Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Bike Trip to Durshet (Jul 08)
Abi and I went on a bike trip couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, this post is about how wonderful our trip was. Before I describe our trip, 2 pieces of background information are critical...
1. I nag when I feel like I haven’t been on a holiday for a long time.
Since we’ve moved back to Mumbai, I’ve been nagging Abi about how we don’t go on vacations anymore (this is the only thing I nag about btw. I am seriously ok with some dirty laundry, a few delayed payments and an unkempt house). Pained by my incessant nagging, he gifted me a book for my birthday – 52 weekend getaways from Mumbai. He figured that this gesture indicated his commitment towards going on a holiday and would shut me up for a while. He couldn’t be more wrong for I quickly shortlisted a place, finalized a date and resumed nagging with renewed vigour.
2. I love Abi Hunk
Abi moved to Mumbai 2 months before I did. During this time, he deviously plotted and planned (behind my back) to buy a bike since it’s been a boyish dream of his to own one. He bought this bike called Hero Honda Hunk (which he refers to lovingly as Abi Hunk) and found it necessary to involve me in only one decision – color of the helmet! After I got over being pissed off at not being asked for my opinion, I gradually fell in love with Abi hunk.
...somehow I finally managed to convince Abi of going on a bike trip to Durshet (100km from Mumbai and very close to Lonavala).
Bad beginning to a wonderful trip...
We planned to leave early on Saturday morning. Luckily, it was a bright and cheerful morning with no sight of rain. In high spirits, we quickly began packing. For just an overnight trip, we somehow managed to fill 2 backpacks. As with all trips (and most other things we do), we began with a fight on how the other person had packed the most useless stuff (In my defence, Abi had packed 3 pairs for footwear for the trip!) When we finally finished fighting and got ready to leave, it began raining heavily. We spent half an hour trying to agree on a way to ensure our bag (and clothes inside) don’t get wet. Just when it seemed like we wouldn’t reach any conclusion and might have to call off the trip, the Gods smiled on us and it suddenly stopped raining. We quickly started off before any further issues.
Picturesque route to Durshet...
We headed towards Vashi to take NH4 for Durshet. At the Vashi tollgate, we realized that bikes don’t have to pay any toll. Since then Abi made it a point to go to every toll place on the way and gloat “Bike hai yaar, nikal sakta hoon na?”
Since all cars and most commercial vehicles prefer to take the Mumbai-Pune expressway instead of NH4, we had a fairly empty highway to ourselves. NH4 is amazingly picturesque, definitely way more than the expressway. On the way, Abi kept stopping to take pictures. Being the filmy person that he is, he justified it by saying “Tum saath ho aur mausam haseen hai to yeh gaadi ab ruk ruk ke chalegi”.
On reaching Khopoli Sheel phata, we look a left to go towards Durshet on a state highway. We didn’t see anyone on this road for miles and lost cellphone network somewhere along the way. Abi was distinctly uncomfortable not being accessible, but I was super thrilled since I don’t use my cellphone anyway.
During the entire trip, I sang some random songs at the top of my voice to get back at Abi who doesn’t let me sing otherwise given how badly I croak. It was a truly liberating experience especially when people on the road looked at me quizzically and I sang back at them. I felt like I had made a point (just not sure what it was).
A wet day at Durshet
We reached Durshet at around noon. We stayed at Nature Trails Resort which is a very nice place in the middle of nowhere with decent food. While we entered the resort, there was a group of college kids around, who looked at us like we were some cool bikers (for the first time in my life I felt like anything other than a muggu). So we decided to play the part and totally behaved like biking is what we do on a regular basis.
A quick check of our room revealed a fan that seemed like it could fall on our heads, a few dozen mosquitoes and an otherwise comfortable room. By now it had begun raining again and we were served elaichi chai in verandah. Abi hunk, hot chai, no cellphone signal, wet weather...bliss!
Soon the rain stopped and we went to sit by the river that bordered one end of the resort. We must have spent an amazing hour just catching up on life and it seemed like there was no one around for miles. Then a young boy walked up and sat opposite us on the other riverbank. He was aimlessly throwing stones in the water to kill time. Abi decided to get competitive and told me “Do you know I can do better than him? In fact I can make the stones bounce on the water twice”. I am not sure what led to Abi being threatened by the kid. Maybe he just wanted to put an end to our lets-catch-up conversation and decided to subtly divert my attention with this phenomenal idea. When Abi was bored with competing with the kid, we went back to the resort for lunch and a long afternoon nap.
In the evening, we went back to the river since we found it extremely peaceful and also it was pretty much the only thing to do. This time we spent some time seriously considering whether to go into the water (since we can’t swim and there was no one around to ask how deep it was). As we sat lost in our own thoughts, couple of women working on paddy fields on the other side of the river crossed the entire width of the river (50m) with the water never going higher than their knees. After this, we sort of lost our fascination for the “river”.
While walking back, it rained pretty heavily. Since we were drenched anyway and there was no one around, I somehow got it into my head to dance in the rain (ala bollywood). Mid-way through my dance (!), I realized that 5 old maharashtrian couples were looking at me quite disapprovingly from their rooms. I studiously avoided them for the rest of my stay in Durshet though I did hear their disapproving whispers everytime they saw me.
We spent rest of the day in the rec club playing carom. It was quite a task to get Abi to agree to play carom (as with any other game since I resoundingly beat him 3-2 in our scrabble world championship not too long ago). But he has discovered now that his talents lie in carom after he defeated me in every single game. Last I heard, he was planning to buy a carom board at home.
Next morning, we woke up early to go to the waterfall nearby. The waterfall was nothing great, but the walk was quite nice. Some creepy crawlies jumped at me from tree branches but once that was taken care of, it was fun.
We returned home that afternoon looking happily bombed (as someone in office told me the next day).
Abi’s quirks as a biker...
1. When another driver does not follow lane discipline, makes a sharp turn or has broken some unwritten rule, Abi believes in staring till he catches the driver’s eye and then makes a very senti face (as if to say – you know you made a mistake, don’t you?). If it doesn’t elicit an apology from the other guy (it usually doesn’t), he raises both his hands in the air with a look of resignation on his face indicating that he is most disappointed. None of this has influenced anyone to be a better driver but has definitely given me some anxious moments on the bike.
2. Abi believes that everyone and his grandmother are awestruck at his amazing bike. He shares random pieces of info about the bike with strangers. On our way back from Durshet, one shady looking guy sitting in an ST bus looked at us and said “kya mast hai!!”. Abi thanked him profusely and offered a random piece of trivia about the gear mechanism. I checked with Abi on whether it occurred to him that the guy might have passed a comment at me. Needless to say, Abi looked shocked at how I could even suggest something as preposterous in the presence of the Hunk.
1. I nag when I feel like I haven’t been on a holiday for a long time.
Since we’ve moved back to Mumbai, I’ve been nagging Abi about how we don’t go on vacations anymore (this is the only thing I nag about btw. I am seriously ok with some dirty laundry, a few delayed payments and an unkempt house). Pained by my incessant nagging, he gifted me a book for my birthday – 52 weekend getaways from Mumbai. He figured that this gesture indicated his commitment towards going on a holiday and would shut me up for a while. He couldn’t be more wrong for I quickly shortlisted a place, finalized a date and resumed nagging with renewed vigour.
2. I love Abi Hunk
Abi moved to Mumbai 2 months before I did. During this time, he deviously plotted and planned (behind my back) to buy a bike since it’s been a boyish dream of his to own one. He bought this bike called Hero Honda Hunk (which he refers to lovingly as Abi Hunk) and found it necessary to involve me in only one decision – color of the helmet! After I got over being pissed off at not being asked for my opinion, I gradually fell in love with Abi hunk.
...somehow I finally managed to convince Abi of going on a bike trip to Durshet (100km from Mumbai and very close to Lonavala).
Bad beginning to a wonderful trip...
We planned to leave early on Saturday morning. Luckily, it was a bright and cheerful morning with no sight of rain. In high spirits, we quickly began packing. For just an overnight trip, we somehow managed to fill 2 backpacks. As with all trips (and most other things we do), we began with a fight on how the other person had packed the most useless stuff (In my defence, Abi had packed 3 pairs for footwear for the trip!) When we finally finished fighting and got ready to leave, it began raining heavily. We spent half an hour trying to agree on a way to ensure our bag (and clothes inside) don’t get wet. Just when it seemed like we wouldn’t reach any conclusion and might have to call off the trip, the Gods smiled on us and it suddenly stopped raining. We quickly started off before any further issues.
Picturesque route to Durshet...
We headed towards Vashi to take NH4 for Durshet. At the Vashi tollgate, we realized that bikes don’t have to pay any toll. Since then Abi made it a point to go to every toll place on the way and gloat “Bike hai yaar, nikal sakta hoon na?”
Since all cars and most commercial vehicles prefer to take the Mumbai-Pune expressway instead of NH4, we had a fairly empty highway to ourselves. NH4 is amazingly picturesque, definitely way more than the expressway. On the way, Abi kept stopping to take pictures. Being the filmy person that he is, he justified it by saying “Tum saath ho aur mausam haseen hai to yeh gaadi ab ruk ruk ke chalegi”.
On reaching Khopoli Sheel phata, we look a left to go towards Durshet on a state highway. We didn’t see anyone on this road for miles and lost cellphone network somewhere along the way. Abi was distinctly uncomfortable not being accessible, but I was super thrilled since I don’t use my cellphone anyway.
During the entire trip, I sang some random songs at the top of my voice to get back at Abi who doesn’t let me sing otherwise given how badly I croak. It was a truly liberating experience especially when people on the road looked at me quizzically and I sang back at them. I felt like I had made a point (just not sure what it was).
A wet day at Durshet
We reached Durshet at around noon. We stayed at Nature Trails Resort which is a very nice place in the middle of nowhere with decent food. While we entered the resort, there was a group of college kids around, who looked at us like we were some cool bikers (for the first time in my life I felt like anything other than a muggu). So we decided to play the part and totally behaved like biking is what we do on a regular basis.
A quick check of our room revealed a fan that seemed like it could fall on our heads, a few dozen mosquitoes and an otherwise comfortable room. By now it had begun raining again and we were served elaichi chai in verandah. Abi hunk, hot chai, no cellphone signal, wet weather...bliss!
Soon the rain stopped and we went to sit by the river that bordered one end of the resort. We must have spent an amazing hour just catching up on life and it seemed like there was no one around for miles. Then a young boy walked up and sat opposite us on the other riverbank. He was aimlessly throwing stones in the water to kill time. Abi decided to get competitive and told me “Do you know I can do better than him? In fact I can make the stones bounce on the water twice”. I am not sure what led to Abi being threatened by the kid. Maybe he just wanted to put an end to our lets-catch-up conversation and decided to subtly divert my attention with this phenomenal idea. When Abi was bored with competing with the kid, we went back to the resort for lunch and a long afternoon nap.
In the evening, we went back to the river since we found it extremely peaceful and also it was pretty much the only thing to do. This time we spent some time seriously considering whether to go into the water (since we can’t swim and there was no one around to ask how deep it was). As we sat lost in our own thoughts, couple of women working on paddy fields on the other side of the river crossed the entire width of the river (50m) with the water never going higher than their knees. After this, we sort of lost our fascination for the “river”.
While walking back, it rained pretty heavily. Since we were drenched anyway and there was no one around, I somehow got it into my head to dance in the rain (ala bollywood). Mid-way through my dance (!), I realized that 5 old maharashtrian couples were looking at me quite disapprovingly from their rooms. I studiously avoided them for the rest of my stay in Durshet though I did hear their disapproving whispers everytime they saw me.
We spent rest of the day in the rec club playing carom. It was quite a task to get Abi to agree to play carom (as with any other game since I resoundingly beat him 3-2 in our scrabble world championship not too long ago). But he has discovered now that his talents lie in carom after he defeated me in every single game. Last I heard, he was planning to buy a carom board at home.
Next morning, we woke up early to go to the waterfall nearby. The waterfall was nothing great, but the walk was quite nice. Some creepy crawlies jumped at me from tree branches but once that was taken care of, it was fun.
We returned home that afternoon looking happily bombed (as someone in office told me the next day).
Abi’s quirks as a biker...
1. When another driver does not follow lane discipline, makes a sharp turn or has broken some unwritten rule, Abi believes in staring till he catches the driver’s eye and then makes a very senti face (as if to say – you know you made a mistake, don’t you?). If it doesn’t elicit an apology from the other guy (it usually doesn’t), he raises both his hands in the air with a look of resignation on his face indicating that he is most disappointed. None of this has influenced anyone to be a better driver but has definitely given me some anxious moments on the bike.
2. Abi believes that everyone and his grandmother are awestruck at his amazing bike. He shares random pieces of info about the bike with strangers. On our way back from Durshet, one shady looking guy sitting in an ST bus looked at us and said “kya mast hai!!”. Abi thanked him profusely and offered a random piece of trivia about the gear mechanism. I checked with Abi on whether it occurred to him that the guy might have passed a comment at me. Needless to say, Abi looked shocked at how I could even suggest something as preposterous in the presence of the Hunk.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I have been tagged...
Confused Rambler shared his biggest quirks with the world (or the few odd people who read his blog) and has tagged me to do the same. I have no clue why I am doing this, but here goes...
1. I love stationery !! I can spend hours in the store browsing through all sorts of writing material - notebooks, paper, envelopes, diaries, pens, pencils...ya especially pencils :)
2. I make a detailed agenda during vacations which of course we never follow. But even the act of making an agenda is so fulfilling
3. I dont like the feeling of weightlessness that comes with amusement park rides, planes etc.
4. I DETEST bass sounds because it makes me restless and uncomfortable. I have a theory that the bass frequencies resonate with my heart and might cause it to explode. My theory has been rubbished and I have been ridiculed by my friends. But when has the world recognized greatness?
5. I dont answer my cell phone. It is for me to contact others, not others to reach me at will. Needless to say,
I never check my voicemail. Can someone tell me how to disable it?
6. I get cranky when hungry. So Abi ensures I am well-fed at all times
I think this should do for now. For my part, I am tagging Ink, quirky quill, meravablog and T to share their biggest quirks...
1. I love stationery !! I can spend hours in the store browsing through all sorts of writing material - notebooks, paper, envelopes, diaries, pens, pencils...ya especially pencils :)
2. I make a detailed agenda during vacations which of course we never follow. But even the act of making an agenda is so fulfilling
3. I dont like the feeling of weightlessness that comes with amusement park rides, planes etc.
4. I DETEST bass sounds because it makes me restless and uncomfortable. I have a theory that the bass frequencies resonate with my heart and might cause it to explode. My theory has been rubbished and I have been ridiculed by my friends. But when has the world recognized greatness?
5. I dont answer my cell phone. It is for me to contact others, not others to reach me at will. Needless to say,
I never check my voicemail. Can someone tell me how to disable it?
6. I get cranky when hungry. So Abi ensures I am well-fed at all times
I think this should do for now. For my part, I am tagging Ink, quirky quill, meravablog and T to share their biggest quirks...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
The 50 book challenge !
At the beginning of the year, I had set myself a target of reading 50 books this year, primarily to force myself back into the reading habit. Have read 33 to date and am slightly lagging behind my target vs. time elapsed !
Posting a wishlist of books I want to read before end of this year so that I dont get tempted to read trash and meet my target.
1. Undercover Economist (Tim Harford) - Currently reading. It is great economic reasoning in a very easy to read manner. It uses real world examples to explain economic theories. Unlike Freakonomics, the book explains key economic concepts starting with the value of scarcity and marignal cost vs. average cost.
2. End of Oil (Paul Roberts) - Just bought it in Bangkok a week ago. It is about the energy crisis, how real it is and what the implications are. I am not a very environment conscious person, hopefully the book can make me a bit more aware
3. Confessions of an economic hitman (John Perkins) - Highly recommended by Shrenik. The book is about the life of an economic hitman - highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars.
4. India 60 (Edited by Ira Pandey) - Collection of essays as India matures into a 60 year old nation. Currently reading. Quite ordinary. But since I have invested time in it and the stress of finishing 50 books, might as well finish it.
5. Maximum City (Suketu Mehta) - Have heard my husband rave about book forever now. Intend to find out for myself what is so great about it.
6. Tao of Physics (Fritjof Capra) - Tried reading, gave up. Worth another shot. The book draws parallels between eastern mysticism and western physics. Quite involved, I dont even understand it sometimes.
Do let me know if you have recommendations for good books that I can read !
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Book Review: The Algebra of Infinite Justice (Arundhati Roy)
‘The algebra of infinite justice’ is a collection of essays written by Arundhati Roy covering a range of issues – Nuclear weapons, nationalism, big dams, globalization, corporatization, America’s war against terror. Her opinions and essays are strongly leftist. I agree with some (America’s war against terror), strongly disagree on most (nuclear weapons, Narmada Andolan, Indian democracy) and dont even understand the rest (I dont know what the essay ‘the ladies have feelings so...’ was about).
Despite my disagreement with most of her opinions (I wont call them arguments, because they dont qualify as that) the book was an interesting read, mostly because her writing is very passionate and evokes a response from the reader - my response was mostly anger at her naivete and violent disagreement with her opinions. Though it did open my eyes to the perspective of a minority groups of freaks (she calls herself that...I didnt) on issues of global and local relevance.
That said, there is a lot that I dont like about the book
- Her essays sound like emotional outbursts rather than a coherent, rational argument. Sample this – “The nuclear bomb (in the context of India’s nuclear tests) are the most anti-democratic, anti-national, anti-human, most outright evil thing...” with no explanation or context whatsoever. OR “India’s nuclear bomb is the final act of betrayal by a ruling class that has failed its people”
- Some of her essays also take a very patronizing tone like the reader is not capable of understanding governments’ hidden agenda, unlike her. For example - “Has anyone bothered to tell them (the un educated millions in India) that nuclear war has nothing to do with pride? Has anyone bothered explaining to them about Thermal blasts, radioactive fallout and nuclear winter?Are there even words in their language to describe it? Do they not matter at all? Should we treat them like cretins?”
- It also doesnt help that she asks tons of rhetoric questions. I distinctly remember one page in the book which had only questions, which completely threw me off. In parts, It seemed like an exam question paper rather than an essay.
- Though she has effectively raised issues (some non-issues), voiced dissent, asked questions and criticized the system, there is no attempt to suggest solutons for the same. Being an intellectual (she considers herself one), is the reader allowed to expect it of her?
To find faults, criticize, point fingers and rubbish the system are all easy to do. To understand the issue, its practical implications and identify possible solutions calls for a much more mature writer (and thinker) !
Overall, the book is an OK read for someone who hasnt read Arundhati Roy's political writing before, just to decide whether you agree with her or not. I most certainly dont!
Rating - * *
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