What I love about Pune in the monsoons!

I am very fortunate to live in a city like Pune where the weather is pleasant all the year round as compared to other cities in India (except Bangalore probably). The weather in Pune becomes all the more awesome during the rains - moderate rainfall that lasts for a few hours, the trees around look greener, canopy of dark clouds that blocks the harsh sunlight, cool breeze throughout the day. It's great fun to be in the city during this time.

But apart from the weather, there are certain things in / around Pune that makes me wait for the monsoons to arrive. I have tried to recollect and write down some of them:

Misal Pav:
It is a traditional Indian dish sold in the streets of Mumbai, Pune and parts of Maharastra, India. It consists of spicy curry usually made of chick peas and chilly powder gravy. The final dish is topped with Punjabi mix or sev (Indian noodles), onions, lemon and coriander (cilantro). It is usually served with bread. Sitting on Bedekar's wooden benches eating the d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. and spicy missal paav that makes your eyes as well as your mouth water for more is an experience to cherish!










Kanda Bhaji:
Onion fritters, one of the more popularly consumed Maharastrian dish. It commonly sold by vendors on every street in Mumbai / Pune. Sitting in your car that is parked near the kanda bhaji vendor with the sound of rain on your car roof, rain water on your wind-screen and eating piping hot kanda bhaji with green chillies and tea is a typical Puneri style of welcoming the rains












Wada Pav:
This is a popular veg fast food dish native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. It consists of a deep fried potato-onion-ginger-garlic-coriander cutlet sandwiched between two slices of a bread. This is the poor Indian man's McDonald's burger. Standing under the makeshift roof of a wada-pav vendor to shield from the rains and savoring a bite of the spicy hot wada pav makes the reveller sing - ta da da ta da - I'm lovin' it!











Khadakwasla dam:
Khadakwasla is a small calm and quiet place which is situated 20 km from Pune. This dam is one of the main sources of water for the city of Pune. Synonymous with rains, a trip to Khadakwasla is a must during every monsoon. Eating the bhutta (corn), sipping tea, walking barefoot on the mud, playing in the water - is a perfect way to spend an evening during the monsoons.












Drive on the Mumbai-Pune expressway:
The expressway is India's first six-lane concrete, high-speed, access controlled tolled expressway. It spans a distance of 93 km (58 miles) connecting Mumbai and Pune. Driving on the expressway after driving on the pot-holed roads of Pune during rains is a big relief and a welcome change!













Treks:
Various treks are organized to the forts built by the Peshwas - Sinhagad, Torna, Pratapgad, Rajmachi, Rajgadh, etc. The trek to the top of a fort during the rainy season with your friends is an ideal way to spend a rainy weekend.

Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani-Mapro Farms:
Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani are famous hill stations near Pune well known for their strawberries. Mapro farms in Panchgani is an ideal place to spend a couple of hours with friends to have cheese-burst pizzas / cheese laden sandwiches and strawberry with fresh cream ... slurrp! Sitting at a corner table at Mapro's that overlooks the pristine green valley and catching up with friends is a perfect way to unwind the week's hectic schedule.











These are some of the things I love about Pune during the monsoons. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I shall enjoy doing them :) I would also appreciate if you add your own list of things that you like about Pune in the monsoons!

Cheers!

A visit to DAKC

People who know me well, know that I idolize Dhirubhai Ambani as a businessman. In fact, it wouldn't be wrong to say that I worship him! Whenever I read or think about him, I always get an inspiration to become an entrepreneur - after all, I am also a 'Gujju Vaniya' like him.

When my boss gave me an opportunity to go to Reliance Infrastructure for some technical consulting required by Reliance, I jumped at the offer. I was really excited to go and work there for a week. My excitement could be compared to that of a small kid's who is taken to a 10 storey candy store and is asked to buy whatever he wants to.

I worked at a couple of Reliance offices meeting the technical managers at each office location. However, my most memorable visit was to Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge Center (DAKC) in Navi Mumbai. It has a sprawling campus of 140 acres with aesthetic glass buildings, fountains, sprinklers, lush greenery, colorful cafeterias, lots of other amenities and golf cabs to take you from one place to another.

The day I visited DAKC, there were light showers - no heavy rains, no drizzles - just perfect! The tranquility, greenery, rains and colors of nature around took me to a completely different world contrasted from the hot, humid, noisy, polluted Mumbai suburbs.

I have tried to capture some pics of the campus on my mobile with a 2 MP camera and 5x zoom. Because of a not so 'well endowed' camera, the pics haven't come out that great.. but still they are worth a dekko.


View from the Gate 1 Entrance.


The golf cabs waiting to drive you around the 140 acres campus.


A walk way to one of the blocks


View1 of the main building of Gate 1. The building bears Dhirubhai's famous motto - 'Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly'.


View 2 of the main building of Gate 1.


All roads in the campus are flanked by trees on both sides. The rains make the campus look even more beautiful.


One of the blocks in the campus. I guess this is the cafeteria.


A random cross road in the campus.


View from one of the windows in a meeting room. It was hard to concentrate while giving the presentation. The view outside was just breathtaking!


The whole campus has inspirational thoughts from Dhirubhai hosted on sign boards or light posts.

Ending with one of Dhirubhai's quotes:
"Growth has no limit. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it."

When did I grow up!?!?

Being the youngest in a family of 13 cousins was always a lot of fun. You get all the attention, you get the biggest piece of cake, elder bros and sisters shield you from your mother's beatings, you are the favorite of your grandparents, you get to enjoy in all your cousins' weddings and get away by not performing responsibilities since they are meant for the elders and the list continues...

So even when you are in your early 20s, you still feel like you are the youngest and you can get away from all responsibilities. You get a sudden wake-up call when you see some elder siblings tying the knot, some getting engaged and some stepping into parenthood! When your brother's son starts calling you 'Mihir kaka' and demands that you get him Mentos and M&M whenever you visit him, you are like wohhhooo.. " is he the son of my bro who used to buy me ice-creams and chocolates when I used to visit him during summer holidays as a kid. " Now doing the same for his son makes you wonder - "when did I grow up??!!"

When you take your sister's kid for the first time in your hand, you stop and wonder - "is she the kid of your very same sis with whom you fought vehemently as kids. Is she the same one against whom you ganged up with other cousins and made her cry!" Gosh! The emotions just gush through and you get a feeling of tranquility when the little one holds ur finger and stares at you with a smiling face. At moments like these you feel - "Yes, I have grown up!"

So, after a lot of self-denial, I came to terms with the fact that yes, I am no longer the youngest in the household. There are new entrants in the family who have added so much colour and vigor in our lives. I always look forward to being around my nephews and nieces. It's a beautiful feeling.

I am dedicating this post to welcome the new generation in my family. Attaching here are a few pics of the little ones!


Starting with the eldest,

Shlok - Milan bhai's son. He calls me Mihir Kaka.
Milan bhai and Shlok.

Aarav - Aarti's son. He can barely speak. But he'd call me Mihir mamu.
Aarav and Aarti.

Kyra - Komal's daughter. She's too young to call me anything yet, but I guess it's gonna be 'Mihma'
Kyra and Komal.

A new entrant to family is Krishna's daughter - Krisha!







Krishna and Krisha.

And finally, Kruti bhabhi delivered a beautiful baby girl - Kaea on 20th May. Here is a pic of Milan bhai and Kruti Bhabhi's 2 beautiful kids:
Kaea and Shlok

Thank you to all my brothers, sisters and their better halves for making me mamu / kaku. The family gatherings have just got livelier now!

Welcome dearest nephews and nieces! I love you all!

Jaago Re!

How many times have we chatted with our friends about the bad state of our roads ... how many times have we fumed over the untimely and long power cuts during summer ... how many times we wished we could do something to improve the current bad state ... but how many times have you thought that - 'I have not elected the leader of our constituency. but now let me elect my own leader and see if it makes a difference. when in school, I had the right and the privilege to elect my own class monitor, but now I don't consider it a privilege anymore to vote for somebody who will lead my constituency because I know it won't make a difference!' Yes perhaps you are right, not voting may not make a difference, but voting for and electing your leader _may_ make a difference. I mean, you have nothing to lose right? So what the heck, this time just vote and see if your vote counts and makes a difference!

To help you vote, jaagore.com has come up with one of the most fantastic websites I've ever come across. I think I can unarguably say that no Indian govt process is as effective as getting your name enrolled in the voter's list. The process is as simple as brushing your teeth:
Just logon to jaagore.com
fill up their form which would hardly take 3 minutes.
take 2 prints of the forms that are generated for you.
go to your nearest constituency and submit the form.
once done, you will be updated about your voting registration either online or through an SMS.

Has any Indian govt procedure been so simple?? So for those who haven't registered, please do like how I did today. At least appreciate the work done by passionate Indians who have given this movement the required momentum. Lighting candles is not the only way to bring a revolution... but voting is one way to bring a revolution.

So I am going to vote and elect the leader of my constituency. Hope you catch up with you in the voting queue on the D-day

Cheers!
Mihir

An evening on the race course ...

I frequently jog at the Pune Race Course ground to lose that extra flab ;) Today evening too I went to the race course. But, I was too lazy to jog today, so decided to stroll instead. The weather was just perfect - not too cold, not too hot, a pleasant breeze, a bit cloudy... To complement the setting, my iPod was loaded with soulful Rahman melodies, enchanting Rahul Sharma instrumentals and stirring Bryan Adams compositions. With the wind in my hair, sand under my feet, soul stirring music in my ears and a lot of unanswered questions in my head, I was all set to spend a Saturday evening on the Race Course.

I walked past a pretty plump girl strolling with her poodle, a teen couple muttering sweet nothings in each other's ears, a bunch of school kids playing foot ball, a toddler playfully running behind his dad to catch him, an old couple sitting on the bench, a hot girl jogging in her black spandex suit...

At the time of sunset, I stood at one side to marvel at nature's beauty when I saw the sky changing its hues. I have captured the pics below in my Nokia XpressMusic Phone with a 2.0 MP camera (so please excuse me for not-so-good quality pics)



















While walking along the race course, one cannot miss the beautiful St Patrick's cathedral :















The entire stretch of Race Course is about 2.4 kms.. it is roughly a circular ground. The outermost ring is for the horse races and there are two inner rings... the middle ring is an undulating ground suitable for walking and the innermost ring is covered with black sand and is suitable for jogging..




















While walking along the long, circular roads, the following thoughts came to my mind -
"Seems like I've been here before, can't remember when,
I get this funny feeling, we'll be together again!
No straight lines make up my life, all my roads have bends;
No clearcut beginnings; but thankfully, so far, no dead ends!"
















Well, I think, today evening, I just had a perfect date with myself!