Road trips

It's been a good period for me as far as travel is concerned. I visited Goa last month. It was my third trip to Goa, so the destination was not something I was looking forward to visit, but it was a road trip, and I love road trips especially during monsoons when the roads look more beautiful with various shades of green all around them.

I was with two more friends in our car, a lady driving. So all those who think that ladies cannot drive should meet my friend. It was one of the best roads trips for me for various reasons - I have rarely travelled on ghats during monsoon. Lonavala trips no longer fall in the road trip category as thanks to the Express way, you don't get to enjoy the ghat section. But the roads are beautiful nevertheless. And I did visit Lonavala using the ghat route as it was a bike ride. But more on that, later in the post.

Coming back to the Goa trip, while going to Goa, we took the old goa route. It was a single lane road at most of the places. I have travelled on that road a lot of times for business trips to various parts of Raigad. But this time, I got to travel through the ghats after a long time. Thanks to Monsoons, we not only came across lush greens all over, but even a few waterfalls. Here are some images:

Road to Goa - one of the best patches that we drove on.

Waterfalls en-route Goa.

Goa stay was very relaxing too. I was resting most of the times. The resort was beautiful. It had a private beach and other amenities that you would prefer when you go for a vacation to rest. While coming back, we took the Kolhapur route. It had only one ghat - Amboli ghat. Rest of the route was express way. But those twenty minutes on Amboli ghat left me with unforgettable memories of the ghat.

This was the road that we drove on for twenty odd minutes. There were some 25 odd waterfalls on this ghat.

Another trip was to Lonavala by bike. Again, it's a different fun to travel on ghats on a bike and in a car. You cannot compare both the experiences. I don't click much when I travel as I prefer to enjoy the journey more than capturing the memories. I like the memories more in my head. But I do have a few pictures of that trip, one of them is going to be my favourite for quite some time after the one I posted above.

You can see me too in the mirror. This was the road for sixty to eighty kilometers one way. While returning, it was pouring. Again it's a different fun to get drenched in rains when you travel by car and by bike.

Yesterday I went to Kolad for river rafting. That was one great experience too. One of the best outdoor activities I have done. But more on that, some other time.

Good life, huh?

About Passion

One of the most difficult questions for me to answer has to be - "What are you passionate about?". I start thinking about my life from the beginning, things I enjoyed doing, things I overdid at times, got bored and moved on. But there has not been a single thing I can do anytime and anyhow. Many people have some passion in life, and at times more than one. People are passionate about adventurous activities, music, painting, riding, photography, travelling and hundred other things.

But don't these passions restrict you? Say if you are passionate about one thing, then in your free time you will prefer to do only that thing. You may not even explore other things. Your concentration will be solely on the ride, or photography. You may not randomly take a halt at the place and for a change not click any pictures, but capture the feel in your mind. It may be a totally non-photographic location, but you may miss out on its beauty as you were looking for one all along. But well, photography makes you happy thus it may not be a loss to you.

Anyway this passion thing is beyond me. I fail to understand how someone can do the same thing again and again. And when I read about passion, I think others think that I am foolish not to have one. Like this quote by E. M. Forster that says. "One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested." And Hugh Hefner said, "I didn't want to repeat my parents' life. I saw in their lives a routine and a lack of dreaming, a lack of the possibilities, a lack of passion. And I didn't want to live without passion."

I somehow do not believe that you have no life if you do not have any passion. Lack of it gives you more opportunities to try out other things more frequently. Or so I think. I love travelling as much as I enjoy photography. But I forget to click when I see a breathtaking location. At times we decide to go for a drive to a far away destination, but end up spending time at a dhaaba and come back. We decide to go for treks and river rafting but we end up spending our time elsewhere. And these experiences are usually more memorable.

In a way if you see, I am passionate about randomness. Or maybe passion and random are oxymoron. Who cares so far as it keeps me going. And when you are blessed with like-minded people, these things become ten times more enjoyable. Lack of passion becomes a blessing. We make a plan and leave within hours. And that plan is not only about our passion. It can be something as silly as a house party or some drive on ghats during monsoon. There are days I spend working without any holiday, and there are hours I spend reading books. And some days I spend doing nothing. I have tried my hands at painting, music - singing as well as playing instruments, dancing, acting in plays, writing scripts and what not. And I am grateful that I never found a passion, or I may not have known so many things.

Whoever said that people who lack passion don't have a life. I bet these scholars would have been sober when they wrote these quotes.

Comment

"Love is never logical..feelings aren't logical..We don't even realize sometimes what someone means to us..You realize the effect that person has on you when a single line written by him makes you cry. Again and again. Whenever you read it..It's strange, impractical, unreal, almost impossible; still existent."

I left these lines as a comment on one of the posts written by Guria. I happened to read the post and my comment there again. At times, such things help you realize how you felt a few months back when you were in a similar situation like now. How did you handle it, how did you vent out. It's as good as reading your old posts.

It has happened in the past too when comments became posts. When I have something substantial to add to a post, I write a comment that is longer than the post. At times I write the whole post on that topic. Blogging helps you think. It makes you look for logic beyond your usual understanding. It doesn't really make you a writer, but it makes you as good as one.

Thus, write what you feel like. Whatever you feel like. Without bothering about being judged or ridiculed. It will help you know and understand yourself better. It doesn't matter how often you write, but if you are regular, it is definitely going to help you more.

Philosophy! Sigh!

The great fall

I miss this place. Blogging, reading, commenting, ignoring, whining, ranting, cribbing, bitching - everything. I have not seen the dashboard properly in days. Earlier I read blogs on phone, but now even that's not happening. There is no motivation as such to blog as life is very much normal. I am not too scared to lose my readers too as I don't have many left. And after this long break and not reading others, I may lose the remaining readers too. Sigh!

Like I said, life is too normal. Well at least it was until three days ago when the great fall happened. On Friday evening, I met a very close friend for dinner. We had awesome Malvani Food for dinner and then went to Bandra bandstand. Now, thanks to the kind of alcohol mixture that happened post dinner and the sea breeze playing its part too, I went on the rocks to check whether it was too slippery to go near the sea.

I had a heavy bag on my shoulder and in that tipsy and trance mode, I reached the first rock half way and slipped. It didn't do any major harm, but I am bedridden thanks to the stiff back and shoulders. What a way to spend the weekend. It was a pretty funny scene for people around me at that time. We continued drinking even after that and one friend got totally sloshed. She created a huge scene in a mall. Way too embarrassing to even mention here.

But at the end of it all, including the fall, we realized that we did have a lot of fun. It's that feeling of forgetting whatever shit you did last evening, behaving like a bunch of crazy teenage girls, singing our lungs out, how you realize who your true friends are when they stand by you without facing any embarrassment - it's priceless. No this isn't the first time that I did such a crazy thing, but this is certainly the first time after reaching and crossing mid 20s and now I am almost 30. It feels unusual, weird and even embarrassing to an extent, but fun.

Now that I am kind of bedridden, all my friends are coming home to meet me. One even gifted a Glucon D packet as I am unwell. Yesterday they took me out for lunch and then movie, took care of me, pampered me. Everyone has been asking me how I am feeling - ah I feel important all of a sudden.

At times attention, weirdness and embarrassment feel so good!

Don't call me!

Last few days have been weird. It's one of those phases where you have a lot of work, but you lack concentration due to various reasons. I have a lot of work in hand, but I end up doing just 30% of it by the end of the day. And I work all night right before the deadline. I am kind of used to working this way - finish a draft in one day, or review it and edit it within five hours and such.

But this time around, it's different. I am not able to work at all. Drafting a document seems like a huge task. Blame it on the gloomy weather or just laziness - work is not happening. And that's not a good sign. When you ain't able to do the very thing that keeps you sane, you are in trouble my dear friend.

Blogging is not happening either. I forget to log in here. When someone asks something or talks about blogs, I remember this space. I have not read any blogs in a long time. Looks like I am turning old. Life hacks I tell you.

And I have realized a weird problem that I have. I don't like talking on the phone. I am a very talkative person otherwise. I can talk all my life and still don't lack topics to talk about. But when it comes to talking on phone, especially those random useless talks when someone calls you up casually. Ugh, it's pathetic. How can people talk for hours with someone is totally beyond me!

Even today, when someone calls me up and if that happens to be the first call to me from that person, it takes me some time to answer the phone. I become very nervous. And that's so unlike me! I cannot talk to people casually. Thankfully most of my friends know that. When I call up someone, I say directly why I called. I cannot initiate small talks. Thus I prefer to talk in person or on messenger so that I can work too simultaneously. But talking or chatting on phone would be the last thing I would do.

I can handle client calls, at times they last for 30 40 minutes to an hour, or more. But it involves work. I don't have to ask them how are their children or what did they have for dinner. I can talk about law and work all the time. Again, I prefer it in a personal meeting rather than on phone, but well, that's not possible always.

There is no special term for this phobia. It's just called phone phobia. People do have it. It's not uncommon or unheard of, but not too common nevertheless. And I cannot say that I am phobic. I can comfortably talk to the person after two to three conversations with him/her. Talking becomes easier after meeting the person.

Anyway, people waste time on phone. It's the worst possession that I have. People abuse it, and misuse it. Your problem really, just don't give me a casual call and talk just to pass time or to know how many times I ate through the day. Let's meet and treat me for lunch/dinner instead. Thank you very much!