Ghumakkar's Diary

So, finally I am travelling to Andamans. And, no this is not a riding trip :/ but yes, it’s indeed a trip I longed for a long time. Trip Plan (Courtesy Google Map, Clip Arts  here  and  here ) There is always a story preceding a trip, especially since the day stopped travelling for love and happiness but for escaping from being what I have been. Philosophies apart, this trip has got many a reasons: I am all scheduled (tickets and rooms booked) for a Phuket-Bangkok trip, travelling there before visiting the best waters of my own country – the Great Andamans – seems like a treachery against the Nation. August is the time when only a few have been to Andamans, or at least only a few bloggers have been to this place. So, attempting Andaman in August ensures lesser crowd as well cheaper stay. Seasons starts post September.

Putting into words, that emotion, which is transcendental, is often a hard thing to do. The trouble lurks in running out of metaphors and analogies to give a shape, form or color to such an experience. Greece is just that place. A brooch adorning mother Earth’s bosom, it lays scattered in the Aegean and Ionian Seas, reflecting our world at its best. It welcomes you with those personal moments when you can feel as invisible as the breeze, or as light as the sky. The heaven on earth that you define on your terms awaits you. For a honeymoon, there surely could be no better place. The ideal climate, safe waters and montages of landscapes makes it complete in an exhaustive sort of way. Is that a 'little Venice' in Mykonos, Greece Many of Europe’s oldest civilizations developed on the Greek islands. The Cycladic civilization, Minoans- all painted the town with their unique styles, thus gifting Greece, its distinctive archaeological sites and heritage. The number of architectur...

Goa was on the cards when we planned it, but as the date of riding neared plan changed and changed a lot. I was a lonely rider on the NH 4, and wasn't sure about the place to stay on the first night of the ride. Goa isn't,  like , much of fun for an introvert like me ( yes introvert, else I would have been telling stories than writing ;) , and so I was all ready to stay somewhere in a roadside motel en route on the first night. Night before the ride, I received a  call from Vinni minutes after I posted about my ride on Bisons’ forum and twitter etc. He not only got me a room booked at Hubli with help of Mr Sanjay Hubli’s 99Cannons Bullet group but also advised to visit Gokarna especially Om Beach. As it told ( wrote ) earlier, riding alone I was way ahead of time and reached Hubli well before sunset. So, I replanned the plan again and took a right turn ( by actually turning left on NH 4 and then through an underpass ) towards Gokarna. Gokarna...

Sometimes when it’s call of your Soul, you ride Solo! When I started, due to heavy rain couldn't take a pic of the group.... So, finally when even the last guy cancelled the ‘just’ a week old plan to ride to Goa and then Bangalore; I decided to do it solo! After all, I planned it, and after not being able to ride to Ladakh for the reasons which themselves failed later, I was to ride on any cost! This ride had been a memorable ride for a lot of reasons, especially with a lot cases of ‘just happened’ things. A lot of things just happened and I had to change the course or rethink about it at least. To start with, I proposed and we planned this ride just a week before the actual ride day. Samzy, Sandy, Monty, Rudra and Deepak said yes to it and later due to some personal commitments kept declining. Last being Deepak who said no, just the day before the ride. Ride plan was to start early morning in Mumbai, reach Goa as early as possible, have fun, ride next day to Ban...

Personally I have experienced if it’s unplanned, it ought to be SuperCool! Be it exams - unit, annual or entrance or a trip to nowhere. Proving evidence was the trip I had last month to the most happening place in India- the Goa. Kaustav, a senior colleague, had a planned (somewhat) trip to Goa with his old school buddies. I popped in and asked be permitted to join the gang.  A quick look at history, no dent found, happy stickers on, and I was allowed. Bang, can I get my roommate with me? Okay! And, then I was happy, full on for the Go Goaaaa! Gang posing at Aguada Fort Those who have been to place multi-times or those who haven’t yet, may not be able to digest my excitement. Even I too feel quite childish, but I really felt that innocent excitement after a long time when the trip got confirmed. Leaves were the only hurdle, but they too were granted very easily. Finally we started off 23rd December’s night. I wished to ride, but train wasn’t a bad option either on such a ...

“ We may not be blood brothers, but we surely are oil-brothers on roads ” – Yeda Anna A good ride is all a rider can ever dream of. Few tablespoons of Sun and dirt over night long marinated masti and some secret spices of drama fried in low-fat high cost oil – what else can make a perfect ride recipe! Similar was the ride to a Virgin Beach with fellow Bisons. I wasn’t available for this ride with my bull-brothers until Friday, when my plan to ride to Chandrapur got brutally killed. Another ride is the only remedy for a failed ride, so I thought to join Bisons on Ride to Hedvi. A plea to join the troupe was sent and accepted within minutes on the confirmation that my Achtung has already been serviced.  Josh and the posers Joshil, aka Josh , has planned this ride to a Virgin beach near Hedvi, Ratnagiri. Hedvi is a small coastal village some 50km off NH17 near a famous (and thus crowded) Guhaghar beach ( a rider confirmed the beach carries significance attached to ...

City of Jagannath , Puri , is situated some 60 kilometers south of Bhubaneswar, the City of Temples. It takes about an hour journey to reach Puri by road from Bhubaneswar; the town is connected to major cities of the country by Railways also. Shri Jagannath, Subhadra and Balabhadra (Courtesy:  harekrsna.com ) This was my third visit to the Puri. First was when I was a kid, not much in memories except that we roamed the city and the beaches in white- chikan kurta . Second, a few years back with my college mates, the Best visit, with lot of fun on and with the jovial humongous inviting waves of the Puri beach. This time it was an unplanned short visit to the city with my office mates. Jagannath Temple – A far view Jagannath means Lord ( Nath ) of the Universe ( Jagat ), and He is an incarnation of Vishnu. It’s believed that Lord Jagannath is the Neeala-Madhab of a Tribal King (Savar King) of Odra desha (Odisha).

There is saying that what/how you do on the first day of the Year, decides what/how everything is gonna be for the whole year. After my New Year’s night out with Bullet gang cancelled, I had the notion that coming year wouldn’t be happening too ride-full as I wished! There came my roommate’s wish to visit some beach. Voila! I was waiting for that wish! A partner, a Bull and a Beach - what more a Beggar can wish for, on the very first day of the Year. So, with my roommate and two more friends we decided to visit the Kihim Beach, near Alibaug . I wanted to visit this Beach, since long time. Planned a few times too, but all of no worth. It’s less than 100 kilometers from Navi Mumbai, through NH 17/4B. After having late night party on 31 st , we woke up late and started for the Beach at about 1 PM. Aim was to have a peace ride, so for most of the way we rode below 70 kmph. There was a little more than usual traffic on that 2-lane highway, cause of the vacation time. We too...

Few days back, we had a visit to Nagaon Beach, Alibaug . This place is around 7km from the main Alibaug town. It's one of the best beaches around Mumbai. This beach is very clean and quite long too. The best thing about the beach, besides its serenity, is that you can ride your bike along it! This place is generally not as much crowded as other beaches of Alibaug; thus, there’re not a many shops or eateries nearby. One needs to bring eatables and drinking water preferably from the town. I read on some blog that "Sagar kinare" song of the movie "Sagar" was shot on this beach. Sagar is my one of my most favorite movie, and I share the similar feelings with this Arabian Sea beach too! View Larger Map The best thing about the beach, besides its serenity, is that you can ride your bike along it! Sharing a few pictures.... The clean waters of the Nagaon Beach Bullet along the long strech.... Feeling the waves...posing for a snap ;D Some org...

This Diwali, we planned to visit the Alibaug beaches. A friend suggested that it’s better to visit nearby Kashid and Murud-Janjira , as the waters are cleaner and sands are cleanest on ghats. I browsed through the Google, and found the suggestions real true. One of my seniors, hailing from IIT-B, even told me that it’s actually white color fine sand/silt beach at Kashid (Geologists’ can’t resist), and the beaches are not very much crowded. We were also advised to witness the sunset at Kashid beach. Sooooooo, we were total 8 people, (3-me n my 2room-mates + my 3 frns + frmz’ 2 frns) for the day-long tour-de- Kashid-Murud-Janjira ! We hired an 8-seater Tavera, and the driver was in his handsome 19, though very coooool n calm on steering. We started at about 9AM from Ghansoli, Navi Mumbai and reached Kashid beach at about 11:30. The beach was so fascinating and inviting that we couldn’t control and run towards it! It was a high tide time, so the waves were enough powered to topple us! We...