Category: Travel

Day 84/ 365 – Protest against toll payment

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

A couple of days back, Raj Thackeray – a politician, announced that people should no longer pay toll on the highways and if need me resort to violence. To carry out his diktat, his party members/ supporters started vandalizing toll booths across Maharashtra. I read about it in the newspapers and didn’t really think about it much, forgetting the fact that I use the Western Express highway to travel to work everyday and there are two toll booths that fall along my route to work. The next day while driving I encountered bumper to bumper traffic atleast a 1.5kms before the toll booth. I was thinking that the reason for such traffic could be an accident on the highway. However, on reaching closer to the toll booth, I saw a lot of people from his political party stopping cars and speaking with passengers. I was fearing the worst – that they might vandalize the car. On reaching my car, they requested me to not pay toll. I continued to move ahead and found the toll booth heavily guarded by the police. I was wondering how will someone avoid paying the toll with such heavy police presence. The entire ruckus cost me an extra 45 mins to reach work.

I wonder what do political parties achieve by such populist measures. As per Raj Thackeray, the companies should provide better amenities for the toll tax charged. I, in principle, agree to what he says and means. But I also would blame the government who agreed to the current agreement with the contractor. If the agreement does not mention anything about better amenities, then the contractor is not obliged to do anything. Incidentally, the agreement was signed by Shiva Sena, BJP combined (Raj Thackeray was earlier part of Shiva Sena). There is also other argument floating around which says that since the project cost is recovered, toll should not be collected. To makers of such argument, I just have a simple argument to offer – the contractor is in the business to make money and earn profits. No company is going to invest in India if politicians start putting perceived thresholds on profit. Currently we have a wave of populist measures which the governments are announcing, from AAP in Delhi to NCP Cong in Maharashtra. If you look at it, all subsidies are generally paid by the government and how does the government get money – from you and me. So indirectly the tax paying people end up footing the bill and at the same time increasing the debt. I wonder when will we have governments who really understand the need of the hour and stop implementing populist reforms just for votes.

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Day 83/ 365 – First experience with L series lens

~ Akshay ~ 3 Comments

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I recently went to Bhigwan to do some bird photography. I currently own 55-250mm lens, but for the trip it was not going to be good enough. So I decided to hire a zoom lens from Primes and Zooms in Pune. I knew I wanted a minimum 400mm lens and decided to rent 100mm – 400mm L series lens. This was my first time using the lens. The good thing about renting from Primes and Zooms is that they allow to pick up the lens an evening in advance. Since the trip was on Sunday, I picked up the lens on Saturday evening and decided to test it out. I wanted to get comfortable using the lens before taking it to Bhigwan. I took the lens and went to the park in Magarpatta city and decided to shoot some pictures. Initially I was not able to focus properly as I was not used this such a heavy lens. Also at 400 mm the pics were appearing shaking. Thats when I realized that due to involuntary movement, the pictures were a little blurry. So I decided to tighten my shoulders a little bit so the lens has better support and that solved the problem of blurry images. The only problem which I faced after taking pictures continuously for an hour or so, was my left wrist which I used to hold the lens started paining. Otherwise, everything was perfectly fine. The only thing that I missed out was – I should have read the features of the lens before renting it out as I would have been able to utilize it optimally. I am definitely going to that next time. Sharing some pictures which I took with this lens before taking it to Bhigwan.

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Day 76/ 365 – Almost killed someone…

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Last night after finishing work, I was driving back home listening to music, windows rolled down, enjoying the empty roads. I had just crossed the National Park flyover and there was a stretch of road where there were no street lights. I saw a small crowd gathered around a rickshaw on the left side of the road, but I was in the right lane didnt really care much when all of a sudden a man with suitcase who was crossing the highway came in front of the car and this wasnt even an intersection. The time to react for me very less and I hit the brakes right away and car swerved and skidded and I avoided hitting that person. I was in complete daze for the next few moments trying to understand what had just happened. At the same time, I realized I was shaking head to toe  in sheer panic. Since all this happened so quickly, I was already near the Magathane flyover when I decided to stop the car for a few minutes to calm myself down.

I just started thinking what would have happened if I had hit that person. He would have probably died or atleast would have been in the hospital for a very long time and I could have been arrested by the police for reckless driving or involuntary manslaughter, even though it wasn’t my fault. The problem in India is anytime you have hit a person, and even though you are not fault, you are assumed guilty. Why? Just because you were driving the car and the “poor” man was just trying to cross the road. Even though there is a pedestrian bridges and subway built at various points on highway, people still choose to cross the road. Just a few meters ahead of the spot where this event happened, there was a footover bridge which was built so that people can safely cross. However, the man chose to cross the road. Still the police would have held me responsible saying I was speeding, or driving recklessly or in worst case scenario would say I was driving drunk.

The problem with us is that we dont tend to obey rules and I dont why. The same person who has been breaking all the traffic rules in India will obey all the rules whenever he/ she goes abroad. The part of the problem is that rules cant be implemented in India looking at number of people vs. the number of traffic policemen we have. Plus our cops are paid poorly so bribing them usually ensures that people get away with any type of traffic violation. Anyways, I am just venting right now on what could have happened etc. I am just hoping that the person who was crossing today realizes that he is very fortunate to be alive today and hopefully does not repeat the same thing again.

Day 71/ 365 – Bird photography at Bhigwan

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Last weekend I had an opportunity to do some bird photography at Bhigwan. This is place approx. 100 kms from Pune on Pune – Solapur highway. My friend Sid has visited this place a couple of times and always had good things to say about the number of birds that one can see over there. We had planned for this trip since December and this allowed me enough time to seek the right lens for the trip. I have a Canon 55mm – 250mm telephoto zoom lens and obviously for this trip it was going to be inadequate. Hence I decided to rent a camera lens. After checking at 2-3 places, I found Primes and Zooms who rent lens and other camera equipment in Pune. I registered myself online, submitted my verification documents and booked a Canon 100mm – 400mm L series lens for the trip. The people at Primes and Zooms were very professional and there were absolutely no hiccups in the entire process.

I along with my friends Sid, Rahul & Bhavana started early on Sunday morning to reach Bhigwan. The drive on the highway was good, except for some stretches where the road work is still going on. We reached Bhigwan around 8am. South of Bhigwan town, exists a widespread backwater formed due to a man made dam built on the Bhima river. The dam is called as Ujni dam. The backwaters is spread over a wide region and is mainly a shallow waste water reserve. The birding place is called Diksal and is approx. 2-3 kms away from Bhigwan. Once we reached the backwaters, we hired a boat and began our bird watching experience. Birds seen during the trip

  1. Greater Flamingos
  2. Sea Gulls
  3. Grey Egret
  4. Great Egret
  5. Indian Pond Heron
  6. Kingfisher
  7. Bee Eater
  8. Sandpiper
  9. Black Headed Ibis
  10. Black Ibis
  11. Black Drongo
  12. Rudy Shellduck (not captured)
  13. Painted Stork
  14. Indian Cormorant

PS: I may have got some names wrong. Please help me to correct them. Thanks!!

Day 68/ 365 – Plucking flowers at Sindhudurg fort

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

We, me and my wife, saw this flower while walking through the Sindhudurg fort. The flower was just out of our reach (even after we jumped to grab it). The flower was on a low hanging branch of a tree which was standing in the front yard of someone’s house. I wasn’t sure how we could get to that, so at first I decided to jump and see if I can reach it. Unfortunately, it was a bit higher and I was not able to reach it. My wife was so floored by the beauty that she wanted to have it at any cost. So she decided to climb on the yard wall and pulled down the branch for me to pick up the flowers. While the passer by’s gave us some weird and strange looks, the smile on my wife’s face after getting the flower was priceless.

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Day 66/ 365 – Desires of my heart

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

I have been thinking on this for quite some time now. I have been working since the age of 18, doing what I need to do to survive in this rat race. There have been lot of choices made – some intentional, some out unintentional and some out of compulsion. Those choices have basically changed me to become the person that I am today. However, what I truly want to do right now is to simply drop everything and explore the world on my bike along with my wife, and take tons of pictures. I have been bitten by the travel and photography bug. Want to live my remaining life on the road like a nomad – there would some thrill in doing that. Want to sleep under the open stars, wake up and watch a beautiful sunrise over the seas, over the desert, over the mountains. Walk through shallow rivers, dive in freezing waters, jump from the sky, and glide like bird. There are so many desires and so many things which I want to do. May be one day I will do those things – hope keeps me going – until then continue to enjoy what I am doing right now.

 

Day 65/ 365 – Traveling on RAC tickets

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Recently we booked train tickets to travel to Tarkarli. The booking for the train tickets normally opens 60 days before the date of travel. We booked the tickets on the very first day when the ticket booking opened up. However, since we were traveling during the New Year – and it happens to be one of the busiest period to travel  – by the time I could book the tickets, we were already in the waiting list. We were originally 11th or 12th on the waiting list and since we have traveled so many times, we were under the assumption that by the time the travel dates would come near, we would have confirmed seats. Only this time we were wrong.

By the time our dates of travel arrived – our seats had moved from waiting to Reserved Against Cancellation (RAC).  Basically this means that we have been given one berth between two people. Normally one berth is allotted to one passenger however, in this case the same berth is allocated to 2 passengers and both of them are suppose to share the berth. A berth is split into 2 seats for 2 RAC ticket holders, if there’s any last minute cancellations, or if any quota allocations remain unsold, or if any confirmed ticket holders are given a free upgrade (more later), an RAC ticket holder is given the empty berth, the other RAC ticket holder can then convert the 2 seats into a berth.I have never understood the concept of RAC – either you have a confirmed seat or you are in waiting list. The RAC seat always causes a lot of discomfort for both the passengers. In a lot of cases, you are sharing a berth with a complete stranger and it can be an awkward situation.

Between the 7 of us, we were allotted 3 RAC seats. We boarded our coach and settled on our individual berths.  I was kinda worried as to how the 7 of us would manage on 3 berths – especially side lower berths which had been allocated to us. I am not sure, however, I feel the side berths are a bit smaller than the normal berths. So two people sharing the berth can be a little difficult. The ticket checker came after a few minutes and we told him about our situation.He told us to wait until Panvel and he should be able to help us out by then. This guy was genuinely good. Panvel arrived after 90 minutes and we asked him if there were any empty berths. We got lucky and were given 4 additional seats in the same compartment. The rest of the journey was uneventful. However, it got me thinking as to why would Indian Railways sell tickets on RAC. However – that’s a post for different time.

 

Day 63/ 365 – Bringing in the New Year

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

This year we, me and my wife – along with some of my best friends, welcomed 2014 in the most unique manner. We celebrated New Year’s at Tarkarli – which is some 500 kms away from Pune. Tarkarli is famous adventure water sports – one of the few places in India where you can do scuba diving, and snorkeling. We had already finished doing the water sports and decided on the spur of the moment to hire a boat and celebrate New Year’s eve on a secluded island. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about doing this as I had never done something like this earlier and was not sure how it would turn out. However, Saurav and my wife, convinced me otherwise and we decided to go ahead with the plan. We got our food and drinks packed, got wood for the bonfire and also got firecrackers. With our stuff all packed, we headed out to accomplish our plan.

As it turned out, the skies were clear- and we got to see plenty of stars something which is a luxury in a city like Mumbai where we have way too much pollution. Under the starry sky, we were in the boat in the middle of the Karli river and not a soul was around us. This was just too good to be true. As we reached our destination, we found that due to high tide the whole island was submerged and it would take atleast another 30-45 mins for the low tide to occur for our island to appear. The same island is used for water sports during the day and we could see the bamboo stands in the middle of the water. It seemed like, we would not able to celebrate on the island after all. The boatman who had accompanied us told us that we can use one of the stands to get the fire going and wait for the low tide. It was around 11:30pm by then. We were in two minds – whether we head back or celebrate in the boat or get down here and wait for the low tide. This is where Saurav and I got down to evaluate the depth of the water and found it to be about knee high. We decided that it was good enough for us to celebrate and decided to get the fire going on one of the stands.

With the fire going, the spirits started flowing and soaring. Come 12am, we started bursting firecrackers and welcomed 2014. This was very different compared to the way I have been celebrating the New Year’s eve. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to bring in the New Year. Thanks to Saurav, Geeta, Tushar and family for making it an awesome evening.

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