Oh no not again, you would say. But, I can’t just keep cricket out of anything in my life. So here I am again discussing the topic of cricket. People keep asking me why you are so much into cricket. What has cricket given you? With the smile I would reply, a lot. In fact I would not be exaggerating if I say I am what I am because of cricket to a certain extent.
I look at the world with an altogether different perspective because of cricket. Cricket taught me how to make friends with a complete stranger. Cricket taught me perseverance. Cricket taught me patience. Cricket being a gentlemen's game made me gentlemen. Well please don’t laugh, it might not be 100% true, but you have to agree with me to a certain extent.
I am playing and watching cricket right from my childhood. People used to devote their time in studies, I used to spend the same time in playing cricket and then if I get a chance watching cricket and listening to cricket commentary. Playing cricket with all sort of people having various different religions and beliefs made me understand people of different cultures. Made me realize that even when my mom always used to say that people of a certain religion are not good, I learned it myself that those people are just like us and just like me they love cricket. I always say that there is nothing that unites the whole country like cricket. Imagine a cricket match in which India is playing. Everything stops to watch the match. And then there is no particular religion that the fans are following apart from cricket.
Cricket taught me the language English to a certain extent. It was the test cricket commentary of Sir Jeffery Boycott, Michael Holdings, Tony Grieg, Henry Blofield, Sunny Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri and also non cricketer commentators like Harsha Bhogle who gave me a lot of my vocab power which I never learned from books. I always had fights with my elder brother over watching cricket. After listening to the commentaries I also used to read almost anything that I got to read in newspapers and magazines about cricket. It helped a lot. Indeed it did. The strength of oral and written English communication which I learned from cricket has a lot to do in making me who I am. I have always used my ability to write in all the examinations I have written since childhood. I learned expressing myself better thanks to cricket.
I remember there were tough times during my childhood when I used to get very depressed because of some personal family issues, but, cricket always came to my rescue. Just a call for playing a cricket match and I used to forget everything and totally engross myself into playing cricket. It really made a lot of difference in those years. I would not have been what I am had I not been involved totally into cricket.
Cricket taught me to be a leader. Since the time I have been playing, more often than not I was asked to lead the team. Sometimes because of my abilities, other times because no one wanted to do the Job of a team captain. It made me a balanced person as I always tried to do justice to the people playing in my team and at the same time keep the fighting spirit going. I might not be able to be a shrewd leader as that is one thing I could not overcome because of my nature. But, it off course gave me the experience that when you are leading a team, you are entirely on your own. People look up to you to make decisions. People look up to you to face the problems and to hold the bull by the horns. Cricket gave me the strength to be a whistleblower. It gave me the strength to bell the cat. This virtue did help me in professional career as well. It taught me that as a leader you have to take the decisions for the team and at the same time always take suggestions from the team.
It was still not always that I could play cricket. Once I got a Job and got into the business of working and making money, it was difficult to keep associated with playing cricket. But, even during that period I would always find time to watch cricket. I have been watching cricket since such a long time that more often than not I read the captains mind while watching it. I am able to read what bowling change is needed in a particular situation and the fielding captain just makes that bowling change. I can see the Leg before decision on the actual speed and make out whether the umpire is going to raise a finger. Well it’s called experience of watching cricket. Isn't it? :) :)
When in July 2007, I met with an accident and got the worst injury of my life in my leg, all hell broke loose. Not just because of the accident and pain, but because I felt that I would never be able to play cricket again. I had an iron rod implanted in my right leg which only got removed in November 2009. The recovery process again started. Finally one fine day in December 2010, I made a decision of now or never. I took a New Year resolution of playing cricket with my company's team. And on 8th Jan 2011, I started playing cricket again. It has been six months since I am playing cricket with my company's cricket team every Saturday. Life seems beautiful again. We just wait for playing cricket every Saturday. Every week we pray that it won’t rain on a Friday so that people would come to play cricket the next day. Such is the passion of cricket still after so many years. Off all the things cricket has given me, it always went un-noticed that it made me physically and mentally fit as well. And just to keep playing cricket, I do try to keep myself fit. Nothing motivates me more to keep myself physically and mentally fit.
Did I say cricket was, is and will be my first love? Well off course I did. All I want to say is Dear Cricket, you rock!!!. I want to play till I have the abilities to play. I wish I have it forever. :)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Rajgad Trekking
The day for which we were waiting since about a month finally arrived. It was the 2nd of July, 2011, when our company Allscripts had organized the trekking event to Rajgad. I had to board the bus from my office EON Kharadi @ 6.00 AM in the morning. I kept an alarm in my mobile for 4.30 AM and slept at about 11 PM the night before. As it happens most of the times when I had to go out early, I woke up at 4.15 AM in the morning before the alarm. I could not go back to sleep and started my day so that I could reach the office to catch a bus in time.
I left home at 5.30 AM and I reached the office at 5.55 AM, just to find no one there. Soon I saw Ram Yadav and we started abusing the organizers that they were so strict with us about the timings and confirmation for the trip, but no one of the group leaders or the bus were anywhere to be seen till 6.15. We called up Bhaskar and then called up Jinx, who told us to come at the main gate from where the bus will pick us up. So off we went to the main gate sharing the jokes and having some chit chat. We were supposed to be at least 12 people to be getting into the bus from the EON, but not all of them turned up. Finally a bus came and to our surprise it was a 17 seater tempo traveller. The driver said..."Sorry for late" which came as a pleasant surprise and we exchanged smiles when we heard him speak English. But, everyone was thinking how this 17 seater but will accommodate about 25 people which were from to be picked up on route. Suddenly, one person appeared from nowhere and asked us, "Is this Sungard group?” No!!" came the reply from about 7-8 people, "This is Allscripts group." The guy said ..."Sorry! This bus is for Sungard group and not for Allscripts!!" .. Ohhh!!! We felt partially upset to get down from the bus and partially relieved that now we can hope for a bigger bus that can accommodate everyone. Soon at around 6.35 the scheduled bus came and one by one it picked up the people from Red Chillies, Reliance Mart, Magarpatta, Dominoz (near Noble hospital) and Swargate and reached the Mumbai Bangalore Express highway at about 7.15 AM. All the buses were supposed to gather at that location before we proceed further. It turned out that one of the buses had some problem (punchered wheel I assume) at Bund garden. It took another 1 hour for us to start from that location. Meanwhile, we started our photo session and got a chance to have some road side tea and biscuits.
At 8.15 we started from the Dhayri Phata and reached the base location of the trekking at around 9.45 AM. Breakfast (Pohe and Tea) and attendance followed. The organizers distributed the plants to all the people interested in plantation. We took the plants clicked a snap and followed the red capped leaders on our way to trekking at Rajgad.
It started raining as soon as we started climbing up. People like Sachin were very happy with this. But, I moved my hand toward the sky rotated the knob anti-clockwise and soon the rain stopped. :) :).. I dint want the rain to start so early. Sachin was kinda upset with this. But, we carried on further.
Life was difficult ahead. The trek was more difficult than we assumed. I had an earlier experience of Raireshwar which was not so bad. But, this was in real sense some trekking. At certain points we had to climb steep 70 degree angles and it was muddy and sticky at some points because of rains. At every difficult point while climbing we felt that it was good that certain (healthy :)) people did not come to this trekking. It would have been difficult climbing for them at certain points.
We reached the Rajgad fort Sanjivani Machi at around 1 PM through the Chor Darwaja. Once we reached there we realized that it was worth the effort as we were totally refreshed by the scenic beauty around. As expected various groups started photo sessions. We were totally engrossed in the photo sessions when I heard Sandeep Kulkarni telling that we must reach Balle Killa which has an even more outstanding view.
So, we started Climbing for Balle Killa again. If climbing to Sanjivani Machi was bad, this was worse. At certain points it was steep way up and only one person could climb at a time. To our discomfort there were a few people who wanted to come down as well. But, they had to wait as there was no way 2 people could go across each other through that pass. We kept climbing at a crawling pace and thanking the people who had installed railing to hold while climbing up. Once we reached atop it was mesmerizing. We were literally in the clouds. Sandeep asked whether we had seen Zunjaar burud which was at the extreme end of the Balle Killa. We (Shobhit, Sachin and Me) obliged and went to see the view from Zunjaar burud though we were very tired after climbing Balle Killa. View from Zunjaar burud was absolutely fantastic. We thanked Sandeep for insisting us to have a look from there. It was fantastic view from there. The best photographs of the whole trekking event were taken there.
We also did the plantation at the Balle Killa. Then we decided to have lunch as we had seen various groups of people from our trekking team having lunch there. But, we were told that we should have our lunch after reaching down at Sanjivani Machi as otherwise we would get late. But, when we saw that there was literally traffic Jam of the crowd climbing down and we realized that it would take long before the traffic of people clears out. So, we decided to use this time and opportunity to have our much deserved lunch. Having food at the top of the hill among the clouds is a wonderful experience. The air flowing was so fresh that a few people decided they would want to spend there retirement life at the top of some hill. We ate to our hearts content and still we could not finish the food that Shobhit and Sachin has brought. A few folks joined us while having lunch but still we had enough food that we had to carry it back.
After lunch we started our descent to Sanjivani Machi. Reached there in about 40 mins. There again some photo sessions and plantation activities started. We also cleared some plastic stuff from the fort and carried back the garbage bags with us. We started to move back at around 3-30 PM from Sanjivani Machi. After the tiring effort of climbing no one thought in the wildest of their dreams that coming back down would be more adventurous and full of risk. To make matters worse it started raining very heavy when we came down from the Chor Darwaja of the Sanjivani Machi. The same track from which we had climbed up was now a mini waterfall because of the heavy rains. We kept holding each others hand and kept coming down at a crawling pace. It was full of adventure coming down through a water fall. Somehow finally we reached the base after lots of hiccups and small slipping and sliding here and there. Shobhit had some minor sprain in his left hand when he slipped at one point.
Soon as we reached the bus we changed into dry clothes and removed the shoes and shocks. Most people were literally in pain because of fatigue of the whole trekking event. But, none of us were complaining. Every body had a gala time. Everyone who had come there had stories to tell to those who missed it. Finally, we reached Pune and I took my bike from the EON office and reached home.
It is worth saying here that those who missed this event really missed it. If there is heaven on earth it definitely is on the top of the hills in the Monsoon around Pune. :) :) I still have to see Kashmir to prove myself that there are still some better and beautiful places in the world..:) :)
For those interested to know more about the fort and the trekking here is a link from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgad
I left home at 5.30 AM and I reached the office at 5.55 AM, just to find no one there. Soon I saw Ram Yadav and we started abusing the organizers that they were so strict with us about the timings and confirmation for the trip, but no one of the group leaders or the bus were anywhere to be seen till 6.15. We called up Bhaskar and then called up Jinx, who told us to come at the main gate from where the bus will pick us up. So off we went to the main gate sharing the jokes and having some chit chat. We were supposed to be at least 12 people to be getting into the bus from the EON, but not all of them turned up. Finally a bus came and to our surprise it was a 17 seater tempo traveller. The driver said..."Sorry for late" which came as a pleasant surprise and we exchanged smiles when we heard him speak English. But, everyone was thinking how this 17 seater but will accommodate about 25 people which were from to be picked up on route. Suddenly, one person appeared from nowhere and asked us, "Is this Sungard group?” No!!" came the reply from about 7-8 people, "This is Allscripts group." The guy said ..."Sorry! This bus is for Sungard group and not for Allscripts!!" .. Ohhh!!! We felt partially upset to get down from the bus and partially relieved that now we can hope for a bigger bus that can accommodate everyone. Soon at around 6.35 the scheduled bus came and one by one it picked up the people from Red Chillies, Reliance Mart, Magarpatta, Dominoz (near Noble hospital) and Swargate and reached the Mumbai Bangalore Express highway at about 7.15 AM. All the buses were supposed to gather at that location before we proceed further. It turned out that one of the buses had some problem (punchered wheel I assume) at Bund garden. It took another 1 hour for us to start from that location. Meanwhile, we started our photo session and got a chance to have some road side tea and biscuits.
At 8.15 we started from the Dhayri Phata and reached the base location of the trekking at around 9.45 AM. Breakfast (Pohe and Tea) and attendance followed. The organizers distributed the plants to all the people interested in plantation. We took the plants clicked a snap and followed the red capped leaders on our way to trekking at Rajgad.
It started raining as soon as we started climbing up. People like Sachin were very happy with this. But, I moved my hand toward the sky rotated the knob anti-clockwise and soon the rain stopped. :) :).. I dint want the rain to start so early. Sachin was kinda upset with this. But, we carried on further.
Life was difficult ahead. The trek was more difficult than we assumed. I had an earlier experience of Raireshwar which was not so bad. But, this was in real sense some trekking. At certain points we had to climb steep 70 degree angles and it was muddy and sticky at some points because of rains. At every difficult point while climbing we felt that it was good that certain (healthy :)) people did not come to this trekking. It would have been difficult climbing for them at certain points.
We reached the Rajgad fort Sanjivani Machi at around 1 PM through the Chor Darwaja. Once we reached there we realized that it was worth the effort as we were totally refreshed by the scenic beauty around. As expected various groups started photo sessions. We were totally engrossed in the photo sessions when I heard Sandeep Kulkarni telling that we must reach Balle Killa which has an even more outstanding view.
So, we started Climbing for Balle Killa again. If climbing to Sanjivani Machi was bad, this was worse. At certain points it was steep way up and only one person could climb at a time. To our discomfort there were a few people who wanted to come down as well. But, they had to wait as there was no way 2 people could go across each other through that pass. We kept climbing at a crawling pace and thanking the people who had installed railing to hold while climbing up. Once we reached atop it was mesmerizing. We were literally in the clouds. Sandeep asked whether we had seen Zunjaar burud which was at the extreme end of the Balle Killa. We (Shobhit, Sachin and Me) obliged and went to see the view from Zunjaar burud though we were very tired after climbing Balle Killa. View from Zunjaar burud was absolutely fantastic. We thanked Sandeep for insisting us to have a look from there. It was fantastic view from there. The best photographs of the whole trekking event were taken there.
We also did the plantation at the Balle Killa. Then we decided to have lunch as we had seen various groups of people from our trekking team having lunch there. But, we were told that we should have our lunch after reaching down at Sanjivani Machi as otherwise we would get late. But, when we saw that there was literally traffic Jam of the crowd climbing down and we realized that it would take long before the traffic of people clears out. So, we decided to use this time and opportunity to have our much deserved lunch. Having food at the top of the hill among the clouds is a wonderful experience. The air flowing was so fresh that a few people decided they would want to spend there retirement life at the top of some hill. We ate to our hearts content and still we could not finish the food that Shobhit and Sachin has brought. A few folks joined us while having lunch but still we had enough food that we had to carry it back.
After lunch we started our descent to Sanjivani Machi. Reached there in about 40 mins. There again some photo sessions and plantation activities started. We also cleared some plastic stuff from the fort and carried back the garbage bags with us. We started to move back at around 3-30 PM from Sanjivani Machi. After the tiring effort of climbing no one thought in the wildest of their dreams that coming back down would be more adventurous and full of risk. To make matters worse it started raining very heavy when we came down from the Chor Darwaja of the Sanjivani Machi. The same track from which we had climbed up was now a mini waterfall because of the heavy rains. We kept holding each others hand and kept coming down at a crawling pace. It was full of adventure coming down through a water fall. Somehow finally we reached the base after lots of hiccups and small slipping and sliding here and there. Shobhit had some minor sprain in his left hand when he slipped at one point.
Soon as we reached the bus we changed into dry clothes and removed the shoes and shocks. Most people were literally in pain because of fatigue of the whole trekking event. But, none of us were complaining. Every body had a gala time. Everyone who had come there had stories to tell to those who missed it. Finally, we reached Pune and I took my bike from the EON office and reached home.
It is worth saying here that those who missed this event really missed it. If there is heaven on earth it definitely is on the top of the hills in the Monsoon around Pune. :) :) I still have to see Kashmir to prove myself that there are still some better and beautiful places in the world..:) :)
For those interested to know more about the fort and the trekking here is a link from wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajgad
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