School_Friends meetup

Am back from an awesome trek to Peb fort via Matheran. It was much needed and was at just the right time. Not sure if I would be able to organize/attend any treks anytime soon. Though, it was my second time to Peb, the terrain was much different than last time.

Some highlights of the trek (straight from our mailing list):

- A Dropout Log of friends who dropped out at the last moment could have also been written. Wat say GuysNGals? though I refrain from it as I believe all of them wanted to come but just couldn't because of unavoidable circumstances. Hope you guys make it a point to come next time surpassing these circumstances.

- Trek was amazing. We made our move from green cover sometimes as tall as 5 feet, rocky patch and the final dip in the river 3 feet deep (shallow) was just the icing on the cake.

- Since we were fewer in number, we could be adventurous which at times meant we could be fearless and be lost (momentarily) and walk the road less travelled. Need I say that has made all the difference. 😉

- Hats off to Akshat to take that extra step and accompanying us for this trek. He had an implant in his left elbow.Wish you speedy recovery from all of us.

- All along the trek belonged to Bala. I am sure he would remember it for loooOooong and because of him we would too 😉 No wonder he has posted the Trek Log too.

- Hip Hip HUrray !!

- Pics from Karthik: http://picasaweb.google.com/7.kartik/TrekToPEBFortNeral?authkey=u99R3-O-8_s

- Pics from ME:
DSCN0955.jpg DSCN0958.jpg DSCN0967.jpg DSCN0972.jpg DSCN0979.jpg DSCN0984.jpg DSCN0991.jpg DSCN1009.jpg DSCN1013.jpg DSCN1022.jpg DSCN1027.jpg DSCN1028.jpg DSCN1042.jpg

- Browse the complete album by clicking on the image below:

Leaving you guys to read some post of the previous school friend's meetups:
- Mahuli
- Juhu
- Karnala

I am not going to leave it at this…

The past one month has been exciting to say the least. There is so much to write about that this blog post would not do justice to all of it. So as the title of this blog post suggests 'I am not going to leave it at this...', I will be making some follow-up posts.

To give you some clue of whats cooking I would like to share some related tags:
pinstorm, treks, salher, lohagad, varun, trekking, entrepreneurship, nirma labs, technoentrepreneurship, startup, goa, school friends, bikes, juhu, rains (did I miss anything 😉

Karnala – Adventurous & Eventful … need I say more ? (SchoolFriends)

Once again I planned an annual meetup for SchoolFriends.It happend to be around the same time as last year and an adventure trek too.

I am sure you would love to read about it too...

What started with a casual discussion between me, dazzle, kartik and pratik, finally culminated in one adventurous and eventful outing. Special thanks to everyone who made it to the outing... (in no particular order 😉 Dazzle, Pratik, Kartik, Cherie, Sheetal, Abhijeet, Nihal, Santosh (Nihal's cousin) and Me (too 😉 !

So what was so adventurous and eventful this time around? Oh hell yeah... everything. The planning whcih was too adhoc... we did what we wanted to and didn't try to plan things (or try and stick to any decided plans).

Firstly, the train journey (Goregaon-Bandra-Wadala-Panel) was FuN filled and all the while. We switched trains one after another. Ppl stuck to their roles... Cherie (always gigling), Kartik (Gadget gyaan) likewise.

I had thought of hiring a TumTum (10 seater) to get to Karnala which was around 15km. from Panvel. Me and Kartik tried to get a good deal out at the rickshaw stand and fixed it with someone. On the other hand others unanimously (Yup, Cherie has the convincing power...) decided to walk our way to Karnala.

A 15 km. walk was no small deal... eveyone knew that but then I am sure everyon wanted to have Fun (yeh school_friends ka style hai bidu !) We had our share of breaks. Batata vada, sabudana khichdi, chaas and kokam sarbat were awesome at Datta snacks (near phalase phata... 3 km from Panvel) We kept on walking... and walking... yah and some more walking. Need I say it was real hot and the road was pretty dumb but we had years of gupshup to cling onto and yah the usual kheechna-kheechana to do. Oye we topped our own record of 12 km. to the Mahuli base with a rock solid 15km to reach Karnala. Just to give u an idea of the enthusiasm... Cherie and Pratik ran the last 100mt in a sprint... surprised 😕 !!!!

We got our lunch (batata vada and pulav along with some tasty onion slices) from a nearby restaurant and had it in the Karnala Bird Sanctuary on a circular looking stage amongst monkeys.

After taking a small break we started towards Karnala fort. Again it looked dumb to start with but soon we were on a dirt track towards the top (bcz someone directed that it would be quicker). Quicker it must be but soon we realised that it wasn't that easy... must be bcz of the 15 km. walk we did before. Anyways it was exciting and challenging to keep us going... though we slowed down a bit. We would take pics at regular intervals all this while. Also this time around we had thick vegetation protecting us from the sun's heat. Hey 'Sathiya haath badha, Saathiya' is one song which would fit very well. We made sure we all reached the top.

The view from the top was exhilarating. Most of the fortification was stil intact. There was a water reservoir at the top from which we quenched our thirst. The water was coOL and satisfying to say the least. We explored few parts of the fort here and there and were ready to start our journey back. We did the customary Jay Gunj at the top before leaving which left us completely rejuvenated to reach to the base again.

The descnt was simpler and we choose the longer (bt comparitively simpler) route this time. During the descent it was more of some coOL music (courtesy: sony erricson and nokia), some groovy moves (courtesy: cherie, dazzle, me and pratik), bum-massage and setting sun. By the time we had arrived to te base it had got dark.

If you feel that was it... then you are wrong. Nope we didn't return walking back to Panvel... tat would have been too much. To substitue for it we took lift from a truck from the highway. Yah, it was all the more exciting to come back in the truck. We all cramped ourselves in the front of the truck... yup all 9 of us in the front. The truck driver also tried to play some bhojpuri music on our request.

We came back to normalcy (not sure of this) after reaching Panvel station and traveling back home by train.

By the way I didn't write much about birds bcz we didn't see any. Yup, its just a namesake bird sanctuary, though it didnt affect us much and we continued with the same zeal to the top.

So how was it? I sure missed to mention a lot of things... but that is the price you pay for not making it to the outing for wateva reasons of urs 😉

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Thnks once again for the people who made this possible by comming for the outing. Feel sorry for all who missed this one. Like always, there surely will be a next time ;-).

-- I just pulled this from the follow-up mail I posted on our schoolfriends group.

Pics from the Trek:
garma garam chai 79 Kg !!! panvel city - 2 dumb road kshanbhar vishranti karnala fort once again karnala - abahyaranya helping us out with lunch rocky road kshanbhar vishranti entrance to the fort finding our way on the descent returning back - mission accompished thumps-up int he truck truck which gave us lift

Click on the image below to look at the complete album:

Updated and Archived so the postdate is not true representative of the actual post date.

TrEk ki YaAdEiN DoStOnKi zUbAaNi…

Hey... thought of writing abt the trek bt better let me share with you aLL how we (I+Friends) felt abt the TrEk...

Akshat:

Hi guys................

Hope i am the first to reciprocate after the treckin expeditions....not coz i am too longin or desp to be the one to begin or be the frst to comment.............but like i tried sleepin .n as i shut my eyez....wat i cld see were those descedin steps of Mahuli.........found my self figurin out my way dwn those steps evn in my sleep.................so...thought for a change i'll initiate the chain................:)
Sandeep:Hi all,
This was my first trek eva... Haven't been on any treks before... I'm
waiting desperately for the photographs...
I will write about the moments that i will recollect when i close my eyes
and which i'll never forget..
1.My going back home as soon as i arrived to get the battery...( yaar video
ke bina trip adhura lagta)
2.Asangaon to mahuli walk... I feel if we hadn't walked this
stretch,everyone wud have reached top with less pain...
3.Akshay mummy being so over-concerned
4.Clearing accounts all the way
5.Nikita's screaming
6.Those breaks that we took in the shades
7.THE CALL when we scaled it
8.Touching the flag
9.Water of the Talav.. Truly heaven
10."Nahin jaana hai" Rock
11 Lunch at the top(Frankly how many times you've had lunch at a height of
around 2000m)
12.The descent
13.Singing all the way up.
14.Irritating everyone wid my singing,camera and stupid comments
15.When i saved akshay and akshat from slipping(hehe nothing juss happened
i'm makin it sound more anecdotal)
16.Drawing out water from the well

Akshata:

nt sounding too cliche.......adding few words n sharing experiences of the trek..........away from civilization and modern amenities this trek was an unique opportunity to catch a peek .The experience is overall exhilarating. It din require much climbing experience……..hey n some of us proved it ;….;kudos to all the frst timers. n1 with sound health( exceptions allowed …like .akshat who was unwell) can do the fruitful climb. The bottom line is itz a mind game .Navigating thrugh steep hills u can hear our mentor(akshay) cum mommie say take baby steps……. don let urself get fatigued …………WE HAVE ALMOST REACHED……..CAN U C D FLAG…which I couldn’t figure out almst till the end of trek .alas there v see flag fluttering in the wind .here we heave a sigh of relief.....no more climbing.......n sigh of joy.....sense of reaching the height

Wise words……….during the .task never get discouraged……………be persistant to attain the goal …..seek the strength to keep ur spirits high ……..b urself………..njoy urself ………….

The attained experience is extremely rewarding and rejuvenating
One wld never know y each one climbed …………….. to‘ attain the sense of height ………….to check the mind power…………...team spirit …………sense of success………. personals satisfaction ………..simply fun…… just to enjoy……of boredom...chalo kuch karthe hai....kuch kaam nahi......…..
Unless u r a loner .the essence of climbing is team work……………………..…wat say guys….

When it comes to ……. never giving up…we r proud of wat we have done…

Akshay(Tats ME):

I remember repeating this so many times that "Destination for us is
only a point from which we can get back home safely" - Akky but
somewhere in the back of my mind I wanted everyone to make it to the
top and i suceeded(so what if partially). Since most of us were first
timers its always gr8 to reach the summit in your first attempt.

I knew the key to reach Mahuli summit is two-fold first is covering
the initial part of the trek (reaching the base + overcomming those
monotonous steps) and then once you hav your goal (the flag in this
case) in front u woudnt need much motivation from my side.

I remember almost each one(except for Jasmine) of you asking me how
long wud it take NOW and me replying "Not much OR Lets cover this
patch OR There is this interesting valley on the other side OR Now the
steps wud get over OR Hey we are jst getting close OR Can u spot the
Jain Mandiram there see how far we have come so soon (now this was
true... bt u all cudnt see it) OR Its nice and coOL thru the thick
forest isnt it (jst to mak u all feel better) OR briefing you abt the
terrain (u knw it always helps to knw what you are gettin into)". But
i guess all this lies was worth it and hope you realize that its jst a
MIND GAME. Now , once you had you goal in front of you I m sure there
was no reason not to go for it.

Also you all pulling my leg by calling me all sorts of names jst workd
in you favour bcoz you wud get those few secs to think abt pulling my
leg rather that thinking how tired you were. Also, there is a nice
coOL name to call a person lik me on the trek 'Trek Leader' bt gud u
didnt call me with it bcoz it wud be so embarassing as Trek Leaders
are much more experienced than I am.

I must say it was so satisfying for me to do the honours by shouting
the 'Jay Gunj' (do chk the video for it... Sandy told me that its cum
awesome)at the top. Thnks so so much.

I had planned another trek in this week but i cancelled it bcoz this
trek has been so satisfying. I can still recollect every bit of it as
it was jst yesterday.

ManAsi:

My or rather our first trek and we all……...well almost all of us completed it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s a real gr8 feeling!!! And the icing of the cake was the fact that we 11 school friends were meeting together after a span of 5 year !!!!!! I wish more ppl could make it but maybe sometime…….later…………..

………like the fact tht we all cribbed and cribbed abt the distance tht we had to walk………I agree tht the distance was way too much than any of us expected but the fact remain true that half the time the cribbing was totally unnecessary……………

……………….i have never cribbed in my life so much !!!!!!!!!!!!……….but I thoroughly enjoyed cribbing frm the night before the trek, through the entire trek and till dadar station arrived while returning………..the cribbing started at asangaon station and so did the LIES(Tats for ME)!!!!!!!!!!!!

……………..lies, lies ,lies, lies , wrong facts, more lies abt the time required to reach the base and the top…………and the list is endless…………god !!!!!!!!!!!!
how can someone have the stamina to do so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hats off to u(Tats ME again) dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!

……………….the naming ceremony of our grp leader…………..mommie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

……………….the naming ceremony of the piece of rock which was a mute witness to the arguments and the counter-arguments …………if the trek should continue or not………….

……….spotting the flag and the pic taken with the flag in the background…………….

…………………some screamed because they were scared of wht they saw
some screamed coz they r compulsive screamers
some screamed for fun
some screamed to scare others
some screamed because of the lies
some screamed coz others screamed

…………………or the fact tht mommie was abt to have a big fall [ as a result of skidding on soil or trippin……..god alone knows ] on a piece of flat land as he was busy tryin to imagine mallika sheravat in tanishaa’s clothes and managing to do a “halla re halla re “……………….guys u all missed tht moment too hilarious to pen down……………we were laughin our heads off!!!!!!!!!!!

so many things to mention, yet so little time…………….but all in all a gr8 outing……………

“ The triumph of achievement was worth the effort “

Pics from the Trek:
packing my bag apunka compartment ek haseena do khiladi shikhar lunch on the top cave vistory flag descent 13 of us at dadar station

Click on the image below to look at the complete album:

TrEk to Mahuli again

Yup, had been to Mahuli again on the 25th with school friends and had so much FuN...

Will write about it in detail (and i mean it, i do have a good idea... lets see if it materialises)

Pics from the Trek:
packing my bag apunka compartment ek haseena do khiladi shikhar lunch on the top cave vistory flag descent 13 of us at dadar station

Click on the image below to look at the complete album: