Waka Waka...This time in Africa :)

4:00 PM March 22^nd 2011, my manager called me and told that Pushkar you will have to fly on 24^th midnight for Johannesburg. I was stunned for some time, I knew that I will be going to Johannesburg but I was not expecting it on such a short notice. Then, I asked for permission to leave early for doing all the preparations and make travel arrangements ASAP (Oops forgot to mention I got discharged from hospital 4 days before…I will discuss about it in some other post) 

I called up my dear wife and told her the story and as expected she was shocked too…I prepared the checklist and ran out for shopping…we finished shopping by 10pm and reached home…those two days were very hectic but somehow I managed to complete my packing and shopping. 

Friday 25^th March 2011 2:30 AM, I was in flight. Well this was my first international journey experience and I was scared and exhausted due to Immigration check and lots of other official formalities. Anyways 2 large Rum settled down everything for me and I could sleep comfortably ;) After all India defeated Australia that day and reached in semi-final of Cricket World Cup… celebration to banta tha yaar…  

Flight reached Johannesburg early morning on 25^th around 7:00 AM. I was out of airport @ 7:45am after doing all the formalities. My company’s driver was waiting for me with the board saying Pushkar Kumar.      

Driver was very friendly and he started to explain me about South Africa and its traffic, greenery, food etc. He also told me that this time South Africa is going to win world cup because the team is in great form, I said yes indeed all the best for today’s match. Unfortunately South Africa lost that game and they were out from world cup, I felt very pity on the driver’s confidence rather over-confidence.

I reached my office and again completed lots of onsite formalities for phone, bank account, house etc. When I was done with all the formalities, driver dropped me at 20 Hyde Park, Sandton. He said that make yourself comfortable, your room partners will come in evening. He also told that I can cook something or order pizza for afternoon. I nodded and said thanks man.

The room was decent enough for a bachelor, two rooms with attached bathroom, big hall and kitchen. I thought of making Maggi, the easiest food you can cook to survive. I tried to open the stove but unfortunately I was not able to do it, it was bit different from what we use in India. It was electric stove, some iron plates on top of it and different knobs around it. I was not in a mood to do any RnD so I left it as it is. Luckily maid (In SA you call them domestics) came and she showed me how to use that stove. Finally I made Maggi and gave some rest to the bloody rats who were jumping in my stomach since morning :P

I called up my Biwi and Gaurav and told them that I reached safely. I asked them to inform this to others as well. Too many things were going through my mind, I was in need of a number for making VOIP calls, I had to give test for car, how my client work location would be, work culture etc. Till Monday everything started finalizing, first day at client office was good. Being a pay TV domain company they have big LCDs placed on every corner of the office which helped us watching world cup matches while working.   

It’s been nearly 10 months for me in South Africa and I have experienced many things here. I think I will be able to explain something about South Africa now. 

I am staying in Johannesburg, one of the largest cities of South Africa situated in Gauteng. Johannesburg is a very beautiful city, people are very friendly here and most important thing “It is very safe to stay in Johannesburg (yeah few areas are dangerous but that are everywhere isn't it??)”

Food: You can find too many Indian restaurants in Johannesburg. Renowned ones are Taste of Punjab, Vintage India, Delhi Darbar etc. You can also find KFC, Mcdonalds and many burger joints which are really good (esp. if you are non-vegetarians).

Grocery: There are 2 big Indian/Pakistani market in Johannesburg Fords burg and Laudium. You can find all type of spices and other grocery items here which you can’t find it in stores. Other things you can find it in PicknPay, Makro and FruitnVeg.

Transportation: This is the biggest problem in Johannesburg rather in South Africa, you should have your own vehicle otherwise it’s very difficult to travel around. There are many agencies who give car on rent. Your Indian license is valid here and the driving style is also same as India.

Living Style: People in South Africa start their work early and they close it early also. All the big malls close @ 5 PM very few @ 6 PM. You will feel difficult in starting up early. However, it gives you more time for yourself and your family. People are very fashionable here. You can see very different and pretty dresses, hair styles and stylish boots :)    

Shopping Malls:  There are too many malls in Johannesburg Monte Casino, Sandton, Rosebank, Hyde Park, Cresta, Bright Water commerce. You can enjoy Hindi movies also in Numetro @ Monte Casino & Hyde Park Mall. You can also find some renowned African craft markets like Bruma and Rosebank. 

Tourist Attractions: Johannesburg has many tourist attractions; I will try to list down few here:   

Carlton Panorama - At the Carlton Panorama you will have some very wonderful views of the city from the 50th floor tallest building in South Africa.

Sun City - Sun City Tour with its casinos and roulette tables and beaches this proves to be a very fun outing.

Lesedi Cultural Village - You can see how the people live there with their cultural dance and much more. 

Gold Reef City - Spend some time at the Gold Reef City is a reproduction of the city of Johannesburg in the early 1900’s.

Johannesburg Zoo - A day at the Johannesburg Zoo is a joy. You will see so many animals and enjoy all the exhibits.

Johannesburg Planetarium - There is a tour of the planetarium that takes two hours to shows and explains about the planets. 

Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve – A very good place for one day picnic. You can also visit wonder caves inside this park.

Nelson Mandela Bridge - The largest the 284 meter long cable-stayed bridge in South Africa.

 

Mandela Family Museum - Nelson Mandela's house in Orlando West, Soweto, now called the Mandela Family Museum.

 

Montecasino – One of the best complexes in Johannesburg with an array of restaurants that include Japanese, Portuguese, Mediterranean, Eastern fusion and, of course, Italian. There is one huge casino and Numetro multiplex.

Museum Africa - Museum Africa’s focuses on indigenous African cultures, history and archaeology, and linguistics, and the collection of rock art.

National Museum of Military History – You can see collection of weapons, military aircraft, medals, uniforms and other war memorabilia.

SAB World of Beer - A tour that explains art of beer-making and brewing; and a cool treat of beer after that :)

Sandton City - One of the main attraction in Sandton is Sandton City. This shopping center is ranked among the largest shopping centers in Africa

    

Apart from this there are many good places which you must visit when you are in South Africa.

Sabie

Kruger National Park

Peitermaritzburg

Durban

St. Lucia

Port Elizabeth

George & Knysna

Capetown

Kimberley

Drakensburg

Enough for this post I will share experiences about Durban, Sabie, St. Lucia and other trips in some other post. Hope you liked it and some of the information was helpful :)  

A cool treat for this summer - Ananda Valley

20^th Mar 2010 was dedicated to Wealth Management (My Team) Picnic in Nature's Lap at Ananda Valley with unlimited fun and great team work learning and many more which made this day memorable for everyone.

Cast and crew

Destination: The Ananda Valley is in a small village surrounded by hills and greenery. It is just 45 minutes drive from Pune. 

We started our journey from Pride Accord at 9:00 A.M. We played Antakshari in a Bus till we reach destination, we got opportunity to listen to some Kishore, Mukesh, Lata and Himesh from our group in this Antakshari session. We also played some good games suggested by Mandaar like Scream and Man vs. Bear.  

Fun during Journey

We had a quick breakfast @ Ananda Valley & then we roamed around the place. We were having lots of options like Cricket, Carom, Badminton, foosball (Soccer-based game played on a table) and Volley ball etc.

We started with some great team building games organized by Ananda Valley people. We played Bricks, Tug War, Water Passing and many more.   

After that we had delicious lunch. Few people were about to take a nap when a magician came and presented an awesome show. Some of us enjoyed foosball, Carom.  

Kodak Moments

We spent evening with exiting Rain Dance, Volley Ball and Carom. Then we had ATV (All Terrain Vehicle) and bullock cart ride. We had some photo session there with different, good as well as weird poses (that is definitely not here).

  

Little Photo Session

While returning we all were tired and not willing to have any more games, so we had a peaceful and quite soothing journey (yeah that was soothing due to tiredness).

Entire group appreciated the hard work of committee to make these activities successful and memorable for all of us. We wish to continue with this fun in future.

A Memorable Trip To Nashik

Nashik is generally known as city of Pilgrims and there are around 2,000 temples in this city. But I have some different reasons to love this city. I spent nearly 4 years in this city while I was doing my bachelor (After getting my bachelor degree in 2005, I had never been there)

2nd January 2010 @ 9:00 PM I got a call from my family friend, they were planning to visit Trimbakeshwar and they asked me to join. I thought Trimbakeshwar… yes man, it is near to Nashik … If I will go then, I can get a chance to visit that place again and I can meet my old friends (जो हमेशा बोलते है साले कभी तो मिलने को आ, डिग्री ले ली तो कभी आता नहीं).

This reason was more than enough to join the trip and I said yes to them :)

We left Pune @ 12:00 AM as we had planned to have Morning darshan in Trimbakeshwar. The journey from Pune to Nashik was awesome during midnight. Traffic was less, climate was cool and soft songs made it worthwhile.

We reached Nashik @ 3:00 AM and everybody was in need of a coffee. So, we stopped at CCD near Satpur to have coffee. After having a refreshing coffee we started our journey for Trimbakeshwar. We reached Trimbakeshwar @ 4:30 AM, my god the climate was so cold that we all were shivering. Somehow we found the temple and it took nearly 3 rounds to around the temple itself to find the entry gate (yeah I had never been to Trimbakeshwar)

The darshan starts from 5:30 AM. So, we got some time to fresh n up, then we joined the queue for darshan. The biggest advantage of having darshan in morning is that the queue is not long and you get enough time to stay in Temple.

After darshan we had Tea @ Trimbakeshwar and we proceeded to Nashik. My family friends wanted to meet some relatives in Nashik and they asked me to join them. I was not at all in a mood to meet some stranger. I said, you people carry on I will join you while returning back to Pune.

I have some good things to do, I can meet my friends, can go to my college Katta (Some place around college where we use to hang out), the missal wala, Sharma Ji ki Adrak wali Chai n all (I said to myself).

I called Kaustubh, Sunday 6:30 AM, I knew that waking up an IT guy on Sunday morning and that too 6:30 AM is really bad, but I didn’t have any choice.

Kaustubh was sleeping (it was expected)   

Kaustubh: what??
Me: Are yaar, I thought you must be in gym but you are sleeping
Kaustubh: Today is Sunday please let me sleep, I will call you back
Me: you can sleep later on, come to CBS (Central Bus Stand), I will be there in 20 min
Kaustubh: you are in Nashik? Okay I will be there.

Next Call Dhananjay Sunday 6:45 AM (I am very bad I know :D)

Dhananjay: Pushkar please let me sleep, I just came to Nashik @ 5:30

Me: Then why you are sleeping for couple of hours come to CBS in 15 min
Dhananjay: Not now I will be there in 1 hour
Me: I will be leaving in one hour
Dhananjay: Okay I will be there in 30 min

Next call Pawan, Nayan, Sukhad, Harshal, Anil (All started the conversation with Gali then I called them to CBS)

Kaustubh came to CBS by 8:15 (Idiot slept again after hanging up the phone). Everybody was there by 9:00 except Pawan and Nayan and we decided to have Misal Pav @ KV (Krishna Vijay), after 5 year I was there having Misal Pav and Takkar (2/3)

Nayan came there and then we went to College Road. College Road, the most happening place of Nashik (though it was Sunday). We stopped at our Katta there, some gapshap was going on then Pawan came.

We decided to go to Nayan’s Place (he was going to Banglore that day and he was getting late). Me & Pawan went to Nayan’s place (Remaining had some important work, important work on Sunday huh I feel they might be sleeping till 11 if I was not there)

After saying B-bye to Nayan, we (Me & Pawan) roamed around the city. Nashik has changed a lot of big shopping malls, multiplexes n all have come up.

2 PM, I called Vaibhav and decided to meet @ CCD, Mahatma Nagar. That reminded me of an incident, once me and Vaibhav went to CCD (It had just opened in Nashik at that time). We scanned  the whole menu and found that Black Coffee (30ml) is coming in our budget :)

We had few cups of coffee there. Then I went to meet my land lord Kiran Bhau. From there we went to Panchwati (my family friends were calling me since last 1 hour).

Panchwati is famous for temples and Sita Gumpha caves, KalaRam Mandir, Ramganga n all.  My friends asked me where these temples are we want to visit that (I thought, please ask me where is Ram Bar, girls hostels, Circle Theater :P)

Somehow we found those temples. These temples are beautiful and worth watching. Why I had never been there during my 4 years stay.

Then we went to Tapovan, here Laxmana - brother of Rama cut the nose of Shurpanakha that’s why the city is named as Nashik/Nasik. We had some photo session there and came back to Pune.

I must say this was one of the memorable trips of my life. I met my old friends after 5 year, went to same CCD and had cappuccino where I could afford only Black Coffee during college days. I visited temples and historical places of Nashik (which I had never seen in when I was sdutying).

Picnic at Alibag and Kashid beach

My team was planning a picnic for a long time; finally we decided the destination - Alibag and Kashid beach. Though monsoon was not finished completely, we all were set to take a risk to visit a beach. I must say that risk was worth it and we enjoyed thoroughly the entire day.

Saturday 05 Sep, 2009 was the day and everybody was expected to gather by 6:00 AM. But as it was followed by Friday i.e. weekend... so, I had slept at 4.00 AM after finishing four rounds of Call Break :)

Within an hour I got a call from one my colleagues and I woke up with sleepy eyes and little hangover (well… you know). He asked me to be ready by 6.00 AM, I hanged up the phone and asleep again. Next time when my phone ranged when the watch was showing 6.00 AM (oh my god I was screwed…)

I got ready super quick and reached the meeting point. We jumped into our tempo traveler as we were already 1 hour late and started our journey. All expected people Vinod n family, Rajesh n family, Anurag n family, Shivraj n family, Amit 1, Amit2 and Rashmi was on time except me I guess ;)

The weather was awesome during journey specially at Lonavala , we had breakfast near Lonavala and continue the journey. We played Antakshari in a Bus till we reach destination, we got opportunity to listen to some fabulous singer from our group in this Antakshari session.

We reached Alibag at 10.30 AM I must say that was early, we were expecting at least 11.30 AM. However, we rocked to the Alibag beach and the High Tide at beach was little disappointing. We had some photo session at beach and roamed around the place for couple of hours.

The Low Tide was expected by 4:00 PM so, we decided to have lunch and move to Kashid. We went to Fulora restaurant which is famous for Sea food.

After the delicious lunch we all took a nap during journey to Kashid. We reached Kashid by 3:00 PM and thankfully there was no High Tide there. The Kashid beach was as usual awesome and clean. We had lot of fun and masti as Kashid Beach.

After having ultimate fun at beach we had tea and some snacks. We enjoyed the sunset at the beach and then we back to Pune.

Everybody was tired and all were sleeping during the return journey. This was an awesome picnic and my special appreciation goes to Vinod for taking initiative and other members for making this trip worthwhile.

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