Deer Dear!!

Written on 6:45 AM by Tushar

Can you believe it if I tell you that I saw a deer and its fawn (in the wild) in Pune!!

It was yesterday when I had gone to Vetal Tekdi in Pune for the morning walk. On my way back I noticed something came out from not so dense bushes and crossed my path. I could hardly manage my wits when it was followed by a fawn…Man! I consider it as an achievement! They have no idea that they made my day:).

Thank you!

Written on 5:49 AM by Tushar

I feel a very unusual sensation - if it is not indigestion, I think it must be gratitude. ~Benjamin Disraeli

I want to take this opportunity to thank those who helped in their own way in MS application process…

I am eternally grateful to my classmate Ravi Ramaseshan (NCSU)(I hope I got the name right else this guy will terminate me :) ) , my VIT senior Shantanu Shah(Cornell) and my Calsoft colleague Parag. You guys have been of GREAT help.

Thanks to seniors from VIT Swaroop (CMU) and Vignesh (Stanford) ; my friends and ex colleagues Amit Gud (KSU) and Abhijit Deodhar (VTech); my classmates Samir Shah and Prateek Saxsena (SUNYSB). I really appreciate you taking out time to answer my queries.

I will like to end this blog with a quote which I came across while searching google (Thanks to Google as well!)

Something that has always puzzled me all my life is why, when I am in special need of help, the good deed is usually done by somebody on whom I have no claim. ~William Feather

Memory remains!

Written on 7:20 AM by Tushar


Yup that's me (looking like a famished child in Africa:( )in the pic and that's my handwriting (Feel free to analyse my handwriting. I will like to know what clues do you get from that about my nature!). In 10th std, I had stood 6th in Pune Board merit list and was asked by Chetana Publications to give my feedback about their books. My comment which is seen above was published on the backside of one of their books called "Last Day Revision" (LDR). I found this somewhere while cleaning my closet and now it's on my blog!
I remember lyrics of one of my fav Metallica songs...
"
Fortune, fame
Mirror vain
Gone insane
But the memory remains"Posted by Picasa

Goa rOcKs!!!

Written on 2:47 AM by Tushar


GOA rOcKs!!! have been to this amazing place in Oct with my best pals in college. That's me, Saudamini, Sameer and Abhijeet in the pic.We were goin on the dolphin tour:) Posted by Picasa

VIT

Written on 2:16 AM by Tushar


VIT...my alma mater. Thanks to google earth for the aerial view:)
You can see the main building, Library, workshop, a miniscule college ground, lush green lawns and our "beloved" canteen!

Posted by Picasa

Aloha!

Written on 5:18 AM by Tushar

Yesterday I had gone to a restaurant called Aloha on Senapati Bapat road to have dinner with my pals.

'Aloha' is used as a traditional greeting or farewell in Hawaii (Google rocks!). What a nice word to say hello!

The food was great and the ambience was nice. I noticed a very interesting line on the menu card...

"I will never eat anything that runs, skips or crawls. God knows that I have crawled on occasions and nobody ate me"

Rock da party!

Written on 4:58 AM by Tushar

All good things come to an end...

Dance show of my Shiamak Davar class is scheduled on 6th of Dec at 7pm at Yashwant Rao Chavan Natyagruha at Kothrud.

I am really enjoying this dance class. I hate going to a gym though people say that I need to join one:( . Dancing a good exercise in itself besides my instructor make us do a rigorous workout.
I learnt Bollywood Jazz, rock and roll and western style of dancing. We are gonna perform on a 3 min song called Rock da party by Bombay Rockers. The outfit designed for the show is really cool or should I say funny:P... I will upload the pics of the show soon.

So folks,
I will appreciate if you can make it to the show. The ticket cost is 100 Rs per head. Even I am supposed to buy a ticket for myself (What a pity!) so don’t expect free passes for you:D . I am sure you don’t want to miss this ‘once in a millennium’ opportunity of watching me dancing on the stage to the tunes of “Rock da party”.

Let me know!!

My French liaison!

Written on 3:43 AM by Tushar

Yesterday night I took some time out of my office work (which is sucking most of my time nowadays), my dance class:) and other household responsibilities (I know you will wonder since when did I start bothering about that!) to have dinner with my close pal Kunal.

Kunal was throwing a party since he was leaving for Taiwan the next day. The venue we chose was a hotel called Arthur’s theme in Koregaon Park. I had heard of this place before which is famous for its French cuisine and nice ambiance. I almost dragged KK to it.

Since it was the first time I was trying French cuisine I was very cautious while choosing the menu (Sam, I hope you remember our Thai experiment!) and we bugged the waiter every now and then.

Interior of this place is really impressive. As the name goes, they have made the place look like the one of the times of King Arthur. They have used wood wherever they could and usage of cast iron gives the place an antic look. Even the music being played in the background was western classical (Must be some symphony…I really cannot fathom that genre).

The menu card is the best I’ve ever seen. They have written a story about King Arthur which continues on the footer of every page and they have placed a miniature sword replica on the front page! The names of all dishes are based on the characters of King Auther’s generation. It is really hard to recollect those wired names but let me try…

‘Helen of troy’ the veg clear soup! The starter we ordered was called James. The main menu comprised of Humbert, Mirabelle and Pompadour. Can you guess that ‘marquise De Sade’ is a dessert? The food was next to the best.

Maybe it was the effect of the company I was in, everything seemed so perfect and it was one of the most memorable dinners.

KK, I wish you luck and hope you have lots of fun in your Taiwanese venture!

Donkey talk!

Written on 6:47 AM by Tushar

The name of this post goes by the name of a very interesting party game. Here one is supposed to talk “sensible” nonsense for the allotted time slot.

By “sensible” nonsense I mean, every sentence uttered by the person should independently make sense but it should not be related (at least!) semantically with the previous sentence. You can copy one or two words from the previous sentence to base the next one.

Here goes my entry after what I read in today’s Pune times (Times of India’s supplement for Pune city)

“Indians lose virginity at the average age of 19.3 years.

I am 23 years old.”

Makes sense:)

Redloop!

Written on 11:16 AM by Tushar

Levi’s has launched a new collection of their denim apparels called redloop. Nowadays as I have become a lil brand savvy so I went to their showroom on FC road just to discover that this range starts from 2.5k ! That’s a lot of money for just a pair of jeans!

I don’t think I will have any money left to buy anything else. It turns out to be the reality if you look at models in “redloop” advt:)..What say?

http://redloop.indiatimes.com/

P.S. Have patience till the link loads completely..Let me assure you that it's really worth a watch:)

Diwali Blast

Written on 6:50 AM by Tushar

My company had arranged a small party to welcome Diwali in style (!). There were games ranging from good old dumb charades to mimicry, fish ponds, mad ads and 1 minute games. A few people were forced (!) to sing. I was the host of two games namely dumb charades and mad Ads. The party (read the food!) was great. It took place on Friday afternoon when most of the folks were planning to leave early. Even though not many people participated it was nice revival of college days.

I left for Aurangabad on Sunday morning along with my family in our car. I was driving after a long hiatus. I like driving immensely and I crave speed. Actually I am highly influenced by the way Vin Diesel drove in “The fast and the furious”. But I could not let go off my Pulsar which kept me away from car driving for almost a year! Thanks a billion to Maharashtra state government or whosoever concerned for amazing roads. I drove at a stretch for almost 200 kms and we reached a’bad in the noon.

In the evening we left for Kachner, a small village near a’bad, which is famous for the old Jain temple. Scuds of Jain devotees come here every year because of its religious importance. I was having a discussion with my dr. uncle about whether it is worthwhile to pursue a master’s degree in the land of Uncle Sam. It did sweat me out but in the end I was happy that I could convince him.

On Monday I passed most of my time playing with my niece Laado (Ain’t that a really sweet name!). While talking to my cousin Mayur, he mentioned about some dhaba in the outskirts of a’bad which serves amazing baigan handi! It was enough to fuel my appetite and I took all my cousins to that hotel for dinner.

Laxmi Poojan carries a lot of importance in the Jain community as most of them are businessmen. Jains go to the temple nearby to celebrate the Nirvana Day of Bhagwan Mahavir. We got up really early (5.30 am!!!!) in the morning and left for our village SajjanpoorJ. It has been our family tradition, ever since I gained my wits, to celebrate Diwali in our village which is just 4 kms away from Ellora which has the world famous caves. After the religious ceremony in mandir we headed towards another Jain mandir in Ellora called as Pahad mandir in tractors. It was really a bumpy ride but it was fun!

Soon we came back all weary and everybody took an opportunity to take a nap after glutting the food. By the time I woke up in the evening all gals were busy in drawing rangoli. Rangoli assumes a lot of importance in the Hindu culture. It welcomes good spirits. We put up the lighting on the house and were ready to welcome guests. My village has this tradition wherein everybody goes to each others’ house to perform Laxmi Poojan unlike other places where people perform Pooja in their houses on their own. After Laxmi Poojan, we danced to the local band’s beats. I did shake a leg and learnt a few tips about garba.

The next morning was Padva which marks the beginning of Hindu New Year, when we go to everybody’s house to convey regards to elders and not to mention to eat sweets especially made for Diwali!

In the afternoon I accompanied my uncle to our farm house where I grabbed the opportunity to explore our fields, survey the crop and eat the sugarcane. As a kid, I used to spend my entire vacation in my village and this short trip to the fields evoked a feeling of nostalgia in my mind.

In the evening I came back to a’bad with my cousins as I had to leave for Pune at night. Just to complete the perfect picture I convinced my entire family (14 members including my 2 uncles and their families!) to go for a Hindi movie. Thank god that the movie (Garam Masala) was good and it didn’t ruin my happiness. After a nightlong journey I came back to Pune to mark the end of yet another memorable Diwali celebration.

This is a feeble attempt to capture the fun and joy I share with my family members every Diwali. Wish you a very happy Diwali!

Dirty (!) dancing

Written on 4:39 AM by Tushar


Read the following chat conversation between me and one of my friends…

xyz: am doing all kinds of tp these days.. learning car driving and all

tusharnthole: hehe

tusharnthole: i have joined shamak dawar's dance class

tusharnthole: can u beat that?


Needless to say my friend was speechless! I couldn’t have believed it myself if somebody would have told me that I would be joining a dance class in near future.

I cannot digest the weird feeling that I get when I imagine myself dancing in front of a sizeable audience. The memories of the fiasco in Tina jiji’s marriage are crystal clear in my mind. I was supposed to dance on some old Hindi song along with Sweety and we had rehearsed the whole dance sequence many times. My cousins knew my impeccable ability to dance so they had kept my steps to a minimum. After practicing for long hours the outcome was the same; when I went on the stage along with Sweety, I completely forgot my steps and just stood there watching awkwardly at the audience. It wasn’t something I had not expected. I still remember me standing in a corner not getting what to do and Sweety desperately trying to prompt me the steps!

Anyways that was the past; today I am a proud member of SDIPA Winter Funk. There will be western, jazz and Salsa training for 18 sessions. The authorities told me that there will be a huge stage show on Dec 5th which will be attended by Shamak Dawar himself. He is told to pick up his dance troupe from these dance classes. So don’t be surprised if you spot me dancing in some Hindi movie to the tunes of A. R. Raheman!

Keep watching this space in near future…J

Homer - part 2

Written on 9:23 AM by Tushar

One more addition to the list of cool good bye messages.
This time the entry came from KK which goes like this....

" This is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. It is, instead, the end of the beginning "

Homer

Written on 2:11 AM by Tushar

Writing after a long hiatus…

One of the best “good-bye messages” posted in office since past one year…

"Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals ... except the weasel."
- Homer Simpson

Concise yet meaningful!

Best outgoing student!

Written on 9:28 AM by Tushar


I am very happy to share this news with you…

In the annual social gathering held in my college _ Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, I was awarded a trophy for being the best outgoing student of my batch along with the prize for being the rank #1.

Cheers!

Parasailing!

Written on 7:05 AM by Tushar

I had gone for parasailing on Saturday along with a bunch of friends. This event was organized by In search
Parasailing is a fantastic sport! In this adventure sport, a rope is tied to a jeep and the other end is attached to the person. The person has to wear the safety gear along with the parachute. If the weather is suitable then once the vehicle starts moving then the person has to run behind the rope. Rest is done by the gale!
The pics can be found here.

Written on 3:45 AM by Tushar


That's me! Up in the sky :) Posted by Hello

To mom,with love...

Written on 2:46 AM by Tushar

I came across this poem somewhere on the net.I would like to dedicate this to my mom.

---

"When will you be home?" she asks

as we watch the planes take off
We both know we have no clear answer to where my dreams may lead
She's watched me as i crawled and stumbled
As a child she was my world
And now to let me go, i know she bleeds
and yet she says to me

You can fly so high
Keep your gaze upon the sky
I'll be praying everystep along the way
Even though it breaks my heart to know we'll be so far apart
I love you too much to make you stay
Baby fly away

weekend!

Written on 9:52 AM by Tushar

My weekend was great as usual!

I had gone to the annual party of Kanbay on Friday. The venue was Pancards club. There were abt 4 k ppl! Being in Calsoft, I don’t see that many ppl often. There was live music, good food (Though I dint get an opportunity to have dinner:( ..) and BAR!! No need to tell that I dint booze :)...I met my friend Megha in the party, who works in Kanbay.
I saw a pathetic movie called Constantine the same day at the theatre Alka...Man! How come ppl make such movies and still manage to market it so well...Kaneu Reaves ruined all my happiness... We were a group of abt 7 to 8 ppl...all my classmates from VIT...Everybody took this opportunity to kick my a$$ as watching this movie was my idea :)

Saturday was reserved for sleeping though I sleep everyday as if there is no tomorrow :)...I called up my cousins in Aurangabad and a few friends here and there. My cousin Mayur from Aurangabad joined us at midnight. He had come to stay with us for Sunday. He had gone to Bombay for some work and took a halt at my place on the way back to Aurangabad.

On Sunday, We had planned to go to Panshet dam for boating. There were 6 of us…Sameer, Nitin, Abhijeet, Mayur bhaiya, Rajesh babu and last but not the least, me!

I left home at 730 in the morning along with Mayur bhaiya on my bike. After the brisk journey of 40 minutes on Pune Banglore highway we reached Bibwewadi where rest of the folks were going to join us.(40 kms in 40 minutes will give u an amazing figure for speed…If I mention this to my parents then they will put a lifelong ban on riding the bike!)

Road to Panshet goes via Khadakwasla. It’s also a dam which supplies water to Pune. It is a good place to hang out if u wanna stay away from the heavy traffic in Pune and not to forget, the pollution! The place facing the damn is converted into a small (and dirty!) chowpati where u will get (not so good) bhel and other chat items. The best part is corn which I love to eat! This place is very crowded on the public holidays and hence losing its charm slowly.

When we passed Khadakwasla it was just 9 o’ clock in the morning and the shore was almost empty. IAT (Institute of Armament Technology) is situated next to it. I must say that folks staying in there are very lucky.

The view of the road leading to Panshet is picturesque. I regret for getting the cam as the scenery on the road was great! Blue and clear water of river Mutha on one side and the fields nearby and the jungle on the other side of the road made the scene picture perfect! One could see the reflection of the mountains surrounding the whole area and the clouds in the sky in the clear water. We stopped at almost every turn to have a better look at this panoramic view.

As the winter was almost over, most of the trees had no leaves and we found many trees (I don’t know the name of that typeL) which had no leaves but beautiful red and orange flowers all over them! That indeed was worth a pic!

Soon we reached to Panshet at abt 10.

We took longer to reach than expected. The one way distance is merely 35 km.

There is one hotel on the dam side. We tasted almost all the items over there and went to the boat club.

As we were 6 ppl, we hired two peddle boats. The charges were minimal.

We landed in our boats. I, Mayur bhaiya and Abhya were in one boat. Sam, Nitin and Rajesh were in the others. Once we got the hang of how to manage the boat, we started playing pranks on each other. As we were two teams, the war soon began! Splashing water was not allowed so we were bound to do it!

Though there are many controversies abt who defeated whom, my team conquered the other and they became our slaves… As we all have lateral thinking and open minds we set them free. Someone should take a note of this while writing the history of my times.

The boating session dint last long and we were back in the hotel. It was afternoon and we were feeling sleepy. It being the only hotel nearby, it was the only place where we could have got shelter from the scorching heat. So we placed some order for the namesake and started chatting. We talked about good old college days. Had a hearty laugh! This completes my idea abt the idea weekend.

When we left for Pune I noticed that tire of Abhya’s bike was punctured. Everything was going as per the plan and now…twists in the tale! We took the bike to Panshet village. The repairing work took about an hour and we took this opportunity to chat with the villagers. The village was pretty clean and ppl were busy buying the vegetables from the bazaar.

While returning from Panshet we took a halt at Khadakwasla. I ate my favorite corn and we sat there chatting, sipping the hot tea, watching the ppl playing in the water.

The shore was full of ppl and everybody was having good time. Then all of a sudden, a herd of buffalos came running and jumped into the water forcing everybody to come out of water. It was a funny siteJ

We resumed the return journey and reached Pune at around 5 O’ clock.

In the mean time, it started raining…Can any weekend get better than this? What do u say?


Pics uploaded!

Written on 3:23 AM by Tushar

Finally I did it!

After doing R & D for a long time, I found the solution which is so trivial that u will wonder is there any need for brainstorming!

The thing is I finally uploaded my pics on the World Wide Web! I have put the pics of Calsoft picnic to Tapola, my convocation ceremony (I hope this is not the last one I attend in this lifetime! I have my fingers crossed…), Trek to Bhimashankar and last but not the least, New Year party at Prateek’ place.

The link is http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tusharnthole/my_photos.

Yahoo gives unlimited storage. The site offers very primitive features. But as this being the first time, I can live with that one!

I also experimented with tools like picasa and hello, both by google.

Hello is an IM (Instant Messenger) by google. This allows u to do picture transfer of any size. This is a very useful tool. U can upload the pics on the blog as well. The pics which I have uploaded on my blog are done using hello. I have no idea if u can upload the pics on other blog websites. It is possible here as all the google websites or products have to maintain the compatibility with others. This is the obvious goal I guess.

Picasa is the best photo editing software I have ever seen…I haven’t seen many but that’s a different story altogetherJ. Its power is simplicity. It makes the job of photo editing so simple that even a naïve user like me could do some tricks!

Do try using these softwares. I am not advertising google here though it is my dream to get in thereJ… I will do that some day for sure! Watch out this space in future…


Linux workshop!

Written on 10:05 AM by Tushar

I conducted a workshop on Linux kernel module programming and Advanced administration on 20th Feb, 2005.

The event was organized as a part of intercollegiate project exhibition held in D. Y. Patil College of engineering called “Texplosion”.

This Linux workshop was sponsored by Calsoft. In all 70 students from various colleges attended.

I taught a batch of 30 students along with my colleague Amit.

We covered following topics...

====================================
Advanced Linux Workshop: (Details)
Timing: 20-Feb-2005 [Sunday]
====================================
 
I. Topics Covered:
   --------------
 
        - Linux Administration (Basic starting level)
        - Linux Kernel (module) programming
 
II. Sections of the workshop:
    ------------------------
 
        1. Linux Administration:
                       - ifconfig (Show ip info)
                       - neat (Configure ip addresses 
                         [Static/dynamic/other options])
                       - Create a subnet of 3-4 nodes using
                         above tools
 
                       - Ftp (Basic configuration and usage)
 
                       - Http (Apache server configuration)
                       1. Default document_root
                       2. User specific document_root
                       3. Configuration through GUI and conf file
 
                       - NFS (Basic configuration and usage)
 
                       - Samba (Basic Configuration and usage)
                               1. Mount windows share in Linux
                               2. Add Linux share in windows
                               
        2. Linux Module programming:
                       - Module programming basics
                       - create simple Hello World module (Linux 2.6.x)
                       - Basic compilation by generating own Make file (Linux 2.4/2.6)
                       - inserting and removing the module
 
***********************************************************************

The fort which we din't conquer!

Written on 2:58 AM by Tushar

Trek to Vasota: The fort which we din't conquer!

-------------------------------------------------

Groundbreaking research!

--------------------------

We had to leave for Vasota at 11.30pm on sat (8th Jan 05).We had to gather in front SP college main gate.That time I was having dinner with minu and sameer's family:)...U should never reach anywhere on time..That makes others believe that u work:) (Funda #1)

We were goin for the trek along with a group of trekking enthus named Explorers.There were 7 of us from Calsoft namely myself :)..(C'mon..Now don’t tell me that u dont know my name!),Minu,Dhanshree,Kunal a.k.a.KK,Amit,Abhijit a.k.a.Batman and Parag...Ankur and Riyaz were not gonna come that was a relief:).My pals Sameer, Saudamini and Megha joined us.Finally we were a group of 45 ppl.

We left from SP at 12.30.(Funda #1 revisited!)..The bus which Explorers had hired was rocking! It really was!!As we left for Vasota we had an interesting discussion in which we came up with an idea of forming a trekkin club..whose name is gonna be FIREFOX! We are still in the process of finalizing the rules and all..Who is gonna be the president is the million dollar question:)

The bus stopped at Satara at 3.30am.Slowly we reached the village Bamnoli at 5 am I guess..It was still dark and the stars were twinkling all over the sky..Thanks to the cement jungle we live in I had not seen the starry night since a really long time..We had a walk along the lakeside...And that is when the historic moment came...This is when I invented the *moving Geostationary satellite theory*..Watch out this space to know more about that:)..That was the time when we had a lil debate abt how fast a comet can move..My guess was a few light years in a day...All suggested me to me to take up lessons in Astrophysics. I still wonder why:)

Explorers had arranged nice breakfast for us...pohe.

By the time we had finished the breakfast the boat which was gonna take us to vasota had arrived. I forgot to see the name of the boat..I guess it must be Titanic.

When the boat left we noticed something very interesting .There was a hand pump located near the boundary of the lake.It was half dipped in water..Then I realized what the source of water of the lake was! The theory which proposes that all the water in the lake was coming from the leaking hand pump is known as *Hand pump theory*...No doubt about that at all:)

Then all realized that we had to do something just to kill the time..What else is better than an Antakshri!We divided ourselves in two groups.We sung all kinda songs from Hindi films and a few Marathi songs as well.In the mean time I had noticed a few dolphins jumping here and there in the lake. I tried telling others but nobody believed me:(

Root has landed!

-----------------

We reached by 9 to the other side. As we landed we had a small session in which we got introduced to each other. There were ppl from s/w companies like Infy and Kanbay apart from Calsoft. Two dudes from Kanbay accompanying Megha,one of them was Vikram I guess, were adventure sports enthusiastic. They were all set to trek with their trekkin gear put on...I as wearing my 'garib' night pants:( and ofcourse a T shirt!

The plan was to go to Nageshwar Caves first and then to New Vasota fort.

"Mhatari cha angtha" which literally means thumb of an old lady lies in between the two destinations.

The Kodak moment!

---------------------

We started to trek through the terrain in the Jungle which had water in few places.The jungle was pretty dense. I was dying to see some kind of wild animal.The path was pretty steep and it was full of stones which one can find in the bank of a river.As there was no plain ground at all with rocks and pebbles everywhere we (read amateur trekkers) soon got exhausted. I was carrying lemon chocolates which I was very reluctant to take but my mom din't give up!

That was the only edible thing I was carrying..When ppl started feeling dehydrated it really helped.The bottom line is being mama's boy sometimes, really helps! (Funda #2)

I soon got bored as the road was such that I was not even able to watch the scenery around me. I was waiting every now and then and was having a look around. Unfortunately there were no birds to watch for:( ..(Pun intended!).

As we were trekking ,we were having interesting discussions. (Time is precious!(Funda #3 ))..Amit, Batman and Parag were discussing about how Linux (Read Linus if you want) is God!I suggested a name for their group.."KillBill"!

As we were about to reach Nageshwar Caves,the slope was horrible and Minu was already so exhausted that she started feelin stomach ache and gradually she started crying...Tears running over her cheeks initially made me wonder whether she was crying for the chocolate which I had snatched from her.(Thou shalt always speak the truth! (Funda #4))..But when I learnt the truth I started feelin better..Then kanbay dudes came to the rescue. They had oranges with them.Then I realized that how careless I am for not carrying ...(Quite a big list it is!) oranges, cucumbers, carrots which come handy when you run out of water in jungle, the pills or the painkillers (No idea about the names as I have never taken them).But as this was my first ever serious trek I took a mental note of it.The scene was so poignant that Kunal a.k.a. KK was also about to cry I tried comforting him:)

This surely was the moment of the day!

After this emotional scene was over we reached Nageshwar caves in a short while.

Nageshwar caves are situated at a distance of about xxxx feet from the sealevel...The thing is I have rather weak memory and I am not that great at geography as well so to be on a safer side I won't wanna mention the figure:)

Lets say, it is situated at a great hight and one can view the Vasota Fort ,Mhatari cha angtha from there.

Few other forts must be visible from there but as usual I was not paying attention to the instructor and I missed all those details. But who cares! There always are the websites to get that info! The view was panoramic. It felt awesome being there!

We settled down in the cave. Explorers had carried the food with them. The menu was some veg which had mutter in it and tasted very good,chapati,bhakri,mirchi thesa or chutney whatever you call it,rice and dal.The food tasted awesome and having that food over there was a sheer luxury! That couldn't have been better.All were standing in a queue like prisoners in the jail to collect the food. As I live life king size I was looking at the scene peacefully till Amit got food for me.Till that time I was eating from Saudi and Sameer's plate. Friend in need is a friend indeed! (Funda #5)..As everybody din't share the same thoughts as mine they asked me to wash their plates which I obviously refused:)

I told them that self help is the best help! (Funda #6)

After the delicious lunch we took rest in the cave. As it was so calm and quite inside the cave that I had uncountably infinite (I hope I got the term right)dreams in half an hour.I suddenly realised that everybody was shouting at me so it was the time to wake up.Damn!

So..it was the time to leave for Vasota fort which was sitting right in front of us behind Mhatari cha Angtha.(Now onwards also known as McA) Our aim was to reach McA first which was like the midpoint between the two.The distance between the vasota fort and the caves is about 7 to 8 kms.We started walkin towards McA via a road which was so small that barely one person could walk! The mountain and the dense forest was on one side and the valley was on the other. The view of the valley was breathtaking! I hardly get frightened by height a.k.a.'No fear dude' but this view made me feel the fear!

Soon the tough patch was over..(Tough times never last but tough people do! (Funda #7)) and we started walking through the jungle. It was the "densedested" (It is a new term which we had coined:) ) forest which we had come across in the trek so for.Explorers told us that the jungle has animals like biason,bear and all. I was excited and a little depressed at the same time as I was not destined to see a tiger or say a lion...I wanted to ask "Why God why? Why are you doing this to us? "But I decided to ask the God this question in person whenever I meet him:)

Then we reached the phata where two routes met...the one going towards the fort Vasota and the one going down towards the lake.It was about 20 minutes journey from there to the fort but I was exhausted and din't want to strain myself more so I dropped the plan to conquer the fort..We (Read myself,sam,saudi,parag,amit and minu)sat down there itself waiting for others to come back.

Later folks who went to vasota told us that the view from Vasota was awesome and especially the "babu" kada..I found that name very funny. Babu must be a very brave man!

As ppl started coming back we started our return journey through the forest.

The forest was so dense ("densedested") that one could expect a wild animal at every turn!

We clicked some really amazing photographs which I hope to upload here soon....I can't wait!

We reached a hanuman temple which happened to be near the nala flowing through the jungle. The water of the nala was so cold...Man! We played in water and then headed towards the boat (Read Titanic:))..

It was about 6 pm then and night had started falling...The return journey was a bit delayed coz of a couple which had seem to be disappeared in the forest.When they came back the boat engine started roaring and we took off biding goodbye to vasota...

The return journey was the best part of the 'nature show' in which I was a playing a part throughout the day..

It was water everywhere and as that entire region is not yet affected by the tsunami of humans and the cement jungle they

live in , there was no light at all.Being the winter season,the fog has started gathering over the water surface and that reminded me of the movie "pirates of the Caribbean"...Everybody was very tired and so there was almost no talking in the boat..I was trying to trouble sam as usual but he was too tired to answer:).I was leaning outside the boat and having a look at the sky.Stars were all around...Megha pointed out the galaxy which could be seen in the sky...Suddenly Saudi noticed that there was no moon in the sky so it had to be "amavas ki raat"! How possibly could have I let go this opportunity! I started telling her the ghost stories ..which were all made up:)..All of a sudden the engine gave out a cry and it stopped...It just stopped! There we were, in the middle of the water with no lights and no trace of humans. I could see the lights twinkling in the village Bamnoli..But it was like a dream come true for me!

There could have been no better end to this day full of adventures!

The boatman did some of his magic tricks and the boat headed towards the bank..It is where our bus was waiting for us..

We left for Pune at 9 and reached there at around 2am.

This really was one of the most memorable days of my life..

Life goes on...and stars shine down...but I will cherish these moments forever!

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