No there is no new baba in the scene who serves hot piping vada pav with fried chillies with a flick of his hand. For those who are unaware, vada pav is the poor man's burger, a sort of fast food that possibly originated in Mumbai. It consists of a pav or salty bun and a potato cutlet served with chutney or sauce.



Okay, to stop digressing, mera number bschool mein finally lag gaya and I have joined one. And all thoughts of sitting in classrooms and typing in laptops aaram se were erased after we went for a programme called the outbound learning programme.



It took place in the outskirts of Pune and we climbed a hill called Sinhagad. If you have worked in the IT industry for quite a while, the only trekking you could have possibly done would have been from the first floor to the second floor. That is unless you are a fitness freak who goes on regular adventure outings.

Once we were at the base camp, we looked at the hill and thought that this one must be easy. It looked surmountable afterall. And then we began to walk. And walk. And walk. For some three hours. Our group leader kept saying we are half way through every five minutes. People fell, fussed and even tried to sleep on the rocks for a while but there was a lot of climbing to be done.

So enter our motivators. We were promised vada pav on reaching the top. So there were shouts of 'jai baba vada pav' and 'khayenge hum' to cheer us on as we huffed and puffed up the way. And so Jai baba vada pav kept us going as we finally reached the top. I dont think I have ever been more happier to see a vada pav and some tap water on reaching the top.

The way down was a bit easier. Though a lot more tricky. And we all looked almost the same after the trek. Brown, dishevelled and relieved.

The next day saw a lot of team building activities happen. There was a lot of naming of teams happening and one very enthusiastic team named themselves 'The yaks'. But unfortunately, the instructor read them out as 'yucks' and so 'yucks' they remained for the rest of the day. But the very sportive group were still happy with their new name.

The bus ride back to college was entertaining. A group of budding indian idols were all out to display their singing, seat tapping and histronic skills. So they sang a lot of filmy songs, lifebuoy jingle, the track of kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi and a lot of other stuff. Thankfully, the college appeared around the corner just when the last bit of our eardrums and tonsils were melting away.

Its been quite a rollercoaster ride so far. A sign of things to come. Picture toh abhi baaki hai mere dost!