It's zub who wanted brought out the idea of going to this place...
must tell you i really loved this outing,,,,,,,always wanted to have this kind of over night adventure....
so finally its decided...zub, pulkit, me, vatsal and kartik(extc.) and wait,,,,,srikanth -- who is zubeen's school friend are going for this trip.... the place is vangani---- its the station after badlapur on the central line.... and must say how far away is this place....( now can truly understand the plight of my classmates( ref...abhinav mehrotra)..who travels all the way from thane....
so we are leaving at 2 from andheri station.,,,,,,after doing all those search on the trains for karjat....we head on from andheri...
and i prepare myself welll ..i must say.....starting with torch, nashta( thepla...the best food), towels, jacket.....( intially i thought it would be cold...i was imagining that the place would be on top of a mountain....romaticizing ( although i dont have a gf..bas bracket ni andar bracket...bahu thai gayu)....) so i was fully prepared for this visit...i think its the adventure freak in me,,,,,always game for somekinda experince,,,,,be it going to gilbert hill, pavagadh, matheran, the purana killa in delhi( by far the best place in delhi.....must see akshardham from this place) or risking my life by going on the top floor of mpstme( yaa , its under construction) in the midst of a internship interview( that was crazy )....
so i am this all prepared ...with a bag.....and then i meet pulkit and zub on station....they arent carrying anything ( chalo..chaltein hain)......
so we take a train from here to dadar.... and then to thane...
and i forgot ...vatsal was with us .,,,,,so timepass pakka,,,,,,he can start of a debate on any topic,,,,( must say would be really helpful to you ,,,in cat for gd...)..and then will argue till the end... and most of the time its ( atheism....v/s god..i in support of the latter)////
so from dadar to thane ..i dont know how time flies by.....we are debating on it( in a 2nd class compartment....and the people also seemed interested in our debate ...some of them were hearing us so keenly...)..basically i was alone in this,,,,pulkit( though he says he isnt a atheist )...vatsal , obviously and zubeen having a nonchalant approach and kartik remaining quiet for the major part of it .....so finally thane arrives...
we get down,,,,there zub recommends the nimbu pani wala opposite thane station....( i must say that is the best nimbu paani in mumbai .....never ever have had such a nimbu paani)
but recently i read an article in a mail which said that nimbu paani wala across mumbai use the ice from mortuary in their nimbu paani ( yeah i am feeling disgusted now for drinking that ...and have since stopped drinking all those nimbu paani's on railway station.....)
then after a bit of yes-no-no- yes we decide to go to zub's place...we still had time ...were early...
so we visit his place.,,,,,,do some pet-pooja and head off back for vangani; srikanth joins in from here...
now i must sa
y the real journey begins,,,,,,,the train for karjat arrives....very crowded....( i was expecting that the train will be empty by the time kalyan arrives ....but it doesnt happen ....this was the 1st time i was goin beyond thane....ahh wait once i did travel from vasai to diva and then to thane....that was one of my escapades in the 2nd year...)
but the train gets filled and filled ,,,and here again we have sumthing to keep us goin.....the debate of melatonin ( the night hormone ...which i studied in biology in 12th and had a long debate with IP( Ipsit) in the 2nd year)( It was during this debate i opened my 12th standard biology textbook ...didnt care much about it when i was in 12th ...ha ha )
the debate was: is
melatonin secreted in the night or is it secreted in the dark ...
i mean i remember studying that melatonin is secreted in the night,,,,,,
now the confusion was( we all are awake till 1-2 am )...so is melatonin secreted when the it becomes dark or is it secreted when there is physically no light present ...irrespective of the fact that it is night or day ....u sleep in a dark room in the day without any light and melatonin will secrete,,,,,
so this debate occupies us till we reach vangani ,,,,and by that time its 7 ..so its already dark ( melatonin secret hona chalu ho gaya hoga....)and i must congratualte srikanth ...he is a commerce student ,,but still the way he participated in the debate ....arguing and throwing valid points..
so we reach vangaani ..the volunteers of khagol mandal are alr
eady there......i must say what a unfrequented place it is .....
we have to walk down towards the west ....after walking for 10 minutes we reach this farm.....
here we all are made to sit after the registration.....( we were asked to carry some bed sheets or chhatai...none of us brought..thx to zubeen...)
and the lights are off....and then the presentation starts ...actually its in an open field,,,,,
around 200 must be there... there is another ..field on the side of this .,....where there is a separate section for marathi ....\
so the presenatation starts ...it tells all abt the night stars ......half an hour into the presenatation...the guy suddenly remarks.....look there ,...that is an artificial satellite....must say what a site it was....i was seeing it for the 1st time......it was moving
so fast,....but i managed to grasp its view....a bright light ...moving fast .....
( those of you who would have seen the movie ---october sky would be able to relate easily with this ...)
Then he talks about the crash between two satellites lately ( the iridium and the russian on 11th feb 2009).
so after this we get back to our presenatation........he shows us stars with a laser...and the beam makes it possible to identify exactly which one he is pointing at ...( how many stars could i see from this place....being in mumbai ...or any other city for that matter ...we are so much deprived of stars ...natures beauty ...ma grandpa was a very good at reading the night sky...,,,he could easily point out the common stars....)
he pointed out that the brightest star was sirius...and there was some log sclae attached to the brightness of the stars.....we do see that star.....later via a telescope/////
also at this pointi cant remember what else we did there...but must say was a gr8 experince,,,,
we also saw saturn and jupiter,,,,..the rings of saturn wer
e awesome,,,, also he pointed out vega...ursa major....ursa minor,.....pole star ...saptarishi ,,,,,
my mind raced back toward 10th standard ... the last time i studied all this things...ws so fascinating then ,,,,now all i do is roting and puking at in xams ,,,,that is mpstme....( naah i shud nt be so harsh to my college ...its not that bad afteralll.....)
in between the breaks ,,,,,we ventured out of the farm....the road from farm to the main road ..hardly 50 mts ...was creepy ....and plus there were dogs ....
so we were standing at the gate ....and far i see on the top of a hill a fire( (beacon) to be more Specific for the GRE/GMAT/CAT Junta......man again this was an awesome moment....after the artifical satellite ...( my mind raced back towards the movie AUSTRALIA ) which i had recently seen ...the old man lighting fire on the top of that hill and in the night ....looked awesome,,,,,
so this was all about that trip .....and yaa the tharki inside me also said ....
( next time i come, i am having a gf with me ,..ha ha ....for all those who already have one , what are you waiting for .,,heres the link for Khagol Mandal,,,,,do visit it next time...)
so finally i came back home....we were sleeping in the train ...but then it was one of the best times i spent in 3 yrs in mumbai....and yeah while goin back we rated the trip ...i as usual gave it a 10....others gave 8 , 6 ,,,,but for me ..anything which is out of the convention is a bingo...)
