The plan was to trek to Duke's nose on Saturday, spend the night in the area, and visit Lohagad fort on Sunday if possible.
So I wake up at 5.30 to meet the guys at Borivli Stn. at 7.00. I'm not even sure who the guys are. RV and BB are in, and RV said he might be getting office mates. He calls as I'm getting ready and tells me there's only going to be five of us in total, and I should drop down to his office instead so we can all take a colleague's car.
I do that. It doesn't take me long. Travelling to Mindspace brings back memories. The rick from Malad station follows that all too familiar shortcut through the chawl area. I'm at RV's office well before 8.00 A.M. He takes me inside and to their stifling pantry and introduces me to the rest of the gang - HS (who was with us last week), and AM - his boss. Not many people seem to be around. Their graveyard shift has just ended and they're making sandwiches, waiting for BB and I.
BB arrives and we play foosball. AM and I on one side, BB and HS on the other (it's a miniature table - three prongs a side). My side looses. I hate loosing. Especially at a game I have no valid reason to suck at.
We leave in AM's car for Khandala. Stop for a second breakfast along the way, at least for the others. Didn't they just eat?
We continue driving and see interesting sights along the way. Waterfalls along the road, a tank on the expressway, monkeys, geeks (as BB calls them) getting out of their cars for pictures. I'm reminded of how few times I've made this trip.
The Khandala exit is closed for some reason so we're forced to head to Lonavala instead. RV doesn't like this. Still, we stop for alcohol and then drive to Kamats for food.
I watch the others eat again. Seriously, these guys are thinner than I am. How much can they stuff down? It's only afternoon and this is their third meal of the day. I'm still full from my 6.00 A.M breakfast.
There's a change of plans. RV and AM would like to be back home by evening. Which means skipping Duke's nose and going to Buffalo falls instead. We go there. It's beautiful. We've had beautiful cloudy cool weather all day.
We do the five minute trek down to the falls and start drinking. Get buzzed. We're all in an extremely jovial mood. Smiling and laughing a bit too much. This is the best part of the trip. Getting high a few feet away from a roaring waterfall, anything we say or do instantaneously becoming a joke. We go under the falls. Get wet. The water's not as cold as Chinchoti. I go in last, BB leading me by the hand there and back.
We go back to the car. BB checks with her friends again to see if we can make this an overnight trip. Their bungalows are all unavailable. We decide to go back to Mumbai as well.
Dry off and drive back to the city. Now I'm hungry. I open a packet of theplas in the car, somewhat explosively. The packet bursts open. Theplas flying everywhere. I end up eating most of them. Then start on the banana chips. Yum. And that's my lunch.
RV parts ways with us in Mulund. AM drops us off at Powai and we take a rick to Jogeshwari. HS and I take a train home. The guys leave me with an entire tandoori chicken for dinner. We hadn't had time to eat this at the falls. It's an excellent meal. I've got to treat them next time.
A very enjoyable day with excellent company. Next time I'm spending a longer time at the falls, even if I have to go back all by myself.
3 comments:
Oh I TOTALLY get, or rather, don't get, how some people can have three breakfasts and stay thin as a rail, while others like me just have to LOOK at a samosa to gain calories.
Oh and to prove my point, I wrote an irritated rant of an article on my blog abt the Diet World!
Maybe a bad experience with food will help you develop a healthy aversion to it...like maybe lock yourself up in a room with poisoned ice cream and cake until you start hallucinating...you know, just wondering :-)
P.S. I was going to attach a link here to a picture of a samosa but that would just be cruel ;-)
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