Following My Heart...

IPL 3... the factors that are making all the difference!!!!

2010-03-24T04:56:00.000-07:00

The Captains... and their tactics... finally have risen above individual performances in T20 Cricket!!!

Strategies... finally teams are using strategies... all i can say is that people are learning how to play T20 cricket... No longer can a chris gayle take a match away from the other team single handedly... no longer can matty hayden use a mongoose to demoralise the opposition out of the match without a good plan to get the other team out...

Some brilliant strategies used by captains in this IPL...
1) Sachin Tendulkar... rotating bowlers quickly against KKR.. bowling up.. and a lot of slower deliveries.. to mellow down gayle... Rotating the bowlers quickly... was used by dinesh karthik as well... the catch in this tactic is... WHOM TO NOT CHANGE.. ...???? ---> THE GUY WHO IS NOT GIVING AWAY RUNS...

2) Anil Kumble... He studied his artillery.. found people who could used the short stuff brilliantly.. and there he is.. he used his tactics very well last yr as well getting gilchrist out in the finals.. doing his homework well... really impressive... This time around he knows well that indians cannot play short pitched stuff well.. he picks out the batsmen from the other team.. to whom he dishes out the short pitched stuff.. Once again.. he stops the flow of runs.. and gets the batsmen out..

What difference the captains are making to the teams????
1) Take mahendra singh dhoni out of CSK.. and they are not able to withstand pressure.. loose a doly to kings 11...

2) Delhi Daredevils.. they forgot to choose a captain.. in their complete squad!!! Gambhir needs time to get the team together.. individual performances will not get them through.. i dont se any hope for them this time around..unless gambhir has a natural talent at talking well to people.. and planning his strategies well!! the only guy who could lead them...without doubt is vettori.

3) Sachin Tendulkar.. has improved as a captain in this version.. he has made cricketers out saurabh tiwary and rayudu... picked the right team.. i cant pin point the reason to it.. but maybe.. for once.. the expectations on him were not as high as tests or ODIs to perform and take the team home single handedly.. maybe this has given him the space and time needed to improve as a captain...

4) Sangakaara... will need time.. but will also need Yuvi.. to fire.. they havent been working togeter as of now.. but maybe.. after the super over win they will work together to reach the last four...

5) Kumble.. got a lot of help from ross taylor last time.. and his own instincts paid off... this time around.. he is not dependent on any player.. but his own tactics.. to beat the hell out of any opposition...

6) Warne.. has not been doing his homework right... poor guy has also been struck by watson and smith non-availability.. he will get the goods once he gets his tactics right...

7) Lemme not speak about dada... :)

8) Gilly... he will reach the last four... havent been able to see his games.. but the guy has been getting it consistently right.. pretty much like australians.. with his tactics..

The Last four in IPL3....

My predictions..

1) Bangalore.. Royal Challengers...
2) Mumbai Indians...
3) Deccan Chargers...
4) CSK.. or Kings 11... depending on how quickly dhoni returns.. or yuvi comes to party!!!

i m leaving RR, KKR & DD out of contention as of now.... they still need direction.. May God Help Them ;)

Carlos Tevez... Is it a final Adieu??

2009-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

The question is.. Has Sir Alex missed a trick by replacing Carlos Tevez by Dimitar Berbatov for the Reds??

The trio that took United.. to victories galore last season... Rooney.. Ronaldo & Tevez... had a dream attached to it.. a dream.. that Sir Alex saw.. a dream.. to convert this trio to a quartet.. by addition of Dimitar Berbatov.. this season.

Midway through the season.. we had a feeling that Tevez was not being used as he should be.. we always had that feeling. We felt.. that berbatov was being given much more opprtunities.. to play up front.. ahead of Tevez... (even understanding the fact..that Sir Alex.. wanted him to gell up.. with the guys.. and start playing IN the team.. IN the formation..).

There was a thin line.. a balance which sir Alex had to maintain.. between giving the new comer a chance.. and Not neglecting his in form trio.. Even halfway through the season.. we felt that Tevez had been given much lesser chances than he should have been.. much lesser than what he deserved.

Tevez had given everythign to the club the last season.. (United deserves it as well)... and with every passin match.. we felt.. This time.. probably.. Tevez will start.. or may be the next time.. but now i feel.. that Sir Alex.. has probably left it too late in the season.

If Tevez now feels that "He was not treated at home" by the team.. i will not disagree with him. Tevez is a player of high quality and commitment.. and other giants are all ready to whop him up.. they have even been noticing the rift... the silent.. but visible rift.. that is beig formed.. and they have already started pouring in offers.. from Real Madrid.. Man City.. Chelsea ( mostly depending on the revenue generated by Drogba sale) and many more....

Being a United fan.. leaving all of this apart.. the only thing that remains with me.. is a feeling.. that probably.. Tevez should be retained.. by the management. Retaining him.. is a joint decision.. The stakeholders... The Owners.. Sir Alex.. The Agent of Tevez.. and his Advisor.. and lastly Tevez himself.

If he stays back at United.. nothing better than that.. Its always a pleasure to see a Carlos Tevez score a diving header goal from a Rooney or ronaldo pass...

Sariska Trip..

2009-05-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Early morning at 5 O Clock...
the alarms went off n started to mock...

Rajjo still sleeping nice and sound...
i had to get in.. to do my round...

We kept on trying monty's phone...
He was sleeping like a drone...

Then desperate Rajjo starts shouting aloud...
"Saaand...when are you gonna come-out!!"

We got ready.. and started to move..
Monty and Jyotsna joined the groove...

Neemrana fort was the place to be...
Thus we set forth... on roaming spree...

As we started singing songs..
Breakfast hunger-pangs came along...

McDonald's it was.. as we drove in...
A spectacle awaited... just therein...

Standing there were soooupaa-bikes..
Basking in glory.. shining bright...

We went gaga.. over the flock..
As one of the owners.. shooed us off...

We went in...were still in doubt...
Which one was best... thinking aloud...

Got permission to get some snaps...
They were very healthy chaps....

Preeti then took half my space...
In the front seat with some grace...

Scintila hogged... then came alive...
Songs at large.. Jyotsna with jive..

Preeti kept on trying her tunes...
Cab was heating up.. thowing fumes...

Sarita and Rajjo had a catfight..
I think rajjo won that.. much to his delight...

Nostalgia.. Memories.. were getting to Preeti...
College days... when she was all gritty..

The sorry gift... had just got out...
I was caught... with no bail-out...

As we stopped near Neemrana fort...
Preeti drove our cab to port...

Jail Singh's Movie.. The Tiger joke..
Got a few snaps.. and good old coke...

The "special" jokes were in demand...
Even girls had something.. which they said would out-stand!!!

Neemrana plan was chucked by chance.
We made Sariska our new romance...

Songs.. jokes... and heat.. then flowed...
Had to love a tamil song..which no one could decode!!

"Your eyes draw me close..and get shut.."
"Your lips draw me close and get shut.."

Tiger reserve it was by 1..
Heat had us all undone...

We moved again..on enquiring the feee...
Had to be back by half past three...

Lunch was calling...needed some rest...
Our hotel search was ended by "The Quest"

The small place had been beautifully done...
As we got down... the weather spun..

Clouds came along... it started drizzling...
Our wishlist was approved.. God kept on smiling...

We posed and posed and posed.. aloud..
We almost wanted to ride the clouds..

Monty.. Me.. and Rajjo strolled about..
Loving the weather.. still with doubt..

Preeti gave us all few flowers..
Just then came down heavy showers...

The food was served inside the hut...
Light showers sprayed us.. thru the struts...

Monty met their the love of his life...
The toad in the pond.. which he chased alive...

I almost felt.. he would catch the frog....
And kiss it..untill.. it wore a frock...

And walked down the aisle... Hand in Hand..
As Monty's darling.. princess transformed....

The elusive foe..kept monty running around...
Preeti almost got..to the bottom of the pond...

Then we moved back to the tiger reserve....
Now ready to take on all new curves...

As Lawanya n Vishal.. were getting the jungle trail..
Shweta narrated prelogue to "MATA's" tale...

She wanted to tell us.."What every Woman Wants"
But I guess.. Infinite are those demands :) !!! (just kidding haan..)

Weather was heavenly.. as we got into the cars...
As we moved into the jungle.. we just thanked our stars...

It was beauty all around.. Sarita spotted peacocks...
Monty.. Rajjo.. and Sambars.. all posed for pics in flocks...

We kept on clicking.. storing..the beautiful moments therein...
Cheetals.. were roaming freely.. the drizzle was on.. still...

We reached a puddle... filled with rain ...
Jumped in the pond.. applying no-brains...

Preeti went roaming all alone...
Monty.. and Vishal then hurled stones...

The beauty got scenic as we moved on..
We reached the village & rain was gone...

We reached the fort.. turning right...
The sun was now shining bright...

From the boudaries of the fort..
We looked down..at farms and goats..

Down on the ground..were a lot of lines..
Potato farms.. in their prime...

Draped in Yellow.. Blue.. Maroon...
Scintila took over the fort...

When we saw the queens hamaam...
All our princess' shed their crowns...

We reached to the top of the place..
Soaked in beauty... sun and breeeze...

Innocence shone through suns rays...
When someone.. tried to clean her paws..

We jumped down.. started to move out..
Rajjo tried to hit donkey..but chickened out...

Scintila..decided to move down.....
Just then guys... they turned around..

This is us.. The Scintillating Nine..
Leaving our footprints.. Never calling it time..

Love you guys...

Naino-trip...Living the Dream!!!

2009-04-13T07:40:00.000-07:00

Naino-trip...Living the Dream!!!

"I did in the last 4 days... what I have wanted to do in the last 22 yrs" is what Preeti said at the end of it. You would have got the same answer 8 more times had all been asked to sum the trip up in one single line!!!

Nine people: 4 boys;5 girls had set out on a trip, a trip which all 9 of us would remember forever.

Vishal... Rajneesh.. Nisheeth (Monty)...Preeti... Lawanya... Jyotsana.. Sarita... Shweta.. & Myself..

Had met Vishal twice.. lived with Monty and Rajneesh for the last four years... and that was it.. as far as my acquaintance with the group was concerned.

Even before the trip started.. me and Monty has started having fun... discussing how to get leaves.. what excuses to put in.. I told Monty... "Main to subah subah msg kar dunga.. ki meri tabiet kharaab hain", Monty replied... "Aaj hi boss zyada chutti lene ke liye daat raha tha... Mere ghar main to sabki tabiet ek baar kharaab ho chuki hain.. bhai-behen sabki" trying to find a reason for not going to office on friday. Had a good laugh.. did both of us...

Note--> Dont know much about what was happening at other people's end at this point of time.. elaborate...if possible...

Me and Monty decided to catch the train from Ghaziabad (gzb), all others were trying to find some station in Old Delhi called Rohila... The fun was just starting...

I caught the bus to ghaziabad... at about 9.. trying to reach Monty's house by 10.. and then catch the train with him at 11.30. Sitting inside that bus... I constantly tried to convince myself... that a tortoise would not be able to win the race against my bus, BUT, the pace at which it was moving... somehow killed my optimism.

I received a call from Monty... that I could stay back in gzb for the night.. and return to noida next morning... Rajneesh and the gang had missed the train!!!

I was at a complete loss. I needed a change desperately in my life. There had been too much of chaos and confusion in my mind... the last 10 months had been real tough... living almost alone... I just wanted to get away from all of this... and It all seemed to end just before it started!!!!

Thankfully... Rajneesh called up.. to tell that they had somehow managed to catch the train.. after running helter-skelter... from one station to the other... Much to my relief.
He also wanted me to pass a message to Monty.."Dher saara khana le aaeeoo"

Part 1
The Train Journey

I reached the station with Monty, stood next to a stall... had something to drink... and had a good laugh at the guy announcing the train times... a suggestion that some "Isabgol" might relieve a bit of tension in his voice also came up...

Then arrived Ranikhet Express. I took a deeeeeep breath...... and moved in.

The group was already full of life... a formal introduction took place.

Rajneesh... sitting at a perfect angle to taapofy someone...
Next to Rajneesh was Vishal... long haired... sleek.. stylish lad...
Preeti... wearing rimless spects... hair tied back... looked a familiar face.. (jisse maine college main bahut pange liye ho!!)
Sarita... Godddd... she was not even 1 percent true to her appearance... looked simple, calm and quiet... (and was actually quite the contrary...as we found out later)
Jyotsana... hmmm... I had heard about this girl... she looked innocent.. like a rabbit...
Lawanya... she looked simple, calm and collected... I immediately mind-tagged her.."Yehi hain is group ki sincere bandi", I think I was pretty correct at that.
Shweta... hmmm... sitting diagonally opposite to Rajneesh, sharp features... maroon salwaar suit... was pretty striking...

There was a couple as well in that compartment of the coach. Looked pretty romantic.. did they ;)

And then came Monty.... he opened his bag... and lo... behold.... an ocean of food flowed out!!!!!!!
As if in competition... everyone else... who had something or the other... immediately pulled out whatever they had. We realised within seconds.. that the supply was much more than the demand... at least for one sitting.

We had food. Monty was slightly disappointed with me. He expected me to eat a large amount of "load" off his bag, but i was already full, and then Rajjo pitched in with the first googly of the night.

Rajneesh said "Pata hain... Preeti ka tum dono main se kisi ek par crush hain!!!", I felt awkward... I just smiled and looked on... missed a part of conversation that took place in between Preeti, Vishal and Rajneesh.. All that I realised sometime later was that Monty was the object of Preeti's infatuation (as per Rajneesh). I tried to reason... "Ab Monty itna khana laaya hain...." was caught midway...by Rajjo.. and Vishal... and we had a good laugh... :)

Food done and dusted... we decided to play "BLUFF" (the only thing associated with cards.. that i know of... except for Probability maybe!!). Lawanya... backed out.. the game didnt interest her much.. Jyotsana seemed pretty excited... Preeti very excited... Monty shifted seats.. sat next to Rajjo.... Sarita...seemingly an expert...showed no emotions.. Vishal & Preeti exchanged seats... Preeti sat exactly opposite to me.. Jyotsana next to her... with an interested Shweta... sitting along side.. Jyotsana.. trying to learn the game... from her..

Then came along... the Kings.. Queens and the Aces... "Chaar Ekke.." said Monty.. "Yeh kya hote hain??" jumped a question over pack of cards... Preeti held like a Chinese fan... "Four Aces.." somebody explained... "Angrezi Mem" I thought... questions related to her place of origin immediately started revolving in my mind. Her policies of bluffing when she got the first chance.. were caught well by Jyotsana... who kept on explaining everything to Shweta... Monty had a tough time.. with Vishal outplaying him smartly...

Jyotsana was the first one to finish.. won the game.. (she might have thanked me for that.. as I went on a mad spree of picking up everything she was throwing in hope to get a starting chance!!) she got hold of some book.. and laid down on the upper berth as we continued catching bluffs.. laughing at each other... enjoying the company...

I changed my seat...sat next to Preeti... and from thereon.. she kept on cribbing.... that i was cheating.. and was able to see all her cards... the truth was... she was too predictable!!! Vishal kept on trying hard... to outsmart others... using his logic... came second as well.. but I think he should thank Sarita for not picking up his moves... rather than anything else...

We had 3 seats separate from the rest 6, 5 girls.. so one boy had to sleep in the same compartment as the girls... there was an automatic decision on to this... I was the only guy who did not drink... and there was a bottle of coke...with some Ethanol mixed in it.. waiting to be emptied.. in one of the bags.

As the girls settled.. all around.. my query as to the birthplace of Preeti was answered...Chennai... I immediately recalled... Pondicherry stint... when I was forced to think Chennai to be the worst place on earth!!

I mounted myself on the upper berth... once again.. opposite to me was Preeti... In 5 minutes... she started asking asking people to start the fans in the compartment... it was pretty cold.. and fans would have made it unbearable... Fortunately for us.. the fan which was facing towards her side..wasnt working.. I tried the old gimmick, which more often than not works with Indian Railways' fans, of trying to start a fan using pen by giving it an initial thrust... using my spects...as "pen"..... but it did not work. She was still persistent... got one of the fans switch on... which was facing towards my side.. and i was frozen within seconds!!!! Thankfully.. the couple in our compartment came to my rescue.... and got the fan switched off... She had another problem... with some tube-light... which could not be switched off by any of the switches.. i used another old gimmick.. turning the rod...and this time it worked.. :), the tube light was off.. I was half asleep by then... Rajjo, Vishal and Monty had come back to this side.. and were sitting and chatting with Jyotsana... That is all I remember before I fell asleep.... and for the records.."PREETI WASN SNORING IN THE TRAIN"... we were lucky!!!!! The next thing I remember..when I got up in the morning was.. an aunty in the compartment next to ours... probably the better half of a newly married couple... was stalking our stud.. Rajneesh... the girls caught that.. in action... and as if to prove the claims of girls correct... that aunty came over and sat down.... next to Rajneesh in the morning!!!!!!!!!!!! When faced with the truth... Rajneesh started blushing like a girl :) Morning we reached Kathgodam... it was pretty cold...and DAY 1 had just begun....

Part 2
Day 1
Boat Rides & Sight Seeing

We stepped out of the Kathgodam station and Preeti got all paranoid about putting on her lenses. She insisted that she would do it then and there... at the station itself. Meanwhile, Monty and Vishal had set out to do a market research... to find a cab to take us up to nainital. They came back in good time with results. We put our stuff onto the Tavera, Rajjo and Monty got into the front seat, myself, Jyotsana and Vishal in the rear, the rest of the girls stacked up in the middle. We all had our hearts filled up with excitement, although nobody had an an exact idea of what we were in for. Monty had got a map from somewhere...(read that 'google') which showed all the spots nearby having adventure sports.

Ascending the mountains.... the road kept on meandering and rising steeply. It caused dizziness in my head. I estimated that for every 20 meters we moved ahead... we turned once. Sitting in the back seat we were being thrown back and forth at every turn. Jyotsana, sitting directly in front of me, was also feeling dizzy. Vishal sat next to her. I was focused on not throwing up.. I diverted my mind.. into thinking all what changes were occuring on the external side... how was the atmospheric pressure changing.. and how was my body reacting to those.. could hear a few sounds coming from inside... I could hardly hear anything what others said.

Lawanya was the first one to get sick. We had to stop for her. I heaved a sigh of relief. Went to the other side of the road and sat on the railing. It was then that I realised how beautiful the place was... We had stopped at an inner bend, i could see the deep valley down below, the mountains lined with trees. I felt as if i had reached a place very close to heaven... i have never felt the air to fresh.. the weather so clear.. for the first time in my life... I felt as if I was in direct contact with the Sun, the rays so intense... had never felt them like that. It made a strange combination... it was chilly.. and intense rays of sun were hitting me. I realised that we were all set to go now, walked towards the drivers window... Rajneesh cracked a joke which I dont remember (I know that I was the object of fun.. :)) and then we packed and started moving again.

That stop seemed to put some life back into people again... as Rajjo & Monty started giggling again in the front seat, Lawanya, poor-thing, had to lean into Preeti's lap to rest and Jyotsana started talking as well. She was telling about her previous experiences with rappling. We listened as she drew out the comparison between the cascading roads and the rappling spot she had last been to. Dizziness started getting to me again.. and I dont remember much of what was talked about after that until the cab stopped just outside Nainital. We took our bags and started to move in with no plans whatsoever.

We walked down and gathered in front of a Army Lodge. On the other side of the road was the lake, it was all so beautiful. We decided to do another market research, browse through an array of hotels, all built on the slopes of the hill surrounding. We were standing on the mall road of Nainital. Vishal, Shweta, Lawanya and Monty went ahead to search for the hotels. We were standing around our luggage, I talked to Jyotsana, about a common friend of ours, about their BR parties, the dance competition, where Jyotsana had been outstanding but the common friend had won the HAT. The topics moved on to her habbits and likings, as she went on to explain how she was different from other girls. She had just undergone a Laser surgery last weekend so she had to protect her eyes from all sort of dust, dryness etc. She used to put on Rayban's all the time, in order to do it, be it day or night. I must say, she is one hell of a spirit lass... to come out for such a trip after such an operation...very few people can do that!!!

While i was talking to Sarita, Vishal, Monty, Lawanya and Shweta returned. They had gone through a lot of hotels, had found one really good, called "Punjab Hotel".. but Shweta had a problem with that --> She coudnt find any mirrors in that hotel room!!! (Tell you the truth... this reason was more appealing to boys..than to girls!!) There was another reason for not moving into Hotel Punjab right away... there were no geysers. But it was pretty cheap. We decided to continue our search, this time going in a different direction than the previous one, with one change in the MR team... Business Analyst Preeti had replaced Patent Analyst Shweta.

As they left, Shweta got onto a phonecall..which lasted about 20 minutes, Jyotsana and Sarita chit chatted along with Rajneesh, while I walked down on to a ledge which extended out into the lake, standing alone. I put my bag down, leaned sideways on to a pole and just kept looking straight. A lot was running through my mind... it was still running around unceasingly...like it has been doing since the last 10 months... since the last 4 yrs probably. I just looked straight... straight at the mountains..covered by green trees, how small did those houses looked. Saw a Tata Sumo standing on the other end of the lake... looked so small like a toy car... saw the blue waters... with some boats plying on them... There was something special about this place, which i still coudnt tell. My mind was still shrouded with stuff that needed to be flushed. The process had started, and i had started feeling the efects as well... the absolute quiet that the place offered... was unparalleled. Add to it the fabulous company I had... just made the perfect recipe.. to bring KBS aka "Saand" Back to life!!! (I loved the fact that Rajneesh had already told the group my nickname before I met them, I somehow felt home.. when addressed by this name!!)

I turned back, picked up my bag.. and moved towards the group. Rajneesh became the object of the talk. Sarita, Jyotsana, and Shweta started picking him apart.. systematically, taking him up on the incident of the Aunty in the train tapofying him. Rajneesh tried to defend, but in vain. Sarita even pointed out that after that lady was moving away after getting down from the train, she still gave Rajjo glances which meant a lot more than just a stare!!! We chuckled over the fact that it was good her husband had not given rajjo the same stare... or else we would have "disowned him" point blank ;). In this discussion, Sarita had opened out.. and had started speaking. She had a special quality, which she had been able to hide till now. This quality deserves a special mention as it would literally take men down, for no fault of theirs, make them objects of fun. We will learn further what exactly is this devastating quality.

Meanwhile a guy trying to rent out a few rooms approached us. He had tried on two earlier occassions but we had brushed him aside. This time, I explained to him "Bhaiya, saab log hotel dekhne gaye hain, hum log yeh decision nahi le sakte, saab log hi dekh ke aayenge aur decide karenge". This did make some sense to that guy.. but Rajjo immediately grinned and told me.."Yaar aise to naa bol". I just smiled back.

Jyotsana and Sarita decided to go out on a hotel hunt themselves as well..in a direction opposite to the other MR team. Vishal and the gang returned with a complete report on the market of hotels, add to it Jyotsana's effort we knew exactly what we were in for. The team finalised upon "Hotel Punjab", Preeti wasnt convinced at the idea of staying without a geyser. Meanwhile another opportunist hotel marketing guy started showig the group photographs of another place almost at the same price as Punjab and with slightly better facilities. But it was way up on the hill slope. Since Preeti wasnt that convinced about Punjab & Shweta found no mirrors in there, we decided to try out the new hotel. We asked the new guy to take us up in a cab on trial, he understood that had finalised his hotel, and by the time we cleared up the confusion, both of us had lost interst in the deal. So we just got out back-packs and moved towards "Hotel Punjab".

Meanwhile I received a call from my Dad, he gave me numbers of his acquaintance in nainital and the hotels they were running, but since the decision was taken i just went ahead with that. I once even thought "Kya yaar...Nainital main aake bhi Hotel Punjab main hi ruke hain!!"

We climbed straight up, into the hotel and on the penultimate floor of the hotel, where we took 3 rooms, 2 double seaters (for the girls) and a tetra seater. We immediately scanned the washroom, it had no windows no openings except for the door, no exhaust even. Only one room was available for the girls, te other was supposed to free up in 15 minutes. They all laid down one on top of the other in that single room for the time being. Their washroom wasn very clean, and immediately orders were issued to get that cleaned up. AND.. we found mirrors in the hotel...pretty much intact.. in places where they should be. We just turned around to Shweta, there was no need to speak anything. Our smiles said it all. There was a complete stoack of mirrors in our room, one of which was later placed in the 2nd room of the girls down the lobby. Meanwhile, we ordered hot water buckets, and also breakfast... Paraanthe, Tea, Coffee and Toast.

The guys had not finished their "Coke mixed with Ethanol" in the train last nite, they just kept the bottle on the table lying in the room. Preeti came into the room to charge her cellfone, and inadvertently picked up the bottle and was about to drink from it. Monty and Rajneesh hesitated for a moment, suggested that she might not be willing to drink that, Preeti got a foul smell... got cautious and immediately put the bottle back on the table.

We had a good laugh about that later. For the time being, the plan was get-set-&-go. I was thefirst guy to freshen up. Other 3 had dozed off. I aked them to get up and get through it, but they harldy listened... Vishal and Monty were fast asleep, Rajjo was listening to some music on the TV.

Jyotsana came into our room and as she was using the washroom, the helping boy at the hotel brought in a bucket full of hot water. A generalised order was passed to him "Bhaiya aur laate raho, rukna nahi.. jab tak bola naa jaae" . That guy brought around 20 buckets of water for us in the next 2 hours!!!

I had a bath. The normal water was really cold so I thanked heavens that I had hot water. By the time I got out the next bucket of hot water was ready, and so one of the guys had to get up and move in. I got into my delhi daredevils shirt, went to use the washroom in Lawanya's room to put on my contact lenses. As I was putting up my lenses, I tired to teach Preeti how to put up lenses without using a mirror. She exclaimed "Itni badi badi aankhen hain tumhaari isiliye lag jaate hain araam se lenses". I enquired about Lawanya's college, asked if she knew a friend of mine from the same college and same batch as hers. She did. I was ready, to move out and njoy, and amongst the girls, Lawanya and Preeti were the firsts to get ready.

I moved into the other girls room to have breakfast: coffee, paranthee, and omlettes. The girls were watching a pathetic movie "Dil Se" on UTV.. all glued to the television as if it was their own story gong on inside that Idiot Box. Preeti loved the coffee, was marketing it to Lawanya, I tried to lower Lawanya's expectations by telling her its not as good. Finally lawanya tasted and her face contorted with a smile on it. She didnt like it as much. "I like it much stronger" she said. Somebody concluded "Effects of recession on this coffee.. the amount of coffee being added has been reduced!!!"

After having breakfast I came out and stood on the balcony of the hotel. It was an amazing view. I looked straight ahead, at the lake and the mountains and realised that the view I had had in the morning had just been bettered by the increase in my altitude. Beautiful... is the only word I can use to describe it. I had come here..some 21 years back, but i could still remember area where I had stopped with my father, and where I had a horse ride by the lake. Lawanya stood outside and as we were looking ahead, I heard a commotion from the boys room... Monty was shouting... We rushed in to see what was happening. Apparently.. Vishal and Rajneesh had decided to go into the washroom together and had closed the doors behind them for 5 minutes!!!!
Monty, probably jealous of Vishal, started shouting and Rajjo had to come out. Vishal took a "Vishaaaaal " amount of time inside, so Rajneesh, in a bid to hurry the process up.. went in and had a bath with the cold water!!

And boyy..was he shivering when he came out!!!! Slowly but surely, everyone got ready, pulled out their digicams and were all set to move out. All climbed up to the roof, and decided to have a small photo session there itself. Excitement was ooozing from the faces of the people, everyone ready to go out and enjoy what they had been waiting for quite some time now.

Preeti wore a tom-boy look, looked pretty cool...did she.. in her 3-4rth's (they looked more of 4-5th's),
Rajneesh had put on his usual sober look,
Monty hhad done a good job at putting on a stylish dude look (wet hair.. stylish goggs),
Vishal just remained himself.. and was still different; carries natural style.. does that guy,
Jyotsana had put on a coat so huge and warm.. she was hardly visible inside that, she looked pretty cute though,
Lawanya.. stood tall...dressed all in black.. maintained an air of mystery about herself, giving out at the most a smile. Somewhat an introvert.. she always managed to retain a certain degree of magnetism about herself...
Sarita... looked all sport... fit, fine... dressed to go out and take on all the fun.. and excitement Nainital had to offer..
Shwetaa... hmmm... the first time I saw her on the roof... my heart skipped a beat ( AM being dead honest), dazed my thinking powers... I just thought..."What..?.. But how can...?.. " :)... guess these questions will always remain like this.. incomplete... & in a minute or so..I completely returned to senses... Now... I can describe her.. I guesss :)... The simple girl in the maroon salwar suit had donned black... perfect black... with Red Bellies (much like a doll's)... and a thin red belt.. untied her hair (the only girl to have done that...). The surroundings were beautiful... really really beautiful... the 7 people I have described before her.. seemed to be born out of this beautiful scenery.. all seemed to be a part of it... someway or the other... but not her... she looked a girl from a metro... all perfect with her dress... but she also wore "Simplicity".. in her expressions... in her body language... and that is what made her blend with the surroundings... and yet stand out...

Finally... yours truly... looked a brat.. as usual... a Red Daredevils Shirt.. unruly hair.. and very happy to be on the back side of a camera... :)

We clicked and clicked and clicked... Rajjo with Monty... Rajjo With Vishal.. Preeti was excited as well.. got a lot of poses in along with Jyotsana.. Sarita... Lawanya... and Shweta. For singular photographs of people.. she asked us to show some attitude... told me at least..

(The Saand Stint ;))I picked up a stone... looked at the lake.. and asked Monty..if i could hurl that into the water.. safely. Monty replied... "Negative", I traced the path of the stone..virtually.. and saw that some people might get hurt.. if I get it terribly wrong.. but then.. as if to let some thing out..from deep down..inside my heart... I decided to throw. It went faarr... and deep into the lake... as I stood there.. watched it go.. and as it went into the water.. I felt as if I had won something. I smiled and started descedning with the group.

Rajjo got a good sporty kick from Preeti... for some odd reasons.. and.. much to my surprise.. the guy casually kicked her back!!!! "Aur fir khush bhi ho raha tha!!!" Bad Manners Rajnessh Tiwari.. You dont kick girls...

We reached down, and directly ahead.. was the first thing we wanted to do was right in front of us - Boating. There were two category of boats directly in front of us. Immediately... a guy came towards us and started uttering the rates of rowing boats.... throwing incentives at us "Sahib..aapko poora us paar tak ghuma ke laaenge" and stuff. Slightly to the left there were paddle boats a well. Had spotted them in the morning itself... I immediately put up the idea of taking a paddle boat as well, and was immediately joined by Lawanya, Jyotsana & Sarita. So we decided to take a 4-seater paddle boat, whereas the rest of the people decided to go in for two rowing boats. The four of us moved towards the paddle boats leaving the rest behind.

Note: What Happened with the rest of the people for the next hour is unknown to me.. kindly ealborate on that.

We asked for the rental of the boats, pat came a reply "Ek Sau pacchis Rupae Ek Ghante Ka" (PS. Please dont translate that into english for Preeti ;)). Frankly speaking I had no idea of the rates... but as the general rule of purchase goes... "U have to bargain"... So Jyotsana started... and trust me.. the reasoning she had applied left us all.................. Smiling

Jyotsana said "Bhaiya yeh to bahut zyada hain... thoda kam kariye..."
The boat guy replied "Nahi madam yehi theek rate hain"
Jyotsana made another effort "Bhaiya hum chaar log hain.. Ek Sau Pacchis chaar logo main divide nahi hoga... ise 120 kar dijiye!!!!!"
We just smiled.. at her...
The Boat guy persisted...
Jyotsana made a final effort as if trying to rectify something "Ek sau Bees bhi chaar logo main divide nahi hoga.... Bhaiya hum aapko Sau rupae denge!!!!!"
That... was really cute...got all of us smiling.. including the boat guy :)

Finally we just decided to step into it. He asked us to pay in advance... again we hassled... told him we would pay him hundred.. and the rest later... the guy was stubborn... finally we just paid him the full 125 bucks.. noted the starting times... it was 13.17 by my cellfone.. when we started!! While getting into the boat...I saw a few life jackets...and made a bit of a fuss by putting one on... girls asked the boat guy for more jackets... and as soon as they got them... I put off mine...:), nobody put on even a single jacket.

I got into the paddling seat, along with Jyotsana...Sarita and Lawanya sitting in front of us. We backed out our paddle boat. As we turned around, we could see that the others had split up into two rowing boats and were already out into the lake. Shweta, Preeti and Vishal were on one boat, Monty and Rajjo on the other.

As soon as we had turned our boat around, a feeling of overtaking our friends on the other boats.. much like small kids.. overcame us. We peddled..and peddled hard, trying hard to move in a straight direction. I was handling the steering as well, going left... then overcorrecting and going right, and then back again left. Meandering like this... i felt as if the morning ride... when we had been driving around in a similar fashion on the roads had left its effect on Me...at least.

Jyotsana was trying to think hard of a song which could be sung befitting the situation.. the lake.. the boat... the mountains and all. She got all of involved... and got us set up for having a really good time ahead on the boat. As we moved closer to boat with vishal, preeti and Shweta on it, we saw that Shweta was trying to get in position to start rowing. We started splasing water on to them. They ducked... but to no avail. "The Pirates of the Paddle Boat" had struck. We hit them nice and plenty with water and then moved away... even as they tried a weak retort. Jyotsana.. came up with a brilliant.."Chal Chal Chal mere haathi... O mere Saathi.. Tu le chal Khatara Kheech ke.." for Shweta I guess. We turned directions... and the "The Pirates..." made way towards the other boat. We positioned ourselves perfectly... right behind the other boat, Monty was rowing Rajjo enjoying the ride... Much like Mughal-e-Azam....Emperor Shah Jahan. He saw us coming.. even tried to retaliate... but the attack was so perfect.. that he was wet... even before he could say "Help". Monty was saved... because he was doing the "Haathi..stint... in Jyotsana's Chal Chal Chal mere haathi.. thing". From distance I could seee that they both were really enjoying themselves.

Now as we moved away from the rest of the pack, into the center of the lake, our initial kiddish excitement settling down a bit, we realised... the beauty of the situation and place we were in. Look towards left or right... out stretched a beautiful blue surface... the calm waters of the lake. And from the edge of these waters... quielty rose beautiful green mountains. We got our camera out.. and started clicking, I asked Lawanya to get a shot in which we could see the scenery..just as I have described above. Jyotsana had been trying various options.. so as to sing.. and get the group alive. Unfortunately.. every time she started.. we found her to be based somewhere in the 70's with her songs. At least Lawanya and I did. Sarita somehow seemed to be enjoying it. We had changed places.. and Sarita and Jyotsana were peddling now. I wanted to sing... but just couldnt get started. The worries in my mind..were pressing me down. Then I thought.."What the hell!!! I am here to enjoy myself.. and if I m not true to myself... I will spoil the time of the other three people as well". So the KBS... who has given plenty of stage performances in his childhood.. singing.. came out.. (obviously..with a voice which has detriorated...with time so much..that a frog could do better!!).. but with a big heart.. Started with the song.. "Kyu chalti hain pawan..".. and even played the instrument... with my mouth.. which others foudn amusing :).

We decided two things.. first that we were going to touch the temple.. which was at the other side of the lake, and to play "Cut"-Antakshari. Received a phonecall from Monty.. at that point of time... loked to left and right.. but coudnt see him. So we went on with the game. Jyotsana kept on hitting us with her 70's tracks.. which got both me and Lawanya making faces. I found a way out.. of getting things back to the normal times. The rules of the game said.. We had to cut.. out at a word.. from which we could start. Whenever Jyotsana.. or Sarita would close their "Mukhda" of the song.. and get into.."heyy heyy...haa haa.. hoo hoo".. I decided to cut it there.. because I could practically start any song.. from these generic syllables. Ureka!!.. I felt like Archimedes.. trying to float on top of those olllldddd songs.. ;)... And boyy.. did the trick work!!! I sung every new song i wanted to. Lawanya also got some life back.. and pitched in with a song. Sarita and Jyotsana kept on insisting.. that what i was doing was wrong.. But who cared... we were having fun!!! and loads of it..!!!!

We reached to the temple... and I prayed..aloud.."Hey bhagwaan.. please Jyotsana ko kuch akal do..taaki yeh kuch naye gaane gaa saake.. ". Jyotsana also had a prayer.. which i never heard... on purpose.. it was also requesting God.. to give me some brains and stuff!!! :)

We turned around.. kept on singing and having fun... I wasnt realising it.. but I was getting back to life.. with every passing second.. opening out.. feeling the fresh air.. imbibing the high spirits..which my friends carried... "Friends"... amazing term I used... I had met them.. 13 hours back.. and now... I was calling them friends.. having a good time together.. THIS..IS LIFE... AT ITS BESTTT!!!

We cheked out the time again... we had time.. but the distance to be covered was still faaar. There was even some confusion.. at a point of time.. so as to where were we to head. There were two-three places along the bank... where we could see a lot of boats flaoting.. But we realised soon enough that our starting point was the farthest. Jyotsana kept on driving me insane with her choice of songs.. so much so.. that i started singing the songs of a guy whom i hatee... "Ohhh Huzoooorrr... tera tera teraaa... surroooorrrr"... no points for guessing.. who.. :). I tried singing "Humko humi se chura lo..." in a female voice.. as well.. which I think everyone found pretty irritating. I got so bored with peddling with my legs.. that I bent forward.. and started using my hands.. to peddle for some time!!!! Sarita overtook pedlling from me at that point of time. I remember a special comment I passed on to Jyotsna for pissing me off completely...I said.. "You have been born and brought up in front of Star GOLD!!!"

I was still engrossed in a constant battle with Jyotsana... while I noticed a female.. near a temple.. to our right.. she was trying to take Capture God..in her Cellfone!!! We suddenly realized that we were running out of time..for the hour. Lawanya and me teamed up..to power our way back to the shore in time. The boat seemed to be drifting... instead of moving straight.. which somehow worried me. I gave a few shots.. where I m lying down.. exhausted on the boat. I was sweating.. so were others.. but I was sweating like a pig!!!

Finally when we reached.. we heard..that Shweta had beaten Rajjo up ............................................... at a rowing contest!!! We got off the boat.. all happy.. decided to go up to the hotel for a moment.. and then return to our quest for FUN.

When we returned... we found the mood of the group swinging. Preeti and Vishal had moved ahead in search of a shop which could get us to do some adventure sports... camping.. trekking.. and maybe rope-way. We started moving in the direction. We had no idea how far they were. So we kept on moving. Rajneesh, Monty, Sarita, Shweta, Jyotsana, Lawanya and me. As we moved ahead, we started taking pictures in various poses and places. Monty was helping the girls out really well with the poses. Some 200 metres down the road.. Monty and I saw something which lit up our eyes...... AIR HOCKEY TABLES!!!!!! Aha.. we almost fell for the temptation.. but then... decided to come back to it laterr in the day. Monty & I have this special thing.. for Air Hockey.. we just cant resist it. It had started back in college days.. when we had gone for a trip.. and stopped at lonaavala........ Well.. thats another story :). So we just decided to hold on.. till the time we returned. Moving ahead.. Monty took another pic... and then exchanged places with Lawanya. We got ready for the pose.. and just as Lawanya clicked.. a BIG tavera passed by in between us. Fortunately.. she had clicked in time for the image to be captured.

We moved ahead still looking for Vishal and Preeti.. Every time we used to pass another boat rental.. a boat guy would come to us and reiterate all what we had heard before boating. My condition was worsening again, I discussed it somewhat with Rajjo... it helped.. I actually felt.. that the thing that had been troubling me.. was dying now.. and this was probably the last phase, because after this.. I dont remember looking back at it even once.

Finally, in some distance we were able to see Preeti and Vishal.. enjoying an ice cream, standing in front of a Tour-package shop. They had done a good job enquiring about all what we could do in the next two days. They both had been really passionate about it, also Rajneesh and Monty, and finally we were having some breakthrough information about adventure sports etc. As they stood discussing all of this.. girls weent to have ice-creams for themselves, I stood there.. staring at a bangle shop.. next to which we were standing. I just kept on staring at them... long enough to give the shopkeeper a notion that I would have plans of stealing them!!!! They were colourful, all colours.... And I was stalking bangles.. I saw that the group had decided to move forward. We had decided to have something to eat for lunch.. I wasnt hungry.. so I was least bothered... lost in my own world.

We moved into a Pure Vegetarian hotel..which Rajneesh failed to notice...(have forgotten the name of the place.. was Sardar's.. or something). We got a table in teh central section immediatealy.. but that was good enough only for 4-5 people. In some time.. the next table was freed up.. Monty and vishaal were stil missing in action.. carrying on with their quest.. for adventure sports... camping trekking packages. The girls started ordering.. "Fresh Lime Sodas".. I was immediately reminded of the fact.. how college main guys used to crib.. after party's where they would have girls.. along with them..."Yaar.. pehle to tarah tarah ke starter leti hain.. fir khaana magwaa ke chod deti hain.. fir desert leti hain... Bill to poora starters se hi badh jaata hain!!!!!!!" Brought a smile on to my face.. which nobody noticed... I was happy.. for once.. for being out of college and earning.. :)

I had no intentions of eating anything.. so I just ordered a Lassi for myself. Then as we discussed.. the main course we had to order.. Rajneesh expressed his strong wish about having novegeterian food. Much to his disappointment... he realised.... :). I got up and went out for a moment.. pretending to be on a fonecall.. it was actually... nothing.. I just wanted to feel the beautiful..scenery..of the lake.. and the mountain.. and the gentle breeze blowing there.. monty and Vishal came back.. meanwhile.. and monty took my place. I had to come.. and sit at the head of the table... with Rajneesh to my left.. and Monty to my right. They had ordered............ something........... :) I was hardly interested...in that.. Just that.. when they were ordering chapatis.. Monty's famous "kulcha" incident came to my mind. He blushed at the mere mention of it..(Am sure..he would be cursing me right now..for even mentioning it..here!!!)
But trust me.. monty is famous for that.. I have to respect the Bro-Code.. so i really cant right about that much more over here.. leave it to you guys.. to find out more.

I had my lassi.. was sitting content.. when rajjo and monty asked me to have something..atleast.. I ate from Rajjo's plate.. There was something good going round the group..unfortunately.. I was hardly listening to any of it. I turned to my left... and saw a lady.. in a white dress.. she looked beautiful.. and there was somethign peculiar about her dress as well.... :).. I suddenly realised that monty was facing her.. and he was leaving constant glares.. so I decided to not make it obvious..for her. Boys.. will be Boys!!!!!!!!! :)

Finally.. when were done with the food.. and had the bill in front of us.. we had some bit of accountancy...drilled into us. We suddenly realised.. that we would never be able to settle our accounts.. and so we requested Lawanya..to help us with that. We all submitted half a grand each.. to her.. so that she could make payments for the group..which would be equally loaded.

We moved out of that place.. our hunger satiated.. and then moved on. We went straight ahead.. to reach the end of Mall road, turned right onto a road which rose steeply.

We reached a shop.... Orange coloured shop. Everybody moved in.. I stayed out. What they discussed.. after that.. is a mystery to me(yet again..sorry guys :))

As we were heading up towards a particular shop.. we crossed a Barber's shop.. which was on our right. I remember the song that was being played in that shop..when we were going up.. "Tennu le ke jaaawaa". It just put a spring in my step and when all the others moved into the shop, I just sat outside the shop, took out my cellfone, and switched on the radio. Much in contrast to Delhi, there was only one station which was broadcasting there... 92.7... This somehow was a blessing in disguise.. you dont have to think about changing stations!!!

I just started looking up towards the mountains, how the trees were outlining them, looked towards the right, saw two mountains crossing each other, the sun diving in between those two mountains. The scene reminded me of a junior class scenery that we make... (on a paper with landscape orientation) sun rising from amongst mountains, river flowing in front of the mountain range, a hut in front of the river, a few pathches of grass, the rest being variant.. depending from person to person.

I never ever thought about going inside and listening to the discussions of the people inside (altough I think I did miss out on something by not doing so!!!). I just looked straight.. absolutely blank in the mind.. then I saw a Maruti Alto.. climbing that steep climb... I thought "Wow.. this is the place where these cars are tested to their hilt". Then came a Skoda.. went past. Then, somehow... I started thinking about a movie that i had to make later... about the starting.. various casts.. characters.. starting..etc... put through a sms.. regarding an idea that had come to my mind.

Towards the end of the discussion.. when people started to move out.. Rajjo came towards me.. and asked.. I replied.. "Aisehi..mood nahi tha". All that I could make out of the discussion was that.. we were supposed to come back in 10 minutes to enquire about something something something. :)

We started descending the road again, with people discussing trying out the ropeway... going to the Zoo (that was Shweta :)) and also sightseeing. Reached down, went straight ahead, and Monty and Vishal pointed out to the place where we could inquire about ropeway. We were all pretty excited and asked them to go ahead and enquire. They went ahead. Meanwhile...we were once again getting excited about the "What to do now?" thing. Preeti asked me about the why I wasnt in the discussion, I told her about the movie, she asked further.."Woh waise hi banaate hain naa.. photos-wotos laga ke.." I agreed.

We were now into discussions of the camping we were supposed to do in the jungle the next day. Rajjo came up with his briliant idea "Saand teri to jagah pakki hain.. Tent ke bahar.. Tu humaari security ke liye responsible hain!!!". I replied "Fir to yeh mere discretion par hain.. ki jab cheeta aaye.. to main kisi ko bait bana ke baaki sabki jaan bacha sakta haoon... and i think you know. who that "ek" banda is". The talk continued. And Rajjo came up with another brilliant idea of his.. at this place.."Yaar..jungle main koi chota saa jaanwar Mil jaae.. to use pakad pakas ke peetenge...bajaaenge uski acche se!!!!" As the discussions continued.. Monty and Vishal came back with bad news... "Aaj ropeway nahi ho sakta.. ek din pehle booking karaani padti hain.. agar kal ke liye booking karwani hain to abi karwaa sakta hain". Wasnt to be. We decided... that when we had a bit of time at hand... right now..might as well set out for some sight seeing.

There itself...a guy came to us.. and said.."Saab aapko sight seeing karni hain.. Hum karwaa denge..Bheemtaal.. Nakuchia taal....." He went on forever. We told him "Bhaiya.. 9 log hain.. Ek badi gaadi chahiye hogi" he immediately said it would be done. On enquiring about the prices... He said.."Ek hazaar rupae" We started bargaining here as well. Monty said.."Bhaiya.. theek lagaoo..aap zyada bol rahe ho..". That guy replied..." Saab aap hi bata do..kitna doge". There was a ping pong volley of such statements... when i got frustrated and stepped in with "Bhaiya 500 rupae denge!!!!" Then It suddenly hit me.."What did I just say!!! 50% of what this guy has said!!! Paagal ho agay hoon main kya??" Others seemed to throw such looks at me as well. The guy said.. kept on arguing... he came down to 850. We again went hard.. and tol him we are paying 750. He stayed there for 2 mins more.. and then started walking down.

All of a sudden I had a burst of energy.. I jogged up to this guy.. put a hand on his shoudler and started trying to convince him.. that 750 was a reasonable price. Somebosy just then raised the stakes..800.. But the guy had been undone.. he did not come below 850.. and the deal could not be done.

We had a realisation.. that now we could go back to the shop.. and enquire about the next days programme, and as we started moving down... Sarita said started something.. which was to keep her in limelight.. for the next two days.. maybe even after that!!! She called out to Nisheeth and said.." Ni-Shit".. we all turned to her.. and started laughing.. she blushed.. and tried again.. "Ni-Cheath"... Nisheeth had had enough.. he came running down.. so that she shouldnt be required to take his name again!!!

We reached up to the shop, and this time round.. once again I did not take part in the complete discussion. Moved in at a later stage.. to see an elderly man sitting, Sunil Ji, a person who was going to be our guide for the next two days. He was telling us about various packages they had to offer and then he used to rule them out themselves. We talked about Corbett National Park, which would have taken about 4 days.. about Kilbery forest.. (where we finally headed).. about other places where we could camp. The girls were expressing various doubts... I found some of them strange.. but then I realised.. that they could actually be pretty relevant to them. We were being provided all the things that are required for camping. So the enquiries.. like.."Waha paani milega ki nahi... Thand kitni hogi..".. and stuff. Kilbery forest was finalised, but Sunil Ji seemed slightly reluctant. He said.."Tourism authority se permission lena padega.. usme time lagta hain" but when we pressed...he said he would get it arranges by the next morining. And also for adventure sports the next day after camping.

We expressed our concern that we wanted to go sight seeing in nainital.. to all the places. We were in luck... a dark green coloured Tavera stood outside to take us around Nainital for the evening. Standing on the ramp itself.. I got into the back seat of the Tavera.. from the right side. Sarita entered from the left side.. and also Shweta.. Rajjo was feeling very happy having taken the front seat. As preeti was about to enter into the back seat.. we just realised.. that it was going to be very uncomfortable..in the back seat.. We decided that all four girls shoudl be sitting the back seat.. And I had to move out.. :( (I think you would understand why have I put the smiley)

I got out.. and the Tavera started descending the ramp... the middle seat was still empty.. and last one was packed.. by Shweta..Jyotsna.. Sarita and Preeti. Preeti was sitting in the corner.. and she suddenyl started making some fuss about it.. "Ohh my feet are getting stuck.. I can't sit over here... ". Sarita came to her rescue.. and shifted to the corner. Rajjo was still fooling around in the front seat.. when he came to know.. that he couldnt sit in there any longer. The middle seat was already filled up by Vishal, Lawanya & Monty. There was harldly any room to even fit in Half of me properly. Poor thing Rajjo.. was heart broken.. crest fallen.. when he realised he had to move back. He wore the exact same expression... as a little child does.. when you have just snatched away a lollipop he has just opened.. and is looking at very passionately.

Note: There has been a weeks break in between these two paragraphs.. i might miss out on a ew details now.. so if you guys remember.. do keep on updating.... Its also been two weeks past the trip..

And then we moved.. Rajneesh caught up... with the other three in the middle seat with their backs to the wall... he had to stick out..being the smallest guy in the pack. He was cursing me.. as the driver told us our first destination would be "The CAVES". The girls in the back seat..wanted a pic of theirs to be clicked. Somebody tried it from the middle seat with Shweta's cam but it did not work out. I had a good angle.. so asked for the cam. When i looked at the image the cam was generating... there was a big head... in the frame... and guess who was it... :) Rajneesh of course...

As soon as i pointed it out... Monty was the first to cash in on the opportunity... He pinned Rajjo's head down... and i got a good shot in. Suddenly..as Rajjo's head was released... The "Devil-Me" part of me.. over took me. On purpose.. i lied.. and tol them that i had not got a clear shot. Monty came to action again... This time..i eve got a shot of Monty pinning Rajjo!!!!

We asceded up to the caves... but ran out of luck... the place was closed :(.. so we just kept on ascending.. on the typical Nainital meandering roads. I kept on trying to click pics of somethings..or the other... tried to make a video even of the beautiful roads.. but no matter how much i tried... i could never capture the beauty inside the cam. Finally... we reached to a place..where there were a lot of vehicles.. and the Tavera stopped.

What was the place called..dont remember... he probably wanted to show us some green hillls or something.... BUT as soon as we got down from the cab... we saw Guns!!! Air GUNS!!!! AHA!!! Rajjo was the first to pick one up.. A bigg GUN.. probably as long as Rajjo himself. He asked the rates.. and then mounted one on his shoulders. The targets.. were bottles.. Bisleri... Aquafina.. Mango Frooti... et al... Also.. to the let corner... was a Maroon coloured Beer Can.. Kingfisher.. All tied to a string.. and the strings tied to a two trees.. pretty far out from the ledge. Rajjo shot... and missed the first time.. He did hit a bottle on the second shot... Although i m not sure.. he hit the one he was aiming for!!! ;)

By then.. Vishal.. Monty.. and Preeti had come over to this place.... What were the rest of the girls doin.. i have no idea.. Vishal picked up another rifle.. got it refilled.. and started shooting. Monty.. Picked up a pistol.. and gave his squeaky smile... pointed it as Rajjo even once... who got scared... (He was trying to imitate a Bot (Player) in Counter Strike holding a pistol i guess :))
Monty got the pistol refilled... meanwhile.. Preeti really was making Rajneesh's life hell... to get the rifle in her hands. Preeti got the gun.. and bang.. she hit the first bottle she aimed for!!!! (Now she belongs to the land of Rajanikanth...and had she hit the target with the rifle in just one arm.. we would have called "Carrying forward Rajani's legacy...."...huh... but she likes some "Surya" guy.. her bad luck!!!!)

As they were shooting.. I turned towards Rajjo.. and walked towards him. There were a few Telescopes... mounted over there on stands... pointing towards green mountain range in front of us. THAT WAS WHAT THE DRIVER WANTED US TO SEE WHEN HE BROUGHT US UP HERE... AND THE ONLY GUY.. WHO OT CLOSE TO DOING IT.. WAS OUR VERY OWN..RAJNEESH. As he walked towards the telescopes.. the "telescope-guy" started his marketing stint.. with dialogues and names...he would have repeated a gazzilion times by now. Rajneesh picked up his binoculors.. and looked at something. I was observing him closely at this point of time.. and as he removed the binoculors.. and there were a series of expressions that he gave...As soon as he put down the binoculors... he smiled.. looked down..right.. left... looked at the telescope.. wondering.."What the hell did he want me to see out of this??!!!"