Trek to Bhorgiri Falls & Bhimashankar

Trek to Bhorgiri water fall ... then to Bhimashankar ... when we saw the temple, we really saw god !!!

We started our journey around 8 in the morning from Nashik Phata & reached Bhorgiri water fall base around 10:15 ... Journey by bus was fun filled with typical games such as Antakshari, Dumb C.. etc .. Except one particular movie, (which for obvious reasons I can't describe in this space), rest all went well with Dumb C .. sadly my team was outplayed by the opponents, all the time ... :(

Water fall that we visited .. was probably 1-1.5 hrs trek .. we had to cross a water stream by forming human chains, difficult terrain to conquer ... pass through dense jungle .. and when we reached there .. it was simply amazing ... you'll not be able to visualize the beautiful place without visiting / by viewing the pictures ..

Then had journey back to the base, where caterers had prepared meal for us. Had that, played volleyball across the road for a while. Then started second trek to Bhimashankar ..!!

We initially thought that it'll take roughly 2-2.5 hrs to reach the temple .. but with our leisurely walks .. photography sessions .. we landed in a situation where if we were late by 15 minutes .. we wouldn't have made it to the temple. Sincere thanks to experienced trekkers we had within our group.

Few of us, even walked in wrong direction, for couple of hundred meters, .. but luckily we weren't lost for long.

It wasn't really a tough trek, but walking through the hills and dense forest for about 4+ hours .. took the toll on most of us, barring few :)

Nevertheless, it was perfect nature's trail .. we saw crabs .. drank water from flowing streams .. passed through clouds .. and it was just fantastic !!

Last 10 minutes of the trek, was the real climax. We were at the base of the temple .. and had to climb hardly for 2-3 hundred meters .. and there came the mighty rain .. it was like some dam gates opened and lacs of cusecs of water was released straight away on to us ... it made the simple climb the most difficult one .. and that is the reason for saying that we saw god when we saw the temple, at last !!!

Had we not worried about our footwear while crossing those small small streams (and not wasted atleast 15-20 on our trek to Bhimashankar) .. we wouldn't have faced the wrath of rain in the end ... But .. whatever happened, happened for good. Next time, I know what to wear while going for a trek .. in which season to go trekking .. what to carry with us and what not ... :)

Yes we were scared (I was at least) .. scared of being lost .. scared of thoughts having to spend night in some jungle (faint ones only though)....but nevertheless .. we all reached there safely. They say, all is well that ends well ... :) And Indeed, the atmosphere at the temple .. was soo serene .. clouds passing within the queues that devotees formed ..!! Chants of Lord Shiva...!!

Then the journey back to the bus .. and then off to Pune ..to my surprise, nobody was in mood to relax yet .. we sang all the 'Tharaki' songs possible, few PJs passed .. I tried cracking couple of jokes, which didn't work. Journey back home was not lull by any means, nobody seemed to be in mood to let go an opportunity to have good time when everybody was together !! Reached the starting point @ 10 ..

There were many slips and few injuries :) .. once, few of us even preferred to travel to Bhimashankar by the bus (for second trek) .. but I believe all of them would be proud by the time we reached Bhimashankar, at the end of the day..

When I reached home, somehow managed to take a quick hot water shower .. and don't know really when / how I slept .. !!

All in all, I have never experienced anything like this before (and doubt if I'll ever again in future) .. truly awesome !! Thanks for the company !!!

Indian Cricket.

hi buddies,

I am profoundly unearthed by the performance of Indian cricket team, at home and abroad. I have learnt very well that it is sheer waste of time and nothing else. I just wanted to share my bit of cricketing knowledge with you all.

What is going wrong(A small( :) ) amount of input from my prolific mind):

1. Mental strength:
This was not the factor when we went for a downfall in the tri series against Australia and West Indies. But soon after media stepped in and they are definately playing the spoil sport. Yashpal Sharma, Ajay Jadeja, Sandip Patil, Navjob Singh Sidhu and Saba Karim (What Crap) are given oppurtunity to criticise the indian team and management. Infact they themselves have not scaled any great heights in their career either. But media is playing hypocrites today. They are not showing their analytical capabilities / their commitment towards unofficial national game but they are definately breaking the morale.
If you are not physically fit still you can survive a battle, but if you are not ready mentally to fight oposition then your chaces of win are pretty thin. That is what I can see right now is happening. May be it all started during that rotation policy Chappel and Dravid had adopted during better days. Every match there was a new player playing for nation and not a single player was having sure position for next match. They were eyeing a stronger team of 15 for world cup but it might have spoiled everything. Irfan Pathan is a bowler, he can not win matches by his batting but with his bowling. In the first match of ICC champions trophy, he was sent one down. Yuvi / Raina / Kaif / Dravid did not perform well in the previous tri series, target was well below modest (130+) and they needed to be there for proving their skills / gaining some confidence - but Pathan was sent and we lost 7 wickets to achieve the target. There are several such incidents have happened, but who cares.

May be from that day I can see the real down fall. What Greg wanted to prove? He wanted to finish the match in 10 overs or what? Morales get affected during such incidents.

A psychiatrist was appointed to keep the winning attitude intact, and to make winning a habit. But that has also gone wrong completely. Gavaskar pointed out that loosers need a psychiatrist and not those who are performing well. Many such factors are there and who knows when BCCI will get rid all such issues.

2. Coach:
To a certain level yes, Greg Chappel's methodology is not working our way. There was a wrong point in past that worked perfectly fine for indian cricket - and that is cricketers were always greater than coaches we had in past. They were responsible for win and so for loss. Today Chappel is credited for a handsome win and he only is the culprit for a loss as well. Sidhu's quote "You can take Donkies to a river, but you can not make them drink water" goes perfectly fine with our condition today. I do not see anything wrong in playing "Kho - Kho" for fitness or going through military training. Yoga was a good approach to enrich your concentration level and so was conditioning camp in Bangalore for fitness.
What is wrong with him is - he is not the person who can / should interfere much in selection process. Ganguly has already scored a century in Duleep Trophy starter and not Laxman but he is with team india today in SA. Let us see who is selected when team is out for Test series against SA. The drift he had created with Ganguly is one of the base reason for our downfall. Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Sehwag, Raina, Laxman are the players who emerged during era of Ganguly. He was the mentor for all of them and there is no second opinion for that among indians as well. I personally do not like cricketing skills of Ganguly either but by considering current form and performance at national level, he should have made it to ODI team declared for SA series. Bhajan, Yuvi, Sehwag and even Tendulkar stood by Ganguly initially. But who doesn't love money man? They too fell in the trap set by Chappel.
The way Ganguly was shown the doors was wrong, he deserved one more series to prove his skills - as a batsman and much importantly as a captain. I wish to see him back to indian cricket team today.

3. Advertisements & Media:
Together they are ruining the indian cricket. By paying hell lot of money definately they made our falks a bit "bindas". They are earning in crores and may be that is not allowing them to focus on their cricketing capabilities (which may help them earn pride - pride what is it??). Out of 10 advertisements we have 5 of them anchored by cricketers. Be it biscuits / tyres / clothing / liquor / oil / tooth powder / pain balms / tooth paste / bikes / fans / sport gears / banks / soft drinks / chyavanprash oh man....we have a never endling list here.
Isn't that stupid? They are cricketers and they should play cricket, only.

4. Selection Committee/BCCI:
Why Dinesh Mongia / Mohd Kaif / Ajit Agarkar / Suresh Raina are given hell lot of chances when some one like Laxman / Ganguly / Balaji / Robin Uthapa / Venu Gopal are seating outside? Even cricket control board of India is wrong somewhere. e.g. Increasing pays for Indian cricketers - was there any rebel in indian cricket team? They have earned enough, and pay by performance policy should be adopted at the earliest. And I tell you that no one can be more greedy than our cricketers. I'll bet on our win during each match - if such a policy is employed.

5. Indian Cricket Team:
We do not deserve to win over Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand, Srilanka, South Africa. Because they are better than us. We should not fancy our winning chances if we are playing against them. I do not believe that those teams have any better players than what we have. But they are committed and they are consitent - and that's what matters at the end of the day. Today only three cricketers are performing average - Dravid, Munnu and Dhoni. Rest all are far below their capabilities.

I do not know whether I am correct or wrong. There can be many more points that can be brought up here. We all need to do something - I love cricket and can not stand it. Together we all should do something that can wake the team.

Please guys - do something - do a miracle - make India enter the semi's atleast in the world cup. I want them there - at any cost.

India must have got atleast 40k ppl who play cricket very well - and choosing best 11 out of them should not be a problem. But how??

I am leaving these post unconcluded - I believe in supernatural forces. Being a die hard cricket fan I just would like all of you also to comment.

first one..!!

I sincerely admit that I have been inspired by the post of Rachit. And I thought that I too should write a bit. Though I am not as creative as dear Rachit, but still let me put my thoughts over web. Someone might read and can understand my feelings.

Yes this community is cool and definately I would like to pour my thoughts over here. Especially for us IT folks who do nothing but bang our keyboards whole day. We need some brain washing, may be I can do so here.

There was an era when I use to spend my days with my friends. Be it school or be it college or be it vacation days. I found myself always clouded by friends and had wonderful time with them. We all use to share our thoughts - be it silly/stupid/sound. We use to exachange our ideas and we all must have learned a lot from those days. Those were the days when we aquired worldly wisdom within as we learnt how to treat ppl, how to recognise ppl, how to respect them, how to make fun of them, when they need support or when they are to play pranks on others. We use to have our breakfast, lunch, dinner(sometime) together. I really can't forget the taste of those meals yet.

Gone are those days..

Today i wake up at 8 - 8:30. I feel like one more hectic day has started for me. Somehow I make it to my cubical in the compnay. I check all my mails but sheldom reply to any...after 15 days i claim to the same old mail - give excuses like I have been terribly busy these days...and am pissed of with amount of work i had in last 15 days.

I just tried to analyze this doppelganger nature of mine, but i can see only reason. We all are loosing touch, every1 is getting busy in their own life. To a certain extent I might be true as well when I give such excuses. But was never soo busy that I can not reply to mails from you guys - At least to the point. I am deeply sorry for that.

Still feelings have not dehydrated completely. I do care for all of you and I do miss you all very much. Golden were those days when we use to stole coconuts/mangoes from a closed house in society or boozing/snuffing glucose secretly(?..:)..) during college days. There are many more incidents which i personally remember whenever I am alone or when I feel lonely. And I do cherish those days a lot really. I wish no one of us have allowed time to erase the blue print of those enviable moments.

I might not reply to your mails at that instant, might not call you up at regular intervals does not mean at all that I am careless or I am just cutting down on the relations.
You all are very special to me and will be forever. Thank you all for being part of my life, and being my friend.

Truly wish you all - all the very best - may happiness, health, wealth and luck be with you forever.

If I can think of something good, will try to write again...'ll 'en ciao...b bye..