Shop Shop Shopping

It was a refreshing Friday morning. I was quite bored with all formal dresses worn from Monday to Thursday of last week. So was feeling great, thinking of wearing some relaxing jeans and top on this very own Friday! I got up in excitement and went to the wardrobe. one by one I started searching for some kurta/top which was not worn for last 1 month or so. I rigorously searched 2-3 times in whole of the 4 racks, only to find that there was no kurti/top left out there to wear! All the excitement built up within my mind disappeared in one single stroke! I felt helpless and was furious on myself, as I had shopped last month only and within 1 month, i felt it was time to shop! The thought itself brought a smile on my face.. 

"Shopping!!!" One word which drastically swings every girl/woman's mood. Her eyes start flashing as soon as she hears this single word! The best thing to discuss for two women, who haven't met each other before! Believe me, they can talk on this topic as if they know each other from the time when they were not even born. Be it anything to shop! From dresses to curtains and from lipstick to broom. Women LOVE to shop. Let alone all women, I personally can talk long time if the discussion is related to shopping! They can spend many hours for buying things they want or sometimes they do not require! They actually forget the world when it comes to window shopping or buying a new dress or sandal, etc!

Now the question arises "Why so?". Well, there cannot be a definite answer to this. But yes, women are attracted by such shopping related things. They are real excited when they go for shopping. They can tirelessly shop for hours and for anybody. They have sense of contrast and combinations fit into their mind, because of which their male friends, husbands, boyfriends, daddy, uncle take them along for shopping and save their effort of finding shirt or t-shirt matching on a jeans/trouser, etc. The mood swing of any woman can be easily seen on her face after shopping. She gets furious or disappointed in case when desired dress or sandal is not available in any store. She thinks of many ways to get the dress tailored from the tailor. She has a fashion sense. She knows which things are currently in or out of fashion. I have even noticed girls making guys understand the current trend in Mens’ wear!!!

Coming to statistics, If we observe few things, 70-80% people in the mall or bazaar are ladies/girls. If we enter in any mall, The ground, first and sometimes part of second floor are meant for only ladies! Besides that, on other floors also you will find ladies' stuffs. The shop owners of course apply this strategy knowing the fact that number of female customers is much greater than the number of male customers. Even if we see any market area, there are lot many shops wherein we get more of ladies stuff compared with that of men.

Personally, I do feel shopping helps me to reduce my stress, forget all tensions, etc. I really makes you feel better. It's just like paying a bit for lot of happiness! So girls, keep shopping!!!!

Mumbai to Pune

After many "Yes" and "No" from me and my friends we finally decided to come back to Pune by my friend's car. The funny part was, nobody among us had an experience of driving for 4-5 hours continuously that too in heavy traffic in evening. But the confidence (maybe over confidence) within them made my dear friends to take my friend's brand new car to Pune by driving.

We were supposed to leave from Vasai by 2.00 p.m., which became impossible when one of turned up 1 and 1/2 hrs late. One among us, who, we believed had an experience of driving on the Express highway, took the steering under his control. Just after we left, within 4-5 minutes, we (especially me) started regretting our decision of this whole risky journey. My so called experienced friend had almost collided the car first with a big tempo and a second later with a red SWIFT. He scared the hell out of me, rather all of us. And the reason he told us was, he just overrode the signal given by the truck driver by pressing car's horn and continued driving. God!! After lot of discussion with ifs and buts, we decided we would stay on maximum 30-40 KMPH speed. After watching, the supposed-to-be western expressway, I could say any country side road will be far better than the expressway we were driving on. With cursing the road, as well as my friend, we somehow reached Thane, via Ghodbandar road. The passersby were looking at us in astonishment as well as frustration, as we were driving at such a low speed with such a nice and brand new car. But we couldn't help it. We preferred reaching late, than never :).

We took the Airoli-Vashi-Panvel road from Thane to get connected to Eastern Express Highway. By then, I had got habitual of sudden jerks, wrong gear changes and unnecessary accelerations. But simultaneously I thought, he was driving comparatively better. My cribbing had also reduced as time passed by. After almost 2.5 hrs we reached the Express highway heading straight to Pune. As the name suggests, it’s a 3 wide-lanes highway. So the driving had become a bit easy now. Then the owner of the car came into picture. He decided to try his hands on his own car. He drove it good too. Of course, as he had his driving lessons fresh in his mind and the road was smoother, he easily drove next for 1/2 an hour till we reached the Food Plaza. It was later we came to know he hadn’t got his license yet! The 1st driver of the car had done his job pretty well, so did the second one!

The car as well as we- the passengers wanted to fill up our tanks. We filled up fair quantity of petrol in the car, and had some tea and homemade snacks. There we again started the next and crucial part of the journey – The Khandala Ghats. This time our comparatively-most-Experienced 3rd driver took the charge of the steering. I had never seen him driving, so was astonished to see him driving so confidently on ghats. I was fully relieved by then and was sure about one thing, we would reach home safely whatsoever. To my utter surprise, we almost touched 110 KMPH on the highway. After all the ups and downs in the journey, we finally reached home at 9.30 p.m. I greeted all of them with a smile for showing that much courage to drive for 5 and half hours. It was a journey worth remembering for my lifetime!

Agriculture: Equally Important for all

In our day to day activities the most important activity we do is eating. Food keeps us alive, creates energy and makes our brains work. A one day fast brings our energy so down, that we start thinking about breaking the fast as soon as possible. Now, after being aware of the importance of the food very well, imagine a day without food, or maybe more than one day, month or year. Is it possible to survive without food? The very much obvious answer is a big "NO"!

Considering the current scenario, India's population is growing faster than its ability to produce rice and wheat. Every other guy/girl, passing out from any rural/urban school, wants to go for any commercial course such as engineering, medical, arts, commerce, science etc. Nobody even gives a second thought of going for any agricultural course.

India has its 73% of population residing in rural areas. Most of them have a source of employment as farming. Considering this fact, the crops they grow can easily fulfill the food requirements of India's whole population. But we should not forget that, a huge part of these crops such as, tea, coffee, rubber, etc is exported to foreign countries and which let our farmers earn some good money out of it. Not only this, India even exports rice and wheat to some countries. So definitely, the amount of grains grown here, will not be sufficient for Indian population itself.

Thinking on a global level, People are heading towards software, financial, managerial fields. Comparatively, the agriculture side of the countries is somehow ignored. Its seems so, people are ready to pay high prices for food, as supply is less but demand is quite high. But the day is not so far, when There will be a flat zero supply and exponentially high demand.

I do agree to the fact that there are various technologies brought into agricultural fields. e.g. fertilizers, harvesting, plowing etc. But to execute such latest technologies, one must have a handsome amount of money in hand. Seeing the status of our country side farmers, it seems quite difficult for them to use these technologies, as they are not even able to fulfill their basic requirements. Not to forget, the vital thing for growing crops on fields is the rains. The rain god is not so impressed of the people around here, that sometimes he doesn’t turn up for long, and when he comes, he ruins the crops to the core.

Day by day the conditions are becoming worse than ever. Nobody is concerned nobody is bothered. Everybody is living for today, not worried about tomorrow. Some are completely unaware of these things. Some are using the land, which was earlier used for farming, now for building sky touching residential or commercial complexes and busy in making huge profits. I hope they will someday realize, that a person can live in a hut in bad times, but will surely need food to eat. We have nowhere to go other than this mother earth. Let her give us food to survive.

Reunion

It was really a special day, after all we were meeting after 8 years since I finished

my schooling. The school days was the time, when we couldn't spend a single day

without seeing each other. We would go to each other's house for no reason and pass

time! We would prank with our classmates and wouldn’t even get caught. In last 8 years

a single phone call was the only medium to chat for us. Initially, there were lot of

phone calls made by us, which with time started lessening. Of course, everybody is so

busy with one's daily chores. And now, after 8 years, our love and desperation

reached at the top of the graph, and we decided to meet finally. I was excited like

anything.

There are three of them, who were a part of my life. So in all we were a group of four

girls. We are together since standard 5th, though in different divisions. I was

always a B-division-girl. Our places were not so far from each others'. So it made

easy for us to go each others' home for notes, TP etc. The school timings were from

12.30 in afternoon to 5.30 in evening. It was always an easy option to reach school

in 5-10 minutes’ walk. But probably, my friends never tried that one. They used to gather

simultaneously and reach at my place at around 12.05 p.m. Daily they used to come and

find me getting my hair tied up by my mom. Of course, they used to get furious about

this, but they never stopped coming at my door, just to pick me up. We used to get 15

minutes break at around 3.00 o clock. These 15 minutes were the time we used to gossip and

copy notes if any. Again, after 5.30 we used to gather at main gate of the school and

get our homes!

Not to mention, we had joined the private tuitions at same coaching classes. There

too, we used to sit together and learn. Of course learning was quite boring term

then, we actually used to pass comments on the professor's shirt or hairstyle. Yeah

.. we didn’t spare the professors since then. We used to kid with everybody in the

class, and get on their nerves. But nobody could go against us because: we were the

ones to provide them perfect notes, get highest marks in the exams, no matter

whatever the subject may be, We were the most obedient students in our teachers'

eyes. So of course, they had to endure with us.

The days were passing like seconds, and soon we completed our SSC with flying colors.

Me and one from our group shifted to some other places. Everybody chose a different

career path and different place to live. Of course nobody had a choice then, had to

listen to what our parents had to say. The long lasting smell of our friendship was

lessening day by day. My heart used try to reach them by messages and calls. Which of

course didn't work much. Plans of get together were failing because of some or the

other reason. My hopes of reunion were losing.

And finally the day came, my best friend's birthday 24th Sept. I called her for

wishing her on this very lucky day. While chatting, I tried giving her hint, that we

should meet, and she agreed too. That’s it.. calls and messages were at their best and

finally we decided to meet on Sunday morning.

We met, we shopped and we enjoyed it! Bought a nice pair of clothes as a gift to our

friend's 1 year old son. We had lot of gossip. Time was passing at a speed of rocket.

Soon we left for our homes with heavy heart. I got into local train with my face

smiling and my heart singing!

Shiney-ing India

Recently we had read so many news and saw so many footages on news channels related to the rape case filed between shiney ahuja and his maid. No, No.. I am not at all interested in what all things involved in matter. I am just intending to point on a different and impacting news.. you can call it as a news of the day. The maid, who was suposedly accusing shiney for the assault he committed, has taken a complete 180 degree turn from the initial point. Now, what she has to say is : "The one who offered me to work at Shiney's place had asked me to do all this, and offered me money. Hence I did this."

What a foolish job done by the maid! As per statistics, there are nearly 50 Lakh cases pending with Maharashtra judicial system. There are lack of Judges in the courts. Even if we double the no. of hours of work, all the cases would take years and years to get solved. And there are these people who think its a blame game and you can play it for a while and leave it when you are bored with it. Come On people, think before you do such things. This one case is not the only example of such sick people, but there are many such maniacs present around us. There are many rape, murder, etc crimes,people have filed the cases for, in the courts. I am completely dumbstuck on the thought, why would anybody get furious or blind to such an extreme level to do these kind of crimes. Aren't they mature or selfish enough to think about their own future. Why does that momentary satisfaction overrides the balance of their minds.

People usually sighs off a breathe after reading these things in a newspaper or watching them on TV as a breaking news. In fact this is what they can do, after the incident is happened. But given a thought, is there anything which we would resist people from committing the crime. Or is it the begining of "Kalyug", that the earth itself wants to lose off some weight from its shoulders.

The discussion may go on and on, maybe without any solution. There has to be something to get this riddle solved! Waiting for the same!

Heaven on Earth

They say, "marriages are fixed in heaven". Well.. don't know about that, but I can surely say "marriage gave an opportunity to see the heaven on earth!". Me along with my friends had to attend a wedding in Kolhapur. Kolhapur is situated at a distance of 233 Kms from Pune. Though, we knew about the wedding details well before the wedding day, we hadn't confirmed our departure yet as it was a weekday. Getting leaves from office has become so difficult that we had to fell mock ill and bunk the office. We started our journey to Kolhapur at 7.15 a.m. One of our friend and the owner of the car was driving the car. He drove it through Katraj Tunnel and then moved it to NH-4 - the plain highway! One of the good thing about this highway is it has got 2 wide lanes to and fro, each of them is split into 2 other wider lanes. So in all it was an easy ride and not so tiring! We had our breakfast at Shirval, a place on the way and continued the journey, listening to Pink Floyd. Finally we reached Kolhapur at around 11.30 a.m. Fortunately the marriage hall was very near to the entry point of Kolhapur. We attended the marriage and had lunch! The clock was pointing at 1.30 p.m. and we thought it was the time to leave the hall. But what’s next? This was the time, one of us suggested to visit GaganBawda which is around 50Kms away from Kolhapur towards Kokan region.

That’s it! It was then and there decided that we would go and visit the mountain "Gagan Bawda". Our friend again took the charge of the steering and we started heading towards the heaven like place on earth. The road was not so plain initially. The Indigo's wheels were bouncing back on the road and making noise. It continued till we got onto a nice and plain road to GaganBawda. I can still remember the beauty of the road. It was so nice, that I couldn't get my eyes off it. The turns were looking insuperable. The trees on both sides of the road were joining their braches with the one in front of them to create shadows for the passersby. wait.. m I missing something here?? Yes .. the most amazing thing out there - the fog! It would not be overhyped if I call that place anything greater than heaven. It was like, leave the destination and just enjoy the journey. We were driving on the ghat and reached the top of the ghat.

From there, we were coming down from the top of the ghat towards Kokan region. We were actually driving through the clouds. Probably, the heavenly experience we had just then, was less, that we reached an another amazing point on the ghat. Our friend who was driving the car, could see things at some metres away. We decided to take a halt at that point itself. We got down from the car, and what we could see in front was only clouds, clouds and more clouds. It had rained just before, as the road was wet. The road has a complete 180 degree turn with a high ramp down. We could only guess, that besides us is a valley spread on the three sides of the ghat. Soon it was realized that rainy season is the best season for any outing. Orwise, how can we get to see and feel the clouds, touch them . We clicked some nice snaps at that point, like it was mandatory for us to show the close distance between the clouds and us. But they surely made the snaps to look more beautiful than ever.

Spending half an hour in the beautiful heaven on earth, we started the return journey. Eyes were again looking at the marvelous curves of the road and mind was stuck back to the U-turn we left some time ago. Clouds were still accompanying us in the journey. To feel them more, we decided to get down and have a cup of tea. After tea break, we continued the return journey. Probably our departure was not so impressive, so the clouds started disappearing slowly and it was getting dark. I bided a warm goodbye to them in my heart. Pink Floyd was at its best again. We were Coming back to Life, after knocking on Heaven's door!!!

नियतीचे खेळ

“ प्रियांका … “ मागून हाक आली तशी प्रियांकाने मागे वळून पहिले. रोहित धावत धावत तिच्याकडे येत होता. इतकी आर्त हाक तिने रोहित च्या तोंडून कधीच ऐकली नव्हती. रोहित जवळ येईपर्यंत तिच्या जीवात जीव नव्हता. त्या मागच कारण ही तितकच विशेष होत. आज रोहित त्याच्या आईशी प्रियांका आणि त्याच्या लग्ना बद्दल बोलणी करणार होता. धावून धावून थकलेल्या रोहितला श्वास देखील अपुरा पडत होता. प्रियांका पाशी पोहोचल्यावर तिला त्याच्या श्वासांचाआ आवाज स्पष्ट ऐकू येत होत. प्रियांका ने त्याला आपल्या बॅग मधे ठेवलेल्या बाटलीतील पाणी दिले. वाळवंटात फिरताना पाण्याचा ओहोल दिसावा , तसा रोहित ते पाणी घटाघट प्यायला. थोडा दम घेत तो सांगू लागला. त्याच्या चेहृयावरचे स्मित सगळे काही सांगत होते. फक्त ते त्याच्या तोंडू ऐकायचे तेवढे बाकी होते. तो म्हणाला , “ आपण जिंकलो प्रियू, आपण जिंक्लो.. आईने होकार दिलाय!” हे ऐकले आणि प्रियानकाने आनंदाने प्रफुल्लित झाली. नकळत तिच्या डोळ्यात अश्रू उभे राहीले. इतक्या वर्षात आजवर तिला एवढा आनंद कधीच झाला नसेल! ती खुश होती, तिला रोहित बरोबर उभ राहून नाचायच होत.. त्याला मिठीत घ्यायच होत. पण ती आता काय उभी राहणार…

20 जून 2008, तिच्या आयुष्यातला असन्ख्य घडामोडींचा दिवस. त्या दिवशी सकाळीच तिला रोहित ने येऊन कॉलेज मधे प्रथम आल्याची बातमी दिली होती. रोहित देखील चांगले गुण कमावून उत्तिर्न झाला होत. आज चा हा दिवस साजरा करायचा असे ठरवून दोघे घराबाहेर पडले. आधी एक नुकताच प्रदर्शित झालेला चित्रपट पाहून मग दुपारचे जेवण बाहेरच करायचे असे त्यानी ठरवले. ठरल्याप्रमाणे त्यानी चित्रपट पहिला वा ते जवळच्या एका चांगल्या रेस्टोरेंट मधे पोहोचले. तिथे भरपेट जेवून नंतर आइस क्रीम ओर्डर करून ते गप्पा मरत बसले होते. रेस्टोरेंट अगदी रस्त्याच्या बाजूलाच लागून असल्याने, रस्त्यावर येणारी जाणारी माणसे अगदी सहज दिसत होती. बोलता बोलता सहज ती दोघे बाहेरून येणार्‍या - जाणार्‍या लोकाना पाहत होती. काही वृद्धा माणसे, काही प्रेमात प्रेमात पडलेली तरुण तरुणी, काही लहान मुले आपल्या आई – बाबांसोबत फिरत होती.

अचानक प्रियांका चे लक्ष एका लहानग्या कडे गेले. तो जेमतेम 5 वर्षांचा असावा. त्याची आई त्याच्या करिता खेळण्यातली गाडी घेण्यासाठी एका दुकानात शिरली होती, पण बहुदा याने तिचा हात सोडला असावा. कारण तो त्या दुकानच्या बाहेर उभ्या असलेल्या स्पाइडर-मॅन चे त शर्ट विकणार्‍या फेरीवल्याकडे पाहत होत. अचानकपणे त्या फेरीवल्याने रस्ता ओलांडायला सुरूवात केली. त्याचे या मुला कडे लक्ष देखील नव्हते. मंत्रमुग्धा असल्यासारखा तो लहानगा त्याच्या मागे मागे जाउ लागला. दुपारची 3-4 ची वेळासल्याने रस्ता फारसा गजबजलेला नव्हता, आणि गाड्यांची ये – जा देखील जास्त नव्हती. . इतका वेळ एक गोंडस लहानगा म्हणून त्याच्याकडे पाहणार्‍या प्रियांकाला तो एकटा रस्ता ओलांडताना दिसताच, ती तडकन उठली. रोहित ला काही समजायच्या आत च ती रस्त्यावर जाऊन पोहोचली. तिने आजूबाजूला पाहिले, नशिबाने कुठली ही गाडी त्यावेळी तिथून जात नव्हती हे पाहून तिने सुस्कारा सोडला. ती त्या छोटू पर्यंत पोहोचत च होती,तितक्यात त्या मुख्य रस्त्याला येऊन मिळणार्या एका हमरसत्यावरून भर्दाव वेगाने एक ट्रक आला, त्याने ट्रक ची चाके मुख्य रस्त्याकडे वळवली . प्रियांका गडबदली, तिने धावत जाऊन त्या लहानग्याला जोरात धक्का दिला. तो शेजारच्या फूटपाथ वर जाऊन पडला. पण इथे मात्र काही भलतेच घडले होते. नियतीने प्रियांकाची ची सत्वपरीक्षा घेतली होती.

ज्या जागी तो छोटा उभा होता, त्या जागी प्रियांका आल्याने, दुर्दैवाने तिचा एक पाय ट्रक च्या चाका खाली आला होता. प्रियांका ची शुद्ध हरपली. हे सगळे व्हायला जेमतेम 2मिनिटे लागली असतील, तोच रोहित तिथे येऊन पोहोचला! त्याला काय करावे तेच समाजेना. प्रियांकला त्या अवस्थेत पाहून तो मॅटकन खालीच बसला. शेवटी आजू बाजूला जमलेल्या लोकानि प्रियांका ला उचलून टॅक्सी मधे झोपावले. आणि रोहित वारोबर 2माणसे पाठवून तिला हॉस्पिटल मधे पोहोचवण्याची व्यवस्था केली. पण ज्याची भीती होती, ते तर केव्हाच घडले होते. प्रियांका ने आपला एक पाय गमावला होता. ती उभ्या आयुष्यात कधीच आपल्या पायावर उभी राहू शकणार नव्हती. रोहित ला मात्र आता पश्चाताप करायची वेळ आली होती. इतक्या कमी वेळेत इतके मोठे अघटित घडेल असे त्याने स्वप्नात देखील पाहिले नव्हते.

जवळ जवळ 1 महिन्यानंतर प्रियांका घरी आली. तिला व्हील चेर वर पाहून तिच्या आईचा जीव तीळ तीळ तुटत होता. इतकी हुशार आणि दिसायला लाखात एक असलेली तिची मुलगी आज उभा राहण्यासाठी दुसर्‍याचा आधार घेतेय, हे त्या माऊलीला कसे बरे पहावेल. पण कंठाशी दाटून पण कंठाशी दाटून आलेला हुंदका तिने तसाच गिळला. आणि हसत मुखाने प्रियांकाचे स्वागत करून तिला मायेने जवळ घेतले.

हळू हळू प्रियांका ला व्हील चेअर ची सवय होऊ लागली. काही दिवसातच तिने स्वताची कामे स्वतः करायला सुरुवात केली होती. अर्थात, स्वतामुळे दुसर्यांना झालेला त्रास तिला कधीच पाहवला नव्हता. एव्हाना रोहित देखील थोडा सावरला होता. तो अगदी नेहमी तिला भेटायला येत असे. तिला फेरफटका मारायला घेऊन जात असे. तेवढाच प्रियांकाला मोकळ्या वातावरणात फिरायला मिले. आणि रोहितला पश्चाताप करण्याची संधी. प्रियांका हे सगळे जाणून होती. त्या दिवशी ठरल्याप्रमाणे रोहित स्वताचून आपल्याला बाहेर घेऊन आला आणि हे सगळे अनर्थक घडले याची रोहितल ला पूर्ण जाणीव होती, हे प्रियांकाला काळात होते. पण तिच्या लेखी रोहित ची काहीच चूक नव्हती. हे रोहित ला शंभरदा समजावून सांगितले, तरीही तो मात्र ऐकायला तयार नव्हता!

पण आता मात्र त्यांच्या प्रेमाचा संपूर्ण विजय झाला होता. दोघांच्या हि घरून बिनविरोध होकार आला होता. लग्नाची जय्यत तयारी सुरु झाली. लग्नाचा बसता, भांडी कुंडी, आहेर या सगळ्याची खरेदी सुरु झाली. प्रियांका ने अगदी तिच्या आवडी निवडी नुसार छान रेखीव दागिने बनवून घेतले . लग्नाच्या आदल्या दिवशी साखरपुडा होणार होता. साखरपुड्याची अंगठी घेणे मात्र अजून दोघांचे हि राहिले होते. लग्न अवघ्या ५ दिवसांवर येऊन ठेपल्यामुले लवकरात लवकर अंगठ्या विकत घेणे जरुरी होते. लागलीच मंगळवारी सोनाराकडे जाण्याचा दोघांचा बेत ठरला. रोहित प्रियांकाला तिच्या घरून आणायला येऊन मग ते दोघे पुढच्या कामांसाठी बाहेर पडणार होते. सकाळी ११ वाजता रोहित प्रियांकाच्या घरी पोहोचला. तिथे थोडे कांदेपोहे व चहा घेऊन ते दोघ घराबाहेर पडले.

सोनाराकडे जाऊन त्यांनी अंगठी खरेदीला सुरुवात केली. बर्याच शोधानंतर प्रियांकाने एक हिरेजडीत अंगठी पसंत केली आणि एका छानश्या मजबूत बांधणीच्या सुवर्ण अंगठीने रोहितचे लक्ष वेधून घेतले. प्रियांकाची अंगठी मिळायला अजून २ दिवस लागणार असल्याने फक्त रोहितची अंगठी घेऊन ते दोघ दुकानाबाहेर पडली. जेवणाची वेळ झाली असल्याने बाहेरच कुठेतरी हॉटेल मध्ये जेवायचा बेत ठरला. कुबड्यांच्या आधाराने चालत असताना होणारा त्रास प्रियांका च्या चेहऱ्यावर स्पष्ट दिसत होता. पण त्याला त्या दोघांचा हि नाईलाज होता. एका दुकानापाशी येताच प्रियांका ने तिला तहान लागल्याचे रोहित ला सांगितले. लागलीच रोहित दुकानात पाण्याची बाटली आणण्यासाठी गेला. प्रियांका खुश होती. अंगठी पसंत केल्याचे आईला कळवण्यासाठी म्हणून तिने हातातली पर्स उघडून त्यातून मोबाइल काढला. तसा अचानक कुटून तरी एक मनुष्य धावत येऊन तिच्या हातातून तो मोबाइल फोन हिसकावून पळून जाऊ लागला. एव्हाना रोहित पाण्याची बाटली घेऊन आला होता. कुबड्या धरून त्या व्यक्तीचा प्रतिकार करणे प्रियांकासाठी अशक्य होते,हे रोहित ला माहित होते. त्याने चटकन प्रियांकाच्या हाती पाण्याची बाटली व पिशव्या देत, त्या चोराच्या मागे धाव घेतली. एका चौकातून दुसर्या चौकात असे ते दोघे धावत होते. रोहित जीवाच्या आकांताने त्या चोराच्या मागे पळत होता. पण तो चोर बऱ्याच वेगाने पळत होता. त्याच्या मागे पाळता पाळता अचानक रोहित चा पाय एका चौकातल्या खड्यात अडकला. आणि तो धपकन जमिनीवर आडवा झाला. हे हि कदाचित थोडे म्हणून, तिथून येणाऱ्या एका वेगवान मोटारीची धडक रोहित ला बसली. आणि यावर कहर म्हणजे ती त्याच्या उजव्या पायाच्या हाडांचा अक्षरशः चक्काचूर करून गेली. बराच वेळ झाला झाला तरी रोहित आला कसा नाही, म्हणून त्याला शोधात शोधात प्रियांका रिक्षाने चौकात आली. इथे तिला रोहित पडलेला दिसला. "प्रियांका प्रियांका.." असे म्हणत च रोहित ने शुद्ध हरपली. त्याला जाग आली ती हॉस्पिटलच्या बेड वर! इअवाने पुन्हा एकदा खळे मांडला. फक्त या वेळी खेळाडू कुणीतरी वेगळा होता. रोहित ने डोळे उघडताच प्रियांका ने त्याचा हात हातात घेतला. रोहित ला प्रथम काय झाले ते कळेना. पण जस जसा तो आणखी शुद्धीवर येऊ लागला, तास तसा त्याच्या उजव्या पायातून येणारी कळ आणखीच जाणवू लागली. त्याला तो प्रसंग पुन्हा आठवू लागला. शेवटी अगदी शेवटचा प्रसंग आठवतच त्याने जोरात किंकाळी फोडली. प्रियांका ने त्याचा हात अजून च घटत दाबला. त्याला धीर देत हळू हळू ती बोलू लागली, " रोहित, सावर स्वताला. माझ्याकडे पहा, मी आहे न तुझ्या सोबतीला. मी तुला कधीच या वेदनेची जाणीव होऊ देणार नाही! ". यावर रोहित म्हणाला, "प्रियु, आग तुझ्या दुखत तुझी साथ देण्याचा मी निर्णय घेतला होता. मी तसा पूर्ण प्रयत्न देखील कराल आलो. पण आता! मी तुला आता काय ग आधार देणार प्रियु! जिथे माझा आधारच नाहीसा झालाय, तिथे मी तुला कसा ग सांभाळणार??"प्रियांका रोहित कडे पाहून हसली व म्हणाली, "अरे वेड्या आता तू मला किवा मी तुला आधार देण्यापेक्षा, आपण दोघांनीही एकमेकांची काळजी घ्यायला हवी, तसं वचनच दिले आहे आपण एकमेकांना.. आयुष्यात शेवटपर्यंत आपण ते पाळायचे आहे. हो न?" . रोहित किंचित हसल्यासारखा वाटला. दोघेही एकमेकांकडे पाहून अश्रू गाळू लागले. प्रियांकाच्या हाताची रोहित च्या हाताला घातलेली पकड आणखी मजबूत होती गेली.

पवना धरणक्षेत्र : एक आल्हाददायी अनुभ

कधी कधी तडका फडकी बनवलेले plans अगदी व्यवस्थित पार पडतात. काल हि तसेच झाले. माझी एक मैत्रीण आणि २ मित्र आम्ही मिळून पुण्याच्या आसपास कुठेतरी फिरायला जाण्याचा बेत आखला. फिरायला जागा बऱ्याच होत्या पण त्यापैकी एकही finalहोत नव्हती. त्या २ मित्रांपैकी एकाकडे चारचाकी वाहन असल्यामुळे फार काही त्रास होणार नव्हता प्रवासाचा. निदान, सुरुवातीला बनलेल्या प्लान प्रमाणे दुचाकी वर जाऊन जितका त्रास झाला असतात तितका त्रास तर नक्कीच होणार नव्हता. आणि शिवाय गाडीत मागच्या सीट वर बसून गाणी ऐकण्यात जी मज्जा आहे ती केवळ अप्रतिम! "गाडीवान" मित्र आणि आमची मैत्रीण, पुणे शहरातून औंध ला आम्हाला भेटून मग आम्ही चौघे सोबत निघणार होतो. भारतीय वेळेनुसार २ वाजता औंध मध्ये भेटायचे ठरले होते,जे अर्थातच २०-२५ मिनिटे उशीर होऊन शेवटी त्यांची गाडी २.२५ पर्यंत औंध मध्ये आली. मी गाडीत बसले, पण आमच्यातल्या एकाचा हट्ट होता, कि त्याला दुचाकीवरच यायचे आहे असा. निरनिराळी कारणे, जसे कि पाऊस असेल, उगीच त्रास होईल, सोबत गाणी ऐकता येतील इ., देऊन आम्ही त्याला कसे बसे राजी करून गाडीत घेतले. आता एक मोठा प्रश्न होता! जायचे कुठे! २-३ जागा आधीच cancel करून झाल्याने, शेवटी लोणावळ्या नजीकचे "पवना धरण" पहायचे ठरले.

बाहेर थोडी उन थोडी सावली असा एकंदर प्रकार चालू असताना, अचानक पावसाची सर आली. आम्हाला आधी वाटले कि , पुण्यातल्या पावसाला तसेही जास्त वेळ बरसता येत नाही, त्यामुळे थोडा भिजवून पाउस गायब होईल. पण आश्चर्य असे कि, हा पाउस काही २-३ सरीमध्ये संपणारा नव्हता. तो चांगलाच बरसात राहिला, अगदी पुढच्या २४ तासांसाठी. आम्ही पवना धरणाला जाण्यासाठी जुन्या पुणे मुंबई मार्गावर प्रस्थान केले. तिथून पहिल्या जकात नाक्यानंतर थेट पवनानगरला जाण्यासाठी एक फाटा आहे. त्या रस्त्यावरून जाताना आजू बाजूची हिरवळ पाहून डोळे अगदी दिपून गेले. उंच उंच डोंगर आणि नुकत्याच उगवलेल्या गवताने डोंगरावर पसरलेले हिरवे गालिचे.. आ हा हा. काय रमणीय दृश्य होते ते! बाहेर पाहता पाहता आमच्या पाहण्यात असाच एक डोंगर आला. लांबीला अगदी बराच असलेल्या त्या डोंगरावर समोरच्या दिशेला अंदाजे ९-१० धबधबे वाहताना दिसत होते. काही डोंगरावरची माती स्वतःबरोबर आणून जमिनीला देत होते, तर काही स्वच्छ शुभ्र पाणी आणून धरणीला न्हाऊ घालत होते. ते अति सुंदर दृश्य cameratबंद करताना मात्र माझी बरीच तारांबळ उडाली होती. त्यातल्याच एका डोंगरावर आता आमची गाडी चढू लागली होती. घाटच तो, एखादा धबधब्याची देणगी दिल्याशिवाय प्रवास कसा पूर्ण होऊ देईल! एक अतिशय बारीक धारेचा धबधबा पाहून आम्ही गाडी थांबवली आणि बाहेर पडून पावसाचे थेंब अंगावर घेत फोटो काढू लागलो. तिथेच धबधब्याच्या बाजूला ३ गायी चरण्यासाठी आल्या होत्या. एवढ्या तीक्ष्ण उताराच्या त्या डोंगरावर पाय रोवून कशा बरे उभ्या असतील त्या याच विचारात मी पडले! संदर सुंदर फोटो काढून आम्ही तिथून निघालो, ते थेट पवना धरणाच्या घाटाकडे जायला. धरणाकडे जाणाऱ्या त्या रस्त्यावर सुरुवातीलाच संपूर्ण धरणाचे दूरवरून एक नजर दर्शन घेतले. पुढे गेल्यावर एक खूप उंच धबधबा आणि त्याबाजूला जिथे तिथे पसरलेली बरीच माणसे दिसली. आम्ही थोड्या अंतरावर गाडी लावून, तिथून दिसणाऱ्या धरणाचे फोटो काढण्यात पुन्हा एकदा मग्न झालो. सुंदर सुंदर तेरड्याची आणि काही रानटी सफेद फुले यांचे काही छान छान फोटो घेतले. अर्थातच, धबधब्याचा फोटो घेण्यास आम्ही विसरलो नाही. इतक्या गर्दीमुळे त्या धबधब्याचा आस्वाद घेता नाही आला, याची खंत मनाला होती.पण त्याकडे फारसे लक्ष न देता आम्ही पुढे निघालो. आणि पुढे काही मीटर च्या अंतरावरच आम्हाला एक अतिशय सुंदर धबधबा दिसला, आणि महत्वाच म्हणजे, तिथे साध चिटपाखरूदेखील नव्हते. आकाशातून अक्षरशः कोसळणारा पाऊस आणि समोर धबधबा, अजून काय अपेक्षा असणार आमची! धबधब्याचा पाण्यापासून बनलेल्या त्या लहानश्या ओहोळात पाय टाकत आम्ही त्याच्या नजीक पोहोचलो. जितके आम्ही त्याचा पाण्याच्या वर्षावाच्या जवळ जात होतो, तितका तो अधिकाधिक सुंदर भासत होता. उंचावरून येताना त्या पाण्याच्या प्रवाहाने बर्याच ठिकाणी आपले ठसे उमटवले होते. बरेच से दगड माती वाहून गेल्यामुळे आणि सततच्या पाण्याच्या आघातामुळे गुळगुळीत झाले होते. डोंगरावरून येणारे ते पाणी नागमोडी वळण घेत एखाद्या लहान मुलाप्रमाणे या दगडावरून त्या दगडावर उड्या घेत खाली उतरत होते. खेळून खेळून दमल्याने मधेच बसल्याप्रमाणे साचून राहत होते. आणि अगदी शेवटी स्वतःला त्या ओहोळामध्ये विलीन करत होते. तिथे अंदाजे अर्धा तास पाण्याची मजा लुटून आम्ही बाहेर पडलो व लोणावळ्याच्या दिशेने गाडी जाऊ लागली. तिथे थोडीशी पोटाची भूक भागवून आम्ही परतीच्या प्रवासाला लागलो.

पावसाची कृपा अगदी सुरुवाती पासून शेवट पर्यंत इतकी झाली होती कि, आमच्या मित्राचा दुचाकी न आणण्याचा निर्णय त्याला अगदी मनोमन पटला! या सगळ्यात खरोखरच प्रशंसायुक्त आभार हे आमच्या गाडीवान मित्राचे मानायला हवेत. इतक्या जोरदार पावसात देखील स्वताच्या driving skills इतक्या छान दाखवल्या त्याने, कि जेव्हा मला आणि माझ्या मैत्रिणीला गाडीत बसून समोरच काही दिसत नव्हता, अशा पावसात त्याने अगदी कुशल रित्या गाडी चालवली! एकंदर आमची हि अचानक ठरलेली पण अगदी व्यवस्थित पार पडलेली सहल आम्हा सगळ्यांनाच आनंद देऊन गेली

The Blind Side

On a very fine Sunny and cool day, he is on a hill top, enjoying the surroundings. Filling his eyes with all the greenery he could see around. Enjoying cool winds passing by him! Thanking god for such an amazing view. What he sees around is a valley and river water flowing at the bottom of it. He tries to find the source of the river. Ah! There you get it.. an amazing waterfall offering pure white water falling from the top of the mountain. It’s a pleasure for him to see this whole natural spectacle. He is pleased, full of joy and surprise. He goes back to the hotel room, where he has got stay with his family. He calls his father to share the fun he had just now and gets his mother along too. They walk back the top of the mountain. The old legs get tired of walking after few kilometers. They feel nothing new or surprising in the valley river. They are seeing the same for all their life time. But his feet are tireless. He enjoys every step he takes. Because with every step he sees something new, something which he could never see before. The closer he goes to the valley, the happier he gets. Though the wrinkled eyes were enjoying this, they couldn't show up on their face so! Because they were just physically with him, mentally they had rewound back to few years.

A rich couple had an only son of theirs. He could have fallen short of nothing, he never would. He had everything provided on his demand. But the unfortunate lad has one thing missing in his life. The most important of all the senses. Eyes!!! The lack vision caused him only loss for whole of his life. He wanted to go to normal school instead of the school for blinds. He desperately wanted to play indoor as well as outdoor games with his friends, instead of blindfold. Not to mention, he didn’t need any ribbon or cloth to tie over his eyes. He wanted a normal treatment from everybody around him, instead of the special care! Yes he was tired of all the unwilled things. Though slowly, the rich parents were day by day getting poor. They were spending all their money just for their dear son, so that he could see this beautiful world.

Finally the day came! After lot of efforts and with the help from the best hospital in world, he got vision for the first time in his life. It's surely difficult to SEE after keeping your eyes almost closed for 20 Years. He was no different. The things which he used to touch and recognize the shape and smell of, he could see them all. He was extremely glad and felicitous. But on the other side, there were his parents calm and helpless, for they have nothing to celebrate the joy of their son! Every single penny was spent for his vision. The sale of their posh house in a city has given them enough money to spend the rest of their lives. Temporary stay in a nearby village was the only option left with them. They chose to stay there, until they get a small house in same or the other area.

He came to the hill top along with his parents. Joyfully, he showed them the waterfall, the river, the valley, the greenery. While his eyes were tied up with the view, his parents threw a glance at each other, quenched and slaked! Their future was bound to the present joy of their only son.

Ud-Dabang

After a lot of hesitation and on hearing reviews from friends and colleagues, I finally decided to watch "Dabaang" last night. My friends didn’t really let me down, when I predicted that there will be lot many "Yes" and "No" before we reach the cinema hall. Just 1 hr before we bought the tickets, one of us ditched! So, all in all, we were 7, damn interested in watching this much hyped/overhyped movie. I and one of my friends had reached the cinema hall, to buy tickets around 45 minutes earlier. Call it our laziness, helplessness or whatever; we had less cash than needed, though we knew the ticket price. We were actually waiting for our friends to handover us some money to buy tickets. Finally, we got seats in 2nd row and exact at 9.30 pm the movie started.

Dabaang! The fearless, the rebel with high attitude! Salman for the first time, i guess, didn’t struggle to act! It felt as if he was playing his own character. He had the bubbly character to play as per the name "Chulbul". The goggles hanging on the back side at the collar of his shirt looked just great! Whereas Sonakshi; considering it was her 1st movie, acted very well. Maybe the DNA causing good acting, are in her blood.

Coming to the direction and story of the movie, I feel, Abhinav Kashyap, the brother of the great Anurag Kashyap, and director of the Dabaang, has removed all the rules of physics and thrown them into dustbin. But though I crib about this, on this same time I was actually astonished as well as enjoying to the core. The ultimate part of the movie was the impeccable dialogues. In every 5 minutes there were these ultimate dialogue delievery (mostly by Salman) suitable for the respective situations and no non-sense stuff!

The director has given no chance to the audience for keeping any emotion, be it laughter, sorrow, astonishment, for more than 5 minutes. The rapid sequence of the events keeps the curiosity alive. Every time there is something interesting happening in the movie.

The most noticeable part of the movie is its music. All the songs are melodious, of course including "Munni" :P . Besides, "tere mast mast do nain" has become every other guy’s daily dose!

So, to summarize Dabaang was a complete tollywood movie pasteurized on north India’s plot, with pinch of spice and action! A full entertainment package!

Kas : Flora on the plateau

Flowers always attract me. The purity in their petals, shades of colors are the key players in this game of attraction. It really doesn’t matter how small or big a flower is, it always looks cute. Just imagine you are lying on a flat ground full of grass and wildflowers! They have got all the shades of yellow, pink, purple, blue, and many others! Wow .. Doesn’t it sound great? But for me, this was not just an imagination! I experienced this for the first time in my life..

Last Saturday was full of fun and some amazing views of flora for us. We had decided to visit Kas- satara, valley of flowers. Me along with couple of my friends were all geared up with camera, goggles, jacket, etc to make the trip memorable and safe. We started pretty early on Saturday. Yeah, 0650 in Saturday morning is surely early, right? It was an absolutely fresh morning. My friends hopped on their shining steed and booming charger. The one with booming charger was a new comer in the class, at least for a ride of 150 Kms. He had altogether different purpose for the ride though. We started from Aundh to Chandni chowk and got on the Pune-Bangalore highway i.e. NH4.The cool winds were soothing my mind. We reached old Katraj tunnel and whoa!!! What we saw was a whole lot of orange colored wild flowers. It’s highly difficult for me to explain the delicacy of those flowers. Those were seasonal flowers and you would find them right from Katraj tunnel to Shirval, at NH4. We clicked some very nice snaps out there and started further journey.

We reached Shindewadi and munched on spicy "Misal Pav" with a cup of tea. We decided the next stop would be at 1st satara junction. While deciding, we failed on our estimation keeping our friend with the booming charger’s speed in mind. Leave alone 1st Satara junction, he didn’t stop for the next 2 junctions too. When we realized that he missed the 1st junction, we raised our speed and got in parallel with him after few kms. I waved my hand and showed a sign of oh-plz-stop-it-now. I am thankful to God, all this happened just at the beginning of third Satara junction. On the speedy NH4, we dared to take a U-turn, yeah the vehicle drivers in that lane must have cursed us for showing such insanity, but we couldn't help it much. We reached the junction by taking the service road; the expressway was passing over from the junction. We started heading towards Satara city.

Though people curse districts like Satara, specifically other than Mumbai and Pune, for they are less developed, they must see the infrastructure of Satara, the huge court building, several colleges on the main road in a row, the statue of Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil. All these buildings were a great pleasure to watch. From the Shivaji Statue, we took a left turn and headed straight towards the Kas valley. Oh again, we underestimated the speed of the booming charger! Yes somehow, we again lost him from our eyesight. I really thank Mr. Martin Cooper for his great invention of Mobile phone. Or else it would have been difficult to locate where the charger was heading towards! We again got him back with us. We would have passed few Kms and ohh... what we saw there.. We had reached the top of the mountain and could see flat land which had valleys at all its borders. It was completely covered by yellow colored wildflowers and fresh green grass. The road was quite narrow, hence parking was strictly allowed only at left side of the road. We parked our machines at left side and there we went on to enjoy the freshness and greenery, calling us to offer incredible pleasure. We spent almost 15-20 minutes with the grand lottery of flowers and then headed towards the kas valley and dam.

The road was a curvy one directing us from one hill top to another. We reached the destination, and one thought hit my mind "Why didn’t we come here on any random weekday??" . Yes, by the look of it, we could guess there were around 100-125 four wheeler and double of them were two wheelers. Gosh! From the number plates, it could be guessed that people came there all the way from Mumbai, Pune, Konkan and north Maharashtra. So many people spread across the flat lands, enjoying the grass and different wildflowers covering the lands.

I was assuming people have just come to see and capture nice snaps! But I was wrong there were these botany students and their teachers, who were specifically observing each and every flower type and making a note of the same in the charts they were carrying. Some had got huge and fantastic SLR cams to capture every petal of the flower clearly. I looked at mine, smiled and started capturing maximum I could do. We wanted to find a way out of the oversized crowd and make our way to the Kas dam. We jumped on our machines and were looking forward to kas dam.

It again had a nice curvaceous road with amazing view side by. We reached the Kas dam in next 5 minutes. It didn’t let our expectation down. It had such clear water, that you could actually see the soil, fishes through it. The sun was taking a toll on us. We didn’t fail to capture the awesome view in camera and in our memories. We started the journey back to Pune, hoping to find a good restaurant on the way. Instead of restaurant, we found an exhibition cum sale on the return journey. Being a girl I didn’t mind to have a look at it. Not to mention, of course we shopped some stuff there and again started our search for restaurant. We found it at the same junction from where we came in. Might be because of the hunger or maybe it was indeed delicious, we really enjoyed the food they served. The lunch was incomplete without a sweet dish. Yes, we ordered a fruit custard. Trust me! In my entire life I have never eaten such delicious fruit custard. It was amazingly prepared as well as decorated. With happy heart we took a leave from Satara and started our journey on NH4 towards Pune. The shining steed was flying instead of just running on the road. The booming charger was following us. We entered Aundh in just 2 hours.

The whole journey of 300+ Kms was accomplished safe and sound. The flowers had made their place in my heart for forever. They will get vanished with receding monsoon, soon. The monsoon is still not over, and I am looking forward to next monsoon.