While in college @dypce -pimpri years ago......u can sing puraani jeans- n all those songs come to mind.Ya that long ago I used to stay in a girls hostel! I cant thank god enuff for the fact that I was forced by my parents to stay in one-THANK YOU once again.I got the best friends for life and the best lessons in life- & hands on experience :))) I would like to pause here for sometime to think of the osum beautiful people who are now my dear friends and family as well.
The rebel that I was and given the limitations of the semisphere(not even a complete circle) that I had to prove myself within..i did quite well! OK-one of the trips which my parents are unaware of till date was a super mad adventure which am so eager to tell you all. The idea conceptualised on a bright sunday morning (it was in the rainy season maybe August )in my hyper brains and of course to channelise mere insanity I had the famous Puja! We decided we want to visit MALAVALI CAVES for the waterfalls there in the gorgeous wet weather.Now we were pretty conservative and protective kinda girls--- so we asked almost all the people we know to join us! Viola-we had a total of 8 people nod a YES to the spur of ta moment plan and withing 30 minutes we were out ready-tats really fast for girls to get ready but hey we did it!!
We reached the Kasarwadi railway station that happened to be the closest to our hostel-we were forced to think on economic lines all the time like most hostelites.We had it all figured out -how we ll travel and what we should do on this unPLANNED DAY.1st thing we see when we enter the station-an abandoned ticket window so had to knock and make a bit of noise to get someones attention.I started wondering do people in Pune use trains et all-knowing that I come from MUMBAI-land of trains you can empathise.Just then someone exclaimed-hey this station is so damn deserted mann!! hmm meanwhile as usual Puja took charge of the situation and told us to go run across and catch the train which was almost pulling in the station-now why shud we run? Cause the man at the ticket window told us there are trains available every 1 hr @kasarwadi -ONLY.This was way back in 2001/2002 when the millenium craze had hit us but not lazy laidback Pune.
Ok so here it is Deepa ,Sophi and myself rush up the bridge to go on the other side when I see the train has almost pulled in the station when I was almost atop the staircase (skipping 2 stairs at a tim)e--just turned around and told the girls forget the stairs lets go across the railway track(very very bad idea when i think back)rest of us were huffing and puffing at step no-2 or 5 heehee so they gladly agreed.
ATTACK!!seriously CRAZY was in charge of us! So Sophie is the 1st idiot who follows my instruction n jumps n hauls herself across the tracks and over the platform no-2. I rush and Deepa aka dopee n Snigdha(dopees dominating n oversized roomie) and Devika too are pulled up by the magnificient Sophie = saviour!
We have Suvarna aka SU, Hemali ,Sunaina aka Rana n Puja /Poo still to complete this task!!!! The train has come to a halt and we like insane creatures are yet to cross a live black horrendous looking engine.The engine driver was blowing the ugly loud horn of the train to our face!! I think he was doing it deliberately-as if we'll get scared or get blown away by the shrillness of ta noise or something like that must have been in his imagination.He was annoyed to bits which is understood -he also shouted out something like-R U ILLITERATE PEOPLE?? I still havent figured out why he didnt say anything else--the look on his face said more than that though.
Ok now only Sunaina n Puja were left on the tracks-Rana was wearing -FOR GODS SAKE -a platform slipper-a thick slipper which in no way is useful or connected to railway platforms, which unfortunately and to our horror got caught between the train tracks but on the one where there was no train- phew! So we were confused here as to what we should do--should one of us jump and get her or etc etc we had thought clouds. Meanwhile "Rana" that she is shouted back at the engine driver himself for honking on her face while she is desperately trying to free herself from the odd situation.SHE IS AFTERALL THE GREAT RANA-he stopped honking and she jumped on the platform.I, of course gave her a piece of my mind about wearing platform slippers to MALAVALI CAVES n till date make fun of it.Meanwhile madam Puja who had the tickets was standing on the other side of our world -listless-spaced -zonked-oh boy! She just couldnt absorb the absurdity of the whole situation-maybe she couldnt believe this could be happening after a(NOT SO ) meticulously planned day and must be wondering where exactly did I go wrong dude while delivering instructions to these girls.Ya she had that exact look on her face and as she was my roomie you can tell a lot bout your roomies-usually everything!
So coming back to the impatient and mean engine driver who could have waited for the girls to reunite-NO NO NO-he had decided to teach us(ill) literate people a lesson-so he did.He moved the train ahead and we all exploded into a chorus- "BHAIYA nahEEee" Sophie the most dramatic, obviously she was called the DRAMA QUEEN afterall" --meanwhile Puja came back to her senses and literally with a jumpstart ran towards the platform.Amidst all the chaos our very helpful engine driver started the train and we all said JUMP n found ourselves in the 1st compartment.
I managed to jump in just behind Sophie and we gave out a sigh of relief that after all this trauma we made it.YES.Within seconds of being in ta train an awful smell clouded my senses-oh fish-it was. Sophie started asking who all are in please shout and give out your names-
I was like aye aye captain , Dopee also said YEAH M IN then we heard Snigdhas voice "arey mujhe uthao" we were wondering where the heck is she -she said "neeche dekho" N we saw that unforgettable sight of Snigdha sitting between 2 fisherwomen n their huge baskets filled with "fish" aargghh holding on to the pole at the entrance.Quickly not to forget our one line master-Dopee said -Why r u doing a pole dance-get up come on nows not the time!!We helped her huge being up and giggled.Next as we were pulling out of the station Sophie popped her head out the door to confirm that all girls are in-she sees that 4 girls are still on the platform they didnt have the guts to push in their way through the crowd.As if the separation wasnt enough we heard people from the train giving a peace of their mind to the 4 hahhaha.We escaped that -so we thought-when ladies inside the compartment got JOSH n started shouting on us too.Meanwhile Sophie shouted out loud telling the girls waiting at the station to STAY PUT as the train was speeding and we should get down at the next station and come back for you ll.
We get off take a rickshaw--now since we were 4 passengers we wud hav to take 2 rickshaws. We just convinced one rickshawalla to tak us all in n bargained hard. We reached ta station and saw the 4 buffoons getting a lecture by the station master. We asked them to come over on the other side you know to avoid receiving a piece of his mind. It seems the station master alongwith advice also gave back half the amount of ta tickets-how generous! SO now we have 2 people completely shaken up by the experience and need to be put in TCU trauma control unit. So Rana and Su happily go back to their hostel beds n laze around their Sunday. Now we are told theres some station I don remember where we can get in a train to lonavala n get off at Malavali. We stop a 6 seater aka tumtum with 2 guys in it-driver n his friend! We convince them to drop us to --its dehu road (total recall).We jump in & almost near Dehu road we start talking to the driver saying just little ahead is malavali caves please drop us on the next station blablablabla. The drivers friends was the letchy one and convinced him to drive us till Malavali heeheee omg-once we reached we paid him. He was asking for more money but Sophie said (to the shock of ta driver) that he hasnt dropped us very far away from Pune hhahahahahahahaha i burst out laughing there itself and so did the rest who were trying so hard to control--the last words of the driver before he left "Ladkiyon ke chakkar mein phuss gaya-malavali aa gaya" HAPPY REALISATION!
So we climb up the steps to Malavali caves excited to get drenched in the waterfalls-Alas!! no waterfalls just trickling streams of water on the rocks. We dont give up! So what we did is stuck ourselves to the rocks and got drenched with the mineral water hahahaa if WATER doesnt FALL on you-you FALL on the WATER omg!! n we had empty water bottles we filled them up too. I remember Sophie Devika saying this is mineral water so they took some home with them. After all the exploring got over we noticed the sky losing its colour, so we walked slowly alongwith many other tourists to the Malavali station. Had amazing vada pav-we were famished n the CHAI jus pepped us up :)
Darkness fell and people were waiting drenched and exhausted for a train to show up. Dopee & me went for a stroll on the platform.Others were like please no more adventure--they were pleading in their meek voices. We told them we ll be on the platform walking with the speed of a snail -dont worry. So talking about the day & "others things" we almost reached the end of the platform and turned to walk back to the girls. Suddenly we hear an engine and a bright light on the track out of nowhere-no points for guessing our 1st reaction was to RUN...we ran as fast as we could but the engine overtook us!!!!! To our relief it was only the ENGINE....test drive i guess. We stoped right where we were to catch our breath and laugh like hyenasssssss. Our friends watching us too realised what happend and joined in and so did tourists on the station. Finally we did manage to get in the train all of us together this time and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful return to Pune.
A sudden shocking adventurous & totally happening vacation!!!
