The Outing! Day 1, 3rd January 2009 - PART I.

I was of the opinion that there is no instrument available to gauge fun and frolic or the good times, for that matter, there is not even a standardized unit for the same. However, I was wrong. There is one unit who have been effortlessly and effervescent-ly working towards epitomizing collective outings / excursions. The mods (Onkar & Varsha), some of the oldest members and some new members of Karhade Brahmin Community (you all know who you are), kudos to you all for making “Matheran trip” and many others, which regrettably I have missed in the past. To say that in a simpler manner:

            “Pujya community owner, mananiya adhayksha mohoday moderators ani priya KaBra Members.”…Vande Mataram.

A variable array of thoughts emanating from brains of some of the Karhade Brahmins was starting to take perfectly solid shapes for an outing around New Year’s. Costing was complete when 20 souls decided to fuel it (the idea) with their physical presence and dates were fixed: 3^rd and 4^th January 2009. Destination: Matheran.

Most of the members met in Pune and Mumbai afore hand to meet each other and to get to know each other. I was suffering from procrastination and decided to meet all of them at once at Neral Station (Base of Matheran) on the morning of 3^rd. I was frantically searching for my clothes and went about haphazardly dumping them into my rucksack at 0815 hrs. I was packed and ready to depart at 0930 hrs, pedaled the accelerator as all were supposed to meet by 1015 hrs (I stay in Panvel and Neral Station must be around 25 kilometers from my place). Optimum utilization of resources: A moderately speeding car. And, restructuring at grass roots level: Seat belt; helped me reach at about 1035 hrs.

I consider myself an introvert, but, a small round of informal introduction itself was eccentric enough to help me make couple of friends. Seema Thakur yearned for a formal introduction round, which was carried out over a glass of lemon juice. Err, I forgot to mention that we came to the hills of Matheran by hiring Taxis (Maruti Omnis) and we had started walking to the cottages, Radha Resorts (the formal intro round happened somewhere in between).

To tell you something about Matheran, it is like the uncut diamond in the Sahiyadri range of mountains. At almost 1800 feet above sea level, it embellishes the skyline with a grace that even Lion would fall short of (in jungle of course). It boasts of a lineage of horses that compete fearlessly in most of the Indian derbies. The loose red mud that garlands its rocky under belly was appalling yet grounded me to earth in a strange way. Its Tall trees can block 1000 Suns, even the one that never sets, allegedly (on British Empire). I was reckoning introspection in such a place, but, I (and other new KaBras as well) were ushered into a homely group as a newborn is, into a family; with tender care and special attention to have a gala of a time. This is what I loved the most about this outing.