A Fraud called eBay Guarantee

While eBay can be, and has been, a boon for sourcing items that are otherwise difficult to get, it's a big misery when the item doesn't get delivered, or a faulty one gets delivered. To make matter worse, the fraudulent practice that eBay calls - eBay Guarantee - adds salt to the wound. The whole eCommerce apparatus is based on trust between - not the seller and the buyer, but between the website (which works as a middleman) and the buyer. That's why Flipkart enjoys a lot of trust and is still synonymous with peace-of-mind eCommerce in India. 

eBay is just the opposite. It's all good when you can source things like old manual lenses, tools, equipment that are otherwise pretty difficult to find from local market. It's all good when the seller is honest and well-meaning. It all starts falling apart when any of that is not true.  

Quite a few experiences so far when eBay failed big time for me and caused a lot of distress and that infuriating feeling of being deceived. It's not about the money you lose, it's the feeling that you were taken for a ride by someone/something you trusted - that really pisses me off. eBay guarantee is one such thing. You purchase from eBay thinking it's too big a company to be dishonest about its promises to customers - especially with something as sensitive as eBay Guarantee promise that says you are covered if a seller deceives you. I fell for it. And it failed me. More than once. 


First was when I had bought a case for Moto-G (PaisaPay ID: 36040966303), about six months back. The case didn't fit. I applied for return and refund. These guys took almost 2 days to reply. That too with a funny excuse - "You were not reachable on the contact number you mentioned - 988******, so please upload photographic proof to process your claim". That's my old number from Pune. I still have a screenshot of the order, and it clearly shows my Bangalore number 95******* and says - you will receive SMS alerts and order status on this number. Even the delivery guy calls on *this* number, and eBay just ignored it. 

Unfortunately, by the time they replied, I got impatient and broke the flimsy cover while I trying to force it on the mobile. I mentioned so, and closed the claim. Only if they had called me on the right number ... 

That was the first time I grew suspicious about their practices, even though it was my fault to break it while trying to put it on the mobile. 


Then came this current infuriating episode. My 7-year old Dell laptop's charger went kaput. I decided to buy a locally built one from eBay - thinking even if it turns out bad/conterfeit, eBay will be able to cover it under it's eBay Guarantee. What was I thinking!? 


Here is a step by step account of how and why it got to my nerves - 

I ordered one 90W adapter from eBay (PaisaPay ID: 37359944823) with the same charger family and even validated the plug dimensions against the original one I had. The adapter worked for couple of days, and then on one fine day, it stopped working! Just like that. The green indicator on the charger brick would turn on, but it wouldn't charge the laptop. 

I wrote to the seller about the problem. 

He took almost a week to reply. 

I called this engineer and he came to conclusion that the charger may not work for the laptop even though specs were right. "Only genuine Dell one will work. You can buy that from our eBay shop". We had an agreement about refunding the amount paid. 

I raised an "eBay Guarantee" claim with these details. 

After couple of days, I got a response from ebay, saying they couldn't contact me. 

Preposterous. Both of them were my Pune numbers, long discontinued. I have screen-shot of the order showing my Bangalore number. Why they would not even try a number that's so obviously used for communicating order details and alerts, is a mystery to me. I still replied back with my Bangalore number, along with other details. On the very same day. 

Since a photo couldn't a be proof, I even got my wife to shot a video showing the charger in non-working condition. The charger serial number is also visible in this video http://youtu.be/bUnz7KRyT2U

All this on the very same day. 

And then, couple days later, I receive an email from eBay, saying the claim is rejected! What a rip-off! 

If this is not infuriating, what is!? 

-x-x-x-x-x-

The eBay head-ache doesn't end here though. Another order (ID: 324132884013) placed on 25-September, with a European seller, is still not delivered, and I have as good as given up on that refund claim as well. 

-x-x-x-x-x-

This was not the first time I was shopping online. I have shopped from many eCommerce websites, from nascent-stage ones to the well established, from American to Chinese, for electronic goods to cycling equippments. But the kind of trust kickback I received from eBay was unprecedented and unique. 

These days, ebay is completely out of my shopping radar. I even tend to filter out ebay results from my google searches as well. They are the ponzies of online shopping for me. 

The only good thing that came out of this distressful experience is that it got me out of my blogging slumber, and made me finally write about this, so that people would be aware of the reality behind this so-called eBay Guarantee, and would be wary while dealing with eBay in general, due to lack of any real fallback mechanism in case one gets duped. 

Caveat emptor!



PS: I have uploaded the whole guarantee claim page here - a.fraud.called.ebay.guarantee.proof.pdf. Read bottom up. It contains all the communication regarding the claim. 

Why I support AAP and Kejariwal

For long, I had been etching to write about AAP and why it still matters despite all its misgivings in the recent past. This question on Quora - Why do AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) volunteers follow Arvind Kejriwal despite his taking so many U-turns? - just gave the right trigger that was necessary to pour those long held thoughts down.

Given the excessive emotions it raises, I had become a little reluctant these days talking about politics and especially about AAP. Those who think for themselves need not be convinced, and those who don't can't be anyway. So it's pointless talking or arguing about it sometimes. But since it was Quora, where I tend to love the answers from its thinking community, I felt I can expect a higher emotional quotient, and objective and decent opinions/arguments pro/against.

Not only did I answer that question there, but decided to share those same thoughts here as well. WARNING: It's quite lengthy. 

I can't say about others, but talking about myself, I can tell why I support AAP. 

At this point in time, irrespective of the follies, mistakes, U-turns (perceived and otherwise) of its leaders, AAP is the only party with a clear agenda to not allow any tainted/criminal elements in its politics. Even though those elements can bring them votes and money. This is the only party which (from what I know) raises all its funds through public participation, and hence doesn't need to fall for the quid-pro-quo that's inevitable when you get funded by lobbying industrialists. 

Why cleaning politics is necessary? Consider this - You overtake someone driving on the road, suddenly the guy gets worked up, beats you up, and you can't do anything because he has 'connections'. Powerful at that. This is a real incident that happened in Mumbai a month or so before Loksabha elections. Instead of guessing which party that guy might have belonged to, take a guess which party he most likely would *NOT* have belonged to - Congress, BJP or AAP? Your guess is as good as mine.

In a country where democracy is just another means to get voted to rule and loot people; in a country where political high-handedness and 'connection' power-mongering is rampant; in a country where wealth is concentrated with a select few, who, in turn can call the shots using the wealth and get richer; in a country where regional, religious, sectarian, caste-based propaganda can be successfully used to turn groups in vote-banks; in a country where the root the root of all evil *is* - being ruled by the evil itself, isn't it about time we clean our politics before anything else? 

The middle class is taught from childhood to stay away from politics; reason, and we have taken this for granted, - politics is for the crooks not for 'us'. We have had generations arguing 'if everyone say so, good people will never get in, and politics will always remain for crooks'. Everybody argues, nobody, including me, acts. Everybody wants someone else to wash the dirty laundry. "शिवाजी जन्माला यावा, पण शेजारच्या घरात; आपल्या नको." (Translation: Shivaji should be born again, but at the neighbors' house, not ours). 

In 2011-12, during the height of scams, movements, and Congress' high-handed attempts to crush those movements, the despair in the air was pretty palpable. "इस देश का कुछ नही हो सकता" (Translation: This country is never gonna change). The politicians who ruled the country will never take a step to clean the same system they thrive off. 

But then one man had the ambition and willingness to fight this one-sided battle to clean the system. He did take the plunge, built a party out of people with credible backgrounds and from the same middle class that used to run away from politics. The party won considerable seats on the basis of clean-politics agenda, in Delhi elections, and all of a sudden, those, like me, who were pessimistic about any change in Indian politics, started dreaming about a cleaner and fairer political system. 

But then Loksabha elections were closing in and both BJP and Congress, feeling nervous and threatened by AAP, used all their might to unleash systematic smear campaign, propaganda and FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) against AAP. That Kejariwal is another Congress, that Kejariwal 'took' Congress' support, that Congress is trying to divide BJP's votes through AAP, that AAP's game-plan is to bring Congress to power, that AAP is not fielding any candidates against Sonia Gandhi, and so on. So fierce was this blitzkrieg that even educated people who are supposed to discern true from false, fell for it wholeheartedly. Unfortunately Kejariwal and AAP being new to politics, and despite realizing that the 'system' will try every trick in the book to get rid of any attempt to cleanse it, fell prey to their own inexperience and mistakes that were immediately and effectively blown out of proportions, damaging their own cause and reputation further. Meanwhile all attempts to demean him/AAP were in full swing. Choking him from all sides, trapping him, and then calling him भगोडा, ridiculing him beyond decency, slapping him - they tried it all, and to a major extent succeeded in generating huge uncertainty and doubt about AAP. 

Though BJP got a majority in the elections, watching this FUD campaign from sidelines, I lost complete faith in them, and despite being a very pro-Modi, not more than an year ago, today I stand completely disillusioned by BJP. Those who are familiar with the history of Linux, will not find it difficult to draw parallels to the FUD campaign that Microsoft ran against Linux in late 90s. They did gain considerably in the short term, but Linux didn't go anywhere, and in fact thrived in the later years to this date - because the fundamentals and philosophy of opensource that it was based on, had the potential to survive the test of time, since it resonated with, and empowered people at large. 

AAP and its leaders made mistakes, did face foot-in-mouth many times, but nothing as serious as the amount of flak they receive/d. AAP didn't allow filth in, didn't let money power decide, and didn't play vote-bank politics - those are good enough reasons to look forward to better days for these fine folks who were trying to bring about a change, for which India probably was just not ready and patient enough. 


Good luck to Modi, at least he seems to have some quick-fix approach for the country back-broken over many years by Congress, and so far he seems to be making all the right noises. But for a long term, my support will always be for a party that tries to address the root of all evils in India - filth in politics. And with likes of Yedurappa embracing Modi openly, I don't have any willingness to park my hopes on BJP. 

The Two-Face and the Arm-twisting

India lately has been outraged by this Devayani Khobragade saga, and the in general high-handedness of US. A lot of people, even from the affluent IT sector, who hold almost daily interaction with their american counterparts, and hence nurture a soft-corner towards US if not a very pro-US mind-set, stand highly annoyed and disillusioned about the way this Indian diplomat is treated for paltry reasons.

The perception of fuck-the-business-if-no-respect-towards-India is quite palpable in at the people I observed. So i decided to pen down my own perspective vis-a-vis American arguments.

What's this visa fraud all about?

Here is a link, that details the 'fraud'. In short Khobragade promised ~$10/hr, paid about half of that and tried to suppress that afterwards. That's all there is to the 'fraud'.

What about the Blackmailing Angle?

Going by this timeline of the Khobragade case as published by Times of India, one is inclined to wonder if this is really a fraud as touted by holier-than-thou United States of America, or if this is a gross overstepping of jurisdiction by US authorities in general. Especially since the Indian HC had issued restraining order on the maid, while the US authorities kept neglecting complaints and information since July.

What treatment was she meted out?

• Handcuffed in front of her school-going children
• Strip searched
• Cavity searched
• Confined in the same cell as drug addicts

Doesn't she have diplomatic immunity?

Well, the US says she doesn't. To quote their state department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf -

"Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 
the Indian deputy consul general enjoys immunity from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts only with respect to 
acts performed in the exercise of consular functions. So, in this case, she fell under that specific kind 
of immunity and would be liable to arrest pending trial pursuant a felony arrest warrant."

Hold on a second there, lady. Raymond Allen Davis killed 3 pakistanis working under-cover sometime back. Yet, under the same Vienna Convension on Consular Relations, you argued he perfectly enjoyed diplomatic immunity, even though he had killed 3 people in a foreign country, despite being some administration attache to the embassy (or under-cover CIA agent?).

I take it - paying $6/hr less than promised by a Depuly Consul General of India, is a wayyy graver crime than merely killing a few here and there in a foreign country by some administration attache of US embassy.

So grave, that not only is she denied any diplomatic immunity, but is strip searched, cavity searched, and confined in the same cell as drug addicts.

What does US media say?

This WaPo author - Swati Sharma tries to tone it down saying similar/worse treatments were given to other Indian diplomats as well in the past. Then why so much noise this time? So past wrongdoings justify present ones? Is that what you are trying to say Ms Sharma?

She states drug-offenses are minor in US. And under-wage charges are as grave? Are you sure you guys have got your priorities right there?

This post in TOI quotes some NYT post about Indian reaction being unworthy of a democratic govt. Excuse me? Now you will teach us about what is democratic and what is undemocratic? The same people who disregarded the whole world, even the UN, and attacked a sovereign country of Iraq - destroyed the whole country, killed its people - for what? A baseless mirage of WMDs - that were never found there.

The same people who run Guantanamo Bay, are now lecturing the most tolerant country in the world (nothing to be proud of really), about human rights violation in underpaying of a maid by a diplomat.

Opportunist Indians, in the US itself, keen to prove how 'american' they are, are using this unfortunate incident to lecture India about how it's wrong about siding with the diplomat. What they seemingly fail to understand is it's not about the diplomat. It's about the country. A diplomat represents his/her country. Faceless. So insulting, humiliating a diplomat is like insulting, humiliating his/her country.

Under-currents in the Social and National Media

While the general perception is that of anger and outrage, there is this section of not only national, but even the social media, that's busy digging out Khobragade's and her family's alleged links to corruption. What is it that you are trying to prove? That she was all corrupt and hence deserved to be humiliated by some foreign country for the graft she committed here, while she was representing India as a diplomat?

If at all true, try her in the Indian courts for those charges. I don't see any point in confusing the humiliation with India's internal business.

What Next?

While initially people were quite happy with the Indian govt showing some spine and taking some strong actions, soon it's becoming clear how sincere they were. The Delhi elections have shown that the Indian electorate is not some fool that you can deceive by mere posturing before elections.

The banana republic, that India has become due to these spineless and corrupt rulers, busy siphoning out tax payer's money through whatever outlet available, doesn't have the willingness and guts to say and do what's necessary.

Over the time, the mellow govt will meekly surrender, accept these insults and will get back to what they are good at - money-making; while the self-respecting neo Indian youth will keep licking these invisible wounds resulting out of such uncalled for arm twisting. Sad thing it is, but a fact, that we are not an Israel yet.

Update [Thu, Dec 26, 2013]:

Further to this, here are a couple of more blogs that throw some light on different aspects of the story.

• Swagato Ganguly interprets Preet Bharara and his possible intentions in this interesting read - In Khobragade's hounding, an ambitious brown man assumes white man's burden

• Peter Van Buren, former US foreign service employee, and now a whistleblower, analyses graver wrongdoings by US Embassies around the world, including but not limited to underpayment and abuses of domestic help by their own diplomats; exposing yet again the double-standards of holier-than-thou US - Diplomatic Abuse of Servants: Not Just for Indians

Long Time No See

Unbelievable as it seems to me, it has been only one blogpost throughout this whole year. That's what meeting a girl does to you, I guess. 

Had a pleasantly turbulent year so far, with loads of things happening on personal as well as work front and though a few exhilarating treks, climbs and travels happened in between, I hardly got any time to sit down and pen them down. Life can sometimes get way too hectic, even though pleasantly at that. 

Lots of things happened. Went to Junnar for a couple of days, and had some awesome solo treks around the Louvre of Sahyadri's -> the Naane Ghat. Met some really warm people, and had some quality experience around. 

Then came the giant - a long term dream -> Lingana. With a group of friends - 3 of them, on our own, with 2 leading alternately. One of the best feelings so far, once on the top of that fort. 

And then some things that were running parallel to all this, for some time, materialized, and brought along some major upheavals in my personal life. Met a girl, fell in love, got married; and it didn't end there. Changed jobs. Changed city. Moved to Bangalore. 

All three things - marital status, job and city changed one after the other within the span of merely a month. 

It doesn't come easy. I can tell you that. Coping with all three fronts in parallel, simultaneously, takes its toll, and then things like climbing, trekking, photography, blogging, take a backseat, while you are busy living the new life and catching up with the times. Even a drive from Pune to Bangalore, which otherwise would have been worth writing about, for the sake of experiences and memories, becomes a writing-liability and fades away over time. 

Now that it's a little stabilized, I have decided to find some time out, and write down all those memories of Naane Ghat and Jeevdhan, Chavand and Shivneri, the Lingana climb and the wildfire, the Hampi trip and the relaxing swim in the Tungabhadra, and Mysore experiences. 

The photos I took there, are begging to be processed and made part of a narrative that will hopefully remind me of these wonderful times I spent with my friends, with my girl, and even alone. It's for that time in the future, when my memory would want to fade away, and carry these priceless moments with it, why I want to note it all down. 

Precious moments. 

Kalavantin (कलावंतीण)

This particular trek was on my mind for quite some time now. The Kalavantin Dug (कलावंतीण दुर्ग) or Kalavantinicha Buruj (कलावंतीणीचा बुरुज) was described as tough and dangerous by quite a few. But then, even Torna rockpatches were mentioned as tough by many. So I was skeptical, yet, I had seen the pics of the Buruj, supposedly taken from the top of Prabalgad, and it did appear as a challeging climb. I wanted to see and experience it in person.

With a long leave approaching, I decided Feb end is near about the end of trekking season as well, owing to the hot weather that prevails this part of the world, post February. So an impromptu plan was drafted for Junnar area, and a one-off trek to Kalavantin. All were planned on working days, to avoid any crowd. Mountains are always peaceful on a working day.

So on Monday, 25-Feb, I took off on my bike, with camera gear, binocular and miscelleneous stuff on the back.


How To Get There

From pune the route is along NH4:

Pune - Dehu Road bifurcation - Kamshet - Lonavala - Khandala - Khopoli Exit on the expressway section - Khopoli - Shedung === diversion ===> Belavali - Thakurwadi

Distance: ~120kms from Chandani Chowk, Pune

At Shedung bifurcation (शेडुंग फाटा), there are 4 roads, one that joins the expressway, one that comes from expressway, one that comes from Khopoli, and the fourth one - a small one - is the one that goes to Belavali. Better to ask at the junction if confused.

Thakurwadi is about 5km from Shedung bifurcation. The road to Belavali and on to Thakurwadi is good and smooth overall, with an occasional rough patch. Prabalgad and Kalvantin are visible almost throughout the ride to Thakurwadi, though, in the morning, sun rises behind the mountain, and all you can see is a silhouette of the two, rather than any details.

Thakurwadi is the base village for Prabalgad (प्रबळगड) and Kalavantin. Lonely, eerie and haunted. Near Thakurwadi, where one finds 4 roads going in different direction, there stands a Banyan tree, and the road that's in front of the Banyan tree, going directly towards the mountain, is the road to Prabal Machee (प्रबळ माची).

The road is motorable to a certain extent, and I decided to take my bike till the point I can. And it saved me almost a couple kms of walking. The road was broken in the middle, over what seemed like a water pipeline. I parked the bike there on the roadside, and started walking onwards.


Prabal Machee (प्रबळ माची)

It's plain walk for about an hour and half till Prabal machee. The road goes winding around the mountain, and Kalavantin stays hidden behind the imposing wall of Prabal Machee, for most part of the walk.

Plain Prinia (?)

Common Cuckoo

Dead silence with bird chirpings is the sole pleasure of this trail. I sighted a Common Cuckoo along the way. It was a little fidgety and would let me come close. So all I could manage was a record shot. It was a lifer for me. Hadn't seen a cuckoo before.

The Machee is typical of a lot of forts in the region. Large densely wooded plain lifted off the mainland to a great height, and then he pinnacles and forts rise above this machee. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that not only are there people inhabiting this remote place, but there is even a well-built school(!!) up there. Kudos!


Kalavantin

Route to the top of Kalavantin, is from the V-shaped col (खिंड) between Kalavantin and Prabalgad. At Prabal Machee, I asked for direction towards the col and was told to just keep going up in the direction. As usual I lost the way somewhere, and then had to do a hanging traverse to get into the col. The rock traverse was pleasant, though I had this anxiety that it might end up on a super exposed rock face rather than getting into the col, and then I would have to traverse back again clinging to the same rock. Fortunately, I ended up dropping on the proper route to the col, and eventually got to the point where Kalavantin route, in its full glory, starts.

I was told the route starts from the col, but looking around I could hardly see any stairs that lead up. Looking closely I realised, the first few feet are, as if, blasted off, and the real stairs start after that. You have to make do with whatever holds you can manage in those first 5-10 feet.

The stairs are couple feet high and nearly vertical. The climb indeed has it's own flavour of fear factor. The exposure is pretty high, and some patches are made of all gravel. Rock is easy to hold onto and negotiate, but gravel is where I always get nervous. I just dont trust it.

The route goes winding up, through patches of stairs and gravel. It's not difficult, but it's definitely not for begginers. The menacing vertical-drop rock-face (कातळकडा) of Prabalgad is visible all the time while you go up. It's massive and majestic.


Eventually I reached within the final 20-25ft of the summit. This rockpatch of last 20 odd feet of Kalavantin, is a proper (easy grade) rock climb. In my opinion, it should be tried only if one has done some basic rock climbing, and is aware of holds, balances, is flexible enough, and most importantly has enough pulling power in the arms and biceps. If the technique and climbing experience is there, it's quite an easy climb, and then it's all about managing the fear factor. There is almost a 500-600ft exposure on the left, climbing, side; and you should, in advance, think about how you are going to get down without ropes. Free climbing without ropes is comparatively easy and manageable. Getting down is altogether a different story.


I dropped my sack at the base of the rockpatch, and started climbing. There is a very helpful crack on the left, and then some pinch holds on the right. The rock is pretty sturdy, and some of the very good I have seen in Sahyadri so far. So those holds are quite trustable. I was on top in about a couple mins. It was exhilerating to be on top, and at the same time, the precarious looking edge, from where I climbed, kept making me anxious about eventual climb-down.

The view from top are great. I could identity Karnala fort due to it's unique pinnacle, even though it was quite a long distance from there. Peb and Irsalgad are also said to be visible from there, but I  couldn't identify which is which; though I did notice two peaks with strange rockfaces on top.

Getting down from there comes with a lot of anxiety. You lose your balance for one instance, and you are hurtling down the rockface in the next. So all moves have to come with absolute conviction. Slow, steady and perfectly balanced all the time, is the key.

Once I was down at the base of the rockface, there was the next set of challenge - the gravel and vertical steps of Kalavantin. Going up was easier. Getting down, looking straight down the vertical slope, was a little nerve-wrecking. Especially due to the reality that no one would even know if I fell.

It took me almost an hour to make it down to the col. I was dead slow in the gravel part. The rocky stairs were comparatively manageable since there are a few jug holds created in the rock, apart from some natural pinch holds. It's easier to get down either backwards or sideways since that way your centre-of-gravity remains very close to the rock and you can use your hands to hang on to the rock.

Once I got back into the col, it was all about walkin to the machee, and then onwards towards my bike on the semi motorable road. The route from col to the machee, is still a little steep, but not at all dangerous. It's probably a water-stream route going by it's characteristics, but it takes one directly to the habitation on the machee.


Way Back Home

By the time I made it back to the bike, it was late afternoon and everything I touched, burned my hands. Including my bike.

Eventually I made it to Shedung and NH4, had my lunch at a dhaba, and reached Pune in next couple of hours, by 6:30pm. The only section where I really enjoyed racing was the Khopoli ghat section which joins with the expressway. It's a super twisty-turvy ghat, with absolutely plain heavenly roads, scarce traffic, and brilliant banking with lot of scope for adrenaline inducing cornering. Racing up these slopes is to a biker what a superbly well made Puranpoli (पुरणपोळी) is to a foodie.


Some Tips For Those Attempting Kalavantin

Based on my experience, here are some tips which, I felt, might come handy to those planning or attempting Kalavantin -

1. If you haven't done a lot of trekking and a basic amount of climbing before, don't attempt this on your own. Get someone experienced along. This is not for begginers.

1.1 Don't do this alone unless you are sure of your feet and hands and navigation, and have prior trekking/climbing experience.

2. Carry a lot of water. After Prabal Machee, there are no sources of water anywhere. At least I couldnt find any. And you will need a lot of it.

3. Try to make it to the col as early in the morning as possible. If you get late, you will get your hands burnt while coming down. The rock heats up like it's on fire, and you dont have an option but to catch hold of it while coming down.

4. Stay close to the rock while on stairs.

5. Make sure you are not stepping on loose gravel. Be very careful on the gravel patches.

6. If you don't have prior climbing experience, I would advise against free-climbing the last rockface without ropes. It's not tough, but it does need some delicate movements and balancing. And it's exposed.

7. While climbing down the stairs, grab hold of the rock any which way, and climb down backwards or sideways. Dont sit down for finding the next step below. One - you might lose your balance looking down, and two - your backpack might hit the step above and spoil your balance. It's too exposed out there to take these kinds of risks. Be safe.

8. It ain't over till it ain't over. Don't lose your guard until you are safely back into the col.


Approximate Timings:

Thakurwadi to Prabal Machee: 1-1.5hrs
Prabal Machee to the col: 0.5hrs
Kalavantin climb up: 30-45mins
Climb down to the col: 1-1.5hrs 

CKRT Day 08 - The Long Drive Back From Vengurla To Pune

Continued from: CKRT Day 07 - Malvan to Vengurla

WARNING: This is going to be an extra-long post about the >500km drive I had from Vengurla to Pune in a single day. This is one of the longest, most tiring and hence probably most daring bike ride I have undertaken till date. But natural, that I am going to make it sound like I have been to moon and returned unharmed. So read at your own peril. You have been warned. ;)

The Last Day Blues

The last day of our road-trip. Today, we were going to split - destined for our individual destinations. I had planned to stay in Chiplun, enroute Pune, while Pravya was to leave for Kolhapur from Vengurla via public transport. 

We were in denial. It was hard to digest that it was indeed the last day. It kept feeling like the road-trip had started merely couple days back, and a lot more was yet to come. We hadn't got enough of it, and wanted it to last a lot longer. But that wasn't to be. It's in moment like these, that you end up envying lives of such free birds as Jim Corbett, Milind Gunaji, Kalyan Varma, for the way they get paid for living a life like this. 

The Light-house

That day we got up quite early and went to checkout the light-house, which, we had learned, was somewhere on the hill behind the Sagar bungalow. 

Once on the hill, we tried quite a few routes that looked like leading up the hill towards the light-house, but met with dead-ends like dense bushes and steep, slippery gravel mounds. Finally, after sometime, we found a manageable route up the hill that ended in bushes around the light-house compound. Getting through those bushes was an ordeal due to thorns. But eventually we entered the light-house in a true James Bond style - from the sea, up the hill, over a slippery path "where no human being is expected to venture into" (oh yeah!), through the dense scrubs, over the compound and into the campus! Anxious that someone will take us to task for entering a government building in an illegal way, we moved around avoiding eye-contacts with any moving thing. And thankfully, no one questioned us. 

We moved around there, took in the views and eventually found the right way out that had proper stairs and ended a tad few meters before the spot from where we had started looking for a way up the hill!

Breakfast 

Breakfast was next on mind, but even after moving around here and there in the town, we cound;t find a single open restarurant. Seemed like Vengurla doesn't believe in having their breakfast anywhere but in their own home. Finally found a very humble joint near a petrol pump, had our breakfast, did a tankfull for further journey and set out for the room. 

A beautiful, calm and peaceful temple in Vengurla - Sign of a laidback town

The Journey Back

We got ready to leave in about an hour, and by 11am, we were on our way. I dropped Pravya at Vengurla bus stand, confirmed there was bus to Kolhapur in about half and hour, tied my bag on the back seat with couple of 6mm ropes that I was carrying (afterall, the knots that I had learnt as part of climbing ropework was coming immensely handy) and by 11:30am, after having couple of glasses of suger-cane juice, I was on my way to Chiplun. 

Enroute Chiplun

Enroute, I realised the rope had developed slack, and the bag was all wobbly. Spent almost half an hour trying different combinaions and switched to using Tarbuck knots on both ends, instead of having figure-of-eight on one end, and Tarbuck on the other. The USP of Tarbuck knot is it allows adjustment and tightening even after it's tied - a characteristic that I found way too handy while tying the bag that day. Having an adjustable knot on both ends makes it easier to tighten as needed. And sure enough, the bag never came loose again. 

It was a long journey. Chiplun itself was more than 250kms from Vengurla. But even after lunch, when I realised that I was maintaining 70kmph over the distance, I decided to make a dash for Pune, based on my previous experience of driving my car from Malvan to Pune. 

That time, we had left Malvan at around 2pm, were at Ratnagiri when light had almost diminished, in Mangaon at 11:45pm and then in Pune by 2am in the morning. 

Compared to that, I had an advantage of around 2.5hrs of daylight. Besides, when we had travelled in car, it was December - the time of an year when days are shortest. This was, on the other hand, May - exactly opposite - with longest days in an year. So I had about an hour of extra daylight - making it and advantage of almost 4-hours! So if I would rush, I should be able to make it somewhere between Mahad and Mangaon before nightfall and I won't have to tolerate the infamous upper-beam torture on one of the deadliest highways in Maharashtra. 

And with that calculation in mind, I dashed off towards Pune in full blast. Such long drives on highways tend to get monotonous and boring quickly. Twisty turvy ghats and friendly races on such a terrain, are about the only antidotes to the boredome of a driver on such drives. 

I entertained myself with such races amidst boards like - "तुम्ही प्रवासी आहात, स्पर्धक नव्हे", "आवरा वेगाला, सावरा जीवाला", "चूक असते छोटीशी, खेळ होई जीवाशी" etc. I must say the boards are quite effective since many a times I found myself not wanting to cross 100kmph. 

Yet, I counted the vehicles that managed to comprehensively overtake me and keep me on the tail. One was a Chevy Captiva, one Palio ELX, and a guy with the impressive Yamaha R16. the bike definitely has a racing DNA. Besides, the guy had a very impressive cornering technique, confidence and excellent control. Without these it's impossible to manage these ghats at high speeds. 

Racing the the Palio ELX was fun. I knew that a Palio has tall gearing, and and ELX being an old version meant it was probably a 1.2 litre engine. A 1.2 litre engine, with tall gearing makes for a lousy pickup from inertia. So I used to target those time-bands when the palio guy had to pickup speed after braking. I almost always overtook him in those bands. But then, once a palio picks up, it's the same tall gearing that makes it a formidable competitor. It would always overtake me eventually, no matter if I was doing 120kmph or 130kmph, and would vanish from my sight .... till it would brake next, that is. 


Shaken, not Stirred

While enroute Chiplun, probably in Kastye ghat, I was tailing a Swift Desire LDI. The diesel engine had gone berserk and was spewing black-and-blue smoke. I just cant tolerate the air I breath being polluted by such amount of smoke. So I resolved to overtake that car. And after a couple attempts I realized the driver was blocking my way and wasn't letting me pass, for reasons unknown. 

It was not long, before I lost my patience and decided to make a dash at the next turn. I had noticed there were no incoming vehicles and deemed it safe to use the full width of the road at the turn, to overtake that car. 

I caught up with him at the turn alright, but while overtaking it dawned on me that the U-turn was way too sharp that what I had expected. That Desire itself was struggling to stay on the road and avoid skidding. In a fraction, it came straight in front of me, in 90 degrees. To avoind bumping into the car, I straightened up, let go of the turn, and aimed for the roadside. Fortunately, the car passed, but my bike went into roadside gravel at quite high speed. I couldn't do anything but to take a nasty fall with a full roll off the bike. I had a helmet on, and the roll, though dramatic, had probably prevented any serious injury due to impact. Couple of bikers, going in both directions stopped to come pick me up. They seemed surprised that I was alright enough to stand and pick my bike up after that dramatic fall. I was shaken, but (thankfully) not stirred (physically). 

I took a 5-10mins break before resuming. And after that, I made it a point to keep my speed and agressive driving in check, more due to the emotional impact of the fall, than due to the bruises on hand and legs that had started making their presence felt.

Rest of the drive quite un-eventful. Going at about 80-90kmph, taking in the views, which thankfully were abundant due to number of ghat sections along the route. It kept my mind off the fall, and off from speeding and racing again. NH17, if we ignore its 'deadly' tag, is a delightful highway with brilliant views and, for most of the way, good surface. I kept rolling along.


The Unbelievable Kashedi Ghat

A delight of NH17, is the Kashedi ghat that ends just before Poladpur while going towards Mumbai. Smooth well-laid tar surface, challenging twists and turns, well banked u-turns along most of the route, and very wide. It's a biker's, neigh a driver's, paradise. A road for which you would leave everything else behind apart from your vehicle, and just do a fast pacy cornering while leaving the bike to the winds. It's a heaven for those with quality high power and high performance bikes (obnoxious bullet riders, this is not for you, please go elsewhere with your appallingly loud, all-pomp-no-substance bullets). Probably the best I have seen so far. Also the longest. 


Tamhini Ghat

By the time I crossed Mahad, the sun had set and it was getting dark. It was a bull's eye as far as my calculation and execution of the plan was concerned. I was indeed between Mahad and Mangaon by the time of sun-set and though I had to endure the upper-beam torture of NH17, it was for merely half an hour. I somehow kept my patience through that half an hour. 

By 7:30pm, after couple of glasses of sugar-cane juice at Mangaon, I had started towards Pune via Nizampur and Tamhini ghat. 

It was seemingly a full moon night, yet due to the kind of dense jungle through which Tamhini ghat passes, it was quite dark. Tamhini being a very less frequented ghat, there was scarcely any vehicle that passed me in either direction. It's quite ennervating to drive a bike alone through such passages in the night. And then to top it all, I lost my way! Fortunately there was an Arhatic Yoga Ashram on the way where I could confirm that I had indeed lost my way, turned back and got on the correct route. 

I was exhausted, my body was paining like anything and Pune was just not coming nearby. Worse, the bad road was testing my patience. Even on a fresh morning, Tamhini roads are barely bearable. On a lonely night, after around 400kms of drive already, next 120kms of such a surface is nothing short of slow poison. 


Home Sweet Home

Eventually, by 10:30pm, it was home sweet home. That sweet, cosy place after 520kms, 11hrs of driving. My whole body was talking, and I would have sold my bike for the rest of one night. 520kms in a day is my record drive till date. And I will never ever will have enough motivation to break it anytime in future. 

The CKRT saga had officially ended, and the sweet feeling of a cosy home after a long drive had easily overpowered the bitterness due to end of CKRT. A warm bath later, I was in the bed, dozing like I was having a sleep of my life. 


Stats 

At Vengurla Bus Stand: 
Time: 11:30am
Odometer Reading: 25926km

At Home in Pune - 
Time: 10:30pm
Odometer Reading: 26447km

CKRT Day 07 - Malvan to Vengurla

Continued from CKRT Day 06 - Devgad to Malvan (Tarkarli)

Route: Malvan -> Vengurla -> Terekhol -> Aaronda -> Vengurla

Day-7 was going to be our penultimate day, and the blues were already showing. This was a life that people long to live. And this very pleasure of travelling, seeing places, moving around, meeting different people, was going to end within a day. This feeling was something that we hadn't planned for, nor had we thought about before. 

We somehow shrugged off the blues and decided to enjoy the day while it lasts. The plan was to go check out Tsunami Island (which, in reality, turned out to be another marketting gimmick), and then move on to Vengurla. 


Tsunami Island

Boats for Tsunami Island leave from Tarkarli boating club facilities. There are multiple groups which arrange these rides. 

We had to wait for people to join, since the charges for the ride are a steep 1000/- rupees onwards. Eventually, we got onto the same boat, with, as luck would have it, the group of those nice young retirees that we had met in Kanakavli. 

The Devbaug Tarkarli part of Sindhu-Durga is seperated from the mainland by a massive creek. The ride to Tsunami Island goes through this creek. The views from both sides of the creek are very beautiful. Sometimes there are mangroves, sometimes deserted jungles. On the right coast it's Devbaug, while on the left, it's Bhogave. The width of the creek is quite large, so the boat ride is quite easy and comfortable. You can spot an occassional eagle, kingfisher or a seagull flying around and fishing in the creek. I saw one Small Blue Oriental Kingfisher diving into the water, catching some fish, and then perching on a coconut tree stem, which was bent over the waters, near Devbaug temple. Unfortunately, I had a wide-angle lens on my DSLR and the boat would have been long way from the bird till I would switch to a telephoto. 

The very beautiful shore of Devbaug creek

The Tsunami Island, as they call it, is a small island formed out of bulk of sand broken off from mainland during the tsunami tides. It's more of a marketting gimmick than something really interesting. When we go to the isand, water sports were being carried out off it. The boats are purposefully halted there for half an hour if someone wants to participate in those sports. None of us got down. We had already tried our hands at it, and were not keen on getting drenched with camera and other electronics on us. 

The place where the creek of Devbaug meets the sea, is an interesting place due to two opposite forces acting against each other, resulting into multi-directional strange tides. 

After halting at Tsunami Island for about 15-20mins, the boat started back towards the boating club. The island was completely submerged in water due to high tide, and seeing those huts and peeople floating on water was probably the only interesting part about it. 


The Corals in the Seas and in the Men of Konkan

From boating club, we came back to the jetty and arranged for snorkelling since we had some time in hand. The boat took is to the left of Sindhudurga fort (left as seen from the jetty), called King's Garden. Pravya went in alone, since I had already done it an year back. Unfortunately, it was a high tide time and that too of a full-moon, so the water level was way too high than usual and though he was impressed with the variety of colourul fishes he saw, he probably couldn't see those corals in their full glory. 

When I was in Malvan, an year and half ago, I had forgotten my costly wristwatch here. I couldn't get it delivered back to me by any means in the meantime. So now that I was in Malvan once again, I decided to call the host where I had stayed that time, and see if he still has it. To my biggest surprise, he still had it and asked me to collect it from him! With springs in my leg (it was a costly watch damn it), I wend to his place and collected it. It was as it was. Unused, and wrapped in a slight layer of dust! This would't have happend anywhere else. But I was in Konkan. 


Vengurla

In next half an hour, we had checked out from our room, and were on our way to Vengurla. The road to Vengurla, was again partly through barren lands, and partly through dense jungled ghats. You dont feel any heat in the atmosphere here. In fact, it felt quite cooler that anywhere else. 

In about an hour and half, when getting down the final ghat of Vengurla, we got a glimpse of real paradise, that is Vengurla. The sun was right over head, and the Vengurla beach, with those many white frothing tides, the Sagar Bunglow on a small hillock on the right with a few coconut trees adorning it, a hill and a group of coconut trees seperating Vengurla beach from an adjoining beach (probably Mochemad beach), quite a few fishing trawlers docked in the vengurla dockyard, and a few beautiful small houses  peeping through a dense tree cover in the mainland that was Vengurla. I instantly fell in love with the town. It was so picturesque!!

Vengurla - First Impression

We slowly trickled down into the town, found a room, threw in our luggage, had a lunch and decided to keep Vengurla for the next morning, and move on towards Terekhol instead, for the rest of the day. 


Terekhol

Terekhol is about 20kms from Vengurla. The route is picturesque and beautiful. It's very nice drive except for the mining area around the Tata Metalics plant, which is dusty and irritating as hell. 

Enroute Terekhol, we also came across some temples, and the historical salt-beds of Shiroda. The Terekhol Fort itself, is a very small Portugese fort. It's very very well maintained by Goa Tourism, despite it being such a small structure. It's more or less converted into a hotel with a sea-view restaurant on the top. 

The build of the fort is quite different from that of Marathi forts, and it screames of its European genes. 

The views from the top of the fort are plain amazing. The Terekhol creek - a vast expanse of it - is visible from the top and its natural beauty and cleanliness of the beach in front, are striking. 

	The Superb views from the top of Terekhol Fort

Aaronda and Kiranpani

We had heard about the Aaronda and Kiranpani villages in the nearby area and went to check them out after leaving Terekhol. The route and the village of Aaronda is quite small, green town with naturally a laid-back lifestyle. For going to Kiranpani, there are ferries being operated between the two shores of the creek. But when we got there, a new bridge between the two shores, was being constrcuted and was nearing completion. It looked like it would get commissioned within a month or two. 




Back to Vengurla

Idling there for sometime, we retuend back to the Vengurla dockyard. Sunset was nearing, and since there was a hill between us and the setting sun, we moved to the top of the hill from where we had seen Vengurla for the first time in the afternoon. But from that spot too, unfortunately, the hill was blocking the view. It appered that due to उत्तरायण, the sun was more towards hilly north side of the town during evening. Probably, during दक्षिणायन (months of Nov/Dec maybe?) the sun would set over the dockyard of Vengurla, and that would make one heck of a sight. 

After spending some time there, on top of the ghat, we returned back to the town when it started getting dark. It was our last dinner of the trip and we had an expensive one, in one of the quality restaurants of the town. 

And then thinking about all the awesome time that we had spent over the last week or so, I went to sleep with a little morose feeling owing to the end of those happy days.


Next: CKRT Day 08 - The Long Drive Back from Vengurla to Pune