Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Raindrops keep falling...
Yeah ! monsoon's coming to Pune. It is raining heavily right now as I write this blog. Wonder how the excursion to Kamshet in mid-june is going to turn out.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Weekend in Harnai
This was a trip planned almost a month ago. Me and Shraddha decided to go Harnai, her native place. Her grandma has a house and mango plantations there.
Day 1
I left office early on Friday afternoon and we were all set on the road by 4:00 pm. We decided to go via Mulshi. We started from Chandni chowk and took the road to Pirangut.The small pirangut ghat offers a magnificent view of the plains down below. Fields are still green owing to the abundance of water in this area. We were in good speed until we came across a 'marriage procession' bang in the square in Paud village. Then were just sitting there sipping coffee from our netezza coffee flask and listening to music. Wasted a good 15 minutes till we came out crawling in first gear through the village. The bridegroom was sitting on a horse with two kids, one in the front and one behind him, enjoying the 4'o clock summer sun. God help him. We saw three more places hosting marriages after that. Thankfully, no procession and no road blocks. We were off to Mulshi.
The road to Mulshi is quite good now and we were doing 80's till we reached the end of Mulshi.
The Mulshi backwaters are quite depleted now. Lot of rain is needed to fill them up. The road from Mulshi to Tamhini has almost no traffic but is quite bumpy so you can't go really fast. I realised this after a couple of world rally championship style jumps. We were almost in flight on the second one and landed real hard. Realising that I was driving a 2003 unmodified tata indica and not a wrc peugoet 206, I slowed down after that incident and was doing 50's till we were on good plain tarmac again. The road is really nice once the descent starts. It is a new road and is nicely painted on both the sides. You can really get up to speed here. One has to be careful since the tires can get overworked on the hairpin bends. A ocassional pump on the brakes in third gear can get you through these turns in 40's. We were down Tamhini and on the way to 'kolad'. Not planning the route correctly can result in a longer trip. There is a road from a village called 'Vile' that saves a good deal of distance (about 20kms). Instead we travelled towards Mumbai and merged on NH17 at kolad, wasting about half an hour in the process.
The sun had almost gone down by now. I was cruising at a comfortable 100 on NH17 now. It is one of the best roads I have seen. It was dark after sometime. Driving can be a pain on a highway with no dividers. High beams from trucks in the opposite lane can be blinding. There is a good trick to keep going in these conditions. You keep an eye on the left hand side of the road (ideally the left side painted strip), and ocassionally look at the vehicle in the opposite direction. The former helps you go in a straight line and make directional corrections and the latter keeps you from going too near the vehicle. And you don't get to experience the black out. My elder bro, Mahesh taught me this trick. It works like a charm.
We were in outskirts of Mahad in almost an hour and a half. It is called 'Vithal Kamat'. I needed a break, and so did the car. We decided to stop at 'Vithal Kamat' on NH17. It is a popular place amongst regular travellers on NH17. I have heard it is owned by the same guy who owns this snazzy 7 star place called 'Orchid' in Mumbai. We had misal and nice hot kiri vada (small medu vadas, with palak mixed in the batter).
After the stop we headed on NH17 and took a right towards Dapoli and reached Dapoli via Khed. There is a very nice eatery just opp. Khed ST stand. It is called the 'Pethe Hotel'. They serve some of the best snacks I have ever had. The special recos are for thalipith, uppit, idli and kanda bhaji. Our gang literally emptied this place last time, when we were on a trip to Karde. Everyone was eating like there is no tomorrow :-)
After crossing the town of Dapoli, we headed towards Harnai. It was almost 10:00 pm till we reached Harnai. It is a small village with traditional wooden construction. Shraddha's house is in the 'Brahman Aali', a typical phenomemon in all konkan villages. Her folks were waiting for us to arrive. We had a nice dinner and ate a good deal of home grown 'alphonso' mangoes. It was time to sleep after the long and tiring drive.
Day 2
Got up rather late today. Had a sumptous breakfast of 'tandul' bhakri (pan bread made of rice flour) and home made butter and coconut chatni. It was time to explore the house. It is a nice 50+ year old, two-storeyed structure with a courtyard in the front and a small garden in the back. There are some tall mango and coconut trees and offers a nice shade. The furniture is mostly teak wood ! Now teak wasn't a problem 50 years ago. Most of the other houses I saw in the village had the same treatment. I especially liked this big reclining chair where you can sit and read a book. Feels relaxing! You don't realise how easily you can doze off.
After breakfast it was time to take a stroll in the village. We first visited the 'Eknath mandir' in the same lane and then moved ahead. The temple hosts a festival called Eknath utsav every year for 4 days. A large population in and around Harnai gathers on this ocassion.
After the temple, we decided to go see a mango plantation that Shraddha's folks owned. There is a big hill called the 'Khem' (in Marathi, after a local deity called 'Khemaraaj'). This plantation was on footsteps of the khem. There were mango trees all over the compound. Some as old as 60 years. Some newly planted by these folks. It was a good 3-4 km walk in the sun before we returned back by lunch time. Had a good deal of 'aamras' for lunch and dozed off in that chair, I was talking about.
Evening was the time to take the car out and visit local places around Harnai. We visited the 'Kadya varcha' Ganpati near Anjarle. It is a about 9 kms from Harnai and situated on the top of a hill. It is a old temple, renovated recently. The best thing about this temple is that they let you go to the roof (called the 'kalas'.) of the main structure. This offers a magnificent view of the surrounding hills on one side and the sea on the other. After this we went to another temple called 'kelshi chi devi'. This was in the outskirts of the village 'Kelshi'. The road from Harnai to Kelshi is along the coastline and one can see the beach almost all the time. This makes an evening drive all the more enjoyable, due to the cool sea breeze. The Kelshi temple is more than 100 years old. It has been restored and rebuilt. The temple surrounding are pleasantly clean. There is a banyan tree in the courtyard. It had just started bearing leaves. The light green colored leaves are a delight to the eyes. We sat there silently for some time. It was a nice soothing experience.
Dinner consisted of the local konkani delicacy called 'Sandana' (Saan-the-na). It is a traditional konkani dish made of jackfruit kernel pulp and coarse rice flour. The ingredients are mixed into a batter like consistency and then steamed till it is fluffy enough like a cake.
Day 3
Today was time for a trip to the 'Khem'. This hill, I would guess is about 3 times taller than 'Parvati'. It takes about 15-20 minutes to go to the top. There is a dam behind the hill and a lot of mango plantations in the surroundings from the nearby villages. The top of the hill offers a breathtaking view of the whole area. The Harnai port, the light house, the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea, the water locked fort, the paddy plantations, everything looks nice. We were down the hill by lunch time. In the evening we went to the karde beach. It was Sunday evening and the beach was crowded as it always on the weekends. While coming back we stopped for 'misal pav' at this famous place called 'ambet cha pul'. I didn't like the misal too much. People somehow seem to like it very much. Probably sells more due to lack of options. After the snack, we went to Harnai Port's lighthouse. Too bad, we were not able to catch the sunset. The light house is located on a tiny hill in the outskirts of the village. Again magnificent view from the top.
Dinner today was made from the local catch, prawns masala and pompfret fry ! Had a good deal of that stuff... Though the catch was fresh the preparation could have been a much better.
Day 4
So there it was ! End of vacation. We were all packed and set to return back to Pune. Left the place at 6:30 in the morning and reached home by 11:30. Could have done a better timing, but we were hit by pre-monsoon rain in the Harnai-Dapoli patch and a very lazy petrol station attendant. He was hoping that I would go further on with an almost empty tank of fuel, not bothering him to wake up from his morning sleep. Tough luck !
So that was the weekend trip to Harnai. I plan to go again sometime in Diwali, when the fish is good and the weather is cooler ! Wish I could do this trip on a bike :-)
Day 1
I left office early on Friday afternoon and we were all set on the road by 4:00 pm. We decided to go via Mulshi. We started from Chandni chowk and took the road to Pirangut.The small pirangut ghat offers a magnificent view of the plains down below. Fields are still green owing to the abundance of water in this area. We were in good speed until we came across a 'marriage procession' bang in the square in Paud village. Then were just sitting there sipping coffee from our netezza coffee flask and listening to music. Wasted a good 15 minutes till we came out crawling in first gear through the village. The bridegroom was sitting on a horse with two kids, one in the front and one behind him, enjoying the 4'o clock summer sun. God help him. We saw three more places hosting marriages after that. Thankfully, no procession and no road blocks. We were off to Mulshi.
The road to Mulshi is quite good now and we were doing 80's till we reached the end of Mulshi.
The Mulshi backwaters are quite depleted now. Lot of rain is needed to fill them up. The road from Mulshi to Tamhini has almost no traffic but is quite bumpy so you can't go really fast. I realised this after a couple of world rally championship style jumps. We were almost in flight on the second one and landed real hard. Realising that I was driving a 2003 unmodified tata indica and not a wrc peugoet 206, I slowed down after that incident and was doing 50's till we were on good plain tarmac again. The road is really nice once the descent starts. It is a new road and is nicely painted on both the sides. You can really get up to speed here. One has to be careful since the tires can get overworked on the hairpin bends. A ocassional pump on the brakes in third gear can get you through these turns in 40's. We were down Tamhini and on the way to 'kolad'. Not planning the route correctly can result in a longer trip. There is a road from a village called 'Vile' that saves a good deal of distance (about 20kms). Instead we travelled towards Mumbai and merged on NH17 at kolad, wasting about half an hour in the process.
The sun had almost gone down by now. I was cruising at a comfortable 100 on NH17 now. It is one of the best roads I have seen. It was dark after sometime. Driving can be a pain on a highway with no dividers. High beams from trucks in the opposite lane can be blinding. There is a good trick to keep going in these conditions. You keep an eye on the left hand side of the road (ideally the left side painted strip), and ocassionally look at the vehicle in the opposite direction. The former helps you go in a straight line and make directional corrections and the latter keeps you from going too near the vehicle. And you don't get to experience the black out. My elder bro, Mahesh taught me this trick. It works like a charm.
We were in outskirts of Mahad in almost an hour and a half. It is called 'Vithal Kamat'. I needed a break, and so did the car. We decided to stop at 'Vithal Kamat' on NH17. It is a popular place amongst regular travellers on NH17. I have heard it is owned by the same guy who owns this snazzy 7 star place called 'Orchid' in Mumbai. We had misal and nice hot kiri vada (small medu vadas, with palak mixed in the batter).
After the stop we headed on NH17 and took a right towards Dapoli and reached Dapoli via Khed. There is a very nice eatery just opp. Khed ST stand. It is called the 'Pethe Hotel'. They serve some of the best snacks I have ever had. The special recos are for thalipith, uppit, idli and kanda bhaji. Our gang literally emptied this place last time, when we were on a trip to Karde. Everyone was eating like there is no tomorrow :-)
After crossing the town of Dapoli, we headed towards Harnai. It was almost 10:00 pm till we reached Harnai. It is a small village with traditional wooden construction. Shraddha's house is in the 'Brahman Aali', a typical phenomemon in all konkan villages. Her folks were waiting for us to arrive. We had a nice dinner and ate a good deal of home grown 'alphonso' mangoes. It was time to sleep after the long and tiring drive.
Day 2
Got up rather late today. Had a sumptous breakfast of 'tandul' bhakri (pan bread made of rice flour) and home made butter and coconut chatni. It was time to explore the house. It is a nice 50+ year old, two-storeyed structure with a courtyard in the front and a small garden in the back. There are some tall mango and coconut trees and offers a nice shade. The furniture is mostly teak wood ! Now teak wasn't a problem 50 years ago. Most of the other houses I saw in the village had the same treatment. I especially liked this big reclining chair where you can sit and read a book. Feels relaxing! You don't realise how easily you can doze off.
After breakfast it was time to take a stroll in the village. We first visited the 'Eknath mandir' in the same lane and then moved ahead. The temple hosts a festival called Eknath utsav every year for 4 days. A large population in and around Harnai gathers on this ocassion.
After the temple, we decided to go see a mango plantation that Shraddha's folks owned. There is a big hill called the 'Khem' (in Marathi, after a local deity called 'Khemaraaj'). This plantation was on footsteps of the khem. There were mango trees all over the compound. Some as old as 60 years. Some newly planted by these folks. It was a good 3-4 km walk in the sun before we returned back by lunch time. Had a good deal of 'aamras' for lunch and dozed off in that chair, I was talking about.
Evening was the time to take the car out and visit local places around Harnai. We visited the 'Kadya varcha' Ganpati near Anjarle. It is a about 9 kms from Harnai and situated on the top of a hill. It is a old temple, renovated recently. The best thing about this temple is that they let you go to the roof (called the 'kalas'.) of the main structure. This offers a magnificent view of the surrounding hills on one side and the sea on the other. After this we went to another temple called 'kelshi chi devi'. This was in the outskirts of the village 'Kelshi'. The road from Harnai to Kelshi is along the coastline and one can see the beach almost all the time. This makes an evening drive all the more enjoyable, due to the cool sea breeze. The Kelshi temple is more than 100 years old. It has been restored and rebuilt. The temple surrounding are pleasantly clean. There is a banyan tree in the courtyard. It had just started bearing leaves. The light green colored leaves are a delight to the eyes. We sat there silently for some time. It was a nice soothing experience.
Dinner consisted of the local konkani delicacy called 'Sandana' (Saan-the-na). It is a traditional konkani dish made of jackfruit kernel pulp and coarse rice flour. The ingredients are mixed into a batter like consistency and then steamed till it is fluffy enough like a cake.
Day 3
Today was time for a trip to the 'Khem'. This hill, I would guess is about 3 times taller than 'Parvati'. It takes about 15-20 minutes to go to the top. There is a dam behind the hill and a lot of mango plantations in the surroundings from the nearby villages. The top of the hill offers a breathtaking view of the whole area. The Harnai port, the light house, the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea, the water locked fort, the paddy plantations, everything looks nice. We were down the hill by lunch time. In the evening we went to the karde beach. It was Sunday evening and the beach was crowded as it always on the weekends. While coming back we stopped for 'misal pav' at this famous place called 'ambet cha pul'. I didn't like the misal too much. People somehow seem to like it very much. Probably sells more due to lack of options. After the snack, we went to Harnai Port's lighthouse. Too bad, we were not able to catch the sunset. The light house is located on a tiny hill in the outskirts of the village. Again magnificent view from the top.
Dinner today was made from the local catch, prawns masala and pompfret fry ! Had a good deal of that stuff... Though the catch was fresh the preparation could have been a much better.
Day 4
So there it was ! End of vacation. We were all packed and set to return back to Pune. Left the place at 6:30 in the morning and reached home by 11:30. Could have done a better timing, but we were hit by pre-monsoon rain in the Harnai-Dapoli patch and a very lazy petrol station attendant. He was hoping that I would go further on with an almost empty tank of fuel, not bothering him to wake up from his morning sleep. Tough luck !
So that was the weekend trip to Harnai. I plan to go again sometime in Diwali, when the fish is good and the weather is cooler ! Wish I could do this trip on a bike :-)
Monday, May 15, 2006
Ma'am is no more
It was a lazy saturday morning as usual. The phone rang at about 8:30. It was Anand. He told me the news. Ma'am had expired on Thursday 11th May 2006. It came as a big shock to all of us. It had been a long time since I left college and ma'am's class, but I was in regular contact with her.
After Anand's call, a stream of thoughts went by me. Just a couple of weeks back I had talked to ma'am about lunch on the weekend so that we all could meet. She wanted to meet Shraddha. She had been to my wedding reception in February and I had been to her place personally before that to give her the wedding invitation. She was so happy for me. And then it was 2 weeks back that I talked to her. Who would have thought that this would be my last conversation with her.
Both me and Shraddha were sitting there in shock, not believing what we had just heard. Ma'am was no more.
She excelled at teaching. Math and Computers being her best. Me and many others are lucky to have studied with her. She taught us the database and the operating systems course and most importantly C in second year.
Still can't believe she is no more. She was just in her early forties and had so much to see.
May her soul rest in peace.
After Anand's call, a stream of thoughts went by me. Just a couple of weeks back I had talked to ma'am about lunch on the weekend so that we all could meet. She wanted to meet Shraddha. She had been to my wedding reception in February and I had been to her place personally before that to give her the wedding invitation. She was so happy for me. And then it was 2 weeks back that I talked to her. Who would have thought that this would be my last conversation with her.
Both me and Shraddha were sitting there in shock, not believing what we had just heard. Ma'am was no more.
She excelled at teaching. Math and Computers being her best. Me and many others are lucky to have studied with her. She taught us the database and the operating systems course and most importantly C in second year.
Still can't believe she is no more. She was just in her early forties and had so much to see.
May her soul rest in peace.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
I see the light...
After a week of breaking my head of over the math to figure out how to handle positive and negative timestamps... I finally see the light. I was heading the wrong and painful way of implementing it. Today a very simple way of calculating it struck me. I am happy...
phew ! Now I can go and actually enjoy a cup of coffee.
phew ! Now I can go and actually enjoy a cup of coffee.
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