First Stitches

Sewing Machine

- Novel Designer Auto 55















Some of Pooja`s First Creations on new machine

Katraj - Sinhagad Trek.

It was 6 in morning, we had walked for almost 9 hours there were still four mountains to climb. As we rested on ground, Sinhagad still looked far away....

Flashback ...

Two weeks earlier we were out for the same trek, it just went horrible at that time.
We lost our way, took a far too difficult path, and almost lost our lives as we got on slippery slope on mountain. Our friend Vishal should believe he is very lucky as he slipped twice on slope , luckily found rocks to hold on while slipping.

We came back after climbing two mounts it was real shame, alternatively an inspiration to come back and complete the trek.


This time around ...

We decided to go back, making sure we follow a path.
Starting at around 10.30 at night, carrying -
Torch
Water + Glucose D
Biscuits
Chocolates

It was pitch black, we could not see the moon for most of the time.
There were 13 mountains to climb.

Lost again

After walking for 2 to 3 hours we hit an intersection.
I remember Mayur`s word " all paths lead to Rome" and it turned out they did not. We took a wrong turn paid the price , we had to climb one mountain from sideways ie from the forest area. It was horrible experience we got bruised with thorns on our way, somehow we reached at top of that mountain after walking for an hour or more in the thick forest.

Lighting up the mountains ..

We could not resist to light up fire on mountain, it was an awesome sight to watch, but it burned a part of the bag we carried, thankfully the damage to bag did not peg us back and we carried on ....

On every break we use to eat and drink a bit of water, it kept us going..


Post Sunrise ...

At 6 in morning we took a halt, we decided to wait until we saw sun we still had 4 mountains to climb. It was a beautiful sight. We kept our torch in burned but still useful bag and started walking with new found energy.

Some of the mountains climbed ahead were real energy draining as they are almost vertical to climb, my heart was beating at an express rate, we had to stop multiple time before we hit the tar road.

We reached the road to Sinhagad from where we walked again for one to one and half hours to get at top of Sinhagad.

It was exhausting , reaching at top we ate dahi, tak and bajji. We looked at the mountains we just came from, it was an amazing sight, It was a victory sight, we had conquered those mountains.

It was completely worth the effort, risk , and time we had put. Happy to have completed it.

Thanks to Mayur for his encouragement throughout the trek.

Colored...

Painting by me - (All painting done on Canvas using Acrylic colors)
--- taking inspirations from my wife..


1. The Killer..

* hint - killer is an alien ( one which acted in a hit hindi movie :) find him if you can..)


2. Sankrant Special..

3. Colorful India..

4.Wired Layers ..

* Used -

- Acrlyic classic + metallic colors ( hobby ideas + Camlin).
- Canvas sheets.
- Synthetic gold Camlin brushes
- Code liners ( to give a 3d look).
- Plastic pastels.
- Hard rubber roller.

Kite Flyers

"We know our limits, but we are not limited by them."








12th June 2009 Sunday, rainy season had not quite taken off in this part of the world.
We decided to go for kite flying. Started on our bikes for 2 hours journey to this place near mulshi, around 60-70 Kms from Pune.




Special kites :

We had brought what they call as China made kites, I had never seen such kites before. This kites were huge compared to normal ones we get, they are made of nylon. Instead of wooden stick giving shape and strength to kite these had metal sticks which made them even stronger and durable.These kites are available in lot of shapes, we had bought bat shaped kites.

Arena :

The whole area was covered with thick fog, there was valley on one side and mountains at far end on other. what made it more interesting the small amount of drizzle
playing hide and seek all the time.

Fly high :

We assembled the kites and then attached manja (the glass powder coated kite flying and fighting string) to them. We had two bat shaped kites. It was difficult to fly these kites due to
windy weather but my friends were expert at kite flying and they managed it well. One kite went high up in the clouds and we were hardly able to see it from ground. Every-time we could see the kite all us to jump out of joy. It was a fun filled experience.


Return Journey :

Well the kite flying was exciting , and return journey was nothing less than an adventure.
We decided to go back to Pune via Lonavala and encountered thick Fog which made us stop couple of times just to make sure where the road was heading, rains were very heavy in those area. Throughout our journey till Lonavala we hardly saw anyone on our way. Once we reached Lonavala we had a big sigh of relief, return journey took around 3 hours.

The Paintball War

"Gun them down", I shouted. It was a war cry, we were in middle of a war, The Paintball War.








A Paintball War?

I never heard of paintball in my life, until my friend introduced it to me, to summarize whats the whole sport is about, you have to eliminate your opponents by hitting them with paintball bullets using specially made guns.


The Equipment :

When we reached the war arena , we divided the whole group
in two teams. Each of us got clothing, chest guard , face mask ,
gun preloaded with bullets.

Person in charge guided us through rules, and also warned us of
close firing.Well the guns where powerful enough to cause some
damage to human body if fired from very close range.

The War Arena :

The war arena was divided into two posts at far end, with lots
of hide out in between to take cover and fire. Its like playing
real life version of popular game called Counter Strike.


The Games :

We played three types of games -

1. Capture the flag.

We had to capture enemy flag from there arena without getting hit.
Once hit by bullet we die ( ie out for that game).

2. Cross the border.

More or less like capture the flag, but in this case we had whole
border so easier than the capture the flag game.

3. Fastest five.

Hit enemy with bullets , even when they are hit they continue
playing. Every time they are hit we get a point. Team earning
fastest 5 points wins.


You can`t win them all :

We lost to opposition 3 - 2 , all is fair in love an war, so wont be
commenting on how they won few games even after getting hit :)

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers, almost all were hit,
well some of us did fire from close range which resulted in minor
injuries( nothing to worry about).

The Foosball Table

"15000" yes sir, minimum 15000 rupees. I hung the phone, the cost of the foosball table was not affordable nor the low priced one`s suited our requirements.


We enjoy playing foosball, I saw it first in a sitcom named "Friends" and got my hands on one when it was installed in one of our work office.


The Realization :-

One fine evening when I was chatting with my friends about Foosball, an idea popped up of building the table for ourselves. That day we had only one thing with us a "will", yes a "will" to build a foosball table ourselves . Next morning we started to find a way, we googled for any help available on building Foosball table. We found few links. We realized that this can done, this can build.


The Requirements :-

1 - Playable - You don`d want to build a game which is not playable.
2 - Foldable - When not in use it will take up minimal space.
3 - Affordable.

The Raw Material :-

Wood :
We checked with some timber shops, traveled to timber market in search of good wood.
After searching for few days we finally got what we wanted, we carried it to my friends house, which later on became our workshop.

Metal rods :
We wanted to put steel rods , but it was going out of budget. We decided to use the aluminum rods. These 8 rods were going to hold our wooden players.

Sun mica sheets :
We needed two of them one for the playing surface, other to give good look to the table.
We could not bargain on this one much.

Knobs:
This joined the legs and the main board, this part made it possible to fold the legs.

Clips:
Round metal clips where use to hold the pipes as they move in and out.

Grips:
We brought Hero bicycle grips. They made it comfortable to hold and move the rods while playing.

Foosball men :
We build them out of wood. Drilled a hole just big enough to slide metal rods from it.
We later colored them in blue and red. We fixed them on road using fewiquick.


Ball:
We used 3 types of balls , 1 - a table tennis ball , 2 - actual foosball 3 - a plastic cricket ball
We found the actual foosball is best but we had to shell more money for this one.


The Assembling :

We build the table in two independent units :
Unit 1 :
- Rods + wooden men.
Unit 2 :
Play field wooden box + legs.


Let the games begin :
"Where there is a will there is a way", We not only found a way but explored it.
Foosball table was ready, it was time to play.....


A big thanks :

It was not possible to build it without help of my dear friend Mayur Sakpal.
He not only guided me, but also provided a workshop ( which was his own house :) ) for building the foosball table.


Under Construction snaps :

1.Play field wooden box.



















2. Foosball men assembly.

Bee Hive Remover

"Join me in removing a bee hive" It was my friend , he was on other side of the telephone link. There was huge bee hive to be removed just outside his house, this is how it started....

Our aim was simple remove the hive, get the honey, and yes to do it all ourselves. "Do it ourselves" now that was a problem, we are not professional bee hive removers, and had no idea of how the process works, nor we had the clothing gear required to remove the bee hive.


The Intilization:

This is were we start to appreciate the Internet , the Google etc. We googled for some clues and found out few things which were :-

1. Remove a bee hive in evening, this is because the bee`s are less active at that time.
2. Smoke the bee`s away from the hive, and as they go away remove the hive.



The Preparation:

We picked our thick winter jacket and our bike helmet, these were only things protecting us from bee stings.
We also brought a flower pot , a cow dung cake and few cloth pieces, and some kerosene.
Cow dung cake, some cloth pieces and few drops of kerosene were placed in flower pot and were lit on fire.

The Action:

There was no electricity at my friends place, so all the action took place in focus of a torch light.
After few minutes the burning fire was put off, and we were left with smoke , we put the the pot just below the hive , slowly the bee`s started fleeing the hive. Few refused to leave , those bee`s were removed by a stick. We pulled out the hive just in time either just before the whole hive collapsed on the floor.


Sweet taste of success:

Honey was dripping out of the removed hive. We decided to taste the honey and sucked it straight from the hive, oh ya it tasted as sweetest thing on earth.
Thankfully the bee`s did not sting us. Operation was a big success. We managed to get about 1 KG of honey out of the hive. It was real adventure to do it ourselves.

Caution : It sounds easy but it`s not, a small mistake can put your life in danger.