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Showing posts from September, 2009
Trek to Naneghat - An Ideal Week end Get away Published in The Times of India - Chembur Ghatkopar Plus on 26th Sept2009 We started our journey from Mumbai at 630 am and reached the base of Naneghat by 930 am. The place is about 2 hours from Kalyan (approximately 55 kms). Since it had started raining while we were in Mumbai, we knew we were in for a treat at Naneghat. It is essential to have a nice breakfast before starting the trek and we did just that. This is important because it provides a lot of energy required for the trek and secondly the trek doesn’t offer any food on the way. What Naneghat offers is lush greenery and abundance of natural beauty. It was drizzling when we started moving upwards. A few minutes’ later clouds allowed us to view the glorious and the magnificent thumb shaped peak of Naneghat and next to it was the V-shaped Naneghat pass. We stared at them with reverence and anticipation. In a way, it also appeared like the beautiful woman, who appears unatta
Monza - 2009 It was a day of huge anticipation for Force India. After the superb performance at the Belgium circuit where Fisichella managed a podium finish, a lot was expected of them. Adrian Sutil, who was never touched by history before, didn’t disappoint. It was a professional performance from the German but he got the rough end of the pineapple. He finished 4th and was denied a podium finish by the Brawn GP who pulled off a 1-2 finish. The bar for this race wasn’t raised too much but Sutil will definitely agree that sometimes the difference between the best and the rest is a matter of only a few seconds. He unfortunately lost 2 valuable seconds because of a small error in the pit stop when he lost control over the brakes slightly knocking out two pit crew. He managed to earn points because Hamilton spun his car in the second last lap. Rubens Barichhello the eventual winner of the race managed to reduce the lead from 16 to 14 for the driver’s championship. Kimi Raikonnen continued
Getting Green I woke up with a feeling of relaxation, envisaging a lazy day. The thoughts from the previous day at work were still there. They normally stay with me for the entire day, at times ensuring I am only physically present at home, not mentally. In the evening, I reached the dojo – my Karate school, which to me is a perfect get away from the stress of the entire week. The thoughts I had made me oblivious of the proceedings at the dojo. After the regular jimi ondo session in which we warm up our body and ready it for the arduous training, Sensei Bahadur announced my name. I suddenly realized I was going to get a Vidori Obi - the Green Belt. I passed the Ro Kyu, the 6th test a couple of days back and when the results were announced I was told I did pretty well. Having left the training midway 5 years back, the Green Belt to me appeared as attainable as a Film Fare award to Vivek Oberoi. Sensei Mahesh told me I was a half Kuro Obi – a Black Belt. I felt his words would act as a