Trek: Day 0 to 2

Day 0 : 3rd May

Left Dadar Station late at night, on the illreputed Dadar - Amritsar Express. Illreputed 'coz its scheduled time exceeds the maximum time taken by all other trains, and ofcourse more of than not, this one is late itself.
Living upto its reputation, the train lost no time, in losing time. We were almost an hour late reaching Kalyan. 100% late. We reached 4 Hrs. late eventually, a total of 39 Hrs.


Day 1 : 4th May

Crossed MP in searing heat. There was 'Loo' in your face (Pun intended). To think of it, MP in summer is a tragic site. Miles and miles, of barren and sunbaked land thirstily look up. As if all this wasn't enough our train was the destined to stop at every village which had a semblance of railway station. That it also, stopped at a dozen other hamlets is another story.
[btw: did i mention that we were traveling in AC ;)].

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At this juncture I will introduce you to the cast:from l to r :

Avijit (aka Sexy) Has a style of doing things, that no one can emulate and a caustic sense of humor. Has a shapely @$$, which re-christened him. An omnipresent wicked grin, and an abundant flow of cash (more on that later), made up his front portion.

Anchit (aka Sports God) Has stamina. How much is not known, except he never ran out of it. Calm until ruffled, as Jajoo found much to his dismay. Utter perfectionist, he crax Acads, Sports and an occasional NP or DAC ;)

Shirish (aka Jajoo) A complete womaniser, with tinges of innocence, meant that he was easy and common target. Combed his hair more often than he drank water.

Shreyas (aka PornStar) Long hair, Pink Floyd fanatic, lives in Mallu land hostel, yet doesn't drink, dope or fag. An eye for girls, but far from being a skirt-chaser. Wont say more, else he can take my case as well.

Apoorva (aka Stud) Unbeatable zest for adventure, be it cycling from anyplace to anyother, fixing all of his own things. But cant work with a thing without spilling it. (no pun intended).

Devang (aka Vang) Straight-upward guy. Amazing musician and always a helping hand to have around. A 6' 3" frame, oops .. stick, was the perfect foil for Anchit. Another Floyd buff.

Rohan (aka Freshie) If you have heard of schools like Balmohan, Parle Tilak etc. , you can imagine what their cream is (or rather, what they think their cream is). That's Rohan for you. A cute smile, and a baby face to facade a Devil's Workshop [I aint saying that his mind is empty, in fact far from it], he also guess by the name C. Billa.

Mayur (aka PG or YZ) Quiet, No nonsense guy. Minds his own business. But has a flair, that is distinctly similar to Rajnikant, hence the name PseudoGult.

And of course, the Narrator / Sutradhar, or in case of this pic. the man behind the camera: Yours Truly.
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So in the train, I got to know these guys better. Being the senior, they showed some respect (Cough ! Cough !!), and that meant that I had some immunity from being teased. I left no chance to rag them, and get them to rag one another.


After a complete day in the train, I dozed off after departing from Mathura at about 0130, with an ab-delhi-duur-nahi satisfaction ...


Day 2: 5th May

... I woke up at 9, to find we had just left New Delhi. Train was stalled at NDLS for a little over 4 hrs. With a scheduled arrival at Ambala of 0930 hrs. , the attendant almost sadistically reminded us, that we were traveling by Dadar - Amritsar, and as a matter of belonging had to share his misfortune of being delayed on every journey.
At 1330, when we eventually pulled into Ambala Cantt. station, we had a task on our hands. With no travel arrangements to Kasol, we had to fix it as well as our lunch. Would we report on the 5th, was a question that was topmost on my mind, and nowhere near the tip of my tongue.

As luck, would have it, there was a Haryana Roadways strike that very day. Not to lose the oppurtunity, the private operators had hiked their rates. In Haryana, dealing with the local guy meant, 'No if, No But .... sirf JAT'. We ended up with all his terms. Atleast we were able to start by half past two.

We had hired a Qualis, and with 9 of us travelling alongwith the driver, 4 of us had to be cramped in the back of the vehicle. With solemn promises from the rest, that we would swap seats midway thorough the 10 hr. journey, we lost no sweat, then.
The roads gave us no rest and the winds gave us no respite.

Lapping town after town, and cross-checking it in the map, we crossed through 3 states before finally stopping after Mandi, to take Dinner. Since it was dark outside, I snuggled upto Anchit and had an hours' nap. We left the National Highway, that leads to Kullu and thereafter Manali, at Bhuntar. While NH 21 continues along the Beas Valley, we now crossed over into the smaller Parvati Valley (Parvati river joins Beas, somewhere before Bhuntar). 30 Kms. from there, we peered into the darkness for the Base Camp. As fate would have it, we reached the Base Camp at Kasol at 2340 Hrs. After hastily unloading and paying the driver, we rushed down a flight of steps and in ekdum-filmi-istly reported at 5 minutes to 6th May.

Little did we know that YHAI enforced lights-out at 2200 hrs. and that we would have to follow that for the coming days. More surprising was the fact that we did end up sleeping that eary every day, a heresy that hasnt been committed since.

We ended up filling up our forms partially at past 12 in the night. We realised that we had to sleep in tents at about that time ... Many more illusions were to be shattered. Also, this was about the time that we found out that we had no proof our having registered for the trek. All but one of us, had forgotten that we needed a particular printout with our reg. nos. that no one had remembered to carry along. Nevertheless that is a problem to be handled the next day, and the next posting ...


For the interested below are the maps of our jouney from

a)Ambala - bypassed Chandigarh - Bilaspur - Mandi - Bhuntar - Jari - Kasol &
b) Region where we trekked (More later .. )

And Google Earth Rocks !

Travelogue

I am leaving for a Trek in the Himalayas in a Few hours from now and am pretty excited about it !

Am part of a Youth Hostel Team that will trek that Yankar Pass and so on. So for a few days this will become a Travelogue.

Leaving by the Dadar - Amritsar Express, that is anything but an express and will take almost 34 hours to take us from Dadar to Ambala. The Next leg of it is completely unplanned, as we will move from Ambala towards Chandigarh -> Shimla -> Kullu -> Kasol. Kasol is only a few kilometeres short of Manikaran known for it Hot Water Springs, and is a popular Sikh Pilgrimage. Another Road from Kullu takes one to the more famous Manali, Hill Station!

At Kasol, we are to report at the Youth Hostel Base Camp, from where we are at their Mercy ;)

Current state is the Photo Alongside:


I mostly will not have access to internet while I am there, so much of the remaining will be posted as one after I return !

So long ...

Or as they say: in Hindi Cartoons :
Alvida ..... Yarron !

Musings ....

So from this point I dont know what I am going to write, will generally ramble.

Endsems going on : Which means Bad News. Had a terrible academic semester, and my grades will no doubt reflect that. The worst part is that i prolly aint feeling as bad abt it, aswell.

Anyways, Endsems devote another posting as such, which I may never end up writing !

Other than that, I am back at Home since I was feeling very suffocated in the Hostel. The whole scene appeared weary looking !

Frankly speaking, dont know wat much to write now: its just a hollow feeling that refuses to go away.

Relevance of Shakespeare

"Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say, when?
You grow exceeding strange: must it be so?"

- Merchant of Venice Act I Scene I
Bassanio to Salarino

More or less sums up, how I feel at the moment.

The world appears a tad Hazy,
A cloth to wipe it Clear.
The problem is that I Fear,
and just that I am too Lazy.

The above poem, henceforth will appear alongside my profile.

Its very not-me to write a poem or any form of verse for that matter. Primararily, since I had hardly done it till that point of time, I was always reluctant to try it out thereafter. Putting feelings and thoughts in complete sentences that were gramatically correct, was always the natural choice for me. Also, for some vague reason I always associated it with the feminine.

Inspite of all that, I was somehow sure that poem was the express myself to others and hence wrote the above lines.

Bikers of the Nite :)

Well, Friday night was a relatively low-key night. As in since Valfis have started there isnt any institute wide activity that is now going on. As a result took a time off with myself :) .

It started off, with a plan, early in the evening, of going somewhere with friends from IIT and outside. But there wasnt a big quorum for that to take place and hence plan flopped :( .

Later in the night, thought of going to Mocha's Powai for a neat Avalanche and some self-spoiling. Didnt get the rite company for that as well. So just ended up fidgeting on the comp. for no apparent reason, waiting for sleep to dawn on me.

It was only very late, that Nikhil Pande thought off going on a bike ride. Very fine idea. So after unsuccessfully trying to get some more people to come, we left towards an unplanned destination. We happened to turn right at the main gate, that took us as far as Saki Naka! It was then we decided to go to Juhu Beach.

Wonderful breeze, and a nice ambience and ever increasing Humidity was present at the beach. We might have hit the beach as late as 1 am or so (With a short detour to Mocha's, Juhu). We whiled our time at the beach, had some talk left at 2 or so, and came back to the hostel at quarter to 3 types.

The best part about Biking late at night, spulrging at Mocha's is the extent of self-control it gives you. More than the control, it is the feeling that one posses the self-control , that os often exciting. In a world of IITians, where either Profs., wing, peer group or Hostel decide what you end up doing for most if the time (in some order, or the other), such a self-control can give one a high. I sure did get it that night, as well as Wednesday night, when we went for a Wing treat and I biked both ways.

Not that I am too much of a philosopher or something, still I believe that : When everyone tells you 'Do this ... Do that.. ', searching for such self-control leads to people 'Doing nothing' as a vent or in more popular usage 'Give UP'.

PAF I,II & III

This post for the record, will state that the PAF's did happen and what the first 3 were.

Performing Arts Festival (PAF), is an annual event in IITB of a scale in its own league. It aims at a production of about an hours' duration that will encompass all performing arts (viz: Acting, Music, Dance, Voice-overs) as well as other aspects like FineArts, Lights, Sounds and Sets among other things. 2 or 3 hostels pool in quite a lot of their strengths to ensure the success of their PAF's, in what is the culmination as well as the high point of Cultural Activities for the Year.

PAF '2K6, saw a decrement in the number of PAF's that happen from 5 to 4, primarily because no hostel wanted to be paired up with a certain other Hostel. As a result certain compromise had to be made on the number of PAF's happening.
PAF I: 'Asraar' by Hostels 2,7,8 was about a conspiracy as frequently heard as the words used in their speech, never !!! A very PAFfable PAF with standard Prods. , Boring Costumes and as Uninteresting Storyline. Watchable in parts, missable as a whole. A prod. of Taj Mahal was worth the effort, though not breathtaking.

PAF II: 'Kharaashein' by Hostels 6,10,13 was better, witht the first 20-25 mins. defintely worth the watch. The atmosphere of the chawl was created well, though the production was not made by students. Simple ideas like use of a actual rickshaw in the PAF were pretty novel. Later the story lost its grip, though with advising people about Hindu Muslim unity and other stuff that is not generally appreciated very well in IITB. Certainly better than PAF I.

PAF III: 'Camoflauges' by Hostels 3,5,12 is best left unsaid about, since it was performed by my hostel, and I had a role to play in it. The PAF didnt live up to the expectataions, mainly with lack of co-ordination between various teams handling Lights, Sound and Choreo/Music. With an extremely Bold Theme, I personally though it was a unconventional PAF and stood better chance than the PAF I.

Till then, no one in their wildest dreams had thought what lay in store for them.

Blog :-|

Well, I have realised, much to my chargin that , maintaining a Blog regularly isnt easy. :(
Howsoever I wish to write what I want to write, excuting it isnt easy especially given that there are so many better ways of not doing anything !

My post ends, here... got better things to do ;)

Btw: In the meantimes, PAF's are done with.

The Rat Race II

When I first started blogging, I was in quite a different state of mind from the one I am in now. Then it was about short-term apprehension [with the Insti. Elections approaching] (and, in parts, long cherished dreams being shattered[with ...] ) . [Those who dont know what I am talking about, stick around with my blog, I will write about it soon enough]. Now it is more about long-term challenge.

So 'The Rat Race II' comes from a different point of view from 'The Rat Race I'. This ones more inspired by Sudeep's Blog, and generally-not-doing stuff for the heck of it, but most importantly for personal enjoyment.

A major change, from my attitude from here-on would be to try on stuff , that I wudnt have otherwise, since they didnt fit in the Best Laid Plans. For example: In the past few weeks, I attended a Manna Dey concert in OAT as well as the Surbahar in convo. . I almost attended SwarSandhya as well. So while at Surbahar, I danced my heart out.
Who I was or what I stood for, didnt matter as long as I did what I wanted to do !

So starting from where I left in 'The Rat Race I':

At this roadblock, I stop to ponder and explore new ideas and avenues. Subsequently will come a time, when I will have to accept that I ran a rat-race in a maze where there wasnt any cheese for me. That will be hardest part of it all.
Neither is the maze to be blamed, nor are the rats. Its just that, its time to put on the running shoes and start searching for a different maze altogether.

I realise that the maze wasnt meant for me, or more aptly there isnt a well defined maze made for anyone at all. Each is supposed to mould his/her own maze. The tough part will come when I have to stand up for my own maze, and see to it that it doesnt ape the one that had no cheese for me. The very reason that would happen is that, I still would hope that, the maze I left behind did actually have some cheese for me ! The quicker I come to terms with this 'dis'illusion, the better I can craft my own maze !

I had quite a involved conversation with a senior, the night of 8th. He was almost god-sent and helped me a great deal in getting over the initial feeling of emptiness. He apparently had to go through quite a similar experience himself :( . The good thing was that he is quite a respected person in the Insti. and traversed a maze as beautiful and as unique, as well. That did cheer me up significantly and help me carry out routines routinely.

The next few days, were spent in the beleiving that if I had a rainbow as brilliant by the time I pass out as he has, the fact that the entire sky fell upon me one-not-so-fine day will not matter as much ! I could chart my journey the exact same way, as the senior did and end up the same way as he has. Then I too would have people looking up to me and cherish the 'aukaat'.

And This I think, is precisely where it began. Its just that I changed the Maze, I replaced the rats: but essentially it was pretty much the same ... A Rat Race .
Since then I probably have, realised that its high time I learnt what people like Sudeep knew all along:

"And so on, in every aspect of day-to-day life you can see him. Enjoying it out.

You enjoy life to the fullest, largest possible extent and you may begin to look like Renil! But atleast you enjoyed it and the on-lookers didn't! What the hell do you care!"

It makes sense to do stuff that you enjoy and try to excel at it. What doesnt make sense is that you try and live your life the way some other person [howsoever successful] did ! Life is meant to be enjoyed and not chased after.

Each person has to shape his own maze, run down a blind alley - bite into a cheese that is not of his preference - question his maze - kick out in frustration against the walls of the maze, all the same keep running, just because you love to run, the way you want to.

Mood Indigo - The Fe(a)st !

Q: What happened when the Cow Drank Ink ?
A: She MOO(e)D INDIGO !

Mood Indigo, the Cultural Fest of IITB is synonymous with fun, frolic and hell-of-a time ! Everyone who has been to even 1 of these, will bear testimony to the above fact. For 4 days in December, zillions (or as IITians wud put it: infinite junta) attend the festival. I hope that whoever you are get a chance to do so too.

Those IITians who are reading this, may ignore the subsequent post. I am basically going to talk about MI.

For the rest, Mood Indigo (or later referred to as MoodI or simply, MI) happens around Christmas time, most commonly on the 4 days - 26th to 29th. The activities at the festival are of varied nature - from hardcore Trivia Quizzing to completely whacky Informals. At night time, there are professional shows by renowned artists, called Pronites. These have been host to quite a few artists like, Lucky Ali, Shankar Mahadevan etc. in the past.

But what makes MI worth attending and worth working for, is the junta which turn up for the festival. Check out this orkut link, it will give you an idea how crazy people are about MoodI. Contingents from all over the country turn up well-prepared for it. Quite a few colleges from outside Bombay are known to put in a lot of fight in getting their Play/Dance geared up for winning at MI. Not only the rich rewards, but also the honour of winning at MI is worth the effort.

But even those who arent exactly planning on winning at MI, there are rich pickings to be made ;) Since it is such a big gathering of collge crowd, it offers excellent scope for making new 'contacts' that often do end up going a long way.

The Pronites are great fun too. The Open Air Theatre (OAT) is filled to capacity atleast on 2 of the pronites with the crowd going crazy with joy ! This year, Shaan (whose real name happens to be Shantanu :) as well) had the whole OAT in a frenzy. The same was the case with Remo last year, Lucky Ali the year before, Shankar Mahadevan ....

All in all, the course laid out, by the MI team is tasty and filling. And most importantly every bit of it is Free :)
I have been lucky to have been associated with quite a few MoodI's directly or indirectly. Working for it is as spicy an experience. I hope, I have the stomach to report that as well.

The Rat-Race I

I start off as a blogger at a time when most off the doors are rapidly closing around me !

There comes a time when you hit a road block, and all that is left in your hands is to question each of the turns that you took along the way and more importantly , each turn you missed out on :(. Since quite a few rocket scientist ;) , beleive that time cant be reversed, all that one can actually do is think and try and find a way around the road block.
Often vertical turns out to be the correct direction.

Though I do love writing abstart personal thoughts, the very fact that it took me so long to start a Blog, itself is an indication that I never thought out-of-the-maze as long as the road was straight and rather unblocked.

Blogging, I hope will be an activity that i will pursure more often for a personal sort of joy, rather than any kind of recognisition of the kind I have been mindlessly following quite some time now.

At this roadblock, I stop to ponder and explore new ideas and avenues. Subsequently will come a time, when I will have to accept that I ran a rat-race in a maze where there wasnt any cheese for me. That will be hardest part of it all.
Neither is the maze to be blamed, nor are the rats. Its just that, its time to put on the running shoes and start searching for a different maze altogether.