"...It must have been somewhere around second week of May 2003, when, Bunny, Maddy and I surfed the internet desperately to extract the Arcanum it had, about Leh-Ladakh, which revealed many known and unknown facts about the cold sandy paradise. We downloaded nearly every bit of information about the place and also the possible means to reach, as they say, 'the forbidden land'.
Maddy, a nickname very common amongst our fairly elaborate friend circle, is an edited version of Madhur Mittal, who is an idol of miserly acts. Though, a miser at heart, Maddy likes to live life king size. And so he does, god knows how. He hails from a thorough breed of Marwadis and that says it all. As far as Bunny is concerned, he is my darling younger brother, who loves to lead a luxurious life at any cost. He is of the genre, who loves bit of nt every bit of his not so enormous wealth, his pocket money. So what if his resources burn out in the very first week of the month? There is always mummy to fall back upon. All three of us are pursuing engineering degree course, Bunny and Maddy ,both being in second year, are also in the same college. Bunny is in Production Engineering while Maddy happens to be in computers. I am a year senior to them and studying Mechanical Engineering.
It was yet another brutally lengthy academic year's end and we had our engineering exams round the corner, knocking the doors of our consciousness and breaking into our illusionary world. It was study time, though; different from the previous, since now we had an incentive to fare well too.
The idea was floated involuntarily amongst all friends and eventually two extremely interesting chaps also joined the Ladakh trip aspirants group, extending the initial trio to pentad. I also happen to know this globetrotting and trekking enthusiast called Ranjit Panchal,who is in his early thirties and still an eligible bachelor. He too, got energized on hearing the plan that had now come on to paper. So now, even he was enlisted amongst the Ladakh trip aspirants group, tailoring the list from trio to pentad to hexad.
The other two extraordinarily interesting, larger than life characters were, Aman and Bawa. Though biologically separated, they're soulfully one. One can guess by their extra terrestrial activities that they're just like peas in a pod. You'll know better as we proceed.
Aman khan is the adman of India, working as a senior copywriter with S.S.C.&B., an enterprise of the well-known multinational advertising agency, LOE. I can say one thing for sure, that, if Aman wouldn't be in the ad world, he would've made a bright carrier in Sumo wrestling or may be bull fight contests, since, only a bull can fight a bull. Behezad Mehta is certainly a deceiving name since Behezad sounds like an Irani cum Persian name and Mehta is generally a Gujju surname. But no, the fact is, that, this snow white bundle of joy belongs to the Parsi community and thus draws his trademark cum patented nickname; BAWA. He too, like Bunny and Maddy, is in second year of engineering, of Electronics and Telecommunication discipline.
The pre-blueprint was prepared within a day or two. Though the destination was the same, the means to reach , differed from person to person. Bunny and I, being sons of a Government servant, could avail the facility of LTC, which means that, the Government would bare all out travelling expenses to whichever place we visited within the country. So obviously, we chose to fly through and through. But this could never have catered the needs of Maddy's so called economical travelling extravaganza. Bawa without much fuss, agreed to Maddy's torturous, yet luring, economical travelling extravaganza or rather I should say, incommodiousness bonanza, which included a train long journey of twenty eight hours to Chandigarh in second class sleeper couch. Maddy even insisted on availing student's concession on the railway ticket fare, which to him, seemed a monstrous amount to shell from his overprotected treasury. From Chandigarh, Maddy had kindly agreed to accommodate our plans to fly to Leh, as time was a constraint; otherwise he could've happily taken his private bus number eleven to Leh. As for Aman, anything and everything was ok. Ranjit bhaiyya had his own plans of doing Manali-Leh route in a public transport, which to us, seemed unrealistic and infinitely tasking, since the route, though one of the most beautiful and picturesque in the world, exists; but does not. After a prolonged debate on what way to reach Leh, we finally, had drawn a rough sketch in our minds.
It was now early June, warm and humid, which brought along a never-ending season of examinations. Bunny, Maddy, Bawa and I were once again engrossed (as if we ever were) in our textbooks, which, for the entire year, occupied shelf space and provided home for millions of infinitely small organisms, which if alive, chewed on some pages, and if dead, became fossils engraved on alternated lines on alternate pages. My oral examination dates were uncertain, as a result of which, we delayed our multi-transport ticket reservation. And when finally the picture of dates was clear, there were no tickets left. For a minute, I was disheartened; and for the second, envied Ranjit bhaiyya's plan to travel by road, which was almost fixed. The whole situation seemed a jape until I reached the acme of desperation and switched over to plan B(which never existed before that moment).
I quickly summoned the rest of the lot for a powwow at my place. We commonly decided to hire a multi-utility vehicle and drive down to Leh, taking Manali-Leh route. At least now we were sure that the mode of transportation would be one and that too, hired from Chandigarh or Manali. The plan was getting too exciting too contain with all o f us rushing in multi-directions to gather information about the route and the transport available. Bunny and Maddy grabbed a few pamphlets on Ladakh and Manali-Leh route from ITDC office at Churchgate. While I was away for my oral examination in college, these guys were doing the groundwork and finally short-listed a travel agency that hired out its vehicles for such excursions. This agency had been recommended by HPTDC (Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation), that has an office in World Trade Center. Though there is also a bus on that track, which is run by HPTDC itself, but certainly not conducive for humans. It tortures passengers to insanity, rendering them exanimate and fully on the mercy of the monstrous driver, who accelerates perilously, through that ghastly high altitude zone as if he is driving, not a 1960 model bus, but a 2050 model space craft, to eternity. This journey might remind one, of the song, 'killing me softly'. On the same day, after my oral examination, Maddy and I negotiated with BTD travel agency and fixed up a Toyota Qualis, deluxe model of 2002, at a fairly reasonable price (and it ought to be if Maddy's agreed to it). The very next day, the agent of BTD, Adesh Chaudhary came to my place and fixed up the deal by handing us over a receipt that also included our route details as per our wishes. We had handed him over, a post dated cheque of fifty percent of the total amount payable ,giving the deal a coup de^ grace. According to the deal, vehicle was to pick us up from Chandigarh on the 4th of August and leave us back by 16th. There had been an extensive study of the maps before deciding the final route and we made it a point to have the route mentioned in the receipt, which the agent gave us, so that later the driver doesn't have a problem with that. Our joy knew no limits and with the first hurdle cleared, it seemed a conquest.
Bunny and I had booked our air tickets to Chandigarh well in advance and that too, for the 30th of July, since Amit Mama, Mom's younger brother, happens to be posted there. He's working with HINDALCO, which belongs to Adita Birla Group Of Industries. Mama has two cute kids, Radhika (11) and Mukund (3). Sonal Mami, his wife, is a perfect portrayal of Indian womanhood.
Maddy and Bawa had the same old and torturous plans of reaching Chandigarh on the 3rd of August. Aman , on the other hand, bought an air ticket to Delhi for the 3rd itself and fixed it up with BTD travel agency to pick him up from Indira Gandhi Domestic Airport, Delhi, and drive down to Chandigarh. This was possible because the vehicle was any way coming from Delhi, BTD being a Delhi based travel agency. Ranjit bhaiyya had similar plans as that of Aman; but before they could turn into action, he backed out at the eleventh hour, leaving us all in a frenzy as now the vehicle expense would be shared amongst five and not six. Poor Maddy was hit below the belt and he became anorexic ever since then. Looking at his plight, we conferred him extra time to pay the extra amount that had suddenly arisen due to Ranjit bhaiyya's missing contribution. But this wasn't an issue to mope as it was just a few hundred rupees more per head. Now that all five of us had chipped in a few thousand rupees for the vehicle, it was certain, that we, surely were, the 'would be famous five', and that if; even the ship would be sinking, the mice wouldn't jump.
Now began the pre-Ladakh exercise, 'operation gathering and operation packing', which meant getting old woollen clothes dry-cleaned or buying new ones and packing them along with other clothes and basic amenities like shaving kit etc. I selected separate dresses, not for separate occasions, but separated seconds; and in the process, nearly emptied my whole cupboard onto the double bed in my bedroom. And then the perplexity grew even more, when I was asked to select only a few that could be accommodated in my suitcase along with Bunny's clothes. Finally I settled for a few, most of which remained in the same position as they were packed until we returned and I relocated them back in my cupboard in Mumbai. The irony of the whole situation is that, I practically used only a single pair, apart from the ones I had worn on my journey to Chandigarh and during the stay there. This had happened for the simple reason, that, I never even gave it a second thought of taking a bath or changing my clothes in that cold and ghastly weather personified, through the entire trip.
Bunny and I were also carrying a haversack in which I ruthlessly shoved in as much woolen clothes as I could. But even then, the most space-occupying matter in my haversack still remained the medical kit, which had medicines for all ailments, right from headache to diarrhoea, be it allopathic or homoeopathic, I had it..."DHISHKYAON! Hey, wait a sec buddies, this isn't all. The passage avove is just an extract from the in house, untittled Novella, a kind of travelogue on our trip to Ladakh. Apart from those mentioned, there are a few other, larger than life characters too. One of them and probably the prime, is Bunny. Arrey bhai, not my younger brother Bunny, but my elder brother Bunny, rightly known as Bada Bunny. His name, according to the one mentioned in his matriculate certificate happens to be Jeetendra Mehra, of which, only a few are aware, but no one even bothers to call him by that name since one and all including himself, are overcomfortable with the nick, Bada Bunny. Next in the que is Deepuji. Deepak Rathod is what profs like to call him. By now it must be amply clear that the guy is pretty well know in the prof's circuit. yes, Deepuji is a scholarly kind of a person, deep in his thoughts. But i must mention that the guy never throws around his weight at any instance and so one can rightly call him 'Mr Perfect' of the group.Why should he be called 'Mr Perfect' or Aman-'Adman' or Madhur-'Maddy' or Behezad-'Bawa' or Myself-'Shikaari' or blah! blah! blah!, has never been an issue for any one of us to debate, but for Mr. Un-Asked-For debator, Jaineel Aga.Not even remotely related to late Jalaal Aga, this guy oozes with inordinate zest to flare up a debate on any topic of exceptionally slight relevance.There can be no casual talk amongst us, friends, which may drif out stealthily without being caught by Jaineel's debating clutches.He can conduct postmortems on a topic pertaining a rat's tail's hair also, with immaculate justifications.But i must rightly admit that one can't possibly avoid being overawed by the guy's unmatched intelligence and quest for knowledge.BRAVO!
ONE THING I MUST TELL ALL OF YOU WHO TAKE PLEASURE IN SEEKING ADVENTURE,WITH FURTHEST HUMILITY,THAT, NEVER TRY TO ACTUATE ANY OF THE STUNTS THAT YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER WHILE GLANCING THROUGH THE DEEDS OF SHIKAARI SHAMBHOO AND HUNTERS CO., SINCE,YOU MAY INVITE UNWANTED RISK TO YOUR LIVES.
If you may so feel, kindly ask us for necessary precautionary measures to be followed while actuating you DREAM ADVENTURE.We shall be only too obliged to render assistance solicited.Wish you all the very best for your DREAM ADVENTURES.DHISHKYAON!
Due to the Data Transfer limitations, we may not be able to host all the Mp3 files together and therefore will have to refrain our exuberant exhibition of inhouse tatent. We shall now confine ourselves to choosing on daily basis, and accordingly switch over artists everyday. In this way we'll be able to suffice our requirements too. Kindly enter your choices in the guest book and judging by "the maximum want" criteria, artist's performance will be made available.
Earlier this month, as reported by our correspondent and victim, Madhur Mittal, a gang of Sadhus flicked a not-so-brand-new, infact pretty-old: second-hand: full-of-scratches 8250, from his cuffe-parade apartment. This 8250 was one of the most priced possessions of "The Chatur" Madhur. It is believed that the Sadhu master blaster, the kid of the sadhu maharaj , had got his eyes fixed on the 8250 from the time he had first visited La loo in Mittals private bedroom, where 8250 was kept on an obscure table.. Immediately after the Sadhus had wound up their exclusive ceremonial performances, the master blaster mobile bhookka made his way into "The chatur-Madhur's" bedroom once again, but this time not to fill the western commode but only to fulfill his hunger for mobile phones. After accomplishing his deed, mobile bhookka was allegedly reported to have been gushed by sudden energy to run for some non-existent tution classes, and successfully fled the place .
After repeated nagging to file an FIR, by Sachin Sharma alias Shikaari Shambhoo, "The chatur-Madhur" decided not to go the legal way and on moral-ethical-religious-superstitious grounds did not plan to nail the Mobile Bhookka. As a direct consequence to the events, "The chatur-Madhur" finally came to the conclusion that its high time he goes Adhunik-Nokia-3300 way. He then enticed fellow Comrades Jitendra Mehra alias Bada Bunny and Sachin Sharma alias Shikaari Shambhoo into the act of switching over to Adhunik-Nokia-3300 in an extremely planned and cleaver fashion. "The chatur-Madhur" , eventually showed his true colours and succesfully emerged as a true chatur once again by enjoying a wooping discount of around five hundred rupees due to collective buying of the same phone, on the same day, at the same hour, by not one, but three S.S.&H.C. Members, on the 19th of this month.
So, now you can guess for yourself, who is the real winner. It is undoubtedly "The chatur-Madhur".
Music composed & performed by Sachin Sharma
Voice over by Jeetendra Mehra (Bada Bunny)
Created by Sachin Sharma
Lead Noise over by Bawa
Backup Noise by SachinNitinMaddy
Music Composed & Performed by Sachin Sharma
Lyrics by Baba Khan
Lead vocals by Nitin Sharma
Backup Vocals by Sachin Sharma
Music composed and performed by Sachin Sharma
Sharaab peena sikha diya mp3
Performed wholly & solely by Maddy urf Qawwal Mia Chatur Madhur-ur-rehman-o-tulla-Khan-Mittal
