Futli Re!!!

Harishchandra Gad - Want to click Photos? stay here Overnight

2011-09-23T18:19:00.000+05:30

Not sure why this place is called "Harishchandra Gad" though ideally this is not a fort considering its location and no records/information around suggest that this place has seen any wars earlier. It does not give any indication of being a watch fort as well. However, I not being an historian will not go much into the details and will keep my curiosity in check.

This place was on our list for quite a few years now. We had seen photos on many travelougues, heard from many who had been there, however, somehow could not make it our destination. This time on the 15th August long weekend we were determined to go on an overmight adventure. We decided to visit "Bhandardara" as well another place quite close from Harishchandra gad.

Our plan:
1. Leave early on Saturday morning. Sight seeing at Bhandardara and stay at a place called Rajur.
2. Leave early on sunday morning for Harishchandra gad and by evening reach Pune.

As simple as the plan looks, it was not to be. We had to face quite a few complications later due to improper information and research from our side.

We reached Bhandardara at around 12:30. Had a pathetic lunch at the MTDC restaurant. In case anyone of you visits Bhandardara, dont even think of this restaurant. Instead a streetside "zhunka bhakar" is better. We had a nice day of sightseeing at Bhandardara though it was raining heavily, we had our times when the skies got cleared intermittently. Bhandardara has a dam and a lake. The lake has a circumference of around 20 kms. It is a pleasure to ride along this route and is just a relish to the eyes and refreshing to the body. Exactly at 10 kms on this route, you find an ancient temple of "Amruteshwar" worth visiting. Some snaps on the route around the lake:

In the evening at around 8:00 PM we headed towards Rajur which was around 25 Kms from Bhandardara. We enquired at Bhandardara and all of them told us that we would easily get a place at Rajur. However the story took a Uturn when we reached there. We could not find a single good place where we could stay. The only government guest house was full as a MLA was to visit there and needed 50 rooms. Not sure what he was supposed to do with the 50 rooms. None of my business and obviously not a topic of my investigation. We had to go around Rajur for a while when luckily we found a hotel where the owner took 150/- for a Hall. We jumped in at the place and also agreed for the amount.

The next day we left early in the morning so that we could reach Harishchandragad as early as possible. From rajur we had to go to a village called "Panchnai" which was the base village for the trek. The route to this village in itself was a pleasure that got us excited. Here are some pictures from the route:

Finally, after a breathtaking ride from Rajur to Panchnai we were at the base village. It took hardly 2 hours climb to reach the top. We had a zhunka bhakar at the top. This was a nice and lovely experience, having nice and hot zhunka bhakar with a waterfall running just besides. Some snapshots:

Finally our way back to Pune:

To summarise:
Good trek, a bit tough one, not to be trekked during rains if you are an avid photographer. Perfect trek after september until Feb.

Palaces, Forts and Snow!!

2011-02-02T20:43:00.014+05:30

In my office, apart from a day or two off from work, "LEAVE" is restricted to marriages, funerals and ICU admissions. So when I said I needed a week off so that I could go on a vacation with my wife, all I got was a blank look. My reason was "unheard of"; hence no argument ensued. After a couple of weeks of silence, my leave was approved!! Yippee!!
Reema and myself, along with Prichard and Marilyn planned out a week long tour to re-live our college tour experience. Here's what we did..

Day 1 : Fri 14 Jan 2011

We land in Jaipur at about 10.45pm and are collected by representatives of our resort - "Suryaa Villa". The pick-up from the airport was supposed to be charged, but then they forgot about it.
The rooms did not match the grandeur of the elegant looking palatial resort. Seeing walls with blue ceramic tiles up to waist-height, no wardrobes, and two single beds wasn't exactly what I traveled 2000 km for.

Day 2: Sat 15 Jan 2011

Started our day with humongous road-side breakfast - paranthas and lassi.
Prichard and Marilyn were to join us in the evening, so we spent the day on a govt. organized half day tour of Jaipur city.

Prichy & Mari reach at dinner time, and we head to Hotel Om Tower revolving restaurant. Nice setting where you sit on the 13th floor and revolve about the tower's axis so you can have a look at the entire city while you dine.

Food - 5
Service - 8
Ambiance - 9
Value For Money - 3

Day 3: Sun 16 Jan 2011

Breakfast at the famous Lakshmi Mishtan Bhandar. Nice rich food.. especially "Badvi Baazi" which is actually to be pronounced as "Bedvi Bhaaji", but due to that spelling we happened to embarrass the waiter a little.

Jantar Mantar -
Walking among the huge astronomy apparatus we're suddenly surprised to hear konkani conversations around. It was a group of current engicos on their "study" tour. We remembered our college tour all the more.

Nahargarh Fort -
Here we were welcomed by a guide who appeared very filmy. He reminded us of Rajpal Yadav, had a filmy name - Ramkhilavan; and he narrated the story of King Savai Madho Singh II as if he were a porn star. Apparently he lived with two queens at his palace. Nine others were housed in this fort. The story of how nine queens were kept in the same palace without access to each other, and the secret passage which allowed the king to visit one of them every night without the others having a clue about it was meant for general public. But then he took the guys aside for a little boy-talk where he revealed that the king actually had 52 queens of which only 11 had survived. The reason? "Raja saheb ka saamaan thoda lamba thaa". We wondered why a young guy like Ramkhilavan carried a walking stick around until he used it to illustrate the above "fact" to us.

Sympathizing with the poor queens, we move on to Jaigarh Fort to see the world's largest cannon. NO! Not the "saamaan".. a real cannon.

From here we move down to Amer Fort.
Amer Fort hosts a "Sound and Light show" every evening narrating the history of Amer. This is a must see. We didn't have cameras good enough to capture the show.

Day 4: Mon 17 Jan 2011
Chokhi Dhani -

Chokhi Dhani is a village resort with people doing road tricks and keeping you entertained. A very nice place to spend an evening and totally worth the price. Camel/elephant rides, fortune telling, magic shows, weird skill demos, archery, air guns, street dances, artificial caves etc etc topped with amazing food.
Placards stuck all over the place say "Do not encourage tips". But nobody can save you from "Raam Raam Saa" which at this place means "Give me some money".
Every entertainer on completing his piece of art greets you with these words; and appreciation of skill can only be done in cash.

Day 5: Mon 18 Jan 2011

Having seen Jaipur we now head towards Delhi to catch a bus to Manali. Most of the day was spent on the road.
The memorable part was nice Italian food at "Mamma Mia" in gurgaon.

Day 6: Tue 19 Jan 2011

We reach Manali at about 7.30 AM. Manoj, the guy who was supposed to pick us up is not to be seen. Worse still, he doesn't pick our calls. Worried we might freeze important parts of our body, we start walking towards the hotel asking for directions from the few people we could see around. 2 kilometers trek up the slope in snow with luggage on our back was quite an experience. A cute dog saw us walking and accompanied us until the hotel. We decided to name him Manoj.
At the hotel Flamingo Resort, we were greeted by Tuleram Khargosh, the receptionist/waiter/manager - a very hospitable man who fed us to the brim with the complimentary meals everyday. For some reason, he liked to be addressed as "T.R."

Our first activity at Manali was skiing at Sollang Valley. Not yet having adjusted to the sudden drop in temperature, our stamina wasn't at it's best, so we were done with skiing pretty soon and most of our time here was spent clicking snaps in the snow.

What amazing landscapes! Don't aim. Just shoot!

Our new friends on the trip .. Rohit and Samiksha. It was 12 AM and their anniversary which called for some celebration.

Day 7: Wed 20 Jan 2011

We wake up to a cloudier, colder morning and the water heater can hardly give us any hot water. That's because Tuleram's assistant has just broken ice in the overhead tank and the water's gonna take some time to start flowing.
After breakfast our driver takes us to Manikaran hot springs in Kullu. Two and a half hours drive but absolutely worth it. A pool of hot water!! The sight in itself was such a relief. We jumped into the water and didn't get out for over an hour. :-)
Day 8: Thu 21 Jan 2011

Warm sunny morning! We could do without warm clothes. It was our last day in Manali, and the day for local sight seeing.
Hadimba Temple
Club house
Vasisht Hot springs (Manikaran was much better)
Back at the hotel, pack up and we catch the bus back to Delhi.

Day 9: Fri 22 Jan 2011

Reaching Delhi at 6.00 AM is quite scary, especially when we don't know the way to where we're going. But we did find our way to Goa-Sadan without much hassle.
Dilli Haat -
Very nice place for food.. Authentic food stalls from a number of Indian states. I had the best chicken momos I've ever had.
The Kashmir stall served Gushtaba which was delicious too.. but a little expensive I'd say.
It was the end of the tour for Prichy and Mari who caught their flight to Goa after this.
We rode on a bus to have a look at the Qutb Minar.
Evening train - Rajdhani Express to Bangalore

Day 10: Sun 23 Jan 2011

Food was on the house in Rajdhani. So we ate, watched 3 movies and relaxed. Easy day.

Day 11: Mon 24 Jan 2011

Back to work :-(

Motorcycle Diaries - Kemmannugundi

2010-10-25T19:44:00.010+05:30

The greatest heights of Karnataka - Kemmannugundi.. This was the third time we were planning this trip and hence were pretty strong willed on making it, come what may.

At first, we made the plan with 3 people. A number of people seemed interested on being told about it though.. and like the saying goes.. "Log aatey gaye aur karwan banta gaya".. The highest we reached was a group of 12 people to join in with 8 bikes! Well, the joy of a big-gang trip plan was short-lived; as people soon started backing out. And finally one night before the trip, just the original 3 were left :)

The route

Nice road, scenic ponds, green surroundings... life!

Thats Akhil... A saying about him goes:

"His speed doesn't vary with the quality of the road; only his pillion rider's luck varies..."

- Anon

After battering many a butt, he now rides alone.

The hour long trek to Z - point. Amazing .. Adventurous .. Awesome!

The winds are so damned strong that you can barely stand still for a few milliseconds

On the way from Kemmannugundi to Chikmagalur.

Whoever told Abdul that it's a bad road probably rides on the runway.

After this, came the Belur temple, lunch in Hassan and then the only bad part of the trip.. an incomplete highway between Hassan and Nelamangala.

All in all, a well spent weekend. Looking forward to the next road-trip.

Apologies from God

2010-10-01T20:08:00.006+05:30

You wanted to be the king of the land

And all I've made you is a pawn in my hand

The devil and I play a game of gore

And here is how we keep score

Taking turns, we play with your mind

And whom you obey, gets one point

You build me a temple and I'm in the lead

You crush it to dust and I recede

You build me a mosque, but all in vain

'Cause then the devil strikes again

You make, you break and make and break

And truly believe it's all for my sake

You snap and swear and cry in pain

Until it's too much for you to take

Perplexed, you look for guys to blame

And kill your brother in my name

It's not about the points any more

This, for me is a matter of shame.

I walk through your mind, trying to make a mark

But sometimes the door's shut and the room, pitch dark

The devil smiles at me from the inside

I humbly move on and let him reside.

You think you're smart and voice your views

You think you get to decide and choose

While it's just a game I play with the devil

And whoever may win, YOU LOSE.

Sorry dude... No hard feelings

Kailas Gad - Easy trek with mind blowing views

2010-07-13T07:41:00.000+05:30

Had been to Kailas Gad on saturday. Not many know about this fort mostly because it is surrounded by more famous forts. It must have been only a watch fort during Shivaji's time because it does not seem strategically important considering that it is surrounded by Loh Gad on the Lonavala side and Sinhgad on the other side.

A road going right from the base of Tamhini Ghat takes us to a village named Waghwadi from where the trek starts.This road goes along the backwaters of the Mulshi Dam which is what makes a trip to this fort a refreshing experience. Also from the top you see the whole view of the backwaters surrounding the fort on three sides.

Here are a few snaps of the trip.

Some classic photography on the way

The bikes....The enfield looks the best as always :)

A Classic view on the way to Kailas gad. We could not resist waiting here for a while. Besides since we had cousins Digital SLR with us it was worth waiting.

The lush green mountains just made us feel refreshed already.

Whole group except for the Photographer...

Nice view half way from the fort. Mulshi Backwaters.

Beautiful view of the Kailas Gad. We had to still climb the mountain seen in the snap.

The queen of the fort we called her. She does not look less beautiful than Katrina Kaif. Thats the beauty of SLR. I was a little afraid that after clicking the snaps she would ask for her modelling fees. some 100 Rs per snap or something. We had clicked quite a few snaps of this lady.

"Gai Humari Mata Hain, Agey kuch nahi ataa hai"

Have you seen a flying Human? No it is not Milkha singh. It is our own SLR owner.

Finally the tired, exhausted group with a thought in the mind that we need to still travel 90 Kms.

All in all not a difficult trek, but a very refreshing one. Or you can say can be a romantic trek rather than a hectic one.

Mr Aurangzeb's city

2010-07-08T07:30:00.000+05:30

Had visited Aurangabad on a weekend in May on my new unicorn. Was a great experience and I proved myself the quote that "Four wheels move the body while two wheels move the soul".

We were just two of us on two different bikes to attack Aurangzeb in his own city.

Here are some snapshots of the experiences we had.

Me with my girl friend...

It seems this is the famous Delhi darwaza at Aurangabad. I wonder what is it doing at Aurangabad. It must be an consequence of some silly demand from one of aurangzeb's wife that she wants to stay in Delhi and Aurangzeb must have fooled her in this manner. Believe me, when it comes to wife's wishes the mughals could go to any extent...

The tar on our way to Ajanta Caves.

Ajanta Caves view. They are basically monastries from the 5th century. They have some amazing architectural desings and i must say the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) have preserved them with care. No camera flashes are allowed in the caves so that the bright light does not deteriorate the paintings.

An example of the architectural intelligence of the 5th century men.

Ghrisneshwar Temple. One of the shiv jyotirlingas. The place is called Verul. We had a real good learning experience the previous night. We reached here at 12:00 from Ajanta caves as we got so engrossed in the caves that we did not realize the time. We could not find a lodging and were thinking to stay on the road. But by God's grace we found one just besides the temple. Moral of the story: Stay wherever you are by 9:00 PM when you are at an unknown place.

We two exhausted with the experience we had the previous night. We had slept at 2:00 AM in the morning and we were back on tar the next morning at 6:30 AM.

She was the only one supporting me whole heartedly for anything i wanted to do :). This view was on the way to Daulatabad fort.

Daulatabad fort. It gives you an measure of Mughal intelligence. It is not easy to rule almost whole of India when other kings like Shivaji, Pratap singh rana and brave rajputs always on your look out. It had in all 5 safety layers. The most interesting was a dark cave which was the only way to enter the fort. It seems the troops use to hide there and in case the enemy manages to cross all the earlier safety layers and reaches the dark cave, the troops hiding in the dark cave would attack them.

This is called the "Chand Minar". It was a sort of announcement point. This is one view from the top of the fort.

Great experience. Would be visiting this again in the rains. Should be more fun.

Times Cycle To Work

2010-06-17T23:02:00.006+05:30

Cycling rally on Saturday 5 June 2010.

Over 2000 cycles to see, some more expensive than bikes :)

Hari weds Nayana

2010-06-17T22:20:00.007+05:30

Hari wed Nayana on Wed 2 June 2010, Bangalore

The ceremony

The dos and don'ts

See! Shooting star!

The rest of us (I'm clickin')

Highlight: Clyde's neck was locked at 27º from the mean position arresting the rotary degree of freedom.

Motorcycle Diaries - Pondicherry

2010-02-08T20:13:00.012+05:30

Pondicherry trip

Since we've all become very busy (read lazy) nowadays, blogging isn't really possible. I thought I could utilise this webspace to keep picture records of my trips.. hehe

This one's about my Pondicherry bike trip with friends and family on 6-7 Feb 2010

The route

Somewhere down the road

Thiruvanamalai TempleSaapaad near the temple
Gingee Fort And the other sights on the beach

The famous Le Cafe

All in all.. we had a good time :)

How some people sleep

2008-08-22T09:23:00.011+05:30

Some sleep at work...

Some let their mind stray...

Some doze off in the back seat

On a get-away...

Some so horny; suck parts of their own

And some forget they were talking on the phone

Some get entangled...

Some knocked out...

But this dude is the strangest...

beyond doubt.

At the registrar's office he fancied his bed....

Slept as a bachelor and woke up WED!!!

Credits:

Pari

I found him..

2008-07-28T14:56:00.006+05:30

Disclaimer: Since I am posting this, you might expect something funny, but let me warn you that there's nothing funny below. Read with a strong heart.

Did you hear about....
1. Somebody told me he's still in Goa
2. I heard he's teaching at R.I.T.
3. I heard he left that job long back
4. It seems he's a full timer at ISKCon now

All bloody rumours.. And I so wish they were all false....

Go to ID hospital in Ponda and look around observantly. You'll notice that one building in the neighbourhood is particularly noisy. People dressed in white attire talking in a very soft tone get in and out of it and appear to be busy with something very important. The non-members have a smile on their face when passing by. And if you pass by this place, you'll sure feel like giggling unless you notice that one of those faces is quite familiar. He used to be our friend. His laughter rocked the hostels. The loudest guy of our batch. And here he is now - dressed in white dhoti-kurta, bald head and aloof.

He has taken up "bramhacharya". This means he will never get married and never attend any marriage. His occupation includes social service, prayers, going around in groups to preach about his association etc.

He does not have a personal phone number or email id. His basic needs - and i mean basic (food, clothing and shelter) are taken care of by the association; and thats about it. He visits his parents once every year and thats all they see of him.

I hadn't seen him for over four years, so decided to spend an empty sunday finding him out. I did find him quickly, but wasn't quite happy to see him this way. Nevertheless, I managed to keep a smile on my face.

He seemed to be happy with his life.. May be he is.

Vacation '07/'08 - Goa & Pune

2008-01-12T20:28:00.000+05:30

Its been long since i've written so here goes... i just had a fabulous and much needed holiday in India ! Met a lot of the old folks... Everyone's more or less the same. Some of the girls have straightened their hair and/or put on weight.
We did some karting again, and needless to say who was the overall champion: me :)... although a certain driver by the name of Yuri might respond to this blog trying to say how he had been leading. But my friend, the idea is to keep your kart on track rather than in the tyre wall. Anyway, you drive your Alto quite well mate, and thanks a million (I really mean it !) for taking me back home the day I was totally drunk. I'm going to remember that night for a long time now, specially since i had to explain to my mom why i don't need to join AA.

Goa, India

Anyway, had a good time at the dances inspite of not being able to put to practice what i'd been learning. But i haven't given up yet... restarted my dance classes with the British women. Mari, i'll teach you some more cha-cha-cha next time. Hopefully next time i'll take someone other than sisters or sisters-in-law as well... Oh, but I did manage to get in for the bacardi blast... with a French girl. And using a little bit of what my French teachers had thought me in school, i know her name is Sirielle. Well, "Rendez-vous à Paris, Sirielle !"
Anyway, the highlight of the holiday was the trip to Pune. It was great driving on Indian roads again, although some of my friends think i've lost touch ! But the roads were good. Its great to see India's infrastructure improving. You could almost compare the highways to the motorways here. Did quite a lot of shopping for export.
It was fun staying at the Engico home in Pune. It seems to be the 'hudda' for our batch. There's a lot i can write here, but i'll let the photos do the talking...

Pune, India

(besides i think i've caught the norovirus here and don't feel all too well).
Back in Goa, i found myself at the annual mando festival, which reminded me of my roots... and it was fun hearing the politicians speak and the spontaneous Konkani humour from Dr. Bhikaji Ghanekar.
I just wasn't feeling like coming back at all, and as if the heavens read my thoughts, i got an extra day thanks to Air India's troubled services, so spent the night at the Jajurs @ No. 903 in Mumbai !!
It was fun travelling in the Mumbai locals and getting lost in India's population...
I'm back in England and its cold and windy and rainy and horrible. We had our first snowfall yesterday and did some masti and fell sick. As a matter of fact i haven't seen the sun since i left India...

Weekend destination: Silvassa

2007-11-25T16:27:00.000+05:30

Laxminarayan and myself planned and executed road trip to Silvassa yesterday... Laxmi was to spend the night before the ride at my place, n when I said it would be egg-curry for dinner he said he wanted to be around to see me buy the eggs... to ensure I don't feed him pigeon eggs :) Well... he was late and had to trust me with that...

Next morning... 24 Nov '07, 0530 hrs IST..

We're out of the house n hit the western express highway within minutes... couldn't speed too much as the trucks were pretty reckless.. however, we weren't too pissed with them cos their exhaust was thawing us out of the 5.30 chill... When we got out of Mumbai onto NH-8, trucks were fewer, it got much darker than before, and much much colder... Our windcheaters weren't good enough and my bare fists were practically frozen...

We stopped at a dhaba in Manor to heat up a bit.. had hefty alu parathas and tea...

By 9 o' clock we were in Silvassa, and our host for the day - Abhishek Desai picked us up n took us home.. An elaborate breakfast was waiting for us... Laxmi was already full.. so I helped him a bit.. :)

Our first destination after breakfast was Dudhni... about 40 km from Silvassa, through the mountains n trees...on a very well made up road... was an awesome ride... At Dudhni we sat together at a picnic spot discussing the hostel days... updating each other etc... had lunch, and went waterscooting in the Damanganga river..

Next destination: Deer Park... another lovely ride... but the gates were closed n we had to plan something quick for the one hour left until they opened...so we went to Bindrabin temple and had a nice refreshing dip in the chilled pond.. that was like the best activity for the sunny afternoon.. We felt so fortunate that the deer park was closed...

Came back to the deer park... Man! its tough to ride when the roads are not tarred...

Well... mud biking is real fun... but then it kinda hurts to ride your own bike on stones.. :)

Excited seeing some wild animals pretty close, and covered with dust, we got out of the deer park and went back to the town... and got onto the highway to head back home...

We missed seeing a camping site as it would've taken us too long.. Abhishek suggests we plan an overnight to this place... go with a big gang.. I'm game.. interested people please contact me..

The ride back to Mumbai was pretty interesting... we did the first 140km in 2hours... and the remaining 15 km in 90 minutes.. that is Mumbai's way of saying.. "Welcome back!" :)

Birthday Bumps....This is not a joke....

2007-11-17T23:21:00.000+05:30

Since I turned 25…(here forth referred to as N)….there have been a series of incidences that make me wonder about the humour of life and growing older…
Things that rub my age in my face…. This is my TRUE experience... I wish it was just a forward..

“Coincidence” 1: Date…24th Oct …1 day after my bday
While calling up my Tata indicom guy… after 1 month of yelling at them I take the polite approach...speaking slowly n politely in Hindi.. and saying please and thank you…
Result…? When he comes over to my house… he asked me If he spoke to me on the phone… when I said YES he says..
“Lagta tha ki main Aunty se baat kar raha tha” ...(Probably not the best Hindi, but this is my version)
Of course when I gave him the “Mel You look like Rajnikanth’s Wife” look he tried to cover up while filling in my details like DOB saying...”Oh 82.. lagta tha ki 85 hai..”
Yeah, right … too late!

“Coincidence” 2: Date…22th Oct …1 day before my bday
I receive a special offer courier from Ponds….”Try a product worth Rs.450/- for Rs. 200/-….if you don’t think it works we’ll give you your entire money back…”
Seems really nice tho the envelope said “Look Younger in just 7 days…or your money back”
Ponds Age Miracle.. yeah ... that’s my special offer….
I went semi-berserk and asked my receptionist if it looked like I needed it.. she laughed…

I didn’t laugh so much when I received the SAME courier 3 days later AGAIN!!!!! Talk abt adding insult to injury!!!

“Coincidence” 3: Date…25th Oct
My friend enters her kids picture in some website and asked us to vote for it…the website is IndiaParenting.com ….you have to register to login…
Oh well apart from icky details like your spouses name, if pregnant your due date…. (SERIOUSLY) ….there is the usual DOB field…I decided to treat myself to lying about my age…23 Oct 1983 is not such a big lie is it…?? Except that ...
…the dropdown for Year started from 1982! There was no option for anyone born after that!!! Apparently once you are N you are eligible to join this website and not before.. (I’m looking for a sue-this-site link)
I don’t want that kid to win the contest now.

Oh well… I laughed it all and said... I should blog about this... This is actually cute and funny na! HAHAHAAAAAHAHAA take it in Good spirit n all that jazz !!
I mean, 3 times can be coincidence na ??

Let’s laugh it off going shopping to Brand-Factory with Clyde for some shopping and my ego boost….
….So I did that...
Yeah, and the bill came to...(I swear I have the bill to prove it)…………
Rs. 1983/-

“Coincidence” number 4 ??????? I don’t think sooo..

Wish all my pretty lady pals a very happy Nth birthday

And here's a pic of d Pune Gang who shared my Nth with me... sad to say most of them are under-N....

Recipe: Kabu Kabab Pariwala

2007-11-16T02:13:00.000+05:30

Here is a simple recipe that you would like to try at home.

Ingredients:
Pigeon - 1 nos.
Onion - 1 nos.
Carrot - 1 nos.
Turmeric - 1 tbsp.
Coriander pdr - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 3 tbsp
Red chilly pdr - 2 tsp
Rava - 3tbsp
Oil - 30ml
Salt - to taste

Directions
Behead the pigeon, skin it and wash it clean. Cut the edible parts into average sized pieces. Rub turmeric, coriander powder, red chilly powder and salt and leave aside.
Go to the balcony and clear it of all the feathers.
Now mix the rava and garam masala. Heat oil in a pan. Roll the kabab pieces in the rava mix and fry for 20-25 minutes
Garnish with onions and carrots and serve hot!

Do try out the recipe and send in your suggestions for improvement.

Okay... now here's how I caught it:
we have an abandoned bathroom where I sprinkled a little toor dal and waited a few days.. the prey arrived, I sealed all exit points and pounced on it... It flew to the kitchen, saw the window closed, flew at my face, and I just caught it in flight. Cool eh?

Aakhir jallad bhi to insaan hota hai na....

Hunters don't normally care for tiny pecks.. but yes.. for the record... that b@$#!% pecked me... and it hurt... :-(

How my life changed...

2007-10-29T23:32:00.000+05:30

I was in a very bad state... Nobody would talk to me.. My moustache just kept growing... N I did not know what to do... It was getting to my head.. People made fun of me... Called me names behind my back.. and on my face... I was going mad... I would've soon lost my job..
BEFORE

But then my friend suggested "Fiskars"..
This has been the best gadget I have used lately...
Life suddenly took a U turn... Now I look sober again...

AFTER

And people talk to me... and girls ask me directions... and kids don't get scared of me... dogs bark at me like before...and my boss points out my mistakes... I'm so happy once again..
So guys... Get a pair of Fiskars... and cut down the whiskers!! . . . .

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WTF!! ?? Thats what came to your mind? Yeah rite.. I feel like reading stuff on the blog, I come to this site and see that its still the same old posts... You have something better to write...? Why not just post it up then?

Thump thump thump we go....

2007-10-15T20:48:00.000+05:30

For all those of you who didn't know, Clyde n myself rode down my bike to Goa in May this year.. And the time for getting it back was nearing.. Clyde - busy as ever couldn't confirm on the date until one day before we actually went.. :-)

Friday, 5th of October I collect Clyde from the airport and we head to Dadar where we would be boarding the train... We reach with one hour at hand, so get into a restaurant for some kebabs n beer...After a 20 min wait, the waiter comes n pisses us off saying beer is not cold... Now we get desperate and walk real fast in a mutually agreed direction with two bags and a helmet in our hands.. Find a place finally.. pretty expensive.. in fact way too expensive... but what the hell!! We get in.. Ek chicken tikka, do beer.. thanda.. jaldi lao..train ja raha hai..

We gulped down in a hurry and made it to the platform well in time, but the train was delayed by an hour!! It was due to a bomb scare at CST.. and we had overheard about it on TV in that restaurant...
Had we been a little more attentive, we could've possibly put down a couple of beers more ;-)

Train journey pretty uneventful, and we get to Goa...

I spend most of the day with my bike checking this and that and getting some stuff rectified by a mechanic..

October 7 - The auspicious day

Cool n cloudy day... seemed like it could rain.. Fingers crossed...Started from home at about 9:15 and headed to Clyde's house who was ready n waiting for me... packed up the bags n headed to the next halt - a petrol pump at Pernem... There we fill up the tank to the brim and mount the big bag on it so the pillion's hands get freed...I rode till Sawantwadi, Clyde took over..

Then we stopped in Amboli for some bhajiya and omlettes.. Normal Amboli scene with some sober monkeys socialising and many anti-social humans making killos.. Other than a guy spitting from inside a Sumo right onto another guy's feet, there wasn't anything really exciting..

All along the way the clouds did exactly what we wanted them to do.. protect us from the sun.. Otherwise we would have been roasted papads by evening..

Ajra, Uttur, Gadinglaj, Nippani and onto the Highway.... where we zoomed past some 100cc toys .. Kolhapur.. we stop for lunch.. home made alu parathas n chatni under the trees by the highway.... Satara... Umbraj.. Indoli... that's where the clouds let out a few drops n cooled the atmosphere further... It was 3:45 in the afternoon, but looked like an average 6:30pm.... The last halt was about 70 km from Pune - tea break and rider switch... Clyde took over and rode home.. We were in Pune by around 6:30... No rest.. excited.. we discussed the ride, had dinner outside, came back n watched a movie... not realizing that tomorrow was a Monday.. and my office was still 200 km away..

Having slept at 1:00 AM and woken by 5:00 I was in no state to ride till Mumbai.. Edwin was kind enough to drop me right until my office gate...

We had a short high tea halt atop Khandala Ghat....

What a ride... Will soon go thumping for another.. and yeah.. keep you updated

THE ENGICO ....page 4

2007-09-28T11:14:00.000+05:30

Ganesh Chaturthi Pics - 2002

2007-09-26T15:06:00.000+05:30

Requires Flash

Finally Made it in 3 years...

2007-09-24T11:50:00.000+05:30

Cross-posted here

I am the last person to sit and jot down whatever I ve been upto on weekends, but this is one of an exception. Its been 3 weeks since the trip to Hassan, but let me give it a shot. The memories are fresh and beautiful.
It was a long pending trip in fact. A Wipro friend had been inviting us over to her place in Hassan since 3 years, and for reasons best known to us the trip happened only 3 weeks ago. Chaitra had almost given up on ever seeing us in Hassan, till she finally challenged me to get all the girls to the Kempe Gowda bus stand and that she would take over from there. With some last minute ticket booking (thanks to KSRTC online booking) we managed to get the tickets on a wed night. Bus was to start at 820 pm on friday, and most of us wouldn't be surprised if I told you, we kept the bus waiting, cause we reached there at 830.
So there we go, chaitra takes over from here. She is our tour guide cum host for the weekend. Total 7 of us off to hassan - chaitra (kannadiga n wiproite), shivashankari (tamilian & wiproite), Tina (malyali and wiproite) and the engicos, Reema, Elizabeth, Dechen and Myself. Reached at 2 am and headed straight for chaitras home. Ate upma at 3 am and went to bed. We knew the driver was going to pick us up again at 9. But all of us including chaitra knew it well that 9 was an impossible target. I Went to Hassan with minimum expectations, cause all I had heard of hassan so far was that it has a satellite control centre (ISRO). As luck would have it, we ended up seeing everything in and around Hassan and only the gates of the ISRO centre.

To our surprise we were ready by 9am on Saturday, but the driver wasn’t there. He arrived at 930 odd and we headed straight out on the highway to Chickmaglur. A pleasant drive, with beautiful sunflower and marigold fields on either sides awaits you. First stop was at Yagachi Dam (excuse me if got the names wrong, actually most engicos who know me, surely know my habit of confusing names). Clicked some nice pictures and got back into the car. Next stop was Kalhitgiri falls. A small but surely magnificient falls to see. Did a small trek through the mucky path to see the falls from a height. Next winding up the curvy road the vehicle drove us to Kemmanagundi hills. A beautiful hill station at a height of bout 5000ft above sea level. A much deserved break from the dust and pollution of Bangalore. Walking through the clouds to the topmost point of the hill (as reema puts it) was awesomeeeeeeeeee. Then we thought we were heading downhill for a good grub, as we couldn’t find a decent place to eat uphill at Kemmanagundi. Luckily our host had packed loads of fruits n snacks for us, and we finished it off in no time. Inspite of all the munchies we were too hungry to think of another place to see, but the driver insisted that we see Baba Budangiri hills while we are already there. Kemmanagundi and Baba Budangiri are adjacent hills, not sure which one is higher than the other. Baba’s Shrine is a famous pilgrimage spot for hindus and muslims. When we reached the Baba’s shrine, the thermometer would have surely read a single digit, and the clouds covering the hill restricted the visibility to barely 4-5 metres. But all the hunger and the biting cold was forgotten when we saw this amazing shrine carved inside a rock. (brought back memories of the college trip to Manali). Inside the shrine people offered locks to the saint (a Baba who is believed to have spiritually disappeared while lost in meditation. Hindus believe he went to Kashi and muslims say he went to Mecca). The locks were opened once your wish was fulfilled. And yes we all prayed to baba for some food, and surely enough he gave us the most delicious bread omlet, I ve ever eaten. That was the last spot for the evening and it was already 7, so we started our 2 hours journey down the hill to Chickmagalur. Ate dinner in Hassan and went to bed at 11, dreaming of the heavenly places we had visited.

Sunday morning start was much hurried as we knew we had a lot to cover and just a few hours to start back for Bangalore. As we didn’t want to miss out anything, we arranged for the return ksrtc bus to pick us up from Shravanabelogola, as it was enroute to Bangalore. In the morning visited two temples belonging to the Hoysala rule (Belur and Halebid). Both temples were so similar in their architecture, that I can hardly differentiate when I look back at the pictures now. One of them was famous for the statue of a perfect woman sculptured to the last detail of perfection. (For all those who will ask me now for the vital stats of this perfect woman go google.). After the temple visits we headed for chaitras home and her mom had prepared the most amazing curd rice I ve ever eaten. (being in south India for 3 years now, I still cannot stand curd rice, but this was again an exception). The best part of our trip was yet to come. The icing on the cake was the visit to Shravanabelagola, a must see for all, the largest monolithic statue in the world. Up a hill again but this time climbing 800 odd steps, to see the statue of the Jain God – Lord Bahubali. Reema, tina, chaitra and Karthik (he joined us on day 2 of our trip) was the first to reach up hill while dechen, Elizabeth, shiva and myself crawled up 15 mins later. From up the hill you get a exhilarating view of the entire district of hassan and the surrounding places. We spend some peaceful moments up the hill taking pictures of the beautiful scenery and started down hill. Sitting in the bus back to Bangalore, I m sure all of us were pondering over the same questions - Will I ever come back to hassan again? Why didn’t this happen 3 years ago? Would this have been possible if not for our wonderful host? Would we ever know so much bout ancient India and its cultures and religions – if not for this most unplanned and yet so wonderful trip to Hassan.

Swirl Sniff Sip

2007-09-19T14:06:00.000+05:30

When in Rome do as the Romans do. But when in Nashik, do what we did. Have some fine wine.

I have always enjoyed the taste of wine on my palate but this experience was quite different. Mostly my knowledge of wine was limited to Vinho Porto but this was some eye opener. So, if in Nashik do not miss out on the wine tasting at The Tasting Room @ the Sula Vineyards. Six fine wines combined with a little bit of education(and bias if you are female) for Rs.150 only...definitely a steal. Optionally one can opt for the Rs.100, five wine option. The wines on offer for the six wine option were ...
White (Blanc)
1. Sula Sauvignon Blanc
2. Sula Chenin Blanc (this one we unanimously liked and recommend)
3. Sula Late Harvest Chenin Blanc (a little too sweet)
Rose
4. Sula Blush Zinfandel
Red
5. Dindori Reserve Shiraz (one of their finest)
6. Sula Zinfandel

The tasting includes a super micro mini tour of the vineyards where-in you get to see the crushers, the fermentation chambers, storage tanks and the bottling plant.

Ok back to the wine tasting and the informative bit. I hope most of this information is true and the guy across the bar wasn't giving us 'pilla'. The only i-know-something-about-wine-thanks-to-Wikipedia soul was Melissa and she kept the guy busy with her questions about "corked wine", "wine legs" and what not. I dunno if it were the questions or that she was the only girl amongst us .... but rounds 1 to 6 she always got served the patiyala peg while we din't. Grrrrr.

During the tasting session we learnt a few things about wine drinking...here are 10 random things i noted down.

1. Wine on the palate is usually dry, semi-dry or sweet and as we learnt very sweet too.

2. White wine is served chilled (6-10C) while red wine is served at room temperature or like the guy put it..European room temperature(15-18C)

3. How does one hold the wine glass? While drinking white wine one must hold the glass by the stem so that body heat isn't transferred to the wine while for red wine one can hold the stem or the bowl(you rather not). Well well Wikipedia tells me, ISO has standardized a series of glasses for wine tasting. Beat that!!!! ISO 3591:1977

4. The different wines would classify as white, red, table, rose, cooking, sparkling....and the list goes on.

5. The Swirl, Sniff and Sip - Once served you must swirl your wine glass(not a good idea with a full glass) to help oxidise the wine and sniff immediately to drown in its aroma. And yes then importantly sip it or if in a hurry ....gulp. :) The sniff part gives one an indication of how the wine would taste. e.g. Dry wines would have a more pungent aroma. And yeah if you wanna feel more intellectual after you swirl take a look at the legs(of the wine). I think its an indication of the alcohol content.

6. The color of the wine doesn't come from the grape juice coz it's clear but it comes from the presence of the skin during fermentation and the time duration of the presence. At Sula it's 16 hours for Rose wines and 6 days for Red.

7. The alcohol content for most wines @ Sula is 13%.

8. The year usually indicates the year of harvest while the name is usually derived from the Grape variety.

9. The taste of the wine not only depends on the grape variety but also the climate, the soil and the yeast culture used....and yes the storage(e.g. oak wood barrels) and the time.

10. One round of tasting sure gives you a nice feeling in the head...round 2 would leave you just right.

We were so into the place that we went back at night. This time however you have to buy by the bottle, pint or glass. The wine tasting hours are between 11:00 am and 5:30 pm. After that the Tasting Room is open till 11:00 pm for service and purchase(on the weekends) but make that 10:00 coz the lazy and politely rude(by switching the lights off) bartenders shut the place down. So you need to get there by 9:30pm if u want to slip in a drink. The eats on the menu are nothing to boast about but one can find handy cheese dips, assorted nuts, cheese, crackers and wafers. I would personally highly rate the tasting experience but not the wine-dining one unless you are one for the ambiance.

Nashik ... a city to fall in love with

2007-09-19T12:28:00.000+05:30

Destination Nashik. Hildon, Clyde, Mel and myself decided to spend the weekend away from the noisy city of Pune. En route to Nashik we went to a place called Bhandardara which boasts of being one of the most beautiful hill station in Maharashtra, with it's still virgin landscape unadulterated like most other. One can enjoy breathtaking views of the peaks, valleys, lakes and waterfalls besides boating and swimming in the dam waters. The must-not-miss place for sure is the Bhandardara Dam. Bhandardara is a must visit for all, nature lovers or not, with the rainy season being the best time of the year. The roads in Bhandardara are excellent and the drive worth it. But the road getting there from Sangamner aint the best.
Places to stay: Ananda Valley(tad expensive), MIDC (Lake View). Restaurants aplenty including the MIDC canteen.
How to get there: 190 Kms from Pune. Detour off Sangamner(150 kms from Pune) and drive for about 50 odd kms.

Nashik is a further 70 kms from Bhandardara. The route passes through Ghoti(a village where-you-feel-you-are-lost) just before hitting the Mumbai-Nashik highway(NH4). On this highway one always feels like he is in the wrong lane. Worst piece of highway to be driving on. 22 kms later comes the pilgrimage city of Nashik.

Having little knowledge about the city and no map in hand we set out on a find-the-vineyards adventure. Our globe-trotting navigator Clyde ably guided us to a hillock which he "claimed" to be the landmark to the Sula Vineyards. And this wasn't helped by the lack of knowledge of the locals about the place. One rick driver and few signboards later we found our destination. The Sula Vineyards are closer to the Mumbai highway towards Ambad->Gangapur. If one is coming from Pune then you need to get right across the city to get there(about 10 km from Dwarka Circle). More about the vineyards in the next post. May i add there ain't any hillock landmark for the vineyards :P.

We all instantly fell in love with the city. Broad clean roads, fewer pedestrians, lesser traffic, much lesser noise amidst the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations...and at first look a city better planned. Well i do come from Goa but 3 years in Pune has made me learn to value all this. The weather at this time of the year is great but the best time to visit would be the winter months and you better be well equipped. And yes the Pune-Nashik highway is nothing short of picturesque

Places to visit: Infant Jesus Shrine on the Pune Nashik road, Sula Vineyards - The tasting room, DadaSaheb Phalke Memorial, Trimbakeshwar(about 40 mins+ from Nashik)
Things to do: Wine tasting(very informative and happy experience), Gliding at the Deolali flying club(Pune Nashik road, Rs. 300 per head, flying time 10 mins), Pilgrimage to Infant Jesus Shrine/Trimbakeshwar.

Places to Stay: 5 Star - The Taj

Affordable(Pune-Nashik road): (Rs.700 -1800 for an AC room) Panchavati Elite, Kamat, Dwarka, Shanti Inn(Opposite Fame Cinemas - This is where we stayed, new, clean, safe and very good AC rooms :) ), NasiKlub(you need to know a member to stay here)

EatOuts: Panchavati Elite, Kamat's, Ginger, McDonalds are some of the ones i know of.

Nashik Photos

THE ENGICO ....page 3

2007-09-18T11:51:00.000+05:30

THE ENGICO ....page 2

2007-09-08T12:07:00.001+05:30

THE ENGICO ....page 1

2007-08-31T15:37:00.001+05:30

Amidst all the rush towards the end of college we never managed to release the newspaper at all. This post hopefully will give everyone a chance to take a sneak peek at what the newspaper actually looked like and what it contained. This is the first of four pages so please stay glued to this space for the others. Carl, I know you were looking for this...here it is mate..albeit 3 years late.

Please Click to Enlarge

Kyunki yeh Khander bhi Kabhi Hostel tha...

2007-08-21T15:39:00.000+05:30

Pranav-Arti aur woh(woh is me) made a trip to college a few weeks back to meet our profs...we also met Umesh, Tulsi and some old memories in the hostel...
The meeting with profs and the topics of discussion were "out of syllabus" for me and I'm not the best person to even summarise it all... Pranav might throw some light on those aspects of our visit if he finds time... My topic is "Hostel"
An abandoned BE hostel.... the windows have still not recovered from our stones... my bicycle is in the same position as I had left it...Ashish's bath-tub breeds mosquitoes and Clyde's room has the only door in the hostel which can be closed... so it has been locked - they've probably stored something in there..

Walking into the hostel was like getting into an old spoilt castle... rebirth story kinda thing... brought alive all the memories... couldn't probably mention all of them, but I did think of Kashinath in particular.... yes.. the toilets don't stink any worse than they used to... And the manure we supplied have made the walls very fertile... lots of moss..

Work's going on... n they're trying to repair the hostel and get it back to life... I wonder what kind of damage would require 3 years to repair :D
Yeah...3 years. Ours was the last batch to live in that hostel, and thus our graffiti was still fresh..

Here are some of the snaps we took... If you guys are looking for a particular pic, it might not have been uploaded cos its was extremely obscene, or probably due to lack of space, or may be the moss had covered it and we didn't manage to capture it... Of course you may contact Pranav for the complete collection of snaps - uncensored.

We dint take Arti along with us to the hostel - though it was abandoned n all... for as we all know, the boys who lived in that hostel were far more decent as compared to what they wrote on the walls.... I've taken care to post only the "nice" drawings etc... however, if you're a girl viewing these snaps, do so at your own discretion..
This may be ADULT material... children of ANY age are not permitted.

Ashish's wing

Savio's room

Shubhalabh's Room

Art By Raghu ......

Farmagudi to Panhala

2007-08-12T11:31:00.000+05:30

Two hill stations .... (I for one think that Farmagudi was no less than a hill station) ... 300 kms apart.... a bunch of Engicos... some c*p and well the same ol' days. Being engrossed in our so-called-busy lives gives most of us little chance to meet up. So in the backdrop of Tour de la Kashmir attended by 2 Engicos we decided to do one of our own. The place of choice was Panhala, about 27 kms from Kolhapur. Equidistant between Pune and Goa this was the best spot for the touring parties from Goa and Pune to meet up. While Clyde, Melissa, Hildon and myself made the smooth and picturesque drive down the Golden Quadrilateral ..... Gaurang, Carl, Anant and Parijat took the more bumpier and scenic route thro Ambolim.

For those who haven't been to Panhala....its a must visit during the rains. Breathtaking views splashed with plenty of green and stone, lots of cloud cover and rain and nice cool weather. Its sure was great fun catching up with college mates and also reliving those good old times. We checked in at the not-so-posh yet homely Hotel Hill Top in Panhala. In spite of having 3 rooms ... all the 'killos' in one room like in the hostel where bed space maximization was at its best. That round of 'mhendicot' and some planned 'teen paana' that never happened. That bonding .. that feeling like we were back in college. Just the perfect way to de-stress from our hectic lives. The following day we were all spotted in Kolhapur buying the traditional Kolhapuri chappals. For bargaining strategies please contact one Mr. Gaurang Kamat. It almost got to a point where the shopkeeper was willing to pay Gaurang to buy his merchandise. lol. Lunch and beers at Opal was followed by the long drive back home.

2007 F1 British GrandPrix

2007-07-29T21:42:00.000+05:30

And when the 5 red lights go out... it will be the start of the 2007 British G... but wait Massa's waving his hand !!! He can't get his car started, so the rest of the field will do another formation lap while Massa is wheeled to the pit lane and start from there... if he can start that is ! (and for me that's another lap to see Lewis Hamilton play with his McLaren MP4-22)

That was part of the excitement at Silverstone on 7th & 8th July this year. Right from the start till the end, it was one of the greatest races to watch and I was more than happy to be right there watching all the action... And although I'd been given a deadline to post this (which i missed by a day) , Formula 1 is one of my favourite subjects so its going to be a pleasure recounting the incidents at the race !

We were 10 of us that included 3 Engicos - Urvashi, Pankaj & myself, hired two cars and set out early on Saturday for the qualifying. Although, we were not racing each other I feel extremely proud to say our car reached the circuit first with me navigating and a little help of the SatNav. (Yuri please do not allow Urvashi to modify this blog - she doesn't like to admit losing u know;-)).
Anyway, we arrived just as planned for the 3rd practice session. For those who don't follow the sport - There are normally 3 practice sessions: 2 on Friday & 1 on Saturday before the Qualifying session. They don't show the practice on TV, but there's a live timing feed on www.formula1.com (and that's why I'm less productive in office on a race weekend Friday)

So when we arrived at the circuit some of the drivers were doing their practice laps and if you're listening to the sounds of those cars for the first time, you'd go deaf !! Most of my friends were amazed like I was last year. Listen to this video on max volume if u can...

F1 Videoz

Since we had some time for the Qualifying session, we decided to stroll around and buy the teams merchandise. Most of my friends happen to be Ferrari fans and I was only looking at the stalls selling the McLaren gear pretending as if the others didn't even exist. I managed to convince a couple of neutral chaps to support McLaren & Lewis Hamilton as well, so I wasn't alone. And i wouldn't have been anyway cos of the home crowd support.

Having gone around the F1 'mela' and seen and touched some of the real cars on display including the "Mercedes McLaren SLR 722 Edition" (that's my dream car btw!!!) we decided to find place and park ourselves for the Qual. session. This year I'd specifically bought tickets for a part of the circuit that has a series of turns (Luffield) , but although the entry to the place is booked there are no seats and you need to be early to grab a place. (This is a tip for anyone planning to go to Silverstone in the future on a Bronze ticket). So we got to watch the Porsche super cup race as well. Then there was a helicopter display and some of the stunts they pulled off were amazing !! I'm not going to describe that in detail though and stick to the track on the ground and things that move on it mostly cars and exceptionally beautiful pit babes.
The 1st session of qualifying saw 2 of the British drivers: Jenson Button & Anthony Davidson eliminated into the last slot. But what was fun was to see A. Davidson lose control and spin out into the sand and dust right in front of us. One of us managed to capture it on video as well. These things are not good if you're inside the car, but its sometimes spectacular to watch and something we were all waiting to see. The rest of the session went quite normal with more or less expected results till the very end of the session. Ahh... this is my favourite part !
One thing I forgot to mention is, if you're sitting there in front of the track u'll just see cars fly past you with tremendous speeds and sounds without knowing wat's happening on the rest of the track till they fly past you again. There's a big screen TV directly in front, but it still cannot show all 22 cars at the same time, not unless you have a radio set (or mobile with a radio) and tuned into the local channel. Then its fun !!
Okay, so we are in the final few minutes of Qualifying and so far Alonso had set the fastest lap. Then came Kimi and man, he fast very very fast. He did the series of turns, and on the final bend which is just before the start/finish line, goes just a bit wide. I remember seeing that and still gets a pole position. When that happened, it was a huge cheer from the Ferrari fans including my friends who were literally on top of me. And I could do nothing... but my friend Lewis Hamilton was having his last final attempt having just quickly changed a set if tyres. The flag was already out, which meant since he was already on his lap, he could complete it and that would be the last. The commentary said he was quicker than Kimi in the first two sectors, the last one was where we were seated (standing rather with the excitement), saw his car appear, from the right, slow down for the sharp left hander, than come straight towards us, then a sharp right hander directly in front less than 50 mtrs from us and the final exit corner (where Kimi had put a couple of inches of his car on the grass) and pole was his to take.... and that's the moment when I got to hit my friends back, which I took extreme joy in doing !!!

For more F1 photos

F1 - British GP 2007

to be contd....

Facelifts....

2007-07-27T12:46:00.000+05:30

Last Xmas, after a fine wine and dine evening at Martin's Corner... Savio, Bishal, Rabin and I decided to do a splash and dash thro GEC at 1 am. Quite a bit had changed...noticeably the beautiful Cross and aunty's gaada(now a 5 star) outside the main gate. The campus wore a deserted look (besides the fact that it was 1am)coz most students were holidaying after their semester exams. I captured these few pics during that visit...one of the gaada, one of the cross, one outside the canteen and the last outside Martin's Corner of the touring party. Please don't miss out on the work Rabin's put in after his "Mein Arnold Schwarzenegger Banna Chahta Hoon" article in Reflex'03.

For those who might have forgotten ;): Rabin,Savio,Yuri and Bishal

Ek-Saw

2007-07-27T11:59:00.000+05:30

Well although I must have contributed to most of the hits and a few more by Parijat and the rest by people i have pestered to visit this space...we have hit(s) 100 people. But i hope that this number keeps climbing.

Engicos scale Sinhagad

2007-07-25T15:06:00.000+05:30

Well I'm very sure we aren't the first of the lot but an event nonetheless to blog about. On Sunday we celebrated Hildon's birthday with a short trek to Sinhagad Fort. Since the trekking party comprised of only Engicos i thought i'd put this post up. Well besides the birthday boy there was Rawlins (Hildon's bro and 2 years junior engico), Clyde, Melissa, Amit Natekar and me. I called it a short trek coz we did the long bit by car and the short bit by foot. Sinhagad fort is located 30 odd kms from Pune and can be seen from almost anywhere in Pune. Its situated about 700 mtrs above sea level and is a historical and popular tourist spot specially in the rains. For a change this Sunday was very clear. Though a bit hazy one can see almost entire Pune City and some of the dams around like Khadakwasla. Well for sure you cannot expect good food atop a fort so we had to do with some nice Kanda-Bhaji, bhakri, omlettes,buttermilk, kulfis and a lot of masala mangoes over lunch. Also the odd bhutta. Brought back good ol' memories of aunty's gaada outside the college gate.

Parking can be hard to find and if you aren't the walking types then i would suggest that you make your way up pretty early in the day. Although the road isn't that great it sure is a treat for driving with 10 kms of curves and climb combined with some breathtaking views along the way. For the more adventurous kind there is a trek you can do or the rappelling organised by some of the adventure groups from Pune. As a part of the celebrations we almost birthday bumped Hildon off the fort...true Engico sytle.

Because I got high.....

2007-07-12T15:54:00.000+05:30

It seems like a merry state of intoxication that I've been through when I remember the Farmagudi days. I narrate some of my experiences to non-engicos and they have a tough time trying to believe. Of course, many of the things we actually did, just cannot be true!

And that's why I say, I was high.... High above the sea level on Farmagudi hill, just so many hallucinations - scary seniors, broken doors, mass bunks, Santosh, frogs, the stolen bike, water day, the windows catastrophe, and so many such things that I'd like to live through once again if I could....I was high... And when I passed out, I passed out.

Lets put together our experiences, opinions, current affairs and keep that little state of high-ness persistent. I'm sure there's so much on your mind - remembrances that make you happy, sad, proud, etc... new things you do, or aspire to do... whatever... Just type it down and post it up... we all want to know.
-Parijat

If you wanna co-author or want to send in a post...
yuri.pinheiro@gmail.com
parijat.prabhudesai@gmail.com

Once Upon A Time

2007-07-12T13:45:00.001+05:30