Sinhagad Fort in Pictures

This weekend was probably a different one for me; a long awaited reunion with my family here in Pune.

My father is visiting Maharashtra for the third time during his lifetime and he is still active like a youngster to explore serene places. I realized that, after he went ahead leaving all of us behind during the small trek up to Sinhagad fort.

This was my second visit to this beautiful spot which is around 30 kms from Pune. My first visit to Singhad fort- which stands perched on a isolated hill of the Bhuleswar range of the Sahyadri Mountains is penned down as 'Travel with Time' which was during September 2012.

Thought not the best time to visit the fort, however the company along and the lip-smacking dishes like Pithle-Bhakari, Kanda Bhaji and Sweet curd in earthen pots made the trip worthwhile.

Below is visual treat of Sinhagad Fort :

(1)

Pune city on the horizon

(2)

Sahyadri hills - lush greenery missing

(3)

My Niece with huts in the backdrop providing lip-smacking food

(4)

Inside the serene Sinhagad Fort

(5)

Beautiful Khadakwasla Lake in the backdrop

(6)

The route for trekking

(7)

Thank you for the visit to Sinhagad Fort - Do visit once

How David Moyes will react to crisis

It has been an unlucky and unhappy new year for Manchester United with three games played and three losses. Today United at home face Swansea, the team which dumped them out of the FA Cup six days ago on the virtue of Wilfried Bony 90th minute goal. With many commenting about the David Moyes capability to handle pressure and doubts are growing over the 50 year old Scott who has started the year with three defeats out of three, whether he was the right man to replace Alex Ferguson in the Old Trafford hot seat.

My mind goes back to Ferguson's farewell speech and his final request to the fans was to stand by the new manager and he reminded  when he was going through bad times here at the club, everybody stood by him. "All my staff stood by me, the players stood by me, you stood by me, and your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important." Ferguson, said that day.

'BELIEVE is the Need for the Moment'

The last time United lost three in a row was in the 2000-01 season and it hardly mattered then because they had already won the Premier League title however this time it’s a different story altogether and with United have just done for the first time since 1992, four defeats in five home matches and trailing the league leaders by 11 points at the start of a new year.

But it would be wrong to believe it was always plain sailing for Ferguson during his long reign at United. One of the biggest crisis moments was midway through the 2005-06 season when United finished bottom of their Champions League group and had string of poor results in domestic games. In the January transfer window of 2006, he made two key signings; defenders Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra and the team finished winning the League Cup during that season.

With host of player suffering from injury and dip in form the January transfer window is a good opportunity to strengthen the team. Red’s have Leighton Baines and Luke Shaw as main targets during this transfer window. Reports are also suggesting Ross Barkley is a stunning £50million target for the Reds, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Today’s game and the following weekend’s trip to Chelsea would be a test of character for the United team, Manager specially and whether United were right to let Ferguson handpick his own successor.

BEST FIVE: Manchester United in 2013

The Red Devils ended 2013 in style with six consecutive victories in all competitions and David Moyes will be hoping for more of the same to start the new year when United entertain Tottanham Hotspurs at Old Trafford today.

ENGLISH CHAMPIONS 2013 

2013 was the year when Sir Alex Ferguson’s glorious reign as Manchester United manager came to an end in May, with the club’s 20th league title secured, his retirement was announced. And the reign was transferred to another Scottish the ever dependable Mr. David Moyes. Reflecting back on the momentous year let us go through the Best five matches for Manchester United in 2013.

• United 3 Aston Villa 0 - 22nd March 2013

Match Highlights

With the title up for grabs, the Reds seal the crown in convincing style as Robin van Persie’s stunning first-half hat-trick sinks the Aston Villa in front of 75,000-plus jubilant fans. Manchester United are crowned the champions of England for a record-extending 20th time.

• United 2 Swansea 1 - 12th May 2013

Match Highlights

At the end of an era, the newly-crowned champions leave it late to secure a hard-fought victory to cap Sir Alex's final match as manager at the Theatre of Dreams. On an unforgettable afternoon at Old Trafford, Manchester United supporters heralded their champions and bade emotional farewells to Sir Alex Ferguson and Paul Scholes before.

• Swansea City 1 United 4 - 17th Aug 2013

Match Highlights

Moyes makes a winning start in the Barclays Premier League as the Reds cruise to a comfortable opening-day victory thanks to braces from van Persie and Danny Welbeck. T two quick-fire first-half goals and another two in the second half set David Moyes on his way to a first league win as Reds boss, simultaneously starting the champions’ title defence with a victory and putting United top of the league.

• United 1 Arsenal 0 - 10th Nov 2013

Match Highlights

Playing against his former club, Van Persie’s scores the only goal as the Reds inflict an influential defeat on the league leaders. Robin van Persie's superb header accounted for Barclays Premier League leaders Arsenal and catapulted Manchester United firmly into the title race on a tense afternoon at Old Trafford.

• Bayer Leverkusen 0 United 5 - 27th Nov 2013

Match Highlights

United reach the Champions League's last 16 with a game to spare by thrashing the German side and recording the club’s biggest away win in Europe. Manchester United cruised into the last 16 of the Champions League with a remarkable 5-0 triumph at Bay Arena fortress with goals from Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans, Smalling, Nani and one own-goal from Spahic.

With first United games is hours from Kick-off, Happy New Year to Manchester United family and hoping 2014 will be a prosperous year with United adding more trophies to their kitty.

'Today, Sleeping is definitely not an option'

So it’s one of those nights. Sleeping is definitely not an option. Even though I am considerably upset about the lack of sleep, an hour earlier I could hardly keep my eyes open and sleep had weighed down the lids of my eyes. Still I rubbed it away with my fingers to stay awake and see the match. It was something like, a challenge and I stood up to it. All I am doing, is not sleeping. But trust me, not sleeping, ironically is more satisfying when one feels sleepy. Lying in the dark, humming tunes of this creatures, fan, the breath of the person sleeping in the other room refused to leave you alone and sticks to the mind. It’s like I am waiting for a certain feeling to overwhelm myself.

'One Night at Tura'

I would like to start by saying ‘You and I like many others having good and bad habits and most of us in real life believe in ab-initio principals not approximations’. If you go across the dictionary you will find ab-initio means ‘from the beginning’ and you all understand the meaning of approximations.

Now let’s forget about the above written lines, you may understand what I meant after reading the following paragraphs.
It was pretty late into the night, we were lazing on the man-made paths in middle of forest with endless insects making weird sounds and the starry sky above us and the mood was all set.

And then suddenly one of us asked how do we know that we are happy with our self? According to him, if we devote some time to family and love one, some time to our work, some time to our body and needs and rest of the time to our desires and don’t bother what others think you would be peace with yourself.

Let’s go one by one through the four picks:

• Family & Loved Ones:

This list includes all the people we know in this world; naturally we can’t give ample time to everyone. Our aim should be giving our best time what we can devote for anybody. Even if the other person is least interested in talking to you at that point of time and if you give your little time is best form of behavior and care, later on the other person would be thinking how nicely you talked to him/her and made that person feel important. I am sure that person would have good thoughts for you the next time you meet him/her. The more you nicely you talk with other people more respect you would get and you can feel the positive vibes coming from them.

• Work: 

Work is the means of our livelihood though we should always know our limits. Whenever we are working beyond our limits we are prone to more mistakes. It does nothing except hampering our work more. So once you feel you have reached the saturation level take a break and look forward for your desires.

The same applies for those who are studying.

• Needs of Body: 

Here you can include everything from sleep, eating, exercise and whatever you can think of which will satisfy your body needs.

• Desires: 

We all have a tendency to desire the unattainable. This mistake is made when we confuse the myth of our desire with the reality of our experience. When fantasies become expectations, the only outcome can be disappointment.

However unattainable desire as proclaimed by many suddenly has been attained and thus life is made easier. Most of our everyday items were at one time thought to be unattainable or even never thought about at all. The humans’ desire usually tends to be better with time, which makes our life easier or more comfortable.

So don’t keep your desires limited, we can achieve anything we want and have any desires and can pursue them until it keeps us happy.

Following this may help you to keep happy and satisfied. Now go back to the first paragraph and relate to it.

Ever heard about the David Scott Trail in Meghalaya??

Out from the archives, the pictures from David Scott Trail in Meghalaya visited in September 2009; almost 11 years back.

The starting point of the trek near Mawphlang village

This 16km trek is part of the horse cart trail which was built to connect Assam and Bangladesh during the nineteenth century.

The highest point of the Trek

The trail is named after David Scott who operated around Khasi hills for almost 30 years and he was the first British administrator to be sent to North East India during the British Raj.

The hanging bridge over Umiam River to cross over from one hill to another

Another view of the hanging bridge

This is one of the oldest trekking routes in Meghalaya starting from Mawphlang (nearer to Shillong) ending at Ladmawphlang (near to Cherrapunji). We were accompanied by two Khasi localities who took us to the highest points of the trail, returned back since we didn't have time to complete the 16km trek till Ladmawphlang, and had to return back to Shillong before the evening.

We continued our descent towards Mawphlang

Every bend threw up something new. Rolling hills with every kind of green shade; the deep valley; the red and white flowers peeping out through the greens; the crystal clear waters in the natural pools; the sparkling river appearing and disappearing.

Enjoying the panoramic view of the Khasi Hills

#davidscotttrail
#meghalaya
#meghalayadiaries
#11yearsold
#trekking
#trails
#trailslikethese
#travelblogger
#16kmtrek
#travel
#travelphotography
#nature
#hilltop
#travelgram
#photooftheday
#instagood
#wanderlust
#instatravel
#stayathomestorytime
#travelstories
#adventure
#khasihills
#mawphlang
#mountains
#travelholic
#northeastindia
#iwanttotraveleverywhere
#iwttew
#travelonyourmind
#toym

Movie Review: Man of Steel

It was obvious from the outset; it is a new Superman for a new time.





Man of Steel of Warner Bros spent an estimated $225 million as start of a new Superman Franchise. Out of the $225 million some of the pennies were spent as part of Warner Bros promotion strategy with continuous trailers and ad's being aired on television during the another Warner Bros's movie The Dark Knight which on coming on television yesterday evening. The trailers made a good impression, they were awesome and I felt I am ready for Superman to fly back into my life.



Directed by Zack Snyder (300) and overseen by producer filmmaker Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception), does delivers on the promise of its title. The good start cast, powerful dialogues (not Dark Knight comparable), Hans Zimmers subtle music and 3-D experience does add to the experience. The screenplay might not flow all that well with a particularly bumpy first half as the scenes in the first half didn't align smoothly with one another. It's not because of the great flashback scenes, the flashback scenes did help in framing up the pictures to fall into the right places. And the visual effects by the way are awesome.


Man of Steel for many, is far from a perfect movie and yes I also agree they could have done some things better when compared with the new Batman movie.


If I have to rate, I would say the Batman films are great and this Superman film is good.