Anna's Warriors

There’s no denying the fact that it’s the inspirational leadership of Anna Hazare and tactical insight of his team that coerced the parliament to agree to the three contentious issues of Jan Lokpal bill ‘in principle’. However, we can’t credit less the contribution of millions of ‘foot soldiers’ across the country who took to the streets in support of this 74 year old Gandhian and wrote history in the process.
At Ramlila grounds, I interviewed a lot of people and every story had its own flavour but some stories simply stood out.

The beauty of this movement was that to be Anna’s warrior, strength of your soul took precedence over strength of your body which was clearly demonstrated by Mr Manoj Dawar, an entrepreneur who owns a Gym and a Salon in Delhi. He has spent half of his life on a wheel chair, thanks to a Spinal Cord injury in an accident 22 years back but that didn’t stop him from coming to Ramlila Grounds and articulating his opinion. “Why is the govt. shying away from an open debate? Let intellectuals and experts discuss on the bill and if Jan Lokpal provides the solution to the rampant corruption, why not?” he suggested.

Meet Chaand Singh, Driver with a company that works under contract with MCD. His job was to pick the huge dustbins overflowing with litter installed throughout the ground in his truck and replace them with fresh ones. I asked him how different he finds his work at Ramlila Grounds compared to other days. He responded, “yeh to Janseva hai” (this is public service). When I inquired if it’s not “janseva” other days, he quipped, “aur din to hum pi ke pade rahte hain” (on other days, we just Drink and while away our time)! That was one of the most honest acknowledgements I had ever heard. He further added that “generally, we call it a day after 6-7 rounds but today, we are working since morning, must have picked 15-20 dustbins and it’s still going on”. It was 3PM already!

Chaand Singh’s helper, Raju, told me that he and his colleagues live in a house provided by the company, if that can be called a “house”. It has no bedding, no electricity, no drinking water and no washroom facility! “It’s like pigs living in a shed”, Chaand Singh intervened with an analogy. “We have to buy pouches of water to drink. We hardly save anything and to add insult to injury, company doesn’t pay us our legitimate wages and we don't get any receipt of our Provident Fund deductions”. I felt that if anyone needs Janlokpal badly, it’s these guys.

Now let’s meet Mrs Tarika Ekka, mother of two from Chattisgarh who took a week off from her work and family responsibilities to support Anna. Her family was under the impression that she was heading to Jabalpur till she reached New Delhi along with her brother and informed them. “They wouldn’t have let me come otherwise” she clarified. A victim of corruption herself in Police dept., Administration and judiciary, she had jotted down her thoughts in a letter addressed to Anna Hazare.

Anna didn’t only wake up the Indians but he captured the imagination of people around the world. One such couple was Stef Van Hulst and Pebby Werring from Holland who were holidaying in Nepal when they saw the news about Anna’s protest. Without further ado, they flew down to Ramlila grounds to show their support to Anna and witness this historic moment. In their peculiar accent they said, “This movement is very important for the history of India”. They left the ground in the evening while waving to Anna to fly back to Kathmandu.

Sachin Gupta(third from left) with his’water’ team at Ramlila grounds.

Photo courtesy: Kapil Syal

If there was one thing that was most sought after at Ramlila grounds, after Anna Hazare, it was water. And to provide it to hundreds of thousands of people coming there every hour was a daunting task in itself. Sachin Gupta, a businessman, took up that challenge and executed it with finesse. He and his team of volunteers built everything from scratch including a warehouse and distribution counters. “Getting clearances from the police to let the supply vans enter every time is very frustrating” he said. Sachin, who has also worked in US as a software engineer, said,“ I have met a lot of influential people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton etc. but if there’s one person to whom I can give my Soul, that’s Anna”.

While Anna was fasting, his supporters certainly needed to keep their energy levels high. Mr Tikayam Chauhan and many others like him were ensuring this with their Free Food Stalls which they very appropriately named as “Anna Ki Rasoi” (Anna’s Kitchen). The food was simple yet delicious and their service with a smile made it tastier. When Asked till what time they serve the food, “as long as the people come”, was his response. But the high point of the conversation came when I asked who was sponsoring the food; he unequivocally said – “ANNA” – and refused to mention the name of his trust/NGO. That was a sweet surprise in this publicity hungry world. May be it was “Anna Effect”.

(from left) Kanishka cheers while Simran and Iqra offers Anna Coconut water & Honey.

Image Courtesy- AP photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh

Among all these grown ups, there was this little soldier of Anna who was second to none in her enthusiasm. What set her apart was her charismatic smile and indefatigable spirit. Seven year old kanishka is a class two student and was consistently present at the grounds along with her mother. She would wave the Tricolor for hours at a stretch while donning the “I am Anna” cap. Even Anna Hazare couldn’t resist himself from waving to her. She was one of the three little girls present on the stage who helped Anna to break his 13 day marathon fast on 28th August.

Janlokpal Zamin Par !

We realized what ‘working on the ground’ really means when we went to the Villages of Faridabad district to create awareness about Jan Lokpal bill and rope in their support for Anna ji when he rekindle the ‘Satyagrah’ on 16th August.  

It was the idea of Rajiv sir and Shriom and I was a late entrant (infact, a replacement! ). It was an impromptu trip, i.e., we didn’t have any idea of the villages we would be visiting; we just went with the flow. We used to ask on a divergence – “bhaisaab, is road pe kaun kaun se gaon padte hain”?

We covered a lot of villages which, in the first look didn’t look like villages at all. Some of the houses were palatial bunglows, giving tough competition to thier Sainik Farms counterparts. They might lose out only because of the abysmal condition of roads (if they existed at all) !

Wherever we could find a village, we used to stop our car and go door to door giving Jan Lokpal Bill pamphlets typed in hindi. from a central point we used to diverge out in different direction and meet up again after covering that road to the maximum possible extent. I used to open up with "ummed karta hoon ki aapne Anna Hazare ji ke baare main suna hoga". I wasn't wrong either; more than 97% of the people gave an affirmation! Morning hours were quite good for this aproach as people were availabe at home and open to intrusion!

In afternoon hours, the probability of finding homes with open doors and people moving around only kept on reducing. Therefore we switched on to a different approach. After distributing pamphlets to people available in the small marketplace of a particular village, we would head towards the Sarpanch's house. There are 50-50 chances that you will be able to meet the Sarpanch.

Rajiv ji's experience came handy while persuading the Sarpanch to help us convey the message of Janlokpal bill to his/her villagers. there were primarily three ways in which he/she can do it -

a) distrbute the pamphlets among his people.

b) show the CD explaining Lan Lokpal bill in the next panchayat meeting.

c) sit along with his people on a satyagrah in his village to show solidarity with Anna ji on 16th August.

Now, obviously this approach has it's own merits and demerits.

It's very fast and focussed and if we succeed to get the support of sarpanch, an entire village can be mobilised at a short notice. However, it's easier said than done. Most of the sarpanches are politically aligned and its difficult for them to go against the party line irrespective of their personal openion. Also, the Palatial houses of most of the sarpanches were a clear indication of their seriousness for a strong anticorruption law like Jan Lokpal bill.

But, being optimists, we considered this apprach to be worth a shot.

Some of the names of the villages where we met/telephoned the sarpanchs are Chandawali, Mujhedi, Dayalpur, Attali, Muchhar, Budhena, Mothuka & Nangal. 

 It was a fantastic experience where we directly interacted with the people for whom this bill is meant. The people also fealt good about the fact that someone has come to get their involvement. 

I believe that this process can be improvised and replicated in other villages around Delhi or for that matter any group of Villages. Lets make small groups of volunteers who love meeting people and have no issues going to the outskirts of their cities. So if you got a Car or bike, just pick up some pamphlets and get going. If not, get hold of someone who has a car or bike! Lets educate the villagers about Jan Lokpal Bill and get thier support for Anna on 16th August. Because success is at the bottom of the pyramid !

The BABA BLACKOUT

There comes a moment in every man's life, however big strategists he may be, when LOGIC is taken over by PANIC. And Baba Ramdev is not an exception to this rule. Lets see how the Baba Blackout unfolded.

It was all going great. Baba had announced a pan-India "Bhrastachar mitao satyagrah" ( Corruption Eradication Movement) on 4 June and the government was tottering under that threat. Even the president of USA never received the kind of red carpet welcome that Baba got at the Delhi Airport. 4 Cabinet ministers came down kneeling to dissuade him from going ahead with the Satyagrah. Government budged to almost all his demands even before the fast began. Such was the bonhomie that the govt and Baba mutually signed a document declaring that we have come to a common ground on most demands and govt will act on them within 2 days and what will begin on 4 June will be a 'tap' (meditation) and not an Anshan (Protest).

Unfortunately, Baba never made this understanding with the government public. It was only during Kapil Sibbal's press conference that people came to know that such a thing has already taken place and aspersions of the fast being "fixed" started surfacing.

If Baba Ramdev had made that news Public before Kapil Sibbal, the credibility of Baba and his entire Anti-corruption campaign would have only increased. But he preferred to conceal the deal in order to keep the crowd engaged! He could have said - "although govt has agreed to most of our demands but we better sit here and see if they actually deliver on that considering their abysmal track record". I doubt anyone would have left after this honest address.

Now lets fast forward to 5th June, 1:30 AM when the brutal crackdown of the satyagrah happened at Ramlila Grounds. Delhi Police, whose slogan is - For you, with you, Always! (although they never clarified who the "you" is!),  stormed into the Pandal and mercilessly beat the people, including women, elderly and children, posing no threat whatsoever to anybody. It's a clear case of breach of 'Right to peaceful protest' given to us by the Constitution.

But what doesn't go down my gullet is - why did Baba run? and that too in woman's clothes. He shouldn't have. He should have stayed there like the Captain of the sinking Titanic irrespective of the consequences. And honestly speaking, the police wasn't there to kill him, they simply couldn't have done that; that's too big a risk to take by the state. At max, they could have arrested him and that would have only given a renewed vigour to his movement. A "Jail-bharo Aandolan" (Jail filling movement) could have spurred on his call and it's even beyond my imagination what form this movement would have taken then. BUTT...... and this one's bigger than J'Lo....here comes the ultimate BLACKOUT and instead of doing what everyone (including himself) expected from Ramdev, all he could do was flee only to be caught again.

One woman has lost her life in the process, several got seriously injured, while Baba is fighting against personal attacks and deteriorating health. The larger issue of corruption has been lost somewhere. However for BJP, this blackout has come with a silver lining, for it revived her political existence out of the blue! In one snap, the entire fight against corruption, hitherto a people's movement, has turned into a Political Mudslinging Festival.

A curious case of an FIR

They say "Change is the only constant" but I guess "Police" is one of those resilient institutions which have braved this demon fervidly. They have such archaic and repressive ways of functioning that sometimes its hard to believe that Delhi Police has a Facebook presence! there are practices which look logical on the surface but the rot becomes visible when you dig deeper.
To file an FIR is an ordeal in itself. But the chain of events that inspired me to do so is worth a read as well.

In the movie "Tring de basanti" Ameer Khan said, "Cycle chalane ke do hi tarike hote hain. Ek, jo hoot kar raha hai, use karne do, bardasht karte jao. Ya fir, zimmedari uthao usko sabak sikhane ki". (there are only two ways to cycle. One, turn a deaf ear to hooting or else retaliate !). On that fateful day I chose the 'Ameer Khan' way which landed me into a scuffle!

Without going into its details and blow my own trumpet here, It's sufficient to say that I managed, with the help of the crowd, to get out of the altercation with only scratches on my knee and elbow despite their number. (Actually, they cheated me, initially they were 2 but they called 4 more guys when one of them got his shoulder dislocated! oops..did i blow my own trumpet here !! :P)

when I approached a Nursing Home for a dressing in the Salman Khan avatar (yeh, my t-shirt was martyred!), their first question was "how did it happen?". I couldn't lie and THEY REFUSED TO ATTEND TO ME WITHOUT AN FIR!
Now, why the hell do you need an FIR to do a simple dressing. What difference would that make? Fortunately, I had only bruises but what if, I was seriously hurt and bleeding profusely? would they still wait for an FIR and destine me to bleed to death??

I wasn't that hurt that I couldn't cycle and therefore I continued with the plan of night-out at my friend's place. but all along the way, i was in a dilemma - to lodge an FIR or NOT !
Pros: that is the right thing to do.
Cons: I didn't know anything about them (not even their car no.), the FIR would hardly result into anything substantial,  there are higher chances of me getting implicated for causing physical damage to them !! ;)

You obviously know which thought won this duel and I found myself in the Police Station, Mayur Vihar. Their opening remarks: "this place (where the incident happened) doesn't come in our area. YOU HAVE TO REGISTER THE FIR IN THE POLICE STATION OF THAT AREA." It sounded to me like, " it seems like u have been quite lucky in getting out of the mess, u shd have given some opportunity to those guys to break something in your body as well. No issues, it's never too late. Do it now.".
Isn't is ridiculous and utterly insane to go into the same area where 6 mad dogs might be vying for your flesh which they missed out at first? Why can't they register my FIR and transfer it to the respective police station so that it can save the complainant from the hassles of finding the right police station and ending up in a hospital instead in the process!
But, I agreed to that as well, provided they give me an escort. They 'politely' refused this request citing the reason - "what will happen if a MURDER happens in our area?". I almost cracked up at that. Who says police can't be funny!!
However they agreed to escort me till the "Crime Scene" which helped me to trace my specs!

So my friends, in the end -
I couldn't file an FIR !
Got a hole drilled  into my pocket by a Doctor who billed me 400 bucks for a simple dressing!! (That did hurt me!)
Got my specs back after 3 days from a 'Momo'walla who was given their custody by an 'Auto'walla !
(HAPPY ENDING !)

Sariska – The land of Tigers

Scientists say that when you are travelling with the speed of light, the time slows down. But in my opinion, you don’t have to go that far, the time slows down when you Travel, irrespective of the speed! And this phenomenon of slowing down of time is directly proportional to the randomness of your trip, and the company of friends you are with!
It’s not a theoretical statement; it’s what I have practically experienced and if you are a traveler, I am sure you would agree.

The Plan was to visit Sariska Tiger Reserve in Alwar, Rajasthan. We were seven of which I knew only 2 in the beginning but that unfamiliarity vanished the moment “Magic Moments” was opened (I hope I need not elaborate on that!). The train dropped us at Alwar in the dead of the night. Athough initially we thought of spending the rest of the night at the station but unanimously trashed the idea and searched a budget hotel.  All our plans of goofing around the entire night were scrapped the moment we stretched ourselves on the bed!

The next morning we headed straight to Sariska Tiger Reserve. It was around an hour long bus journey from Alwar bus stand.  We hired an Open jeep and from there began our expedition to the Tiger Kingdom. But since we didn’t had a formal appointment, the king didn’t bother to meet us. But he was courteous enough to send his prime minister, Mr Leo Pard to welcome us!!! We bought batteries from a shop near a temple in the middle of the jungle which activated the dormant photographer in all of us. We clicked monkeys, Langurs, antelopes, foxes, birds, mountains, trees and what not.

Sariska is not a big forest so in 3-4 hours we were done with it. The next place on our list was Silised Lake. Unfortunately there wasn’t any public transport connecting the two places. But travelling golden rule 101 says that “if you can compromise on comfort you can reach anywhere in the world”. We adhered to this golden rule and took a lift in a truck loaded with gunny bags. Since there wasn’t enough space in the driver’s cabin, four of us sat on the top, over the gunny bags! The wind blows your mind away (literally!) and makes you practically deaf! The truck dropped us at a diversion from where the Lake was 4-5 KM ahead but we didn’t get 2nd time lucky and had to walk all the way! And I am glad that we did walk and enjoy the scenic beauty in a laid-back manner rather than zipping away. It’s the same difference as there is between sipping the wine and gulping the wine!

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Next>> Silised Lake - The territory of Crocs

Silised Lake - The territory of Crocs

Silised Lake is slightly elevated from the road so that you can't see the water till you are really close as if trying to maintain the suspense till the very end; something a reality show anchor does while announcing the name of the winner. But when you finally see it, you know it's worth it. It is a beautiful rain fed lake surrounded almost entirely by Aravali hills with a palace hotel touching the lake on three sides. The Boating facility is provided by the hotel at a fee of Rs 200 for 30 min. Without losing much time we hired two Pedal-boats.

The lake was so beautiful and water was so clear that my urge to swim in it only grew stronger with each pedal. But there were two things which were holding me back – a Notice which read “the lake has Crocodiles” and my friend Lokesh, who was hell bound not to let me swim. I could convince myself that it would not be that risky to swim for a while but to convince Lokesh was proving to be next to impossible. I kept losing my clothes while persuading loki but when I realized he is not gonna budge from his stand, I got up and dived in ! The water was very cold but I hardly felt it at that time; the adrenaline rush was so high! I started with back stroke but the further I was going from the boat the more insecure I was feeling; after all the warning on the notice board was also somewhere in my mind.

My reasoning was - even if there were few crocs; they wouldn’t be swimming right in the middle. In the afternoon they must be resting somewhere and it should take them more than 5 minutes to spot me and reach there! Therefore, at least for 5 minutes, I am safe. But reasons don’t work on heart and it was beating like crazy. Whatever time I was in water, I was anticipating a Jaw coming from somewhere! But when I started swimming back to my boat, it kept on receding away from me. I was wondering if my friends want me to remain in water till they get some real “entertainment”!!! Finally I touched base and raised my hands to express my elation! It was a great feeling and I am not that good a writer to be able to capture and express it through words.

By the time we finished our boating, the weather became windy. Huge waves developed in a hitherto came lake. Rains followed the wind and then the magic happened. We could witness two extremely beautiful rainbows, one over the other. If the order of colours (i.e. VIBGYOR or ROYGBIV) determines the gender of a rainbow then one was Male and the other was female and I don’t know who was on the top!!

We clicked a lot of photographs in the backdrop of the rainbows risking getting wet in the rain. The Nature’s spell was over soon but we were left spellbound! We had a hot coffee and some ‘pakoras’ at the rooftop restaurant of the palace and bade adieu to this magnificent lake. A gentleman helped us to reach the railway station within time (but at a price). The train was few minutes late and stuffed with people way beyond its capacity. Though we had confirmed tickets but for the next 3 stations we were hanging at the doors because we couldn’t swim across the 'human sea' between us and our seats! And when we finally reached our seats, they were already encroached and we had to sit on our own seats like guests!!

But as they say, nothing lasts forever and this roller-coaster weekend trip to Sariska also came to an end with the train reaching my station at 10PM in the night. Two of us got down there while the other five went on till Delhi Railway Station to extract the full value of their tickets!!!

Previous Post>> Sariska - The land of Tigers

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Goa Travel Diaries - Biking Expedition

After living all my life so far on land, I finally saw what covers ¾th of the Earth’s surface - Sea - in Goa. And also witnessed a very interesting phenomenon – Tides. Sometimes they are low and sometimes they are high. My Goa trip also happened in two phases- Awesome high tide n dramatic low tide.

The high tide phase was the “Goa Biking Expedition” days. Each day was a massive “wave” which hit me with its incredible force and drenched me completely. The low tide phase was the post biking days when I was on my own. But its low tide only in comparison to the biking days, otherwise it too had some amazing moments scattered in between.


Unlike most of my trips, which are impromptu, this one was well planned (??) and tickets were bought (not confirmed!) a month ahead. On the D-day I boarded my train at the 11th hour (do we have a better phrase than this cuz my train started moving 3 seconds after I boarded!). I was sleeping when my Station (Thivim) arrived. I wore my jacket, picked my bag and rushed to the door like a kid rushes out of the class when the recess bell goes off. The train started moving 3 seconds after!! I reached the base camp at Miramar, Panjim at 9:30 PM.

The biking group GB-5. (from left)- Lata, Vishnu, Dhruv, Suresh,
Archna, me, Somashekar, Dinesh, Asha, Kumudini & Pawan

Things started happening the next day when the group members got acquainted with each other.  11 Bikers – 4 from Mumbai, 3 from Bangalore, 2 from Hyderabad and 2 from Delhi – most of them riding geared bikes (Merida) for the first time!










Enough of flirting around..it’s time to take off the clothes….afterall the beach is calling and the Waves are coming!

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Next> wave 1: Into the blue

Wave 1: Into the Blue

(at the Base camp, Miramar)

Our camp was at the mouth of river Mandovi and the Miramar beach was just a kilometer from there. Though it’s one of the saddest beaches of Goa but if “virginity” meant “never been to a beach”, I lost my Virginity to Miramar beach and that’s why it’s special to me! It was literally a very bitter experience. The sea water kills all your taste buds the moment it goes in your mouth and for the next 10 minutes all you do is spit profusely n abuse yourself for drinking that poison in the first place.
Though I was in a Sea for the first time in my life; I went more than 500m into it. All the life guards, huddled together, were eagerly waiting for me to drown so that they can get into ‘action mode’ but alas; it wasn’t their day. Finally, the water level got too high and I started my return journey to the beach which seemed like an eternity.

at Miramar beach after i swam back those 500m.

Next> Wave 2: Beach, Bikes & Babes

Wave 2: Beach, Bike & Babes

(Miramar to Assolna)

in the ferry @ Donapaula

Ironically, we started our bike ride with a ferry (a boat) from Donapaula to get down at Margao port. We cycled on the mountains, in the valleys and then ……on the beaches.  Starting with Arrosim beach, one of the most peaceful beaches in South Goa and special to us for “classified” reasons, we cycled on the beach for almost 25 KM taking advantage of low tide. After a lot of cycling, photography and “bird-watching”, we reached Mobor Beach where we again took a ferry to cross a river for our camp – a football field! Although Alcohol was ‘Strictly’ prohibited but we just couldn’t help rejoicing in the “Spirit” of goa! We had Old Monk with Nimbooz in the middle of dew laden field with some dew falling straight on my head (cuz I got myself a new hairstyle as well, if going BALD is considered a ‘hairstyle’!)

Next> Wave 3: Swimwear Photoshoot

Wave 3: Swimwear Photoshoot

(Assolna to Netravali)

The beach-days were over but the Fun had only started to intensify. The bike ride with its steep uphill stretches was a real pain in the ass (literally!) but the ‘Welcome Drink’ at Netravali Camp vaporized all of it in a jiffy. Afterall it was a large coconut full of water, harvested rights from the tree. The white jelly-like ‘malai’ was the icing on the cake.

striking a perfect pose

Soon we left for a nearby Pool famous for its bubbles known as Budbudanchi tali (meaning ‘Bubble pool’ in Konkani). It was one of the best natural swimming pools that I have ever seen and hence didn’t took much time to jump in. Others joined me shortly after. We shot our own edition of “Goa Biking Swimwear Calendar 2011” under the flagship of Ace photographer Archna Upadhyay and I guess Mr.Mallya is going to get a run for his money once we launch it (when we get enough money to do so!). The evening witnessed some scintillation performances by Archna, Asha, Kumudini, Lata, Pawan, Dinesh and yours truly!

and you thought we forgot our cycles !

splash of water n snap of the shutter

Next> Wave 4: Death Defying Dive

Wave 4: Death Defying Dive

(Netravali to Dudhsagar)

the Majestic waterfalls n a mortal in the middle who survived !

We (me & Vishnu) had heard a lot of “good stuff” about Dudhsagar waterfalls and just didn’t want to miss that at any cost therefore we were cycling like crazy despite a jungle terrain. But as luck would have it, the last tourist jeep bid adieu when we reached at the waterfalls and, quoting the famous hindi song, “Dil ke armaa aansuon main beh gaye, hum haaf-haaf  ke bhi tanhaan reh gaye”.

Dudhsagar after the sunset

Once we recovered from that setback, we were swept away by the glory of the falls. I couldn’t restrain myself for long from diving into the pool beneath the falls. I was totally “chilled out” and scared (ironic!!). Well, ‘Chilled out’ or frozen because the water was freakin ice cold and scared because on my left was a list of 9-10 people who died while swimming there. Thankfully I didn’t add to that list! The rest of the group came there late in the evening and photography session resumed yet again.

Next> Wave 5: Gate-crashed a Birthday Party

Wave 5: Gate-crashed a birthday party

(Dudhsagar to Bondla)

Patient , Doc n nurse

Dudhsagar waterfalls is inside Bhagwan Mahavir National Park and coming out from it on bikes is an ordeal of superlative degree and what’s the fun getting out unscathed. Lata had the “good fortune” of tasting this real adventure. The incident also infused some team-spirit in me. She wasn’t in condition to ride so she was sent straight to Bondla camp along with a Doctor (Suresh) and a nurse (Kumudini)!

the Birthday party with the open house 'bar' n bar-b-Q!

In the evening, we were jolted by some guys, next to our camp, who were singing Hindi, Marathi n Konkani songs in the maximum possible loudness and crassness a human vocal chord can afford. Curiosity took me there to find out what’s the fuzz all about. I came to know that it was a Birthday cum Retirement party of a Goa Dairy employee. They welcomed me and asked the group to join them; Only Pawan and Dinesh assented.  They offered us Whisky, kingfish and Chicken rolls. We also sang and danced on a couple of Hindi and Marathi songs.

Next> Wave 6: Dolphins, Squids & Kingfish

Wave 6: Dolphins, Squids n Kingfish

(Bondla to Miramar)

On the motorboat with those
jazzy life jackets

Gotchaa !!!

Once we were back at the Base camp we were in a hurry to utilize whatever little time we had together before everyone heads in separate directions. One such attempt was to go for a Motorboat Ride whose USP was “Dolphin Spotting” and guess what, they weren’t lying either. We saw two highly elusive Dolphins making those trademark loops in the water. infact, we were able to capture one of them in our camera as well. And then we saw the luxury yacht of Vijay Mallya, Samara, without him or any of his calendar girls on board! :(

Can u spot hanging pants of Mallya!

Culinary innovation: Squid Pav

The previous night, we also checked out “Mum’s Kitchen”, one of the famous restaurants in Goa. This place is also good for spotting some marine animals …………..right there, in your plate! I spotted some Sqids while Somshekhar and Dhruv spotted Kingfish!

Soon after everyone except me had a flight or train to catch and a hilarious expedition came to an end abruptly. I stayed on to see the ‘Low tide’.

(post-biking days were eventful too, in different ways.....post under final touches, update u soon! cheers)

I wanna read from the beginning >>