CEOs' Day OUT !

Allow me to introduce the 3 people we are talking about here.

Manish Sinha
Manish, or as luvingly called Mannu is the typical delhi dude with loads of attitude and spunk. He knows how to carry himself and is one of the elders in the tribe. Lots of fire - lots of zest - he loves big things and loves to gossip. Became a good friend at our previous office location as we were 2 offices apart.

Harshad Jahagirdar
Harshad, lovingly called Harshad, is the good looking one. He is also the creative one. With too many ideas bouncing in his head, he sometimes has to make very dfficult choices between his responsibilities and what he wants. You will never see him sulking or crying over stuff. (little more than i can say for myself or for manish - we are the weepers of the tribe)

Urs Truly
I dont think its appropriate for me to talk about myself right now - lest you dont read the rest of this .....

So - we decide to 'hit' mulshi (in Mannu's lingo). Mulshi is this awesome hilly place about 80 odd Kms away from Pune. Mannu drives an Opel Astra (the rear end sticker was stolen about a month back - ouch !) . So we all cling on in the car and mentally decide the 'equal' distribution of all the costs. We fill in petrol and we are off ....

This year it has rained rather heavily and it was sorta raining - I wud say actually it was raining cats, dogs and elephants ! i mean it does rain there a LOT - but this was too much ! waise car thee so not a problem - but it was fun.

Usually all three of us are so tied up with trying to make money that we rarely get to enjoy such a time out of office. It was really a welcome change and the open air made us feel free.... it was like getting out of prison ! u know when u are released out of the prison after like 40 years and u step out and look at the sun and the sky....... slowly u light a ciggaratte and take a deep drag .... and just smile and start to walk out ....

It wasnt that Dramatic ... but it was close. So mulshi gets 'Hit' at about 2 in the afternoon. Harshad is the nature freak n knows a lot of these good spots. We went to a point that was looking into a gorge - was about 300 mts of SHEER cliff wall. But even if u fell - u wont crash - u will just float cause the breeze was soooo strong (of course if 'I' fell - i wud plummet to the ground and break uncle Galileo's theory that all things fall down at the same rate no matter how heavy they are)

Harshad in his zest for nature-ness, took the car into some deep forest where me n mannu started getting a little worried cause we werent carrying protection! Harshad with his regular trips knew the local beasts and was certain they were bored of him and wanted to taste some new flesh !

Its gettign late and Mannu is sorta getting worried..... the visibilty was less than 20 Mts and it was getting sorta scary. Harshad kept re assuring us that nothing wrong can happen.

Now we are doign some fine cross country driving (in an Astra !) and Mannu points out a strange noise from the car .... i listen carefully (harshad was drunk with nature)
Now at this point in the day - we were SOAKING wet and i had a pool of water in my shoes ... it was Damp and sticky and clothes were wet and so was the car - from the inside and outside !

Luckily it wasnt rainign when me n Harshad got out to check. i look at the back of the car and WOW - the car's silencer is on the ground ... ! We were dragging it along like a dead horse ! hmmmm .... so harshad with his Mechanical Engg background starts to think. (my Electronics expertise or Manuu's programming wizardry was quite a waste !) A polite Farmer comes along and Harshad asks him for some Wire.... what do u know ... HE HAS IT ! and that too strong and sturdy wire ....
Just then the gods decide to unleash their watery fury .... all i saw was Harshad getting sloppy in the rain ....
Now the car is rather low and we dont have time to jack it up so Harshad can put the wire around the silencer and haul it up. Its getting late. Mannu is panicking. The Clouds are thickining. The rains are getting harder. The old man is smiling ... watever !

Finally the Silencer was hauled up and we quiclky got into the car and paid the farmer 10 bucks. He seemed to be lost as to why the money ... but hey - we HAD to ...!

By this time we had lost all the ZEST we started out with and were rather low. Then Mannu plays that song from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Afreen Afreen. Suddenly all i could see was Lisa ray dancing in the rain - so cud mannu and harshad was still drunk ....

After 15 mins of silence (we were all dreaming about her and cursing her husband) reality hit us - Pune was back. Tomm was Monday and i had to send out that important Email. I suddenly realized my palms were sweating and i was tired. The traffic was back .. the noises and the dirt in the air .... the TRIP was over !