So as a result of being Falcons, the activity of choice should have been something that concerns height or flying (With the addition of Australia and Canada GMBA must be the MBA with the highest no. of flying hours as a part of course in the world). But curiously the activity of choice came out to be White Water Rafting. Najmuddin was kind enough to plant the idea in the heads of the decision makers but unkind enough to not grace the occasion. Although I have to say that i did not realize he had not come with all the excited babble and stories out of the minibus occuping my attention but. as soon as I saw the unlimited chicken on the buffet, the presence of the chicken in the chafing dish at the end of the meal was indicative of the absence of Najmuddin. But I am getting ahead of myself here.
Well the idea was put forward by Shruti in the mail and I have to say that due to the lack of time and a lack of recession for everyone except some of the Falcons we did not have enough slots available for the Rafting and only 12 were available (people are willing to spend some serious money to put some excitement in their lives). First come first serve principle was used and the slots were filled up pretty quickly. 10 from Mumbai and 2 from Pune were finalised. I have a thing about plans for trips. I generally am not a stickler for elaborate plans but I have come to realize that there is a scarcity of good places to stay and great things to do and just getting on the bike and going for a trip as could be done a few years back is not possible. The downsides to having a demographic that is young and free ....
So bookings were done and the arm twisting agent asked for a 10000 rupees deposit, non refundable mind you, to confirm the booking. Shruti was kind enough to transfer the huge lump sum owing to the recent recovery of hers from the liquidity crisis due to gainful employment. Amey came into the picture with the brilliant suggestion of hiring a 14 seater minibus for the trip. So at long last with the plans set for the Mumbai end, I and Pritpal were supposed to drive down and meet the people. But alas, Prit had to listen to the call of duty and fly down to Chennaileaving me in the quandary weather to drive or not to drive alone. Propriety, the tough road (50 kms ghat section and the road is almost never used), rains and my prior experience of exhaustion and lack of sleep after rafting and overnight weekends made me change my mind and opt for a bus. There are only a couple of buses on that route and hence I had to leave pretty early to catch one , but I must say that the route is very scenic and some of the pics taken from the moving bus speak for themselves.
The Mumbai guys started from Ville Parle representing the western line and Chembur representing the Central + Harbour Line as pick up points. But like of most of Ameys ideas the minibus one had some unforeseen consequences. They must have set the record for the longest time taken to cover 140 km from Mumbai to Sutarwadi where the resort was. I think it was some 5 hours journey in total. Women can’t read maps and men cant ask for directions, so our mixed group got lost on the way to the resort but I have to add that some men can’t draw maps. As you can see from the map below which will even flummox the best of cartographers.
But I am sure they had a great time. They had some experimental dosas (American Chopsuey Dosa), some great pictures being clicked on the highway, in the bus and on a stone wall. They also rode on the top of the bus on the national highway before sanity prevailed and a state highway was used for the purpose later on. I have to say from firsthand experience that it is a painful experience. Nature abhors sharp edges, naturally occurring things have right angles extremely rarely. So to fit a naturally shaped rounded bum in a one feet square of metal squares that constitute the overhead carriage of a minibus is a painful experience. The great climate and nice wind do compensate. As they say no pain no gain. Tell me how many falcons can boast to have ridden a state highway on the top of a bus huh !!!
The bus I had taken dropped me at Sutarwadi. The climate was awesome with a light drizzle and after enquiries at the village I came to know that the resort was some 5 kilometres away. With plenty of time on my hand I decided to walk down to the resort. The road was great and some of the pics that I had taken on the way are below. I saw some amazing streams and bubbling brooks and greenery all around.
By the way, my mobile phone did not have range at all. A PCO was helpfully installed at the resort. After some food and confirming that the guys would come at near about 6 PM I had a good 90 minutes nap. After getting up and snacking and calling Ameya who told that they were snacking too I figured out that they would take an hours drive at the most. The evening was fantastic and I had seen a overflowing bund while walking to the resort. After taking directions, I thought a good hour’s walk to the place off the road through the fields. I set off and had a nice walk. Monsoons in Konkan are so wholesome that even cactus sprouts leaves. A few of the pics are down here. I love the droplets on the leaf one....
I had a plan in mind that as the resort was a bit off the road and tough to find, I would be walking on the main road and when the guys came I will flag down the minibus and go the last 3 kilometres with them. But in a display of lack of judgement J I underestimated 2 things. One was the ability of Falcons to take pictures on the road (Shruti and Kanchis Cams were discharged by the time they reached) and the other was the ability to turn right at the right spot (Proud of the play of the words). So bottom-line, it started to be really late and even after loafing around for like 2 hours on the road they did not arrive. I took a lift from a rare biker who left me half a kilometre from the resort and I walked down, had a nice hot tea and started to chitchat with the owner. The guy had this piece of land from his village inheritance and has a Pooja Stuff shop near Lalbaughcha Raja (A famous ganapati temple spot in Mumbai near Dadar). I distinctly remember thinking that religion must be a big business if he can afford the construction of this resort from that shop earnings, or should I take this as one more evidence of the wish granting powers of Lalbaughcha Raja J.
Part two of the blog will be post the Falcons reaching the resort at last.......
