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 !!!

INAT - 2009

INAT was a special experience for me this year. Ever since my semester exams ended this November, I had been living a monotonous life for almost half a month preceding INAT. I was anxiously waiting for Himadri(BEN) Soni and Sudhanva Lalit (My friends from TIFR VSRP). They were also going to appear for the entrance and were coming from Baroda.

Well they appeared on 17th at wee hours of the morning. While Himadri had her lodgings in IUCAA guest house Takshashila, Sudhanva was kept at the Academic Staff College Hostel. They were unable to find it and I went to assist them in their search. It turned out that it was quite close to my own Hostel. After the morning tryst, we met again in front of the Chandrashekhar auditorium in front of IUCAA and had a good hour of chat succeeded by another one at the Old Canteen and Ellis garden.

After that we went hiking the hill behind my hostel and while trying to come down from the other side, we landed up in a No Man’s Land. After quite a good deliberation, Himadri showed us the way! We ran through prickly bushes and climbed a gate later to land in the Range Hills area of Khadki. We walked around and later were joined by my friend Soumyajyoti in the M.M. restaurant. Irshaad, friend of Himadri from SINP, Kolkata, also joined us. We had a healthy dinner, a chat again and went to sleep without studying anything!

In the morning, I tried turning few pages of H. C. Verma but to no avail. At the examination centre, we were joined by other candidates about 220 or so. We had three more fellows now in our little group. Aarti(our friend from TIFR), Raj(Sudhanva’s classmate) and Swathi(Himadri’s room-mate in Takshashila). We went for the exam, I a physics student could solve only 4 out of 15 questions and solved good enough from Electronics and Mathematics. At the lunch table we were discussing about our plans to visit the Parvati Hill and a trip to Lonavala but everything was devastated as me, Sudhanva and Raj were among the (un)fortunate people to clear the entrance. We went for the interviews soon after. I was to give it that day itself while the other two were slated for the next day. The interviews were absolute nightmares. I thought the first one to be worse but it seemed fair enough in comparison with the second one.

In the evening we went and had Panipuri and Dabheli and then went in search for a booking agency to book tickets for Swathi and Himadri. While, Himadri got it Swathi couldn’t. We had to go to Swargate to book her tickets but were too tired to think about going anywhere else. We had the worst dinner in a bloody hotel called Dilip near Shivajinagar. Before that we had walked almost 7-8 Kms. We were all tired and went for having thick shakes to rejuvenate ourselves. The shakes were really thick and we had fun scooping them and then walked back to IUCAA. We had walked almost close to 10 Kms.

The next day i.e. 19th I went with Swathi in the morning to reserve tickets for her. She got one and then we went to see Shaniwarwada and Pataleshwar Caves. We came back and then the pain of separation from my friends started sinking in. Irshaad went out first and then I went with Swathi to see off to her bus. Within an hour Himadri went back and I was there again seeing off Raj who after a long chain of sequences went back to Mumbai in a four-wheeler.

By Sunday, Sudhanva would be gone too. I don’t know, if I would ever meet these wonderful friends again in my life. Well I met Himadri & Sudhanva in about 6 months or so and if God permits and my luck shines, we will have a blast again somewhere else. Well anyways somebody has said, “Duniya Gol hai!” So, let’s hope I would have the good fortune to meet them again.

Now I want to go home more than ever!!!!!!!

Mumbai Meri Jaan!!!!!!

Well the Mumbai blasts have rattled the whole world !!!!
So, has it me.
The places were the one which we used to go for evening walks when i was there in summer during my stay at TIFR. The place was a source of making new friendships as I made many a new friends. But these bloody terrorists have just spilled hatred and enimity.
I see no point in Pakistan's logic of stateless terrorists and actually support our ministers who have asked if they dropped from heaven (Hell to me!!!!!).
Pakistan has always blackmailed us that any attack can lead to nuclear war. But these repeated attacks of terrorism have already started to cause a immense disorder in the very nucleus of our country. It is high time now that we stop listening to their nonsense and do some sensible thinking and punish them hard.
It's time we rise above the much politicised Caste, Religious, Economic and any other barrier mankind can think of to create differences and fight against this as one.
We shouldn't allow communalist forces to come and destroy the sovreinity and integrity of the great country of ours!!!!!!
At last a large hurrah to The NSG's, Army, the deceased Mumbai Policemen and the people of this country.
But the politicians especially people like Raj Thackeray and V. S. Achyuthanandan should deserve a Boo -ooh.
Jai Hind!!!!!!!!
Vande Mataram!!!!!

SATTI re !!!!!

Here come Shanti swaroop . Satti to all of us. From the very first day he talked about his pet satellite, “STUDSAT”. He had brought a big book (We never read it) giving details of his project. But it was his own orbits around celestial bodies (girls to us) which gained his nick-name. He was a strict vegetarian who at a time had eaten lots of beef, smoked cigarettes (Marlboro re!!!) in kilos and drank alcohol in gallons. But was now a tamed version of his old wild self.

He had this uncanny ability of talking to each and every girl in under the sky. When we used think about ways to talk to a girl, it was already old meat for him. Almost all the TIFR was in his purview. He knew people (girls) whose existence were also a surprise for others.

He had a steady girlfriend back in Hyderabad whom he used to call from our phones (missed call tha re!! call lag gaya re!!!). He used to call his she-friends to come for a chat on the internet. He wanted to buy some overpriced car which his father was not approving. He will talk in a manner that nothing was amiss from him. He was a ‘been there, done that’ kind of a fellow. We thought otherwise though. Never went with us anywhere (headache hai re!!!). His headaches had cures in having dinner with girls.

Satti was a great cricketer and used to be fast bowler and his injuries turned him into a world class off-spinner. But now he has given up cricket for his career. A good batsmen though. I haven’t seen anybody hitting so many runs in Cricket-07. He could talk on anything and generally participated in night-debates with me and the mallus.

He downloaded so many movies for us and printed so many books from TIFR which we couldn’t count in numbers (count in kilos!). He was supposed to go to Glasgow for his paper presentation and having a birthday in july helped us in milking 1000 rupees from him (bahut papad belne pade!!!).

I wish success to satti !!!!

Here is a link to satti’s birthday celebration:

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=sv0F2GZit6Q&feature=user

Roaming Around

The Elephanta trip was organized as we were bored of the monotony of the TIFR routine life. One fine Sunday morning we (me, barrel, sujan, janu, ashim, dinesh (Madurai), harsh & harsh, pintu (IIT Bombay) & tanuj (IIT Bombay)) left from the Gateway of India towards Elephanta. The sea ride on the ferry was one nice experience. It was a first for me. So, it was very much special in my life. I have crossed the river Ganges before but a sea is a sea and the beauty of this part of the sea was just awesome. It was surrounded by hills on one side and Mumbai on the other two.
The island has the elephanta caves which are famous for their architecture about which further details can be obtained from the following website:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephanta_Caves
The caves consisted of massive structures of shiva dating back to ninth century. Apart from that there was a hill called the cannon hill which had Navy cannons on it, though we saw only one. (Pintu was the smart aleck, he saw the others. Here Ashim didn’t wish to go up and tried hard to discourage us but later on followed the suit himself and hope enjoyed as well. The way back to Mumbai was great too but almost all of us slept like logs in the return journey.
The trip was a respite from the daily routine as we fell into the same routine Monday onwards. The next Wednesday in the night me, Sujan and Arun went for walk through Colaba in the pretext of having icecream. We saw Naturals on our way (Sujan’s favourite). We walked past it as we were to come back in a little while. But, as soon we reached the Strand market, Sujan challenged our fitness and jab mardangi!! ko koi challenge kare to!! We walked straight upto Gateway and came back. By that time well Naturals was closed and we had to settle for two ice-bars from another store. Well it earmarked the beginning of walks through Mumbai for us. I personally walked from hostel to Nariman point, CST to Gateway, Gateway to hostel (Quite a few times), walked through Dadar (Shivaji park & Sidddhivinayak), Churchgate to Gateway & of course Parel (went all the way wrong)………..
On another Sunday, we went to Juhu beach. Me, Sooraj, Arun and Dinesh went to dadar first and Harsh ½, Pintu and Akshay went directly to Juhu. It was for the first time, I boarded the fabled Mumbai local trains. We went from CST to Dadar in almost an empty train but a big crowd was waiting for us in Dadar and we had a little tough time getting down. We roamed around Dadar for a chemistry book (which we found at last). But in the meantime I bought two Kurtas (which I bet my mother won’t approve of!!!). We roamed around the electrical market searching for an ISI marked 1000 watt drinking water heating rod (Sooraj bhai !!!!!), but ended up with a ISI marked Prestige Water heating kettle (which came with a 15 A plug and we had only 5 A. This resulted in another trip to Dadar).
We boarded a Western local for Santacruz and experienced what crowd is !!!!!!. There was enough place only to put my feet. Someone told me that I was lucky to do so as it was Sunday. Otherwise I would be standing on my toes. I was worried about my getting down at Santacruz. But it was quite simple. We were thrown out of the compartment. While others resumed walking, we gasped for breath. First time in Mumbai, I saw a queue waiting for a bus. We jumped the queue and were in the bus to Juhu beach. The beach was bigger than Girgaun and this time bathed. The sand of Juhu beach is still in my Bermuda pockets. Harsh ½ and yours truly bathed like anything. We were turned quite a few times by the waves. I ventured quite a distance even though I don’t know swimming.
After that we had the taste of fabled Bhelpuri, Panipuri and Pav – Bhaji. They were overpriced but were not much greater than what I ate in Nagpur or Pune. After that on Akshay and Pintu’s insistence we went to ISCON temple. The walk was breezy and hot as we had the Mallu atheists with us who just debated on the concept of god and religion. Two were pucca dharmiks whereas Harsh ½ , Dinesh and I were to suffer. We went inside the temple while the mallus waited outside. Pintu had a jig inside. I didn’t like the place as such. But now came the trouble, none of the taxis or autos were ready to take us to Santacruz (Ulta padta hai, kaun 9 baje wahan se aayega!) and Ville Parle (rasta toota hai!, actually 100m leading to the station was broken). Four were lucky to get a taxi and we walked to Ville Parle without even knowing the route. Anybody you ask will say it will take 15 minutes. Well our 15 minutes ended in 35-45 minutes and at last we boarded a train to Churchgate. We ate just outside the station and came back tired.
This was our last trip to any tourist destination in Mumbai. Rests were only walks…
As promised my next will be on Satti………

FIRST WEEK IN TIFR

The next day, Monday the 19^th, we were introduced into the room AG-66 where we were going to have the introductory lectures of each and every department in TIFR. They were all one or one and a half hour lectures and most of the time the people outside that specified department were less interested which showed up extremely on the day of Biological Sciences lecture. Most were trying to evade it but were put there by Mandar Sir. But among these uninterested fellows was Janu Verma (Delhi University) who attended all lectures with utmost attention. He sometimes will ask for “THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATION” for an experiment or “EXPERIMENTAL JUSTIFICATION” for a theory (even in biology).

But among these lectures were good lectures by Dr. Sudip Bhattacharya on X-ray Astronomy and Shiraj Minawala on “Introduction to String Theory”. Now here was a fellow without a ppt presentation and a topic which is quite difficult to understand but his energy and demonstration just kept me and the others through the seminar. Apart from this I was studying detectors and radiation for my project.

The time in TIFR was flowing like anything. We all VSRP guys had formed a good cammaderie and were seen together at the canteen, lobby and at the Sea Shore. At about 6:30 we will all reach the sea shore and stay there for about an hour and talk about almost everything. In these talks there were also the physics duels between Sooraj and Arnab. We used to enjoy these as nobody will leave his stance on that particular topic. Sometimes Ashim (BITS, Pilani) or Sujan (IIT Kanpur) will join and make it more enjoyable.

One more thing that we were enjoying was the internet. Everybody had computer at his disposal and we were enjoying ORKUT, GMAIL, YOUTUBE… It was like a project in the holiday mood. On Sunday, 25^th we all went to Elephanta which and more will be in the next post.

Here I will like to make a few references of Shanti Swaroop who was nicknamed SATTI because of his STUDSAT and of he being a satellite revolving around the girls. When we thought about starting a talk, he would have crossed the barrier and talked with almost the whole group. But he was a in a habit of spinning yarns and will do that about almost everything. We will get into it a later post…..