This weekend I, along with members of gathee-bhetee a newly formed group of marathi people in bangalore, went for a trek at shivganga. Shivganga is located on National highway 4, at around 49 Kms from bangalore towards pune. From distance, the hill looks like a shiv-pind, hence the name shivganga. The height of the trek was around 1300 meters above sea level.
We started from bangalore after 7.30 a.m. and reached kamat hotel on N.H.4 at around 9.00 a.m., the time for breakfast. After little breakfast we geared ahead for the trek. The trek started with a visit to shivtemple located at the bottom of the hill. Climbing was fun. Uphill started with a smaller slope and gradualy becoming steeper and steeper. Around 60-70% of the trek height can be climbed easily, as the slope isn't too much. After that it becomes steep. The last 25-30% is almost vertical. Small steps carved on the rocks made climbing quite easier. On the way up we had few breaks, few drinks (lime juice and salted lassi only.), and lot of fun generated by pulling somebody's leg.
After we had climbed up, we settled for lunch. Especially after running through south indian food for almost two years, a maharashtrian food is always delicious. And those sandwiches were really mouthwatering. The afternoon was made memorable by singing of yogesh, and poems of bhakti, jokes of ashwini, shayari, babbar sher's and others.
It started raining at the time of climbing down. Rocks became slippery, making it difficult, and the lightning was shooting jets of current through the railings if we tried to grab it for support. Perhaps the most difficult part in the trek was my role of convincing grandma for a pocket money.
Being introvert, puts a limitation on me. Neither I can sing, nor I can remember jokes, shayari, nor I can compose a poem. Searching for a talent in myself seems to be difficult task usually on such ocassions. And even if I find one, then demonstrating is another problem. That's one reason, I rarely manage to keep myself engaged in a group for a long time, but this group really made me feel friendly on the first occasion itself. Nor I felt as unconfortable as I had been to the few previous groups I had been with. Usually in a group, I had seen many subgroups. And they seem to be preoccupied with there own friends, so you feel even more lonely.
Three cheers for that trek. And three cheers for marathi group gathee-bhetee for organising it.

He, along with his friends, was wandering in national forest. He was enjoying every moment. He heard a distinct sound. It was audible, but not clear. A long silence followed, then he heard it again for second time. From the intensity of the sound, it was evident that whoever making that sound was in fact coming closer. He heard it again, and it was clear to him that he heard a roar. For some time he didn't believe that it was a roar. But it was becoming clearer and clearer. From distance a shadow emerged and began regaining it's shape, a figure of lion started coming into focus. It seemed, lion was outraged by something, probably he hasn't eaten anything. Then his and lions eyes locked. A long silence followed. Then suddenly lion started running towards him. He was shocked. He didn't know what would happen and what he should do. For the first time, he was at the loss of thinking any solution. It was happening so fast. He was merrily roaming, and suddenly he found himself here in front of a big strong lion, ready to pounce on him. Suddenly everything went black. He tightly closed his eyes, and waited patiently. There was nothing he could do. He was scared. He wanted to run, but he knew how far he could run. There was no point in running. He slowly opened his eyes. His friends were there stunned and shocked. The lion was still standing few feet's from them. Then suddenly lion disappeared, as it had come. They all were still shocked to move. One of them gathered courage, and went ahead towards the spot where lion was standing. Beyond bushes he saw a big trench, which lion could not cross. The trench was prepared by the forest officials to prevent people from roaming into the deeper and denser forests and also from wild animals to enter into the civilised area. They all laughed in order to shake off the fear. The return journey was smooth and they all were excited to tell other people the incident they had just witnessed.

Finally after many days, I got my bike serviced. It looks great after servicing, especially as it had undergone a thorough wash. The drive has become smooth, the gears are moving nicely, pickup has improved, engine has reduced vibrations at greater speeds and more importantly, shock-ups are now absorbing shocks more efficiently (as they were quite jammed because of my negligence). Feels like going out for a long ride, as rains over past couple of days have created a perfect and cooler weather.

He was born in poor family. His father used to scratch out a living, from hardscrabble farming. It was barely enough to feed all those mouths in the family. But his father were obstinate, that he becomes well-educated. He started his study in government schools. Though having shaky starts, he did well in his first year exams. Everybody from the surrounding came and congratulated him.
This instilled a passion to work hard, study hard, conversely earn more respect for family. Scholarships followed, and they took care of his educational expenses. He became engineer from a reputed college. He had a couple of jobs in his pocket. At this time he wasn't worried about the pay, those companies were offering. He considered the work they were offering. His first couple of years were fine. The money company was pouring on him was enough evidence about his work. His family was happy and proud of there son. He really was shining like a star.
The grid for money slowly crept in, and then kept on increasing. The only way to quench his thirst was to work harder and harder. He started coming late, and always he was in hurry. Many times, he seemed to be preoccupied with his work.
One day, as usual, he was coming late in night. Even on the way back to home, he was thinking about tomorrows meeting. The material, he was going to present tomorrow. He can visualize himself, standing in front of his colleagues, and a major customer giving an important presentation. If he would be able to convince them tomorrow, He would bag a contract worth millions of dollars. He was driving fast. He was thinking, why it was taking so much time to reach home. He had a big night ahead.
preoccupied with thoughts, he didn't see the indica standing on the roadside ahead, and rammed straight. The impact was enormous. He suffered severe brain injuries, and lies in coma, and may not come back to life again. All his dreams were shattered within minutes. His father thought, perhaps, he would not have allowed him to go too far. Perhaps, he would not have allowed to study ahead. Perhaps, he would not have allowed to work late in night, and perhaps...

Just yesterday, my roommate's friend had an terrible accident. The accident was really bad. He is now in comma, and doc says there's lil chance of his survival. After hearing new, though he is not in any way related to me, I really felt bad. Don't know whether everybody feels like that. The mere idea of his accident made me feel gloomy. I think, it;s because we are not used to seeing illness or our own fear of injury. The fact that something similar might happen to us, as we also undergo almost same routine, strengthens that belief. I sincerely offer prayers to him. May god bless him.