Melancholy X'mas

I used to hate it when
                my mom used to poke me for midnight mass on X’mas eve
I used to hate it when
                the cold bites deep down to my bone.
I used to hate it when
                I had to wait for the mass to end to taste the chicken curry
I used to hate it when
                the crackers burst all night interrupting my sleep

I used to hate it when
                I was forced to go along with the X’mas carol
I used to hate it when
                my brother made me do all the menial job for the crib
I used to hate it when
                my dad snored after the afternoon meal interrupting my X’mas movie
I used to hate it when
                my mom sends me off to give X’mas cake to neighbors

I used to hate it when
                few of my cousins get delayed for the X’mas night party
I used to hate it when
                no one cared about the games that I have put a lot of thoughts in.
I used to hate it when
                everyone leaves when all I could think was how to make them stay for couple more minutes
I used to hate it when
                everyone left with a smile and I am the only one with a sad face.

Now I miss all these……

A Fall in LA

You all look really great! The program coordinator at UCLA was being very vocal about it during the photo shoot. I remember searching in vain in the mirror on that morning to find some signs of handsomeness. May be that’s just an American way of saying nice about anything and everything. Also I was not expecting her to say that “You all look great! Except you Feeebin” But I have seen many Americans greeting each other saying you look amazing/great/nice even though the other person looks as if he/she  just got out of bed. The key point here is that Americans are generally very courteous. Any random person you come across in the street will smile at you and greet you with a Hi or How is it going? They walk away as if they know the answer. After all, in America everything is great so what negative answer do you expect?

I started my exploration in the very first week, with Hollywood walk of fame and Santa Monica beach. UCLA had organized thanksgiving program in which I was invited to dine with an alumni from UCLA for thanksgiving dinner. They prepared a wonderful dinner for me and we had a highly intellectual discussion during the dinner. I had to use all my current affairs reading to be involved in the discussion.  This was little strange for me as my family usually discuss people and movies during our dinner time. 

At Hollywood walk of fame

The happening street of Santa Monica

Mr Clark and Family at Thanksgiving

For the next two weeks, I joined the UCLA hiking club for two different treks. One was at Devil’s Punch Bowl which was relatively easy. The next one at Santa Paula waterfall was highly adventurous as we had to do some rock climbing where a loose step could lead to a fall as deep as 20m below. The effort was completely worth it as we reached the natural pool at the end of the trek. I consider this as one of the toughest treks that I embarked upon, that too with a history of five shoulder dislocations.

First Trek @ Devils Punch Bowl

Second Trek @ Santa Paula. The toughest part

Santa Paula Pool

Enjoying a natural slider

The finals week came soon. I couldn't wait for the final night mischiefs that me and my roommates had planned. (I am leaving this to reader's imagination) In this excitement I finished my exam with half time remaining and went to the Jenss step to enjoy a cool sunset. The very next day we left for a trek to Hollywood sign trail. I extended this trek further to conquer Chahuenga peak as my friends returned back. At the end of it I visited the Bat cave famous from the Batman TV show in 1960’s

View from Janss step

With Roomies at Hollwood trail

Getting photo bombed @Chaheunga Peak

My impression of the entertainment capital of the world has been great so far. This vibrant city has a lot to offer and I am patiently waiting for more and more wonderful experiences.

Why people are awesome

I happened to think a lot these days, which is very unusual with me as I have very limited thoughts, and I have found that people are genuinely good irrespective of the belief they follow or irrespective of the race they are in. I felt that people have a natural inclination to help others which might be more related to genetics than the bible saying “Thou shall love thy neighbors”. I don’t think anyone who helps a complete stranger thinks that he is increasing his chance to the “Heavenly abode” or “Moksha” while involved in the act. I was trying to recollect few of the incidents where a complete stranger helped me without expecting anything in return. Here is my list.

First: I was eighteen years old and had just got my driving license. During some family function, I was asked to go and get my cousin who was coming from Bangalore to a particular place. This place was around 40 Km from my home and I had to travel through the ghat sections and narrow roads. This was my first trip alone after getting my driving license and to be frank, I was scared about travelling alone through the secluded area. Just some 15 Km from my home, my tires got punctured. I didn’t notice it and an auto driver who was overtaking me shouted at me. I stopped the car and got out; I didn’t have any clue on how to change the tires. Just as I was worried and was staring at the jacks in the car dickey, the auto driver who warned about my punctured tire came back. He said that he noticed that I was alone and he thought he could probably help me with this. In the next five minutes he replaced the tyres, with me just playing the role of supervisor. I didn’t even have the courtesy to say thanks or give a gracious smile. I was just happy that I could get my work done without moving a little finger. As he drove away, the ungracious little jerk that was me sped away just to manipulate the story later as an adventurous experience to my cousins.

Second: I was on a bike trip with my friend to Hampi. It was almost midnight and we were still 60 Km away from Hampi. We decided to stay the night at Bellary and leave to Hampi on the next day. I was driving and my friend was the pillion rider. I missed one Hump completely and this made the bike to skid. I could still balance the bike and myself and the bike were safe. But my friend lost the balance and he fell to the road. He suffered a bruise on face and small other injuries. As it was pitch dark, we were left with only the lights coming from the vehicles passing by. A person came in jeep and stopped near to us. He offered to help us. We were really skeptical about him. He told us that he doesn’t expect anything in return and was just doing this because someone helped him sometime back. We were still skeptical. He told he will take us to hospital or atleast help us in finding a decent hotel. First he took us to a small mess where my friend could clean up his wounds and he asked few of his friends who were studying nursing to help us get first aid. He was trying hard to help us and we were trying to wade him away thinking he was looking for monetary benefits. We never paid him, but thanked him a lot and exchanged numbers in case he came to Bangalore. I recently deleted his number while I was cleaning my contacts.

Myself and injured Vishnu at Hampi

Third: I was 2 min late to catch my Bus to my native and the bus had left in the busy Bangalore traffic. As I had the number of the conductor I called him up. He asked me to get into an auto and come to some hospital bus stop. I got into an auto and asked the auto driver to speak to the driver. They both spoke and the auto driver got to know the exact location where I was asked to go. He took me through the heavy Bangalore traffic. As we were moving through the traffic, I realized that I did not have enough money to pay the auto driver. I had a couple of ten rupee notes and 17 one rupee coins. I remained silent as I thought if I tell the auto driver about this he might not take me to my destination. He was a skilled driver and he used all his driving experience to reach the destination in time.  As I got out I told him I don’t have enough money with me and handed over couple of ten rupee and the 17 one rupee coin. I told him I will be back to Bangalore on Monday and then hand him the remaining money. I exchanged my phone number and also gave my driving license as a security to him. On the Monday after that I called him up and he came near to my office where I paid him the remaining money. To add to that there was another stranger in the bus, who was sitting beside me, after hearing my small adventure felt pity for me and offered to buy me dinner when the bus stopped in a remote location with no ATM’s around for dinner.

I am sure that everyone who read this will have many more and even better experiences than what I had. I was also cheated once when I was trying to help a stranger. Also I was given a ferocious look by a big bosomed lady when she mistook my signal to switch of the lights of her motor bike. But these setbacks doesn’t make me stop and I contribute in my own way in doing small things which might help the stranger without expecting my name to be written in “The book of life”

Famosa Diary

I was good at dumb charades, but my talent did not stand a chance before the two Taiwanese receptionists. I tried my luck again. Wheeere eeese daaaa BUS STOP????  During this question I was acting as if I was driving a Bus and leaned forward as I pressed the break. After this I pointed to earth and gestured my hand as if asking where. The two receptionist started looking at my feet and later nodded in sync conveying that they didn't understand a thing what I said. I had no clue what was so confusing about it. It is just two words BUS and STOP. They could easily understand credit card and Taxi but not BUS STOP. No Place for common man I guess.

I was in the second day of my Business trip to Taiwan. Actually I was there to debug an issue reported by a customer, but hell yeah business trip sounds more cool.  After coming back from office, I was planning to catch a bus to the nearest metro station so that I can catch a glimpse of Taiwan before I leave back to India. Our sales representative/GM in Taiwan was a one good person and gave me a detailed map of Taiwan. I made a list of main thing to be done and Taipei 101 fell first on that list. After my failed effort with the receptionist I strolled out of the Hotel to catch a bus to Yonging, the nearest metro station. I had noted down the Bus number to Yonging but failed to find the Bus stand. To my luck, a Taiwanese girl came to help me and pointed to direction and told BUS STOP. I bowed my head in the Japanese style conveying my thanks but she had disappeared before I finish my stretching.

In Taiwan they have a single card which can be used to travel in Metro and the Bus even to buy groceries from Seven Eleven and Family Mart. I reached the main metro station. The well lit streets look like a series of Vittal Mallya Road in Bangalore. I could see people renting out cycles from the metro station. As I love walking I decided to walk through the main streets in Taipei city. At a distance I could see Taipei 101, the second tallest building in Asia, only behind the great Burj Dubai. It was a flood of famous Brands inside the Taipei 101. Most of the lone wolves who enter a posh mall have three main activities to do.

1.       Take a selfie

2.       Ask someone to take a portrait of yours

3.       Curse all the arrogant women who do not spare a second look to your handsome face.

After finishing of the ritual, I called it a day and returned to my hotel.

The Selfie

Inside Taipei 101

The next day I decided to visit Longshan temple, a Buddhist temple located at the not so posh area of Taipei city. I got down at Longshan temple metro station. The streets in Taipei are well marked and it is very easy to find direction to most places especially tourist place. After watching the ritual in the temple I decided to walk around. It was not long before I saw place which are impoverished and smell like feet. There were homeless people lying on the pavements and smoking cigarette. There was a night market nearby which sold many food items especially crabs, snakes and other sea creatures. I saw a shop selling sex toys in the night market, but was chased away when I tried to take a photograph. The night markets especially Shilin Night market is well known for its late night shopping centers. These places have exotic dishes like juice made of frog eggs, stinky shrimp fry etc. Mc Donald’s was the official food sponsor for my trip. A malayali christiani who likes tapioca and beef curry will be very much happy with the Big Mac and the French fries at the Mc D.

Longshan Temple

As I wanted to visit geo thermal valley and my main plan for the Taiwan trip was to finish of the business related issues, I slogged on Wednesday, but made sure to visit the secretariat and other main building in Taipei. I also decided to do a bit of window shopping to get some stuffs back home. I took some snaps of bags and shared it to my techie mother who figured out how to use Google hangout in no time. Thursday morning I woke up very early and caught the first bus to the Metro station.

Food served at the Shilin Night market

Geo Thermal valley

The Thermal valley opens at 9 and closes at 5. I reached there at 8 30. I had taken an extra pair of dress, in case I decide to take bath in the hot springs. Thermal valley was a different experience as I could see the water boiling and Sulphur fumes rising from the water. The main pool is very hot and the temperature is near to 100 degree Celsius. In downstream there are hotels which offer people at a nominal rate to take bath in the not so hot natural hot springs. I decided not to take bath. My size zero body figure is something which I would not want to expose in a public (yea both men and women) hot spring.

Friday was the swan song day, the issue was fixed, everyone was happy. The General Manager/ Sales representative took me out for lunch as promised. He made me eat god knows what. I remember eating a cooked jelly fish, shrimp fry and sushi. I tried by best not to puke. That night I went for a massive shopping. I bought enough stuff so that I can go home without any complaints. While returning back to Hotel with loads of stuff in my hand, an old woman gave me a helping hand. She knew a little bit English. I told about all the places I visited. By then I had got acquainted with the driver of the last bus. He had helped me earlier in finding my Hotel. I asked the old women to convey my thanks to the driver and tell him that I am leaving back tomorrow. I got down at my stop and walked slowly ahead.  As the bus was catching up with me, the driver stopped very near  to me. He opened the door and gave me a salute.

With Chaucer Kuo, the GM in Taiwan

The food Taiwanese savored and I gulped 

The next day morning after the buffet breakfast a Taxi was arranged by the Hotel to drop me to airport. I had packed all my stuffs already. The receptionists were giving me a warm smile though intermittently watching my feet. I got into the taxi, there was some Chinese melody playing. As the car started, I started feeling nostalgic about the last one week. The awesome places I visited, the awesome people I met right from the GM with all maps, the receptionist who thought something funny has happened with my feet, the girl who showed me the direction to bus stop, the hardworking customers, the old women who helped me with the luggage, the driver who gave me an warm salute. As the car speeded away, I asked the driver to increase the volume and leaned back on the seat to enjoy the final moments in Famosa.

Tribute to the Master

I know I will read this post again and again through out my life. Thank you cricinfo for summing up all the memories.

"Friends please settle down, I'll get more emotional! It's hard to believe my wonderful journey is coming to an end. I've a list of names to thank. The first is my father, who passed away in 1999. Without his guidance I wouldn't be standing in front of you. he said 'chase your dreams, don't give up, the path will be difficult.' I miss him today. My mom, I don't know how she managed a naughty child like me. She just prayed and prayed from the day I started playing the game. For four years I stayed with my uncle and aunt when in school, they treated me like their own son. My eldest brother Nitin doesn't like to talk ,much but he said, whatever you do, I know you will give 100%. My first cricket bat was presented to me by my sister Savita. She still continues to fast while I bat. Ajit my brother - We have lived this dream together, he sacrificed his career for me, he took me to Achrekar sir first. Even last night he called me to discuss my dismissal. Even when I'm not playing we will still be discussing technique. If that hadn't happened, I would have been a lesser cricketer.

"The most beautiful thing happened to me when I met Anjali in 1990. I know that being a doctor there was a big career in front of her. But she decides that I should continue playing and she took care of the children. Thanks for bearing with me for all the nonsense I've said (Anjali wipes tears). Then the two precious diamonds of my life Sara and Arjun. I've missed out on several birthdays, holidays. I know for 14-16 years I've not spent enough time with you. But I promise you I will spend the next 16.

"My inlaws - I've discussed several things with them. The most important thing they did was allow me to marry Anjali. In the last 24 years my friends have made terrific contributions. They have been with me while I was stressed. They have been with me even at 3am when I was injured. Thanks for being there for me.

"My career started when I was 11. I was extremely delighted to see Achrekar sir in the stands. I used to ride on his scooter and play two matches a day. Sir took me along to make sure I played. On a lighter note, Sir never said 'well played' because he didn't want me to be complacent. You can push your luck now, Sir, since I'm not playing cricker anymore.

"I started my career here in Mumbai. I remember landing from NZ at 4am and playing a Ranji game the next day. The BCCI was fantastic from my debut. Thanks to the selectors. You were right with me making sure my treatment was taken care of.

"Thanks to all the senior cricketers who have played with me. We see on the screen Rahul, VVS, Sourav, Anil who is not here. All the coaches. I know when MS presented the 200th Test cap, I had a message to the team - I said we are all so proud to be representing the nation. I hope to continue to serve the nation with dignity. I have full faith that you will serve the country in the right spirit.

I will be failing in my duty if I didn't thank the doctors who have kept me fit. Given the injuries I have suffered. They have treated me in odd hours.

My dear friend the late Mark Mascarenhas. I miss him. My current management team WSG, for continuing what Mark has done. Someone who has worked closely with me for 14 years is my friend Vinod Nayudu.

"The media has backed me a lot, since my school days. Even today. Thank you. Thanks to the photographers for capturing those moments.

"I know my speech has become long. I want to thank people who have flown in from different parts of the world. I want to thank my fans from the bottom of my heart. "Sachin, Sachin" will reverberate in my ears till I stop breathing." (Followed by loud cheers).

The crowd wants more. Sachin has handed back the mic. We haven't seen the last of him here surely.

Sudhir Kumar Gautam, by far his biggest fan, waves the tri-colour. Sachin may not have mentioned his name, but he holds a special place in his heart, you can be sure.

Sachin gets together for a huddle with his family. I'm sure he is preparing for a lap of honour around Wankhede.

And the walk start. Sachin waves the tricolour, his wife and kids next to him and his team-mates behind. It's a leisurely walk but the photographers are clamoring in front of him. It's an army.

Now the special moment. Kohli and Dhoni haul him up on their shoulders! He continues to wave the flag. Memories of April 2, 2011, when India lifted the World Cup right here at the Wankhede.

The entourage slowly complete the lap. The chants of "Saachiin Saachiin" will never cease.

The lap's done. Sachin's back on his feet. People surround him. If you look closely, somewhere in the middle you might spot him. Small in stature maybe, but he has the cricket world at his feet now.

He walks across to the pitch in solitude and bends and touches it, one last time. Anjali said in an interview earlier today that she had never actually seen him do it before until his last Ranji game. He has done it now at the Wankhede, his nursery, for a worldwide television audience and the capacity crowd here at the stadium.

The great man walks up the stairs of the pavilion. Thank you for the memories, Sachin!

Why true entrepreneurs don’t smoke

I was reading a book named Freaknomics and it made me think about a question which intrigued me for a long time. What is the worth of smoking a cigarette? This made me do this small/redundant/junk research. I chose to consider Kerala as my research area, as only Kerala can boast about its health and less disparity of income. Yea, also proud about it J

So the first thing that I wanted to do was how I can attribute the value of life a person lost on smoking a cigarette. I had to find an equation for which input was number of cigarettes and the output was minutes/hours of life. The life expectancy in Kerala is 74. Number of death in Kerala during 2009 as per the official record is 232020 (Don’t ask me whether they killed someone to make it a round figure). Using the same record I found out that out of this 93.29% died at the age of 30+. Also as the median age of a person starting smoking is at the age of 30. I choose to consider only the age from 30 to 74 as the years of life. Now if we take the reason for death, the same record gives a statistics as 7.2% from cancer and 27.66% from Heart attack. As per a researcher * 20.1% of the total cancer is lung cancer. As probability of a person who gets lung cancer is 2300% **higher than a person who does not smoke, I neglect any lung cancer caused without smoking. So if we take all the numbers we have a total of 232020 death in which 93.29% of death we are actually interested in.

So the 44 years (74 – 30) if divided in the same proportion as the proportion of cause of death. 7.2% total death is caused by cancer, 20.1% of this number is caused by lung cancer. So smoking-led lung cancer constitutes 2.38% of total death by lung cancer. In the 27.66% of the heart attack, 30% is due to smoking. So smoking via heart attack attributes 8.29% of total death. So based on this total death by smoking is 2.38+ 8.29 = 10.67%. If I divide the 44 years of life in this portion we get 4.69 years. So on an average a smoker by smoking takes away 4.69 years of his life. Let is round it of to 5 (As final stages of cancer and heart disease is not worth counting). So an average smoker’s life expectancy is 69, still ahead of Indian life expectancy.

The percapita income of Kerala is 63,000. So that means an average smoker is denied 5* 63,000 Rs (Rs 315,000): of money. The average cigarette smoked by an Asian is 14. So if we use this in the 39 years of his life he might have smoked considering average price of 6Rs per cigarette the total amount cost to 11,95,740. Now we will try to equate money with the pleasure. I am defining a unit “Pleasure” to measure pleasure received in smoking one cigarette. So one cigarette is worth one pleasure, so the cost of each pleasure is 6 rupees so a smoker invests 11,95,740 Rs to get 199290 units of pleasure. The amount denied to him (3,15,000) could have earned him 52500 units of pleasure. So subtracting this he will get only 146790 out of  199290. So a loss percentage of 26 happens each time he trade for unit of pleasure. Now converting it back to money, for each one rupee he actually makes a loss of 26 paise. No sane businessman will be ready for such a business.

Now a counter argument can be from successful entrepreneur claiming that smoking helped them in getting innovative ideas which made them successful and there by earning more than they could have and thereby offsetting or may be profiting by the act of cigarette smoking. This itself is a complex problem and thus currently out of scope of this research.

nina tikari photography

Reference :

http://www.cr.lsgkerala.gov.in/VitalStatics.php

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cancer/CA00053

http://business.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/jun/28/slide-show-1-kerala-is-actually-first-in-per-capita-income.htm

Doodhsagar and Tambdi Surla Trek

The idea of a trek is probably to have different set of people join together for an adventure. In one recent trek, a group had four type of people. The scared one (SO) - who is ready to take very minimal risk; The don’t care one (DO) - who doesn’t really care about the trek, but only about the food and sleep that he can get; the Responsible one (RO) - who consider all the risk factor and make responsible decisions; The out of the mind one (OO) - who as the name suggest is out of his mind; probably because of last night inebriated state. So the SO, DO, RO and OO set for a last moment trip to Dudhsagar. They did not have any plan so they decided to plagiarize Bangalore ascender’s plan.

Waiting for Chennai-Bangalore-Vasco Express at Hubli

At Castle Rock Railway station

Tickets were booked in Tatkal to Hubli, as only 16 tickets were available for the direct train from Bangalore to Castle Rock- The usual starting point of the trek. Once they reached Hubli, they waited for Bangalore Vasco train for which they earlier failed to get Tatkal ticket. The journey from Hubli to castle rock is around 3 hours. Around 11, they reached Castle Rock. The entire station was covered in mist. It was a pleasant view indeed. Many trekkers were already preparing for the 14 Km trek along the railway track from Castle Rock to Dudhsagar. After taking few photos, they boarded the train while it started whistling for its departure. As soon as the train departed from Castle rock, everyone in the group started feeling bad about not trekking from Castlerock to Dudhsagar. The trains have one more stop in the midway between Dudhsagar and Castlerock. They decided to get down there. Unfortunately they forgot the food that they had carried, which included chocolates and 35 chappatis. They realized this only after getting down and by that time train had started moving. SO wanted to get in the moving train, this was an unprecedented move from him as it was evident that it should be DO who should show the desperation for the lost food. SO reveled that he was scared of staying hungry in the forest, which solved the puzzle.

Trekkers trekking from Castle Rock

The 7 Km trek from the midway till Dudhsagar is also very beautiful. Many tunnels, 100 year old bridges, mist covered valleys and small waterfalls made that trip a memorable one. It was expected to rain, but it didn’t. Travelling in railway track is similar to walking in a mine field, mines are everywhere, somewhere fresh and somewhere old. OO wondered on who had time to plan these mines when the train was passing through the nature at its best. It took them around 2 hours to finish the 7 Km and finally they reached Dudhsagar railway station, the water falls was just 1.5 Km away from it. As they had lost their food, they decided to make use of a small mess/hotel available at Dudhsagar railway station. For Rs 40 they got enough pulav to appease their hunger. As expected DO was not happy about the pulav.

First waterfall that we encountered on the way to Dudhsagar

On a bridge on the way to Dudhsagar

First tunnel on the way

 Dudhsagar was a majestic view. 50 m high waterfall looked similar to someone who spilled his milk bottle on a rock. OO wanted to take a bath in the waterfalls and soon after taking a few pics, he went directly to enjoy the milk bath. To his desperation there was no Cleopatra there, a few were looking from the top of the bridge, enjoying the sight of many potbellied half naked men enjoying the milk bath. OO felt completely rejuvenated after the bath and was ready for the next 11 km trek to Kulem. They were supposed to follow a Jeep trail. Many bloggers had suggested them to look for a Jeep trail after Sonalim station which came between Dudhsagar and Kulem. Once they reached Sonalim, they enquired about the jeep trail. The station master at Sonalim advised not to take that route as the water in the streams to be crossed are very high and there are chances to find wild animals. OO still wanted to find that trail and take the risk. SO was definite that he was not going to take that route. SO’s jinx worked as they couldn't find the Jeep trail. Thus they walked from Dudhsagar to Kulem, another 11 Km in the railway track avoiding mines. Around 5 they reached Kulem. Kulem has good veg and non-veg restaurants.

The whole gang at Dudhsagar

Her highness Dudhsagar

 Stay at Tambdi-surla foiled, as SO along with RO decided not to go there as no one else is camping in Tambdi-Surla on that day. Tambdi-Surla is 22 Km away from Kulem and one has to rent a taxi to reach there. It is a completely deserted forest with no human settlement near to it. They decided to stay in the tent which they had carried along. RO and OO was all set for putting up the tent in the Kulem railway station, when scariness and sleeplessness struck SO and DO respectively. Both went searching for a hotel and found a house to stay for 250 Rs per head. They moved to the house and arranged for a taxi next day to Tambdi-Surla at decent rate of 1600 for round trip. Stay was decent and they all had dinner together and went to sleep soon. The next day early in the morning they went to Tambdi-Surla.

On the way to Kulem

 Tambdi-Surla is a serene forest, on the way from Kulem to TS we could grab a sight of peocock and wild boars. SO and RO convinced the driver to join us for the trek. Before trek they decided to visit Mahadev temple. The temple was built in 12^th century and is believed to be a permanent residence of a huge King cobra. The temple was surrounded by forest and was beside a stream. The sight of the temple lying in the tranquil solitude of the forest, misty mountain in a drizzling morning will sure make even the hardcore atheist to visit that place. The priest in the temple showed us the way to Tambdi-Surla water falls.

athos porthos aramis and d'artagnan at Tambdi-Surla

Mahadev temple at Tambdi surla

The trek to Tambdi-Surla water fall is a 5 Km trek. OO showed justice to his name when he decided to remove his shoes and trek the 5 km in bare foot, which he regretted just 500 m into the trek. The trek was a medium tiring trek. Crossing many streams and ticking away the leeches, they reached Tambdi-Surla water falls. OO decided to go closer to the Water fall. He used a tree which had fallen recently to reach a rock from where he could enjoy the best possible sight of the water falls. He could not get a good photograph of his feat as the rain started pouring immediately. After spending sometime there, in the rain, they descended. Rain added an icing to the trek. Tambdi-Surla is definitely a must go place and according to OO one should plan to stay at Tambdi-Surla. There is an open space available for putting up the tent, which is beside the stream and at the starting point of the trek and is very clean according to trekking standards.

On the way to Tambdi-Surla waterfall

The distant view of Tambi Surla

Close up view of the falls

SO, DO, RO and OO, though had different interest and opinion at many point during the trek, managed to come to conscience very fast and could enjoy the trip to the fullest. OO after coming back from the trek told the author of this post that he is ready to trek with new type of trekkers- PO, The Pro One’s and probably move from OO to RO.