Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The best ten minutes of my life so far

It has been raining cats and dogs in Mumbai. The City has received more than 15 cms of rain since morning, as a result of which many people didn't bother coming to college today. I had different ideas, since didn't have a rainy day like today this monsoon, I wanted to hit roads as soon as possible. Dressed up in my rain suit and the rains had eased up. Still ripped my way to college within 15 mins. Four and a half hours later, the college authorities gave up and canceled the rest of the lectures. Now it’s raining heavily, I quickly tucked the rain gear into the bag and headed towards the parking lot.
Kick started my bike zoomed out of the gate onto the road. There was water accumulated at many places, without hitting the brakes went over each of them splashing water everywhere. I don’t know why but I every time I splashed water there was a big smile in my face, probably the kid in me was enjoying the most. A turn later I skipped a red light and was onto the Palm Beach Road and I was determined not to let the Speedo indicator needle go below 100 Kmph mark. Now the raindrops were piercing my face and chest like a sharp needle, the pain was unbearable but still wasn’t in any mood to let speed drop below the 100 mark. Bearing the intense speed and skipping two more red lights, I reached home in a record time of nine minutes flat. As soon as I removed the raincoat from the bag and kept it on the table, look on my mom’s was like, “Aah, now my son’s really gone insane!!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Pleasingly Messed Up Ride

MRC bikers before Thamni
The day before: It’s raining heavily in Mumbai. Grandma saying that she wouldn't let me ride if such rains continue and I praying for more rains. At 11:30 alarm set at 5 am and I am off to bed.

Ride day: Wake up at 5:20 Am after 4-5 snoozes, only to find out that it’s not raining. Disappointed, I complete the morning formalities. Now, the rain gear is nowhere to be found. Found it , dusted it as I had not used it after last monsoon .Geared up , I headed to the parking lot only to find my bike missing . Realized that I had left it at my uncle’s place, asked mom for my Kinetic Honda's keys. Five minutes and fifty kicks later it starts. Phew!!! Parking Kinetic, I tried to start the bike but in vain. Few kicks later it starts , waving goodbye to my uncle I leave his place and press the horn button ,yes you guessed it right the horn's given away . Now I have to ride for 250 kms without a horn and every rider knows how difficult it is. Now I have to catch up with Abhishek, Prasad and other MRC members. We were supposed to meet at Centre One, Vashi at 6 Am and it’s already 6:30. On the way to C1, I realize that my bike papers are at home, turn around, got the papers from home and reached c1 at 6:45 am to find no one, not even a stray. Assuming I have been left behind, called up Prasad to know about his whereabouts, he replied saying that they will reach in a couple of minutes. Another Phew!!!! After the starting trouble, I was praying was a pleasant ride.

MRC riders Abhishek, Prasad, Abhijeet and Suman with their Pulsar 150, CJ sir with a pillion and his Pulsar 220, Salim sir with his Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 5s arrived with the sweet sound of their engines. A few handshakes later the ride began. Cruising on the 6- lane Palm Beach road, reach Datta Snacks, Panvel for a routine stop. After feasting on Mumbai's staple food - Vada Pav and Chai, we were well on our way to Pali, our next destination. By the time we neared Pen. Abhijeet Received call from CJ.

Problem 1:
Suman’s bike refused to start at Datta Snacks and Mr. Salim had already reached Pen. Abhijeet went back to Panvel with the toolkit.

In the mean time Prasad, I, Abhishek, Ashish and Kamlesh thought of hiking a small hill nearby which was covered with a green bed sheet. The hike upwards was not more than 25m but was a very steep and slippery affair. After an hour of photo sessions and other means of time pass it was time to join Salim, who was waiting alone in Pen. Hiking down the hill was much more slippery, while other preferred to use their foot, I wanted to slide down. A plastic bag would have made the task easier and at the end my pants had to take this.





A few clicks later, continued till Vadkal Naka for a breakfast and Salim joined us here. The Missal Pav we ordered was done in no time and even after paying the bills, we stayed there waiting for the others to arrive. Finally they arrived at 12 noon and as soon as they finished their food we left for Pali. After riding for some time on the beautiful Goa highway, it was time to ride on the one - laned, two way roads full of twists and curves with greenery on either side leading to Pali. Pali temple wasn’t much crowded so darshan didn’t take much time. All I prayed for was a pleasant and an eventful ride, but little did I know that there was another breakdown in store for Suman’s bike.

Problem 2:
Everyone up in their gears and Suman’s Pulsar refuses to start. CJ tried every trick he knew and opened almost every part of the bike except the engine and filter. The bike still refuses to run. In the mean time Prasad and Ashish bring a mechanic. He then begins his duty, checks the parts CJ had and then finally the air filter. I seemed that water had entered the filter. Now that problem was found, it was solved in a matter of minutes. After couple of hours later we left Pali.

Weelay Phata (Junction) was our next destination where Prasad’s friends would join us to show some nearby places. The country roads were at their green best. On reaching Weelay Phata we were waiting for Prasad’s friends. This is where I clicked this 7 km pic.Download it,zoom it and compare the two signboards.


Left the place as soon as they arrived. Giving us company were some lakes, rivulets and many minute waterfalls. The moment we reached a big fall, everyone climbed up but Abhishek, I and Salim decided to stay back and take some rest. Man now I am really hungry and wanted to have some food as soon as possible. I am surviving only on a Vada Pav and Missal Pav. The bikers come down after a while and we left to the hotel which was supposedly not too far from here. On reaching there, Abhishek started searching for sockets to charge his phone and Prasad was busy playing with dogs in and around the place. Even after placing the order we were made to starve for more than an hour. In the mean time Mr. CJ entertained us with his experiences from his Ladakh Ride and the Golden Quadrilateral Challenge. Before meeting CJ I heard and read about my die-hard bikers, but never seen any and now I am meeting such a guy. After some gyan on the do and don’t at some places he has visited, the food arrives and within minutes the plates were shining empty. The ride to Thamni Ghats at last began after another group photo at Hotel (pronounced Ho – Tal) Raigad Inn.

After few kilometers we reach a fork where one route leads to Pune and other to Lonavla. We continued taking the road to Lonavla. The roads were a complete nightmare. Wait!!!! Did I say roads? Actually there was nothing as such; it was just a narrow Jungle path. The lights begin to fade away and it gave away completely within half an hour. At one point a monkey came before Abhijeet’s bike posed and ran away. The road was mainly made of slush with many water crossings in between. Prasad fell prey to one of these slush crossing and at another instance I almost banged Prasad from behind because of the dead horn. This stretch is an off roaders Paradise and riding in dark adds to the excitement. To my surprise the King of roads, Maharashtra ST was alive in this path too. Spotted a couple of them. The 56 kms stretch had less than 50 houses. Reached Amby Valley by 8:15 pm took a ritual pic and was on usually tarmac. Its monsoon time, we’re near Lonavla and how can fog be ignored. Well thick fog followed us all the way till Lonavla. After a cup of coffee at Kamath’s, the ride back home began. There was some drizzling at 2-3 places for not more than a couple of minutes when we were actually expecting heavy rains. All of the sudden all hell broke loose the moment we reached Khopoli. The groupe suddenly dispersed or maybe I was separated from the rest. There is nothing visible no. To add to the difficulty of riding alone in very heavy rains there was horn was also not working (if u remembered that).Now, I was blindly following the taillight of a truck who was ripping at speeds well above 80 kmph mark. 10-15 mins I got bitten by the adventure bug and overtook the truck which was serving as my savior and was riding at almost 100 kmph. Few minutes later spotted Abhijeet and we together ripped all the way till Panvel where Salim and Suman joined us minutes later. After riding together with them, I parted ways at Belapur, where I went on the Palm Beach road to home. Reached home by 11pm, parked my bike, my wrists were cramped and I wasn’t able to open them and take my hands off the handle. Called Prasad to know about his whereabouts and was informed that he was still at Belapur with the rest. Went home and threw my rain gear to one corner, changed into shorts and crashed to the bed.

All thanks to Shri Ballaleeshwar at Pali and Suman’s Pulsar for making this an unforgettable affair.




For more pics click here

Monday, May 4, 2009

A 90 minutes, 90 KM...Purely Instinctive Ride...





It was as a casual and lousy Tuesday. Rahul, Sumit, Mohit and I were sitting in the corner of the classroom discussing random things while there was something else going on with others...something related to Digital Signal Processing. I, normally, find that subject interesting but for that day I don't know why i didn't feel even listening to anything at all. I just wanted to do something, something that would make me feel free and relax my eternally tiring soul.

So, I suggest Rahul and I bunk a few lectures and go for a ride on his bike. And that was something I rarely do...No! that was something I never do! He agreed quickly but we couldn't think of some good place to head off to as we had just 2-3 hours at hand. We had to come back and attend the Internet Tech & Apps practical that noon. The lecture was long enough for us to decide where to go. The plan was not to decide the destination but just ride for half the time we had and then turn and come back. We would of course stop in between to eat and take pictures. That was all easy and we had a few extra hundred bucks in our pockets that day. But there were few other issues....


Problem 1: We had no camera!
Rahul has a cam but as it wasn't planned so he hadn't bought it that day to college...We tried asking a few friends with decent cameras in their phones to lend them to us for a couple hours. As nice as they always are, they were very possessive and insecure about the idea. For a minute we almost canceled the plan because of this. But then someone told us a guy named Kiran had a cybershot phone. Now I must mention we weren't that good as friends but when I asked him he said yes first then asked what it was for. I was very kind of him to behave that way. And that's how kindness can help you take snaps...


Problem 2: I needed a helmet!
Now, Rahul comes to college on his bike but I travel by local trains considering the fact that I live around 65 KM away from my college. So the problem? I didn't have any helmet to help me with the summer heat and dust getting in to my eyes!! So, then we were running around finding someone to lend us their helmet. And as it turned out, every other guy in class who used to bring their bikes to college didn't, that day...Well, everyone except Aadhitya. At first he refused to lend us his helmet, I don't know why. Then we tried again and he agreed but he kept warning me. He said "If you loose it, I'll kill you" Wasn't that too dramatic! He seemed worried because on his way home, he would have to pay a fine if found without his helmet. Anyways,we got what we wanted and we didn't mind anything now...


Problem 3: There was no problem 3! We were already out on the road by now!!

While we were riding, I was constantly thinking about how different people are everywhere. Rahul always asked me to come with him for a ride. I am a lazy ass and didn't respond well to that. That day was different. This year to me is different. A lot many things seemed to evolve me from inside since the year started. I am going to write about that evolution in my personal blog soon, but this is about the ride. It felt free. I am not the kind of guy who always bunks classes to have fun. I am not the kind of guy who has a lot of fun. Really. But I wanted to have some that day.

We went towards Panvel and we had two options - To go on the Goa highway or Pune. I could have really gone to Pune itself but I didn't want to miss the practical. So we go on the Goa highway for as long as an hour. We stopped in between for a few clicks. The fact that we didn't have a camera bothered me and that is the reason we don't have much pics. But the roads, as lonely as they can be, were surrounded by many beautiful scenarios. At times, there would be vehicles all around us and all I would want is to ignore them and enjoy the birds around. Other times, there would be no one at all, but trees. And big ones. like the one's we never get to see here in the city. There is this Karnala sanctuary that I wanted to go to. But we didn't have much time.

At one point, we stopped to take a few pictures of birds playing besides a small lake. I felt a bit afraid to go down and shoot some pics but Rahul managed to push me anyways. He was not in his shoes so he stepped back. At first, it did feel scary. I thought the slope was too narrow but the view was worth it. I mean how often do you get to see a flock of beautiful birds..playing amongst themselves..flying free..drinking water..I am not that good at painting pictures with words but I guess you know by now what I mean.

After halting at around 4-5 places, we thought we'd have lunch somewhere and go back. It wasn't easy to find one. The only one we got was not open although there were two guys there. There was like a small hill there. We thought we would go up and have the lunch we had in our bags. Rahul drove all the way up and there we sat watching the road where we came from look very smaller now. It was hot being noon but the winds were blowing and surprisingly there was not much dust there. We quietly had our lunch and had a little talk about the trip. Suddenly, there comes this man who we met down at the hotel. He walked all the way up to the hill to talk to us. At first I thought he would as us to leave. I guessed that from the looks of his face. But he was nice. He offered us to sit in the rest room if we wanted and have our lunch there. Rahul talked to him in Marathi (which I am not quite good at) and told him we rather enjoyed it on the hill. He smiled and went away. Rahul sensed my thoughts and we talked about how people are friendlier in village areas. He knows more because he's a frequent traveller...that's where the name comes from - Insane Wanderer...

It was a nice trip overall, but I don't remember much to write about. Its very unfortunate that I failed to write before because of preoccupations. Apologies to Rahul for that, who's been pushing me to write this since a month now...actually more than that. It was March 24th 2009 as the picture says...Not a very exciting fun trip, but it was sure an experience to remember and purely instinctive as the title says...


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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Khopoli Fast

A result of tampering my mobile phone resulted in this ride . Tuesday night before going to the bed I happened to set my alarm in the mobile for 9 Am . In the night I received an automated call from BPL mobile and I reset the alarm to 7 Am . The Alarm goes on and on at 7 and a couple of snoozes later my sleep had an untimely death . With loads of time and just newspaper reading , boredom was slowly encroaching on me . The clock says 7:45 an I had already finished my bath , breakfast and was not in a mood to read the papers . One deep breath and the next thing in my mind was a ride . Moments later I was ready with my jacket and helmet with no destination planned . Picked up my school bag and was on road . The only highway I could remember then was NH4 ( old Mumbai-Pune Highway ) . Riding very slow at an average of 30-40 km/hr amidst heavy traffic till Sanpada . Thereafter , the road was all mine and still riding at the same speed with the helmet visor opened up and breathing some clean air .


Near Kamothe


The wrist watch says 9 Am and I was in two minds whether to continue riding or attend the lecture which was to begin at 9:30 Am . Finally after a chai (Tea) I decided to give the lecture a miss and decided to ride to Khopoli and then to college to attend the second lecture at 10:30 Am .

Chai stop


NH4

Within 10 min of riding I was at Khopoli Bus Stand and Lonavla was calling me . Dismissing the call , the return journey began . A few kilometers later , a signboard pointing to Mahad Ganpati came to my notice . I had missed this temple during my Ashtavinayak Yatra and within a weeks time I was here . Spent a good spiritual 45 min here in the temple and by 10:15 I was back on road with 15 min for lecture and 65 km to be covered.


Mahad Temple Pond


Way back to college

I was trying to ride as fast as I can and in 18 min. I was at Panvel covering 28 km . Another 30 min later I entered the college at 11 Am . 11:05 Am entered the classroom with my jackets on , inviting a blank look from my classmates except a few . Luckily the professor allowed me in despite being 35 min late and got my attendence too . In my view this was the best was I could have spend those 3 hours .

Regards,
Rahul ( Wanderer )

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ashtavinayak Yatra - Part 2

Check out Part 1 of the Yatra .

At Theur , we were way ahead of the initial schedule and I was excited as if I have achieved something very big . Siddhatek was around 70 km from Theur . Sailesh had said us that we would have to cross a river to reach the temple , last time when he visited that was the only way to reach the place . This piece of news brought even more excitement in us . Waving goodbye to Theur we were in the Pune-Solapur highway in a couple of minutes . This highway is perfect for speeding because in the 50 km journey on this highway I could not recollect even a single curve . I was speeding and Prasad and Sailesh were over speeding . On the way , Prasad ran over a stray dog crushed by a truck possibly. By 4:15 , we reached Patas Junction and a few clicks later were back on roads for Siddhatek .






On our way between Daund and Siddhatek , the roads were bad and at one part they were not even there . There was a way through a wet farmland or else we would have had to take a 5 km detour . There was an intresting moment here , while crossing the farm Sandeep's rear wheel got stuck and was not moving an inch . Then we found out that huge amounts of mud had come in between the wheels and the mud guard and that was the reason for the jam . A couple of minutes and some dirty hands later , his machine was roaring . On reaching Siddhatek , to our disappointment a bridge had been constructed over the river . As a result no river crossing . After stocking our luggage and shoes again at a flower vendor we entered the temple and a huge queue welcomed us . The queue was fast moving and on reaching the idol of Lord Sri Siddhivinayak , we offered our prayers , took blessings and were on our way out of the temple . The trunk of the Lord Ganesh is towards the right and in other seven temples its bent towards the left . Prasad , Sandeep and Sailesh had bought an offering plate and the only thing left on the plate was coconuts . You are supposed to break the coconut yourself and Prasad turned out to be an expert at this art breaking three coconuts within no time and these were not the like the ones we get in cities the were the one straight from the tree , the ones u get at the nariyal paani wala. After a while we had some wadas and soft drinks and began packing our bikes for Morgaon .




Route to Siddhatek : Theur-Patas(Pune-Solapur Highway) - Daund - Siddhatek
Trip Meter Reading - 393 km
Distance From Theur: 86 Km

Next Destination - Morgaon , Pune.

After having some tea time snacks we parted ways with Siddhatek . Morgaon was arond 60 km from Siddhatek and it was already 6:15 Pm and was getting darker and as we touched the Pune-Solapur Highway it was completely dark. The highway was full of high beamers . We went on overtaking one truck after another from the left as there was no way from the right . This event lasted for around 30 km till we reached Chowfula . At Chowfula we halted to ask for directions and were told that Morgaon is around 24 kms from here and the roads were not that good . When enquired about the lodging facilities there , we got positive replies . On way to Morgaon , Prasad was leading the way in the dark with mine and Sandeeps bike following his bike . At one place I happened go out of the road and was about to crash beacuse of the high beam from one of the truck but somehow managed to keep my balance and I was back on road an was at Morgaon by 7:45 Pm . We found a very very okay place to stay for the night , a 12 x 8 ft room with bedding's and blankets and a clean toilet , all this for Rs. 350 and we didn't have any other option so had to take it . Half an hour later , every one freshened up and we were roaming the streets of Morgaon and had a mukh darshan or Lord Sri Mayureshwar . A few moments later we left for dinner , we had a feast for Rs. 262 . Our dinner for 4 was
15 Rotis
Paneer Mutter
Veg. Kadai
Veg. Makhanwala
2 Dal Fry
3 Plates of rice

we finished it in no time as we were really hungry . A walk to our logde and everybody were asleep within 15 min .

Next morning , we woke up at 6 am and each of us had a bath one - by - one and left for the temple at 7 . A moderate queue was present at the temple and after a wait of 20 min we were near the idol offered our prayers and took the blessings of Lord Sri Mayureshwar . Later we had some Misal pav for break fast and were on our way to Ozar .







Route to Morgaon : Siddhatek- Daund - Patas (Pune-Solapur Highway) - Chowfula - Morgaon
Trip Meter Reading - 462 km
Distance From Theur: 69 Km

Next Destination - Ozar, Pune (Junnar) .

After consuming the Misal Pav , everyone was on a high an within 20 min reached Chowfula . After Chowfula , we were crossing one village after another until Shirur where there was some traffic for a brief period and then again village roads welcomed us . Sandeep and Prasad sped off and I was cruising and smelling the village soil . At one village (did not bother to know the name) I met 3 of them to check for directions .



Once checking the directions and few information from the villagers about the route , we were back to burning the rubber . I had reached Ozar by 11:30 Am but others did not notice me overtaking them and were waiting for me to arrive at Narayangaon . At 11:45 Am some tourist buses had arrived and in no time a long queue was created . Prasad and Sandeep arrived at 12 Pm . We soon dumped our luggae at a flower vendor again. Here instead of waiting in the queue we decided to visit Lenyadri which was around 20 km from Ozar .

Route to Ozar: Morgaon - Chowfula - Shirur - Mathan - Narayangaon - Ozar
Trip Meter Reading - 606 km
Distance From Theur: 144 km


Next Destination - Lenyadri, Pune (Junnar).

The roads to Lenyadri were horrible , full of potholes . Lenyadri was here and one has to climb around 300 very steep steps . Climbing is really tiresome but seeing elders climb I was motivated . The temple , of Lord Sri Girijatmaj ,here is inside a cave . After climbing up and down did some shopping . Bought some grapes and dried grapes and pedas .



Route to Lenyadri : Ozar - Lenyadri
Trip Meter Reading - 621 km
Distance From Theur: 15 km
Next Destination - Ozar,Pune (Junnar).


By 2:30 , we were at Ozar , this time threr was no queue . We had a like peaceful darshan of Lord Sri Vighneshwar offered our prayers and took blessings and were on our way out . As this was the last temple , there was a lot of sovinours to be brought back home . These were supposed to be gifted to friends and relatives . By 4:15 pm , all shopping was done . We headed to a hotel inside the temple complex where the time for lunch was over so went to another hotel where we were denied food again for the same reason . Hunger had hit us really bad because we didnt have anything since 8 Am . So packed off and we left the temple and found a dhaba just outside the village gate . Had some good food in Bhakris, dal Rice , and some curries . Again a feast and the bill was just Rs. 175 . That was it and we were on our way back home .


Route to Ozar: Lenyadri - Ozar
Trip Meter Reading - 637 km
Distance From Theur: 16 km


Next Destination - Home, Koper Khairne , Navi Mumbai

Had a brief stop at the Malshej ghats for refuelling and some pics . Everyone were back to their ripping best while I again prefered cruising admiring the beauty of Malshej and soaked in the nature, met others and some village 13 km from Kalyan at 7 pm and it was completely dark . Reached home by 8 Pm , had a light dinner and went straight to the bed .



Trip Meter Reading : 812 Km
Total Distance Covered : 812 Km
Fuel Expenses : Rs 900
Food and Lodging expenses on shared Basis : Rs 250 per head.
Shopping : Rs. 500
A ride to Remember : PRICELESS

I have done many rides in the past , but this ride is very special and it has in some way affected the way I ride , riding my bike felt made me feel very special during the trip and the best part is that I am in someway more synchronized with my bike .

Will be back after my next ride.



Regards ,
Rahul (Wanderer)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Ashtavinayaka Yatra - Part 1

The plannings and preparations for this ride started way back in September 2008 . It was Prasad and me who decided that this ride is to be done on 24-26 of January . Initially the plans were in place for a three day ride there were some guy's who were in the ride but never confirmed their status . I had informed my parents that I am going for Ashtavinayak Yatra but they didn't know that it was a ride and it was not hard convincing them as both were religious and gave me thumbs up for the ride . Immediately got my bike serviced from my mechanic .

Now, Ashtavinayaka means "eight Ganeshas" in Sanskrit. Ganesha is the Hindu lord of prosperity and learning. Ashtavinayaka Yatra is pilgrimage to the eight Hindu temples in Maharashtra, India that house eight distinct idols of Ganesha. Each of these temples has its own individual legend and history, as distinct from each other as the statues in each temple.
The following are the eight places where the temples are located; Ozar, Theur, Pali, Mahad, Morgaon, Ranjangaon, Lenyadri, and Siddhatek. Out of these eight places, Theur, Morgaon, and Ranjangaon are around Pune City . Ozar and Lenyadri are near Junnar Town . Pali and Mahad are in Raigad district whereas Siddhatek falls under the Ahmednagar district.

A day before the ride , on the 23rd of January , Prasad calls me and asks if we can do this ride in two days and before he finished speaks I said " Okay, No probs . " That night called my granny in Mulund and said her that I am going on the yatra tomorrow on bike . I was expecting some advices from her or she persuading to drop the plans but to my surprise nothing as such happened and the wished me a happy and safe journey . Expecting the same advices from my maternal grandparents called them to inform them and no advices again just good wishes . Soon packed my bags and kept everything ready .

It was 24th morning 4 Am and Prasad called me to wake me up and by 5:15 Am I was ready to hit the roads and was at Centre One, Vashi by 5:30 Am after taking the blessings of my grandparents . Within a couple of minutes Prasad arrived on his Pulsar 150 with him was his friend Sandeep on his Bajaj Discover 125 with Sailesh as pillion .Resetting the trip meter to 0 and wasting no time we started for Pali our first temple on the list .I have never before had a ride on this roads when dark , even though it was early morining it wasn't less dark and the high beamers were just adding on to my worries . The whether was chilling too , I was feeling cold even with my leather jackets on . For the first time I was riding on the Goa highway (Nh17) .On the Goa Highway instead of going straight I took a left - turn into Pen thinking it was Vadkal , soon called Prasad and corrected my path . By 6:30Am Sun began to rise and there were a lot ot moments to be captured and was still a good 60 km away . Prasad and Sandeep continued riding and the photographer in me wanted to click some pics on the Goa highway . After clicking some pics met the guys at Wakan Phata or Pali Phata .




Pali Ganpati temple is some 20kms from Wakan Phata and the roads are pretty good . One Lane roads with no vehicles from either sides , just three motorcycles cruising on the the roads. By 7:30 we were at the Pali temple premises . The Aarti had just finished and there was no crowd . We stocked our bags,jackets and shoes at a local flower vendor and entered the temple had the Darshan of Lord Shri Ballaleshwar offered our prayers , took our blessings and were out within 15 minutes . The idol here is short but wide . Like other temples in India , photography inside the temples is prohibited here too . Pali village is nestled between the Sarasgad Fort and a river (forgot the name) .






Route to Pali : Mumbai - Panvel - NH17 (Mumbai - Goa Highway) - Wadkal - Wakan - Pali

Trip Meter Reading - 101 Kms
Next Destination - Mahad, Raigad



By 8 Am started our journey toward Mahad . Mahad is a village on the hilly regions of Konkan 1.5 kms off NH4 (Old Mumbai- Pune Highway) . There is a Pali - Khopoli road leading to Mahad
. The roads were in bad condition with some good patches in between . Sun was out on a high by 9 Am and all of us were hungry we stopped over at Hotel Rajinikanth and Dhaba had some khanda(onion) bhaji's ,Vada Pav's and a cup of tea . 9:30 Am and we are at Mahad temple i.e. premises of Lord Sri Varada Vinayaka. There is a huge queue . A little enquiry and we were told that a 12 tourist busses d arrived 15 min backand the queue time will be at least 4 Hrs . We were left with no option but to settle for Mukh Darshan(Sight or glimpse of the idol from outside the temple) . All I got was just a glimpse of the idol. Since this temple is just 50 Kms from my home , I was easily convinced . One intresting fact about this temple is that a nandadeep has been lit in this temple which has been continously lit since 1892.



Route : Pali - Mahad (via Khopoli - Pali road)
Trip meter Reading : 142 kms
Distance From Pali: 41 Kms


Next Destionation : Ranjangaon , Pune .

Once confirming the directions in the road map , hit the roads the infamous Old Mumbai - Pune Highway(NH4) . Cruised till Talegaon without any hassles and on our way from Talegaon to Chakan heavy traffic greeted us with their widespread hands . Maneuvering through the trucks and auto-rickshaws we crossed Chakan . On crossing Chakan on way to Shikrapur there were large farmlands on both the sides, looked like paddy farms . The roads from Shikrapur to Ranjangaon was a beautiful stretch . Some 20 km of serious ripping and arrived at the Ranjangaon at 12:30 Pm. Ranjangaon seemed a spiritually awakened village. Dumping our baggages , jackets , helmets and shoes at a flower vendor outside the temple, we stepped inside the temple premises . There was a long queue at the temple but even then the atmosphere was verly calm and silent . Every single person was soaked in the devotion of Lord Ganesh . The long queue was weel organised and fast moving . After an hour in the queue , darshan of Lord Sri Mahaganapati was very pleasing . We offered our prayers, offerings and took blessings and sat inside the temple chanting the prayers for another 10 min . The temple was very clean and huge . We spent some time exploring the temple clicking some photographs until hunger struck. There is food offered in the temple as prasad . As prasad dal ,rice and sheera are offered unlimited . We had a feast and the beauty is that the people having the food were from all walks of life and were sitting nearby and smiling at each other , perhaps , such a thing can be seen only in India . Once food was over , Theur was calling us . Bags loaded , Jackets on , our motorcycles were back on roads again.


Route : Mahad-Lonavala-Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon
Trip meter Reading : 266 kms
Distance From Mahad: 122 Kms


Next Destionation : Theur , Pune .

Ranjangaon-Shikrapur-Lonikand fall on Maharashtra SH-66 . A same beautiful stretch on which the needle in the speedo was never below the 90 kmph mark . In 15 mins we reached Lonikand around 27 kms from Ranjangaon . The roads from Lonikand to Theur are in pathetic condition , riding on them almost broke my back. To add to this there were bullock carts all along the road and trucks coming in from the opposite direction , all in this one lane roads . it took us almost 45mins to do these 13 kms and finally Theur was here .By 3:30 we reached the Theur temple , dumped our bags in a sugarcane juice shop outside the temple , had some fresh juice and entered the temple after washing our face, hands and feet. This temple looked old and it needed some painting . It was a big temple ,but was almost empty . Without any rush , we offered our prayers and took blessing and some exploration of the temple and we were on our way out .







Route : Ranjangaon-Shikrapur-Lonikand-Theur
Trip meter Reading : 307 kms
Distance From Mahad: 41 Kms


Next Destionation : Siddhatek,Ahmednagar .


Regards
Rahul



Part 2 of the blog in the tube.

Actions of Sun

A Sunday morning Pic

A Sunday evening sky and sun trying to make its way through the clouds



Sun setting

Sun setting - Same Sunday late evening view from my window

Friday, January 30, 2009

A Race Lost and a Love found

It was a Tuesday and after surviving 5 hours of lectures and two hours of lab on a not so bright evening I headed towards the parking lot only to find that someone had sprayed dirty water on my motorcycle . Wasting no time I pulled out a piece of cloth from a bike nearby and started cleaning . The onlookers gave me a weird look.Never mind, once that was I had to pick up Satish from a paanshop nearby and drop him at St. Lawrence School Bus Stop on my way home . My home is just 10 kms away from my college . On a heavy traffic day its a 15 minute ride.

A beautiful six-lane Palm Beach Road falls on my way to home . When my mood is very good I tend to rip it apart at around 100 kph . The mood was not good today and I was cruising till reaching the Palm Beach Circle. There came a guy with his girl on his Bajaj Pulsar 180 .Now, I have a habit of shooting of from the signal as soon as it turns green and till now no biker has chased me down . The cagers (cars) chase me down easily but that has never bothered me . Now this this guy started racing his 180 cc machine with my 150 cc(TVS Apache 150) and my ego was hurt . I knew had his bike would beat mine hands down but the I was speeding for a few kms till the so called race was ended and the Pulsar as expected won but just. I was at time time I look into the speedometer and the needle was at 120 mark , a personal best for me. After dropping Satish at the bus stop on my way home I was cursing and abusing Kane (My motorcycle) for letting me down before a girl .

I was thinking about this event for the whole of evening and early morning I had a horrible dream. My dad was snatching the keys of Kane for some reason . I woke up and looked at the clock and it was 5 Am in the morning . Immediately after brushing took a bucket and a piece of cloth and rushed towards my bike and started washing it as if i have bought it just yesterday . The lost race was nowhere in my mind while washing and after 30 Min's Kane was shining under a tube light . That's when I found out that a thing which was just my ride till yesterday , actually turned out to be my love . A love which I cannot afford to miss and it will never be from me .

Regards

Rahul

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Cliff Hunt Ride

It was a dull Friday evening on 16th of January and the thoughts of college reopening on Monday had started bothering me . I went googling in search of a nice destination near Mumbai and zeroed in on Jawhar - Vikramgad for a Sunday ride . Saturday night i happened to see Amol's post, in Mumbai Bikers Club(MBC) forum , of riding to Malshej Ghats. I immediately called him and confirmed my presence , by then i had forgotten about Jawhar since Malshej was a place i wanted to visit since long time .
Sunday Morning at 7:45 met him at Nirmal Lifestyle Mulund and the ride started . Halted near Kalyan for a breakfast . The hotel looked decent but the idli's i had was strictly okay . Two R1 s zoomed past us and that brought a smile on my face . By 9 we left the place for Malshej Ghats and by 9:30 we had crossed Murbad . Near Murbad bus depot i almost hit a cyclist , a fault of mine . He was lucky and i didn't dare to look behind . After crossing Murbad the roads were awesome and almost empty . Amol was a ripper and I prefer cruising . He was ripping for a few kms and then would wait for me to arrive . I got a call from nature and stopped to answer and what a place to piss , awesome feeling in being one with nature.










Amol was still ripping and i was stopping and clicking pics and met Amol at a place where the view was simply mind blowing.




After 10 minutes of admiring the nature and the view , we left for Malshej Ghats . After reaching the top of Malshej , Again brought out the cam and captured some moments .




Few moments later we were riding to Shivneri Fort clicking pics on the way and soaking in the view nature had offered me . The roads were good with some bad patches in between. Shivneri is about 50 kms from Malshej. As soon as we reached the fort we wasted no time in begining the climb . Amol was explaining me the meaning or rather logic behind the names of gate .
Some of the places on the fort we visited.
Shiv Kunj : Shiv Kunj is a memorial, in honor of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Inside Shiv Kunj there is a beautiful idol of Bal Shivaji and Jijabai .
Kadelot: This is the place where prisoners were punished by throwing them down the fort. This point is on the northern end of the fort.
Ganga Jamuna : These are the water cisterns behind the Shiv Kunj. Water in these cisterns is potable. This Tank was an architectural marvel . On whole of Shivneri there are more than a dozen water tanks.
Shiv Janmasthan: This is the place on the fort where the birth of Shivaji Maharaj took place. This place is named as Shiv Mandir. There a cradle of the warrior king.

To the East is the Junnar Township . To the west are the breath taking views to the north is the Kadelot point . Didn't visit the southern part .



West of Shivneri


Junnar Township to the East


The kadelot Point to the North
The fort is very clean and there are 4-5 well maintained gardens, but we humans are prohibited from stepping inside . There are many people selling Lemonade and Buttermilk on the way. On my way out of the fort I found some huge Honeycombs , never seen such big ones in my life before. It takes around 90-100 Min's to climb up and down the fort . By the time we reached the base it was 1:30 and I was hungry and so was Amol . Amol wanted to buy some dried grapes from Lenydri , had a halt there and were on our way to MTDC resort in Malshej for lunch. On the way we saw a lake and immediately were tempted into riding till the bank. Some clicks there and we were at the MTDC resort within 30 Min's . I was there i remembered that it was the same lake i had seen on pulsurge's ride . Lunch was pretty good and not expensive . But what followed was the most interesting part of the ride . After the lunch i happened to sight some cliff and in no time we were there brandishing my digi-cam. Some slippery moments and some pics later we found another cliff near the Malshej tunnel which looked inaccessible .




After some clicking , left the resort for Powai , as we reached the tunnel Amol got a wild idea and we tried to make way into the inaccessible path i was mentioning above. The path was very narrow ant the stones and gravels made it more difficult . I could see my death couple of inches to my right . Somehow i managed to gather guts and reached a safer place . Clicked some pics and left for Mumbai.





U can see the tunnel behind


Another angle of this cliff

Thats it guys meet u after my next ride.






For More Pics ..... Click here


Regards
Rahul