Mt. Baner

The sun was beating down and so were our spirits. We needed some shade some cool some fun. It happened, the clouds went berserk and the blue sky cast grey. The weather was beautiful and the usual timeout at our local tapri did not work the magic. The little hillock stood sweet in the cool shade and we knew what was needed- a little small hike up the Tekdi, affectionately called "Mt. Baner".

Piyush, Sanjay Mandar and myself took the usual road to the base of the hill. This time around, I wanted them to experience the steeper way up. So we took it. Not having exercised for days the climb did mandate a couple of halts. But the tiredness really did not matter as much, since the dark clouds and chill breeze kept the spirits high. Soon we were atop the hill and then made a quick ascent to the little hillock atop to the mandir (temple).

The views were stupendous. A dark cloud the size of Pune city above us, broken off along the periphery lashing water at the distance. The ranges holding Sinhagad and Torna were hidden far back. A quick breather and off we got with the property and money talk.. blah blah blah. The consistent breeze and freshness in the air kept our spirits high, soon Piyush noticed the incoming rain and that had us take a quick descent.

This time around we took the simple route (South face as we call it :D ). Lots of talks and laughs and down we were contemplating for a wadapaav and some tea. Had a lot of it Rohit wadewalle before making a dash back to the little 4x3 pen.

A couple of days later Amit did the magic talk and off we dash-ed to Mt. Baner. It was a quick quick ascent (steep route) and within the blink of an eye we were standing next to the little mandir. All was the same except the weather. It was not cool and cloudy it was wonderful clear skies with the fresh breeze.

Dusk was soon to fall and we decided to take a path that led to the hillock in the distance. Walked some distance and noticed that many trees had been planted along the hillside. Go Green was doing some awesome work atop these gentle slopes. Soon we stopped partway and decided to take in the beautiful golden sun as it set far behind the mountains. Amit pointed out to various buildings and upcoming projects down in the valley and quoted their prices... the market is improving or so he said. Well we loved the view, and we enjoyed it. The distant views of Balewadi Hinjewadi to Sus and many other areas were simply beautiful. Pune has grown.. its huge.

The atmosphere turned golden as the huge orange ball lost itself behind the mountain. We had to head back before dark. This time we descended the steep route and soon were at the base and trotted back to office for fresh snacks.

The tekdi/Mt.Baner is a wonderful gym for nature enthusiasts. Like Amit put it "muscles wagere kahi nahi re.. stamina ahe stamina... biceps wallyana race lavayla saang aplya barober ani kasse phattete bag tyanchi ... " before narrating a story how he easily trotted off ahead against a fit muscle man to the top of Mt. Baner!

99

Yesterday for reasons ... 1) being a friday 2) long time since we had seen anything new on the movie scene 3) my wife being a movie buff herself 4) no new movies being released in a long time and 5) a new comical '99' was slated for release on that day- the tickets were booked at premium levels starting 8:31pm at the square with a big E.

Knowing not what to expect and run with no expectations is the best way to enjoy the onslaught is what I was taught by one of my good friends some donkey years ago. It proved wonderful! The movie got us in splits at regular intervals... story. Ummm... no not a big deal really, but execution and comedy, oh yess a lot of it! We thoroughly enjoyed every premium level of that ticket.

Movie done with popcorns and tasteless coffee, decided to ride down to some restaurant at ~11 in the night. Lots of hunting later landed at "Punjabi Tadka" near Chandni Chowk. An empty restaurant with wonderful ambiance and khatiya/indian-baithak style seating with the typical mindblowing makke-di-rotii te sarsoon da saag with mega sized chaanch te lassi was perfect for ending the night.... but no so with the already full-ourselves. Forcing the grub down was a fun event in itself with the shadow of sleep looming low over our heads. ~12:15am we full-bellied-selves decide to call it a night.

An annn... not so soon. I keep getting my urges as wify dear stated she was not feeling too sleepy. So decided to ride down all the way to Khadakwasala dam at 1am :). Wonderful. The ride was enough to let the sleep gods get the better of us as we lazily rode past the dam and just gave it a a few hevy glances as we rode back home.

Day ended the next morning - was it 2am? What did we take away from the movie... "Dimple...."