Purandar fort

There was a gap after Raigad ... I didnt venture out across to other forts in the region as the winter has set in in these parts of the country and the land changed its hue from various shades of green to lighter shades of brown. It looks as though the land has lost its lustre! But I couldn't sit tight for long. One of my friends wanted to visit Uttarakshetra (Narayangaon Balaji temple) and I found that Purandar and Vajragad were nearby and coaxed him into coompanying me to those forts after the darshan of Balaji. Armed with the information collected from the internet I assumed that there was a well laid road to the top that would allow us to take our bikes to the base of the fort. About 20 kms from the temple towards Saswad we reach a place called Narayanpur which houses the famous Datta temple and a little later up on the same road you get a fork on the road that is adorned by color hoarding that indicates that you have to take a diversion towards Purandar (6 kms to the inside). Following that we were to the base of the hill in no time only to find that the road leading to the top was not a well laid road as was written but rather a path of stones. Yet we dared our bikes on that stone laden path all the way upto the base. The ride to the top was one of my most anxious rides as I was very tense through out the 3 km ride as there was nothing that would stop me from falling to my doom into the abyss below had my bike given away! When it was just nearing the top, the road seemed to be blown away in a land slide during the monsoon. Confronted with the option of either parking the bikes there or walking them across the land slide we decided to walk them. About 500 metres after that we were at the base standing opposite the statue of "Quilledaar" Veer Baji Muraar Deshpande. Parking our bikes at the military canteen and then refuelling ourselves with tea we started off towards the top of the fort. It was an easy climb to the top and the journey also had one of the most common questions that people ask on treks: "Why did Shivaji build these forts so high up?". First up Shivaji didnt build many of the forts - they were there since Satavahana period - He just refortified them and then used them effectively against the Mughals. He did build a lot new ones too. Second thing is that at such height you can have a view of about hundreds of miles around which lets you see any enemy force approaching. The fortification was intact and it was a good walk around the fort. There are steps leading to the fort but we took the wrong detour at the canteen only to find ourselves exerting harder to climb it up. While coming down we were able to locate the correct path. The steps start from south-east of the Purandareshwar temple which faces east. After coming down the hill and our way back to Pune we had a darshan at the Datta temple and the adjoining Narayaneshwar temple. I have the snaps ready but yet to digitize them.

What are parallel universes?

I answered this question on Yahoo! Answers and my reply was chosen as the best answer.

A parallel universe is one where everything is the same - we still live on earth, you and me exist and everything else and it is governed by the same laws of physics. The difference come in the path taken by your life basing on a particualr decision that you took.For example - At somepoint in my life I had to make a choice e.g. either pursue engineering or business management. I chose engineering in this Universe and currently I am content with being a software engineer. I took one road of the fork and I am in this universe. In a parallel universe I took the BusinessManagement road of the fork and probably I own a big business in a parallel universe. My assumption is every time you have to make a choice and you choose one in this universe there will always be a story of you running in parallel in the other universes (The number of universes will be equal to the number of choices you have in hand)

Here was the reason why the asker chose it as the best:

This answer is a deeply reflected one and it makes one think about the myriad dimensional universes that oprate in our lives .I will have to think about the isses raised in here. Meanwhile many thanks for your help.

Riots in Pune

The otherwise peaceful city of Pune erupted in Pune over the alleged desecration of a statue of BR Ambedkar ... Some parts of the city had curfew while some parts were partially hit. We had this by-the-hour updates by our operations manager who finally advised all of us in the office to leave home. I was oblivious to all this and was calmly pumping away in the gym (Yes, I am on fast track to fitness through diet and exercise - aim is to reduce my tummy and yet keep the same muscle mass - will tell you all how I did it once I succeed) when all this e-mail conversation took place. From the gym I went to the conference room to attend a meeting where I was surprised to find just two guys ... By the time the meeting was over we three were the only ones left in the office. Once outside the conf room the lights were out through out the building/ They even shut down the air conditioning system. I have never seen the office so deserted and it was just 8.30 PM!! Finally I left the building by about 8.45 PM only to find that I was one among the last software engineers to leave the Hinjewadi IT park - there wasn't another soul on the roads ... Who benefits from the riots? Neither you nor me - Perhaps the rioters themselves -
I heard they are paid for the rioting - But I know one thing for certain: There is one group that always profits whenever there is even a minor riot in Pune ... Thinking about Politicians? No not at all - I am talking about the the rude, idiotic, over-charging - autowallahs ... "Sir dange shuru ho gaye Sir - Bahut risk hogaa - 200 se kam mein nahi jaa sakte". Does fleecing me of a couple of hundred bucks avert the risk of riots? Especially when I am asking him for a location that wasn't affected by riots?

Yahoo! answers

These days I have a new pastime - answering the questions on answers.com - a service by Yahoo! It is cool, It is sauve, It even has features that you wish your company's discussion forum had ... I am hooked!

The New Thumsup Ad

"Muppai yellu gaa Thums up thaaguthunna - Kondarantaaru daanini taagadam thagginchaalani,
Inkondarantaaru ee vayasu lo naaku vishraanthi kaavalani! Motor cycle pi Araku asale vella koodadhani!! Nijaaniki Thumsup thaaginappudu naaku chaala aanandam kaluguthundhi - jorugaa parigethadam lo kalige anandam - Thumsup taagithe yekkuva kaalam jeevisthaano ledho naaku teliyadhu kaani okati maatram telusu - Aanandam tho aayusshu - Peruguthundani!"


Who ever has come up with this concept should be given an award for this year. Without the presence of the star (My beloved Chiru) the ad campaign still managed to capture my. Hats-Off of to the director. Also the ad focuses on the negative campaign against Colas. I don't mind the occassional glass of Cola even if it does contain a trace of pesticides - what the heck? Even vegetables today have alraming proportions of DDT!

Captain Jack Sparrow

Could you believe that I waited 4 months before I was able to get this snap? Sparrows used to frequent the balcony in my brother's home and every time I used to take the camera out to shoot one they used to fly off - It was on a very tired saturday evening (I had just come back from Sinhagad) that I was finally managed to shoot without disturbing its peace.

Konark bird park

I had the chance of seeing an Ostrich in flesh and blood during my Pune Darshan trip at the Konark bird sanctuary off Paud road. Photography is strictly prohibited here and yet I did manage to steal a couple of snaps of these rare birds like Ostrich, Emu and Cassowary.

Vetaal Tekdi

Vetaal Tekdi - the hill of the phantom. The place which I frequent when I need to burn of those excessive calories over the weekend. This snap was shot when the hill was at its peak in terms of greenish grandeur. It is brown now. Fall has set in. The paths have become dry and I am not afraid os slipping in the mud anymore. Whether green or brown it is still my "affordable" treadmill!

Pataleshwar caves

In the heart of Pune city amid the hustle and bustle of the JungliMaharaj road there lies this patch of land that is completely serene and indifferent to the surrounding noise as though it has built a "force field" around itself - Pataleshwar caves. These weredug up during excavation carried out in the area and hence the name. The caves house a temple of Lord Shiva with a magnificient Nandi opposite to the entrance. I went there on a rainy saturday morning which renders a mystic greenish hue to these photographs.

Mahabaleshwar - Table point

Need I say more about the beauty of this place? It was simply captivating ...
For a complete set of photographs drop by my yahoo album

Photographs digitized

Photographs digitised
Post Raigad, I took the time out to scan each of those good snaps and update my Yahoo album.

Visit to Fort Raigad

This was my best snap among the lot I shot at Raigad - The Ganga Sagar which was supposed to contain water from all the rivers across India which were brought specifically for the coronation of Chattrapathi Shivaji. This was the view of Ganga Sagar tank (taalaab) from Shivaji's palace.

Vist to fort Raigad

I went to Raigad with my brother's family to experience the ropeway. It was the first time that I felt I totally lost it. The journey was tedious - it was a good 160 kms from Pune - the warandhe ghat road didn't seem to end and the children were getting uneasy with all the constant bumping they were getting - courtesy of the bad road, I was getting worried about going back because it was already mid-day and we still didnt even have signs of having reached anywhere near Raigad! Finally we did manage to reach it and have lunch only to find out that the guys don't start the ropeway unless both the cubicles are filled to capacity (8 people in all). I lost precious sunlight (I was armed with my usual Canon locked and loaded along with an old Zenith also loaded for the occassion) because the guy didnt start the contraption until about 3.45 PM! The rope way ride was one hell of a ride! I was constantly thinking that the rope would crack and I would be hurled into the abyss below. I clenched my fists in anxiety and was looking only at eye-level and avoided looking into the valley. The most anxious moment came when the cube was nearing the top most point and it started emitting creaky noises and the cube was shaking - God! I was at a height of about 1400 ft. Finally we descended and got ourself a guide and that guy knew his craft - Just went about telling the history of the place and took us around the fort. The fort was great but it was getting darker and since both me and my brother had never been this far out on our car had our own apprehensions. So we came down via the same ropeway but decided to take another route back home via Paud road. This road was far better but was looking very very desolate - there was not another soul for miles together ... The last straw came when a buffalo jumped onto the road from nowhere and hit our car a little below the right fender rendering the car door unopenable!

The snaps came out nice ... But the CD which I bought at the fort about Raigad turned out to be a fake (They charged me a 100 bucks for that!)