On a journey back in time

When I become an old man, I will certainly have so many things to ponder over and pass time till the sun of my life sets. 26^th August 2007, it is one of those exciting Sundays, for which I will surely turn over the calendar to put down my shaky old finger on and rekindle the youthful memories of the past. Working in any reputed laboratory is always a fun in India, as we get to meet scores of people from all over the country with diverse backgrounds. Different casts, creeds and religions are still like immiscible liquids in our country even after 60 years of Independence, difficult to mix. But when they somehow mix and work together, they look beautiful-more beautiful than a rainbow, which is just a blend of seven colors.

We have managed to mix overcoming all our differences and guess what…?

We are having a lot of fun together!!!

I must confess, I am notoriously talkative with my pen, that’s why so far I am unable to start the details of my trip to Lonawala with my friends from east, west, north and south for which I actually had sat down in front of the computer. Ok…… Let me start, the trip was decided at the eleventh hour i.e. on Saturday night. Maggie took the responsibility to call and inform everyone else about the trip, while Umesh started to search in google if there was any better place near Lonawala so we could kill two birds with one stone.

Start the trip sharp at 7:30 AM ! That was the judicious decision taken with everybody’s (which includes me also) consent.

But when Sanjay, knocked my door in the morning to wake me up, it was already 9 past something. I was ready by 10 AM after finishing everything in a tearing hurry.

Priyanka and her husband Prayag were eagerly and angrily waiting for us in their home.

A mature looking avenger, a flashy newly bought red CBZ extreme, and a girlish scooty Honda Activa were all set to zoom provided we poured some petrol in their dry tanks. It was a great site to behold, six excited people of different ethnic genus (some of them who had woken up just a few minutes earlier) and three exciting bikes of different genre hitting the four-lane highway to Lonawala.

As we were speeding ahead in the highway, I felt like singing the song by Whitesnake…

I don't know where I'm goin
but I sure know where I've been
hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday.
An' I've made up my mind, I ain't wasting no more time
but here I go again, here I go again…………

As some of us felt stomach rumbling… we stopped at one of those roadside inns vying for attention of people like us.

While we had entered the inn like jackals, after an hour of munching, drinking, swallowing, we came out like tigers.

Around 2 PM we had reached the historical Karla cave, which was close to Lonavala.

As I learnt from my friends that It is one of the most primitive rock-cut structures built in 3^rd to 2^nd Century B.C by Buddhist monks. A beautiful and well-embellished cave that we witnessed was actually built by cutting a hard rocky terrain that took us on a journey back in time, tacitly narrating interesting stories of the past -that the Buddhist monks chose isolated rocky hillsides to make rock-cut caves, which housed prayer halls within them, that the cave sites were not erratically chosen. They were selected in accordance with the Buddhist prescription that the holy men should live neither too near nor too far from the cities-not too near to be distracted by material life, nor too far to make begging rounds impractical or to put the monks out of reach of people.

The way the cave was carved out of tough rocks that refuses to get into shape easily, I was once again reminded that…

God is against fulfillment, but often, hard work pays off.

After concluding with a photo session that lasted for a few minutes, in all possible poses that we could conceive, against the backdrop of the historical cave overlooking a beautiful lush green valley we headed towards Lonawala. We were again on the four-lane highway wedged between small rocky hills. I was feeling as free as the wind that lapped against my face as our CBZ extreme zoomed ahead piercing the typical moist air that prevails aftermath of a short spell of rain in Pune. I forgot, for a transient moment, that the next day was Monday, that I had to wake up early in the morning against my will just to reach the laboratory in time, that I had to start afresh certain tasks that had failed on Friday, that I had to perform again against all odds to live without a hitch in a highly competitive world …blah..blah..blah…

All of us started lumbering uphill, having assured that our bikes were in safe parking stands. Umesh, Prayag and Sanjay once again proved that they were no less than Sherpas of North eastern Hilly areas. The first time they had impressed me was during Sinhagad fort trekking last year. The Sinhagad fort overlooked the countryside from about 800 meters above and to reach the top from base, specially in monsoon was not a trivial task. Even Priyanka and Maggie had showed “why should boys have all the fun” attitude. They had climbed in style- they walked, ran or even crawled under certain situations, but they didn’t give up.

This time too they were as good as ever. Well, It was a real “mela” out there in Lonawala, noisy and festive, with all the people, most of them men, screaming like anything. Young men with good physique flaunted their well-toned muscles, while old ones showcased full-fledged belly that was difficult to hide in a fit of excitement. Women seemed to enjoy the scenic beauty in their own way, with their spouses or friends, posing for photos, splashing the water, enjoying the tiny waterfalls etc.

We chose to explore some other waterfalls, if there were any, preferably with less or no people as all the waterfalls nearby were overcrowded. We stared plodding along the waterlogged stream delimited by thorny bushses in quest of a waterfall.

After prolonged so-called quest we found one. Though it was a ‘baby’ waterfall, yet worth searching.We enjoyed the fall without falling from the slippery rock that was to be climbed before we felt or enjoyed its current.The photos were taken to capture the moment so, in years to come, we can cherish or rather the moment doesn't perish.

Finally it was time to bid farewell to all those baby waterfalls and screaming crowd indifferent to a few helpless policemen blowing warning whistles. We started descending slowly and very carefully lest we might get hurt. The very sense of cautiousness that suddenly shot into prominence towards the evening, was missing while we were ascending as the excitement had outshone the fear of getting hurt, getting injured and getting unfit for so called life which was due to commence with yet another Monday.

cobwebs

She was his only dream. An elusive dream, tending to elude capture, perception and comprehension. Her eyes gave him an impetus to chase the dream; her smile gave him the courage to compete with others. To catch up, to live in unison with the dream for a moment or for the rest of his life; he tried to become a man or rather a better man. He pushed himself harder; knowing that the world is materialistic, worked overtime; grabbled with pang of failures that came along. Hard work paid off and eventually he became a successful man. He became a cynosure of all eyes, and hers were no exception. She got impressed and his only dream finally came true.

As he moved forward hand in hand with her, at some point, he saw an inevitable diversion, as promising as the road he had trudged on for years or rather ostensibly more promising than the path he had followed in quest of his only dream. He stood still, bewildered, not knowing what to do next. He turned to closest people around for help only to get more confused as he received hundreds of suggestions equally relevant. But finally, he listened to his own heart like a valiant man and chased another dream, apparently more caring, more loving and more beautiful. Thoughts that ran riot in his mind banished sleep from his eyes, he lost desire for food. It became increasingly difficult for him to get hold of his first dream. The timeless love for his first love faded away without any warning or explaination. Life became unstable again. He failed in every respect. It was like a wheel, while he chased the first dream he paved way to happiness, prosperity and above all his only dream, while the second dream unknowingly made him retrace the path he had come along…to the same point