Tales of Alibagh !!!!!

We At Alibagh:

Once upon a late evening, just a few days ago...

Chatting with each other ( following the regular routine at work ;-) ), we decided our party pattern was getting a little monotonous and we needed to get out and do something different for a change , instead of just getting jaded all the time. Like what ??...Take a trip somewhere ???? Hmm.. this sounded interesting so as our dear old friend Jaitly suggested we go to Alibagh , BINGO all of us exclaimed!!!He'd heard of people taking weekend trips there ( Before you stop drawing weird conclusions about his origins *&^%$#!^) and since it wasn't far from pune, we could leave the next day, which was a saturday, and come back Sunday afternoon .

A cab ... we offered... but WOULD our good old friend succumb to our wish when he had something far more interesting on his mind ... Well .. YES u're a FOOL if you think he would !!!!
Wait a min, what so special about what he had on his mind?
Well, the distinguishing factor was that we planned to go there on Bikes!!
Afterall we're young as can be and footloose and fancy free!!!

!Number of Bikes – 4Number of Bikers – 6 ( Ahem !!!! Yes plz plz Do lemme count myself .. b'fore u forget I did ride for 10 mins ;-) )
HeadCount -7

Day 1 - The Beginning:

Early Saturday morning at around 5:30 A.M., the alarm made it's LOUD hue and cry ( The only time in retrospection , I wouldn't choose to curse it 4 ringing out aloud !!!!)
Yet another futile attempt by lazy good old Sardar to lull us to falling prey to hiring a CAB ... LOng live Basant who'd never Surrender !!!

Checklist :
Basant : Present
Hims :Present
The Me :Present
Panki :If u ask me the truth , though he ws half asleep and I assure u , mentally Absent , but Yes to add to the HeadCount : Present
Sardar :This species NEVER sleeps , HUGE physical Presence
Choti .... Rohit ?????????????????????

As the clock struck 7:15 ... the Guests made their magnanimous presence !!!!!!

We started early Saturday morning 30 minutes past 7 from Pune with Jaitly uncle in front, Panki and Me keeping the tail ( I told you he was half asleep .. happens when u just dun want to say GoodBye to the lovely DREAMZZZZZZ ^%^%^$^& ) We went thru wakdewadi road on the way where everyone let loose and really went high speed.Pit stop at a restaurent at Loanavala for breakfast.

Ahem....Caught !! I know all of you are still thinking of the prasad .. I mean the paneer pakodas !!!!Did I forget to mention how Jaitly barged into the Camera shopkeepers's house ... helped him get ready ...open his shop ..bargained.....Well when I say bargained I mean B A R G A I N E D.. and finally got what captured some of the finest moments spent together !! YES... we purchased a CAMERA first thing in the morning !!

T'was the Mumbai highway on the way to khapoli where these guys really let loose taking the turns at high speed..these roads were bikers dreams with very less traffic and lots of exciting twists and turns.We were cornering at 80-90 almost all of the trip, did lot of stops along the way to let the slower guys catch up !!!!

How can I cut this short without a mention of the SONGS we sang ... the GYMNASTICS we did on the Bikes .... the hooting..the giggles .... and yes the MUCH SOUGHT AFTER GOGGLES ( Weird ... dunno How I get to mention them here :-) YET another futile attempt to sound POETIC) Reached Alibagh around 11 I guess, parked the bikes on the beach and before we could realize what was in store next, the ANIMAL instincts in some amongst us surfaced and they JUMPED right away into the water ... :-))) .....To be true the beach was tempting enuff ....!!We soon headed towards Kashid beach !!

Goddess of happiness seemed to be really Gracious on us !! We found the finest beach ... And yes the finest Bunglow we could ask 4 !!!! Was it the Palm trees ??.. Or the beautiful soft white sand and dazzling water ... May be it was the gentle gushes of the cool breeze.......well I Guess the best word that defines it all is IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLISS and this place - yes a blessing !!!!

None of us would deny that the next two hours in the sea were an ecstasy .....from volley ball to the Bright PINK Frisbee and the PALACES we made outta sand .. U name it and we had it on our list...and YES for all the 'Food Freaks' amongst us ... We did not miss on the Cold Drinks and Chips !!

Though we were reluctant enuf to leave ...we moved towards the bungalow and as soon as of us changed the water and mud sogged clothes , we Hogged ( I know that's a gluttonous word but dare u forget u ate like that :-) ) on the YuMmY food !!

Rest???... Did Basant hear SLEEP .??...tell u u're in trouble if you mention that word in front of him !!
Without wasting any time we headed towards the Fort.In the evening ,the low tide causes the water to recede quite some distance and there is practically a vast expanse of ground stretching from the coast to the fort. The 'Nawab' in all of us urged us to hire the 'Bagghis' and each one of us took turns while playing the Veeru and basanti ;-)

....Poor Poor Ritu and me .. How can we forget how much we had to beg these BOYZZ 4 a Slush .. But then as the per the law of nature .. We Won !!!!

The next 2 hours at the FORT were sheer FUN...Well YES we did recall how nicely we fought the battles during those bad old days...While Ritu, Rohit and myself mussta been the Chief Commanders in Shivaji's Army... Shivaji's most trusted foreign secretary mussta been our dear Pankaj..and yes Shivaji's most trusted servants who was always close to him and helped him to escape from Agra ... Ahem ... Mussta been the Sardar ..and .. Jaitly !!!!:-)

:-) .. K Guys I accept I'm Exaggerating !!!! My Hands UP !!#$! DISHCONNNNMMMM .. but here I escape AGAIN :-) !!!

Later as we headed back towards the Bunglow we almost lost the way....we found ourselves riding on a a very dark, deserted road in the middle of seemingly nowhere...that we never knew of and had ever been to before. We rode ahead without a map or a clue and trying to figure out the way....huffffff....bufffffff.......Ahem!!.......Once we reached the gate, the worry dissipated a little and we walked into the driveway of a little bungalow flanked by coconut trees on three sides. Let's suffice by saying that the owner whose most striking feature was his just-the-right-amount-of-moustache made us happier by serving us a cuppa TEA when we needded it the most !!!

It was already dark... As we lazed around in the lawns listening to the sound of the waves coming to shore, in the vague distance... gazing skyward at the tapestry of stars twinkling brightly amidst the Palm tress ....!!!! The cares of the day-to-day world seemed as distant as those flickering points of light. If there is Heaven .. It was THERE .. That moment :-) !!!!!!!

We stolled barefoot at the beach later at night singing the finest numbers ..... YES the only feeling that flooded all of us was that of absolute PEACE and contentment ...

This was the beautiful end to the first day of our outing .........
Well even the thought of all this is enough to brighten my spirits when I'm in a sad or pensive mood ....!!!!!While I'd positively pen down what followed ... I'd put an end to this write-up with the following lines ......

" The tide recedes , but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down , but the gentle warmth still lingers on the sand,
The music stops and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains...
For every joy that passes there is something beautiful that remains "