True Love

The trees looked greener. The roads were tempting. And the song was playing... Main tenu samjhawan ki, Na tere bina lagda jee...!

The moment was romantic. I remembered SRK from DDLJ. I had a big crush on him. And I detested Varun Dhawan in Humpty Sharma ki Dulhaniya. Maybe I have grown older and mature. Maybe more sensible? I wonder why any decent girl like Alia would fall for such a vagabond?

...But at this moment I was in love!

Yesterday's movie scenes played through my mind. Urmila Kanitkar & Adinath Kothare had been to a lovely village in the movie Anvatt. As a wanderlust, I traveled to that village in my mind trying to breathe in the cool air, trying to hear the wind speak, soaking in the greenery and getting drenched in the rains.

I saw black and blue and brown raincoats. Colorful umbrellas. Some preferred to get wet. Some closed their eyes and drove their vehicles! Some covered their back sacks with "Big Bazaar" plastic bags.

My phone beeped and I read a Whatsapp forward. It was a tip on parenting. I thought of my kids. Would they be feeling too cold? Both refused to wear jackets today. I thought of the way they welcome me back home in the evenings. Two pairs of happy eyes. The tight hugs...

...Life is beautiful... And I am so much in love!

The song changed its rhythm and I felt like dancing... Dil mein hai armaan jitne, saare jagaake naach... Tan mein badan mein jaise aag lagaake naach...!

The clouds had formed a lovely pattern in the sky. If I had to paint those clouds, I would have to use the colors alizarin crimson, yellow ochre, cadmium orange, payne's gray, burnt sienna... And even if I thought I have painted an original, I would have actually copied from the masterpiece made by God.

...I felt creative... I felt love!

Tiny drops of water were falling on the ground. I was wondering what power these drops of rain had. They could change my mood, make me feel alive. Life never felt so beautiful and the song that followed felt apt.
Yeh saajish hai boondon ki... Koi khwahish hai chup chup si... dekho na...!

A car speeding by suddenly splashed water all over my wind shield and I was jolted. It took a while for the wipers to clear the water. I looked around - I was in the midst of Hinjewadi traffic. I smiled to myself. Yes, I was smiling in the midst of the Hinjewadi traffic!

...I was feeling so happy, so peaceful. It seemed like life was full of love!

I love the monsoons. And it got to be true love. Why else would a 75 min drive to office on a crowded Monday morning be so beautiful?!

Ajivali Devrai

Ajivali is a beautiful green rustic village about 50 km from Pune. Devrai means sacred forest dedicated to the local deities or tree spirits. The forest in Ajivali is dedicated to Goddess Waghjai.

I went to Ajivali Devrai with a group of around 15 people, the monsoon trail organized by Western Routes. We started at 7am from Chandni Chowk and reached the Ajivali village by 8.30am. Ajivali is in Maval. The drive is very scenic. Coupled with lovely songs played by Shruti, my 5 year old son cuddling and enjoying the cool breeze, made the drive feel heavenly! About 1 km from the village the road was very bad. Actually there was no road, it was a mud path and our car was skidding! Thanks to the driving skills of Aditya (and me praying out loud to all Gods) we reached the village and parked our car.

Jayesh from Western Routes had carried our breakfast and tea. After a quick round of introductions, we started on one of the most wonderful monsoon trails I have ever been to!

Ajivali is a less explored spot around Pune and hence was not crowded and was clean. The walk to the forest is a gradual climb up the hill. The path is muddy and I suggest that you must wear floaters (no shoes, no socks).

Cool waterfalls, refreshing shades of green, a nice group of friends with the lovely background of brown mountains and gray clouds made me realize the power of nature - what an AC room, cushion chairs and warm beds cant do to a drained soul. I felt energized to keep me going for a couple of weeks! I envied the villagers who stayed in their huts there. And I felt guilty how we plunder this heaven to get materialistic pleasures that don't last long!

After about 30-45 mins we reached the devrai. It is a dense forest of trees growing 60 - 70 feet tall which form a canopy over the forest and makes it feel enchanted! There is a decent temple in the forest but again you realize that nature wins over the man-made temple. You will like everything other than the temple :) They say that you must not take away anything from the forest or the Goddess will get enraged and cause some calamity. Put your science in this belief and it does make sense!

We found a lot of littler, plastic bags, plates in the forest at some cozy picnic spots. I wondered - people left their littler but took away a part of the clean and natural forest. Fear if you believe in God, Think if you believe in science - And carry your litter back with you!

Bhimashankar

I had been to a weekend trip to Bhimashankar with The Western Routes. A very well organised and refreshing trip it was!

We left at 6.30 am from Pune, had breakfast en route and reached Bhimashankar Temple around 10.30 am. The Temple is not so grand. There weren't many people that day and yet it was crowded and congested inside. After taking darshan we started our walk into the Bhimashankar jungle. It is a beautiful forest! The main attraction of the forest is the giant squirrels. We were unfortunate to spot any! They say the best time to spot them is between 7 to 9am or 4 to 6pm. We spent around 2 hours at the forest and then reached our hotel, Blue Mormon, at 2.30pm to have a lovely and much needed lunch!

We checked into our rooms. The rooms are decent and clean. There is a Lake in the resort where we enjoyed swimming!

We were a group of 17 people. We enjoyed the evening playing dumb sheras. Then we had dinner and went for a night trail. The night walk seemed scary initially. But once I had passed the scary phase, I realised it was beautiful! We sat on the ground in the dark looking up at the sky- which was clear. Thousands of tiny stars twinkled and took us into a peaceful, dreamy world!

We got up the next day and after a lovely breakfast we went for a trek to the Nagphani point. The day was cloudy. And though we hoped it would rain, it didn't! It didn't rain a single drop through out our trip! Yes, June end and the monsoons have refused to visit this part of the world, not even at a place like Bhimashankar!  Coming back to the trek... It is not a hard trek. Most of it is a walk along the slopes. Not too much of rock climbing. It didn't take us too long to teach the top. The view from the top was breath taking!

Though we did not hurry and enjoyed all points on way, we reached down by 11.30am. So we went back to the resort for another dip in the lake! We had lunch and left Bhimashankar at 3pm. Were back home by 7.30 pm with 1 leisure break on way at hotel Purohit.

The trip can also be done in 1 day. You should start from Pune at 6am. Go directly to the Temple parking and do the Nagphani trek. You should be done by 12.30. Go to Blue Mormon resort, have lunch, relax, swim in the lake.  Leave the resort at 3.30pm and then do the jungle walk. Leave Bhimashankar by 6.30pm to reach back home at a decent time.

Do note that the parking near the Temple is a big chaos. For the trek and jungle walk, you need to park near the Temple. Tip - Park your vehicle as far from the Temple as possible else you may spend too much time trying to get out of the parking lot!