Are we just puppets?

Today, I heard the news of an accident in which two established Marathi actors – Anand Abhyankar, Akhsay Pendse passed away.  Along with Akshay, his 1.5 yr old son also passed away. On hearing this, the first thought, or rather question, that came into my mind was – are we puppets? Do we have no control on what’s happening?

Let me start with how did the accident happen. These guys were travelling in their Wagon R on the Mumbai-Pune express highway at night. They were heading towards Mumbai. A tempo (miniature truck) was travelling in the opposite direction (towards Pune). There’s a huge divider in between the two lanes. But still, somehow, the tempo driver lost his control, plunged over the divider and slammed into Anand’s car. How bad could the destiny have been for these guys? I mean how the hell did they know that the very second they were going past that point, a vehicle would come and hit them. Had there been a couple of seconds here and there, who knows, they might have been saved and have been living right now with us.

What does this whole scene indicate? I get a feeling of everything being pre-programmed. It’s written. Maktub. We’re puppets. If this is the real case, then why did god created us? Just for his own entertainment? Is it like a movie for him? Why does he gives us the brain to plan for our future, for our kids, for our parents? Why does he gives birth to babies if he plans to take them away when they are at an age of 1.5 yrs? Why does he shows hope and pulls us towards something good and then as soon we get a touch of it, he snatches it back? Is this fair? They say that – “you create your own destiny”. Does the 1.5 year old kid even know what destiny means? Why did not god give him a fair chance to create his? Imagine the catastrophic situation of the parents, the wife, the children of people passing away in such brutal accidents? What was their mistake that they deserved this?

This is how it has been happening and this is how it will happen. Someone up there uses us like a puppet. Whenever he wants us to laugh, he makes us laugh. Whenever he wants us to be sad, he makes us cry. If that’s how it’s going to be, then how can he expect us to be his devotees? How can he expect us to worship him daily? And why should we? Because he can go ahead and kill our babies?  It’s a mere puppet show going on here and we never know who’s time is going to come when.  Just stay positive and keep your fingers crossed!

Life and it's colors

EVERYONE in this world has some or the other problem in his life. There is no one who has escaped from this. The question is – do you want to die thinking of how my problems were or do you want to die thinking how I enjoyed my life in spite of my problems?
Some people die trying to overcome those problems, but as soon as one is finished, the other one pops up and their life goes on in the same way. On the other hand, some people live with it and accept the fact that NOBODY is perfect and they see the positive things and keep themselves happy. Who are you? What do you want to be? The choice is completely yours.

People come into our lives with their own package. What usually happens is that we love the person, but hate the package. But in a culture where we have been bought up, we have to accept the package. It’s a part and parcel of our lives. And what frustrates us more is – the person who we THINK we know very well, has a darker side that we have never seen. There is no human being in your life who will behave EXACTLY as you want and would do all the things that you have always expected. But still, there is one person with whom we get along very well. Being with him/her, feels nice, gives you solace. You sleep happily thinking that I am with the person who I love the most in the world. And believe me, it’s a best feeling.

If you're with your loved ones today, it's priceless. Maybe it's hurting you now, but in the long run, something else is going o hurt you. Maybe you are not realizing what you have right now, because you have not lost it. Life teaches us lessons in the exact same way – it gives what we want, and the moment we don’t start valuing what we have, it snatches it from us. That is when we get to know the real value of what we have in our lives. And trust me, you will be much more hurt when it goes away from you. Nobody is the world is flawless, so accept them with their bad habits. You too have some bad habits, or are you 100% perfect? But others are accepting you with them, right? So, why can’t you? There is not a single problem in this world which, if two people sit in front of each other, can solve. It’s just about how you want to approach it. Fear lets you run away from it. But the problem is – the farther you go, more hurting it is. Right now, you feel that running away is an option. But when you go ahead on your run, you will regret your decision.

One common complaint that most of us have is – He/She has changed. Let me tell you one thing – people don’t change overnight. It’s simply impossible to be a contrast person in just a few days. It is possible that there might be some gap between two people and that gap has increased over the years. Yes, that is quite possible. But has the gap gone so much that you are not able to see each other at all? And if yes, then are you happy when you’re not seeing him/her? I am sure you are not. If being in this gap is not making you happy, then is it a good thing? I have learnt one thing from my mentor and I diligently try to follow it; he says – “The goal of the life is to be happy and the ultimate destination is death. If you reach the destination without achieving your goal, what life have you lived?”. The motto here is simple – If you’re not happy, then something is wrong. And if it is wrong, you have to fix it. If you fix it and still you’re unhappy, fix it again. Continue this till the point you get happy.

Whatever the issue is, just show some faith in 2 things – your love and God. They never let you down. Show some patience and things will change. Maybe you have shown a lot, but going an extra mile for the person you love is not a big deal. I can bet my anything on the fact that the people who love each other the most can never stay away from each other. You will fight, you will cry and you will get angry, but at the end of the day, you will check if he/she is there with you. My 2 cents of advice to all of you is - hang in there and change things positively. For that, have a very positive outlook; try to make everyone smile and trust me, the gap starts narrowing. Let me tell you one more thing - people are not bad at heart. However stern they appear from outside, all it needs to melt them, is a bit of love.
 
One last saying that I love the most. “Lose the fight, not the person”.

The globe is warming, but not with the warmth of love!

I was talking to a friend, and he was telling about his experiences in Trivandrum (he was working there for a few years).
He told me that his locality in the city was not best, but it could certainly be considered as a higher middle class locality. They had big houses, with lush green lawns in front of them. The exterior view of the house would certainly give us an impression that the happiness in this house is as big as its size. But here is what the actual situation is - living the huge houses, are a old couple, who are hardly able to walk. They keep wondering what's going on in the other corner of the house.
Here is the worst part - they keep boasting about their children being there in the United States/Europe etc. etc. The people listening to them are happy, but the real question is - are they REALLY happy in telling this?
If yes, how do you justify this: There are advertisements in newspapers, which say "Friends required - come to our house, talk for some time and get yourselves paid". Funny, isn't it? But, it's true. Such "rich" people are so much depressed, that they're willing to BUY friends.

What's more disheartening? Global warming or this lack of heart warmth?

The Real, or the Fake Estate?

Recently, after doing some research on Real Estate in Pune, I was transfixed. The rates are soaring by the day. It's just getting tougher and tougher for the common man to afford a home.

They say that Food, Clothing and Shelter are the basic amenities that one MUST have to survive. How on earth are middle class people suppose to get all these with the economy so much inflating. A 3 room apartment, located at the outskirts of the city, costs a whopping 20 lakhs. Mind you, this cost is just of a very basic apartment. If you go at some of the big shots in the construction industry, you'll find that EVERYONE is creating projects with amenities such as Swimming pool, club house, tennis court in them. Is it so hard for them to understand that the people over here need a home and not an amusement park? Moreover, giving all these amenities would have been justified if they had given options for the buyer to use/not use them and charge accordingly. But no! These amenities are compulsory. They say "buy it, or leave it!"

Where are we going from here? Great economists predict that India would be the super power by 2020 and would surpass the United States. Is this seriously getting better or we're incling towards strangling our own neck?

Here I am, back again :)

I am tired of keeping the count of my promises of staying on Blogger consistently! So, let's not talk about - "this  is the nth time you're saying this and all.....". I know all that already! :)

So, here I am, now...again determined to stay on blogger consistently :) Sometimes, I feel I am in the right company - Persistent. After all, I need some persistence..! :)
Hope to get it in 2012.

Cheers, take care. See you soon!

Zindagi na mile dobara...the poem..!!

Jab jab dard ka baadal chaya,
Jab gum saya lehraya,
Jab aansoo palkon tak aya,
Jab yeh tanha dil ghabraya,

Humne dil ko yeh samjhaya,
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai,
Duniya mein yunhi hota hai.

Yeh jo gehre sannate hain,
Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain,
Thoda ghum hai sabka qissa,
Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa.

Aankh teri bekaar hi nam hai,
Har pal ek naya mausam hai,
Kyun tu aise pal khota hai,
Dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai

Come on, fight...!!!

Don't wait for the tide to reside,
its high time for you to decide,
Ask yourself, right from the core,
Are you a sheep, or have a lion's roar?

Trying to come back !!!

It's been a long time since I have done something with real consistency; of course, apart from eating and sleeping :)
Lately, I have been having the problem of not being convicted, dedicated, consistent....whatever you call it....in some of the decisions I take. Gym is the top and a recent example. After realizing that the weighing machine is not the one who is at fault, there were some immediate decisions taken to join the gym. And it was nothing difficult, the gym is rite below my floor in my company. It was not more than a week that I was saw myself in those long full length mirrors of the Gym. It's not that I had no intentions of going, but some thing or the other used to come up at work. Also, since I have joined my new organization, I have lost it all. My life style has gone haywire. No exercise, no extra curricular activities (blogging being one of them). I somehow hate to live like this. I could have probably done this on the weekend, but the week is so lame and tiresome that it makes the weekend more dull. And more ever, I am not that kind of a guy who would like to do all these things on the weekend. Firstly because I think that DECIDING to do it on 2 days out f 5 itself reduces the chances of doing it...Murphy's law zindabad !!!..... And secondly, you want to socialize, go for an outing on weekends and disconnect from the world to get your mental peace.

Anyways, enough is enough now. It's time to stop cribbing and pull up the socks. I have decided to streamline my lifestyle and live a healthy and a peaceful life. Take small things at a time and not over stress. Many more decisions taken, just not disclosing them as yet :). I just hope that this time I really work it on and keep my pace going. I really am determined. I want to do it.

Wish me luck, guys !!!

Five people you meet in heaven

There was a book fare in my company one Friday. Being in a TGIF mood, I thought I'd have a look. In a corner was lying a timid cream covered book which read "Five people you meet in heaven". Attractive title, isn't it?
I had a look at it....What the hell does the author mean by this title? Five people you meet in heaven? Huh, gimme a break. As I was staring at that book blankly, I heard a voice of a lady behind my shoulders saying "It's a good one". Bringing a positive smile on my smile, I turned around, only to find out that she was talking with a friend of hers; but talking about the same book. Enough of pondering around, I thought and I went for it.
I began reading that book from the very next day, not realizing that I was getting involved in it by the day.

This is a fable, giving a very serious message to us. It is about a life of an old man. Hold on, not an ordinary life, but life after his death. His life in heaven.
The author says that after you die, and when you go to heaven, there are some people waiting for you over there. Skipped a beat, didn't you? So did I.
The book mentions that, heaven is the place where you meet five such people who have affected your life, directly or indirectly. Not necessary that you know them; you mite not have seen them till that day..or night...whatever!
It could be your parents, your siblings, your wife, your class teacher or perhaps even the TV mechanic whose shop you went in when you were 8 years old.
What matters is that they played some part to change your life when you were alive. The author mentions that these five people are waiting to meet you and in turn are completing their five people list. Sounds complicated, doesn't it? It's not. Every man who goes to heaven, has five people to meet. Not necessary that all these five people are dead and have reached heaven before that guy. Some meet 4 people and wait for the 5th one to come to heaven and then meet him.

The book unfolds great mysteries about the old man, which no one didn't even know; not even him. You will see how some very serious questions of his life get answered. And you will be really amazed to know how people, not related to us, can change our lives, and to what extent.

It tells you, and makes you believe that no questions in you life are unanswered!!!

Vairatgad: 4th Jan 2009

8:30 am: Our first halt. We needed some hot tea in the chilly morning to rev up the engine :)

10:30 am: We took some time to find the exact route, but were finally seeing the destination.

A closer look

11:15 am: According to the plan, at this time, we were supposed to reach the top. This is where theory differs from the reality :)

12:10 pm: Finally, we reached there. But at a cost. Saurabh, had lost all the power and was dehydrating. The smile on my face was because of the fact that I came to know that I am not the worst :)

Aditya and Saurabh.

12:45 pm: That's Aditya and Me. This is a Shiv temple on the fort. Aditya was reading out the history of this fort from the book that he had.

A view of the Shiv temple from inside. It was burning hot outside, but inside this temple, it was very cold. God, indeed, is miraculous:)

Another view.

That's me. It was Saurabh's idea to click a pic like this. He suddenly asked to look behind as he was inside, and he clicked it. Good pic, I must say :)

4:30 pm: Started to descend now. Certainly happy faces than climbing, especially Saurabh :)

JAVAN's Torna Trek:13th Dec 2008

7:45 am: Our first halt on the highway to fill Petrol. Me and Avinash

10:30 am: After a lot of fuss and people losing their way, we finally reached at the foothill. Here we go now !!!

The Torna. Also known as Prachandagad (Prachand = massive, gad = fort)

11 15 am: The heat was out, and so was our energy. One of the guys gave up, just some time before we clicked this pic and he chose to sit in a shed of a tree till we return back. It was a tough decision to leave him there.

12:15 pm: We still had a long way to go.

1:15: Almost reached. Had covered almost 80 % till here.

2:00 pm: This was the real fun part. Cooking Khichadi. A real team activity, especially when there are no girls with you. :)

I don't know whether I was hungry or not, but this was the most delicious khichadi I had ever had. :)

Finally, I was full. :)

3:30 pm: We went to a Shiv temple on the fort.

4:00 pm: Pic clicked on the Zunjhar machi.

4:30 pm: Geared up for going down. :)

4:45 pm: A bit difficult rock patch for novice people to go down. Have to be a bit careful.

6:00 pm: Finally reached the foothill. Began our journey back. It was an awesome experience.

7:30 pm: It was not destined to go happen smoothly. One of the bikes' rear brake failed. Fortunately, it was not a severe failure and after some working, it got normal.

In a nutshell, a place worth going. You will surely not regret it.

Mera Bharat Mahaan !!!

Recently, I happened to read a article written by Shobha De. It was on the recent achievement By Abhinav Bindra at the Olympics.
I really made sense and made me transfixed; forcing me to think.
I seriously felt that what the lady is saying really made sense.
One gold medal in India, and we are on the moon. Now, India has entered the 61st year of its independence and hence its time that we put some of the key perspectives in place.

What shocked me the most is that, how different people use such things in their life. Some use it as a living while some use them to blow their own trumpet.

This blog is about a girl on the street, trying to sell the daily newspaper, as a part of her daily arrangement for lunch. This 12 year old, drenching in the rain, trying to cover the newspaper, was dressed in rags. Shivering, she tapped the window of a car and lisped, " Madam, Madam..India ko Gold Medal Mil gaya".
She could not possibly have known what that medal meant... but she did know it would sell more papers that day. And that made her happy! Amazing, how a complete stranger's win touches lives on different levels.

Now let's come at a very high level, which actually is the cheapest of all.
For the little girl, the extra rupees coming from that news, may have translated into an extra vada pav at dinner, but for some people, Bindra's medal was an opportunity worth milking for their own glory. Apparently, some politician magnanimously offered Rs 10 Lakh to Abhinav Bindra. Don't get me wrong, as I am not against his success and the fame he is getting. it is just the matter of fact that does he really need it?

Bindra is a particularly privileged sportsman who was born with a silver rifle... er ... spoon, in his mouth. He got to his present position, thanks to the happy fact that his father had the financial clout to support his son's passion. Lucky Bindra. He had what it takes to create a champion — the grit, determination and dough! India merely happens to be the country of his birth and can claim no credit for his impressive win. Where does the politician and his state come in between? If the politician had Rs 10 lakh to spare and wished to acknowledge Bindra's victory, why didn't he put that money into a sports scholarship to benefit promising youngsters? Why offer monetary awards to someone who is a millionaire to begin with?

I sincerely thought of writing this blog after reading the inspiring article.
AS the article ends, still the girl is still shouting, "India ko Gold Medal mila".
I wonder, us ladki ko kya mila??

A fair Bargain??

I have been wanting to right this blog since a long time and now finally i am.

It was just a plain thought that came to my mind about a year back. I was leaving for Chandigarh in a couple of days, and hence was on a shopping spree.
As usual, there were many last minute things to be done. I had purchased three new trousers and wanted to alter them. The guy in the mall said that it would take minimum a day for this activity and to top it all, that mall was 10 km from my house. So, i took a decision that i will give it to a shop nearby my place.
That guy in the shop promised me that he would give me the trousers till end of day. I was surprised by his confidence, but preferred not to challenge it because it was in my favor.

I went to his shop in the evening to collect my trousers. As promised, he had finished his work. I was impressed. I asked him the total cost for this work and he told me 15/- per trouser so by simple maths, that made 45 Rs. for the three trousers.
I started to bargain with him asking him to give me all three for 40 Rs.

Then what he said knocked me off and forced me to think.
He said, "Sir, you buy these trousers for 1400 Rs. each in a mall and don't bargain with them and now you are bargaining for 45 Rs."

I seriously regretted my offer of bargaining with him. All my way back, I was thinking about that guy. He was striving hard, he promised me to give all the trousers till evening, just for 45 Rs. This shows his tenacity for living.

From that day, I have never bargained, especially with such people who really 'make a living' from what you give them.

How you go to heaven !!!

Hi All, today I have a various serious issue on discussion here. I am going to talk about the religion and rituals followed in India after the cremation ceremony. I know it’s a weird topic, but please bear with me. I had never thought that a crow has so much value in our life. I guess you also will have your respect increased for crow after reading this . :-)

"O departed one! Be united in the highest heaven with the pitrs and with Yama. Leaving here all your sins, go back to your home. Being endowed with bright luster be united with a new body" is the mantra when the body is consumed to flames.

Ashouchia or a period of un-cleanliness is followed for ten days. An oil lamp is burned continuously and cooked rice is offered on all days. It was believed that this ritual helped the departed to go to his/her new home smoothly.

Now, the soul has to be sent to the Heaven. The process of doing so is known as kriya. It is believed that this process starts on the 9^th day after the actual death (nine days symbolizing the nine months of gestation before human birth). The process starts by worshipping of the sun facing to the east. One should ask to free the spirit from all earthly bonding.

It is believed in Hinduism, that the departed soul travels through the pretaloka (the world of ghosts and spirits) to the pitraloka (the heaven or the world of ancestors). On the tenth day the performer makes a sankalpa (holy resolve) and offered pinda (rice-ball).

The Role of Crow:

It is interesting that the crow, much despised bird, becomes very important on the occasion of Pindadana. Crow is supposed to be messenger of Yama, the Lord of Death. Hence, there is a prayer. Master of the ceremony recites, "O Crow! Thou art the messenger of Yama. Please accept this offering (food-pinda) and satisfy the hunger of the departed Spirit that has proceeded to the Abode of Yama."

On the tenth day when the pinda is offered to manes, all wait eagerly for the temporarily holy crow to pounce and partake food. Delay on the part of the crow suggests that the deceased had some unfulfilled wish which was compelling. Often the priest advises the performer to declare there and then to fulfill the last wish of the departed soul. All heave a sigh of relief, when the crow descends or condescends to peck at the food!.

Pindadana relieves a preta (deceased) from the agony of hunger and thirst. Four pindas are prepared. One for the deceased and the three for his paternal ancestors. This rite known as sapindikarana completed the Antyeshti Ceremony.

Lastly, immersion of asthi or remnants of the bones of remains in sacred rivers ensured that a man returned finally to elements from which he took his mortal form. It is believed that when a person dies, the soul assumes three of the five elements (viz., fire, wind and ether), that rise from the dead body while the two more (earth and water) remain below. With the aid of pindas offered daily during the ten days after cremation, the soul assumes yet another form and after the twelfth day performance the soul finally sheds that delicate form as well, and assumes a third body according to the nature of its karma to go to heaven.

The pursuit of happyness !!!

That 'y' in 'Happyness' of the title is a mistake done purposely. :-)

I happened to see a movie today which I was urging to see from a long time. It’s called the pursuit of happiness.

I was awestruck by the movie. Amazing acting by Will Smith, hats off to him. And more surprising is the acting of the little boy Christopher (Jaden Smith). He has done a fabulous job. The story revolves around the relationship of a father and a son. It’s just a plain simple story happening in all of our lives daily. The thing is that, they make us realize what we are doing in life. I am sure, while watching this movie; you will have your memories refreshed. I had mine. This must have been happening or has happened in our daily lives.

The film begins in 1981 in San Francisco, California. Linda and Chris Gardner live in a small apartment with their son, Christopher. Chris has invested the family's life savings in a franchise selling portable bone density scanners. Linda works in a dead-end job in a local hotel laundry. The tension between them mounts as unpaid rent and bills continue to accumulate.

When his girlfriend walks out, Chris is left alone to raise Christopher on his own.

Chris accepts an unpaid internship at brokerage firm Dean Witter Reynolds that promises employment to only one trainee at its conclusion. His lack of salary and failure to sell more scanners leaves him riddled with debt; he and his son eventually become homeless. Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and have no place to go. They spend several nights riding buses and sleeping in subway restrooms, saddled with their meager belongings. They sleep on the street and even behind the locked doors of a metro station bathroom. They begin lining up at the Glide Memorial Church on a daily basis in an effort to secure accommodations for the night. Sometimes they succeed, other times they literally are left out in the cold. As he struggles to provide a semblance of a family life for his son under the direst of circumstances, Chris becomes more determined to complete the intern program and become the sole trainee the firm will hire.

Chris’ determination finally pays off when he lands up getting that job after going trough a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in twenty interns will make the cut.

With self-confidence and love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above the obstacles to become a Wall Street legend.

I have two favorite scenes in this movie:

1^st: He is trying to sell a scanner and he begins a demonstration in front of a
Doctor and that machine screws up. It doesn’t work. He is devastated. He has
$ 22 in his bank account and a son on the other side. There is something in
That machine that needs to be replaced. He donates his blood to get that
Money, buys that part, and fixes it in the scanner.
Now is the time to test that. Just one push of a button. His expression before
pushing the button and after pushing the button was just amazing.
I mean, you could just imagine being in that place in that situation.

2^nd: This is when the results of the internship were going to be announced. They
Call him into the cabin to tell him that you are the guy that we want to hire.
When he comes to know that, one can see the expression on his face. He is
Wanting to cry, waiting to cry. Bur somehow he controls it and once he gets out of
that cabin, he rushes outside the building and explodes. Amazing stuff !!

All I will say, is that it is a must see movie for the people who really ‘live’ their life.

MAKTUB..really??

If you have read 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho, the one think that might awestruck you is his imagination, and secondly the simplicity with which he tried to portray his imagination to us. Just by the means of a simple story, a fable, i must say in which we have the conversations of Sun and the wind. :)
Sounds brilliant, doesn't it?? Still, he has a message to give. That's his specialty which makes him stand apart from the normal crowd.
But, for me, apart which from his imagination power and his way of representing it, what took me off the ground was just one word..'MAKTUB'
No more suspense now..MAKTUB means 'Everything is written' . The moment i saw this word in the book, my mind started wandering planets. It began to churn vigorously. This thought had never came to mind, not in my wildest dreams. It awoke a new morning for me.
Its been a long time now, and i feel that this word has made an impact on my life. I began to think in the way i had never dreamt of thinking.
And it was like all my pieces were falling right into their place and the jigsaw puzzle was solved. :)
And i believe that if everyone one us, just open our minds and think out of the box, will come to the same conclusion.
For me, today i am convinced that indeed, life is 'MAKTUB'

Hello Again !!!

Hi All,
Again, i have to say sorry because of the fact that i din't behave as mentioned below. And the surprising thing is that i was believing that i don't have time. :-)
Anyways, today is 24th of April and i, from now on, will try my level best to be in touch with blogger.
Right now, i am working with Infosys Technologies Limited in Pune itself. I was initially in Chandigarh for 4 months doing my training from Infosys.
I am going to share all the things that happened in my life during this one year in between.
Catch you guys later.

Bye,
Anannya

Hi Folks !!!

Hi you all,
i am writing this blog after a really long time. Had gone gone completely out of touch of blogger.
This is just to tell u guys that I am back !! :-)

and wish u all a very happy new year..!!!

Our second trip.

Date ---> 26th Jan 07
Place---> Theur

After having a successful start to our ashtavinayak tour we immediately headed for our 3rd ganpati. The holy Ganpati of Theur. It was the nearest place from Pune as compared to the other places.

Here is our trip:

Actually I don’t have the pics of this trip because of the fact that this was decided spontaneously.

I mean, we were all outside hanging out on the eve of the Republic day.
Suddenly the thought struck my mind that we were wasting our time just loitering around. We still have time and if we decide, we could go to Theur and complete 3 of our Ashtavinayak Ganpatis.
Surprisingly, everyone liked the thought and we were off in a jiffy from there itself. Being mere 34 km away from Pune, it needed no planning and all.
It was around 10 am when we took this decision and we left at 11 25 sharp.
Being a holiday, it was crowded and driving wasn’t easy at all and above all, we all were without helmets and we paid our price for that.

We reached theur at 12 40 apprx. I was expecting a mob over there but there was not. In fact we took the darshan in just 15 min. there, I and pritesh were busy looking at the remaining places that we had to visit this semester. We roughly decided the dates when to leave for them.
We sat there for a few minutes and we were outside the mandir at around 1 30.

We had to make it quick to our house as no one knew we were here. For them, we were just hanging around. We drove fast as my mom had called and said that she was waiting for me for lunch.

We reached home at 2 25 and thus completed our shortest trip till date.
Cheers!

Our Ashtavinayak tour

This semester, me and Saurabh had decided to do something different rather than just loitering around the whole semester and then studying at the time of exams. So, a thought struck my mind that we should do something exiting as well as productive. So, we came up with the ashtavinayak tour plan. We decided to visit all the ashtavinayak places by bikes in this semester.

This blog is just about how we started it.

Date --> 21st Jan.
Place--> Lenyadri and Ozar.

0700 hrs:
It was a chilling morning when we left. As you can see, I had forgotten the gloves so had borrowed one from saurabh n wrapped the other with a hanky.

0830 hrs:
A halt at the dhaba.
This is our basic team who had planned this tour.
In such a freezing atmosphere, one cup of tea could do a world of refreshment to you.

1000 hrs:
The holy ganpati of Ozar.

1200 hrs:
We reached Lenyadri. The temple is in the hills. Actually Lenyadri is a Sanskrit word which is splitten as (leni = sculptured work) + (adri=hills). It can be jointly read as the sculptured hill.
We had to climb this hill.

1330 hrs:
We climbed the hill in one go. The result of which can be seen on our faces. Saurabh was literarly dehydrating. We din’t expect it to be this tough.

1400 hrs:
The holy ganpati of Lenyadri. All the fatigue ness was vanished after seeing this.





1530 hrs:
We had climed the hill with our stomach empty. We came down, found a nice place to sit n eat. And then was the best part…sleep! We needed some rest as we had to drive all the way back. Imagine the bliss.

1600 hrs:
After an hour of blissful sleep, we were up and ready to go home.

Thus our first trip was successful n went without any hinderances.