The last time I made up my mind to do the Vaishno Devi trek, it rained. We had motorcycled down from Jammu and just after entering the first station, it started raining. Taking it to be a message from the gods that they did not want to see us, we reversed direction, wet like dogs. … Read more

The original plan for the cycle rally was to go from Nagpur to Jabalpur via Chhindwara and Pachmarhi, but it was later on shifted to Pench and Kanha – rebaptising the Satpura Tour into the Tiger Tour. Spotted at Wardha Railway Station: Gandhi’s Cycle ! The group for the first time had a strong female … Read more

The longest train journey that I have done is Guwahati to Nasik. That’s only once. But the Jammu Pune journey and the return has been a regular for me, thanks to my partner in Jammu, Aakash, and also the school that we jointly run there for the last 10 years. My preferred mode of travel … Read more

There are no eternal gurus. There are gurus of the past and there are gurus of the present. I have outgrown many gurus as I grew up, but there is one who I find difficult to match up to: Jugal Rathi. He is the one who got me away from soap a couple of decades … Read more

The biggest districts in India are the ones with the lowest populations. In J & K, an example is Ladakh and in Gujarat, it is Kutch. Both are white deserts, one a frozen one, the other a salted one. Having cycled across the frozen one in 2007, 8 years later we were on the salted … Read more

Getting into the city where you have work on the previous evening is always an advantage. You are up fresh and are not strained by travel when you reach work. But what if the distance between where you are and where you want to be is such that it will make you arrive very late … Read more

Day 1 / 2 The Pune Hyderabad express was delayed by one hour. A new arrival platform was announced 5 minutes before the arrival. This resulted in a traffic jam at the overbridge as the Bhusawal EMU had just come in then. Managed to reach VT, ahem CST, ahem ahem CSMT, only 40 minutes late. … Read more

This was my first visit to Prayagraj, though I have crossed Allahabad by train on a few occasions. Was here primarily to spend time with my sensei, Prof Ashok Pratap Arora. Prof Arora has been one of the best teachers I ever had. No matter how much I try, I just cannot get his Socrates … Read more

When a distant relative calls you to a distant location to sign a NoC for a property where your share is 0, you yawn and procrastinate. If the push comes to a shove, ask distant relative to send across the document and sign on the dotted lines. But these were different times. After 6 months … Read more

Bhushan Apte Bhushan Apte is India’s answer to Peter Parker – the Indian superman: Academic star – IIT Madras, IIM Ahmedabad, Consultant to leading Indian corporates, Visiting faculty at leading B Schools, Competitive Badminton Player and Cycling Guru – and all this at the grand young age of 60. The only hole in Bhushan’s blue … Read more