An hour at the Hair Dresser



No matter how early you wake up or no matter how early you reach the salon, there will always be a queue of at least 10 people waiting ahead of you. But sitting there, waiting for your turn gives enough time to ponder on things which you never get time to think upon. Things that you may have knowingly or unknowingly done or things which you may want to do or achieve in the near future.

Why does life have to be so complicated? Why is it a mystic journey with path full of wicked twists and unexpected u-turns? Why does this puny brain is left to think of so much; Career, Money, Parents, Relatives, Job? And midst all this humdrum, where does a person find time for thinking about himself? Thinking about own's happiness, sorrows, thoughts, dreams, hopes, likes, dislikes.

To think about it, waiting for an hour at the Salon does not seem to be that bad after all. At least you can dedicate that one hour for yourself. No one to bother you, no one to bug you and no one to hinder you with annoyances, vexes or  unwanted irascibility. But to figure out the mystery behind a happy and a contented life, I think i'll need many such hours at my local hair dresser.

My turn's here...adios !!



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My New Hobby !!

Circa 2009 - “I will never ride a bike again in my life”

These were the exact words iterated by me when I dashed my friend’s bike against a signboard while he was teaching me how to ride. Back in college, friends used to make fun of me when I couldn’t even kick start a bike. To top it all, I used to justify this by saying

“Arey hum Mumbai waalon ko kya karna hai Bike ka…We have a Rs. 2 million worth of personal mode of transport for daily commute (read Train). Why spend a bomb on bike, its maintenance and petrol !!”

Circa 2011 - “I can never stop riding a bike ever”

From vowing to never ride a bike to finding petty instances for riding a bike, it has indeed been a strange journey. Ironically, it all started from the day I lost my license.

Since I was pretty confident of my “riding” skills, I preferred not to buy a bike and go for an Activa instead. Sweet, simple, fuss-free and easy to ride. It couldn’t get any simpler than this. However one freak mishap and it made me lose my license for 6 months. It took me some time to recover from the shock, but I thought, heck, why not make use of this time and try giving learning the bike one more chance! And that is how it all began.

I started learning on Yamaha RX 100, still a cult favorite amongst many. Being light in weight, it helped me quickly recover in case I lost balance or put in the wrong gear or accidently over-rev the vehicle. I realized that those few months of riding an Activa helped a lot as it made me familiar with basics of 2 wheelers like balancing, acceleration, braking etc as well as riding in a real environment under real traffic conditions. And no sooner than I knew it, I was riding a bike, all by myself. A week of practice and I was ready for the real test; riding in my local market on a Sunday at a rush hour between 7:00-8:00 PM. Kalwa’s market is a dreaded place where few newbie driver’s dare to tread. Its a place swarming with shoppers where no amount of incessant honking can budge them to make way for any vehicle. Instead of keeping eyes on the road, the shoppers are busy looking at groceries, vegetables and many other wares sold by a horde of vendors doting the road side. Somehow, I did manage to get past them, without bumping into anyone, without knocking anything over and always ensuring that engine doesn’t turn off due to improper clutch-gear positioning or low power due to  lesser acceleration. That was it; I had successfully overcome my fear of riding a Bike and unknowingly I had made myself an obsessive fanatic of this wonderful world of Bikes and Bikers.

I got myself a white TVS Apache RTR 180 in December, 2010 and have TVS Apache RTR 180  never looked back since. I have also registered myself on XBHP, a one stop portal for all your biking needs, queries and much more. Now onwards, this blog will also feature travelogues of all the trips which I make on my Bike along with pictures and travel tips.

A million thanks to Akash for putting his life on stake and teaching me how to ride and to Nikhil for lending me his RX 100. Due credit to Sujit as well for trusting me with his Apache whenever I asked for.

To summarize, the below mentioned adage says it all,

Its One Life, so Live it and Its One World, so See it

Cheers to this new found love. Keep riding !

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Marathi ZooZoo

Ekdum Jhakkaaaaaaaass!!!!!!!!

 

 

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What an Essay!!

An essay written on INDIAN COW by a candidate  appearing for IAS exam. This was published in the Marathi daily news paper  - Loksatta


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Forts of Maharashtra

Original Article: http://indumol.livejournal.com/47020.html

These forts are truly a feat of an engineering marvel and an ode to one of the greatest warriors in the history of India, Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

Janjira

Janjira


Alibaug

Alibaug

Arnala

Arnala

Lohagad

Lohagad

Pratapgad

Pratapgad

Purandar

Purandar

Raigad

Raigad

Suvarnadurg

Suvarnadurg

Some others





Jai Maharashtra!


A much needed Outing

3rd April 2010; it was the day I was waiting for. After an array of cajoling, coaxing and persuasion, we finally managed to gather a flock of 6 people who were ready for a weekend road trip. The location - “West Palm Beach Resort” in Vasai.

Vasai (Marathi: वसई) or Bassein is a historical town in the city of Mumbai in the Maharashtra state of India.

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It is located in Thane District, 50 km north of Mumbai. The city is located on the north bank of Vasai Creek, part of the estuary of the Ulhas River. Vasai is famous for its historical fort and vast expanse of beaches. The West Palm Beach Resort is located on 5 acres of landscaped greenery. It is flanked with thick vegetation at the back and the famous Merces Beach by its side.In short, a perfect spot for a nice weekend getaway.

We left Thane at 4:00 in the evening. Myself, Nikhil, Vaibhav and Akhil decided to go on our bikes while Yogesh and Sachin agreed to come by Diwa-Vasai local. We reached the resort by 9 in the night. The place was bubbling with weekenders; guys like us (whose sole purpose was Drinking, drinking and more drinking), girls only group (it was our lucky day!!!) and families. The night was spent in boozing (a whole lot of it), pulling each others legs (a must after during every drinking session), and drooling on the girls/ladies who were present in the resort.

The next day scenes were right out of the Hangover movie. Vaibhav was the most stoned amongst all. Few rugby style huddles were required to awaken everyone from their slumber.

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A night of incessant drinking had made us all pretty hungry and the first thing we did was have a hearty breakfast.

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The lush 5 acres of greenery offered some scenic vistas for clicking pictures. The owner of the resort had a picturesque house of his own which looked like straight out of a fairy tale.

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We could have snapped in some more photos but the sweltering heat was taking its toll on us. The in-house pool started to look more tempting than ever. Without any further ado, we jumped right into it. We spent almost 3-4 hours but it all seemed like an instant. To add to the festivities, there was a Rain dance and DJ Session too. The crowd started swaying to some of the hit Marathi numbers belted by the DJ.

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The highlight was Yogesh’s unique belly dance/robotic moves a la Shakira.


Overall it was an afternoon well spent.

A light lunch and a quick nap later it was time for us to leave. It was indeed the much needed respite from the humdrums of the daily office life.

How I wished we could all do it every weekend!!!

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Sasin does a Pande

Original Author: Akash Jadhav

“What began as a pleasent day for the teams, ended as a nightmare for one particular player -Sasin Salian aka 'hagrya'. The beginning of the day was pleasant because of absence of Sujit Nimkar at the field who had given worst performance for the last two weeks. His absence meant that the other players were going back to their playing ways. A comment by Nikhil Salian

Aaj Sujit nahi aya hai toh sab barabar football khel payenge"

says it all. But that was not going to be the way.

Sasin wanted to be the striker even after his manager Akash was against it.Bt as usual he didn't take him seriously and played at that position, a decision he will regret for his life. In 1st game he missed 2 chances but den everybody does. So Akash thought of giving him another chance by signing him up for 'Manpasand FC' and he disappointed his manager and team by giving up the ball at the kickoff which was converted into a goal. Then the passed the ball to his opponent while his whole team was in the other teams half and had a chance of goal for themselves.And den came the worst experience for Sasin. He stole the ball from opponent to find an open goal. He took the ball near it and shot it wide off the goal which must have been miles away from the post.The whole team was mad by now and the opponents were enjoying this comedy football. The fans booed and booed. The scene resembled to Amay Pandes miss few weeks ago who was beaten up by his own teammates den. A treat for the opponents and agony for teammates and fans. Worst performance by anyone in the history of football.”

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Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Ganesh Parab and I am a writer, techie and guitarist based out of Mumbai, India. I love photography and am passionate about travelling, exploring the unexplored on my trusted bike and capturing all the candid moments on my Nikon.

This blog for me represents freedom of expression and sharing my opinions with the rest of the world. This blog is my story. You can also follow me on