embarassed@i-race.pune

More than embarassment, it was possibly an alarm call for more embarassments that would follow if I do not act now... May be I would have done (a little) better but for my concourse with 'Jerry Maguire' late at night yesterday, or the confluence of hostile elements into blood stream during the concourse, may be I would have done better with few less years (and few less inches), but no excuses.. 40 min for 3.5 miles way to weak a case to fight for. Its time I take cognizance of the situation and resolve (and keep the resolution, as I did for participatio in i-race 2010, despite the adversaries) to improve.. lets put on the running shoes man!!

The impression meter...

Pavankhind, near the village of Amba is a place of great importance in history of Maharashtra, and possibly the only of the popular examples of Gorilla warfare used by Shivaji, where there was indeed a battle fought.

When we visited Amba, in the month of Jun, we had no idea about what to expect. All we knew was that it was an offbeat destination, which did not attract too many tourists and was setup in a Jungle close to Pavankhind. Certain that jungles in this part of the country would not be as fun and adventure filled as popular wildlife destinations; we set out for a relaxed weekend getaway.

Quite oxymoronically, we got up in the wee hours to start our relaxed weekend. Drive to Amba took us about six hours, most of which were spend in acknowledging the efforts on NHAI, and cherishing the picturesque sahayadris. Yes! vada pao and kanda poha at the Sri Ram's was good too (and so was our relentless search for a place to settle with nature, in case your forgot, we started quite early in the day and vada paos contributed to the cause as well!!).

Approaching Amba, we saw motels and resorts by the road side, which made us realize that the place was not as offbeat or secluded as we thought. With some hassle, primarily because of lack of sign board, we made it to the resort, and the first impression that got formed would (and could) only improve in next 24 hours.

First instinct was to check if there was any better place available nearby, but practicality got better of us, and we decided to check in. For the records, there was no reception for 'check in', and next one hour we witnessed more minuses then pluses in favor of our decision to stay - (+) room were spacious, (-) no room service, not even tea, (+) clean bathrooms, (-)late for breakfast, and early for lunch, destined to fast (-) everything seemed unplanned and out of order - jungle walk? van bhojan? (-) there was nothing in the resort except rooms to stay and food to eat. The impression meter was in total red.

Thankfully we could snack on the stuff we carried with us, while the hosts planned the van bhojan for us. And then we got the pick-up call, which would turn to be call of starting an activity packed weekend.


For starters, it was a open topped double (wait it is not a London tour) decker Jeep ride, with upper deck exclusively floor sitting. Post first five minutes, which were spent in settling down (or was it the thought of jeep top ride that took that long to sink), I felt there could not have been a better way of being so close to nature and moving at a reasonable place.

Jeep, undecided, to tip on not to tip, came to halt after few kilometers, which is when we realized that the intent of open-topped-double-decker jeep was multifold. While the tourists enjoyed the nature sitting at the top, everything that was required once we reached the destinations would be stacked on the lower deck - quite an innovation.


A short walk from the road, there were hammocks amidst tall trees. Quite a location for the 'van bojan', and impression was changing, surely for good. And could the timing have been better for getting introduced to The Don, the man running the show. Loud, standing 6+ feet tall, shaving brush moustache, and rugged attire, he could be anywhere but in hospitality industry.

A satiating meal, cool breeze, canopy of trees providing shade, perfect setting for siesta, but then, the don was making calls on what we should be doing, so we were out for a jungle walk, with no trails, and a guide whose sole objective for that hour was to confuse us and ensure that we accept had lost direction.It was certainly more than a casual stroll, was fun, and was a good warm up to start a long tipsy-turvy drive on the jeep top, to Pavankhind.
Honestly, I had no interest in visiting Pavankhind. OK, this is where two infantries exchanged hostilities, but I could not care less. Not enthused about the destination I enjoyed the journey, and clicked pictures, of dense forests, through grasslands with view of distant lake, reaching top of a hill, almost. Was able to capture some fauna too.

And then came out the 'historian’s hat'. Not sure if he did it out of interest, or because he considered it a UPS for his business, Mr Don's narration of the battle of Pavankhind, and its relevance to Shivaji's rule, did charge up each one of us. A few gulps of water would suffice for the next strenuous hour. Was it the Don's narration or was there something in the air?

Pavankhind is a narrow gorge, which comes to an abrupt end. It is about 50 feet deep, as it stand today. Climb on either side of the pass is almost vertical. There are harnesses and ladders that have been put for tourists to climb down into the gorge, but the climb down is not weak hearted. Under normal circumstances, one would need a few tequilas to get high and then go low (by 50 ft.). For us, Mr Don’s constant (and loud) encouragement did the trick. Young (as young as 4 years) and old, all were bitten by the bug and off they went like the 'Mavalas'. About 45 minutes, few scratches here and there, and some 'living on the edge' moments later we were out, having done what Siddi Johar's men could not do, escape out of Pavankhind, alive.
It was around dusk time when we started our journey back, of course sitting on the roof top, relaxing and lull. I was contemplating if it would be dinner then shower or the other way, availability of hot water would drive the decision. But then, the Don woke us up from our slumber, by turning the vehicle towards the dam, and before long, all the men had taken a plunge, exhibiting there brands (!!). No guards, no life jackets, not even enough light. We may not have yet exhausted our quota of adventure for the day, but gone overboard on fancying our chances. Or was it a holy dip in sacred waters, as we were about to witness possibly once is a lifetime event, something we could not capture using our cameras. It was like the whole valley was decorated for Christmas, or walking through the twinkling stars. Never thought I would love flies, but fire flies are adorable - conditionally - when seen in thousands, late at night.

A good meal, some chit chat and it was time to call it a day. Or may be not, some of us would not believe that Bisons are nocturnal, so out we went for night safari. Though a loner, there was one Bison out grazing in the field proving us and the zoologist right. Impression meter had turned a lot by now.


Next morning started with a heavy breakfast followed by a moderate hike. Out came the 'chef's hat' this time, and our Don was as passionate about serving us the right way as he was narrating the triumphs of Maratha warriors at Pavankhind. During the hike we passed through a village where even (did I see name plates on the houses? may be not) the loos had name plates. Back from the hike, some light moments at the resort, getting close to nature - running behind roaster, playing with a goat (it wasn't me, we had kids with us, Eesha, Sarah), and we were ready for one final excursion before heading back.


Final one was more of an educational trip, and it started with a museum, with lots of information on flora and fauna of the region. Surely, I would have enjoyed it twice at half the age. It amazed me what kept the Don going; he was on the wrong side of fifty and would replay his commentary with same modulations, almost non-stop. After theory, it was time for lab, and we went to Devrai (sacred forest). Out came the sociologist's hat; and elaboration on whats and whys of Devrai. Even the God lauded him for the effort and showered rains.


It was a weekend well spend. Would certainly not have been the same, but for one man - the chef, historian, sociologist. May be he was just a man living his passion, and a damn good host. Impression meter is in total green.

Highlights,

• Fire flies, most like specifc to time of the year
• Vertical drop at Pavankhind, followed by a short hike
• Devrai, a sacred forest
• Night safari
• Sri Ram's Vad Pao and Kanda Poha (close to Khed Shivapur on Satara Rd.)

Getting there (from Pune),

View Larger Map

Cutting and Bhaji at Panshet

A short excursion from Pune, about 45km, it is a beautiful drive to back waters of Panshet Dam, specially in monsoons. Panshet is a popular picnic spot for Punekars, as the back waters of Panshet dam is used for water sports.

It was four of us, and we started driving, undecided, on a lazy saturday afternoon. But for Sujoy's just-in-time verdict, some chai wala in Mulshi would have made some extra bucks. Destiny prevails!!

The water sports are temporarily stopped due to some accident, but none of us cared, we were happy with our share of cutting and bhaji, and, on the way back, topped it up with a 'desi corn' by the Khadakwasla Lake. Drizzle throughtout the afternoon added to the overall experience.

Rain is here at last, and I look forward to many more weekends trips.

View Larger Map

Choice or no choice?

Ever wonder how you would represent a person's profile in XML format? Lame question, is it, anyone who has gone through XML 101 can do it. OK, let us try to create an XML representation for Mr John Doe:

<person>
<firstname>John</firstname>
<lastname>Doe</lastname>
<age>XYZ</age> <!--Bad design-->
</person>

Before we get into discussion on the XML representation, two question:

Q1: What is John Doe's age?

Q2: Why age in this representation a bad design?

We share this with John, he likes it but asks for further elaboration:
Personal detail: Passport information
Professional information: Education and Job details


So, we work on the elaboration based on John's feedback and the new representation looks like:
<person>
...
<passportdetails>...</passportdetails>
<education></education>
<job>
<employer></employer>
<start></start>
<end></end>
<designation></designation>
</job>
</person>
John like this representation. Now that the techie he is, he wants to take this further, and wants us to define a schema (XSD) for this representation. Time for XSD 101!!
OK, we ready to for this challenge Mr Doe.
We need to define 3 complex types - Passport, Education, Job details - and use them to define the type for XML representation of person, say, Person:

<xs:element name="person">
<xs:complexType> <xs:all>
<xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string"/>
<xs:element name="age" type="xs:integer"/>
<xs:element name="passportdetails" type="PassportDetail"/>
<xs:element name="education" type="EducationDetail"/>
<xs:element name="job" type="JobDetail"/>
</xs:all>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>

Looks good, says John. Wait a sec, what about the job history. We need to have representation for previous jobs as well.
Hmm, should be trivial to make this change (and the XML schema WG is smiling!!). So, what options do we have for this change in schema. Let us understand John's requirement better, add some generalization, to avoid re-work. What we need in the representation:

A person with,
- first name as required element
- last name as required element
- age as required element
- passport details as optional element.
- education details as optional element.
- job details, can have multiple occurrences of this element.

Since there can be multiple occurrences of job element, we do not have option of using 'all' (allows no more than one occurrence of each element) . So, current schema definition need to change in terms of order indicator, and the possible options are:

sequence - elements should occur in a specific order.

<xs:element name="person">
<xs:complexType> <xs:sequence>
<xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" />
<xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" />
<xs:element name="age" type="xs:integer" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
<xs:element name="passportdetails" type="PassportDetail" minOccurs="0"maxOccurs="1" />
<xs:element name="education" type="EducationDetail" minOccurs="0" />
<xs:element name="job" type="JobDetail" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbound"/>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
This restriction is unnecessary for our use case.

choice - either of the child elements can occur.

<xs:element name="person">
<xs:complexType>
<xs:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbound" >
<xs:element name="firstname" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name="lastname" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name="age" type="xs:integer" />
<xs:element name="passportdetails" type="PassportDetail" />
<xs:element name="education" type="EducationDetail" />
<xs:element name="job" type="JobDetail" />
</xs:choice>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>


Various elements defined within 'choice' are not alternates of each other, so usage of choice is not logical.

Ideally we would like to use 'all' order indicator with occurrence indicator 'maxOccurs' for for 'job' element set to unbound. This however is not an option (XSD WG need to be notified).

So, what options do we have are for serving Mr Doe? There are a few, all of which require us to revisit the XML representation:

Use group element - this is an artifact for grouping related sets of elements
Use wrapper elements - in case we do not what to learn one additional thing about XSD, this is approach can be used for accomplish the task.
XML representation using both the approaches will be similar:

<person>
<firstname>John</firstname>
<lastname>Doe</lastname>
<age>40</age> <!--Bad design--> <passportdetails>...</passportdetails> <education></education>
<jobs>
<job>
<employer></employer>
<start></start>
<end></end>
<designation></designation>
</job>
<job> ... </job>
</jobs>
</person>

To summarize, if an element contains combination of required and option elements, some of which can occur one time while other can have multiple occurrences, do not be tempted to use choice, use groups (or wrapper elements).

Q1: What is John Doe's age?

Ans: First know usage of the term dates as early as 1659, so Mr Doe is 351 years old.

Q2: Why age in this representation a bad design?

Ans: Should use absolute information. Date (time) of birth, with timezone.

Encounter with Chinkaras @ Mayureshwar (11-Mar-09)

It was a difficult decision. I had more reasons to skip than continue with the plan I had spelled out to Sheet on the previous evening i.e., I will go to Mayureshwar no matter what.

• Sehwag was making the Kiwis escort the leather to the boundary ropes. Was he really? Nah, our unorthodox and flamboyant Nawab of Najafgarh is too humble, he would not want even the opponents put so much efforts, so he was taking the aerial route more often than not. I stand corrected.
• Though very unusual for the month of March, sun was scorching, and would be at its brightest if I were to hit the road after my brunch.
• And above all, Sheet was working, which meant I would be going alone, and if I did happen to see the antelopes, I would need to schedule next appointment with them real soon.

I gave Viru some time to create yet another record, fastest ODI ton by an Indian, under the excuse of camera needing a charge, and finally turned on the ignition of my Black Beauty (BB), still undecided, but rolling. It was 1 PM already. I did what I did, less to see the Chinkaras, and more to justify my claim that 'I want to travel more'. How could I let an off day go when I had an option? This is what you call pressure, desirable pressure....
BB is usually quite, only time she would complaint is when I am being less careful. She had been warning me for refueling for last 2 days, which I ignored, nonetheless she was insistent, and now I had no option but to obey her. On the way to Roshni's on North Main Road, I prepared a pitch, to sell Chinkaras and Mayureshwar to Ritom.. tring tring tring.. but he would not pick..damn, the sales pitch going waste..called up Ketan, and he answered, and agreed, so I steered BB towards Karve Nagar, his pickup point. On the way Sheet called up, to pleasantly surprise me that she was done and I should pick up her as well. ROI was already 3 times of what I had started with :), and that was not the end. Ritom returned the call, and agreed to meet us on the way. It was almost 'Main akela hi chala tha jaanibe manzil magar...' So, by 3 PM BB was optimally loaded not to complain of underutilization, and we were on the Solapur Highway.

Ride could have been more enjoyable if we had cared to refuel ourselves before starting. Most part of the journey, before taking turn at Chowphula, was spending in finding a place to eat. Last 12-15 kilometers after the turn was a bumpy ride, which none of us, BB included, liked. Amidst a lot of discussions, that I am believing the subjective description on the blog more that the quantified data, we continued till Supe, and a little beyond, after confirmation from a rustic lasses.

To my surprise there was a visitor's center for the Sanctuary, and unsurprisingly it was closed (I hope for Holi and not permanently). It did not take Watchman long to shatter the confidence I have on Marathi Comprehension, and then on, I let Ketan continue the discussions with him. He pointed in direction of a hillock to help us locate the Watch Tower and we nodded. I don't know for Ketan, but I did it to cut short the conversation.

Back on wheel, less than a kilometer, and we took a detour on to un-tarred road. Everything felt just right, despite the fact that it was dry and hot, and it seemed next to impossible to expect wildlife in small arid stretch surrounded by villages on three sides. I was hoping that BB could be quitter, and just then, as always, Sheet sounded an alarm that she saw something, where something would be the most sought after specie of the region being visited. As always, I mocked her by saying that it was a false alarm. Come on, who would expect to see something in the first five minutes, when we drove almost 2 hours to get there. But, as luck would have it, she indeed had spotted one, far away under a tree. It for sure is not coincidental that she is the first one to spot what all of us are trying to find.

Before moving on, we reshuffled, Sheet would drive. It was a win-win situation, she got to brush up her driving, and I got to see more of beautiful surroundings. Not sure what Ritom and Ketan would have felt when we took a couple of stops in short duration to spot avian species and identify them, but they definitely did not look bored. Sheet's excitement was already into top gear and she had started Bird Watching 101 for the two first timers.

We had not driven more than few hundred meters, when we saw many buff colored antelopes, The Indian Gazelle or Chinkara, grazing calmly at a distance of less than 200 meters. As we drew closure, they sprinted in different directions, with speed that would embarass likes on Mr Usain Bolt. Some ran into the bushes, turned around, stared us in our eyes and ran again, while others crossed the road only to make us gasp that they could cross the road in a single stride. Beautiful animal indeed, I wonder what would go through the minds of people who kill them for game, beyond my comprehension is all I can say. The herd we saw possibly had 15-20 antelope, possibly it was a social gathering for evening tea that we barged into, apologies. For some reason I always felt Chinkaras are shy and not gregarious, I think they showed up in a grow to prove a point, that I was wrong. It would have been much better for the four-legged as well as the two-legged if we had walked instead of driving.

The thirst was quenched by now. so with zero expectations we (at least I was not expecting anything more) drove further towards the watch tower. The green frame was distinctly visible, on the way we spotted a few more pairs of Chinkaras, before finalizing on a spot to park and start walking towards the watch tower.

Short hike to the tower, a few pics clicked, couple of more sightings of Chinkaras (all pairs, I think I was right about they not being gregarious) from the top, and we began the down-hill stroll. Saw a lot of birds during the walk, of which a flying Black-Winged Kite, and an Barn Owl caught our attention. Ketan observed an interesting pattern formation on the soil, which would teach a lesson on optimization. Chinkaras would pluck berries from the shrubs, lots and lots of them, then they would sit and eat the berries, and spit the seeds. I wonder if they care to taste the berries before collecting them in the mouth. Taste would matter to them I guess, may be not. That is an attribute significant to a sub-set of privileged species like us, most eat for survival.

To get out of the sanctuary, we took a different route, only to give us the last, and the closest sight of the antelopes for this trip. Driver change once again, a joy-ride through the village which did not have to pay for, a few scratches on BB, and we were back on state highway before it got dark. Mission accomplished...

Getting there,

• A75 Km from Pune, near Moregaon
• Take Solapur highway, till Chophule (~55KM)
• Right turn towards Supe, Moregaon
• Santuary's visitor center is just after Supe on Right side.

Highlights,

• Chinkara or Indian Gazelle

choosing the blog title

it was not as difficult as i thought..took me 3 attempts to reach a title, which aptly reflect the intent of my postings, and has not already been taken... is this what people call out of box thinking :P

come every friday, or a vacation, there is one thing i always tell Sheetal... i am bored, lets go somewhere...and more i think about repetitive usage of this phrase more i realize that it is just the fact that i want to travel more!