Paus

Paus

 "Paus” hya eka shabdat kaay nahiye.  Pausmhanje Aathavanincha samudra , paus mhanje aanada, .  Paus mhanje alladpana , Paus mhanje dukkha aani  Paus mhanje pragalbhata aani khupkahi.

Kaal ghari jatana khup paus pada thota. Me chalata chalata panayacha ek motha pravaha javal aale. Savkash,swatahala ,chatrila savarat me to panyacha jeevanta strot paar kela. Sahajachavalun mage baghitala tar tya panyabarobar anek bhavana manat uchambalun aalya.Vatala, “kiti japun chalale na me, bhiju naye mhanun kiti kalaji ghetali, hichajar kahi varsha purvichi me asate tar dhapa dap udya marat gele asate, udanara pani mansokta anubhavala asata, tyachya thanda sparshane moharale asate…” swatahashicha hasat punha vatela lagale.. manatalya manat punha aathavaniina ujala deun tya padayya pavasat me tya olya aathavani kordyacha anubhavalya…

Vegavegalya vayat vegala bhetala paus mala. Lahanpani aaicha dola chukavun, kadhitari ticha ekakhada dhapata khaunahi pausacchya sarinnacha manmurat aanada lutalay. Kagadachya hodya karun tya ghara samorun vahanarya panayat sodayachya aani tya bhiju nayet mhanun tyachyavar swataha bhijat chatri tharayachi… kaay gammat hoti tyat. “bholanathala saungun paus padanyache divas hote te.. karan tevha shalela sutti havi hoti na” .. tevha tya kovalya vayat approp hota pavasacha. Navalai hoti.. kuthun yeto .. kuthe jato hyacha aashcharya hota.

Mag paus bhetala college madhe.Classroom chya khidakitun tyala baghatana vatayacha “ aanadachya, utsahachya sari kolatahet….” Maga asaacha kadhitari bhar pavasat lecture bunk karun anek rainy trips, treks kele. Sahyadricha nisargacha gonads roop, rudra avatar sagala pahila. Tyala kadhi manat sadhavala tar kadhi dolyat tar kadhi camerat. Hindi cinemane pavasachi ghataleli bhural aani swataha anubhavalele tyachi zinga hyachi nasa kahi auracha hoti. Apratim, ativ godi hoti tyat. Hya divasamadhala paus allad hota.Agadi “yere yere pavasa … pasun tip tip barasa pani” paryantacha paus allad.Happening aani mastikhor hota.

Hacha puas jeva marin drive var,worli seaface aani Gateway la samudrashi zombazombi karatana pahila tevha  rangada, rakat vatala. Samudrachya afat shaktila aaplya eke ek sariine aavhan detoy asa vatala. Jaganyachi (samudrachya latanchi) aani astiva dikvanyachi (pavasachi) tyachi spardha farak mohak hoti. Pan tarihi tyat ekmekant samarasun misalun janyatala aanada pan hota.

Tarunyatala paus tasa vegalacha hota. Pavasat bhijnare, hathat haat ghalun firnari couples baghun chan vatayacha. hya pavasat Kiti tari janani aanabhaka ghetalya astil premachya, kadhihi vegala na honychya aani asha kititari. Hyacha pavasat de doghe hote, chatri asun bhijanare , n bolata muka pane chalnare…pavasacha aanand ghet hote? Samudrachi gaaj aikat hote? Ekmenbaddal kahi vatatay ka hyacha calculation karat hote..nakki kaay karat hote mahit nahi. Pan ek divas nahi roj yayache basache aani nighun jayache…kadachit samudrala aani pavasala pan prashna padala asel kaay aahe hyachya manat?  mala tyacha mahit nahi pan me kharacha khup prem karate tyachyavar. Tyachya bhetine khup kahi dila aani pudhehi deil ha vishwas aahe mala. Tyachya mule paus aavadala, tyachyamule kavitetala jagana aani jaganyatali kavita kalali. Hya natyane bharbharun dila mala agadi ashadatalya sarinsarkha… khup bhijavala, sujanacha anubhav dila. Pan tarihi he naat purnatvacha nahi hyachi janeev hoti.. Mala tyachyakadun tashi apeksha hi nahi. Kahi nati hi apurnacha asavi karan purnatvala gela ki tyachyatil navinya sampat. Prem bhakti asu sakate ka? Majhacha mala prasha . ho ka nahi , miracha nahvata ka bhaktimay prem… mala majha uttar hya pausane dila mala meera banayacha hota Radha nahi….  

aata hacha paus bus chya khidkitun, train madhun pahatana titkacha mohak disto pan to tya barobar pragalbhatechi janneev karun deto. Train chya darvajyat ubha rahun kinvakhidkitun haat baher kadhun tyala thodasa anubhava lagato. Kitihi vatala taripatkan jaun manamurat bhijanyacha aanada lutata yet nahi. Mag haacha paus punhajaaneev karun deto ki “nahi ghadat aahe aata tula hava tasa .. kahi harkat nahi hye thodasa je mala anubhavalas na te manat sathav aani bharpur motha shwas he…utwas taak .. aani tya barobar baher taak manatil sagali malabha.. punha haatbhijun anubhav mala.. bagha tula mansokta bhijhaliyes asa vatel”… kiti positiveenergy aani aashavadi vichar deun jato ha paus… mhahatvacha asato to aapla tyakade pahanyacha durshtikon.

Asa ha paus kadhi thandagar,kadhi maushar tar kahi ubadaar sparsha deun jato… to nehamicha manat aashavad phulun jato karan jatana to punha yenar aahe he sangun gelela asato…

mag me punha trainchya khidakijaval basun hya varshicha dolyat, manat sadhavalela paus japun deun  pudhachya varshichya pausachi vaat baghanyat danga hote.

A bit of here and there… can’t take a chance with Dhak - Bahiri

Dhak – Bahiri the most heard about from almost every one who loves trekking. The common thing is everyone’s opinion about it… “its risky.. do it ..its fun also but one mistake can call off for life”. After all these saying I was waiting for the chance to visit this place. When Vandana Tai told me that her group is planning to go for Dhak Bahiri I was thrilled and excited to join the group. Though its summer and bad time for dhak –bahiri trek I immediately made my mind to join the unknown group.
For many this might be just another hamlet amidst the Sahyadri range. So it is obviously a place of heavenly bliss with lush greenery and panoramic mountainous terrain. But what makes this just another rocky place so enchanting is its seemingly hazardous, mighty, steep and daunting climb over the Dhak to reach Bahiri. So for the die hard trekkers this is one of the most challenging and a must trek of all that the Sahyadri region abounds in. In my case this trek to the Bahiri was a fearful no doubt yet exhilarating experience which I had never ever had before.
As per the plan I and Abhijeet joined the group of five unknown people called Vishal, Deepti, Dhanaji, Amol and Ankur. We met at Karjat station and with little introduction we headed to Vadap Village. The plan was to start from Vadap and walk though the jungle; night stay at Dhak Bahiri caves (2300ft) and second day climbing of Kalakrai Pinnale (180 ft).
The walk from village vadap was very hectic and sun was becoming hotter and hotter. Our bags were loaded with luggage like grocery, water, harnesses, ropes, utensils etc. Vishal was carrying the heaviest bag and was tried also. Dhana and Amol were exchanging the bags in between. Deepti was independently finding her ways through jungle. Me, Abhijeet, Ankoor and Vandu Tai were trying to beat the heat. The experience was amazing. There were loads of wild berry bushes and we had the stomach full of it. The landscape here was undulating with thick foliage all around. Then the trail through the forest was rocky, had high up slopes and subsequent descents. Soon we were walking through the meandering trail underneath a thick canopy of dense forests. This is a picturesque place with nature at its best and also as showed on Discovery channels. Through some corners of the way we could see the Dhak Mountain which was our destination. It looked majestic.
Vishal was leading the trek. We walked past the board that indicates the way to Dhak. There’s a small track on the right too and this goes to Bhimashankar. There was a steep climb ahead; treacherous because of the loose type of rocky soil that got away. Getting a proper foot grip was very difficult. We reached a flatspace above. From here one had to trek though a steep descending crevice in between the Dhak on the right and another jutting rocky structure ‘Kalkarai’ on the left. The view of the mountainous surroundings was breathtaking. The distant saffron flags high above indicated our destination, the Bahiri cave. This was the base of the mountain where we were standing and the task ahead was difficult. My heart missed a beat. Frankly I was scared. I realized how precious life was to me. It was a long walk; we reached at lower cave at 7.00 pm.

Vishal took the decision to stop at the lower cave as we couldn’t able to reach Bahiri cave before it could get pitch dark. It was really a tiring day. We cooked our delicious Rice- potato khichadi and enjoyed the every bit of it.
The next day was a very refreshing after a nice sleep at the edge of vally under the open sky. Dhanaji and Amol slept in the cave and took care of our bags. Vandana Tai made a tea for all of us. Vishal, Dhana, Amol and deepti were gearing up for the Kalakrai pinnacle which is above the bhairy cave and near Dhak fort. And me, abhijeet, ankur and Vandana were watching them with curiosity. Vandana Tai was giving them tips and was also helped them in packaging. They started for Kalakrai at 8.00 am and reached down at 1.00 pm. The climb seems to be a small but we were holding our breath to see the every step of theirs. When they reached at the top we were as happy as them. The summit was done successfully. The plan was delayed by 2 hrs.
Then we went to Bahiri caves. They were harnessing me and I was enjoying it. The experience of Bahiri rock patch climb was overwhelming. I really agree at this point of time that one mistake and its call off for life. There were monkeys also to add tension to your concentration.
Now one had to trek along a narrow pathway rather a narrow footway with the rocky mountain on its right and a deep gorge down 500 ft below on the left. So this demands a few things from the trekker. First of all loads of confidence and desire to reach the top. Any minor wrong footing on the track, which is the rocky surface of the mountain itself, might take one sweeping deep down upto 500 ft below and this might be one’s end.
At some stretches of the mountain, the foot ground is inclined rather than flat. It is the power of your hand grip in the rocky surface that basically supports you. So you have to tread on carefully facing the rock and your back against the open deep gorge below. This is where the real challenge lies in. However there are some places with larger foot space also, in between the base and the top so that you can take rest for a while if you wish to. If the trekker gets panicky then it’s an impossible task. All you ought to be is extremely courageous and sporty. No can do this bare foot. Only expert climbers can take a chance to climb the same without any safety.
For me this was the first attempt. So the first person from our group was Vishal as he had a good climbing experience then it was Me then Vandu tai then ankoor, abhijeet and Amol.
But you cannot expect to get any kind of support except for the verbal help as no body can afford to help others in such a tricky situation. That’s y expert trainers and harnesses were needed for first timers.
Just before reaching the cave there are some permanent ropes and branches tied on for the trekkers to take support of. But this is just fifteen feet before the final climb. It is practically impossible to reach the cave without holding onto these ropes and branches. The elevation here is infact more than 90 degrees. It seems as if the rocky surface is protruding outside. The entire climb from the base to the cave takes around 45 minutes. It is 45 minutes of sheer concentration. You cannot afford to loose that even for a second.
So finally I reached the Bahiri. It is a large space that can accommodate upto 200 people. There is a stony structure dedicated to the Lord Bairoba. Even animal sacrifice as a ritual is carried out here by some devotees. The view of the Sahyadri from the cave is awesome. It is magnificent. It is beyond description.
We relaxed on the rocky corners of the cave. Coming down the highly steeped slopes was another daring act especially with your back against the deep gorge down below. It was a really scary moment. After a formidable task finally we reached the base of the mountain. We all breathed a sigh of relief. I felt dead on my feet.
Slowly we tramped down the pathway through the dense foliage. Support and encouragement is necessary for arduous tasks. And I indeed admitted that Vishal and group is amazing.
We started our return journey at 4.00 pm on the same way. We reached at Dhak Gaon at 8.00 pm and decided to stay in temple as it will be risky to travel at that point of time in night. So we stayed back. Dhana was keen to move as he was expecting some guest to come but then agreed with others. So instead of one night our actual trek had become 2 night and 3 days and we enjoyed every bit of it. We cooked food with what ever left over’s we had with previous day.
By all means one should do the dhak bahiri trek, because it's a beautiful climb, and the views are intense, both during camping and while walking. The rock climb terrain alone is worth it. And no Sahyadri trekker is ever complete without Dhak-Bhairi.
But more than anything else, the utmost precaution needed is while negotiating the rock patch. A bit of here and there, and you could be down in the valley. However, you take enough care and you will enjoy this thrill......cent percent!
For me really it was one of the good treks cum climbing experience.

madness at CCD- Goa
with hubby at CCD- Goa

Trek to Sudhagad

Since the monsoon has arrived we were planning to go for a trek, there were options, which we were thinking of Purandar, Sudhagad and Harishchandra Gad to name the few. Our first choice was Harishchandra Gad coz its long time wish to visit this fort. As we learnt from various sites, Harishchadra Gad is astounding fort and it required a night stay. However, eventually we drop the plan coz of climatic conditions and we zeroed on Sudhagad, Pali for one-day trek. We were total six in number out of which Abhijeet and Pranav had a bike and knew how to drive a bike so we had planned to experience public transport instead of bikes.

Nikhil, Sanyogita, Harshada and Myself gathered at Pranav’s place on Friday night. We had little chatting, watched movie and slept for couple of hours. Abhijeet had joined us in the morning at Karjat Bus Stop at around 6.45 am. We supposed to take a Pali bus that was scheduled for 7 am but as public transport were unpredictable; the schedule bus did not arrived on time. Therefore, we did the break journey, from karjat to chowk- shil phata-khopoli and from there to pali to pacchapur- thakurwadi. The journey was only 45 min – 11/2 hr but due to breaks by bus- auto it took us 41/2 hrs to reach the base village, Thakur Wadi. With small break at Thakur wadi, we started to climb the Sudhagad.

The way from Pacchapur- Thakurwadi was little bit exhaustive but we mange to climb the fort in 2 hr. The fort was 590 ft high and the view from the plateau was amazing. There were no waterfalls due to lack of rains. The places seen were Paacchapur Darwaja, Bhoarai Mandir and Tak mak tok. We did not go towards Dindi darwaja due to short of time. To our bad luck, there were no rains through out the day. It was all dry picnic in the rainy season. At Bhorai Mandir, had some food, and headed towards the Tak mak tok. This end of the fort was magnificent, there was a small flat terrain where we sat for a while and experienced the sound of wind, silence, and eco. The view from Tak mak tok was miraculous.

After this, we started our jounery back to home, this time I was little upset, as we were not visiting the Dhindi Darwaja. Abhijeet and Pranav tried to cheer me up but they forgot that their behavior was loud and earsplitting. We reached at thakurwadi at around 5.45 pm as our last bus was at 6.30 pm. We waited at the bus stop, had some dry snacks. As the bus at thakurwadi came late, we reached Pali behind schedule and we missed our last bus to Karjat. From here, the actual thrill of the day had started, as there was no facility of transportation. We took lift from truck driver; the charges were very low. Some of us reminded the Jane tu ya Jane na movie because of truck safari. It was the nice experience for all of us except Sanyogita as she was worried because we were getting late. Finally, we reached at Panvel, from there Nikhil, Harshada and Sanyogita took bus to Thane and we (pranav, abhijeet and myself) took auto to karjat. The Auto ride was none less than a roller coaster ride. At 12.00 in the night, we reached karjat.

This was the good experience but not as great as our other treks. With the plans for next trek to Harishchandra Gad, we dispersed.

Experiencing ‘Farm Life‘

It has been long time since we all got a chance to venture together anywhere from office. However, we still have fresh and fond memories of our last general offsite. We all eager enthusiasts therefore, decided to go for a picnic. This meant communing with nature at a place full of incredible beauty accompanied with good food. In our planning stages, we circulated a sheet of paper to know who all were interested in coming with their pocket expenses. We were surprised to know that the same fire for an outing and adventure was burning in many hearts. Our recce was in the form of browsing through many websites and virtually trying to find out the locations, which were near Mumbai and in our budget. After several days of browsing through several destinations, we finalized on a place in Nerul called ‘Farm Life’.







The appointed day for our picnic was the first Saturday of June. We left office at 12.30 pm to catch the 1.42 pm Karjat train. Only a few people had lunch and rest had to manage with the Vada–Samosa Pav at the station. We purchased second-class tickets for all and as soon the train arrived, we jumped in and took our seats. Mouli took the third seat. We asked him to sit on the window or second seat but he kept on insisting, “I m fine, I m fine”. The journey was two hours long, which I am used to, but for the rest of them, they kept on asking me how much time more to reach. At Thane, Piyush joined us and immediately the atmosphere changed. We followed his initiation and then started cracking jokes to the enjoyment of all. With the chitter-chatter and jokes we finally reached Neral station, where a car cum tempo was awaiting our arrival to take us to Farm Life. We were 16 in number and along with our luggage we were wondering how on earth we all will fit in. Even though we were unsure, the driver was confident about the capacity of his vehicle. A little adjustment here, a little compromise there, finally we all were inside the vehicle and on our way to our priced destination, a 20 minutes drive to Farm Life.

Our first impression of Farm Life was that of shock. A culture shock of sorts in the form of something which did not at all resemble anything that was on the website. We kept asking ourselves whether we are at the right place or the pictures on their site were from somewhere else. Shikha and myself, we were both horrified. There was no scope for anything to be done now and we finally decided to stay.

It was a good decision we thought later. Though the place was not up to our expectations, it was not that bad. The time we spent there was enjoyed by all of us. Our aim of having fun was achieved. Our childhood memories were refreshed when we played Pittu, Chain-chain, etc. Pittu was fun; everyone made their own rules. We set two teams with Shikha the captain of one and I the captain of the other. But the mess was so much that nobody knew in whose team they were. That gave rise to the best game of Pittu everyone must have played ever. We really had fun with bit of harmless banter and cheating. After the two games, we were completely exhausted and just wanted to jump in a swimming pool. We enjoyed and had fun at the same swimming pool, which was not looking that appealing earlier. We sang songs in the pool and were there for almost 3 to 4 hours. The highlight was Archana’s melodious song and the happening rap by Sachin.
Once out of the pool, we satiated our appetite with delicious Chicken and Bakri, cooked on the chulha (wooden stove). The food was amazing with smoke taste. The major part of the night was spent in the pros playing ‘Teen Patti’ and the other enjoying or attempting Dumb Charades. Sachin was the winner in Teen Patti. The only loss was the breaking of a chair at the end of the game. He introduced us to two new words- ‘Rawas’ and ‘Fancy’ which we came to know meant nice. So, whenever we met Sachin, we greeted each other with, “Hi Rawas…how’s everything…ekdum Fancy na….”

Next day we all woke up late and had sumptuous breakfast. We all entertained ourselves with some time pass till lunch time and then left Farm Life. We came back with fond memories of Farm Life and the wonderful time we had together.

Freaky Friday- With a twist!

(An delightful experience describing April’s much enjoyed Freaky Friday contributed also scoring on ‘why should the winners have all the fun’.)

The most awaited activity of the month and in Blue Lotus parlance fondly called, ‘Freaky Friday’, for the month of April, was organized by team Bluetterflies. Their idea was pretty unique and was based on judging the acting and creative skills of Blue Lotus employees. Each team was assigned a popular fairy tale they were to enact. The fairy tales they had to enact were the lovable ‘The Princess and the Peas‘, ‘Sleeping Beauty‘, ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs‘, ‘Cinderella‘, ‘Beauty and Beast’ etc. But that’s not all. The challenging as well as the fun task was to find and create a twist in the tale and then enact it. The teams could modify or distort their assigned original tale, accordingly. The 10 minute script not only had to be duly submitted to the Bluetterflies but also enacted in front of a live audience!

Though the idea required some time, the experience of scriptwriting and then enacting it was quite refreshing. Each team was given one tale. A few like me who are not part of any team had to get our act together literally, for the given task. Thus, we had our own office production with Shweta from Blue Print as our main actress, Bhushan from Blue Insight main actor, Subhash from Blue Bridge as our anchor, Shefali from Blue Point as ‘hero ki amma’ – Nirupa Roy, and finally me, as a supporting actress from Blue Network.

While scripting, we realized the amount of effort put in scriptwriting. It is an art form and creating art is never easy. For a meagre 10 minute play, we went through plenty of iterations in writing, thinking and then rewriting and rethinking again. After a series of brain-storming, our final script took shape with several rounds of rehearsals. We ultimately titled ours as ‘Peenewali Princess’! We are in the 21st century and it was about time for a modern version of ‘Princess and the Peas’!

However, the unfortunate thing was that only two teams, our team and Blue Planet could take part in this activity. The job done by Blue Planet was excellent. They made a 21st century version of Sleeping Beauty. With Prathamesh, the actor in lead role, Shikha, anchor as well as actress in supporting role, Umesh K, actor in second lead and Vrushali and Anil in supporting roles, the whole team participated and did a fabulous job at it. Every sentence of theirs with their punch lines between songs had us all in splits and made for a wonderful 10 minute act. They won the first place with their superb acting and detailed script and we stood the worthy second.

Also have to make a mention of our Ahmedabad team which was tough competition with Nitin mailing us an amazing script. Kudos to him!

All thanks to Bluetterflies team and Freaky Friday, we had a really great time. Primarily, Freaky Friday phenomenon helps us all to come closer, not just as team members in a city, but as colleagues from different branches, getting a chance to share joys with one another.

A Day in the life of Blue Byter

(Blue Byte info ltd is the media tracking wing of Blue Lotus Communicaitons- a fastest grwoing PR agency in Mumbai)

Blue Lotus believes in going that extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction. Established to compliment the efforts of the PR team, blue bytes offers news tracking and monitoring services for the clients. It is also a stand alone service for clients who require only Industry based relevant news.

Organisations need information on the latest happenings in their industry space. Competitor information is of prime importance as that acts as a sounding board to initiate counter actions to minimize the affect. In short, this service provides key market intelligence that puts clients at a strategically advantageous position.

This is how blue bytes Service helps PR service their clients and make life easy. But now let’s have a look at those who make our lives easy. The first service mail of the day is sent out around 9.00am with Client, Industry and Competition news. Does anybody wonder how it happens? For that, let’s live a day of the blue byters.

Their day starts at a time when most of us are comfortably sleeping. Some of them start their day at 5.00 am from home in order to reach office by 6.00 am or 7.00 am. Once they enter office, they work like robots. They are a team of 20-25 doing the groundwork for 100 odd clients. Everyone has their own set of clients, along with a pre-decided set of newspapers and magazines to keen through. Their job profile includes searching for news, differentiating it into Industry and Competition news and then uploading on the website. The task has to be completed in a given timeline and requires tremendous concentration and hard work. To understand the client and its competitors, they have a prepared manual. For better progress and accuracy, tests are regularly conducted.

The blue bytes Software Team of Laxman, Bhushan and Rahul always come to the rescue of byters while handling new the new software. These new softwares help reduce some amount of pressure from blue byters and even the PR staff. Softwares like bluebytes archives, bluebytes analysis, event finder and media tracking software are used in this service.

The entry of Piyush Jain in Blue Bytes has brought about a big change. Piyush, with his dynamic leadership qualities, not only gave confidence to his team but also changed the views of others about blue bytes. He is the person who likes to grow and help others to as well to grow. His guidance helped team blue bytes to do and perform well. Blue bytes which was earlier a ‘no profit, no loss’ team, is now the highest profit making team with a fairly good numbers of clients to cater to.

Blue lotus is an employee friendly organisation. The HR team always tries and has succeeded in making the working environment healthy. However, nobody questions whether byters get to enjoy and use these facilities. Do they have a social life at the work place? The answer is big NO because their work pressure doesn’t allow them even a small break where they can be the part of any social activity. There are Freaky Fridays, Cake-cutting ceremonies, etc, for everyone. But one team is always missing in action at these events, and that’s blue bytes. Since our day starts at 9.30 am, the suitable time for the fun activities is post lunch. But for those whose day starts at a time when others are still in bed, the post lunch activity becomes a bit tiring affair.

On a positive note, a request for those who make our ‘Life easy’. Let’s try and keep the activities before lunch so that the team who makes our life easy can be a part of the fun like all of us. Let’s make their life cheerful.

Cheers to Blue Bytes!
www.bluelotuspr.com
www.bluebytes.info