Malshej

Place: Malshej
By: Car
Time: 3.5 hrs to Malshej , 5 hrs back to Mumbai
Distance: 150km
To See: Flamingoes that flew away to the south of India before we arrived, 1000Rs a night at the resorts (MTDC is the only one there, the other is not worth mentioning)
But what we saw and are glad: Huge lake, walk through the fields, waterfalls along the way – several, ghar ka khana at MTDC – I wonder why the so many negative reviews on the net about this, maybe we ordered right
Bonus: The chai on the road…

Malshej ..did not know such a beautiful place existed as close to Mumbai as 150km away. It was a beautiful Saturday morning drive to this place. Getting out on weekends on a long drive after a restful sleep (read sleep until 8.30 am and not waking up in the wee hours of dawn for a leisure trip) is a different bliss altogether. The joltless travel on the Eastern Express highway have already been mentioned, hence won’t dwell on them. NH222, the state highway to Malshej is no less. Other tourists and truck drivers have not discovered it as yet, and that makes it a double whammy. The entire 3 hr (ok, a little more) journey up the ghat was very pleasant, with lush green fields on either side, blessed weather with overcast clouds, yet sufficiently bright and not at all sunny. Cakes and ‘Indian’ cookies and juice and butter crispies and biscuits more than made up instead of a greasy breakfast, saved us precious hours from a halt as well. The drive up the ghat did not seem strenuous either, though we did have our moments of adventure..what with a big waterfall gush dropping over our car bonnet all of a sudden from a jutting rock, and blinding us momentarily. Several streams and waterfalls along the way…crowdless stops at these points…drizzles…light weather without the sun squinting your eye…and an even more delightfully simple lunch at the MTDC resort were the highs. We did know about the Harishchandraghat fort (highest fort cum adventure trek in the area), and the Pimpalgaon dam with the flamingoes..but we were more than happy walking through the fields to see the lake than trek to these places which the resort guy adequately warned us could be slippery/crowded/closed In any case, a board that proclaimed to know all about the region, did mention that the flamingoes and the other birds have indeed gone south this time of the year..so we would not have missed any. The only thing I would not want to talk about in this trip is the return to Mumbai at 6pm..another 3 hrs across powai!!

Copy Cat…Elephant I mean

Found this on AB’s blog, and thought it was a good pic..or reflection of lights?

Hard’ly’ working

I wanted to help the HR in my organization understand what drives one to boredom at work, I wanted to kill time at office, I wanted to fill blog space, I wanted to start off my research direction for a future phd that I might want to do some day, I wanted to increase the hits on my blog, I wanted to… ok I dunno why I designed the following questionnaire.

1.What makes you feel more bored at work?
a. Lack of work
b. Office Chat tool not working
c. Regular chat/gossip buddies in office suddenly busy or on leave

2. How do you tackle boredom at work?
a· Write blogs
b· Browse aimlessly
c· Attempt to break the firewall to access mailbox/social networking sites

3. Do any of the following make you feel happy that you have tackled the boredem’on’ for atleast a short while?
a· Long Breakfast/Lunch breaks
b· Several tea breaks
c· Offering unsolicited career advice

4. Which delights you more after a boring day at work?
a· The clock ticking to 6pm and the feeling that 1 more boring day spent successfully
b· Early day off from work for some shopping
c· Elated at having re established phone contacts through the day

5. Who do you think is competition to you on the “most bored yearly golden globe” award in your organization?
a· Your boss
b· Your reportee
c· Noone, I am the undisputed winner

P.s. I am doing a psycho analysis course from this Who must not be named university in Neverland. If you send me the answers to the above questions, will get back to you on your personality type. Allow sufficient time for process delays.

Marking attendance on the blog

Have been missing from the blog space for a while. Finished a lot of books in the meantime, caught up on all the new releases in Bollywood, climbed up the ladder on house – mis – management, and passed out with flying colours in the post graduate course in boredom and its side effects.

Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooqui
It is an insane, but delightful novel. As the theme suggests, “Why is deceit so delicious”, I seemed to like the twists in the story on who cheats on whom. Well, they moralize everything in the end, and say it is not cheating in relationships, but keeping oneself alive by finding meaningful solace elsewhere. American Beauty in literary form.

Almost single by Advaita Kala
Great read! After a long time, something to read that is so much next door, on your face, or even perhaps, your own reflection in the mirror. Forget the plot, the route the story takes that is so plain predictable…just the witty writing even in self deprecatory tone makes it an interesting read. Recommend it to anybody looking for an insight into the Indian cosmopolitan woman’s mind..move aside Bridget Jones..here’s our very own desi take on Sex and the City and the woman bitchiness.

Above Average by Amitav Ghosh
Chetan Bhagat has inspire quite a lot of wannabes, and this book is just that. A wannabe trying to cash in on the IIT fame, and adding the Delhi spice in an attempt to write a novel. Surds and rock stars may be the flavour of the season, but the book just doesn’t cut ice in terms of refreshing writing, or plot or character build up. All the same, a light read after an incredibly lighter day at office. Flawless language and bigger font make up for the lack of anything new in the book.

Now reading : IIM Ganjdundwara by Rohithari Raja – > Now don’t ask me why I pick up these books.