Author: admin

Treks are usually unique. Not only the place but also even the whole experience is always unique. To put it straight Rajmachi was not just a trek but a complete adventure.
An adventurous trek in the rains

Another weekend and another monsoon trek in the sahayadris. I was sure it would be rocking especially considering the rains were here in full swing. The destination this time was Rajmachi, which has twin forts at the top.

Picnic/Trip

I traveled from Mumbai to lonavala. Didn’t have a clue about people who would be joining in for the trek. Seeing the trek group (me, Amit, Anand who was wearing just slippers, Anu and Amit’s mother) I thought it wasn’t going to be a gruesome trek. I thought it would be more like a trip/picnic (a fun day out).

A gypsy was waiting for us at the Lonavala ST stand

We would be going by jeep to the base (Rajmachi - ‘machi’ is a place at the plateau of the fort). Therefore, it would save us the long walk but then we would be missing the opportunity to get wet in the rains.

The ride in the gypsy starts…

We all got into the gypsy. It was difficult to fit into the gypsy considering a couple of heavy weights (yes including Amit). The person driving the gypsy started the music at full volume. The volume/noise was near deafening. Initially it was getting into my brains but later I liked it. I guess it was trance from my very limited (negligible) knowledge of music.

The dirt track begins

After a short ride towards Rajmachi, the dirt track began. Due to the rains, the track was sticky and at some places, it was so sludgy that if one stands he would have his feet shin deep in mud. It was exciting. The driver of the car was none other than Afzal Khan (also know as Afzal Paani).More about him here. It was an 18km ride to Rajmachi. It was full of turns, streams crossing the track and slopes (where sometime we had to get down and walk). One stream was a feet deep and had enough force. Seeing Afzal maneuver the car through the rocky terrain of the stream was an experience in itself. There were times when the back portion of the gypsy would wobble on the mud.

Trek

Yes, finally we started our trek (Amit’s mom stayed at the base). The trek was not strenuous at all, as we took a ride to the base but the scenery it offered was breath taking. Greenery everywhere and pure white streams of water add to it the occasional drizzle and wind.

Food

Food in treks is always special. It surely tasted different. The menu was Nachni chi bhakri, paneer burji, usal, kanda, loncha, thesa, dal ani bhat (read in marathi).

Ride back to Lonavala

Ride back to Lonavala was roCkinG ! This time we (Amit and me) were on the back of an open Gypsy and Amit was shooting Afzal maneuvering his car on the track.

Road Trip

Imagine a dirt track racer on the highway and the road. May be u guessed wrong. On the road he was completely chilled out, no hurry no speeds anything. However, whenever he would get a chance to show his skills in maneuvering the car through the traffic he was spot on. He was driving his car as if we would ride our bike through the traffic.

All in all a complete experience!

Pictures taken from Amit’s camera can be found here.

Today, I had been to my alma mater (read Don Bosco Institute of Technology) to conduct an introductory seminar on DSpace - A digital repostitory system and its prospects as a part of the CRAVE initiative.

It was intersting bcoz:

- always feels gr8 to be back in college.

- interesting to address an entusiastic batch of students eager to know more.
Just a little about DSpace and why DSpace:

- For a quick example to which everyone can relate to, consider the final year theses the college produces at the end of each year. Is there a way students can surf through all the previous works? How about the research papers, publications etc. the students and professors attempt to write. Most of them are lost. A digital repository will enable the institution to manage its intellectual property. To read more about  DSpace try www.dspace.org
- Personally I would like to get my college name here > DSpace Instances Worldwide

- More about the seminar and various topics discussed on the CRAVE wiki [not updated yet]

What I do not want to stress about Mumbai:

- Spirit of Mumbai

- Kudos mumbaikars ( helpful, can handle all this…, wateva )

- will fight back, strong-hearted, pounce-back, etc

- will continue as if nothing happened. ( ppl wud try getting in the trains before it stops and before ppl who want to get down at the station board off the train )

- Hats off to Mumbai

- Salaam Mumbai

Yah, a lots have been said about Mumbai and its attitude (I am not commenting on the Readers’ Digest Survey). We get to hear a lot of this when catastrophic events like the recent blasts (which have become quite regular) happen. I must say this only helps in ego boosting (which is needed, but only sometimes). I am not questioning its credibility as I stand with it but on the ground level, it does not help us or will not help us in the long run.

Just for a small analogy, let’s compare Mumbai to a human heart. Consider each major catastrophe as a block in the heart. In the past month, we have had at least a couple of blocks with around 80% blockages. Now, what we do (all that fighting back and coming-up again stuff) is a by-pass surgery. Though it works *fine* with our heats but is not the right thing to do considering Mumbai is going to livelonger much much longer than what a human heart has to.
What we actually need is to think of a long-term policy of dealing with similar situations. Disaster Management + Futuristic Research. Call it anything…. I don’t care but I need the government to take measures for avoiding future mishaps. Consider the proposed Metro Rail project facing a similar situation in the future. I would propose (if only the government would listen to me) not to build one if the security measures are not in place.

What needs to be done? [This is a random list…]

- Disaster mgmt.: Dnt. expect the government (read police, ambulances, etc) to arrive at crime scenes in flash. It would be highly unrealistic. We need to help ourselves at that time. Simply put it is bringing order to disorder.

- Security policy: Should involve some highly effective security measures and not asking a pandu (I dnt mean any disrespect to Police Hawaldars…. I respect them for what they do for us and I am calling them ‘pandu’ very fondly) to carry a metal detector in BEST bus. I know we can do better.

- Infrastructure and Resources: Need I stress on this? We (mumbaikars) face it, talk abt it, realize it and forget abt it!

- Government + Statehood for Mumbai: I am not blaming the Government (I m not Advani). I feel Mumbai should be awarded statehood. I m not sure of the implications it would have on politics, India, ppl etc. but all I need to stress on is that Mumbai needs special treatment. It needs special attention and constant care considering the way it has shaped up.

- Visionaries and Thinkers: Yah, I seriously feel the government needs to employ visionaries and thinkers to come up with ideas and feasible solutions. (and not rely on some random ramblings of a blogger 😉 )

I am sure you must have seen the latest ad-campaign from adidas - ‘IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING‘ for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. I must say its quite interesting like all of their other campaigns. Though I have nothing much to say about adidas and its campaign. What I want to share is something I noticed.

Have you seen ‘Shabash India’ the new TV Series from ZEE TV. It says ‘Namumkin Kuch bhi Nahin’. Does it sound familiar? Nah ! Now if you transliterate this into English it would be ‘Impossible is Nothing’. Think abt it 😉
Surprising isn’t it ?

LoL

Hope its jst a coincidence and not a rip off ! ( but then u never know )

As rains in Mumbai got close to their performance on 26/7, people were reminded of the devastation and various experiences they had. Everyone has a story to tell, some incident to share, some touching moments and numerous memories.

I remember my post (not really mine) on 26/7.

So here, I am sharing my adventure of 26/7 and its aftermath (more for the interesting read and for archival purposes).

The day started normally as any other regular college day for me. I sure must have been late. It started raining heavily in the afternoon and soon we were relieved from our lectures and we all were so happy. Then followed lots of adventure…

- Most of them just collecting on the ground floor lobby and observing the rains. - Some making plans to stay overnight. I m sure they did not mean it but just thought of it as something adventurous.

- I, Manav and Pd ventured out after lot of hesitation. Many people on the road, traffic around, natural wave pools, I m sure u can imagine.

- I remember walking towards Saki naka in a little more than waist height water. Though it was fine for me, it was a little tougher for others. We also devised a simple way of making our way thru… it was moon walking thru the water. A funny incident I remember was tat a man was struggling moving in the opposite direction pushing something with two hands, which we could not see. I innocently asked him, “Neeche kya hai, Bike yah cycle?” LoL

- I remember we did climb up some metal structure to sit on it for sometime. Later I found out it was a fence and a big enough gutter alongside which we happened to jump over.

- Rescuing some DBITians (1 boy and 4-5 galz) from the BEST bus which we found was strangled on the way with water flowing with a very strongly and even making the bus drift.

- Going back to where the bus was to get others (who did not come with us the first time), as we realized the flow of water was very strong and was increasing.

- By then most of the students and Profs had come back to college.

- Me and Manav going back outside to get something to eat for others from the back-gate of our college. Having garma-garam tea at a stall and buying a few vada-pavs. Finding the same gate locked on return and no one around. Finally, climbing that 15ft. high gate to get in college.

- Spending overnight in college and doing all sorts of things… playing, singing, trying to call home, trying to sleep on chairs but finally settling for removing the curtains (courtesy me) and using them.

- Our journey back home. Walking some of it. Getting lift for the rest. We were first offered lift by a Sardar who had been giving lift to people all night.

- Walking the distance from western express highway to home actually made me realize the extent of destruction. Number of buffalos I saw hanged to death was moving… OMG this can go on.

- Our locality was in ruins. The floods had deposited a silt of 3-5 inches, which had covered the completely concrete jungle. I never expected something like this to happen near my building and locality.

- Getting our lives back to normal.

- I remember me and a couple of others in the underground tank of our building trying to empty it of dirty water so tat we wud have clean water coming in the next morning. We would fill buckets and send outside. It was pitch dark inside but we were having FuN… singing and swimming too 😉 . Others had gathered on the outside and were encouraging us. There was an uncle who turned out to be a complete showman shouting some hilarious slogans. One of them was… ” Bastiwaloon andar gaye nawjawanoon ke liye bajao taaaali…,” tat too so loud tat all the flats facing the tank would easily hear.

- Surveying the damage around…!

- Cleaning the underground tank with Bisleri water… LoL

- Playing the guitar… actually just strumming the guitar randomly. Got it from one of the ground floor flats as their place was in complete disarray.

- Taking a bath (almost) in the open as our building had ordered a tanker for everyone to enjoy after cleaning the silt accumulated!

- Nothing to do for a couple of days. No idiot box and no Internet. Quite an experience.

- Some false alarms and rumors sent shockwaves around and on one day, I could see hundreds of people running on the road in from of out building… LoL

- Finally, Hats off!to the Spirit of Mumbaikars.

BE Final Exams

As us usual they were unpredictable, unsatisfactory and unreal.

After exams !

The vacation started and I was already bored. Felt a void of sorts as nothing was left to do (as a student) and lots of expectation and aspiration of my own and others to be fulfilled. I now know its easier to be a student and best to remain one. I am not very sure how to remain a student but I can try.

Treks

Yup, the rains were here and so it made a great season to trek. To add to it the exams were over and so needed some real valuable break to get over them. Planned couple of treks in quick sucessions to Prabalgad and Matheran-Peb (hey any1 thinking of gifting me a Flickr PRO account :p). It was an amazing experience like all treks are. They had a nice mix of exploration and adventure. Add to it the overall green ambience and some rain showers when they were needed. Surprisingly we even discovered water bodies on both the treks which were the icing on the cake. Water really has a relaxing effect on muscles but then getting out of it and continuing becomes doubly hard.

Hey if u fancy trekking and adventure do let me knw. I love to go on treks with first timers. Their entusiasm just rubs on you.

School Friends Meetup at Juhu

One of those spl moments u dare not miss. ( To give u sneak peek of the FuN we had, here is a snippet of one of my mails on our groups after the meetup, for friends who missed the meet! )

In the water… all were behaving like kids. Yah smaller than our
school days. Splashing water on eachother… one by one ( taking turns
) in targetting others. Some scared of water ( may be the
she was not sure of the water quality… comeon believe me it was very
clear as if filtered LoL). To cut it short we splashed water, ran
behind eachother, fell completely in the water at some point of time
played cutting the cake in water… yah and 15
meters sprint in the water too. LoL . Mst be like 1.5 hrs in water.

–~–

Finally, we were joined by Sunny, Romil and Dheeral ( good to see they
took the efforts to reach there) for dinner at Paratha House. It was
FuN talking abt everything from school, sensex, hedge funds, ca,
commerce, ex-flames, particularity, eating, vassoooli, capacity and yeah rains.

Thnks to all who made it to the meet. I am sure no one cud hav askd
for more… and everyone looked happy by the end with glistening eyes
and hunger for more such meets in months to come.

Heres a pic. (Sorry for the link to Orkut album.) This is one of my favorite pics. Just love the feel of it!

Suffered from Flu

This was something completely unexpected. LoL ! No one wud but then I never thought of flu as evil. I thought flu is whn u feel feverish for a night… take crocin and continue with ur life the next day. It turned out to be quite an experience too. Cold, sore throat, weakness, joint pains, fever, heaviness in the head all together. All this also meant I missed my weekend trek but then on the otherhand lots of other things to talk about. Behaved like a kid (a very very small one), slept most of the time, askd mom to take a holiday..:d. Lost track of the days and wished Shwetha on her birthday a day later as if i was wishing on the same day and she reminding me tat i sud actually wish her belated happy birthday. I also finished reading ‘The Google Story‘. Had been to college too after feeling a little better.

The Google Story

The most striking feature of the Google story for me would be that Brin and Page were not in it to make money or had BIG plans. All they wanted was to provide a better search tool. Something which was not available then and Google was their pursuit to fill in this void.
Pinstorm !

Yup ! I have joined Pinstorm. If you follow my blog then you must have read about Pinstorm in one of my earlier posts.

[more about it later… ( abt pinstorm, ppl, interview, first day, first few days, etc. )]

Hm… I feel thats it! Did I miss anything? Let me knw !

Yup back after a short hiatus. Its been an eventful month and a half. I was never short of topics to post on the blog but then decided to postpone a little and post them here at akshaysurve.com instead of my earlier hangout. Finally, I ended up posting them nowhere and so the short break. As I said its been an eventful month and lots of thing to blog about I would surely outline them in the next post.

Keep chking !

Hi friends,

I would be closing down my blog here and moving to a new space.

Though I would continue blogging and sharing my thoughts. Now it would be at...

http://www.akshaysurve.com/blog

Expect some posts soon. Also do leave your comments there 😉

It was nice using blogger.com for blogging and it even inspired me to start Qikblogger.

regards,

Akky

Happy Blogging!