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Sunday, November 06, 2005

Yesterday, an interesting article in the newspaper caught my attention. The article read about management tactics MNCs used to reduce the stress level in their employees. Reading the article distressed me. I can imagine how good the employees may feel.

Rock climbing, horse riding, river rafting, paragliding are the tactics MNCs are employing to fight stress. MNCs, nowadays, organize such events on a monthly basis to avoid stress. There are several professional companies in the market that help these MNCs arrange these events. Imagine working in such a company where you got to dedicate yourself to such extreme sports and get paid for it.

I have always loved extreme adventure sports. I always wanted to engage myself in such sports but never had a chance. Expect for horse riding, I have never practiced any other adventure sport. The horse-riding thing also didn’t last for more than 2 daysL. Actually, any kinda adventure sport excites me. But, being a typical Piscean, water excites me the most. Thinking of sports like White water rafting, water surfing, water rappelling, water skiing, scuba diving etc send chills through my spine. During my recent trip to Goa, I experienced the thrill of riding a motor scooter at about 90-100 Mph on the blue waters of Calungute beach. This was my first experience at water sport and I thoroughly enjoyed. Speed excites me. And speed on water is just an added bonus. I have had several experiences of speeding on road when I drive at over a 100 Kmph on my car or my friends bike. But, speeding on water in a different experience. Million and millions of tiny water droplets hitting your face, jumping over the huge white waves is a real thrill. Miss Goa for this.

I want to indulge myself in such sports. But these sports prove to be a bit too expensive. But what the heck. Its exciting and this is what matters. I know of a place in Virar where people enjoy paragliding from the high mountains. But, dunno why, I am scared of heights. But, I wanna give it a try. Just to remove the fear from my mind.

I have yet another dream in life. (Pisceans love to dream.. J) I wanna go north and experience white water rafting on the wild rivers flowing from the Himalayas between November and February. Any person interested in dreaming with me about the same (and accomplishing it also some day), stay in touch.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

It’s been a long time since I last put up a post…

Work and only work had kept me busy.. But, last week I did manage to pull out some time for myself.. I had been on a vacation with my family to Goa and a small village in Karnataka called “Chitrapur”.

Goa is not just a fun place.. Goa has a lot more to it than the 3 B’s.. (beaches, babes, and booze)… What Goa is not known for is its rich heritage.. Goa has got some really beautiful and enchanting holy places. And this time, I had been to Goa to visit these places.

We reached Goa on Saturday night… We went to a temple called Mangeshi… My parents told me it is the abode of our family deity.. We were supposed to put stay there…But unfortunately.. the administrative staff had left for the day, leaving up stranded at 10 in the night in a small town like Goa.. Luckily, the driver of our vehicle knew a few people around.. He made arrangements and got us a room in another temple nearby.. After the hectic day, we had a nice wash and managed to hit the bed by about 1..

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Shantadurga temple (We spent the night here)


We had decided to attend the early morning puja at our family deity temple.. We got up at 5.. and reached the temple by 6:30.. just in time for the rituals to begin.. For the first time, I realized how beautiful an early morning could be.. Mornings are different in smaller towns like Goa. Nice and chilly, pleasant, birds chirping.. and to add to it all, the sounds of the bells ringing in the temple early morning makes the day..

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Mangeshi Temple in the morning


I vividly remember a flat in Malad that I had seen.. It was in a very peaceful area, and the windows open out to a temple.. I wish to build my home in a place like that..

After the rituals in Mangeshi temple, we transferred all our luggage to our room in Mangeshi temple and left to see all the other temples in Goa..

The other temples were also beautiful.. and huge.. yes, all the temples were huge.. I wonder where do these people get the moolah to build such huge temples and maintain them.. Each and every temple of Goa was huge..

We came back to our room tired at about 9.. Every Monday, the deity at Mangeshi is brought out and a small procession takes place.. We were lucky to be present there on a Monday.. I was really enthralled by the decoration, lights, and music… I was especially thrilled watching a small boy, maybe 5-6 yrs, play the drums.. he was awesome..

We spent the next day visiting beaches, other tourist spots and some shopping… We were to leave for Chitrapur the next day..

Will talk to you abt Chitrapur in my next post soon...

Truly speaking.. Goa is a very beautiful place.. It has something for everybody…