Dandeli + Goa Offsite 2007

Dandeli + Goa offsite 2007 concluded last Sunday evening as we returned from Goa after an amazing time with teammates for the previous 4 days starting from Wednessday afternoon.


The trip started with a train journey from Hyderabad to Hubli (5:30 PM to 8:30 AM) the time which got spent too interestingly to ever care for the long journey. The activities included games of Antakshari, BANG, Pictionary, Uno besides lots of bakar :D all through. Dinner was the Biryani served in the train which seemed and tasted pretty decent.

As we arrived Hubli on time the chartered bus from VRL was right there to pick us up. After a quick breakfast in a nearby South Indian restaurant, we continued on our journey to Dandeli. The Journey was mostly spent playing Antakshari and by the end we were out of songs with some alphabets yep even Praj and Pooja :D

Reaching Dandeli at around 1 PM it was time for a lunch, And thats when the series of great food meals started. As planned by the Kali Adventure Camp team, we guys went on a Jungle safari in the evening which turned out to be a total disaster for most of us. As the guy already indicated before the start of the Safari, we didn't spot many animals, the Geep kept running through a very muddy road for almost 2 hrs and all we cud see were Buffaloes, Owls and at last by chance some deers :) But ignoring the disappointing part from the Safari we enjoyed some photography sessions, a nice sunset view and lots of gossip.



The evening would have been pretty boring but for the presence of Rajni as she came up with some plans to organize some nice team activities after the dinner before we were set free to sit around the camp fire with drinks and snacks and game of Dumb Charades.



The next morning was the much awaited White Water Rafting event. It was definitely one of the best activities during the offsite and people thoroughly enjoyed the 9 KM long rafting which included some Cat 2 and 3 relays, following the commands from the guide like Forward, Back pedal, Hold and Get Down, and so on. The folks on my Raft had some extra enjoyment as we sangs random songs and used the pedals to wet the nearby rafting team and some specials gesture with the pedals :)



Rafting was followed by another great meal and after some rest we left out again for a coracle ride to spot some Crocodiles and bird, which we indeed did. The ride was pretty good too. This was followed by a small trek when we walked in the pretty dense jungles (but along a proper route) for around 1 hr. The evening was pretty similar to the past one but the special event this day was the much awaited Tug-Of-War, which against the earlier plan of being a complicated team tournament was voted out to be a "Gymmers" Vs "Non Gymmers" competition. What could be stranger than the fact that such a random division criteria left the team with equal numbers on both sides :). Unfortunately this time again the rope couldn't sustain the tension :D and broke leaving the match undecided. Rajs' word were "Thanks to RMZ cafeteria".

Next day we were set for our journey to Goa. The Journey took around 6 hrs against the planned 4 hrs. It was pretty late when we reached Goa and finding Ronil Beach Resort wasted just another crucial half an hour.
We checked in quickly and following a quick "lunch" and Rushed to the beach for whatever little we could make out of the evening. We could enjoy the beach for almost an hour including playing in the waves some Frisbee game and then the one sided game of Kabbadi :D
The dinner and the following time was spent sitting in the shacks instead of going to the pub as we did last time. This was definitely a right decision. Sitting in the big group enjoying the view of the sea with some music in the background and some good food and drinks was much better than going to the pub and struggling for space.
As decide next morning only a few of us went for the water sports. This was another part of the trip which I enjoyed a lot. We enjoyed Jet Skiing, Para Sailing, Banana boat (twice :)) and the bumpy boat and it was already 12:30 in the noon and we had to rush back to hotel for lunch and the checkout followed by the flight back to Hyderabad.

For the past we few days we have been relishing the great memories of the trip seeing the photographs and remembering the events, quite sure this would continue for a long time. Thanks everyone for making it an Amazing offsite.

Bike trip to Nagarjuna Sagar

Last Sunday(28th October) the Hyderabad biker's club organized its 17th bike trip. Thanks to Ricky for inviting me to this group I was part of the trip. As usual the bikers met at the Gymkhana grounds near Secunderabad. The schedule was to depart at 5:30 AM from this point but as many bikers requested we decided to leave at 6 AM. I was among the first few who reached at the spot. I didn't even try guessing the bike count initially but as ppl started coming I knew it was a big group.

All the bikes lined up during a midway stop

In all we rode on 16 bikes with hardly 2 pillions riders. Making us 18 in number. The bikes included CBZ, Pulsars(150s, 200), Karizmas(mine + 1 more :)), Machismos, Avengers, Unicorn. As we started, Firdaus informed the newcomers like me about the headlights on gesture, which the group follows throughout the trip. It indeed helped us locate others during the busy traffic :)

A photo on the way

The distance to the destination is around 160 KMs, the road is great for most part, the few of us who were to check the highest speeds on their bike did have long runs at speeds in range 110-120. The best part according to me was when all of the bikes would giving that acceleration/racing sound. Imagine 16 bikes together making that sound. So was the case with the horns too. The ride was completed pretty quickly and we were at the destination in less than 3 hours even with around 20 minutes stoppage on the way. We had food at an APTDC certified restaurant and it was pretty clean and good, so thats not a major issue. The weather was very pleasant for the going part of the journey and the return weather wasn't much harsh either.

Like I said the few of us who were fast and furious after taking lot of lead had a photosession :)

The Dam is pretty dry at this part of the year, but the waterfalls which are just 11 KMs aways from the Dam remain active and attractive. The photos should speak about it. From the side of the waterfalls' lowest point we were able to see a small crocodile too, so definitely its not the water fall where you would like to take a dip or bath :) There were other small water bodies around though where ppl were enjoying themselves.

Just a glimpse of the waterfall, many more photos in the album

We were not in a mood to try the longer trek which was supposedly gonna take 2 hrs, but for trekkers it might be an interesting one. You can observe the water falls from the points where they start according to the local guide, but it would be advisable to take one of those local folks along anyways as the trek is pretty much along the forest.

Almost the whole group

The return journey took us more than 3 hrs due to the heavier traffic but it was not too bad. We were back to Hyderabad by around 5 PM . The drive in the city towards our own places took another 30-40 minutes and was certainly the most difficult one after biking for all that long. Bike trips are indeed very tiring but nonetheless very exciting and full of fun.

More Photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/hydsundaybikerides2/Ride17NagarjunaSagar/

tips for bike trip:
1) Hand grip, Wind cheater and proper helmet(with visor) is a must.
2) Be careful about Air pressure on the tyres (specially for higher speed riding).
3) Careful about long trips, 320 was tiring enuf.