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!

The Return of the Shah...

Wassa fellow bloggers!?

It's been quite a long time since I posted something on this blog. It had been rusting in peace. So finally on a sleepless night, I thought let me get back to my long abandoned hobby - blogging. Inspite of know I need to get up at 5.00 am tomorrow morning to leave for Mumbai, here I am, providing fodder for thought :)

So what have I been upto in the last 2 years? The last 2 years have been great. Made some long-lasting friendships at my work place. Work has been truly satisfying - did some innovation, customer assignments, travelled for work to China, US and other parts of the country, mentored interns during the summer project, got promoted, learnt pool, lost weight, met some fabulous individuals and much more! In a nutshell, work kept me busy. I travelled to quite a few places - Beijing, New York, Hawthorne, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, went on a pilgrimage to
Vaishnodevi. You can see my travel pics here. Explored all the popular night clubs in Pune, tasted and learnt quite a lot about various cuisines and alcohol and ofcourse have compiled a list of personal favorites. Not to forget, my pursuit to pursue further education also continued - giving exams, studying for them, applying, getting interviewed, getting rejected, getting back to square one and starting the whole process again. All that kept me busy.

So, all in all, that's a summary of what I have been through in the last 2 years. I've had a great time so far. But in the process, I neglected my favorite hobby - blogging. Everytime, I used to sit and think about writing a post, I would end up talking on the phone, watching 'How I met your Mother' or 'Friends' or 'Prison Break' or 'Comedy Circus' or some random stuff on TV, trying my hand at making some pasta or paneer or biryani, taking a jog around the race course or plainly staring at the ceiling! But now I am back in the business and would try to blog regularly.

Cheers!
MiSh

Happy Being the only Child? Think Again...

Being the only child sans any siblings always had its advantages and disadvantages. Advantages, of course, were
that there was no need to share any damn thing on this earth that someone gives you. Everything was just mine.
There was no need to impress and flatter parents or elders for that matter to be their favourite, unlike in school where one
has to try to flatter the teacher to be her "pet".

But today when I look back, I think that the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages. The selfish and self-centered
individual is delighted at the thought of not having to share anything, but I am someone far from that. There were so
many moments where I missed the company of an elder brother. I used to be really jealous of my friends who had
elder brothers who used to dote on them. I could never experience the pleasure of growing up with an elder brother
who makes the kid brother more mature than his age. I never got the opportunity of hanging around and partying with
friends of elder bros. Apart from that, the shell that an elder brother builds around his kid bro, who means the world to
him, was always missing in my case. During my growing up days, I was baffled with a lot of problems which I thought meant the world to me. But today they seem highly trivial to me. I desperately needed someone with whom I could talk to and find a solution to them. Friends of course were the only choice for me, but your aged people could never give a good solution. The solutions I got were highly immature and today when I think of them, I am broken into bouts of laughter!!! I needed someone who was elder to me and
who had gone through a similar phase earlier. Parents, for sure, could never be approached. Situations like these make you
feel the void in your life, which can be filled only with the presence of an elder sibling.

Elder sisters are definitely more organised and they demand more discipline from the brother. They play the role of
your mother in her absence. I always thought sharing a room with an elder sister would be a nightmare, what with she always
wanting the room to be spotless, no pencil shavings on the ground, the bedsheet should be tightly pulled when you get up
from the bed, the toilet seat should not be left up after using it, the mirror should not have dried water spots on it, the soft
board should be covered with dainty feminine stuff,....phew!!! But I think an elder sister gives you a peek into the psyche
of a girl whom you might like. Knowing what girls like, always makes you more approachable, more likeable and more
popular among the fairer sex. Belonging to a boy's school, I learnt this things quite late in life, but I did learn them successfully!!
Though sisters threaten to complain at every move of yours, they do conceal you from those dreaded beatings. But the pain
when she leaves you after marrying, again leaves that void which is quite deep. You then always long for those nagging
comments from your sister which were the reasons for major quarrels. Inside your heart you know, that will never happen
for the rest of your life.

But I must say I have been successful in building an amazing support system around myself with my cousins to whom I am no
less dearer than their own siblings and friends who have been more than brothers to me. But still the feeling of having someone
with you 24/7 while growing up was never destined to be a part of my memories....