After the awesome Mulshi trip 2 weeks ago, this weekend's trip was a long awaited one. Originally I planned to go to Ajanta on this weekend but after exchanging more than 200 (it may be 300+) mails we decided that Murud-Janjira would be the place for this weekend. The planning spanned across month (almost) and I was really looking forward to this trip.

We had booked rooms for 8 but at 11th hour 3 people had to bail out because of various issues ranging from being bitten by a already half-dead bee to a vanvaas warning from parents, I remember that there was a patent or two involved in it but we need not go into those details. When people started bailing out one after another like fall of Indian cricket team wickets- I thought that like many other outings where we had made plans, this one would also go down the drain.

But the trip was very much on. We had already discussed the route that we were going to take. We had the route to Murud mapped (and I bought 2 Maharashtra maps).

The whole plan hit rock bottom when it started raining heavily in the morning. We had planned to start from my place at 6 but finally we had to go for the pickup and delivery mechanism, which obviously resulted in some delay.

Pals wanted to drive the whole way again so I took the backseat and 5 of us were on our way to Murud. We took the Pune-Khopoli-Pen-Alibaug-Murud route. Pune-Khopoli link was the longest but fastest because of the Pune-Mumbai expressway. After reaching Khopoli I felt like we were back in Pune, atleast the road condition was very similar.

After crossing various good and bad stretches of roads and setting a record in surfing the mp3 CD collection (these remote controls make people surf anything) we took a halt at a beach newa Nandgaon. The first thing that on the beach was that my friend Gots had suddenly transformed into an Olympian and was doing somersaults in a hammock. I must say I was mighty impressed by his atheletic capabilities, specially because he had already consumed at least 3 pegs of whiskey.

Our next stop will be fondly remembered as Acche Uncle.jpg in our memories. Along the way we had stopped at a lot of places to ask for the route to Murud, we always got the same answer, and that was to go straight. I was really surprised that we never took any wrong turn and were always on correct route. Seems like there are some days when you can not loose your way no matter how hard you try. This was one of those days for us. I digress, we stopped at a very scenic place with coconut tree all around. We basically wanted to ask directions and we did that, but that guy asked us if we wanted to have Nariyal Pani; every one was interested in it. That guy was the Acche Uncle of the story and Gandi Aunty.avi mentioned very briefly in this connection.

We reached our Hotel in Murud and we got a beachhouse exactly at 0 mile stone in Murud. After playing a couple of 250 (a card game) sets while waiting for lunch we had lunch and were on beach, largely staying away from water. We had planned to take a boat ride to Janjira fort and a foray in water would mean we will miss the boat (literally).

The boat ride to Janjira was quite thrilling. I think it was my first time in a sail boat and I loved the whole sailboat idea. Our boat was tilted to one side and inspite of all the efforts of moving people from side to another it stayred tilted.

Janjira fort was an excellent choice for the early evening. We went for a walk on beach again and had dinner at a place called Patil Khanvale.

Gots kept insisting on going in water and we went in water some time. Walking on the beach is always a wonderful feeling. A moonlight walk on the beach can not be compared with anything else. I and Deepax were hesitent to go in the water but we did not resist after sometime and water was splashed like never before. We were kids with no concern, no thoughts and no burden of any kind. I call it 20 minutes of sheer fun.

Post water splashing we started with our bon-fire, cards and truth and dare session. Bon-fire looked liked a fire only when some diesel was poured in it, rest of the times it was a hopless one. Pals spent a lot of time trying to get the bonfire working but one can't really make it work if the wood itself is wet.

Truth and dare session led to multiple deep discussions and we could only sleep at 4 in the morning.

Goti of course was not satisfied with the brief encounter with Arabian Sea, he insisted that we get up before 9 and go to beach. Waking up in the morning at 7 in a beach house revived the Rishikesh white water rafting memories. Very soothing wind, no sound except the oceans roar (and Gots's snore). A really-really beautiful morning. I kept waiting for clock to hit 9 o'clock and briefly dozed off a couple of times.

At around 10:30 we marched towards the beach. We made and human chain and went till water was waist high. To tell you the truth, it was waist height for me and The Desi Guy but for some of us it was actually at chest height. We played 'catch-catch' with a mini basketball and a small session of beach ka bandar followed.

This is when Gots started talking with an uncle who was swimming close to us. Gots later regretted this move later when uncle kept insisting on playing catch-catch with him continuously for the next 2 hours.

Standing in the sea in a human chain and facing (only Gots did that) the strong waves was all that we did for next 1 hour. Later we decided to hold a conference while being seated so we went towards beach for shallow water and held our conference (the uncle still kept throwing the ball at Gots). Another brief session in waves and we had to go back to our hotel for checkout.

Pals again wanted to drive but she relinquished control over the steering wheel to me at Alibag. After the late lunch and a lot of he he ho ho ho by Mohd. Rafi we were all in the mood to catch some sleep (Unfortunately, I did not have that option since I was driving).

After another short round of song surfing Pals suggested that we play Antakshari. I have NEVER had so much fun in an antakshari. Initially me and Deepax were the only partner but I insisted that we get Gots in the team because I had to concentrate on the winding roads. Pals and The Desi Guy were in the other team. Gots always remembered the most sensuous or scandalous paragraph or word of the songs. This was the ideal setting for The Desi Guy's hidden talent for singing item songs. He was also dancing with his hands and had all of in laughing fits. We laughed continuously for nearly 3 hours and the bad roads from Alibaug to Khopoli were not as bad anymore.

A quick stop at a food joint near Lonavala and we were at the end of one of the most enjoyable journeys I have ever had.