I’ve learnt…

kind suggestions from a certain Mr. Bala have prompted me to move this post to a whole new page… from where “life’s little instruction book III” my best selling guidebook will be developed….

thanks for the insight Bala …..

when the rains cometh

its raining!!!!!!! not the mercy drizzles that had graced bbay for the past few weeks… the rain gods have actually smiled. and brought with them the rains bombay knows!!

its pouring.. its completely overcast… the horizon is lost in the haziness of the drops………. hmmmmmmmm!!

Love-o-logy in the rains…

A random item in a random paper today caught my attention…. “The Romance of the Rains”. It seems some scientists have proposed that the humid climate and plethora of rain drops seems to trigger a wave of hormones through one’s body.. making one more susceptible to falling in love/ reminiscing about ex-lovers / wanting to spend maximum time with current lovers (its not an either-or option mind u.. )

hmmmmm… interesting i say, but it seems like the hindi film industry ( no.. wont refer to it as “Bollywood” lest the BIG baaps of the industry take offense :P) seems to have figured this out long time ago….

Since time immemorial hindi films have used rains as an ideal romance prop. think rains and hindi films.. and I’m sure one of the first images that will swim up is the “Pyaar hua ikraar hua” scene with Raj Kapoor and Nargis on the bridge with the umbrella…  well maybe the not-so-old-movie-lovers may think of 1942.. ’s “Rimjhim-Rimjhim”  but either ways… guess our film-wallahs have finally got some science into their running-around-trees scenes ….  way to go guys!!!

Trek to Torna

with the rains hiding just around the corner, is it possible to resist the temptation to go on a trek??? i dont think so…

and that is exactly what happened.. cancelling our plans to go to malshej ghat to see the rains (for the uninitiated.. malshej ghat is a hillspot close to mumbai.. where the rains break havoc, literally, much to the delight of the weekend revellers!) .. we decided instead to go on a trek to one of shivaji’s numerous forts around pune .. and enjoy the climate…

the fort that called out to us was torna.. supposed to be one of the most difficult forts to conquer…. and the one that shivaji conquered right in the beginning of his career. Situated at approx 65kms from pune, the trek to torna is easily a one day trip.. a destination that is frequented by many of the trekking clubs in pune…

our day started early in the morn at 5 am.. after about an hr on the road, we reached the village at the foot of the fort, called velhe, at abt 630ish… after a hearty bfast and chai at the restaurant in the village, we set out for the fort at arnd 730. Right from the beginning the fort showed us why is it a difficult fort to conquer… most of the faces are really steep, even the route we took was considerably steep for the foothills of a mountain..

the climate was just rite for a trek… no sun.. loads of cloud cover.. and the possibility of a shower.. real soon… see for urself..

the climb to the top takes about 3 hrs at an average-to-slow speed.. with the tonnes of pit-stops we took enroute.. it took us more..

about 3/4th of the way up.. came this plateau.. with really strong cross winds.. and loads of cloud..and rain…. from then on, we climbed up in clouds. crouching down when the winds got really strong..

the top of the mountain was completely in clouds… the fort does have loads of points to see.. this fort is considered important strateically because is can see 6 or 8 other forts o a clear day.. but the dense clouds prevented us from seeing the sites..

after spending a little time on top, we started climbing down the hill… the red mud on the hill made climbing down some spots reallly diffucult.. walking down some, sliding down some, we reached the bottom of the hill..

after two cups of refreshing ginger chai, and some hot snacks.. it was time to bid adieu to torna.. and make our way back home..

Paus Aaala Re!!

…. And the rain gods have blessed us!!

over the last few days monsoon arrived in mumbai.. making the city more beautiful than ever.. the cloudy skies forming a dark, greyish background that makes the tiniest detail of the skyline standout, the sweet smell of the wet ground (yes u do get the smell of wet earth in a concrete jungle like mumbai) and the greenery that suddenly sprouts out everywhere… mumbai wears a different look when it rains…(yes yes i know ppl out ther must be dying to say how dirty and mucky it all is.. … but to them all i say is…  look above it all… tell me one place that doesnt get mucky and dirty in the rains…  )

to reallly experience the rains in mumbai.. mumbai-ishtyle.. go to marine drive when its really cloudy and rainy… sit on the promenade,  sip on a coffee from the coffee-wala on the cycle, maybe eat bhutta with extra masala and nimbu… take in the strong sea breeze and get wet in the sea spray…. then u’ll see what i mean when i say — aaaaah… how i love the city!!