Whats Your Rashee to Kashid: Story of a Weekend

The month of Sept this year has been very easy. Long weekends have become so common in this month that I don't think I will be able to adjust back to a full 5 day week starting October (though the first weekend of October itself is a long weekend thanks to Gandhi Jayanti which falls on Friday.)

Long weekends are different than weekends. You get that one extra day off which makes you both ambitious and equally lazy. You need someone to kick you in the back and get you to do something worth the long weekend. I mean you can doze off lazing around on weekends but long weekends demand something extra, something which makes them seem really long and fruitful if not well earned :p

This long weekend (26-28 Sept 2009) started with a disaster. I literally was banging my head on the seat before me. I think I even started bleeding but the multiplex owner did not take heed and continued with the screening. After the end of approximately 4 hours I was left (like many others) totally numb, brain dead. I had just been "Whats Your Rashee"ed and let me tell you it was even worse than when i had farted loudly in a project meeting when the manager had opened up the floor for any questions, opinions or comments. My team mates later did tell me that the fart was meaningful, but my manager somehow did not subscribe to that.

I got home Friday nite at 2:00AM and I could not sleep. Gowarikar was to blame, I just couldn't forgive myself for the movie which I had just seen. How could Gowarikar have such an impact on me that he had literally robbed me off my sleep. I liked Priyanka Chopra but after seeing her in 12 different roles in the same movie, I developed a nausea so intense that I could see her face on the female porn stars too. Ok I must confess even after watching porn for 1 hour after I came home I could not find sleep. I re-re-re-read my certification material but even then I could not sleep. Finally it took the last gulp of the vodka to enter my system to calm my nerves and lull me to sleep. I hate you Gowarikar....I hate you Priyanka. Linda Goodman was enough as far as signs go.

I still had 2 days to make up for my Friday fiasco and Saturday early morning I left for Kashid. I had been to quite a few beaches in Konkan now and every time it is the ghats, the lush greenery and ofcourse the lack of traffic which takes my breath away. The Tamhini ghat which is the route to the most preferred Kokan beaches of shrivardhan, diveagar is hell to say the least. Both the rider and the ride (including the pillion if any) suffers a great deal. However the route to Kashid was not via Tamhini, the road was good, couple that with the ghats and the greenery and within an hour into the ride I knew I was going to enjoy this :)

The distance from Pune to Kashid being 200 kms it was an easy ride and the prospect of a dip in the sea together with the food, nariayl pani was mouth watering. The route we took while going was

Pune-Lonavla-Khopoli-Pali-Roha-Nadgaon-Kashid

We started from Pune at 7:00AM and reached Kashid at 1:15PM, by that time, sweat had got to me, thanks to the humidity. But the sight of the waves and the golden sand was enough to soothe me. Finding accommodation was not at all a task. The tourist season had not exactly started (as per one of the locals) and we found decent accommodation at a place which was a stone's throw from the beach. This was the best part. The acco was so close that we even could visit the beach many time, sometimes at will :). From the room even the sounds of the waves were audible.

Just before dinner, the walk on the beach was both calming and serene. There were not many people around, the moon was lighting the path and gazing at the stars in the clear sky was an experience in itself.

The return journey started on Sunday at 12:15PM. We had a heavy breakfast at the beach. Poha, Maggi, Bhurji and tea and we began. One thing about the beach which impressed me was that there were no hawkers selling chat, bhelpuri and that was a relief. The chat and the bhelpuri are the chief destoryers of any habitat and more so for the beaches. We visted a Birla Temple as Salav. Though in the afternoon heat we didnt have the heart to roam around the garden, but it was good nonetheless.

The route we took for the return journey was different:

Kashid-Alibaug-Pen-Khopoli-Lonavla-Pune

At 7:00PM I was back at my place, looking ahead to cap it all off with a couple of bottles of beer :)

A long weekend well spent and very well enjoyed :)

P.S: Will upload the pics soon on orkut.