Weekend Ride To Telbaila

a couple of babies, 3 newbies, five 60kphers, 3 wives, a rising son, 2 cars, 6 bikes and a route that doubled the distance to the destination.. and oh yes, the boat.

it was a big relief to be able to leave on time, well almost. but then with a one year old baby in tow, i had my excuse. we all assembled at datta snacks at panvel and after gorging on vadapavs and misal, hit the road on NH17 (goa highway) to reach kolad, the only event being no one raced past or got left behind.

over glasses of nira, that was beginning to ferment, introductions were conducted and a bonhomie set in. the ride ahead was a state highway (SH60), less traffic, more farms, gentle pace and overall something that feels like being on a ride rather than a mindless commute. for some reason all stopped at vile village before the tamhini ghat starts. the babies got fed, biscuits were passed around, cameras clicked, anwar’s Honda 400 got some attention and it was time to move on.

up the tamhini ghat and after a brief stop at plus valley, we passed the turn to lonavla to reach a restaurant on the mulshi lake for lunch with gallons of chaas. drove back 15 kms to reach the lonavla turn and from there on it was a test for those on their first ride to the country side. the sun beating down, it was hot and the road, bumpy. broken tar all the way and long stretches of unpaved gravel. mulshi lake flashing every now at then on your right, mountains and valleys on the left, it’s a beautiful ride. did it two weeks prior as a recce but that was evening and more hospitable.



stopped enroute at valley point (for want of a better name). location on the linked map. promised to return to it and camp there sometime. more pictures clicked and rode ahead on the bumpy track. the road is dotted with very small villages and negligible traffic. the craving for tea was satisfied only after reaching telbaila village, which is abt 5 kms off the road to lonavla. the tea shop owner guided us to a lovely campsite, at the edge of a cliff with a lovely view and golden dried grass. he also took order for the dinner so the only cooking done was for yohan and kiara.




tents were pitched. and thankfully no one was compelled to play antakshari or dumb charades. submitted to sleep one by one. the only joke cracked was zen calling the twin peaks of telbaila as “ulti chaddi”.

having experienced how hot it gets, the next morning, no one spoke of the proposed trek to sudhagad fort ( a 2 hour one way trek) or climbing up to the crotch of the chaddi. (it’s a trek till there, post that it’s a rock climbing activity). instead inquired for a water body to put the zen’s boat to use, and found saltar dam. a good 3 hours were spent frolicking in the water and after 5 kms we were on the creamy surface of the amby valley road. that led us quickly to lonavla lake for lunch and a farewell. zen preferred to take the expressway and reach home quick. milind had a waiting wife. ameya and rahul joined him for a quick ride to Bombay. i tagged along with anwar, hozefa and yusuf to make sure all reached Bombay without loosing way.




the idea of this ride was to expose yusuf, hozefa and anwar to riding as i have known it, as 60kph does it. it was nice to see that they enjoyed it and hope to see more of them on the road.

oops.. not 2 C was the correct answer.

well.. that must be my shortest post ever. got done in the title itself.

To see or not to see..

movie watching has become an expensive interest. sure the lobbies are glitzy and the seats less smelly, but the pop-corn reeks of blood. that's bound to happen when u pay through the nose.

so when a friend messages with an unsolicited tip, "Delhi-6 is disappointing", the heart sinks. am thrown into a dilemma. saving money and time or taking an expensive risk. how bad could it be? after making rang de basanti, can a man settle down to make a "disappointing" movie? i didn't see aks, but have heard of it to be brilliant in its own right. it cant be that bad, told the friend "tujhe samajh me nahi aaya hoga", and cut the conversation short. in a way he has done the worst thing a man can do. spread hatred. i hate him now for maligning Delhi-6. after i see it, which i will, i ll hate him more for it or hate myself i didn't heed to his well-meaning advice. i am sure he is not aware of the dark character he has come to be with one message.

this is not the first time though. ever since i became poor, i 've been really choosy about where i pay to watch. but after DCH, lakshya, don and rock on, i unsuspectingly walked into luck by chance. and came back feeling really guilty of spending hard earned (harder to get out of clients) money on it, in these times of recession. the movie wasn't too bad, only if it didn't cost me any money. and not exactly so bad that i would seethe in anger over wasted time. or mayb thats what recession is about, lots of time and little money. anyways its the kind you wait for to release on DVD, that some stupid friend will buy and loan it to you. and return it too. but then, i ll be salivating again on farhan akhter's next release. he is god.

yesterday i saw what everybody had watched already, slumdog millionaire. its been so watched in fact that PVR is playing musical chairs with it. fitting it whichever timeslot they can every week. now if the movie is old enough to be played musical chairs with, and only 10% of the seats get filled, you would expect it to be discounted right? wrong. they will still charge u 200 for a seat and 40 for samosa. this is a bloody rip off. bloody. just like the pop corn. no wonder u never see a manager in the lobby these days. when i was younger and went to see 'pictures' in 'theaters', we knew the omnipresent gentleman in the lobby wasn't there to watch a movie, he was the manager, his face glowing in pride that so many people enjoyed the movie at 25 rupees, the samosa at 7 and the popcorn was a cheerful yellow in only one flavor. the cheerful yellow.

about the movie, slumdog millionaire.. ahem.. hmm.. nice while it lasted. quite like luck by chance. not bad u know. luck by chance shud be sent for Oscars too. after all, its luck by chance....the theme for both the movies. though Danny Boyle tried to convince me in the end that, its written. probably meant Q&A. yeah that was written. i guess he knows how some films are made. they are not written. like..... sob.. sob.. chandni chowk to china. yes yes, i saw that too. but under extra ordinary circumstances, i cant reveal. to be fair, i really went with a very low expectation and a large heart, but failed miserably. it didnt work. i swallowed my sorrow but could not escape the tragedy of the guys in the next seats, they were the hera pheri and phir hera pheri types ;-).

but then midweek i was lucky, luck by chance. no.. i am talking about DevD. i was sad when the movie ended. that it had to end. a visual treat. the story of devdas adapted brilliantly to modern times. and breaking a few cliches. opening new grounds. not having read the original novel, i used Wikipedia for a brief idea. the last line read, "The novella powerfully depicts the prevailing societal customs in Bengal in the early 1900s, which are largely responsible for preventing the happy ending of a genuine love story." thats brilliant. the movie totally replaces the customs of twentieth century with those of the twenty first, where parental opposition rings hollow, the widower loves the new wife paro, paro meets dev one more time but only to show his aukat (when he makes those unsolicited calls), and dev returns to life when the ATM dries up after the BMW accident and death of his father. and there is a happy ending. we live in the times, where theres no romance in tragedy anymore.

tragedy is watching chandni chowk to china.... comprehendo?

am i a blogger?

i have no idea, having made an account, if i will be at it for long.
for someone who talks a lot, i find myself full of pauses and rather quiet. just as, for someone who has so many friends and keeps discovering new bonds, i feel great to be left to myself doing nothing.

to begin with, i ll blame this adventure on a dear friend kauk (who writes on http://kaushik578.blogspot.com ). his is the only blog i ve read so far and of it only a couple of posts. but i am quick to get spoilt and here i am.

i asked myself why would i blog and came up with a few. but the one reason that stands out is, trying to preserve my thoughts.
i suffer from really bad memory. and hence live in this notion that i have had some great thoughts and ideas which are now lost to me cause of my bad memory.

there are other reasons to blog as well but they are insulting to self or others or insulting to intellect itself. so wont spell it out. i guess thats what the comments window is for.