Picnic-2

It was the morning of 26th January when we met near the gate of Dena Vadi. I had to buy a new Sweater specially for the trip and I think most of us were wearing the sweaters after a long time.  I had received a bag from CTS as a Diwali gift, so I was using it to carry my belongings. I was going to meet Battery at the Lower Parel station at 7am and then head to Girgaum. When we reached near Dena Vadi, we saw Nikhil waiting for us. In some time, Viraj and others arrived in the Sumo. I think it was Susmit who arrived at the end. So it was nine of us- Aditya sitting in front row; Nabar, Nik, Harshad and battery in the middle row; Vikram, Viraj, Susmit and myself occupying the last 2 opposite seats. I was really sceptical about how we would be able accommodate 2 more people. We completed all the "formalities" before leaving i.e. breaking the coconut in front of the car,etc....

And of we were to Lanavala. To be honest I didnt have the best of time while we were traveling. We started with the Antakshari and Vikram was in a mood to be wreck each every song at his disposal. I was really annoyed by his behavior on this trip. Nabar described his thinking aptly when he said he was making PJs because it suddenly struck him all of a sudden, instaed his mind was searching for a moment where he can make PJ-like comment. Worse part was that he was sitting near me and was his target on most occasions. I hardly able to sing good songs and forgot most of them. I could not even remember the 'Adat' song.  Its true that we were not there to sing songs but really we missed some good songs. A special mention is required for the song composed by Aditya on the lines of "Kashi Nashibane Thatta Mazi Mandali" for Viraj, who improvised it further. Of course I didnt like the Lyrics of that song, it was well thought. We made a halt near Panvel for some time, but unfortunately it didnt stop Vikram's PJ, in fact I saw what was to be expected in next 2 days....

We reached Lonavala at 10.30 morning, 30 minutes ahead of schedule as Kiran and Vishwajeet had still not come and were expected to reach by 11-11.15. We picked them up at the Station and headed to Karla caves where there is the Temple of Ekvira Devi. We were 11 boys and I could see the effect of overcrowding. One from the middle row had to sit on other's lap which was obviously awkward. It was a nice experience to visit the Karla caves. I was surprised to see that a lot of structure was built by using wood. We took photos and how can we forget that Video which we took near the beams. I need to upload that video, once I get it. Unfortunately we could not go to the Temple as there was very long queue and we thought that we might not be able to see other points. So from there we went to the Valvan Dam. If I am not mistaking, the dam was built before independence and is currently used by TATA Powers for electrical power generation.

As everyone in the trip would agree the lunch on the first day was really bad. An advise to all of you, please dont go to a Udipi restaurant and order Punjabi food.  We went to Rest house and I thought we would have some rest there. But what followed after that was something which I will write about next time... Bye for now.