this guy has unique talent of describing the most beautiful or ugliest creations around him in the best of poetic fashion using words from his infinite vocabulary of choicest of abuses.

The second biker PNL is as enthusiast a guy as his Yamaha RX 100. They both share the same qualities of having small thin light weight frame with quick pick up and an ability to go from zero to 80 and 80 to zero in couple of seconds. I guess they are perfectly made for each other. PNL has jut bought a dig cam and since then has become paranoid about taking pictures of everyone, everything, everywhere and every time. And since the last two weeks of him buying the dig cam, not even a single day has passed since each one of us didn’t had a detailed photo session whenever we have visited his house. He has clicked us watching TV, eating food and even us kicking him when he followed Higu to the loo with his digi cam in hand.

He as already exhausted many GBs of his hard disk hard disk, clicking picture of every dabba, spoon, and dustbin of his house. We genuinely thank god that he bought only a camera to shoot and not a pistol because in that case the entire Pune would have been wiped out by now.

The third man apart from me, Higu and PNL is AJ. Its good that he is the pillion rider behind PNL because if someone who can stop PNL being crazy then he is the right man with his cool as ice cool attitude.

Well the journey begins, with us touching the Bombay Pune Highway. The highway till the express way is cool. No pot holes, no bumpy roads. Even Higu behind me is calm and absorbing himself in the morning breeze. I am flirting with my bike, speeding up in the range 60- 80, just getting used to her sound and feel.

PNL and AJ are following us, on the Yamaha. With monsoon in full swing this time the highway has turned really beautiful. The hills on both the sides have turned green , the air is fresh , sun is playing hide and seek and its all grey up in the sky and soothing green on all the sides.

After moving some 15 km we turn towards the old Mumbai-Pune highway and gradually begin to discover the unique challenge Indian roads can offer to adventurous bikers all around the world. Man! Trust me this adventure tourism can be a big business. The smooth road give way to small bumps, bumps make way for holes and hole after some time transforms themselves to craters and after sometime you realize you are on the surface of planet mars. 15 minutes of ride on the highway and you will encounter one of the biggest patch of crater ridden hole and that too when you are climbing up the hill on your way towards Lonavala. Higu has risen from his morning quiet and has begun to warm up for the occasions with gradually increasing the intensity of his swear words. And then as we reach on pinnacle of the painful stretch where the shockers of my bikes have been put to the maximum possible threshold test, Higu says the biggest of his swear words which he only utters when he reaches the midst of Pune roads on his way to his office .He shouts “Man its BGB, its BGB since morning.” If you are wondering what the hell is BGB , then it is the acronym for words “Balls getting Banged” and trust me when Higu says it in Hindi , its really means we are going through some real painful times. But thankfully we are on the descent and road seems to be gradually improving. Higu also settles down but I could still hear some lighter version of his gaalis from behind. I am happy to have successfully passed over the stretch and it assures me that my confidence on my bike has increased. I am now more in touch with her inner emotions.

2 nights with …………….????

The hopeless romantic that I am, this weekend, I once gain fell in love as one more love story unfurled in my life. With my room mates dispatched for their respective homes in Mumbai and Delhi, and there being no one except for me in the house, I decided to spend the two nights with the most beautiful creation that I had set my eyes about one month ago.

I finally brought her home this Saturday night and since that fateful night I have had just 3 hours of sleep in the last 36 hours trying to discover each and every aspect of her magical mystique.

Well before you get me any more wrong, let me clarify that, I am referring here to one of the best written and well though provoking books that I had a pleasure to read this weekend.

It’s titled Shantaram and is authored by Gregory David. I know this personal blog is not a place to write book reviews, but this 900 + page beauty has touched me in so many ways that any blog on Sethi Sahib will not be complete without a word about this book.

It’s an epic story about a fugitive from Australia, who lands up in Mumbai faking as tourist from New Zealand., starts living in Mumbai slums, runs a clinic for the slum guys, falls in love with a green eyed beauty Carla, Learns to speak Hindi and Marathi, learns the art of black market, drug trafficking, gold smuggling, fake passport making, joins the Mumbai mafia, go to war in Afghanistan and still manages to emerge as a hero for everyone.

Well so much happening in one single life and if you thought it’s just a piece of fiction then mind you this is 90 % real life account of the author who took 13 years to pen down this book. Twice the manuscript of the book was destroyed by the Jail authorities and was again written from scratch. As the author puts it, it’s a story written in pain, blood and sweat. Sheer passion flows through the entire narrative.

The philosophical discussions between Abdul khader, the learned Mafia head and Lin Baba, as the protagonist is known in Mumbai ,about what is life, why we are here, what are our objective and his theory about what is good and bad is a sheer piece of poetic wisdom.

And yes not to forget the lady love of Lin baba, woman named Karla, I am myself smitten by her intelligence and the numerous one liners from her that are quoted and splashed across the book. Sample these “Happiness is a myth that was invented to let us buy things”. “Dreams are places where wishes and fears meet and if your wishes and fears are same it’s called a night mare”. I sincerely hope there is at least one lady with intelligence and charm of Karla in the real word.

And then there are others powerful characters Prabhakar, Johny Cigar, Vikram, and Didier, each one forcing you to sit and reflect on the lessons from their lives.

If you are looking forward to read a sheer piece of super genius creativity and for some profound thinking for your head, do read his book and if you have read it do let me know, I am dying to discuss each and every thought presented there with anyone who have the honor of becoming Lin Baba’s fan.

For more info about the book and author visit

http://www.shantaram.com/

Here are few more quotes from the book for your reading pleasure.

“A man has to find a woman, then earn her respect and finally cherish her trust” Vikram quoting Karla

"It is always hard to love a person you cannot forgive" – Linbaba

“It's such a huge arrogance, to love someone, and there's too much of it around. There's too much love in the world. Sometimes I think that’s what heaven is - a place where everybody's happy because nobody loves anybody else, ever.” Karla

When you are sober, It's the world that's f**ked (there are many more and better ones like this but I guess my blog is a family blog (sic) so read them when you read the book :-))

Sethi Sahib Proposes a woman

Well if you have read a posting about what women think about Sethi Sahib then you must have figured out the enormity of the statement made above and if you have not read it then I would suggest reading it first so that you can enjoy this post even better.

The statement above will have the same level of shocking intensity in Sethi Sahib’s world as the statement of Musharraf saying Kashmir being an integral part of India.

In short, these are something’s that can never happen in Mr. Sethi’s life, but to my surprise it has happened and given below is an interesting account of the story when Sethiji had proposed a women for first and only time.

Well, to begin with I come from a very prestigious university which apart from giving top notch academicians and professionals to Indian society, has also given many of the country’s biggest politicians. Simple reason being, its located in the political centre of India, the student politics too is equally lively. So whether you want it or not after every two months you have thousands of students being taken to Vice Chancellor office to protest against one cause or the other. Many of us don’t even know why we go there because for us it’s a mass get together of all the college students at one place and you have a chance to look at the latest fashion and the hottest chicks on the campus. We call these bi monthly outings as Dharna.

So on one such Dharna, Sethi sahib along with one of his friend nicknamed Kaadu by his classmates decided to go there. Kaadu is a tall, dark guy and had dressed himself handsomely for the occasion. After all, it was in such Dharna outings, you got to meet gals from other colleges. Kaadu was looking for lady luck to smile on him and Sethi Sahib as usual were interested in the eloquent speaker and his speech.

Suddenly, something stuck in Kaadu’s mind, I would not say stuck but instead hit his mind like a thunderbolt. He turned to me and announced, “I have got enough of your anti –women stance. Today you will have to propose a girl and find out a bhabhi for me”. I turned to Kaadu, are you crazy man? I thought for a while, “21 years and without a woman have taken serious toll on Kaadu’s mental abilities”. But he was serious, damm Serious. He has pledged not to let me go before he has found a girl for me. I don’t know what made him do that but yes he gave me every reason on the earth to have a girl friend in the next half an hour ,screeching at the top of his voice quoting from Adam’s Garden to SRK’s latest flick. The crowd which till now was hearing what the Union’ President was saying, had now suddenly turned and staring towards us. Before things go more awry I gave in to Kaadu’s demand and told him “OK for our friendship sake I give in, but you have only my name to use and rest everything will be taken care of you”. Kaadu’s expression changed as if he has taken the Tiger Hill back from the Pakistani Army. He was ecstatic and immediately proceeded to make arrangements for this historic event.

The first step was to identify a lady or as Kaddu would say a Bhabhi for him. From hundreds of female present there he selected a fair looking smart lady that I would have to propose. The lady was wearing a red cheque shirt and blue jeans. What stuck me most about her were her Nike shoes and believe me the shoes were really good.

One of the most expensive pair I have ever seen. Anyways shoes apart Kaadu now wanted me to write a letter to her. I simply told Kaddu, “boss this is your show, you will have to do everything and I have only my name to give you. And moreover if I write, I bet nobody on this earth would be able to understand what I have written because of my amazingly bad hand writing.” Kaadu got the point, he immediately arranged for a paper, pen and wrote a letter that would have put even Dan Brown to shame in writing cryptic puzzles. Sample the contents below “I know u r the best and best deserve the best but what about the rest who wish to have the best but have to put the dreams to rest because they themselves are not the best.” There was much more crap like that but I will stop here as I don’t want this post to be torturous for my dear readers.

Anyway with girl being identified and letter written by Kaadu and signed by me ready, it was now the time for delivery of the letter. Kaadu started marching towards the lady, a la Aamir khan in movie Mangal Pandey. He handed over the letter to the lady and then pointed the lady towards me. And before I could grasp what was happening , I saw Kaadu running like hell towards the scooter parking , he was waving fanatically towards me and asking me to do he same . I sensed something dangerous and I too made a rush towards the parking lot and what I saw there was something that can take a shit out of man. Kaadu was being chased by a Dark heavily built man. His unkempt long hairs were falling on his heavily pimpled face as he rushed towards Kaadu with a iron chain in his hand. That Boxer looking man was that lady’s boyfriend and when I turned back, I saw two similar clones of that boxer closing towards me.
I ran like mad, Kaddu by now has started his Baja Chetek, I still wonder how the hell he started that rickety piece of metal in single kick which till date has required at least 20 kicks and equal number of swear words to start. But I guess when it’s a question of life and death you got to make things work. Kaddu Skidded the scooter in front of me, I jumped in the pillion and speeded away from the campus. It was only after one year that we gather the confidence to return to main campus for a new Dharna meeting.

What Women feels about Sethi Sahib!

I have met many women in my life, I won’t say all type of women because it is very difficult to find a different women but I am happy that I have met some of that kind too

But this post is not about women, it’s about what feedback Sethi Sahib has received from women about being Sethi Sahib.

Let’s start from the child hood.

In school, I was the biggest rival girls could always get. I thought I was always third in class because the first two were girls. The only reasoning my young thinking mind could garner was that we being boys we have lots of work after school, like going to play cricket, drive cycles around the society and occasionally going to the market to bring eggs and bread for the snacks in the evening . Now with such kind of work load how a boy could ever think to come first in the class while girls just have to go home and have nothing else to do but only studies.

Also I have never met a women with a bad hand writing till date , one reason could be that my hand writing is so pathetic that every handwriting in comparison to mine will look like most beautiful piece of calligraphic work.

So with two biggest handicaps: Busy workload and Bad handwriting, I could never come first in my class and beat my female counterparts (literally I felt like beating them). It was at that point of time that I decided to beat my female rivals in other fields. So whether it was debates, poetry recitation, Speech competition Sethi Sahib was always there fighting till the very end, screeching , yelling , talking and emerging victorious in one competition after another.

Girls use to hate when they would see my name in the participant list. So at that point of time when my peers had girl friends, I had girl enemies. There was an entire gang of them .So this was some of the privilege compliments I got from my female batch mates snooty, proudy (I still don’t know, why women think being proud is something wrong:-)). One young lady even called me Shitty Sahib.

And then I graduated to college. In college women found me as a high headed fellow and the problem was they never came to tell me this , It was always some of my friends who were told such things about me so that they could be passed to me indirectly .

I had built a strong reputation over the years and like light flashes before the sound in a thunderstorm, stories from my past preceded me wherever I go.

I am working now and today I don’t even care when women refer me as narcist or more creative ones like some one suffering from Bhaau Khaau personality syndrome but what amazes me is guys have always found me diametrically opposite. Please don’t think about it in some other over tones, I am a perfectly straight guy but now it’s high time to find a woman for myself.

And I am seriously worried about the consequences. What could be the consequences ill post in some other blog :-)Till then enjoy reading ….