70 years of independence

          Hum hoge kaamyab is the song we always sing , and even after 70 years we are still  singing hum hoge kaamyab . How long are we going to take to be truely successful . When our freedom fighters fought for our independence they had so many dreams for this beautiful country of ours . They gave up their lives for a better future for their future generation . They dreamt the future generation will make our country the most developed country in the world, they dreamt of a world where every person man or woman will be equal . They believed in sampurn swaraj total independence and total democracy .

             After 70 years lets think and see are we where our freedom fighters dreamt we would be . Honestly speaking yes we are one of the developing country ,we are doing well in the financial world ,we are doing good in sports , we are developing in many fields , but as human being have we really developed ,have we progressed in our thinking . Our freedom fighters wanted us to all be equal when they fought for our freedom , they never differentiated between man and woman ,big or small ,rich or poor ,business man or farmer they just fought for all of us their fight was for ever human being of our country ,but after 70 years also woman are still  fighting for equal rights .poor is still struggling for their basic rights ,every person are still fighting for their  basic rights like clean sanitation ,we need movies to remind us toilets are so important for everybody .70 years after independence we are fighting for  children's right to education . Why we never understand ,if every child in our country is educated , then nothing  can ever stop our country from being the most developed nation .padega India tab hi toh badega India . We need to be told to keep our country clean and green , wonder why after so many years also we have not got that instilled into our system yet ? Simple things like respect each other has to be reminded to us , to follow traffic rules we need a traffic police to watch us so we don't break rules ,we need a policeman to feel secured , we need someone always cleaning the garbage we throw around our country . After 70 years we are told what we are allowed to eat and what we are not . Seriously where is democracy lost . We are told what a women can wear or what she cannot wear . We are told .......... Actually if u think about it even after 70 years of independence we are still told what to do ... And what not to do ... I wonder why ? 

           India had to fight hard for her independence ,we lost many lives for our independence . On this 70 th year  of independence let's all make a promise to ourselves that we are  not just going say hum hoge kaamyab , but actually become kaamyab not just financially developed country  but also in our thinking . Let's progress in becoming better human beings . This time when we sing the national anthem let's truely feel every word in our heart . Let's make sure we won't let anyone take our independence away from us . Let's show the world we truely are a democratic country . Let's remember wht nehruji told 70 years back "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps India will awake to life and freedom ."......let's all make a promise to truely love our country ..and also very proudly say I love my country and I will make sure my country is proud of me . 

Friends forever and more .....

  My younger daughter finished her last day at school a few days back ,she came home all sad and cranky and me being me kept pestering her abt wht is really bothering her about the last day of school . What she said made me think . Let me share with you 1 st wht she said to me ,this is what my little girl said " mom 12 years plus I have spent in school and in these 12 years I have made few friends and honestly these are the only friends I have ,suddenly all are  going their different ways to start their new journey to make their future. I too will be starting my new journey ,what if I have forgotten how to make friends ? What if I don't find the right friends ? " . There were so many questions running in her mind , and as her mother I had to help her understand this , so this is what I told her " vanshika in every stage of life we meet different people some become our friends some just remain aquaintaince . Some are there for short time some for long but each one is special in our lives . " Then she told me "but mom you have seema maasee Sameera aunty who have been ur friends for so many years how come they still in your life ". I told her not to worry she will find new friends and meeting new friends doesn't mean we lose our old  friends  ,the ones who are close to ur heart will always be in your life . After having a chat with her she felt better and relaxed . 

          But after this talk with my daughter I started thinking about all my friends who I  met in different stages of my life and each one played such a beautiful role in my life ,they are few friends but they are the best . My school friends who were so wonderful with me in school and some of them I still am in touch with . And in my teens I meet Sameera shaheen and seema all 3 were the bestest friends I can ever ask . Seema who I share everything ,after so many years she is become such  a important part of my life . I grew up with her she was with me for more than half my life always standing by me . We know each other so well. She has always been my best friend . 

        Then as I grew older I meet few more friends deepa ,Rama ,ameeta , who I grew older with . But today I want to talk about my 5 friends I met coz of a passion we all had ,which was running . Sometimes I feel running must have just been a reason for us to meet ,somewhere we were destined to meet . Let me tell you about my 5 friends . 

          Let's start with Jenny . She is the most sweetest and should I say the quietest among all of us  . She is always praying for all of us , infact we all believe her prayers work . And we enjoy troubling her ,she cooks amazing food for us . She quietly listens to all our talks and maybe once in a while make small funny comments too , she is always smiling . 

       Then comes Geeta , I love this woman , she truely is a motivational person , so full of life , Geeta is an all rounder . Full of energy  and always on the go ,how good she is at handling her office that efficient she is at taking care of her house and an amazing mom to her kids ,they share such a beautiful rapport . Geeta can make anyone talk and laugh . She is truely an amazing person. 

      Then comes my favourite Nitin  . The god father of our group . He is a hard core Al Pacino fan , and we call him our very own  desi al Pacino . Any outsider who met him will think he is reserved and a very quiet person ,but people don't go by his looks he is one brat ,full of mischief . But a sweet person and my favourite . 

     Then Sushma ,we both have the same name ,but Sushma I rarely call her my friend I always treat her like my little sister ,I am very protective about her . We have a different chemistry . So no words ,we both know what she means to me .

     Then comes  the baby of our group dhiraj , youngest and handsome and full of energy always laughing always jumping around , his energy brings so much energy to our group .he is the fresh breath of air innocent and loving and I love fighting with him the most . He loves going for trek quite an adventurous person . 

     And then it's me , well according to me I am perfect. But I am sure my friends will say otherwise ,so let's not talk abt me . 

      Each one of us are so different each have different views ,different life style, different thought process , but when we are together we have this amazing bond a chemistry that I don't know if any words can describe . But let me try the impossible . Well when we are together we are like  these crazy people ,who don't care about the world around us . We are sometimes like teenagers giggling at silly things , we can giggle and laugh at anything and everything . Then sometimes we are like adults who can discuss serious things without hesitation , each one have their own views and each one makes sure they are heard loud and clear , some times we can be such jokers that people around us have a good laugh and we love to see people around us happy . There are times when we argue or fight and next minute we are like inseparable and nothing can separate us . When we are together we forget the world around us everything around us looks so perfect . Life looks so perfect . We love every minute that we spend together ,for that is the time when we are like kids , always laughing ,always playing some pranks , always challenging each other , always dancing without caring what the world thinks about us . Always standing up for each other and protecting each other . Always listening to each other's problems and helping to solve it or sometimes by just listening we helping each other . It's a lively relationship and a lovely relationship , for in this relationship we are not judgemental nor we have any expectations from each other , we accept each other exactly the way we are ,with our perfection or imperfection ,without expecting to bring  any change in each other ,for we choose each other exactly the way we are . And honestly you cannot change perfection . I feel lucky that I have the privilege to be a part of this crazy ,amazingly blissfull friends circle . Touchwood.....

        I hope my little girl too finds her Jenny ,Geeta , Nitin  Sushma and Dhiraj , like I found mine ..........

      

My little bird .....

            My granny used to love singing folk songs . There were many songs that I loved and kept asking her to sing it to me when I was a kid . There was one song that always touched my heart , though I never understood what it meant at that time , but somehow that song sounded so good and made me emotional . Well the song was in my mother tongue ," Pakkil muggi vonje gudu do batkondo undo gae ,aayete vonji kinniga rekke puttunde undo ga." it means 3 little chicks were growing together in one nest and now one of the little chick is growing its wings . When I was smaller I would never understand what it meant ,but whenever my granny sang that song I would love hearing it.  Infact she sang that song for me when I was getting married but at that time also I never understood the significance of that song .

        But today when my elder daughter has gone to other city to work this song keeps playing in my mind all the time . Today I truely understood the meaning of that song ,when suddenly my little girl is growing her own wings and is flying away from our nest . The nest  that she grew up ,the nest in which her parents kept her protected and loved her a nest where she fought laughed and played with her sibling ,our nest which our babies make a home for us . As parents we are always thinking our babies never will grow but one day they have to grow have to get their own wings have fly away to make their own nest their own home their own lives their own world . When our little bird grows and flies away to make her life we are happy for them happy to let them experiment find out how they want their lives to be ,see the world on their own ,but suddenly as parents there comes an emptiness , a fright that our little nest we built with our little girls is becoming empty , that emptiness is really scary but then that is life I guess everyone has to leave their nest their comfort zone to make their own nest create their own world . 

        

         My little one is out their figuring out her world thinking about her future and creating her new nest ,I wish her all the happiness ,all the luck , hope she finds her happiness her new world . Mean while this little nest of her will always be right here , always welcoming her ,always waiting for her and always loving her . God bless my little bird fly high and be happy always . 

Oh womeniya !!!!

      Have been thinking about writing for very long but couldn't find the right words . Words have been playing  on my mind since I watched  this 2 movies Pink and Parched . Seriously don't want to give my review about the movie . But want to share my thought about these 2 movies . Both movies made me feel good ,good about things changing around us ,thoughts changing or let's say thought have always been there but watching these thoughts in different perceptive that was something different .

       Well Pink showed how women can fight for their rights and true meaning of the word' No' . Which somehow people have actually forgotten . We tell our woman to have the guts to say a 'no ' but somewhere we forgot to tell our sons to respect the word 'no' . We live in a modern world where sex is no more a taboo topic to discuss so it's nice when we can openly discuss about such things .

      Parched on the other hand also portrayed about woman's right and about her needs and desires . Her physical and mental and emotional needs . Woman is a strong creature created by almighty only difference is her importance is decided by others in the society .she is judged as a daughter ,sister, wife , mother ,mother in law ,grandmother etc but she is never seen as an individual . 

      Both these movies touched my soul and seriously made me think . Why is it that we woman have to prove to everyone all the time  about our own identity . Why is that we need to remind people that We too can think on our own ,we  also can do things we want to do without anyone's permission. . When we are born our whole lives we are told we live in a democratic country , what democracy is this that woman needs to fight for her own identity . And why is it that we need to tell people to give woman their right ,and to treat woman equal. Isn't it something that goes without saying . Do we tell the men folks fight for your right ask people to treat u equal . Then why do we use such words for women . And honestly speaking why do we woman need to reminded we are equal  ,why do we need to be given this special treatment we should be knowing this, we are equal . We don't need to be treated special . 

       When a man drinks or parties or flirts he is not tagged a slut or a easy prey ,then why is the woman is tagged so . If a man touches a woman there is nothing wrong in it but if woman touches a man ,it's always considered as she is looking for a good time . We woman also like having friends of  different sex . We also like enjoying life queen size we like to drink ,dance ,roam around freely we too love cracking dirty jokes . And like a man we too have physical desires and like a man it's equally important to us . Then how come women who speak about her desires  is called a slut . 

       

               We live in a mans world ,if a man wants some thing he has to get it , while a woman is trained to obey what has been told to her , we woman are so scared to use the word 'No' . I have never understood why do we take a No as an insult . How come we never respect a 'No' . Honestly when every person understands the importance of 'No' we will never have any problems in this world . 

     I want a world where we don't need to remind people woman are equal ,we don't want people to keep talking but girls right ,woman's rights  .We want to be in a truely democratic world where We don't need any special rights, We want just equal rights once we get that nothing will stop our country's progress . 

Our heroes in Rio

I have been getting so many forward msgs abt who is performing how in the Olympics , how many misses and how many medals . This one is in the finals ,that one got a medal . It's nice to know we all so interested in our players . But honestly for me each and every player who are representing India  out there is a hero ,for we all Indians know ,all these  players who have gone there to represent india ,have not got the state of art training by our country ,the kind of training ,wht other sportsman and woman have got from their respective countries .i don't even think half of our player have even seen stadium like that . So for them to go there and perform is truly great . We all know the kind of treatment our sports people given .So for once let's forget abt the medals and salute all our Indian player who are in Rio representing our country . Each and every player is a hero and they truly deserve their country men and women to appreciate them . Hats off to all of them . These guys rock . Medal or no medals u guys are our heroes . And people let's not just support them today , or during the next Olympic , but support them everyday . They deserve it .

South Africa a dream come true country ...

  Whenever we speak of a holiday it always brings a smile and a glow to our faces , some holiday excite you , some makes u happy , some holiday makes u feel peaceful, while some just makes u feel blissful ,but my this years summer vacation is the perfect mixture of all these feelings. South Africa was the destination chosen by my family of 20 people . Let's forget about the hurdles and go straight to the day we landed in Cape Town ,we entered the city of Cape Town with so much anticipations,  mystery and confusion ,but as we landed here all this feeling disappeared we suddenly felt so positive and the beauty of the place took our breath away ,we were welcomed so lovingly by the immigration officers they put us so much at ease. When we got out of the airport we were welcomed by our guide Eliase tall dark well built man whose smile touched our hearts immediately . And then we were introduced to our driver, he would be driving us for next few days , Godfrey we were in love with him instantly, we started calling him God and he seriously watched over us like God would have done we felt so safe with him around us .

   I still remember Eliase would tell us a time he would want us in the bus and we being we would always be late but he would always be waiting for us with a smile and we always had our excuses ready for being late and God would just salute us with sweet Good morng and smile ,he was truely a man of few words . Eliase was not just a guide but an amazing story teller every place he showed us had such beautiful stories . He made us fall in love with South Africa, not just the scenic beauty but with history too, though we have read about the history of South Africa many times but hearing it again from him made us really understand it.  The beauty of the table top mountain ,the enchanting botonical gardens , the history of Robbin island and the amazing shark cage diving experience everything made us fall in love with this beautiful city called Cape Town .

    We left Cape Town with a heavy heart to vineyards at stellenboush . If cape town was beautiful this place was not just beautiful but enchanting , so many vineyard so much beauty with  yummy wine and cheese . We visited some beautiful vineyards with lovely farms and horses running around . We  saw some amazing antique cars . Evening we would spend time watching the mountain the enchanted us totally ,the beauty of this place was unbelievable too good to be true . We just kept pinching ourselves to see if we really seeing so much beauty or are we just dreaming. 

    We left stellenboush to go to outsdshourn a pretty quaint place with so many ostriches around . Here the Congo caves enchanted us ,the beauty of this caves mesmerised us totally . The interactive session with the animals was blissful . What touched me most was the way each guide we met made the whole experience more beautiful with the way they spoke abt the places we visited . I am still confused if the places were really beautiful or the way the guides described the place made it more beautiful.

   From outsdshourn we went to kynsna  via garden view . My god honestly I have never seen so much beauty it was like Mother Nature at her best . Every place we went was better than the other I really don't know which place I can call more beautiful. Kynsna is a perfect and beautiful place with the ocean ,the lagoons ,mountains ,everything u can imagine was there in kynsna so much beauty which takes your breath away . The drive from kynsna to port Elizabeth was beautiful ,here we were just spending a night as we had to catch a early morning  flight to Kruger our last destination in South Africa and best part of our whole trip .we were excited about Kruger but along with excitement we were very sad after port Elizabeth Eliase and God would not be joining us , when they were leaving we felt so sad we felt we were leaving behind our own family member we all had become so close that when we separated we had tears in our eyes . But I guess that's life we meet people we separate to meet again sometime in the future . Port Elizabeth was fun we loved the place we partied till late at night and met some amazing people there . Every person we met gave us so much love we really felt blessed . 

     Next morning we left for the best part of our journey Kruger the second largest national park . We had heard so much wonderful things about this place and believe me it turned out to be better than what we imagined it to be . We stayed in this beautiful place called Shishangeni private lodge which means a resting place .  It was inside the Kruger national park it was the most amazing place we had been to . The staff there were so amazing each one took such wonderful care of us . The game (safari) was the best part .here Harold was our ranger who took us deep into the jungle to see different animals he made sure we saw all the big 5 the buffalo ,the rhino ,the elephant ,the leopard and the lions . We were the lucky ones to see all these beautiful animals somehow we were lucky with all the animals imagine seeing 20 lions ,lioness and Cubs that too eating their hunt , we could not get enough of the lions , every animal we saw in close range . Harold was an amazing ranger he made sure we see all possible animals from the giraffe , zebra,  hippo ,hyena , jackals ,Impala ,kuddo ,Eagles ,vultures ,buffalo, rhino,cheetah ,leopard ,and best of all the lions . This was the best experience in my whole life . Here I must add the staff in the Shishangeni lodge were so amazing each one gave us so much love I have thank each one of them Philips ,soloman,thami ,prudence ,patience ,surprise ,prayer ,Norman,each one were so amazing and Valeria, and olga made such amazing food and the way they pampered us was beautiful .we love each of u so much no thank you all for the lovely hospitality.

    Like every good things must come to an end so did  our beautiful holiday I have never been so sad about  leaving South Africa ,we packed and sat in the car to leave Kruger but we never imagined what was waiting for us when we were getting out of Kruger we were given a grand farewell by the whole pride of lions ,lioness and Cubs. We were speechless with beautiful farewell we got . 

    We were to catch the flight to India from Johannesburg so we had decided we would take the Panaromic view  route . What an amazing view we saw through out this Panaromic view it was the cherry on the top for the end of the trip . We boarded the flight to India with a heavy heart but with beautiful memories  and some lovely stories and with many new friends for life  and ofcourse with a promise to return again and again for many more adventures and memories. South Africa you not just touched our hearts but touched our soul . Thank you ...

Life is beautiful

Read abt the suicide of an actor of the serial 'Balika Vadhu' , she was just 24 , an age where life should have been fun and adventurous ,at that age we all dream of a beautiful future , but this girl ended her life before it could even begin. In our country we take depression so lightly , when we know depression can make people take drastic steps . Why is it that going to a psychiatrist such a taboo subject ? Don't we go to a doctors when we get fever ,cold or cough  or anything that makes us feel our life is in danger ? When at that time we can go to the doctors then , why not go for help when our mind needs help ? After all that too is one of our own body part and going to a psychiatric help does not tag anyone as mad or mentally unstable , infact  according to me if we go for help its that one step closer to recovery , actually one step closer to becoming a stronger person. 

    We parents take so much trouble making sure our children do well in life , we always teach our children to be the best in everything they do , but somewhere we have forgotten to teach them failures is a very important part of our lives also , failures help us fight and rise up again . Makes us stronger people . We have to come out of the virtual world and face reality . We need to start being a true family who are like pillar for each other ,and most importantly I think we need to tell our children we are there by their side always for good or the bad , successful or unsuccessful , happiness or sadness  we as parents will always be right next to them . Hard times are part of life and we have to learn to fight it ,everything in life cannot always be perfect ,imperfection also is beautiful and we have to accept it . Strength of India is our support system our family and friends we need to support each other when we see our loved ones in trouble . That is what makes imperfect life so perfect . 

    People , life is beautiful very precious not just for the one living it , but for the ones who are the part of that life . Life is beautiful so , Live it , love it , fight for it coz we get it only once.

Need ur support

Dear Friends

 

 

As India stands at the threshold of being an economic superpower, it is certainly time to dream many a dream for our country.  But can we truly reap the benefits of our ‘demographic dividend’ or are we looking at a potentially more divisive country?

 

·      43% of our youth believe that it is alright to flout rules because the penalty is low 

·      41% believe that girls have no option, but to accept a certain degree of violence.

·      65% students believed that boys & girls of different religions should not be encouraged to meet

·      49% college students believe that domestic workers cannot demand basic minimum wages and other facilities

 

Clearly, no country can be a truly developed country, if this is what the youth believes!

 

An attitudinal shift is the need of the hour and that is the work that CMCA does in over 300 schools in India, impacting over 17,000 children.

 

CMCA's unique, year-long programme sows the seeds of 4 basic democratic values needed for every citizen –

 

Concern

Cooperation

Coexistence

Confrontation

 

We encourage children to BELIEVE that change is possible, to ACT upon it and then INFLUENCE others to change too! 

 

Have we succeeded?  Here are some examples:

 

·      Over 300 children have called up the Municipal helplines and got civic problems fixed - from potholes on roads, to broken pipes, to open manholes, etc.

·      For the last 8 years CMCA children have participated in the beach clean up after Ganpati Visarjan in Mumbai & saved our beaches.

·      Laavanya from Tumkur District encouraged her parents to build a toilet in their home, with the help of the Gram Panchayat. This inspired 60 others too, to build toilets!

 

These are just a fraction of the inspirational stories that I have shared.  The heartening fact is that all these changes were made by CHILDREN.

 

If only we can reach this Citizenship & Democracy Education that we do, to millions more in our country, surely, we will be able to see the magic that children can create, to make India a truly developed country!

 

 

Our efforts of building a stronger nation need the support of people like you.  Donating is easy, as I am participating in the Mumbai Marathon of Jan 17, 2016 to raise funds for our cause.   

 

You may donate online on the following link

http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/scmm-fundraiser-4075

 

Alternately, you may send a cheque in the name of United Way of Mumbai and send it to me at my address below.

 

With every stride that I take in the Marathon, I am sure you will have a sense of pride that you are contributing towards the creation of a greater nation!

 

If you wish to know more about CMCA, please visit www.cmcaindia.org

BAN ,BAN and BAN....where is democracy lost....

          India is the biggest democracy that is what I have always learnt in school and that is what I teach my children , but suddenly I wonder are we really the biggest democracy? What does democracy really mean . I always thought democracy means total freedom of speech,thought,movement and life. A government chosen by the people ,for the people and of the people.

           Democracy a word that I very proudly said and felt,but lately I wonder am I really living in a country that said "I have total democracy". Everyday I see some rights of the ours taken away for some reason or other. We live in a country where we struggle for our basic necessities daily ,be it water ,electricity, fresh air ,good roads, clean environment ,everyday every Indian is struggling for it, and if that was not enough now the word 'BAN' has  made sure that many more rights be taken away from WE THE PEOPLE.. Ban of beef ,ban of meat , ban of this and ban of that. Honestly think about it we have no right to even decide what we can or cannot eat, we cannot even decide where we stay as in recent times the building  decide if a vegetarian or non vegetarian family can live in the building or not,flats are sold or given on lease on religion basis. Colleges and schools decide admissions on reservation basis, politicians decide what clothes are decent or indecent, moral police decide if we can fall in love or not. So honestly speaking how do we call ourselves a democratic country? When everything is decided by our leader who are  chosen by us the people. 

       When I voted I did not see if I am voting for a Hindu ,Muslim ,Christian ,Jain or any other religion,I did not vote on reservation basis. I voted for an Indian whom I thought would take good care of my country. I voted for someone who would help India become the best developed country. But what our leaders are busy doing is slowly and steadily taking our rights away, and we the people are forgetting our democratic rights and living our lives with a chalta hai attitude. What  type of country are we going to give our generation next ,a country where they won't be allowed live life the way they want, where they won't have the right to speak up ,coz the generation before them decided to let their democracy be taken away without any hesitation.  Gandhiji fought the British to give us freedom and democracy ,and today it is taken away from the people ,by their own people..and we silently are letting them do it..... seriously this can happen only in India .Mera Bharat Mahaan.

Kothaligad #Peth fort...journey begins.....

                August 15 Independence Day ,the day whole india celebrate our independence,we wanted to celebrate Independence Day differently thought lets go for a trek and so we did though many of our friends could not come ,but 2 of us decided we will still go and meet Trekkers there and so the journey began.Dhiraj his few friends and me decided to go ahead with our plans. 

                 We left Mumbai early morng for Karjat. What a beautiful drive whole way was soo green , the weather was sooo amazing . Though it  was not raining which worried us a little bit but we said never mind we will enjoy irrespective of no rains. "Nothing was going to stop us".. Was our motto that day...

                We had some lovely home made cheese sandwich and chutney sandwiches ,the tasty sandwich and the beautiful scenery and in the background some truckers playing patriotic song boosted us more. We reached Karjat around 10:30 am. Met a group of Trekkers and started the climb to kothligad with lots of confusions and laughters. The climb to the main village was all uphill but thanks to our marathon training, we didn't find the walk difficult. And the breath taking view made us forget all our tiredness. It took us over one and half hour to reach the village ,the view up there was something that just makes one forget everything ,the huge mountains the lovely waterfall and peace mesmerized us... Whenever I see the mountains it makes me feel so protected and suddenly all my worries look so small. After spending some time down in the village we started our climb to the fort,oh my god it was quite a difficult walk luckily the weather God was good to us ,it  was cool and it rained too , coz of  which the path had become mucky and slippery, but fun ,each trekker held each other's hand gave each other support during the climb and made the difficult climb easy and fun, at that time I felt the true meaning of unity , each trekker there had no reservations each one was just supporting each other. Each one was encouraging the other which was the fun of it. We reached the second highest point, what a view if the village view was breath taking than this was something beyond that. We spent some time there checked out the cave saw some lovely carving, the water reseviour, and a canon made by British I guess for it had some English words. And after spending some amazing time there we started climbing to the top,this walk was from inside the cave with lots of steps ,the  steps were soo high and steep, so a little difficult to climb and the crowd was there too so it took a little while to climb . Huffing and puffing we reached the top ,what an achievement each one of us felt , each person were just soo happy reaching the top and the view around was something my eyes experienced ,but my lips can't express . We just sat there taking in the fresh air and the breath taking view. We had some lovely home cooked pulao and home baked chocolate cake  yummy. We sat there for sometime ,met some people shared experiences . Sometimes it fun to meet strangers talking knowing each other. After spending some beautiful moment there we started our walk down.

                   My friend dhiraj says when we come for trek we should explore every part of the trek , so following him like a true friend we decided to do the most difficult part of the trek the circle round the mountain. Prayer in our heart and holding the mountain for support and making sure we don't look down we started the journey ,oh wow ...what an experience. Lovely breeze and view made us forget all our fright. We were so mesmerized with view that we forgot to click photos too. But memory of that is printed in my mind for ever. That experience was something that I can never forget . Thank you dhiraj for encouraging us . After that lovely experience we were in a hypnotised state ,the whole walk down we were just laughing smiling happy and talking abt that amazing experience. The down hill was a cake walk,maybe we were soo happy so we didn't feel the walk down difficult at all. 

                  When we reached down we had some lovely tea and the villager told us to check out the dam ,they said it is a beautiful spot to go. So we went there ,honestly speaking we didn't like the place much coz of the way people had littered and spoilt the place, we were about to leave when we meet this uncle,  Nivruti  kaka  soo sweet man he lived there and gave us some history about the other fort bhimashanker which has a shiv linga what a mountain, he told us when the rains are good u can see wonderful waterfalls and he spoke to us about the temple there. He was such lovely person ,filled with life and peace. There was so much innocence in him which made us fall in love with him. After biding him good bye and promising him that we would come back again we left the place , we freshened up in a small hotel and started our journey back home. The whole way back the fresh air and silence and the mountains covered with fog kept us mesmerized totally, till we reached the noisy city .

                   Let me share some information about Kothligad #Peth fort. It's one of many forts Shivaji had . The height of the fort is 3100 ft. With many reservoir ,caves ,where they hid their weapons, and kept a watch on their enemies . When climbing this fort u wonder how Shivaji and his warrior climbed these forts , and once u climb the fort you realise why Shivaji was called the best warrior. It was a perfect Independence Day for all of us...

Peth fort