My daughter Nandita is moving from 9th std to 10th std, which means virtually no summer holiday this year because of special classes, tuitions etc. The day immediately after her exams got over, her cousin Radhika along with her mum ( whom Nandita gets along like a house on fire ) came over from Dharwad.
My wife's cousin Karthiki is married into the family of Dr Baliga who is settled in Chowk near Karjat. We dropped in there for a day on Fri. The sensible thing to do to reach this place in summers is to take an early morning train to Karjat and then hop into rick or tum-tum to Chowk. But the day got off to a lazy start and we could reach Swargate for a bus ride only by 9.30. Around 10 we got a blessed bus that takes the old highway and dropped us at walking distance from our destination by 13.30. We polished off 2 litres of water and 4 half ltr bottles of soft drinks among the five of us during the journey.
The next half hour was spent koochying the new born daughter of Karhiki. Sharanya is a bundle of joy. After a lazy lunch we all had a lazier nap in the afternoon. The evening talk session went on till 1 in the am.
In the morning we all got up at crack of dawn and made it to Karjat before 8am. A rixa ride from Chowk to Karjat costs Rs 125 and they aramsey accomodate 5 people. We took Indrayani from Karjat to Pune at 8.15 and reached Pune before 10am. Everyone was agreed that although we were standing all the way, this journey was better than the earlier bus journey.
After polishing off some South Indian breakfast at Hotel Sagar opp stn, we made it to Kothrud by 11.30. All in all, a small but pleasurable trip.
