So Malay, award-winning architect, springer of surprises, one of the most thoughtful and compassionate people I ever met, invited me over last weekend to his place with the promise of an evening over drinks, dinner and an off-road drive in his new 4x4 acquisition the next morning. It sounded like a lot of fun, but knowing Malay, I knew it would be way more than we could ever expect from his two-line proposition. So an evening with Malay and Sarah, full of fun discussions bout his award-winning design and other stuff, and then an early morning wake up to the India-Australia match and we were all set for the trip. By now Lewis and Maxine were up and about and playing with Anjali.
By 830 or so we wound our way down to the Pajero which looks in superb condition, loaded it with some stuff Malay had already got and then loaded ourselves - Malay at the wheel, Sarah, Shobhs, Anjali, Lewis and young Maxine - and off we went - past Kondhwa and then into this ghat that heads Saswad-ward. It is so steep that buses and trucks are not allowed on it anymore but a whole bunch of picnickers infested the road, stopping at critical points to take selfies in rather suicidal poses. The Pajero climbed surely and easily and then we turned off near a temple, the Bopdeo temple with steep steps leading up to it, and found Kalpak waiting in his Duster, with Shraddha and Gauri, not to forget Milou (Snowy's original name in Herge's Tintin).
And then began the off-road experience.
We hit a trail that leads to Katraj ghat, no road, but a path that is used by a few bikes, perhaps carts. Not an easy one with ups and downs, rocks and slush, but it led us into farmland on one side and the ridge of a hill on the other, and very few trees. The experience was fun, a first and we all enjoyed the thrill of being off-road, out of comfort. I always felt our lives are dictated by roads, by civilisation, by order, and we should get off the roads a lot more to know ourselves better. (Finally, we did it.) Kalpak followed us in his Duster until we reached the destination - a solitary tree that offered some shade.
Malay had planned breakfast too and though my mind was not fully on it I was surprised to see (as always) what he pulled out - complete with a folding table, some superb food - croissants, quiche, cinnamon rolls, ham and cheese and juice, very colonial. The top of the hill was short walk and promised a view of the city so I could not resist lugging myself up and Milou decided to give me some company for reasons best known to her. Perhaps she thought I needed some assistance and she led me up the hill, panting away happily. At the highest point, it offered beautiful views of the landscape around, the city to one side, the farmlands to another. It was wonderful.
Kalpak, Anjali, Gauri and Lewis joined me up there. Lewis kept running off at supersonic speeds with total disregard to the heights and slopes (and to our fragile emotional condition), and we somehow managed to convince him to descend in a rather sedate fashion (which included holding on to my hand and taking off in a big leap using my hand like Tarzan uses the vines). We headed back to the food and plied ourselves with some of the delicious stuff that was laid out, before lying down on the brown grass that so clads the western ghats and looked at the blue sky and wondered at life. A chat with Malay and Kalpak about receiving, holding and flow, summed up the essence of abundance, and we rounded it off by heading homeward by noon.
For a moment it seemed rather surreal, this colonial setting, a picnic like in the sixties movies, which itself was a fast forward from the British times perhaps, and we were so glad we were part of this and to Malay for organising this experience. This spot in itself is brilliant and needs more exploration, apparently giving its best for walkers and trekkers in rainy seasons. Thanks Malay for a wonderful weekend and like always, you managed to surprise me way more than I expected, which is how I like my surprises. Looking forward to more meetings, surprises and chats about this and that.
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