Dukechi Nose

8th January came as a surprise holiday from our department. Anyways this being the first week of the semester nothing much was going on anyway. So, we decided to go out somewhere. It was decided that we were to go trekking on the hill called Duke’s Nose near Lonavala. Chiti informed me in the evening to be ready with my own food and be ready for the 6:30 train from Shivajinagar, Pune. I had my food and was at the university gate at 5:45 sharp. But there was no sign of anyone and so I just bought a newspaper to pass time. The day’s newspaper was storming with Satyam’s debacle and I was totally engrossed in it when the trek party appeared. The trekkers were Chiti, Chetana, Mubashshera, Nadera, Vrushali, Nalini, Aradhana, Siddharth, Sanjeev and Pranav. We were joined by the two Gayatris and Anagha at the station, Sandhya at Akurdi and Rajesh at Lonavala.
The journey was peaceful and we stood the whole time at the gate. At Lonavala we walked quite a bit in search of an eatery. But Lonavala’s eateries are lazy enough to not start at even 8:00 in the morning. In the meantime we went to see a temple enroute where we were mesmerized by the nature and more by the trees which had dozens of beehives on them. But an ill-tempered temple authority cut our visit short and we were back on track to Duke’s Nose. We ate Vada-Pavs at a roadside eatery and set out on our trek. After almost an hour of walking, we were at the foot of Duke’s nose in a village called Kurwande. Incidentally Duke’s nose is also called as Nagphani by the locals.
The journey upwards was not difficult but was tiring under the blazing sun. We reached the top in about half an hour or little more. The panoramic view from the top was just exhilarating. I personally was spellbound and became speechless at times. I was susceptible in sitting on the edges in the beginning but later on collected enough courage to do so. We spent almost an hour before having lunch comprising of bread, butter, jam, biscuits, sauce, rotis, sabji, idli and what else! I had a sumptuous lunch and was inclined to sleep there. But my friends had other ideas. They wanted to go and see the neighbouring hill as well whose entry was not as easy as this one. Well the less courageous ones i.e. me, Chetana, Nalini, Mubashshera, Nadera, Nalini, Sandhya, Rajesh and Vrushali stayed back while others went on the quest.
I tried to take a nap but it was difficult with the scorching sun overhead. Chetana and Nalini tried and were successful to certain limits. We then started our descent down and I was proceeding quite well before the end I slipped and almost had a rolling descent on the little rocks in the crevices. Well, fortunately we all came back safely. But a mention should be done of Chiti who came down in splendid fashion and when everyone were applauding it, she fell down and had a little abrasion in the foot.
We had water in the village and started our way back to Lonavala. On the way, Chiti suggested that we play Antakshari but with towns’ names. I and her started playing and soon were joined by the entire troupe. Even in between, Aradhana was playing from both the teams. We had ice-golas and jalzeera and set out for the station. We then went back to the station and soon our train left. On the way back we sang patriotic songs on the top of our voice and were so engrossed in it that we weren’t aware of the journey being coming to an end.
We reached back by about 7. These 13 hours had tired all of us and most of us had even their spare batteries down. But I fulfilled one of my most cherished wishes to visit Lonavala and had a fine day with my friends. This will be a day to remember for a long time.
Hope we have a trip sooner!!!!!!

My Final Tryst With Side Lower

My tryst with the side lower seat of the sleeper bogie of Indian Railways ended very abruptly this winter. When I was young, under the erstwhile quota system of Indian Railways, Tumsar Road, our nearest station had only two seats the side seats of 71 and 72 in 8001 Mumbai-Howrah Mail. As kids, I and my brother could travel easily in those two seats. But as we grew older, the need for more seats arose and we switched to 8033 Ahmedabad-Howrah Express which had a quota of 4 seats. And the relationship with the side seats ended.
The relationship was renewed in 2004 when I got the first chance to travel alone. This time I travelled in 2129 Pune-Howrah Azad Hind Express from Gondia to Howrah. I had the side upper 32. In 2007, I had to give entrances for my MSc and was to travel to Pune and Hyderabad. This time I travelled in a side lower each time from Nagpur to Pune, Pune to Hyderabad and Hyderabad to Nagpur (though I had an upper seat I exchanged it for a side lower). The first two seats were coincidentally S1-23 which later became a seat I always got whenever I travelled from Nagpur to Pune (Only once I got S1-15). And henceforth Side lower became my favourite seat and is the one I always give as my preference during reservation. The seat had the biggest benefit that both the passengers get equal share of the window and the sharing was with only one and not a host of passengers.
But the tragedy is that I never got the chance to sleep in my cherished seat before this winter. I had mostly elderly people, young mothers, aunties, passengers with a waiting list friend in tow who were always unable to sleep on the side upper and I had to exchange. The only time I ever got a chance was last winter while travelling from Pune to Nagpur but it was ruined by a snoring competition going around near my seat and I had to travel the whole night sleepless. Another time I was happy to find a young man as my co-passenger. He also informed me that he was going to see his infant girl. But this so much healthy looking man had arthritis and I had to sleep again upstairs!!!
But with the introduction of the new 81 seats bogie with side middles the side lower has lost its charm. I slept in both the side middle and the new contracted side lower and have finally decided to do away with the seat and go for the regular lower. Let’s hope Lalu doesn’t do anything funny again and I can enjoy my journeys in the trains.
Bye bye!!! Side Lower !!!