It was an exhilarating, fun road trip with my postgrad college seniors. When they were still students, we had hardly ever exchanged words, but after they passed out of the college, they became close-knit with my best friend, Amrita. And as Amrita and I come in one package, they asked me out for a road trip too. Initially, they had planned for an overnight stay at one of the tree houses in Lonavla.

This was the first time I was hanging out with them. I knew they were funny, warm, and welcoming, so I was not in two minds whether to go or not.


It was decided that we all meet in Mulund, since Chirag, the one who was gonna drive and owned the car, lives there. We started from Mulund at 8:00 am. It was an i10 and we were five. Needless to say, we sat perfectly, with no space issues. My mom had come along with me to see off (because I was not well and I needed a company). She met my seniors and Amrita.

In the backseat, me, Amrita, and Prachi, my stunningly pretty senior, were sitting; and in the driver's seat, it was Chirag, and next to him, Prashant.
We listened to songs during the entire road trip.

Our first halt was for breakfast at Shree Dutta Snacks. I just had a wada pav and tea, while others had thalipeeth and sada dosa. This Sadguru hotel is pretty famous as we had to wait for a table. After breakfast, we resumed the journey.


When we were nearing Bhandardara, we stopped here, as it was a bisque barren land, and we thought we could click nice photographs here. Unfortunately, we didn't have the zing to pose. We clicked some awkward photographs, which you can see above.


 
After inquiring with random locals, we finally stepped on the shore of Bhandardara. It was a weekend, so there were many travel enthusiasts camping by the lakeside. We imagined us camping there some day. But for us, our only dream for the moment was getting into the lake and probably splashing water on to each other.



Sadly, I could not go deep in, as I was on period; it had started at 3 am; yes, Aunt Ruby and trips don't make a fun combo.
I went in water until my knees were wet and I was just sighing all the time. I came out and sat on the rocks nearby. Funny, how I had to lie saying, "I have not carried a pair of pants, so I cannot get fully wet."
All the people that know me well, know how mad I am about water bodies. I have to go deep in, I have to get wet, I have to be inside for more than an hour. But my seniors must have thought I am a mundane person with no admiration for fun.

Nevertheless, I watched them enjoy, and it was refreshing to see that. Water bodies always make me happy.


We sat on the rocks--me, because I had no option, and them, because they had to dry themselves before getting in to the car.
We were too hungry by now, so we took a lunch stopover.
 

I had visited this hotel before, some 9 years ago, with my family. The MTDC hotel. It looked as though it was just a couple of years back I was here. I immediately clicked a picture of the backyard garden and sent it on my family group. They were surprised too.




After hogging on yummy butter rotis and enticing Punjabi dishes, our tummies had no more space. We clicked pictures here and after they changed into fresh, dry set of clothes, we left for home.



On our way back, we came across this mysterious place. It reminded me of those green exotic scenes they show in Disney movies. We clicked lot of pictures here, and this was an exciting halt.



When we were near Mumbai around 9:00 pm, we took several breaks. It was clear that none of us wanted to go home...