Boyz Day Out

It was the 24th of June- a welcome Sunday, after another boring and routine week at the office. Three of my friends (Jimmy, my neighbours- Aman and Akshay) and me decided to celebrate a boys’ day out. Not that we have girls to hang out with otherwise; just that it was a welcome change from our usual “boys’ day in” as on our routine Sundays. We geared up for a long drive to the Vaishnodevi temple in Pimpri (a district in Pune). The temple is a replica of the one in Jammu. We all left at around 11.30 am. It was 6-7 kms. from our home at Wakad (on the outskirts of Pune)- the first place you will bump into while coming from Mumbai. The temple was great. They have constructed a small cave, through which we had to walk through. After the ‘devi-darshan’ came the best part- ‘the Prasad’! It was Dal rice with Boondis of Laddoo J. We also visited the nearby temples without which the visit is said to be incomplete. By the time we were done, it started drizzling....The weather was wonderful...It was around 1 pm when we left...

On our drive back, all of a sudden, Jimmy proposed the idea of going to Lonavala. And with such a decent proposal ;), why would any of us have a difference of opinion! The plan was final. We were going to Lonavala. It was raining outside... Sitting in the car and feeling the rain outside was a blissful experience. The leaves of the trees on the roadside were finding it difficult to adhere to the branches. Our car was racing with as much gusto as the wind outside. The ‘bhutta wala’ on the road was having a tough time holding on to his plastic sheets, while at the same time fanning the ‘bhuttas’ on the coal gas. The merry children and teens were holding on to their colourful umbrellas on the one hand, and the ‘bhuttas’ on the other. These are what you call ‘visual treats’! We could feel the pressure of the wind, even though the windows of the car were rolled up!

We decided to go by the Old Mumbai-Pune highway, admiring the sceneries and the natural beauty en route. No one could have ever missed the thick fog covering the mountains, the trees swinging with the flow of the wind... The view was incredible.

On our way, we stopped at the MTDC’s water park at Karla, which is a few kms. before Lonavala. It is famous for its boating. But the rains had other plans for us. We weren’t fortunate enough to experience the pleasure ride, the pleasure of paddling our way down the lake, and rowing our hearts to glory in that mini-paradise… There was a small bridge connecting the two sides of the river. When you stand on the bridge, which is just a feet above the water, you feel as if the ground beneath you is moving! (Main thehra raha, zameen chalne lagi…) All of a sudden it started to pour heavily, and we were back in the car. We started moving towards Lonavala. It was around 3.30p.m. and we were hungry. The hotel we went to in Lonavala, had a swimming pool with divans to lounge around! The decor was splendid! Our K750s, K790s and the N73s went clicking away and made up for the absence of digicams!

Post lunch we proceeded towards Bushy Dam. Had Kaju-Keshar Chikki from the famous National Chikki on the wayJ. We reached Bushy Dam at around 4.45pm. It was raining incessantly. We started our ascent... It was quite an adventure as the track up was slippery...We reached the top! The water was flowing with great speed. Wow! We were completely drenched. The windcheaters helped us in no way! We sat there by the rocks, enjoying and feeling the strong flow of the water, lost in our own thoughts… The descent was even tougher due to the slippery track again! We gulped down a “cutting chai” (which measures half of what we get on our roadside ‘tapri’ and that too for double the cost) which tasted like ‘Amrut’ in that kind of weather with the rains pouring and the strong wind trying to freeze you to death!

Once down, we were in double thoughts as to whether we should go even higher up the altitude all the way upto Tiger Hills or retreat to our cozy beds! The road to Tiger Hills is full of twists and turns and covered with dense fog. But then, our quest to explore ahead surpassed our weariness… and then, we advanced… in pursuit of happiness! We started off with the parking lights on (the blinkers).Thankfully, our Indra Dev helped us by putting off the rain, though there was a constant drizzle, which is quite expected at such high altitudes. It was very much manageable. After the dangerous twists and turns (all credit to Jimmy for bringing us safely through that!), we were there finally...at the Tiger Hills... As we advanced towards the cliff, what I saw next absolutely amazed me. The fogs were moving at such great speed, the wind could have easily blown off an auto-rickshaw! I was staring below at the thick layer of fog which was making it impossible to see what lied beneath! All of a sudden, there was a sudden gush of wind, and lo...the fog moved ahead just to reveal a village underneath… like a typical hindi film, wherein the heroine’s laal duppata would fly off revealing the always-beautiful-with-loads-of-make-up face of the heroine! That moment will be close to my heart forever. I was literally on seventh heaven…on cloud no.9 a la Bryan Adams!
I wish I could do a little jig on the number-

‘well it's a long way up and we won't come down tonight

well it may be wrong but baby it sure feels right

and the moon is out and the stars are bright

and whatever comes s'gonna be alright

….

….

We can watch the world go by -up on cloud number nine’

The fog would keep moving ahead. And the moment it would hit against a mountain, it would take off at an inclined angle upwards and bring with it lots of water. So even when the showers stopped, it hardly made any difference...we were under water! We were totally lost in our world of photography and video shooting, very much munching on our bhutta. All of a sudden there was a downpour, strong wind currents... Everyone ran helter-skelter, and so did we...We got into our car. It was time to return. It was already 7.30pm and we had to drive back the same way... through the cuts and curves amidst the heavy blanket of fog! We took the expressway back home...All of us were exhausted! We reached home at around 9 pm. What a day… We came home, had dinner, and did what we were best at...

Sleep like a pig!!!