Good Bye 2005

Finally the time has come to bid good bye to 2005. Interesting year it was with lots of profound memories to be cherished forever. I just start putting down the information to get some idea about it.

Jan: I Went to Goa and had a nice time. Covered Goa to its length – from North to South. Will write some other time.

Feb – Jun: Routine work

July: Konkan trip with Sarvesh, Amol & Milind

Konakan Delight

The trip that will remain in my memories for eternity. Never in my life I had seen such lush green pastures with Arabian Sea at one side and Western Ghats at the other. Intermittently, on our way we were welcomed by hundreds of water-bodies and falls all around dispersed sporadically. The air had such thick and intense natural aroma that it tingled my soul and clung to my senses with every breath I took there . The trip could become possible because of our beloved Maruti – 800. We cruised Konkan through the innermost roads, thereby experienced untouched, flawless, and virgin beauty of the ghats, unlike frequently visited places in Konkan made dirty by the filth and grime thrown by casual visitors.

The trip started around 6 pm after office and was delayed because we had to enroute our journey to Mulund to buy a pair of hunter shoes for Amol. However, weird it may sound but he did not buy it till the trip started. Perhaps he did not want to put on his old slippers for the trip. Somehow we managed to leave the place in an hour and the car touched the highway around eight in the night. Highway brought us a sigh of relief when the first gust of fresh breeze kissed our faces in a kind of foreplay that foretold us about the climax to be arrived later.

The car was speeding at its best and we were sitting cozily inside in the warmth of our torrid excitement of the trip. Around ten in the night we reached Panvel and I was reminded by Amol to get booze for the trip. Bachelor trips without booze are like a sandy beach without sun, where one can feel the sand, smell the air, touch the water, but cannot experience the sun. We had to ask a few people to get us to the liquor shop. We asked for Peter Scot but had to keep ourselves satisfied with Antiquity. We also got some plastic glasses and two bottles of beer. Beer bottles were opened when we got back in the car over the trifle issues as usual. The bottles touched each other and made a piercing gentle sound when we proposed the toast to the trip. Only a person who cherishes alcohol can value the context in which it was consumed. Consumption depends on context and company and everything was perfect for us that day. Good friends around and an endless streak of dark highway leading to paradise, except the few vehicles that were slicing the infinite darkness for seconds with their high wattage bright white headlights.

Sarvesh kept driving peacefully and patiently till twelve in the night when hunger had started knocking our heads. Unanimously we decided for a dhaba and looked for it. When we found one it was drizzling and we had to use our umbrellas to make our way from the car to the dhaba. It was a low profile, small, basic, but inviting small time restaurant. However, the aroma of food and spice was unusually rich and enough stimulating to coax our mind and try the place. The order for butter chicken and tandoori rotis did not prove our decision wrong because we hogged till every little space of our stomach had tasted the delight. Facing the dhaba was a hotel that had become our abode for the night. We shared a room with four beds laid down neatly parallel to each other. There was one window in the room with attached toilet. Soon we found ourselves deep in sleep. When we slept an alarm was set for six in the morning but the sound of alarm traveled so slowly that it had taken eons to reach our tired ears and kept on echoing in our dreams again and again till someone from us switched it off.

At 9 am we were ready to leave after a quick breakfast for a place called Murud – Janjeera our first destination in our itinerary. The journey was a treat to the eyes. The landscape around was interestingly mesmerizing and divinely beautiful. The flora had hundreds of shades of green, the terra firma was boasting numerous shades of brown and grays, and the sky was anything from sunny azure to dusky red in the late evenings and bright orange in the mornings. Though most of the time the sky was girly shy to come out and kept hiding behind the thick blanket of monsoon clouds that formed vivid and dynamic patterns in gray and black.

We reached Murud-Janjeera in the afternoon around 12 pm. I could see the eternal fort in the midst of the sea and listened its panegyric hum that was created by the sound of ceaselessly active but defeated waves. The never ending hum signified the victory of fort over the sea. The sea was rough and the waves were becoming worsen as the day was progressing. Later the boatman informed us that it was a high tide time.

Despite of the hostile conditions that God had created as a conspiracy against us, we wanted to win the fort and were charged with adamant exuberance to take over the fort that had defeated the sea. The sailboats looked small and humble in the soaring and roaring sea. Few other tourists came and succumbed their wills of visiting the fort to the unending fury. Challenge was thrown and the adrenaline in our blood made us to accept it. There was no going back from there. Finally we decided to go and rented the entire boat for three hundred. It was a test of perseverance between nature and us. It was a test of our limits and we stretched them till the very end. Beneath us was the rapacious Arabian Sea with its arm spreading far and wide waiting to engulf us in infinite darkness and above us were the gushing currents of air forcing their way through the sail. The boat surrendered to the strong air current and became inclined with the boatmen trying hard to keep the boat straight. The head boatman had already discussed the priority – Boat, Passenger, and then the boatman himself. Life is precious and loved by everybody, and all of us knew that such meaningless priorities could be rendered void anytime. And we knew that the priority in any case would be – I, myself, and only myself.

We reached the fort entrance and the boat kept thrown up and down by the waves as high as nine and ten feet. This made the task of entering the fort troublesome as the boat was not stable enough to fix our legs from the boat to stairs of the fort which were equally being beaten by the furious waves. When the waves jumped till their crests, we could see only top five steps and at other times when the waves dived till their troughs, we could see fifteen steps. The difference of ten steps was the difference between life or death to us. One wrong step we had taken and anyone from us could have sucked down in the brown darkness of the sea. The idea was to jump on the highest stair – fifth from the top when the was lifted by the crest of the wave. It was a situation that demanded highest perfection and precision in unfriendly condition, success was another life and even a slightest slip was fatal end. Finally we entered the fort and the battle was won. The sun peeped out behind the clould for a moment to acknowledge our achievement. The sea had become silent and accepted the defeat. The torrid wind had become humble and subsided to rename itself as gentle breeze.

We left Murud-Janjeera to Hariharehwar and Srivardhan. On our way I saw a huge and enormous tree. The tree trunk was so overwhelming that its enormity had made all the trees in the vicinity to look impoverished and deprived of nutrients. Seemed as if the tree had soaked all the nutrients from the earth to make it infertile for the rest of the clan. I could listen the mute mockery that every passerby made at the other trees after seeing the mammoth and I could see the trees shrinking more in shame and looking even smaller.

Around 5 pm in the evening the rain started pouring heavily and it became dark. The road was unknown and the cloudburst was flowing straight down from the sky. The wipers were making futile attempts to make way for our eyes to look through the windscreen on the road. Nothing was clearly visible and in those conditions of zero visibility Sarvesh kept driving by his instincts, gut feeling, and luck. It slowed us down and we reached Harihareshwar at 9 pm in the night. The rain rage had not stopped by then and forced us to take out our umbrellas to look out for our hotel. Nothing could protect us from getting drenched as umbrella proved out to be of psychological help only. That day after getting drenched nonstop for an hour I realized that dryness is also a feeling that some people long for. I felt great when we found a nice cozy, dry room with open but covered balcony. We made ourselves comfortable and had our first few sips of Antiquity over a mouth-watering chicken made in Konkani style. I could never forget that taste and it stills titillates my taste buds whenever it comes back to life in my vivid memories.

Next morning we made our way back home through Srivardhan. At Srivardhan the soiled and filthy beach disappointed us. Again the rains had ruined the beach and rendered it useless. Frustrated we started our journey to home but tried our luck at a small diversion from the highway. I knew that the prayers were answered when I saw a small waterfall cutting its way through the rocks to the bright green fields. We couldn’t resist the desire of our bodies, which were craving to feel the life in water.

In the sluggish drizzle, the four souls washed themselves tardily to cleanse all the tiredness and metal restlessness of city life. The ablution recuperated the body and infused vital energy to each and every pore and rejuvenated the soul of my body. I became live again - reincarnated. I opened my eyes in a new world.

We came back again in the dirt of city around 11 pm and ended our trip at Aakarshan in Vikhroli because Shera was too crowded to wait for.

Aug – Dec: Boring and nothing exciting