8th Jan 2011!

My first attempt at any "Pravasvarnan".. Here it goes:

Let's start before the start: PREPARATONS

Bags packed, tiffin decided and I enter 8th Jan, 2011! Problem was that there was nothing to do, yet was wondering how would the coming day go.. and finally went to sleep at around 2:00 am.

THE DAY:

Finally, got ready early and called up Namita to check if the Thane ppl hv catched train. They'd reached Diva n so, the "QUICK OR U'LL MISS THE TRAIN" alarm went off in ma head! Namita's "We're already at Kalyan", (from Thakurli) added to my anxiety! Thankfully, I reached the platform well before the train.

Everyone inside the train (all from the group :P) welcomed me with smiles! Good sign! The first one to starttalking, as in, "gappa" was Aditi. Finding out who does wat and who is the PJ master in the grp and many oter characteristics of the ppl around took my time and we reached Karjat, when I still carried a bit of sleep in my eyes.

8:15 train from Karjat to Khopoli was when the real fun started for me, as I kinda bid goodbye to sleepand came to full fresh avatar. :) Pohe were appreciated and shengdane fan Aniket stole them all :P! Melody itnichocolaty kyun hai dunno, bt thanks to Jasraj for d choclate. Sort of Shubharabh n Good Signs square!

Jumping to the Khopoli stn now: Railways, that too, a stationery train is a great found for photofreaks! Evidence: Photos with the grinning train! :D

A 10 min walk from the stn to the Ashram lasted for around 25min, due to photos, comments, talks and Kunal's confusion abt the road to proceed on. :P The Ashram ws quite a sight! Mandir, trees surrounding it, tiled angan, and a huge room! Suraj sir welcomed us and we were thinking, "He is not Kelkar sir na!" coz he had introduced us with himself as an instructor. Keeping the thoughts aside, we quickly got fresh. Anuja n Devashree suggested that I stay for the night fun n I surprisingly got permission from Mum! A short trek to reach the site was acconpanied by some of us explaining why not to wear shorts during a trek. :D

Reaching the site, was a time to say "Wow!" at the start. Realising that we have to climb n come down here, 60-70 ft rock, was when "Wow!" transformed in "Oh-Ohhh!" :P The warm welcome by Kelkar sir'steam, their intro, our intro, humble prayer to the Deva Maharaja, took a few mins and then came the Demonstration. I'm telling u, watching the demo of climbing and rappling was the onlyand most easy part of the day! :P It sounds so "work of coordination and confidence" when only Kelkar sir demonstratesthe activity. It's the "OK, my mind and eyes and ears and limbs do NOT coordinate so easily" realisation when u actually perform the task. :D Lesson no 1: Experience counts, Man!

One by one, we perform the climbing and rappling (rock swimming and falling-safely hitting the cock) activities. "Marketting came down while Finance climbed up. Lefty ppl got rid of the confusion abt left and right. And Thanks to Nama, we know that 'padaycha nahiye' :P". Learning to climb by pulling ur body on hands and keeping ur feet straight while rappling down, This is the most disastrous and tricky part, where u get to learn a lot of modesty and responsibility of handling ur head and feet and body at the same time and realising that the universe does conspire to make u win, bt u can't do nything if the universe doesn't. :) Thankfully no monkeys dropped rocks on us (although, Devashree did their job :P) and we all wer sound, as the Outdoor Adventures team had taken care of our safety. :)

My jevan was at Zenieth company canteen with Kelkar sir and team, their experiences and exciting stories (including Pranav getting a sore eye during Abhadhubhi) were amazing and I don't even remember when exactly I forgot calories and ate around 7-8 purya n bhaat!!

Well, here we again went to the site, secured shadows to sit, took photos of those who were climbing and those who were just sitting :P Returning to Ashram after everyone's turn was taken in discussion abt the mistakes during climbing, rappling, etc. Ashram had changed when we returned, as some college ppl were all over the place!!! Shock! Kelkar sir cleared the doubts with the coordnator there and we were told to adjust, leave our huge room and shift to a small one. The small one turned out to be dirtier one :(. Bt this happens and itna fark nahi padta when u r enjoying. Everyone freshened up and the round table-less conference washeld to decide which game to play- starting with chimney uud, crow uud and ending at "treasure hunt". With boredome of "Hot or Cool" signalling and sreaching the lip-balm ehich was our treasure, we stopped playing this game as the "feel" started to go off :P

Aha! Then we saw the Kelkar sir's team adjusting the ropes on trees and after a few ailed guesses, we came to know that our next activity is rope-balancing. :) Lagli waat was 1st reaction! bt after the demo, and a few boys'turn, I got the confidence to try out. The problem wasthat had thought the tree to which the rope in our hand is ted is stationery, that's why I exclaimed, "He Zaad Haaltay! :( " and every1 burst out laughing. Aditi, tried rope-balancing blindfolded! I don't have any on, yet, Hatts Off to Aditi!

Well the next part will be published later, as of now, enjoy reading this and revisitting the memories till here! :D :) IfI'vemissed something, I'll add it too in d next part. Cheers! :)