The Start

The Best Job In The World!!!!!

2009-02-23T13:20:00.006+05:30

If you have your resume posted at any of the job portals you may be getting mails with the same subject line as the title of this post. And in most of the cases the jobs will be of kind no body dreams of (but still many are manning those jobs). However this seems to be different than many such dreams being aired on the whole spectrum of television bandwidth in form of reality shows.

If the title grabbed your attention please read on for the description of roles and responsibilities:

• Need to collect daily mail from the mailbox
• Need to clean the pool
• Feed the fish.
• Caretaker in general

Does not seem to be your dream job does it? However if it was told that you will be the caretaker of islands of “The” Great Barrier Reef, does it become your dream job?

And get this,
Contract period – 6 Months (of vacation and frolic)
Paycheck – 100 Gs USD (ka ching).
Now this will be anyone’s dream job. It is mine I tell you. And remuneration does not form any part of the dream (though putting in a lil’ dough for your efforts doesn’t hurt anyone :) ).

Here you will get all the details about "The Best Job in the World"

But sorry you have missed the last bus (or the ferry) to the island because this post is a day too late and the last day to apply was Sunday 22nd Feb. Don’t you worry I missed it too :( . But whoever is getting that job got to have the most envious job in the world. After all, even the million churning corporate honchos (no longer billion churning because of the credit crunch and recession) have to worry about meeting the deadlines, improving that sagging bottom lines. All you have to do here is explore the bottom of the ocean bed and a little care for those marvelous corals and diverse set of species that call the reef their home.

Your day may be hectic some times, hopping one from one island to the other, of the 900 islands. But I don't hear anyone complaining about that. You may end up the day totally exhausted and crash into bed because of all that swimming, snorkeling and diving. But I’d prefer 6 tiring months of such job to…… anything else I could do in those 6 months. So I have a new addition to my list of “Things to do before I retire” (After retiring I will do those things all over again but without any time bounds).

Everyone has his or her own idea of the best job or the dream job. This one fits the bill for me; exploring one of the true wonders of the nature, shooting breathtaking photographs (that’s another dream of mine, to take such a snap. I am still fighting with my cam), and to learn diving in deep ocean (not really an activity to learn at job but will appreciate the chance if I ever get it).

So anyone who by mistake drops in here and reads till the end, is here by tagged to write about his/her own dream job.

Currently listening to -- "O Saya"

Enough is Enough!!!!!

2008-11-29T12:48:00.007+05:30

By Rahul Gupta

We have had enough
We have enough of everything,
enough of innocent people being killed,
enough of shedding tears of blood,
we cant take no more,
all this bloodshed and gore.
Enough of sons dying in their fathers laps,
enough of innocent lives falling in the death traps
enough of brain washed mujahiddins,
enough of cold blooded fidayeens,
enough of communal hatred and distrust,
its hightime we do something about it now,
its time we the ppl figure out how….
we have to stand up against all odds
…..and be our own gods!!

Un Grand Projet!

2008-03-24T14:28:00.014+05:30

Somewhere I had read that if you want to make god laugh, just tell him your plans. Well I will say why just god, if I wanted someone to laugh (may be not too loudly, just mildly) then I will tell her/him my plans. Of course some of my friends are not given to the art of subtleness and will tell me in no uncertain terms so as to what they think of my plans. So I came up with my own one liner:
"Woh plan hi kya jo fail naa ho.©"
(A plan is not a plan unless it is doomed to fail, or something of that sorts). Do not mistake this to be a plagiarised version of some other one liner. This "one" line is an outcome of wisdom gained from 1123 failed plans of mine (not including the wild and audacious fantasies in the count here :)). If given a chance (and a cost code for booking time by my PM) I can write a good book (bestseller of 2008-09 may be) on how to plan well. (Strictly going by the definition mentioned above). The name of book can be "Planning for Bummies" ("Planning for Bums" did not sound that catchy) (again some dim-witted will invariably mention the word Plagiarism, again, here but no one will appreciate the tact-fullness with which the author avoided the pain of copyright issues. So very desi mentality of non appreciative-ness :)).

But alas this also gave birth to yet another plan of mine, apart from visiting those 1000 places before I die, which is to meet the guy who wrote this "Fail to Plan is a plan to fail". I mean who is this guy? What does he know about planning? Apparently nothing. Otherwise he won’t have dared to utter the words so naive. If you do not want to take my word for it, go and ask any manager who earns her/his bread doing planning day in day out. She/he will provide you with the reality check, provided the person is willing to part with the well kept trade secret of managers. The thing is the inception of an idea or a plan is the miniscule part of the complete picture, the majority is running around planning for when your plan/idea to go awry or when it overshoots the deadline (it rings such a familiar bell to us IT guys) which is invariably 99 times out of 100. The 1 idea that never fails is with Ekta Kapoor to elongate the life time of her soap-opera with another 100 years. If someone was to ask me "Give me a perfect example of a plan" then the Grand Prix will go to the Indian government’s plan to set-up a Disaster management cell/council in India. No other comes even near to this one, not even yours truly.

Coming back to my plans and their fate, recently I was talking to a friend of mine (non subtle types) and told him about my latest brain child. The response was obviously a non-subtle one but he also asked me a question "What is the difference between planning and (day) dreaming?". I have come up with a bloody good reply to that and this is one is with real high TQ (Thought Quotient, in line with IQ and EQ). Now brace up for this:

"You plan in your head but you dream with your (foolish) heart ".

Now I never expected this from me but my TQ has taken a real good leap in last 5-6 months. Thanks to watching all those Indian news channels and Saas-Bahu soap opera’s (no-no do not get any wrong ideas here, all this has been forced upon me and is a "dard bhari daastaan"). But I tell you this, watching these serials and news channels do provoke a load of thoughts like
(i) Who the hell watches these?
(ii) Why the hell anyone watches these?
(iii) Will they ever end? (this is a redundant question)
(iv) Can we start a fund to bring the misguided naxalites and terrorists to the path of national service and pay them to blow up broadcast stations of these channels? It will help bring back millions of lost man-hours to constructive work and in the meanwhile it will also satisfy the affinity or urge of those elements towards explosives and loud noises, the only difference being the exercise will be constructive rather than destructive.

There are many such intelligent thoughts that come to mind but can only mention a few right now. The last one will also look good on resume for any MBA school showing managerial skills, tactfulness, innovativeness, financial understanding…..all in one stroke.

The thing is when your plan goes to the dungeons of doom, it really sucks. But then life sucks, which brings me to my last one liner of the day and one of my favs:

"If the world didn't suck we would all fall off"

(Not mine and I hope I didn’t infringe upon anyone’s copyrights here). Well if you share these thoughts and want to share some of your insights on the topic please feel free to share (It may help me in preparing a really comprehensive book, a definite bestseller). In the meanwhile I will prepare some more jokes for God.

Back to the Square one

2007-05-20T23:07:00.000+05:30

It seems that I am back from where I started. It started with heck lot of confusion and two years down the line the confusion is there all over again. To switch or not to switch. Whether to look towards the greener pastures or stay put where I am. This is one of the most difficult decision I ever had to make. And I am still at it!!!!! It's like I am standing at a junction and I don't know which way to go. But whatever be the decision I make tomorrow these last two years have been good to me and good for me.
Being a Delhi-ite by birth and by heart, moving away from my home town wasn't easy. But here I am liking and being part of this once alien city of Mumbai. And now that I have an option to make my move back towards "saaddi dilli" I see myself being torn between the two choices. Which once, would have been an obvious selection. But that's life for you, never easy. LOL!!!!
I was never good in maths but still loved numbers (another example of my confused self). So if I have to analyze myself I'd say I am currently 3/4th a Delhi-ite and 1/4th a Mumbaikar (mind you I am not good at either Punjabi or Marathi) and still the 3/4 part is not winning over the lighter one.
So here's where I will require some help over deciding upon these two great cities of our country. Can someone assist me compile a list for (and not necessarily against) these 2 places?

Hope you will but till then let me celebrate my Independence Day (which is a different story altogether)
:)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Taxing Times

2007-02-08T20:21:00.000+05:30

It's again that time of the year. The Winter, which was never here in Mumbai, is almost over. Buzz is there and a definite hope that mobiles, laptops, ipods etcetera will become even more cheaper in this year's budget and with that we will become even more enslaved in this free world of ours. But to top it all, for last two years, this time is and has been dominated by tax frenzy (atleast for me, and more so this year).
For long I had this burning query that why do we need to pay taxes on money which we had earned. Alas I dont ask this silly question any more. But to take place of that query are never ending questions as to how much tax do I need to pay? What are all the options that are available to me to get tax exemptions (why tax exemptions at first place)? Where shall I invest so that I get the maximum returns? All these calculations are even more complex than the calculus that we had to face in school or that is what it seems like. And then we have the sections, sections under which you avail of these tax sops. You have U/S 10, 80C then you have VI A etc etc etc...this lists seems never ending. The interest of home loan falls under U/S 10 (I guess) and the principal in 80C. I mean WHAT THE HECK. How does it matter and Who cares.
I have a simple question- If these sections all are for tax rebates then why have separate sections and why not have them all under one roof and make life simpler for lesser beings like us. But then may be we will be depriving many CAs and their kinds of their jobs(or a chunk of their job). People who make their living out of these "sections". I guess I am just new to this taxing stuff. May be in some time I will also become proficient in this lingo of sections and rebates and exempts.
But till then Happy Taxing.

Personality Ethic

2007-01-10T23:07:00.000+05:30

A passage I came across while reading a book. Just wanted to share that.

Today we come across an individual who behaves like an automaton, who does not know or understand himself, and the only person he knows is the person he is supposed to be, whose meaningless chatter has replaced communicative speech, whose synthetic smile has replaced genuine laughter, and whose sense of dull despair has taken place of genuine pain. Two statements can be said concerning this individual. One is that he suffers from the defects of spontaneity and individuality which may seem to be incurable. At the same time it may be said of him he does not differ essentially from the millions of the rest of us who walk upon this earth.

-- Erich Fromm

Three Cheers!!!

2006-12-07T21:34:00.000+05:30

"Aaj main khush hun ki tum hi bolo main hun khush kyu Jaldi jaldi bolo chalo"....LOL.
Sorry that I had to take you through that but kya kare controlahe nahin hua....
The only silver lining for you was that you didnt had to go through the trauma of listening to me sing that. And my singing is horrendous, if I am to to put it lightly. Also the first line is not entirely correct. I have been this way for a few days now. And this time there are reasons for me being happy. And to a certain extent I have thrown those nuthins and kuch nahins out of my daily conversations and that too without going bungee jumping or white water rafting (although I sincerely wish that I get that chance soon).

Reasons for me being happy are a few. And many of them not entirely unexpected or I believe that I deserved those(I am not really good at being modest) :-). But still a bit of appreciation and recognition of your work goes a long way in bringing your spirits back up on a mountain high. You start feeling that actually the work that you have been doing is worthwhile and you were not just sitting in front of a dumb terminal seemingly doing nothing. I tell you it feels good and I am feeling good about it. Although the bums that I received later that day were hurting a lot :-))

Although the major reason, for this cheerful me, was the one that I just talked about there were others too. And all capable of bringing an ear to ear smile on my face. Be it the first ever prize that I won in a competition or be it overwhelming success of an event that our team organized. It seems like my life has taken a turn into a direction, one that I never thought existed.

And today there was an event, unexpected of all.
People who know me and are around me, know me as a reserved person (putting it diplomatically you see). I myself know that. I keep most of the things to myself and don't come across as a guy who will share much. There are very few people on the face of this earth whom I confide in.(This blog being one place where I let most of it out) So in return I dont expect others to share things with me either. Today, however, was different. Someone shared with me something that I didn't expect. This gesture, somehow left me feeling very happy. Dont know why. It may seem like nothing to others but to me it was one more credit into my happiness account.

Some one had told me to keep adding/crediting happy moments of my life into the happiness savings account of mine. These last few days have made my humble saving account look like Kuber's treasure. They had left imprints that I am going to cherish for a long time to come if not till the end of days. As an end note I will say (or sing if you can stand it):

"I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, so good, I got you

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, I got you"

( Did you hear me sing that???? I guess not :-)))

Wassup

2006-11-07T21:30:00.000+05:30

It has been a long time since I last posted (may be 1.5 months). Well this delay is not without reasons (excuses may be a better word though :-) ). My laziness and my computer crashing may have been the contributing factors to this. However the major one is Software Engineer Syndrome. Well it has nothing to do with work load or time crunch. Infact far from it. This syndrome was so very well captured in a "forward" mail that I received. The mail was nothing but typical conversation between two software professionals which normally goes like

a) wassup
b) nuthin much

a) whats new
b) nuthin

a) "or sunao" --> my favourite
b) kuch khaas nahin.

Almost in all cases forward mails find their way into my trash bin(as they take up too much of my mail account space. In gmail its all there in Inbox ... LOL) but this particular one did catch my attention as it exactly captured the normal, monotonous conversations I used to have with many... daily. Diwali came and went, had a weekend getaway to a fabulous and scenic place, in between a few midnight excursions within Mumbai but still the replies were "nuthin much", "nuthin", "kuch khaas nahin".

As a friend of mine aptly puts it in perspective "Life has become devoid of sex (read frolic. These are actually his words :-) )." There are days when you feel down for no apparent reason and there are others when you feel chirpy as anything, again for no reason that could be thought of. Just like that.
If I put my friend's words in other way (put them subtly) I'd say my life is missing the Yahoo!!! factor. May be go bungee jumping, white water rafting or whatever (wishful thinking). I once heard some one say If you are not living on the edge you are taking too much of space. I just want to feel, even if just for a moment, how it feels on the edge. Those who know me will say am not that kind of a person and I am not. Infact I may not even try it the second time around. But for once I want to experience the "Yahoo!!!". May be just to push these nuthins and kuch nahins out of my life.
So wassup!!!!!

"My Own Life : The Dream"

2006-08-06T10:47:00.000+05:30

"Exploring the Dream"

I should have posted this one before the last one but what the heck.
In my first post I wrote a line " life that goes on in front of me that is not actually mine".
What I believe is that this line was taken in the wrong context totally. In fact this goes on to show the incapability or the utter failure of the author (that will be me) in conveying his views or thoughts :-)). There were many responses and queries to this many on the comments posted and many on phone calls. So I should have replied to those before but alas I am a total believer of "better late than never". So I do that pending work of mine now.

In response to that line some said may be I was not happy and may be am too much of an adjusting person (upon which I gave it a thought n found may be I am). Some asked what is wrong? Is it that am wronged in some way or missing something? In reply to that I said may be.
What I am really missing is a direction. Direction in what way? I gave it a thought as well and came up with a sort of judgemental answer -- I really don'y know what I want. Isn't it great.
Well let me take you to my first blog and recite some other lines from there as well. First being "my personality of being always confused". Then "Realization of which will be icing on the cake, which is what really this last year has been". So it means I am happy and I really mean it. May be am a tad more adjusting than normal but then that is my way of life. But in this happiness as well I ask myself is this what I really want. What is the real happiness to me. Is going to places and partying is all that I want?

I think about the bigger picture and still am not able to figure out myself say 7-10 years down the line. What I want to be then? Then also I added a line in that first post of mine saying may be am too immature and young to think on these lines and what I really want at this point of time is to flow with wind and this wind might carry me anywhere. Anyplace where I never intended to be. So thats why I said may be this life is not mine but still am enjoying someone else's life. Very few can do this. :-)))))))

To be frank what I dream of while I lie awake at night just before the blanket of sleep takes me over is my future.

Where I want to be? And where I find myself is in African tropical jungles, the Himalyan 'Necklace' ranges, the beaches of Andamans and the list just goes on. I don't know how many of you know that I am a sucker when it comes to going to places.

If I ever go on these wild expeditions of mine will keep you updated :-))) fikar not.

There is a saying that I always believed in and still believe in:-
"You never have to explain anything to anyone, your friends don't need them and the others don't matter"

Third Time Lucky

2006-08-06T07:58:00.000+05:30

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM"

I think now I get to understand the real meaning of this phrase. Cuz this is the third time in 3 weeks that I thought of publishing a post on the blog. Every time I faced the life long dilemma of mine, that of what to write :-). This time though it feels like this post will indeed see the light of day.

This last week has been hectic to say the least, both on professional as well as personal front. I believe it is the combination of the two that made it real hectic rather than both individually being sapping on their own. In the fore there was my Mom's birthday. Though it was not that happening compared to last year. Anyhow it was as memorable as the last one cuz there was an icing on that cake that really made the day and that was my sister getting admission into KJ Somaiya's MBA course. So this kinda overshadowed the whole b'day thing (Sorry mom). Before she had got into another management college for which we (me n my sis) had to "belao" some "papad" as it seems Mumbai administration wants to live in the same age old India as the one which boasts of one of the oldest buildings in Mumbai. I say this cuz you will find so old a red tape in this place, the red tapes which remaining part of India has done away with ages ago. I can't see a reason why can't it be removed here as well. Me n my sis had to go around offices n offices after one another to get the documents that really meant nothing and will find there way into one file which no one ever is going to be bothered with so why so much of hardship. And then you invite people to study and say the Indian education system is in par with others in the world (yaa rite). Anyhow she submitted the papers in the college on the last date of submission (kudos..... n I mean it). Well two days later the whole cycle was almost repeated all over again as she got admission into KJ (gotta say she folowin tracks laod out by me :-) I got into 5 colleges in 3 months n she 2 in 1 week... becomin sort of a family trait :-)) ). She again had to labor all day to get documents from one college to another (this cud have been done within colleges as was the case when I changed colleges within same university but no we dont wanna give any one any relief). Again there it was, the rudeness of the rudest city in the world, to the fore. Although I have never witnessed it myself and could never justify this label but the tales my sis had to tell of that day really did justify. And guess what it was not the 1st college, the one from which she was canceling her admission from, causing all the problem but it was the much reputed KJ doing it. I really can't understand. Then again she got the admission there n it seems it will again be the story of alls well that ends well and nobody is going to say or anything to change system and someone next year is again going to grind.
This was story earlier in the week. My father was as worked up because of the hectic week as everyone else in the family and on Friday he was to undergo Angiography. So this kinda summed up the week that was. Thankfully the system here at Bombay Hospital is not the same as it is at AIIMS, Delhi where you have to do almost everything other than doin the angio yourself. There you even have to pull the stretcher from the operating room to the designated ward. And you can't fault the system at this cuz the hospital is not equipped to handle this much traffic. It can't be. No other hospital in world will be able to do even the much it's being done there. And earlier in the week my sis had met, may be, the rude identical twin of Mumbai we had the luck to meet the sweet one. Every one there was as helpful as the situation and place will allow (I had never seen so very readily smilin nurses and doctors that too at the end of their tiring and grueling day of work). When I say never I am comparing it to one of the best hospitals in the country be it AIIMS, Apollo or anything. So as they say every coin has its two faces and may be Mumbai has its two facets as well, it just depends which one of it you had the chance of meeting. As for me I can look forward to living here at this place without cribbing. I like Delhi very much but I guess I am in love with this place called Mumbai and the attitude of Mumbai, which could be rude for some, but is inspiring to me. Be it "Auntygs" braving the rains and water logged streets to make home on foot and still managing to smile somehow, be it the people who selflessly and indeed very brave heartedly went and saved the day for many in the serial blasts of black Tuesday. I have so much to learn from this city, the liveliness that drives it, the caring that soothes it and the zest that makes it stand up on its feet even when someone has tried wholeheartedly to bring it down......
I sincerely hope that we do something other than saluting "The Spirit of Mumbai" and do some thing else to keep it alive.....

2006-07-16T22:33:00.000+05:30

Hi all reading
This is my first post on my personal blog. Though have been blogging almost for 2 yrs but that was about nothing that I cared about. But now i wanna write about something and everything that I feel about. Now this is hard because I could never really identify where to start I guess that goes with my personality of being always confused. Though got to confess that I am starting to like this state of mind. Dont know if its good or bad news for me but what the heck. Then again there is a confusion of what should this blog be about; my personal life, my professional life or about the life that goes on in front of me that is not actually mine. Naa i dont think I have the calibre to think that deep though have been trying for last couple of months lol..........
So I guess before this blog really gets off (if it ever does) I did like to dedicate the whole of my first post to myself (so much for modesty)
Hmmmm so where shall i start with .........
Name will be good thing to start with I guess :-)
I am Siddharth, adjective that I'd like to associate with myself is sober however some have given me one as sleepy (thanx for that i try my level best to live upto my given adjective... the later one)
As for what i really love to do is go about places. And this last year has been really good in that respect infact I had thoroughly enjoyed my last year.
Been to 3 of Maharashtra's hill station last weekend + the Monday (thanks to shiv sainiks) Trip to Mahabaleshwar from Pune was nothin if not exhilarating.Started from home at 2 when our actual plan was to start at 9 (some stretching of IST you may say) We went by our car and it was a 4 hr drive to Panchghani (again thanks to some shambles that we call road in Pune and some drivers who are the true followers of that dialogue in an Amitabh Bachchan movie which says "hum jahan khade ho line wahi se shuru hoti hai" or somethin of the sort). But after we reached Panchghani it was all lost and forgotten, nothing else meant but the beauty of the place.The green slopes and small waterfalls decorating the place as no human decorator ever could. This place is comparatively untouched by human encroachment as is the case with many hillstations of northern India be it Musourie, Shimla or anywhere. So it was a welcome digression from the norm for any major hillstation of the country. To start off had our favourite bhutta (corn) in the rain and moved towards our first destination. The place gets its name from being a plain land in between 5 mountains and the spot called Tableland is just too good to be missed. As we went there during the time when the monsoon is in full flurry, the cool (infact chilly) air reminds you of the winter in north and we were not prepared for that. We were in our half sleeved T shirts and the protection against the pelterin rain was an umbrella which was time and again turning turtle in the gusty wind ( oh did I write cool air previously, let me tell you it was no cool breezee). After being there for half an hour and we decided we better get back to our pyari ram piyaari or will be gettin deep freeze standin there (although it wasnt that bad after initiall moments of sheer shock factor, the view took care of all other things :-) ) Although there are 2-3 more spots (besides endless number of boarding schools) to be seen in Panchghani but we decided it was gettin too late and dark and had to pay for our initial stretchin of IST.
We then moved to towards our next destination Mahabaleshwar. Its 20 Kms from Panchghani but feels like you can spend the whole day on that road itself. Although light was fading real quickly stil we can make out the scenic ambiance of the place. It was just breathtakin even in the dark. And in next 15 minutes we were in the clouds and when i say in the clouds I mean it literaly. The clouds descended on to the road like the millin crowd of Mumbai getting ready to get back home after work. Its every where you can see nothing else. The visibility was absolute zero and it didnt help that we didnt have fog lights mounted (although they didnt provide much help to ones who had them either). We then had the job ahead to find a place for the night. As this excursion was executed with minimal if not nonexistent planning we were in as dark about the place as the surroundings of ours were getting. Though after browsing through many hotels and lodges with moist ceilings to ones with endless stairs to ones with unearthy hour of checkout (com'on who wakes and leaves by 9 on vacation, not me infact neither of us) we finnaly got our place at a place right next to the bazaar. It was a nice place to spend your night and we were all so tired that we didnt give a damn. but then no excursion is complete or successful without cards n yes here we were all ready.......
Ordered some food from a nearby restaraunt and got on to our buisiness n that is cards till u drop n literally we did drop on our cards. Sumptuous dinner and a bit of Vodka did contribute to our early fall. The next morning I was the first one to rise (not liein abt it) and planned to go out for a lil walk on my own but had to get back when I realized that I forgot my wallet at the hotel itself. By that time my cousin also was awake and we went for a not so early mornin stroll. Although u cannt tell the time as it felt like 5 in the mornin. Cool with drizzlin rain we went on our lil expedition to explore and we did find a lil shortcut as well which was to be of great help on our return back to hotel. went to venna lake which was about 3 km from our hotel and the place was worth the walk. It is a boating point but was closed for the day because of high wind and flooded lake. The scene too good to be missed and infact we witnesed the only 2 outbreaks of sunshine for the entire day there only. We went back to hotel and it was checkout time and all were waiting to pounceon us for gettin all of us late all over again (nobody had forgotten the day before and we were lame "bali ke bakre" because of our health concious mornin walk).
So all said and done we eventually got out of the hotel before our our checkout time. As we had no idea about the place we asked the locals about it and had very disheartening news upfront -- "only 4 of the 12 spots open during the monsoon all others inaccessible -- whaaaaaaaaaaaaat"
still somehow we overcame this shocker of a news and inquired about the remainin 4. Hired a guide who started the tour with 2 temples. Me being an atheist was not so interested but the thing about the place was one temple containes some 400 year old shivaling and the other one had 5 rivers in form of streams running from that place. Infact the count goes to 7 in a point of time which happens in 35 years(which happened 2 or 3 yrs back).
From there onwards it was heaven 3 spots in one vivnity n all of them could be described in only one word greaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The points are needle point where a spot seems like an elephant with its trunk forming a needle. It became obvious to us only after our pointed it out to us :-)) but the main attraction for us there was a stream running in between which later on became a beautiful waterfall goin down. the view there was breathtaking with lotus shaped mountain. Two spots nearby were echo point and one that I dont recall now but the thing about that told to us was it is a fav spot for indian movies to shoot cars fallin off the cliff scene. So we parked our car far from there in seemingly safe location. You never know :-)))
After spending our energies there we moved on to our next destination which was Strawberry farms yeaaa a mouth waterin prospect ofcourse and this mouthwatering was the thing that could make us part from the heaven we were in ....... A drenched wet heaven
Although the Strwberry farm was a let down ..... again cuz u cannt do strawberry farmin in MONSOOOOOOOON....... how many times did we have to hear this?
but the strawberry with cream more than made up lack of farms..... farms can wait til next time and there will be a next time that is for sure.....
Then again there was Venna lake for the luxury of not so early risers and again we cannt anythin else than just to admire cuz the boatin was put off for the whole day ..........
So that ended our trip n we packed n headed back home but before that this north indian tummy of ours came to fore and althouth we just had lunch 45 mins ago we stopped at Mapro factory to buy some strawberry crush and ended up taking 2nd lunch in the car cuz the cheese of the grilled sandwich was too tempting to wait till next time and the weight of the sandwich was written to be 500 grams so u can urself imagine ...........
N somehow we resisted the temptation for fresh dough Pizza ...... we are so sacrificin :-((
So this was it we had no more of energy left to go any further and had return to Mumbai the same evening (but that's a different story altogether which was initiated by some shiv saininks who thought that holding a city to ransom can undo the wrong done by some miscreants) any how was not able to return to mumbai that day took a off on monday and went to Lonavala
So infact i shall thank those shivasainik but somehow dont feel like doin it....
But apart from this the trip wil be embedded for a long time for sheer fun involved and cuz it was a long time after which we cousins had got together to go somewhere. I am looking forward to go on such expeditions more frequently. The next major plan in the nutshell is Kerala/Jim Corbett in october ..................................
Realization of which will be icing on the cake, which is what really this last year has been

PS: After this long a blog, if anybody could endure reading this all if you plan to visit Mahabaleshwar or nearby areas plan it out in late September or October as that time is the best cuz u mite get to see the end of the waterfalls amd all 12 points open up till that time. Mahabaleshwar gets 3rd highest rainfall in the country in a year.