I always believed that Pune is the best city in India to dwell. It has the perfect climate, the people here are soft spoken and polite. There are many good places close to the city where you can go and enjoy over an weekend. Also, it has good education facilities and is known as the 'Oxford of the East'. Pune is also known as the cultural capital of Maharashtra. The city is also important from the armed forces point of view with the Southern Command of military and an Air Force base located in Pune.
I also believed that the city was the safest in India but, the bomb blast of 13th February at German Bakery that claimed 11 lives and injured over 50 people, has changed my perception about the city being the safest. Pune will never be the same again. I never thought that something like this could happen in Pune.
A couple of days after the incident, when I was in office, I heard a loud noise, the first thought came to my mind was 'Ooh No!! Not another blast?', for a second, everyone in the office was in shock, but a split second later we realized that it was a just firecracker. Before the German bakery incident, such a thought had never crossed my mind.
The fear that this incident has infused in the minds of people will stay for a very long time. We have to overcome this fear and send a message to the people who did such a terrible thing that they cannot make us live in fear and terror. The decision taken by the owners of the German Bakery to reconstruct it the way it was, is a good example.
My deepest sympathy goes to the families who lost their loved ones in the incident.
Long live the spirits of the victims...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A Memorable Day
After I bought my new bike, I was thinking all the time about going for a road trip on my bike. But, was confused about where to go. Then one day, I remembered one of my friend Pranali, praising this place that she had visited. So, I decided to go for a trip to that place, Pavana dam.
Well, now the destination had been decided, but one cannot go for a road trip alone. So, I told Basu who also had got his new bike recently about the idea and asked him if he would like to accompany me. He agreed because he was also longing for a road trip since the day he got his bike.
We asked some of our friends whether they would like to join but they all made some excuses. So, only me and Basu were the ones who wanted to take this trip and we decided not to cancel it.
We started at around 9 am on a Saturday morning. I was on my bike, Karizma & Basu on his Unicorn. It was a beautiful day and we had to go really slow because Basu wanted to follow the speed limit of 55 kmph as his bike was fairly new.
There are two ways to get to Pavana dam, first take left near the Somatne phata on old Mumbai-Pune highway and head straight for about 21 km and second take left from Khamshet(on old Mumbai-Pune highway), the dam is 15 km from there. We took the first one.
The road was not that bad, after passing about 4-5 villages, many nurseries and crossing over the Pavana canal two times, we reached the Pavana dam. After getting to the other side of the dam, when I saw the lake, I was awestruck!!! I had never seen something so beautiful in my life. We stopped there for sometime to enjoy the view and breathe the fresh pollution free air. The cool breeze felt really good and refreshing.
After riding for some more time, we reached a resort. The location of the resort was close to an small island that gave a feel that the lake was divided into two and made for a very good view. There were some boats there and we decided to have some breakfast before heading for boating. After having breakfast, we went for boating, the ride was mind blowing, it felt like I was flying on water. The way the boatman maneuvered the speedboat was amazing. After the boat ride, we took some snaps and sat there for sometime to enjoy the view. The time was 12.30pm and the place was starting to get crowded. We decided to get out of there and headed to Kamshet to visit another dam close to Kamshet.
On reaching the highway, we asked a couple of people for directions, and they gave us opposite directions. That left us confused whether to continue the journey or head back towards Pune. After asking a few more people, we decided to continue on the road though there was still some confusion because the road we were riding on was very bad and there were no vehicles around. We were hungry and wanted to get to the dam and have something. The road was very very bad and there was no network coverage. We were in middle of a jungle and feared that if someone killed us then we would never be found. Just kidding!!! Riding further we could see the dam and it was close. We reached another village, and some kids there told us to go ahead and on reaching a railway track, go alongside it to reach the dam. On reaching the railway track, we saw that there was no road alongside the track. Somehow we started riding by the track. When we reached the end, we saw the dam from close, it was one engineering marvel!!! But to our disappointment, there was a fence and a locked gate. But we were in no mood of giving up and so we started looking for an entrance. We finally found one! Basu went ahead to check it out while I stood by the bikes. He returned in a few minutes and said that there was a road and some steps there. Also there were monkeys around! We decided to take the road and go ahead. On reaching the end of the road, at the top of the dam when I parked my bike and turned my head, I saw a view that words can't describe. The view was so good that I felt like staying there forever. It was simply mind blowing. As we were standing there enjoying the view, 3 security were heading towards us. I didn't notice them until they got very close to us. Once I noticed them, I thought that we were in trouble because we were not supposed to be there and were standing on some private property. Although till that moment, we didn't know that it was a private property, but we were about to know it. The guards asked us from where we were. After knowing that we were from Pune and were here to visit the dam, the expressions of the guards changed and they smiled. I was relived to see that smile.
One among the three guards told us about the dam. The name of the dam was Joyner dam and the lake was called Shirota, the dam was owned by TATA & is used for generating electricity for Mumbai & railways but the plant was on the other end of the lake. The dam was built in 1920 and was made completely of stone & limestone. It took about 8 years to build the dam and it was about 2.5 km long. The catchment area of the dam was 2 sq. miles. I took out my camera to click some snaps but the guard politely asked me not to take snaps there. I said OK because given that it was a private property,they had allowed us to stay there for a while. We were hungry but there was nothing around there to eat. The only people who visited the dam were TATA employees and they used the same road to get there as we did. We left from there and took some pics near the fence with the dam in background.
On the way back, I was very much happy to have visited a great dam and all the pain that we had taken to reach the dam was worth. Those few minutes that I spent near the lake felt wonderful. That view will remain in my memory forever...
We went on the highway and had lunch at a place called Toni Da Dhaba. It was a very overpriced place, but we were very hungry so we had some food there and headed back to Pune. It was almost 5 by the time I reached home.
It was a very good and enjoyable trip and I would like to thank my friend Basu who accompanied me on the trip.
For all those who think that it is a bad idea to go on a trip on bikes, I would like to say that we were able to see the Joyner dam only because we were on bikes because the road was such that a car could have never reached there.
I learnt a good lesson from this trip, "Never give up and always keep on trying hard."
Well, now the destination had been decided, but one cannot go for a road trip alone. So, I told Basu who also had got his new bike recently about the idea and asked him if he would like to accompany me. He agreed because he was also longing for a road trip since the day he got his bike.
We asked some of our friends whether they would like to join but they all made some excuses. So, only me and Basu were the ones who wanted to take this trip and we decided not to cancel it.
We started at around 9 am on a Saturday morning. I was on my bike, Karizma & Basu on his Unicorn. It was a beautiful day and we had to go really slow because Basu wanted to follow the speed limit of 55 kmph as his bike was fairly new.
There are two ways to get to Pavana dam, first take left near the Somatne phata on old Mumbai-Pune highway and head straight for about 21 km and second take left from Khamshet(on old Mumbai-Pune highway), the dam is 15 km from there. We took the first one.
The road was not that bad, after passing about 4-5 villages, many nurseries and crossing over the Pavana canal two times, we reached the Pavana dam. After getting to the other side of the dam, when I saw the lake, I was awestruck!!! I had never seen something so beautiful in my life. We stopped there for sometime to enjoy the view and breathe the fresh pollution free air. The cool breeze felt really good and refreshing.
After riding for some more time, we reached a resort. The location of the resort was close to an small island that gave a feel that the lake was divided into two and made for a very good view. There were some boats there and we decided to have some breakfast before heading for boating. After having breakfast, we went for boating, the ride was mind blowing, it felt like I was flying on water. The way the boatman maneuvered the speedboat was amazing. After the boat ride, we took some snaps and sat there for sometime to enjoy the view. The time was 12.30pm and the place was starting to get crowded. We decided to get out of there and headed to Kamshet to visit another dam close to Kamshet.
On reaching the highway, we asked a couple of people for directions, and they gave us opposite directions. That left us confused whether to continue the journey or head back towards Pune. After asking a few more people, we decided to continue on the road though there was still some confusion because the road we were riding on was very bad and there were no vehicles around. We were hungry and wanted to get to the dam and have something. The road was very very bad and there was no network coverage. We were in middle of a jungle and feared that if someone killed us then we would never be found. Just kidding!!! Riding further we could see the dam and it was close. We reached another village, and some kids there told us to go ahead and on reaching a railway track, go alongside it to reach the dam. On reaching the railway track, we saw that there was no road alongside the track. Somehow we started riding by the track. When we reached the end, we saw the dam from close, it was one engineering marvel!!! But to our disappointment, there was a fence and a locked gate. But we were in no mood of giving up and so we started looking for an entrance. We finally found one! Basu went ahead to check it out while I stood by the bikes. He returned in a few minutes and said that there was a road and some steps there. Also there were monkeys around! We decided to take the road and go ahead. On reaching the end of the road, at the top of the dam when I parked my bike and turned my head, I saw a view that words can't describe. The view was so good that I felt like staying there forever. It was simply mind blowing. As we were standing there enjoying the view, 3 security were heading towards us. I didn't notice them until they got very close to us. Once I noticed them, I thought that we were in trouble because we were not supposed to be there and were standing on some private property. Although till that moment, we didn't know that it was a private property, but we were about to know it. The guards asked us from where we were. After knowing that we were from Pune and were here to visit the dam, the expressions of the guards changed and they smiled. I was relived to see that smile.
One among the three guards told us about the dam. The name of the dam was Joyner dam and the lake was called Shirota, the dam was owned by TATA & is used for generating electricity for Mumbai & railways but the plant was on the other end of the lake. The dam was built in 1920 and was made completely of stone & limestone. It took about 8 years to build the dam and it was about 2.5 km long. The catchment area of the dam was 2 sq. miles. I took out my camera to click some snaps but the guard politely asked me not to take snaps there. I said OK because given that it was a private property,they had allowed us to stay there for a while. We were hungry but there was nothing around there to eat. The only people who visited the dam were TATA employees and they used the same road to get there as we did. We left from there and took some pics near the fence with the dam in background.
On the way back, I was very much happy to have visited a great dam and all the pain that we had taken to reach the dam was worth. Those few minutes that I spent near the lake felt wonderful. That view will remain in my memory forever...
We went on the highway and had lunch at a place called Toni Da Dhaba. It was a very overpriced place, but we were very hungry so we had some food there and headed back to Pune. It was almost 5 by the time I reached home.
It was a very good and enjoyable trip and I would like to thank my friend Basu who accompanied me on the trip.
For all those who think that it is a bad idea to go on a trip on bikes, I would like to say that we were able to see the Joyner dam only because we were on bikes because the road was such that a car could have never reached there.
I learnt a good lesson from this trip, "Never give up and always keep on trying hard."
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