Ghumakkar's Diary

Naneghat has been like an annual pilgrimage for me. So, when I planned for the ride and trek this year, I was sure I wouldn’t be blogging about it. But the way it turned out to be – I couldn’t resist jotting it down and share. On just a few days’ notice three Decide&Ride TM Bullet guys agreed for the ride and trek along with a colleague and my roommate. Plan was simple - Ride/ Food/ Trek/ Food/ Trek down/ Food/ Ride back. Itinerary included Heavy to moderate Rain and Fatigue with Directions, misdirection, lot of fresh pahadi water, scenery and slips. We started it at around 6 AM morning. It was raining since last evening, and when we started it was still raining. Josh took Ashutosh as pillion and Abhishek hoped on to my pillion seat, Sandy was to join us at Kalyan naka with Monty – who found his bull not ready for ride and had to cancel it ( though he rushed and did power-trek to meet us at top later ). Anyways, it was still raining when we met at Kalyan naka and left for N

Haven't been a part of any Blog-Marathon ever, I said Yes the moment I happen to know about this Month-long Photo event. Task is to post a picture everyday on a scheduled Theme , and submit it to Ritu's or Sfurti's blog. Here is a Wishful entry to the Event.. Warm wishes to PADE! [REBLOGed]  Just a mom!!!!!!!!!!: Unveiling the themes for PADE :  was announced earlier and now it is time to introduce the themes for the month of July. I’m doing PADE in collaboration with  Ritu KT , whom I introduced in my post earlier ( Here )

Kind of shopaholic I am, this IndiStuff gave me another chance to spend some time roaming and then blogging about. This time the task was to visit a Reliance Digital Store of our choice - view it and then review it. I chose the one at Mulund, reason simply it’s the closest ( except the Vashi one – which wasn’t on the list ) from my place. Venue:                 Reliance Digital, R Mall, Mulund West Time:                  Saturday Evening 5:30 PM Reception:         Received with a very amiable Namaskar by a staff in light blue at main gate. 4Sq Proof that I was there :P The Store: This store is very aptly located quite in the mid of the town at one of the most famous malls of suburbs. So, must say it is well connected with the customers it strives for. As I told we were very warmly received at the Gate. Staff weren’t that aware about the Bloggers’ visit to the place (in fact, one even tried to learn why so many ‘Indibloggers’ were there). Roaming around to

The last word is yet to be out on what caused Tuesday's train accident near Arakkonam on Tuesday that killed 10 people and injured more than 65 others. But reports that H.Rajkumar, the motorman of the EMU that crashed into a passenger train, was talking on his mobile immediately before the crash have shocked railway officials and doctors treating him. .. – ToI, Sep 2011  Dont drive Intexticated...it may be your last SMS When my colleague rejected to pay any attention to my pleads to not text or dial/receive a call while driving, I thought to share these few findings and advertisement campaigns from the sane big commercial houses and not just insane over-cautious people like me.

सहकर्मी बिनीत के सुझाव पे ये काव्य-संग्रह प्रकाशन के पहले ही हफ्ते में मैंने मंगवाई. बिनीत न केवल मेरे सहकर्मी हैं, बल्कि मेरे साथ फूटबाल भी खेलते हैं (हमसे कहीं अच्छा), और पुस्तकों पे विमर्श भी करते हैं. फेसबुक पे यदा-कदा हिंदी प्रसंग और कवितायें पोस्ट करना उनका शौक भी है. उन्होंने सुझाया तो लगा शायद उनकी हिंदी कविताओं का स्रोत मिल गया है. आजकल के आनलाइन पुस्तक-विक्रेताओं को धन्यवाद, ३ दिन के भीतर ही पुस्तक की हस्ताक्षर-प्रति मेरे हाथ में थी. मैं कोई आलोचक नहीं हूँ, ना ही उतनी हैसियत रखता हूँ, पर जो अच्छा लगे उसकी तारीफ करना तो बनता है ( हालांकि तारीफ करने में मेरे हाथ थोड़े तंग ही हैं ). पुस्तक:       ख़ैर...छोडो कवी:        विश्व दीपक प्रकाशन:       हिंद-युग्म पन्ने:        १४४ सबसे पहली बात जो मुझे अच्छी लगी वो थी कविताओं की सूक्ष्मता और सुगमता. कवितायेँ सतही कतई नहीं हैं, पर फिर भी बहुत ही सहज हैं. हमारी प्रायः की सोच को ही बड़े ही कुशल से शब्दों में पिरोया है दीपक ने. 

Don’t ask why I didn’t go to Banaras for Holi this year, I am already writing a novel on it; will take time, but if you will ask I will make sure you buy that crap in dozens.  Anyways, as I didn’t go to Banaras for Holi (cliché warning), I rode to the Gadda Mania – which has been elusive for me for last few years.  Gadda Mania at Lonar Crater Gadda Mania is another religious ride for the Royal Enfield riders of the country celebrated at Lonar Crater every year on post-Holi weekend, unlike Rider Mania which is organized at different parts of the country annually. This mania to ride to Cosmic Gadda or Gaddha (pit) was started in March 2008 when some lunatics ( interestingly its celebrated on a weekend closest to Lunatic’s favorite day of Full Moon ) from Wanderlust MC and InddieThumpers planned to freak out and were endorsed by Wanderers and Highway Nawabs from Hyderabad. And, the legends say the Meet became a ritual in just a few years with more and more clubs and individu

शायद आपको अभी भी याद हो... लिखना तो हम खूब चाहते हैं,  कुछ जिम्मेदारियां हैं, कुछ और परेशानियां, जो हमें रोके रहती हैं ... या यूँ कहें हमे एक कारण देती हैं खुद को रोकने ।  पर असली परीक्षा तो तब होती है, जब हमने पी रखी हो,

Another Indiblogger Meet within a week, a week rough enough to push someone to bed-rest . It was a so called weekend meet on Saturday, which never been a weekend to me, sponsored on adrenaline by the Tata Storme. Now, comes the eternal question – “to have an adventurous ride ( sorry Shaktiman for calling it a ride ) in the Mumbai town for the Meet – that could be ‘ not to be missed one ’ type of OR head to room, idle on the couch watching TV and take a much needed rest. I took the decision any machine- sane could have, went for the Meet at aptly named Chitrakoot Grounds, Andheri West. If it wouldn't have been Samir, I would have taken few lightyears to reach the place which though is well known in this part of town, can only be reached beating trafu*ked maze-like roads. Anyways, the Indiblogger TataStorme XtremeDriveBlogger’s Meet has already started by the time we reached the place. Interestingly BlogwatiG and many others too had their own part of struggle reaching the p

I have never been a dude or with one, so a language with swearing more than speaking doesn’t go that well with me. None of the guys with whom I grew up learning and playing speak that way. Even very few,  in fact just one in my extended closer circle , who toke – speak the  stoned language  talked about in this book. So, as I started reading it, I found a sort of disinterest swelling up inside me. That grew up further as I had to try a bit to cope up with the speed with which the story was unfolding. I took some time to take the account of what all was happening, but after reaching the level of comfort, I started finding it easily able to push me to the next page as I approached the end of each page. The Book Toke is a book written by Jugal Mody , who believes in fiction and writes to feel like a dog sticking its head out the window of a moving car. As Google defines,  toke  /tōk/ Noun:             The drawing of a puff from a cigarette or pipe, typically one cont

PERSONAL adjective \ˈpərs-nəl, ˈpər-sə-nə l\        1: of, relating to, or affecting a particular This is what Merriam-Webster suggests as the definition of Personal. And not much differing, for me ‘ Personal ’ means just personal, no intervention, limited input-output interaction . Now, here are these 6-girls from different walks of life, each having not only a different story to tell but also an altogether different way to tell it – at ZeeTV’s new Prime time Reality show ConnectedHumTum . Indiblogger’s Meet I had a really real hectic and screwed up time last week. I wanted to go to this event, but it was on a weekday, and again about a sorta daily soap opera which I have been least interested about. But, I wanted to meet follow bloggers and its always be great to be at Indiblogger ’s meets to explore more like you and then I did a little research and gotta know it is not a soap opera but something I wouldn’t ever think to be a part of ( yes, I may say yes if they ask