Making the best out of your trip to Matheran

I made a trip to Matheran yesterday. My wife and I had never been there, hence we chose it for our weekend getaway this time.

Unfortunately, I am turning into this stickler who continues to find problems everywhere. But i couldnt really help it once again when I went to Matheran.

Its a heavenly place. Yes, it really is! But stands short of anything even close to heaven. If given a proper well-planned, well-executed facelift, it will blow the winds out of even Lavasa. Such is the potential of this place.

Alas, just like most other tourist places in the country, Matheran remains ignored by the Govt, the private hospitality industry and its very own native people.

The town is right on the top of a steep mountain. The plateau at the peak of the mountain forms the entire town. It has 38 points of attraction. Seeing all 38 is really not possible in a 2 day trip.

Since its a eco-sensitive place cars arent allowed up the hill. There is a base of the mountain where you need to park your car.

Problem #1 - The car park is so disorganized that you need to just shove your car at any place you can find. The cars are park in any rash manner, thereby sometimes blocking the road for oncoming vehicles. I would have thought it would be easy for the town tourist mgmt to carve out slots out of the parking place to properly park the cars.And to top that, we need to pay Rs 80 per night for the car park.

Problem #2 - As soon as you park and get out of the car, there are a thousand ghodewala's that chase the wits out of you. They try to convince you that the path atop the mountain is very arduous and its best to take a horse-ride. I am the kind of guy who really hates being chased around by people who are trying to extort money from me using the ignorance of a first-timer.

I'd advice, dont take it. There will be plenty of more opportunities to take a horse-ride when you reach the top.

Ask the people around for train tracks. Walk the train tracks straight to the top of the mountain right till the center of the town. Its a 20 min walk and passes through thickly wooded area making the walk very enjoyable. This saves you Rs 700 (for two) which you would have otherwise spent on the horse-ride.
Along the way you see plenty of wildlife, more importantly scores of monkeys that run behind passerby's who are in the mood to give them some food.

After reaching the top look for a hotel that matches your taste. We stayed in Sun-n-Shade which was decent and paid 3,500 for a 2 night package. Meals and breakfast included.

The 38 points of interest in Matheran are all very similar. Its about traveling to the edge of the hill to take a breathtaking look at the mountains and a deep deep ravine. Its absolutely fantastic. Matheran has a very thick forest cover. To visit some of the points you actually have to walk through a heavy forest, which makes the trip very very interesting.

While seeing the points you can take a horse-ride or walk down. This is the point where if you are excited about sitting on a horse, you should take one. The punters charge Rs 350 per hour for the point seeing trip. Tell them 4-5 points that you find interesting and fix a price with them. Don't spend more than Rs 1000 for two for the horse-ride.

If you are in for a walk, nothing like it. I and wife took that route and we really liked it. The only trouble with the walk is, due to a mountainous terrain the walks are really arduous and tire you easily. So choose just 3 points in a day if you are walking. The points are at a distance of 2-3 kms from the center of the town. So for making it to 3 points you would be walking at least 6 km. This is what tires us city dwellers down.

Here are the points we visited :

1. Khandala Point  - Not so interesting. You can skip it.
2. Alexander point - Fantastic. Totally recommended.
3. Rambagh point - Fantastic. Totally recommended.
4. Charolette lake - Long way from the town center. Hardly any attempt made by the town mgmt to make it accessible. The lake is best visited in Winter or Rainy season. Anyways, I'd recommend go for it. Its an interesting place.
5. Lords point - Not so interesting. Skippable.
6. Hart's point - Recommended.
7. Monkey point - My wife wanted to go there, but I was too exhausted. So make your judgement for it.

Out of the 38, we made it to 6 points in one-and-half day.

How to get there:

Start on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, exit at khopoli and continue to ask directions for Karjat. From Karjat the way to Matheran is well indicated along the path. When we went there was a lot of road construction going on. Hopefully you will get a better road when you decide to get there.

Builder Politician Nexus

I am completely opposed to Shiv Sena and MNS because of their ideologies. So that I can point people to the wrongdoings of these goons when the next elections come, I'm pasting the following article from Sakal verbatim.

The article is also accessible from the esakal site here.

UPDATE 1 - Another article exposing the Sena's true color

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Goa-Sena-chief-booked-for-extortion/articleshow/6291776.cms

बिल्डर आगरवाल, सांकला यांना अटक

सकाळ वृत्तसेवा

Friday, April 30, 2010 AT 12:45 AM (IST)

Tags: crime, pune

पुणे - बालेवाडीमध्ये एकशे चार गुंठ्याचा भूखंड बळकविल्याच्या आरोपावरून प्रख्यात बांधकाम व्यावसायिक आर. के. आगरवाल, रवी सांकला, नगरसेवक राजेश पिल्ले व माजी नगरसेवक अजय भोसले यांना राज्य अन्वेषण विभागाने (सीआयडी) गुरुवारी सायंकाळी अटक केली. या चौघांच्या अटकेमुळे शहर व पिंपरी चिंचवडमधील राजकीय क्षेत्रात व बांधकाम व्यावसायिकांत खळबळ उडाली.

याप्रकरणी प्रदीपकुमार दोरजे (वय 55, रा. डीपी रोड, औंध) यांनी फिर्याद दिली आहे. त्यानुसार हॉटेल "ल मेरिडियन'चे संचालक रामकुमार ब्रह्मदत्त आगरवाल (वय 52, रा. ब्रह्मा पॅरेडाईज, मंगलदास रोड), बांधकाम व्यावसायिक रवींद्र नृपतलाल सांकला (वय 52, रा. ढोले-पाटील रस्ता), पिंपरी चिंचवड महापालिकेतील राष्ट्रवादी कॉंग्रेसचे नगरसेवक राजेश गोविंदस्वामी पिल्ले (वय 43, रा. अजमेरा कॉलनी, पिंपरी) व शिवसेनेचे माजी नगरसेवक अजय जयवंतराव भोसले (वय 39, रा. नाना पेठ) यांना अटक झाली आहे. जमीन बळकावणे, अतिक्रमण करणे, अपहरण करणे, गुन्ह्याचा कट रचणे, दुसऱ्याच्या मालमत्तेचे नुकसान करणे आदी आरोपांन्वये त्यांच्यावर गुन्हा दाखल झाला आहे. भोसलेने नुकत्याच झालेल्या विधानसभा निवडणुकीत वडगाव शेरी मतदारसंघातून शिवसेनेच्या उमेदवारीवर निवडणूक लढविली होती. त्याच दरम्यान त्यांच्या मोटारीवर अज्ञात व्यक्तीने गोळीबार केला होता. सुदैवाने तो बचावला होता. त्या गुन्ह्याचा तपास अद्याप लागलेला नाही. पिल्ले हा सराईत गुंड असून, त्याच्यावर गंभीर स्वरूपाचे अनेक गुन्हे दाखल आहेत.

'या गुन्ह्याचा बारकाईने तपास करून कारवाई करण्यात आली आहे. अटक करण्यात आलेल्या चौघांना शुक्रवारी शिवाजीनगर न्यायालयात दुपारी हजर करण्यात येणार आहे,'' असे 'सीआयडी'चे प्रमुख व अतिरिक्त पोलिस महासंचालक एस. पी. एस. यादव यांनी सांगितले.

'सीआयडी'चे अधीक्षक शरद शेलार यांनी दिलेल्या माहितीनुसार दोरजे यांची बालेवाडीमध्ये 104 गुंठे जमीन आहे. ती त्यांनी आसनानी या बांधकाम व्यावसायिकाला विकसित करण्यासाठी 2001 मध्ये दिली होती. त्याच्या बदल्यात 19 हजार चौरस फुटांवर बांधकाम व 14 लाख रुपये देण्याचा त्यांच्यात करार झाला होता. मात्र, या कराराबद्दल दोरजे व आसनानी यांच्यात पुढे मतभेद झाले. त्यामुळे आसनानी यांनी "कारिया बिल्डर्स'ला कराराची पूर्तता करण्यास सांगितले. मात्र, त्यांच्याकडून तो व्यवहार पूर्ण न झाल्यामुळे कारिया बिल्डर्स यांनी 2006 मध्ये या व्यवहाराची सूत्रे आगरवाल व सांकला यांच्याकडे सोपविली. या दोघांनी पिल्ले, भोसले व त्यांच्या 25-30 साथीदारांच्या मदतीने 25 मार्च 2006 रोजी रात्री साडेअकरा वाजण्याच्या सुमारास दोरजे यांच्या भूखंडाचा ताबा घेतला. त्या वेळी दोरजे यांचे फलक फेकून देण्यात आले. तसेच त्यांच्या तीन रखवालदारांचे अपहरण करण्यात आले होते.

दोरजे यांनी त्या वेळी चतुःशृंगी पोलिसांकडे तक्रार केली; परंतु त्याची दखल घेण्यात आली नाही. त्यांनी पाठपुरावा केल्यावर 6 एप्रिल 2006 रोजी अज्ञात आरोपींविरुद्ध गुन्हा दाखल करण्यात आला. त्याचा तपास व्यवस्थित होत नसल्यामुळे दोरजे यांनी उच्च न्यायालयात याचिका दाखल केली. त्यात या गुन्ह्याचा तपास "सीबीआय' किंवा "सीआयडी'कडे सोपविण्याची त्यांनी मागणी केली. न्यायालयाने गुन्ह्याचा तपास 29 डिसेंबर 2006 रोजी "सीआयडी'कडे सोपविला. त्याविरोधात आगरवाल व सांकला यांनी उच्च न्यायालयात याचिका दाखल केली. पुढे ते सर्वोच्च न्यायालयात गेले. सुमारे पावणेदोन वर्षे त्यांनी पोलिसांच्या तपासावर स्थगिती मिळविली होती. 2008 मध्ये ही स्थगिती उठल्यावर "सीआयडी'ने तपास करून गुरुवारी कारवाई केली. ""या जमिनीच्या संदर्भात सुमारे 12 वेळा व्यवहार व करार झाले आहेत. आगरवाल व सांकला यांनी ही जमीन नंतर संजय बाफना व श्‍याम सोनवणे यांच्याकडे सोपविली होती. त्या सर्व व्यवहारांचा तपास सुरू आहे,'' असे अधीक्षक शेलार यांनी सांगितले. उपअधीक्षक नरेंद्र गायकवाड पुढील तपास करीत आहेत.

गोपनीयता बाळगून कारवाई
आगरवाल, सांकला, भोसले व पिल्ले यांना "सीआयडी'ने संगम पूल येथील कार्यालयात यापूर्वी चार-पाच वेळा चौकशीसाठी बोलविले होते. तेव्हा ते आले होते. गुरुवारीही त्यांना नेहमीप्रमाणेच चौकशीसाठी सकाळी अकरा वाजता बोलविण्यात आले होते. ही चौकशी सुरू असताना दुपारी साडेतीन वाजण्याच्या सुमारास त्यांना ससून रुग्णालयात वैद्यकीय तपासणीसाठी नेण्यात आले. तेथून परतल्यावर त्यांना अटक झाल्याचे तपासाधिकारी व उपअधीक्षक नरेंद्र गायकवाड यांनी त्यांना सांगितले. अटकेचे वृत्त शहरात पसरताच बांधकाम व्यावसायिकांत प्रचंड खळबळ उडाली होती. आगरवाल यांच्याविरुद्ध त्यांच्या सुनेने दोन वर्षांपूर्वी बंडगार्डन पोलिस ठाण्यात तक्रार दिली होती. याचा गुन्हा त्यांच्यावर दाखल आहे. त्या गुन्ह्यात पोलिसांनी अटक करू नये, यासाठी त्यांनी उच्च न्यायालयातून अटकपूर्व जामीन मिळविला होता. ही बाब लक्षात घेऊन "सीआयडी'ने कोणत्याही प्रकारची पूर्वकल्पना न देता चौघांवर अटकेची कारवाई केली.

आणखी तपासाची गरज
पुणे शहराच्या परिसरात जमिनीच्या किमती अस्मानाला भिडलेल्या असल्यामुळे दहशत दाखवून जमिनी बळकविण्याचे प्रकार वाढत आहेत. आगरवाल व सांकला यांच्यासारखे मोठे बांधकाम व्यावसायिकही त्याला अपवाद ठरलेले नाहीत, हेच या प्रकारातून सिद्ध झाले आहे. या दोन्ही बांधकाम व्यावसायिकांच्या सर्व व्यवहारांची महापालिका, पोलिस व महसूल खाते यांच्याकडून चौकशी करून त्यांनी अशा पद्धतीने आणखी काही गैरव्यवहार केले आहेत का, याचाही शोध घेतला जाण्याची गरज आहे. तसे झाले तरच सामान्य नागरिकांचा शासकीय यंत्रणांवरील विश्‍वास कायम राहील.

Partly Hedging EMI through renting your home

I've heard this from two friends now. Someday it had to happen and it kind of makes sense too.

Many folks are buying homes; obviously with fat EMI's. Since EMI's are becoming burdens, some folks, who have to have brought properties in posh localities are turning towards giving out these homes on Company Leases or Service Apartments and themselves shifting to houses which warrant lesser rent.

The difference between the incoming rent and outgoing rent eases the burden till some extent from these fat EMI's. I think if possible everybody should adopt these policies. They make complete economic sense.

For e.g. a friend of mine bought a 1BHK in Viman Nagar for which he pays an EMI of 22K. He left that apt and moved to a cheaper neighbourhood which only has rent of 12K and managed to give his 1BHK for about 15K on lease to a company. The company now uses it as a guest house.

In the process hes making 3K which reduces his EMI exposure. 3K might not be a big deal, but its still something substantial.

If you keep the emotions of renting out your own home apart, this makes perfect economic sense. I would however advise everybody to do a proper cashflow analysis before thinking this option as setting up furniture etc at the new location could significantly add to the expenses.

अमन की आशा - A completely wasteful effort by the Times Group

Just yesterday I started seeing a lot of ads on Times Now (a Times Group affiliate new channel) about a new effort to promote peace among India and Pakistan. Aman Ki Asha. This, according to me, is a wasteful effort of time and money by the Times Group.

Its been a while now that we are trying to reconcile with Pakistan.
Every time we are the ones who take the first step with a Benevolent heart.
And every time we are the ones who take the blow.

Why don't people see the underlying differences between India and Pak and see that both have different purposes in life, different outlook and different fundamentals. Hence, they cannot be friends. Hence, peace cannot be established. Even if it does come into force, its going to be short lived.

India and Pak are fundamentally two different countries. It's been this way right from the start.

The basis of foundation of Pakistan was just territorial identity for Muslim people in India. It was not established on the grounds of any other fundamental.

It would be wrong to comment about the basis of establishment of India, since it always just existed.

India wants to progress. Its tired of hundreds of years of poverty and apathy. And its trying hard for it. Admist all the chaos it exists in, its efforts are still paying off. There are many problems, but its tackling it one by one.

Pak's fundamental agenda is unknown. Its foundation was based on religious grounds. After that, its fundamental reason to exist became opposition to India and a planned effort to weaken India by a number of covert operations.

Its unknown whether Pak wants to develop or Progress. Its unknown that industries are setting up and actually flourishing in Pak. We never hear of any development going on in Pak even in International Media.

Although, maybe, ethnically we shared a lot in common at one point and also still do. Our minds have changed. The language maybe the same. But thinking is not.

We have changed so much now that we cannot come back and shake hands.

Peace can be expected if the basic fundamental on which Pak is operating on changes. It seems to inherently believe in violence, than peace.

Why then, are we making such an effort to create peace.

I think for the time to come, its going to be a cat and mouse chase for us. Pak plots terror and Indian intelligence/Army/BSF tries to foil the plan. Most plots will fail some of them will be a success.

That's how I see the relationship. This is how its going to remain.

I nominate myself to the stupidity award of the year!

This is going to be a long post. So, please bear with me till then.

It all started when I realized that my Demat account was lying inactivated from quite some time. Also, from a long long time, I hadn't seen what was the state of my stock investments since my online Demat account was inactivated.

Upon checking with the ICICI call center, I found out that I need to submit some documents at the local branch and within a day or two the account would be good to go.

In the daily chores and busy life, I again put this issue on the back burner for a week. At the start of the next week, I finally convinced my mind to take this issue on priority and started finding the address of the nearest ICICI Prudential Branch office.

I weakly remembered that at some point in the past that I had seen a ICICI Prudential Branch Office somewhere near Deep Banglow Chowk on JM Road. Going with the hunch that I will find the branch easily, I took off for JM Road on that bright Monday morning before going to office.

On reaching the Deep Bunglow Chowk, at the exact place that was imprinted in my mind, I found that there is no trace of anything called ICICI Prudential. The whole place seemed invaded with mobile repairing and selling centers. I was pretty frustrated and tired at that point, but realized that it was my mistake in the first place not to inquire for the right branch address beforehand. Feeling pretty defeated, I left for my office from there.

As soon as I came to office, I logged on to ICICI Prudential's website and found out their branch addresses. To my delight there was a branch right across Inox theater, which is just a stones throw away from my office. I decided that I would visit their office tomorrow and put this issue to rest, once for all.

Tuesday dawned, and after having breakfast I again started off for the ICICI Prudential Branch which, as per the document on the website mentioned, was located at Amar Avinash Plaza, near Inox theater. I reached Inox theater and found a building called Amar Avinash Corporate City. Not finding the mention of 'Plaza' anywhere, I thought this might be it (the document might have gotten it a little wrong). I had to climb up 5 floors as the lift was not working.

When I couldn't see any hoarding of ICICI Prudential, I asked a security guard where it was. He quickly pointed out that it was in Amar Avinash Plaza!, a building which was 20 meters beside Amar Avinash Corporate City. Feeling 'Ah Crap!', I climbed down 5 floors and entered Amar Avinash Plaza, finally. The frustration built up a little when again the lift at this building was also under repair. Not having a choice, I climbed up again 5 floors and reached a place which had a board of ICICI Prudential!

Feeling a little elated, I asked the security guard (Just to be doubly sure that I was on the right floor). The security guard pissed me off. He pointed out that the offices had moved to JM road!!

This now was actually was becoming a chase. Earlier I went to JM Road, couldn't find anything and came here. Climbed 10 floors. And this guys now tells me to back to JM Road! I was thoroughly disappointed with what was happening with me that day.

Gulping down the frustration, and keeping the final goal (of activating my account) in my mind, I decided to put this matter to rest today at any cost, and started back for JM Road.

I finally found the right building at JM Road, realized that I was searching at the wrong spot in my earlier trip and felt a little stupid myself of doing all the wrong things to start with.

This time the office was on the 3rd floor and the lifts were working. This soothed my nerves a little. I reached the reception, and with a sigh of relief, asked the receptionist to help me out with re-activating my Demat account.

She gave me a confused look and asked a couple of folks working around her to respond to me. Pop came the reply from one of them, "Sir, this is ICICI Prudential. We handle Insurance plans. For Demat you'll need to go to ICICI Bank".

I stood there dumbstruck with my stupidity. The ladies there realized that this guy seems stupid to come to this Branch without thinking. They stifled their laughter coz' it would be really bad to laugh on somebody's face. For them, they had a joke of the day to tell and laugh on.

I for one couldn't figure out for the life of me why I was looking for a Prudential branch to start with. What the hell was wrong with me? What was I thinking all this time that made me look so stupid.

Hence, today, I nominate myself for the Stupidity awards, if there is anything like this.

Snehal gets engaged with Neil

Yesterday finally another milestone was reached in my life. My only sister, Snehal got engaged with her long time sweetheart Neil. That rested a lot of my worries.

It's hard for me to put through my emotions to people, but I was pretty worried about Snehal all through the time she was in Mumbai. Her relationship with Neil was going around from quite sometime (3-4 years to be precise).

Now that its made official, gave me a sigh of relief.

The reason of my worry was that couple of my really close friends couldn't take their relationships to the next level, due to several circumstances. Somewhere deep in my conscience I had this fear lingering around and dreaded if something like that could happen to Snehal.

However, everything is fine and we are now gearing up for her marriage in May, 2010

Low Calorie Drinking

I recently switched to low calorie drinking. Sheer pressure from my conscience to reduce weight. I'm 78. I need to get to 70 at least.

Beer was my favorite. I fell in love with it when I discovered Corona. And after that there was no looking back. Recently, when I discovered that American regular beers had on an avg 200 cals per pint, I started thinking as to what would Indian beers have. I'm sure it will be more. We Indians don't care about calories when we drink. Hell, I'll be called stupid if I make that statement among my buddies.

So I've switched to Whiskey, Soda and Water. Yes, Totally Desi style. I contemplated keeping the Coca Cola mix, but then Coke is itself 400 cals per 350 ml, so dropped it.

My friends Rohit and Pramathesh had been advising this from months to me. But somehow I just liked beer, then and never paid heed to their advise. Rohit used to think I'm mad not to drink Whiskey or 'daru' in general. Beer, it seems, never fell into Daru category.

So, folks there I am. Your buddie again. I'll drink Whiskey with you now. No more beers. They make me fat.

I think I made a change

I always wonder whether I can be the person who can make a little change for the larger good of humanity. I think the other day, I kinda did it.

Nobody in Pune follows traffic rules. In fact, flouting a rule right under the nose of a Traffic Police Officer is the new high in this city. It's a little better in the evening time since the traffic is intense and cops are everywhere. However, at around 9-30 or so, the cops finish their duty and leave the lives of the people in the hands of Traffic Lights. And people in this city almost hate traffic lights, or just choose to ignore their existence.

However, as a good Samaritan, I always make it a point to follow Traffic rules 99% of the time. I admit that I have my own weak moments, but I'm trying to get over them.

So the other day, it was 9-30pm and I was returning home from work. The traffic light at Pune central chowk was red and quite blatantly people were flouting it and zooming off. Out of a pure call of conscience, I just decided to stop till the light went green. For around 5 seconds, bikes, cars trucks, just passed me by. Some got a little irritated that I was standing right between the road blocking their way. Notwithstanding their stern and disgusted looks I just continued to hold my base.

Around 10-15 seconds passed by and another biker who actually seemed like he will join the gang and zoom of, probably saw me and had a call of conscience too. He also stopped. This seemed to spread like a virus and one by one cars, trucks and other vehicles also seemed to stop. For this to happen at 9-30pm in the night is a big deal. A really big deal. People stopped till the light turned Green after a cool 90 seconds. That's 1 1/2 minutes people. This probably might be considered for Limca book of records or something. :)

From my perspective, by persevering to hold my base there in spite of people not caring a shit, I think I just nudged a couple of other folks' conscience, which always existed, but needed to be nudged a little to kick start into action.

I kinda felt satisfied that day; for just having done one honest good deed for me and my fellow beings.

Osho Gem

Life is a verb. Life is not a noun, it is really "living" not "life." It is not love,
it is loving. It is not relationship, it is relating. It is not a song, it is singing.
It is not a dance, it is dancing. See the difference, savor the difference.

Axis Bank USD Travel Cards - A really bad product

I had to travel for a short 3 month trip to the US. Our company Capgemini tied up with Axis bank for providing USD Travel Cards for meeting our day to day expenses in the US.

For those who do not know what's a cash card, imagine it as a Debit card which can be used at any merchant establishment which accepts VISA cards. The company initially deposits a certain amount of money up front in the card which can then be used. Once the money exhausts, additional money can be added. This makes the travelers life easy coz' he then does not need to carry a lot of currency with him.

Axis card provides such cash cards as one of their products. However, these cash cards are almost useless and incur a lot of loss to people who've bought these.

Firstly, whenever you use them at any of the ATM's a charge of $3 is charged. Whether you withdraw $20 or $200 the charge remains constant.

Secondly, most people would generally do online shopping when they visit the US since you get better deals online. These cash cards do not work online since they do not have the concept of a "Billing Address" and "Security Code", which are normally present on any VISA cards. This shortcoming makes this product really useless.

Thirdly, guess what? $1 charge if you need to change your ATM password! Yup, you read it right. If you forgot your ATM password and need to reset it, they happily charge you $1 to do that. Have you heard any service charging you $1 for changing the password on their cards? This is ridiculous and outrageous.

Fourthly, their web interface is really user unfriendly. When you try to register they take you to a site called iconnect, which is the name for their core banking website and it asks for a "Corporate Id" for the login. When asked to their Customer Service execs they say that we have no idea about the iconnect. It's supposed to be used internally by the bank employees!! Frustrating to the core, isn't it?

I'd really advise anybody to carefully choose a Travel Card product and save themselves all the hassles mentioned above. Pls evaluate all the products out there before making your choice.