Somewhere in the Sahyadris

It was the end of monsoon early October and the weather called for an outing in the Sahyadri range. We planned a trek to a village on the edge of the ghats overlooking Lingana and Raigad forts. The video narrates the journey to the village and back. Script and Narration: Aditi Wagh Special thanks to Anita Jorkar and family. The name of the village and location is intentionally not disclosed to preserve the sanctity of the place and natural beauty.
 

High altitude trekking experince

 

We talk about the six Doctors very often during the MFL workshops in which Exercise is one of the important one. Exercising becomes easier when are connected with nature. What better way than to test your physical limits while trekking in the mountains. The fresh mountain air and the natural abundance rejuvenates you in no time.

Dipika and Nikhil Kothari recently hiked up the Himalayas to Gaumukh Tapovan, which is at an altitude of 14,202 ft. They narrate their experience of travelling the distance and how their lifestyle helped them cope up with the situation.

Interviewed by: Aditi Wagh

The Satellite Train

My family and I were at Serene for about a week. We left for Pune via Kadve khind (Panshet) by 6:30 in the evening. 

One ST bus was getting toed from the other side of the road by another near our lower farming plot due to some breakdown. As the road was narrow, we had to stop. So, we got a bit delayed. We were annoyed too as it was getting late. We even thought of turning back and going via Pabe ghat. 

Luckily after sometime, the bus passed and we continued with our journey to Pune. We crossed the ghat. 7:15pm, it was quite dark, the road with a lot of potholes, so we were driving slowly and cautiously. 

I was sitting back and I saw some mysterious white spotted line up in the sky. I thought maybe it's an electricity wire reflecting the light. But there was no one in front of us. 

Curious, I started watching it more carefully. It was moving. I tried stopping our car. 'Dad, stop the car now! There is something mysterious up in the sky!' I thought it was some kind of firecracker but no! 

When my mom too saw it, we both excited, started screaming. My dad had to stop. All four of us got down and seriously, there was this beautiful, gorgeous looking thing up in the sky going in the direction of Serene! Like a train of light floating in the sky in a fantasy movie! 

And my dad excitedly said, 'woah! It is a starlink satellite!' I was going to call people at Serene so that even they can see, but unfortunately, we had no range at all. 

When we came back home, Omkar searched about it and confirmed that it was Starlink satellite of SpaceX of Elon Musk. 

On Thursday,  October 27th at 6:14pm PT, SpaceX launched 53 starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This was the eighth launch and landing for Falcon 9 stage booster.  This was the last batch of this year. 

We couldn't capture it but how beautiful was the scene and how lucky we are that we four were able to witness it! 

Funny part is, a man and his wife were just behind us on a bike. When we stopped, he happened to stop too, maybe he had a phone call to attend. So the guy was fidgeting with his phone and the lady was like 'Kunakade baghtyat akashamandi kay mhayti?' ('God knows what they are looking at in the sky?') 

Sometimes, things are happening in front of us, it's just that we need to keep our eyes open! 

Pic source: internet

The laterite - name plate making

 We had decided to make our own house name plate when our house was under construction. So we were in search of a slice of log for that. 

Luckily, once while coming to Serene with Nikhil bhaiya and Dipu didi, they planned to stop in a saw mill at Nasrapur to collect some wooden material for their own house. 

Bhaiya, while searching, happened to pick up this log slice and I was like, 'this is absolutely what I am searching for!' As I had completed one year with Serene and MFL, he thought of gifting it to me and yes, he definitely did! 

It's texture was quite rough when we purchased it, it was all soiled. It was somewhat next to impossible to paint on it and it would have been difficult to carry it too. So, Dipu didi helped me clean it as much as possible with a broom lying nearby. 

When we came to Serene, Nikhil bhaiya took it from me, he helped me smoothen up the surface using sandpaper. He was working on it for about an hour and then he gave it back to me. 

For a long time, I was wondering from where to begin working but slowly and steadily, it started taking shape and now, it's all ready! 

It definitely is looking gorgeous today on the red walls of our house -' the Laterite' and of course, thank you Bhaiya and didi for this lovely gift. 🥰🥰🙏🏻😇