Trek to Kondana caves, Karjat

Feels good to be back, after a REALLY long time.

To start off :- A short description of an even shorter trek.

Over the past weekend, a couple of friends and me had planned to trek (from Karjat side) upto Rajmachi (nice images from DeepAbhi).
We couldn't make it all the way due to  health issues with a friend. And honestly I dont think even the remaining 2 of us would have managed. (Out of shape, stupid "slowing down of metabolism" nonsense). Nevertheless, the trek to Kondhana caves itself was quite pleasant and gave us satisfaction of atleast stepped out of the city. Trek itself is not arduous, though heat could be a problem later in the day. A family, including a youngish (45-ish?) ajji (granny) in chappal and saree, had also climbed up later, which was a bit dissing considering the sense of achievement we felt till that point.

A few basic points of advice (of which we screwed up first 2, but fortunately followed 3rd): 

1. Confirm how much water each of you are carrying.  

2. Have breakfast and a good night sleep before attempting treks in summer. 

3. Ask for a guide a local lad to guide you up the mountain. Our dude was called Yashwant, whose dog also decided to come along to laugh at overwieght city slickers dragging themselves up a mountain. 

The cave is quite impressive at first sight,  though after spending some time you can make out it hasn't been maintained properly.  The peace and tranquility is definitely a big plus (the big honey-comb on top isnt :) ). 

The brief itenary was:
4:15 am - Pune - Karjat. Took Latur - CST Express to Karjat. From Vashi a friend drove down to Karjat.
6:00 am - Reach Karjat, drive to Kondivade Village (approx 10 Km) Road is bit rough towards last 2 Km.
7:15 am - Park car. (Request one of the village folks for this). Get guide.Start climb to caves, Finally!
8:30 am - Reach Kondhana caves after 2 halts of 10 mins each, including 1 for breakfast.

After this the time started dragging a bit, major highlight were yours truly cooking pulao type rice, after getting a very rustic chulha going. not great, shouldve cooked a bit more, but when you're hungry, anything goes. Plus by a friend got headchae which was progressively getting worse. I refuse to believe this was due to half-cooked rice and would rather blame his out-of-shapeness.
By this time we had run out of water too. (Yashwant was going to replinish our stock, but that was only at 3:00, when we planned to climb to Rajmachi). Didnt have a choice but to head back, guided by Yashwants doggie. Yes, it was that cool.
We reached Kondivade by 1:30, drank loads of water, cooled down then headed to Vashi.

Had lunch at Pot Pourri, Vashi. Nice. Great food, ( after trekking and the half cooked rice on the mountain, tasted even better) good service.

By evening, headed back to Pune by Asiad, (following IPL lead, this journey was brought to you by ST). For the fare, very good service.

All in all a good 1 day break. With the added challenge of the sequel pending. Rajmachi. - Planned for either June or July.

Please fill in the Form in CAPITAL Letters

Heard something which reminds me about the bureaucracy which our parents must've faced. Late night show on 101, All India Radios special entertainment channel Vividh Bharati.

The host, (which the kids nowadays call an RJ) was instructing the aam juntaa on how to send in requests for the "Aap Ki Farmaaish" program. After he'd given the mail id, as well as the format, he added: "Yaad rakhiye, aapke e-mails capital letters mein hi hone chaiye" ROFL!!! Priceless.

Honestly, how does it matter if the mail is in capital or small print, and more importantly, wouldn't it be really irritating to read it in all-caps. (IRRITATING TO READ IN ALL-CAPS) see? :)

IPL- What you may have missed

Final Match: Rajasthan Royals Vs Chennai Superkings

Shane Warne bowling his last over, 4 balls have been bowled. (The 16th over of the match I think)

Ravi Shastri in the commentary box : Shane Warne hasnt taken a wicket yet, but he has two balls.

LOL!

PS: I think the co-commentator got the joke too, because after the delivery, he snidely remarked: Ravi, he has one ball now. Nasty peoples!

History of Religion in 90 Seconds

Well, for once the title is completely self-explanatory.

Here it is then!

Makes extremely interesting viewing.

Hat Tip: Amit Verma- India Uncut

T-20 . Knock Knock

Knock Knock

Whos There?
Misbah

Misbah who?
Misbah 5 runs.

:)

More later!

Evil at work - Funny!

Another classic from the creative geniuses at Looking For Group and Leasticoulddo.com.

Even if you guys havent been following the entire series, as a stand-alone also this one ROCKS !

Lol !

Back with a .... joke , what else?

To all those who are into "love bites". Read, and Learn.

300: The Movie

Recently came across the review and story for a new movie called 300, based on a novel by Frank Miller (Sin City, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns).

The Story
The story is based on a real battle which took place in Thermopylae, when King Leonidas led 300 Spartan and 700 warriors from Thespia in a battle. The battle was basically a lost cause against the mighty Persian army led by Xerxes I.
The intention was not to defeat the enemy, but rather to give their retreating troops a chance to get away. When the general heard that the Spartan army only numbered 1500 odd and that they were indulging in calisthenics and grooming their hair, he is reported to have laughed. He was not aware that this was the way in which these brave souls got ready for battle.

When the general asked Leonidas to lay down his arms, his reply, which has become a part of history was: “Come take them”.

After the start of battle and managing to hold the enemy at bay for two days and inflicting much heavier damage than anticipated by Xerxes, the brave warriors were done in by a traitor. On the morning of the third day, the Persians were shown a way which led behind the Spartan lines. The warriors that were surrounded and a “hail of arrows was shot at them, mercilessly killing all the soldiers”.

Today, a monument called “Leonidas Monument” stands at the site with his immortal words “Molon Labe”

The movie:
A movie based on a moving story such as this comes with its own challenges, but the review of one of the critics definitely gives us hope. Apparently, with “special effects better than the LOTR” is definitely something to look forward to.

So, the 3rd of September, 2007 is the date to look forward to%

A Happy New Year to You!

Hello People,

Here's wishing all of a Happy New Year !

To start off, you HAVE to check out the last years round-up at Sidin's Blog. The man posts infrequently, but when he does... boy-oh-boy !

www.sidin.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

More entertainment from friends

One of my dear friends, CSM continues to amaze me with new completely unexpected faux pas almost on a daily basis.
I know that sounds quite difficult to achieve, but our man believes in aiming-to-amaze, frequently.

The latest two which he managed to pull off:

A colleague - BDD from Delhi was asking him about aquariums 'cos our man CSM knows quite a bit about them. Now, the reason this guy was asking CSM was that he, BDD wanted to gift it to his wife (also a colleague) and it was supposed to be a surprise.
What does CSM do right after the call? You guessed it ! He has called the wife for a few reports, and manages to blabber this nugget of information.

Scene post the story: CSM is holding his head, the rest of us are laughing our heads off. I don't really know what poor BDD is doing, though images of him gashing his teeth and pulling out his hair do spring to mind.

Scene II
Now this is something which is a classic even by his standards, so I may not be able to post anything to beat this. When I say not, I mean at least in the near future, give him time and he will come up with something to top this too.

Setting: CSM is staying over at his in-laws place, with his wife and her mom, generally chatting about life. At this point he decides to pack-up for the next day and proceeds to carry his clothes from living-room to bedroom.
After packing the clothes, he comes out and sees that both the ladies are in splits, which obviously stumps him (a fairly common occurrence, trust me).

Some time later
EXIT mom-in-law ear door right, with a stitch in her side from laughing so hard.

Next scene: focus on couch, where we see the poor wife and her dear hubby.
After moms exit, the wife reveals the cause of merriment. The man, while carting out the clothes inside has managed to drop a packet of rubber (with a very graphic picture on top), almost right at his mom-in-laws feet, which had led to the merriment.

Next scene: CSM has hit the bed in a rush, while clamorous laughter continues to emanate from the living-room.

Fade-out.
Breakfast the next day was not exactly a very comfortable affair for the lady and her son-in-law.

I will be continuing the saga as and when such interesting tit-bits have to be shared.

How does somebody justify this ?

Today, a slightly serious topic which has been bothering me for a couple of days.

During a "peaceful procession" in Amravati, to protest the killing of a family, the protestors indulged in arson.

So far it sounds bad, but get this :
"Incidents of arson were reported from all parts of Amravati city, with the mob torching a water tanker and a police jeep, and smashing the fire brigade tenders " .

Do the leaders of this protest realise the kind of risk they are exposing the entire city to? Especially with the kind of time the Indian administration takes to replace those tenders?

The best part of the entire drama was actually played out the next day.. with the right Hon. Home minister of Maharashtra Mr. R R Patil saying "prepared to consider the proposal to provide arms and weapons to Dalits for self-defence"
Complete article:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/459383.cms

How exactly Mr Patil plans to prevent them being mis-used is completely beside the point , I guess.

The issue may seem trivialised, as I'm not exactly helping by making any constructive suggestions, but arming some people who have gone and burnt public-property seems oh-so-not-the-right-way.

Last Saturday Night at SOHO

Hulo People,

Went to SOHO's on saturday night. It definitely is one of the best places to hang around in Pune during the weekend, except for the music part which can really suck !

But for the oeople who dont really have too much to do, imagine this: Its been a long week, with tedious work, you catch up with friends.

After all that, how is a person supposed to resist the temptation of this.......mmmmm !

Back after a Looooooong Break........

hulo people,

its good to back after a very long time, though am sure that a lot of people will disagree with that.

have been generally busy doing absolutely nothing of value.

Changed jobs, attented my friends wedding in the Garden city, (Banguluru for the uninitiated)

The only excitement in the past three months took place at aforementioned friends reception, when he managed to contract chicken-pox ON the day of his reception. All this time we thought such stuff happens only in books and movies based on those books. But, no !!!

Apparently fact is stranger than fiction.

The best part was the fact that we had been partying with the man, just the previous night.
So, the entire bunch of twenty was making frantic calls to doctors and treating any minor itch as the harbinger of a plague. Only after second and third opinions, of doctors telling us that nothing could be done AFTER the contact, everybody got completely fatalistic and settled down to hoping for atleast a ten day break with a valid (honest) excuse. But then, LIFE, the lady with a terrific sense of humour decided, "nah, not now !" forcing all of us to get our respective backsides to office.

The dude did have a reception at Banglore, but managed to stay clear of any communicable diseases. (He's a bawa, but since thats also non-contagious...)

Besides this, have been reading a bit, but will leave that for a later date.

Simple is beautiful...

This post by Gaurav about rains, confirms the fact that good writing does NOT have to be about complex issues, nor about confusing jargon.

Simple, from the heart and therefore beautiful....

http://www.gauravsabnis.blogspot.com/

Brazil - Australia football !

Saw the Brazil-Australia footie match. Inspite what the self-declared experts say about Ronaldo, the move where Adriano scored, the man made the "soceroos" look like spastic chimps.

Hope to catch a few more interesting moments through the remaining tournament.

Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad

We recently had our Annual Sales conference at Ramoji Film City, on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The place itself is rocking (Ramoji, NOT Hyderabad). Check out some of the snaps below.

Leg Garden:

Mughal Garden: Was a lot of fun, basically food, drink and relaxation. Will be posting in detail about it soon.

Oh, and by the way...




For the people wondering, I'm not in that snap... and NO, i do not look like the guy with the green face (either shade !!!).

Really bad one... read at your own risk !

After getting a lot of positive feedback about my Bad Joke saga (one vaguely positive comment !), I've decided to honour the readers to more of the classy, subtle humour which will be a hallmark of this blog.

Enjoy !

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A recently arrived Sardar in the US , wanting to earn some money, decides to become a 'handy-man' and starts looking for some work in an upmarket colony nearby.

He goes to the front door of the nearest houseand asks the owner, another Indian, if he had any odd jobs for him to do.

"Well, you can paint my porch," the owner says. The Sardar responds, "How about $50?"
The owner says "Fine - there's a can of brown paint and brushes in the garage."

The owner's wife, inside the house, overhearing the conversation says to her husband, "Does he realise that the porch goes all around the house? That's a whole day's job"
The man replies, "He should; he was standing on it. Do you think he's dumb?" "No, I don't think so. I guess I'm just influenced by those stupid Surd email jokes we keep receiving."

A short time later, the Sardar comes to the door and asks for the $ 50."

You've finished already?" the husband asks."Yes," he replies, "and there was paint left over, so I gave it two coats." Impressed, the man reaches into his pocket for the money and hands it to him.

And by the way," the Turbanator adds, "it's not a Porch, it's a BMW !"
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One of the weirdest feelings...


having a fish nibble at your fingers. Try it sometime.
Just tried it in office today.

My advice would be to try it with a piranha to get the fuzziest feeling.

One of the brave gals

As I mentioned in my last post, I really admire the women who stand up to the sickos indulging in eve-teasing, heres one of them sharing her experience...

Hemangini from Chennai

Happy Womens Day....

First off, let me wish all the ladies a Very Happy Womens Day.

Now, considering the huge amount of blog-space used over the past few days on harassment, to commemorate Women’s Day (The Blank Noise Project), I’ve decided to add my thoughts to the same.

About the men who “check-out” women, as a guy I think it would definitely be pretty hypocritical to abuse them, as I myself have definitely done the same pretty regularly. Now, coming to the types, who go beyond mere looking, guess there cannot be really two different opinions about what they deserve. In my opinion, public lynching seems a mild punishment.

Honestly speaking, even I was really shocked about the extent of these happenings, in spite of having a couple of sisters and traveling with them pretty regularly. I have noticed times when people were staring weirdly, but most times just glaring at them or stepping in between is enough to ensure that they get the message that the girl is not alone. Of course, this would not help much if a girl is actually traveling alone, as most of us are not really the sorts who step in to prevent this happening to strange women. There have been very few cases where I myself have stepped in, only if the woman seems really bothered and the freak looks like he’s planning on more than just looking. Even in these cases, I’ve never abused or spoken to these people, but ensured that they stay clear.

As a lot of bloggers have already mentioned, the Blank Noise Project won’t really eradicate this. I would even go so far as to say that even the impact will be minimal, but what the heck, it’s a start.

Some of the stories of girls using knives and their voices really makes me look-up to them Especially considering that they’ve grown up with this (really sickening) disease, further conditioned by society not to make a fuss, but still have the guts to stand up and fight back. Kudos to them and may their tribe increase…

A very worthy cause..

Anti Eveteasing Blog

The Blank Noise Project

" Street harassment is an offence. It has been granted normalcy due to its daily recurrence. Street harassment also known as eve teasing needs to be addressed on the streets. The project in its current phase seeks to build testimonies of street harassment in the public space and making them public. The project also seeks to recognize eve teasing as a crime, something that may be normal, but is unacceptable"

Got info on this from Gaurav and also Amit Verma (Indiauncut)

This is got to be one of the topics which has got much lesser attention then it really deserves. I'm not just commenting as a man, but also a brother and friend.

Will definitely be contributing my two-bits on the 7th of March.

The Bad Joke Saga begins...

Hello people,

As promised in my first post, here is the very first in the series of really bad jokes

Q: What is the name of Bruce Lee's cat ?

A: Bill Lee


This is just a harbinger of the things to come. Muahaha.

Animal rights...

After the no-holds barred cat-fight between Maneka Gandhi and Sharmila Tagore ( http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/19721.html ) about the use of horses in "Rang De Basanti", what I would like to know is ... Did Maruti get a clearance from the concerned department for the Maruti Swift ad to use a fish (ichthyoid in calvin speak) ?

If not, considering that nobody's raised a noise yet; are we to assume that somehow fishes have lesser rights than larger animals ? Why this should be, is beyond me, so I'm starting a "Save- the-fishes" campaign right here. All the money for this noble cause can be diverted to my bank account. (Why the raised eyebrows, its a more reliable enterprise than the Nigerian "please-send-details-to-claim-millions" mails which are sent to my mailbox by the dozens)

The first post

Hello world :-)

First off, let me clarify that I wasnt planning on such a cocky blog name. I was trying to get it registered as "the blog to be at"... turned out "the blog to beat", which I liked the sound of, so am continuing with the same.

As the geeks can see from the salutation, this would be more or less an effort to just publish really bad jokes, random thoughts and any other interesting stuff I may find.

I will try and post regularly, so that the unsuspecting people who do land up here, keep coming for more.