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Canopy!!!

Magaliesburg Canopy Tour

 
'Magaliesburg', a small town situated below the Witwatersrand mountain range in Gauteng, South Africa.This is a popular holiday and weekend destinations spot for the residents of Johannesburg which caters for variety of activities.

We started from Joburg around 8 AM very excited for our first canopy experience. Accompanying us were few close friends. We finally reach 'Magaliesburg Canopy Tour' around 10 and waiting for our tour guide to join us. Our tour guides, Mr Danger and  Mr Lucky greeted us and gave us an introduction and safety tour explaining the process and other guidelines.

Danger helped us with our gear and we all were really excited to start the adventure.

From Left to Right:

Amar, Subha, Danger,  Nirosha, Ravi, Ramya, Ashish

yes, we do look funny with the gear on!! 😆😁

So we embark on our 15 minute journey from parking spot to the starting point of our adventure. On our way, Danger and Lucky explained the flora and fauna of the region. We saw lots of Protea flowers. Protea is the national flower and is a beauty!

We also tried wild apricots and couple of other mouth watering fruits.

Initially we were bit scared as none of us had ever experienced this before. Ravi and Nirosha went first. Now, Ramya's turn and she started panicking and did not want to move forward with the ride.

Ramya: Mummyyyy (crying), Noooo, Noooo, Noooo (continues crying)

I tried to push her and tried to calm her but she wont listen. Danger also tried but failed. 

Ramya(furious) to Danger: Wait.... Let me breathe!! 😠

Finally she went through screaming at her loudest. The same was the case for Subha(captured in the video). 😆😂😊

There were 10 rides in total of which 4th was the longest (140m) and 5th was the highest(58m). Total time for the tour was 1 hour 30 minutes excluding the 15 minute travel to the start.

The first one was the scariest one as we were unaware of the experience.

The rides were thrilling and we all felt safe during all the rides. After the 5th ride, it was a descent and we had to apply brakes manually using friction generated by the gloves and the zip line. At the end of the canopy we all were disappointed that it was over so soon.

This was an amazing experience and must be in the itinerary if anyone plans for a visit to South Africa. 

The food was good. We ordered Chicken Burgers, Veggie Burgers.We also ordered a Group video package including 6 personalized videos.The turnaround time for edited snaps and videos was quick.

The return journey to our pick up spot was a hike for 15 minutes. The place was amazing with a lovely stream and lush green trees. 

Details:

Magaliesburg Canopy Tour
Website: http://www.magaliescanopytour.co.za/

Jaane ye kya huwa...!!!

The characters in this post are fictitious and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental..

Cast: 

Rahul - Hero

Aahana - Hero's sister

Sandhya - Heroine

Karthik - Hero's friend

What the characters do?

Rahul – A depressed software engineer in search of an onsite opportunity

Aahana – A successful public figure

Sandhya – An entrepreneur

Karthik – Yet another software engineer!

Aahana reaches railway platform on time, only to notice that the train is already in motion.

Mumbai – Rahul’s cell beeps!

Aahana – Dude, what was the departure time of my train?

Rahul – I guess it was 08:30 hrs. Why? Where are you? Did you start??

Aahana(furious) –Missed it by just 2 min

Rahul – oh god! Sorry dear, the departure time was 08:20 Not 08:30 L

Aahana(more furious) –  Heck!  How can you not mention me the proper time?

and hangs up the phone.

Rahul calls up Karthik to inform about the issue with Aahana’s train. Karthik asks him not to worry because the tatkal window would open up the next morning, and that they both can try booking the ticket.

Rahul’s cell beeps again!

Karthik – Hey Rahul, its me. Problem solved. Ticket for today night is available. Do you want me to book the ticket for Aahana.

Rahul – Hey dude! Awesome news. No worries. I shall do it right away. You saved me from a huge trouble man! My sister was so furious yesterday for my mistake. She’s going to eat me when she meets me. lolz!

Karthik – Don’t worry man! All worked out! Just let her know when you are done. And for god’s sake please mention the correct timing this time.

Mumbai– Aahana’s Cell:

Rahul – Hey it’s me.

Aahaha – yeah. Tell me khadus. You ruined my weekend plans! :-P

Rahul  - You will be in Mumbai early morning tomorrow. Pack your bags and get ready.

Aahaha – This better be true, else you are gone bro!

Rahul – I will text you all the details. Good day. Bye and hangs up the phone.

Aahana’s Journey:

Aahana, all set for Mumbai reaches railway station well on time unlike her previous day visit. Luckily she’s got her tatkal reservation in a 3AC coach. Happy as always gets into the coach and settles.

The train departs from the platform and journey began. Aahana calls up Rahul and informs she’s settled and will see him in the morning. Also tells him to be on time to receive her at Mumbai CST.

Glancing at the faces in the compartment, Aahana finds a girl possibly her age, on a call from the moment she boarded the train. She smiles at her as an ice breaker.  The girl replies back with a smile. Finally she hangs up her call and greets Aahana with a big smile.

Aahana – Hello. Aahana here. What is your good name?

Girl – Hey, its Sandhya. Nice to meet you.

Aahaha –Do you stay in Mumbai?  I mean, do u study there?

Sandhya – Nope! I am going to meet my boyfriend. What about you?

Aahana – Going to meet my brother. He works in Mumbai.

Sandhya – Cool. Maharashtrian?

Aahana – Yeah. You?

Sandhya – Yeah. Me too.

Few minutes later, they both came to know they even belong to similar caste.

Sandhya mentioned that she and her boy friend are not from same caste and that her parents might not accept their relationship. Aahana casually proposes Sandhya to marry her brother Rahul hoping she would not get offended. Both knew those were just words which had no existence for real. Their conversation continued and later exchanged numbers before going back to their allocated berths.

Mysterious Girl:

Rahul, not an early bird, woke up late and reached CST. Aahana tells Rahul her journey was an interesting one and that she met a girl from similar caste. She even mentioned to Rahul that she had asked Sandhya to marry him if her relationship doesn’t work out. Rahul was very eager to know the name but Aahana never mentioned her name to him.

Rahul somehow comes to know the name of the girl who was in the train with his sister. He browses through Sandhya’s Facebook profile which did not have much information or photos. Disappointed, he logs out and forgets about the profile.

Oh Shit! Did I just add her?

Rahul, a facebook maniac, gets a notification saying ‘Sandhya(Friends with Aahana) commented on Aahana’s photo’. Curious to know if there were any new developments on Sandhya’s Facebook profile since his last visit, opens Sandhya’s Facebook profile. His eyes lit up with a wide smile the moment he finds there are few photos in her ‘Cover Photos’ and ‘Profile Pictures’ albums with some information in ‘About’. Satisfied with what he saw, while navigating back on mobile, unintentionally clicks on ‘Add Friend’ on  Facebook application only to finds that the request was sent. He starts cursing the mobile application for this, but in reality was in a way happy that it happened.

The request was already sent, the damage was already done. He did not cancel the request with a hope that Sandhya would accept his request. There were few occasions where he had already added few girls (intentionally) which were a success. Leaving the rest on his luck, he gets back to his work.

Luck by Chance:

Back from office, as usual, Rahul switches on his laptop and opens Facebook. He checks for his notifications and literally jumps from his seat when he sees that Sandhya had accepted his friend request. He again browsed through her profile hoping to see more albums and photos she was tagged in. Not finding anything new which he had not seen, logs out of Facebook.

Online?

Sandhya was commenting on few pictures of her friends. Rahul noted this and was wondering why Sandhya was not showing online to him. He finally sends her a message saying ‘Hi’ and gets back reply in seconds. After a casual conversation with Sandhya for some time, Rahul makes up his courage and requests if he can ask her a question for which she replies back with yes.

Rahul – your contact #?

Sandhya – Are you Aahana’s brother? No, not so soon

Rahul – what do you think? Is waiting gonna do anything better later?

Sandhya – I don’t think, I know you are Aahana’s brother. That’s the reason I accepted your request. Sorry, not so soon Rahul.

Rahul – Don’t worry, I will not call you.

Sandhya -  why do you require number when we can chat here??

Rahul – To add you on whatsapp and chat with you on whatsapp ;-)

Sandhya – its 9822124124, just cos ur Aahana’s brother J

Rahul – btw, did you tell Aahana abt the request? I guess you might have.

Sandhya – Nope!! Why?

Rahul – Jus lik that!! btw Sweet pic!!

Sandhya – Thanks!

Finally Rahul got the number and added her on whatsapp only to find, she was not visible in his favorites. Poor guy again messages her on Facebook and requests her to add him on her whatsapp.

TO BE CONTINUED……

Killer Smile.. Flashy Eyes!!

Sep 28, 2007

My excitement was at its peak. Starting today, I would be an employee. I would get to meet loads of new people. I took out my new pair of formals and placed it on the bed. I never liked wearing formals but I did not have an option this time :(. We were to report to the training center at sharp 9:00 AM. My roomie helped me with the Tie. Hell Yeah, it was mandatory for us to wear a tie during our training period. 

The training center was huge. We were asked to gather in the auditorium. ICICI bank employees were available to assist us with the opening of new Salary accounts. We got the 'Welcome Kit' which had our account details, ATM card and Cheque book. 1 row behind me I saw a trainee. She was of my height, wheatish complexion, hair shorter than shoulder length. She was in complete business formals. I am not sure why I noticed all these details about her. She is in US completed her Masters. She is one of my closest friends till now. All the trainees were divided into batches. Each batch had a maximum of 40 trainees. The batches were formed based on the field of specialization in our Engineering. T85 was the first batch announced which had a list of trainees from Computer Science/Information Science background. I was put in T86 batch which had trainees from Chemical/Civil Engineering/Biotechnology. Electronics students were in T87 batch. 

This part of my memory seems to be damaged and would need to be repaired. 

I guess T85, T86 and T87 batches were moved to a single large room. All of us gathered in the room where the instructors would help us with the documentation process. There were hell lot of documents required with attestation from the Gazetted officer. The instructors would call each one of us and verify the documents. Among my college mates, I was the only one with few missing documents. The missing documents meant I would not be enjoying my first weekend completely :(.

I was given 2-3 days for submitting all the documents. Only after the submission of all the documents, they would initiate the process to generate the employee code. I returned back to the last bench. Yes friends, I was a last bench-er most of the time. 

As one full day was allocated for documentation, there was a lot of free time when our turn was over. I did not interact with anyone apart from my college friends all day. We were busy checking out the chicks present in the room. My eyes wandering in all the possible directions in the room. Everyone present there seem to be at their best. 

Right at this moment I saw a group of 3 gals in the first line at the entrance. I remember only the names of 2 gals. The 1st girl was slim, tall, medium length hair, sweet smile and a bindi on her forehead which reminded me of my sister. The 2nd girl was short (probably 5'2), round face, sharp features, killer smile and flashy eyes. She was wearing a Salwar(do not remember the color) which was modified as per her requirement.

As I remember, my eyes followed the 2nd girl all the time. I was mesmerized by her charming looks. The more I looked at her, the more I was falling for her. I mentioned the same to my roomie who was equally agreeing with me. I do not recollect what I did for the rest of the day. I was completely thinking about the short female. I even started bribing 'God' for setting me up with her.

I went to bed with 'HER' images circulating right in front of my eyes. I was recalling all the expressions she showed the whole day. With some hope of seeing her and talking to her the next day, I dozed off.

The wait is Over!

September 07, 2007

The long wait was over. There were bunch of emails in my email box. But only one email caught my attention and I was dancing with joy in the browsing center unaware of the people staring at me with blank expressions. The email  had all the information about my joining with instructions on how to reach, what to bring etc. I was super excited about the joining. I rushed home to convey this to my parents. I updated the status on ORKUT. Yeah!! Orkut was still the best social networking site then. I booked my ticket to Kurnool as I had to meet my atti (aunt). I was planning to spend some time in Kurnool and then head to Bangalore.

September 28, 2007 was another milestone in my life when I began my professional career with one of the most reputed organizations. 

I was extremely excited when I saw the place where I would be getting trained. Its 'God's own Country' no prizes for guesses, its Kerala. I booked my ticket from Bangalore to Trivandrum (also called Thiruvananthapuram) as I had to collect my provisional degree certificate from my college.

I reached Bangalore on September 22, 2007 and stayed with my college friends. The ticket was yet to get confirmed. The required documents list was huge and I started cursing myself for taking the situation very mild. I was restless till I got all the required documents set.

September 26, 2007

With some hugs and best wishes I departed from my college friends (Rajesh, Akhil, Swaroop, Raghu) and reached Bangalore City railway station well in time. There was a lot of time to kill and heavy luggage ofcourse. The ticket was confirmed. Not sure of what to do, I started moving around on the platform desperately looking for some familiar face. That is where I met my future roommate Dattatreya. Datta was of dark complexion, tall, lean with short hair, with super cool attitude. He was a chatterbox. We had our ice breaker session on the platform. I met few of my friends (Kishore, Venkatesh, Basavaraj) and new ones who were placed in the same organization with same day of joining like me.

Fortunately most of us were in the same coach. The whistle of the engine gave us a signal that the train would start its journey to one of the most beautiful place in South India. We discussed about the things done by each of us in the last few months while at home and had dinner. Then we went back to our berths and slept.