Pavana Lake & Lion's Point (Lonavala) :- Farewell ride for one of the best pals I've ever had - Pravin Samarth. {22/05/2011}

Happiness is honestly a very qualified term. It is the state of mind which could not last forever to our pleasure. Terrible things are bound to happen, howsoever one tries to steer clear of them & the truth is one cannot escape those uninvited dark days of life. But then again, a little sadness is obligatory for one to be able to understand what life is & actually appreciate it when the merry time starts to roll in & the much awaited silver line finally appears amongst the dark clouds.

These were the things I always knew/read but never really realized until one cruel day of May 2011. It was the evening of May 19th, 2011 & I was upto my usual daily routine at marine drive when a friend of mine i.e Shailesh called to deliver a bad news, infact a real terrible news. A very close friend of ours, Tushar Patel had lost his father just a couple of days ago. The news came to me as a punch right on my throat & I could barely speak back to Shailesh as he narrated the news further. Though emotions were dying to overflow alongwith millions of questions in my mind, the first & foremost question being how come I don’t even have a hint of it, how come I’m the last one to know when my close pal’s life has just turned upside down.

It was explained to me by Shailesh that Tushar’s dad kept unwell since April 2011. I & most other friend’s who were close to Tushar were having our final CA exams in may & hence Tushar was resolute to keep us away from the news. Our exams ended on May 17th 2011 & I had planned for a night drive to Lonavala for which I had invited Tushar but he denied stating some excuse. It was very unlikely of Tushar to deny for any get-together or trips as he was & he still is known as the ‘Anytime, Anyplace Man’ of our group. I was frankly a bit pissed at him since he cancelled for the lonavala trip but I knew he must have had a strong reason to do so. I so regret not pushing him to tell me the reason why he seemed upset back then. Unfortunately, Tushar’s dad passed away on 18th may 2011 & still he didn’t inform any of us apart from one friend who was in constant touch with him.

So finally, I got the above summarized news on 19th may 2011 & I just wanted to meet him up right that moment. It was late in evening, approximately 9.00 pm when I called up Tushar & spoke to him, although I could barely speak to him. I asked up his address & he insisted me to meet up next day as it was late that day but I insisted on meeting up the same day. I conveyed the news to Najju who also knew Tushar well & he agreed to accompany me to Tushar’s place. So finally we did meet him up the same night & shared our condolences for his loss.

Next day, a chunk of our common friends went to meet up Tushar. The day after, I & the leftover group of friend who hadn’t yet met Tushar saw him on evening of May 21’st 2011. It was then that I got one another sad news. One more of our close friend, Pravin Samarth was moving away forever to Pune for a new job. Pravin was a good company, a star of our group, a person who would keep everyone around him smiling & happy with his wit & charm. We all were sure to miss him a lot more than anyone else who would have left.

Hence we made an impromptu decision to have a small farewell ride in honor of Pravin. We decided to keep it simple, a night ride to Lonavala with few close friends & return back to Mumbai early morning. I so wished to take along Tushar & cheer him up but this clearly wasn’t the right time.

Most of us who were joining the farewell ride for Pravin i.e Myself, Ronak, Pravin & Shailesh were at Tushar’s house that evening. We left Tushar’s house at 10.00 pm & we were supposed to meet up close to 12.30-1.00 am at panvel.

I reached home by 11.00 pm & got a few things packed & left home by 11.15 pm. On the way, I met Bhavesh Hodar (my cousin) who had bought a Bajaj Pulsar 220F a few months ago & had been learning to tame his beast all the while. Bhavesh was also joining us for the ride. We rode to dadar & met Ronak/Anand who reached there by train. Without wasting much time, we left for panvel after a quick introduction session. Bhavesh was closely following me when I took the diversion to NH4 after kalamboli circle whereas he continued straight on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. After a few calls to Anand who was pillion with Bhavesh, those two turned back & met us. We carried ahead & stopped at our regular hotel in panvel at NH4 & NH17 junction. A lot of food was ordered in the hotel while we awaited Shailesh & Pravin who reached there within some time. We hogged down the food like hungry dogs & we were all set to leave by 2.15 am.

Some pics from the restaurant.

Delicious food - especially the egg curry 

Ronak Jain - The only Veggie in our group who happily shared the table with us non veggies every time 

Ronak, Shailesh & poor little Pulsar 135 LS 

The chilliness was in air by that hour but it was the month of May & hence the temperature was actually enjoyable & not bone chilling unlike our few night rides in the month of January & February to Karnala & Lonavala. Ronak accompanied Shailesh on his Bajaj Pulsar 135, Pravin accompanied Bhavesh on his P220 & Anand was with me. We cruised along on the beautiful NH4 in a perfect formation, one bike behind the another. Most of the times Shailesh kept the lead while I happily swept the group keeping Bhavesh in centre as it was his first highway ride . 

The experience was amazing to see only three bikes riding in a perfect formation on amazingly smooth curvy roads cutting through deep forests & hills of khopoli in the hazel moonlight outshining the several stars above us. While I was laidback & cruising in the region on 60-70 kmph, Anand & myself had ample time to jump from one topic to another of the usual Guys Talk. I remember back then was the first time when Anand acknowledged that he wanted to learn riding a bike & go for such road trips with us some day in future. Frankly, I know a lot of guys who say the same, while enjoying one long bike trip but never turn up for another long ride & I guessed Anand to be from the same catgory (but he proved me wrong by December 2011, but that's another story altogether). We made it to Khandala ghats in no time & Pravin took over Bhavesh’s P220 for the ghat section .As customary we took a halt on the flyover where old NH4 joins the Mumbai-pune expressway.

After a small butt break, it was time to face some notorious heavy vehicle traffic on expressway for another 2 odd kms till we reach lonavala exit. I lead the group & made my way through the rush of 18 wheelers while Ronak took over Shailesh’s P135 & followed me closely. We made it to Lonavala exit & had to wait for some time as Pravin was taking it slow through the traffic. Once he reached us safely, we rode in formation for another 4 kms to Lonavala market & made a right turn to Amby valley. After one last radical bikes switch between us, we started towards Lion’s point. I accompanied Bhavesh on his P220 as I wanted him to experience riding on such beautiful ascending roads leading all the way to Amby valley. My FZ16 was ripped to glory by Ronak accompanied by Pravin, while Shailesh/Anand cruised along together. With a few hiccups on some of the hairpin turns, bhavesh made it to Lion’s point where others were waiting for us. We took our bikes as close to the edge as possible & settled down.

This was my 4th visit to Lion’s point at night & I must admit I had never seen the ambiance so electrifying & miraculous as it was that night. The herds of young well sophisticated crowd as well as the Insomniac types like us kept pouring in as expected on a Sunday night & the party just seemed to have begun. We roamed around the area, scanned for beautiful chicks, enjoyed the popular songs being played in powerful stereos of cars around & finally settled down on some rocks nearby our bikes.

As time passed by, we had a hefty laughter session over some jokes especially ‘The Gulululu joke’ with our star bakra that night, Mr Ronak Jain. The night just couldn’t be any better as we all enjoyed the time there. It was somewhere around 5.00 am when the atmosphere turned extremely hostile as ferocious winds kicked in at full speed & the temperature dropped down from bearably cold to freezing bone chilling cold. To top it up, thick dense fog covered the entire valley & we could barely see a few feet from us.

Fog everywhere.. wish we had a good camera 

Just then the uninvited Rain-Gods decided to join the party as well with light drizzles of rain coupled with the strong crosswinds. It looked like we were in a deep mess as the weather deteriorated further & we looked around for a shelter somewhere. People started taking a refuge in their cars while we poor souls had nowhere to go. However, as panicking as it sounds, it actually wasn’t. We were thoroughly enjoying whatever nature was throwing at us so far & prepared to face worse with an obvious smile but that didn’t happen as the atmosphere started to normalize again in some time. It seemed like a classic example of one last hurdle before success & as soon as the things normalized, it was the first light of the rising sun peeping through the dark foggy clouds. The surrounding became much calm & soothing with bearable coldness still in air but no rainfall or heavy winds to tackle.

Some pics

Approaching Dawn 

Fog building up 

Myself, Shailesh, Anand, Ronak & Bhavesh - clicked by Pravin 

Pravin - The farewell host

Anand & Pravin 

Ronak & Anand 

& finally.. Sunrise 

My baby 

Bad luck OR Bad photography ? 

We decided to move on to our next destination for the day. I had heard a lot about Pavana lake & seen some wonderful pics on net but I had never been there so far & hence I was adamant to reach there this time. Just a week ago i.e the night when my exams ended, we had come to Lion’s point at night in percy’s car but even after heavy off-roading & getting lost a few times, we could not get to pavana lake & had to return back. This time though, I was well prepared with alternate routes & directions asked from locals & we started our journey to pavana lake by 6.30 am.

On the way to Pavana 

I chose to go via lonavala market this time around & after repeated stops for directions, we all made it to pavana lake within an hour. The first sight of the lake was mesmerizing to say the least. We had to do a little bit of off-roading to reach as close to the lake as possible to finally spot thick fences welcoming us that far but not beyond that. That disappointed us a bit as the fresh cold water of the mesmerizing lake was just a few metres away & barbed fence was holding us back from getting any closer. The fence was an obvious indicator that we are in a restricted place & not permissible to go any further, but who cared, especially when there was not a soul around to stop us.

We individually started spotting weak penetrate-able areas of fence & found a few of them. The next thing I knew was most of us (baring Shailesh) had already crossed over the fences somehow & running like small kids towards the lake.

As we got near, the beauty of lake multiplied to infinity & finally we were just a step away from the crystal clear shining blue water. I hadn’t seen such beautiful water body with such pure water throughout my life.

We got inside the water, it was just perfect, neither too cold, nor too warm & the un-stoppable photo sessions begun.

Some pics from my cell - Nokia E71

Crystal clear water 

An old tree - whatever's left of it anyways

Me clicking Pravin

& pravin clicking back

See closely - A flock of birds flying closely to the river.. i wish we had a good zoom camera 

(most of the following clicks are by Ronak)

Pics from Pravin's cell - Nokia N73

The rocks were easily breakable i.e very fragile

One of the best clicks by Ronak

Shailesh hadn’t come down as he chose to take some rest with a power nap instead of enjoying the best place that we were at. After almost an hour, we decided to roll back even though we didn’t wish to, since Pravin had to pack & leave for pune that night itself.

This is how we got to the other side of the fence to reach Shailesh & our bikes ;)

We started the return leg of our journey by 8.00 am.

Last pic at Pavana, before leaving 

On the way.. Right from here goes to Lohagad, left is what we took for lonavala

We rode till Khandal by 8.30 am & stopped by for a quick break & photo session.

Khandala - Expressway view 

Khandala ghats 

Anand was merrily dozing off every now & then while sitting pillion with me as I cruised on wonderful NH4 just after the Khandala ghats. The beautiful roads, minimum traffic to disturb us, cool breeze, leisurely cruising speed & a sleepy pillion was a deadly combination for my eyes to turn sleepy as well but I managed to continue well enough. Most of us were hungry so we decided to take a halt in a dhabha just after khopoli toll.

Lots of omlette/Egg bhurji were ordered as we lazily settled in the shady & relatively unhygienic dhabha where typical truck drivers have a respite usually. The food arrived soon & as expected from most highway dhabas, the food was not bad at all & the bill was pleasant on pocket as well which was settled by Anand I guess. Tummies full, cups of tea inside our sleepy system & we were ready to roll again by 10.00 am. 

Some pics from the dhabha

Panvel approached in a matter of few minutes & we made it to Kalamboli circle via JNPT road. 

Ronak missed the right turn to mumbai from JNPT. We had to wait at the junction for him to return 

My bike, My camera-cum-cell & Myself.

Shailesh however took the Panvel road & reached a bit late while we awaited him at the Kalamboli circle.

Last pics of the day at Kalamboli circle, Panvel. Approx 10.30 am

The Men & the Machines :)

Shailesh/Pravin continued on NH4 to Kalyan while I & bhavesh headed on Sion Panvel highway. Ronak accompanied me while Anand hoped on with Bhavesh & they both continued to Thane.

Ronak was quite hungry as he didn't had anything in the dhabha & hence we had a small vada pav break near sanpada & continued ahead. It was when I reached Vashi bridge, the bike started to hiccup & it struck me I was out of petrol. Somehow I pushed her till Mankhurd before she finally gave up. We inquired with rickshaw wallas but there was no petrol pump nearby, the closest one was 2-3 kms away. We decided to go by rickshaw & get some petrol but none of the rickshaws were willing to help us out. It was almost 11.00 pm by then & the sun’s heat was killing us by then &we had no choice but hike or push the bike for those 3 odd kms.

I tilted my bike to the maximum extent to get the remaining petrol on left side where the fuel pipe is & let the bike stay in same position for a minute & then finally gave a last try & she started without a hint of problem. I asked Ronak to hop on & he did so as fast as he could & we were off. I rode her in fifth gear at a stable speed of 40-50 kmph & luckily the engine was still running. As chembur bridge approached, I was sure almost the last drop of petrol must have been in use by now & it would be difficult to climb the bridge. My fears came true as the engine finally stopped with many hiccups, but not before climbing almost half of the bridge. No point wasting time in tilting the bike again so it was time to push the bike manually for remaining distance till petrol pump. Ronak politely offered his helping hand but I decided to push her myself till as far as I can & then Ronak could take over. Luckily within a few metres of pushing the bike, there was a usual roar or a Bullet coming close by & stopping right next to me as I see a young healthy Punjabi guy who inquired if I ran out of petrol. I nodded Yes & he promptly asked Me & Ronak to sit back on my bike & he would push us along. I could not get what he meant but apparently Ronak understood well & he sat on the bike immidiately. The Punjabi guy asked me to get my bike in neutral gear & just balance the bike without much use of brakes & as I was trying to understand how exactly the guy intended to help me, I felt a soft push & the bike started rolling ahead. The Guy on bullet pushed my bike with his left leg on my rear pillion foot rest & speeds gradually increased upto 20-25 kmph This continued for some time & we gained quite a momentum. The usual traffic in between was a hindrance but I navigated through the traffic while still being on neutral gear & rolling on the momentum gained & the Punjabi fellow who had to move away from my bike due to traffic used to move ahead again & start pushing our bike everytime my bike slowed down. Eventually within 5 minutes, I could see Indian Oil petrol pump on my left side & the Punjabi guy gave me a one final strong push to gather enough momentum to make it to the petrol station directly. We waved thank you to the helpful guy as he rolled by merrily without stopping. I got the bike refueled & we were on our way.

Cutting through the traffic, I finally dropped Ronak to his hostel in Lower parel by 12.00 pm where we wished each other goodbye & I carried ahead alone towards home which took me another half an hour. By the time I reached home, most of the guys from our ride had already reached home safely & they conveyed the same to me via sms.

Furious mom was awaiting at home for answers as to where I was all night but before any questions poured in, I jumped to my bed & went to sleep in seconds & didn’t get up before dinner. All in all, it was a wonderful Farewell ride to Pravin which shall always be a treasurable memory for all of us.