Ghumakkar's Diary

In that very safe Railway’s Colony, my father had that privileged pink colored Pass.  He was someone, without whom it was almost impossible to manage the sanitary condition of that big colony of Diesel Locomotive Works at Varanasi , accommodating over 4000 employees and their families. I was about 8years old then. Curfew was lifted during 4-6 PM, that time I was assigned the task to go out and buy vegetables and milk. I don’t remember for what duration we spent our days and nights in that period, but I do know that it left deep signatures on my soul; especially, what I saw at that Nukkad , after those riots and curfew. Kalyan Singh was Chief Minister when Babri Masjid was demolished, and communal clashes resulted in loss of thousands of human life. Later, Union Government dissolved Uttar Pradesh assembly, and enacted President’s Rule. Next mid-term election was scheduled in mid 1993, and party’s started their campaign. Once I was returning from market, and I saw some ...

All it takes a little courage to take the first kick, rest just happens…. Mehsana is a small town, located at about 70 kilometers from Ahmadabad, and 600 kilometers from Mumbai. I had been planning since eons to ride up to Mehsana to meet my friends at ONGC Colony, Palavasana. Using eons may look like an exaggeration of my emotions, but if you own a Bullet, have dreamt a 600+ km ride on the day you bought it, and still not able to do it in over 6months, you will understand what I mean! The actual plan had been postponed for umpteenth time, when inspired by an utterly boring week in office, I finally decided for the trip. It was just another Wednesday, when I started working down the details of the route on Google Map, tried to learn it, browsed through some blogs for Mumbai-Ahmadabad trips, and called up my friend at Mehsana that I’m coming! :) Wednesday night and Thursday pre-noon time, I spent studying and planning the route. In evening I got my Bull checked up at R...

“Let the Road be my abode”               I have been trying to write this log for weeks, but for the reason none other than procrastination, I couldn’t. J . So here’s this account of our Trimbakeshwar ride and trek, that we had a few weeks ago.                     Well, few weeks back on a fine Sunday we planned a ride to Trimbak. It’s a small town near Nashik, and famous for one of twelve Jyotirlingas Shri Tryambakeśvara (Trambakeshwar). Godavari River, the longest river in peninsular India, originates from Bramhagiri Mountains located near the Trambakeshwar temple. Kusavarta is a kund (well/small pond) which is considered as the origin of the river Godavari symbolically. Trimbakeshwar Temple (image from Wikipedia)                       Wikipedia s...