essence de vie

Trip to Raigad was an unforgettable experience and if I don’t pen it down it would be totally unfair at my end. I and my friends- Sandy,Urmila,Neha,Swapnil,Sahil and Keerthi to be precise, started from Pune early in the morning to cover a journey which curtail to almost 4 hours. It was a bright and sunny morning which added to our euphoria and excitement. We reached the foothills at 1300 hours and went directly to the ropeway booking counter. However we got the shock of our life. What is this? The place was totally crowded. There was a waiting time of 2 and half hours to go up the ropeway due to ‘Shivjayanti’. This is the day Shivaji was born which is celebrated with great passion in Maharashtra. What best could be done was the question in all of our minds? Finally we found solace in the hut of one of the locals who were very cordial. The full 2 and half hours was spent eating our lunch and having a good doze. Finally after this long wait our turn came and the trip up the ropeway was ...

Laziness and me are like Siamese twins so when one fine day I registered for the trek to the beautiful Chavand hills situated in Pune district at a height of 3500 ft, my friends and colleagues were quite astonished. All I could hear was “you…!!!Going on a trek? Oh! My God...Hope you complete it!!!!!” My heavy frame was another topic of hot discussion. “Hope you don’t flatten the hills into plains once you tread on it……..” It would be untruthful of me if I say I was not in dilemma. “Should I not snooze peacefully and pamper myself to a lazy Sunday rather then climb some hill, get scratched and battered?” Anyways all said and done I somehow managed to reach the boarding point from where we were to take the bus ride for 5 hours to reach the base. The bus started exactly at 12:30 a.m and after journeying through the dark night we reached the base at 5:30 am. It’s been ages since I had seen the sun rise early in the morning and the feeling was exquisite. At 7:00 a.m after a light breakfast...