Paint Ball & Choki Dhani Event

The half day trip to Kapila Resort and Choki Dhani came as a welcome break and an opportunity for everyone to get together. The event took place on 4th April and saw a great turnout of more than 25. First we went to Kapila Resort where there was a unique event organized called “Paint Ball”. We were asked to create 4 teams of 5-6 players and then 4 teams competed with each other turn by turn. The game consists of eliminating opponents by hitting them with breakable, gelatin paintballs shot from a compressed gas-powered paintball marker. A team wins only after eliminating all of a team's opponents. All the games lasted hardly more than ten minutes but one of the most adventurous game we ever played together.

Then we headed towards Chokhi Dhani. Chokhi Dhani is an amazing place built on typical Rajasthani theme. It’s a huge place which is like a planned village. It has all the stuff from Rajasthan culture, cuisine, dance, traditions etc. Most of the people took camel ride and got a feel of bullock cart and Horse ride too. The folk dances and the music were quite amazing and different. The most entertaining and hilarious event was the magic show. Everyone could hardly resist themselves from laughing. Then we moved to a dinner place. It was a traditional Rajasthani food. We sat down to eat our food. We got served in leaf plates. The Food was amazing and tasty. The curries varied in taste.

All in all the project event was a big success considering that it achieved its purpose of bringing the Project members closer, interacting on a more personal. Finally, we all reached home packing all the good time spent together.

Happy Birthday 2007

Yet another birthday bash and as usual this was too a different one compared to previous ones. Thanks to my dear and lovely friends who made this birthday different and distinct. As usual there was nothing to suprise that my friends would celebrate my birthday at midnight. But, before that they had some other plans.

Some of my close friends thought of preparing some snacks and sweets for the dinner at my place. Something different, which I ddin't expected but liked the idea very much. Divya who was the chef of the evening prepared all the snacks and sweets by herself and we just helped her in the intial stages of preparation. Snacks and sweets were delicious and tasty... yummmyyyyyy.....

I should learn something from her so that next time she does not take the whole credits. Dinner was soon over and we had plenty of time in hand. Rishi who met all of us after a long time, had many things and facts to describe it to us. Time was getting short but Rishi was not falling short of words.

Finally the time came, it was exactly 12 o'clock of the night and my friends brought the cake. The time had come to paint the face with full of cake. Actually not even face, neck, hands and my back was covered by cake. I don't know what did they get by this. But anyways, it was fun.


The most dangerous part was yet to come, bday bumps... I am still feeling those kicks, so you can imagine how hard they hit me. :) All in all, one more memorable birthday for me. Thank you my dear friends.

Bday Bash at Office

Amazing Dinner Party

One Day, Myself and my friends decided to prepare food for dinner together. Wasn't it a cool idea? Everyone was very enthusiatic and managed to leave the workplace early inspite of their busy work schedule. We were in all 11 people. Everyone left the workplace according to their convinient time. Sagar and Ritika left the earliest and then I and Mamta left for my place. Myself and Mamta bought some vegetables, bread, etc. for the dinner preparations from the shop on the way to my place. Later Sagar and Ritika bought some Milk, Sevaiya, choclates, etc.

We four made initial preparations for the dinner, so that when everybody arrives we can serve them HOT food. After some time Divya, Digant and Rishi joined the party. Rishi became our DJ playing and shuffling the songs. Everyone was in a good mood. Suprisingly, after few minutes, Sahil joined us. Everyone was so suprise to see him that he left the workplace so early.Since, there were more people to come, we started cooking Daal. It took hardly any time for preparing Daal. Daal was prepared by myself and appereance of Daal was very nice and mouth watering.

After this Ritika, Divya and Myself started preparing Aloo Gobi for the main course and we prepared this in the pressure cooker. In the end, when Aloo Gobi was fully cooked, we garnished that with coriander leaves. Now, Varun and Digant's brother Jindal came to my place. And last but not the least, Pulkit was the last to join us, but he came at the right moment because we started with the preparation of starters Bread Pakodas and this was Mamta's part. Bread Pakodas were very delicious and tasty. Everyone could hardly resist them. So, as soon as one pakoda was ready, it got over in no time.

In the end, it was time to prepare some sweet dish and this was Ritika's job. Ritika was going to prepare Sevaiya Kheer and you won't believe, this was the most exotic dish in the menu. The sweet dish was garnished by almonds and it was looking amazing.

It took us around an hour and half so for preparing the whole dinner but hardly took time to finish that. Everybody enjoyed the dinner. Dinner was over and it was time for doing some time pass together. My living room is so big, we decided to play Box Type Cricket and there were no rules as such. So, we were playing Cricket but not actually Cricket. Then we played one round of cards but nobody enjoyed this game as much.

Now comes the most happening thing of that night. Some people came up with one game which was new for some people. It was called "Kitty Kitty One Coming". It's very difficult to explain what's this game is but you can guess by looking at the snap. But this was the most fun filled game we had that day. Girls could not stop thmeselves laughing seeing boys playing this game. The whole atmosphere was filled with fun and laughter. In other words "Ladkiyan hass hass ke lot pot ho rahe the". In Ritika's word it was "Kuch Toh Bhi" game.

In all, it was one of the memorable nights we spent together preparing food and playing some freaky games. Everyone enjoyed and had fun after a long time forgetting their usual busy and
frustrating work.

Karla Caves Trip

After a very long time, myself and my some collage mates planned to have a trip to Karla Caves. It had been a long time that we people went together and had fun together. Though many people were supposed to join the trip but in the end very few people turned up. the trip was planned for 17th of February. We were in all 9 people in which their were four boys and five girls. Suprised, that more girls turned up then boys.

I was the only one coming from Pune to Lonavala, all my collage mates were coming from Mumbai. My friends started very early from Mumbai since they were coming by bus to Lonavala. I set off pretty late since it takes hardly one hour to reach Lonavala. We all were supposed to meet at Lonaval ST bus stand. It got pretty late for everyone to reach Lonavala bus station, I think we reached around noon.

There were two ways to reach the caves, one was through stone steps and other was proper road for the vechicles for those people who doesn't want to waste energy in climbing. We all decide to climb through stone steps.. It took us around 30 minutes to climb vis stone steps to the impressive Karla Cave. The scenary was awesome with beautiful mountain and wonderful caves. Karla Cave is the largest Early Buddhist chaitya ( temple ) in India. Completed in 80 BC, the chaitya is around 40m long and 15m high, carved by monks and artisans from the rock in imitation of more familiar wooden architecture.

At the entrance of the principal cave is the temple of Goddess Ekvira visited by thousands of devotees from the coastal region around Mumbai during the annual fair falling in April (chaitra) and also during Navratri. Ekvira temple is on the right side of the main cave while at the left side is a lofty column with three lions on its top.

The central structure is called the stupa - a dome shaped monument built over the remains of a Buddhist saint. This room was like silence embedded in stone. The wooden arches have survived the wear and tear of over 2000 years! The Buddhist carvings in stone and wood, the austere living/meditation quarters give visitors an almost real feel of what it must be like - to live like a Buddhist monk. Great windows light the interiors. There are well carved sculptures of both males and females, as well as animals, including lions and elephants.

We all started our journey back around 4pm in the evening. Lonavala is not only famous for its beauty but also for its Chikki. So, on the way back to Lonavala we all bought some chikki and other eating stuff for our family and friends. Later, we all took our convinient transport to our home from Lonavala Bus Stand. All in all the trip was very fun filled. Though very few people turned up but we enjoyed to our fullest.

Raigad and Harihareshwar Trip

The 2-day trip to Raigad and Harihareshwar came as a welcome break and an opportunity for everyone to let their hair down. The event was scheduled for the 20th and 21st of January and saw a great turnout of 20. The journey to Raigad was the most entertaining part. Everybody indulged actively in singing songs with good spirited competition. At one point it seemed as everyone is giving audition for Indian Idol, Antakshari,etc. The elegant MTDC Resort was arranged for our accommodation. The first day was spent admiring the scenery and architecture of the Raigad Fort. The most amazing part was the experience of Ropeway. We saw the king's public Durbar which is the replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the Nagarkhana Darwaja. The interesting part about this enclosure is that it had been acoustically designed to aid hearing from the doorway to the throne.

Back in the hotel, a memorable evening was spent enjoying Dumb Charades games and some superb performances by one and all in singing section. The atmosphere was filled with fun and laughter.

The next morning we started early for Harihareshwar beach, a three hour drive by bus. Harihareshwar is a place of temples and beautiful seashore. The temple here is one of the major attractions. The temple consists of idols of Brahma - Vishnu - Mahesh and Devi Parvati.

The atmosphere here is very auspicious and creates pleasure. The seashore, beach and the temple are worth to visit. All in all the project event was a big success considering that it achieved its purpose of bringing the Project members closer, interacting on a more personal. The magical figure of 20 made this event successfull. Finally, on our way home everybody played games like Housie, Dumb Charades, etc... and reached home packing all the good time spent together.

Mission - Tikona Fort

Our group Amdocs DVCI Trekkers organised a trek on 14th October to Tikona Fort. It is a pyramidal peak near Lonavala. The fort gets its name from its pyramidal shape, which is instantly recognizable at the end. It is also called as 'Vitangagad'. The fort is almost 3580 feet high. Tikona comes under the medium category as far as the trek difficulty level is concerned but for some of our trekkers, this was not an easy trek.


So, we started from Magarpatta City at 5:30am by bus for Lonavala and alighted at Kamshet. It took almost two hour to reach to Kamshet. And from there another half an hour to reach the base village. This village is also known as Tikona-Peth. We had a light breakfast at Tikona-Peth and then everybody was ready to take off to Tikona.



We started the actual trek at 10.00 am. It was a very bright and sunny day. We all started the trek with lots of enthusiasm. It was going pretty well until we understood in the middle that we have chosen the incorrect path and this happened twice with us. The whole trek was not that difficult except for some people who took a wrong shortcut and were almost on the verge of falling down. This was the most adventurous part of the trek and mostly for them. Thankfully, nothing happened. But then there was nothing to regret for; enjoyment was the main objective of the trek.


Thereafter, everything was back to normal and it was pretty straightforward. We went on, following the established route rather than inventing our own through the forests. There were plenty of bushes and dense grass, which we used to haul ourselves uphill. It took almost two and half hours to reach to the top of the fort, which would have taken only two hours or so by normal standards. We met another group of trekkers in the middle and they informed us that their trek had been very easy. Those trekkers were from DVCI only but they came on bikes. Of course, they probably had a less exciting trek as compared to ours!


At the top of the fort, one really feels like the King of the World. One can have a wonderful view of fort Tung, the twin of Tikona. There are a few lakes, the temple of 'Trimbakeshwar Mahadev'. The view of Pawna dam and other forts like Tung, Lohagad and Visapur is extremely beautiful. Now, members could hardly resist themselves from taking some snaps.



We started our journey back to the base village around 1300 hrs. Coming down the fort was a pretty easy task. In between, we had a nice lunch together too. We decided to come down from the other side of the fort to village ‘Javan’. But, the groups got splited and our group decided to descend to base village Tikona-Peth from where we started the trek. We reached there at around 1430hrs. The bus was waiting at Javan village and we were waiting there for nearly one hour for the bus.


The trek completed much sooner and we had enough time. So, we decided to visit Bedsa Caves which was half an hour away from Tikona-Peth. Bedsa caves are one of the most old in Maharashtra. These caves are 2000 years old. Huge pillars, lions and humans forms and a large Chaitya hall with resting rooms is a speciality of these caves. There are good carvings on the pillars. Infact, a very good place to visit.


All in all, it was one of the memorable treks. We made it more adventurous by choosing the wrong path! Everybody reached back being totally exhausted in the night packing all the good time spent together.