Beginning the journey
There are many things that bring a change in you... everyday.. you meet people... you go to places... but there are some.. that make you smile... when you look back upon the time you spent... and this trip was one of them.. The day started with an sms from neels at 8:30 am that stated their flight was about to take off from bangalore... i was still on the road in front of my house.. and the first reaction was, ‘damn, im gonna be late'. But luckily, I got a fast local, and just when I reached the airport (terminal B) I get a call from neha that they have landed.. She did shock me for a few moments saying that they were at the International Airport and not domestic.. (man this meant another 20 mins of journey backwards.. but international airport? she must be confused!) And yes she was…after initial confusion, it was clear that they were at terminal A...

I must mention to you that while was debating how soon can I reach that 5 minute walking distance, an Auto driver offered me to drop there for no reason or charge.. he simply came and said 'saab aapko shayad terminal A par jaana hai... let me drop u' ... for about 2 seconds I felt spooky.

And then there they were... neha was the same as ever... but then I saw this guy.. tall, good looking and a composure of good control.. seemed well educated and.. overall decent. It was Ashutosh. Hmm...

Then there was neelam... as pretty as ever. Somehow, there were a string of thoughts that came all of a sudden... i rather thought its wise to look away and get introduced to another innocent and sweet looking kid.. her younger sister neetu.. who had just finished her 12th... she had that peculiar face.. of a teenager.. that learns a lot from what happens around you.. she had that spark in her eyes that showed her clear ability to look around and learn things fast...

Finally, our driver, Harish came up in a red tavera, and we all boarded it to head towards shirdi... I had decided that i will sit in front.. because i didnt really want to sit next to neelam.. and didn’t want to come in way of any fun they all would have.. you may call me weird at this point, but it was the safest approach then barging in between and screaming "hey guys! I’m here lets party!"

huh.. but they thought otherwise and pulled the car over and me come back along with them…silly things, but again it made me feel nice.. and awkward. Because I really did not know how not to look into neelam’s eyes... from the way I might have put it, you might feel I would have a thing was neelam.. yes I do.. but its that unfinished and uninitiated work of a sculpture that’s been lying around for months unattended... and the sculptor doesn’t want to look at it in the eyes because he has to complete it.. In simpler words, I could not get away by just looking... so I rather not see... and its precisely the reason I kept looking out of the window.. that pissed
em :)

We crossed quite a bit and I got sheepishly introduced to ashutosh.. and when people generally say 'I heard u read hands' I really don’t know where to hide... so I put up a stupid grin and said 'ahan oh yeah.. hmmm..'. but it was an ice breaker.

Lunch at Dhaba
Finally, after a long ride we stopped for lunch at a dhaba. After initial debate on what we all will have, we settled for regular roti / dal / jeera rice stuff. While the food was on its way, Ashutosh asked for a maaza. It was then I decided I tell the story that killed my appetite for this drink. I told him that it was made from innerwear of men… that is using baniyans. The process was simple. The cotton clothes contained cellulose, an important ingredient for making maaza. So they kinda dissolved them in some chemicals to get it. Once it had the right amount of thickness, a flavor was added to finally create the product.

Now, I really don’t know if this is what goes into the process. The truth was, I was told this by another friend of mine. But since the story needed some authenticity, I claimed I was a witness to this process and that it was really horrible to drink it. I don’t know if it’s really the case, but I personally have stopped drinking it! (Imagine chewing men’s innerwear – eyucks.) But the best part was when this babe walked right in. She had a sagging face, but man… what an awesome figure. As with men, I and ashutosh both scanned her up and down and shared that grin. What we really (ahem, this is to justify our drooling) look is that what efforts the lady might have taken to look that good. We are not in shape… (At least I am not), and it’s amazing how they maintain it. Way back to our Tavera, I made a lame comment ‘wow man look at her waist size!
and both neelam and neha gave that one eyebrow raised and half twitched smile look to each other. It kinda embarrassed me and I fumbled with words but then when you make a blooper, you make a blooper.

Riding Backseat
One of the bad things that can happen to you while you travel is to sit in the backseat of a vehicle. Since you sit side-ways, after an hour or so, your back begins to hurt and your stomach churns after a while. I and neelam were both subjected to this torture post lunch. Of course, Neha and ashutosh both had their share of it too in the morning. None of us had a good sleep. I had worked all the night and did not get a chance to sleep. This was true for most of us, so it was natural we all would want to catch some of it.

Why am I not a kshatriya?
Neelam tried to sleep (lucky for her, she was short.. I mean she fit so easily there, by twisting her body and adjusting a bit). I tried too, but was not really successful. Finally at one point of time, she tapped by leg and asked me to keep it on the seat so that she can rest her head on it along with this small “health” pillow (we will come back to it) that ashutosh carried. If you ask me, I kinda blushed. I did as she had asked, and she comfortably rested her head on it. Now, given the kind of person that I am, I could already relate and see her in many pictures going across my mind. I imagined how sweet it can be to get a wife like that… how nice it would be to be a couple… how nice it would be… and before I could think more, the images slowly dissolved to give away to gentle stiffening pain in my legs that reminded me of venom taking over Spiderman. I dared not move least I woke her up. After few minutes of clenched silence, she kinda felt it and woke up to acknowledge my discomfort. I smiled and thought, why was I not a “kshatriya” to bear that little pain. I was thinking of the story where karna was bitten by a spider when his guruji was resting his head on his lap.

A Happy moment.
Finally, after some time, we all started looking at pics from the camera ashutosh was carrying. I had a hard time looking at them from behind. So neha passed it on to me. Neelam volunteered to show them to me by adding details to them. It was at this point that she shifted from the opposite seat to come next to me. Now I don’t know what to really say. Was I happier that I was beside her or was it that the pics were really good? To be honest, the images kinda blurred as I grew extra conscious of her presence and involuntarily held my breath. Sometimes, you might think I am in love with her. Sometimes, with what I am saying, you might really feel that I have
something for her. I will not deny it, but I will not accept it either. Let’s just call it a happy moment.

Arriving at Shirdi
We arrived in shirdi, and by that time, I was occupying the seat next to the driver. Ashutosh already had acquired the stiff back syndrome and was in no mood to occupy the horrendous backseat. We were originally taken to a hotel by our driver which was economical. But to our shock, the rooms were costing about 900/-+ , twice the regular charge, as it was season time. We declined and went to the next one. There, the rooms were not available. In the next, the rooms were priced from Rs.3250/- onwards. The price tag was enough to make us jump out from that place happily. Finally, neha used her contacts and found out that AC rooms have been
booked at this kalpatharu (I guess that was the name?) hotel.

One room or two rooms?
We drove back on the road and found the place to discover that it was decent hotel and priced fairly. Rs.1100/- per room. Now the big debate started. One room or two rooms? As guys, we really didn’t care. One room meant, we get to sleep on the floor, which was okay for us. After all we get to save some dough. But the ladies must always have the final say. Neelam portrayed her royal smile and expressed the need for privacy. So it was clear. We took the keys and dumped our stuff in our respective rooms. The only thing that bothered me was, with so much time to kill in the evening, what will we possibly do?

Takeshi’s Castle.
Now I have to tell you this. What do people really think of me? I settled on POGO channel. Neetu was too happy to see the channel, so there it was. Takeshi’s castle started. And I being a guy who is easily humored by slapstick comedy started laughing and enjoying the show. I really enjoy watching such nonsense. So there I was giggling away to glory with neetu, while neha and neelam who had also joined us, gave a look ‘is that funny’ to each other. Or so I thought. If you see Neetu, she is a perfect kid. Gets annoyed easily and doesn’t mind showing her frustration by
hitting the TV when the buttons don’t work. She also has this lovely way of laughing that made her a delight.

Dinner with Indian Idol
Finally ashutosh grunted at the show and we moved on to see Indian idol. He is a sort of guy who would easily mix, make fun and also sing to amuse you. And he had his favorite to defend from Indian idol. We all debated on who has to stay and who can win, while we ordered for dinner to our rooms from our hotel. I must tell you that I was SUPER hungry. I must mention that when we arrived and were getting fresh, neelam arrived with a face wash cream and jokingly accused ashutosh that he must also give it to other friends after using it… well, this is actually a stupid thing, but I kinda felt nice for this little gesture. Now no need to smile while you read this. Dinner arrived and we all sat on the bed waiting to gobble it up. The waiter had still not arrived with a newspaper sheet so that we could arrange the dishes on the bed without spoiling it. When he came in with other dishes, Ashutosh, with his good sense of humor commented that we can use the bed sheet instead. It prompted the waiter to get the newspaper faster
But to our horror, we realized that the Roti’s were turning into papad’s and then transforming into hard plates that could be only broken by cave-men to eat. It killed my appetite and I was no longer in a mood to eat. We ordered some rice later to compensate for our blunder and got content with what we ate.

Retiring to sleep.
After they went to their rooms, I and ashutosh watched the news for a few minutes and carelessly surfed through the channels. It was late and we knew we had to wake up the next day by 3:00 AM. So we retired to sleep in silence. But I will not wind up before telling you’re the special moment of the day. Neelam gave me a cap! I half acknowledged it with happiness and awkward smile. Well at least people notice that I have a receding hair line. Not that the cap was for that. Only that I did not expect it, and it was something that took me a few moments to accept. Besides I could always turn to my mirror and say “oooh look what I got…(sob sob) no one ever gifted me a cap before! (sigh)” and gently wipe my happy tears. I stretched on my bed in sweet memories of the day… and tried hard to suppress my excitement for all the good times tomorrow was about to give me!

Do keep reading for my next post. I cant wait to tell you about my experience at Lonavla at the later part of the day!