A Few Good Fella - Dennis Ritchie!

It is difficult to think a day when I am not using a computer and specially not writing a source code. When writing any program it is a challenge to do it totally different, with a simple logic and shorter than others code. I am doing it last twenty-six years. Some software that I was using then are lost its way like COBOL, PASCAL, FORTRAN but there is one still surviving, going stronger by days and used all over the world. I am talking about 'C'.

After Steve Jobs, Computer world lost Dennis Ritchie the father of 'C' on 12 October. My page is dedicated to the genius who lived and died quietly but his legacy will go on.

Dennis Ritchie

Ritchie was born in Bronxville, New York. His father was Alistair E. Ritchie, a longtime Bell Labs scientist and co-author of The Design of Switching Circuits on switching circuit theory. Ritchie graduated from Harvard University with degrees in physics and applied mathematics. In 1967, he began working at the Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center, and in 1968, he received a PhD from Harvard under the supervision of Patrick C. Fischer. Ritchie was best known as the creator of the C programming language, a key developer of the UNIX operating system, and co-author of The C Programming Language, commonly referred  to as K&R (in reference to the authors Kernighan and Ritchie). Ritchie worked together with  Ken Thompson, the scientist credited with writing the original Unix; one of Ritchie's most  important contributions to Unix was its porting to different machines and platforms.

The C language is widely used today in application, operating system, and embedded system development, and its influence is seen in most modern programming languages. UNIX has also been influential, establishing concepts and principles that are now precepts of  computing.  Ritchie was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1988 for "development of the "C" programming language and for co-development of the UNIX operating system."

C & UNIX

To help make UNIX portable, Ritchie created a new programming language, called C, in 1972. C used features of low-level languages or machine languages and features of high-level languages. However, because C combined functions of both high- and low-level languages and was very flexible, it was not for beginners. C was very portable because, while it used a relatively small syntax and instruction set, it was also highly structured and modular. Therefore, it was easy to adapt it to different computers, and programmers could copy preexisting blocks of C functions into their programs. These blocks, which were stored on disks in various libraries and could be accessed by using C programs, allowed programmers to create their own programs without having to reinvent the wheel. Because C had features of low-level programming languages, it ran very quickly and efficiently compared to other high-level languages, and it took up relatively little computer time. C was also popular because it was written for UNIX, which, by the early 1990s, was shipped out on over $20 billion of new computer systems a year, making it one of the most commonly used operating systems in the world. Apart from C and  UNIX he also worked on  ALTRAN, B, BCPL, Multics

Dennis Ritchie was found dead on October 12, 2011 at the age of 70 at his home in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey where he lived alone. First news of his death came from his former colleague, Rob Pike. The cause and exact time of death have not been disclosed. He had been in frail health for several years following treatment for prostate cancer and heart disease. His death came a week after the death of Steve Jobs; although Ritchie's death did not receive as much media coverage.

Computer historians such as Paul Ceruzzi said his influence was comparable and I agree with him. I cannot think a computer world without 'C' and 'UNIX'. He will live with us in our program and every moment Unix.

Some Quotation :

"UNIX is very simple, it just needs a genius to understand its simplicity."

"C is quirky, flawed, and an enormous success."

!!!    #include <stdio.h>

       #include <conio.h>

           void main()

              {

                  int i;

                  clrscr();

                  for(i=0;i<=infinity;i++)

                      {

                         printf(“\n\nRIP Dennis Ritchie, we will miss you”);

                      }

                  getch();

              }  !!!

Impediments? Break and Make[ Part –II ]

 This the concluding part of my last blog. I mentioned only a few famous people but if we explored in our surrounding you will find many unknown faces who are struggling against all odd and getting the success.

Stephen William Hawking

Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity. In 2009 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. Almost completely paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Stephen Hawking is an academic celebrity known for his theories concerning black holes and his best-selling book “A Brief History of Time.” While few people could completely grasp his concepts without an in-depth explanation, his theories have become as well-known as Galileo, Newton and Einstein in the scientific community.

John Forbes Nash

John Nash is an American mathematician and famous for his works in game theory, differential geometry and partial differential equations. His theories are used in market economics, computing, evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, accounting, politics and military theory. Serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University during the latter part of his life, he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi. Nash began to show signs of extreme paranoia and He was admitted to the McLean Hospital, April–May 1959, where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Hollywood Movie 'A Beautiful Mind' was loosely based on his life.

Claude Monet

Claude Monet was founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. He eventually went blind due to cataracts. In the last decade of his life despite his failing eyesight, he continued to paint including the famous paintings of water lillies, “Nymphéas.”  Though Monet was not blind during the most productive painting period of his life, his work is still inspirational.

Ray Charles/Stevie Wonder

Both Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder will be known long after their deaths for their lasting impression on Rock ‘N’ Roll, blues and soul music despite both being afflicted by blindness. These Black American men are both Grammy winners and pioneers in the music industry opening doors for artists of color for years after their own time in the spotlight.

Ray Charles Robinson started to lose his sight at the age of five. He went completely blind by the age of seven, apparently due to glaucoma. He is  known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records.  He also helped racially integrate country and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, most notably with his Modern Sounds albums.

Though Ray made his mark in the 50s and 60s, Stevie topped the Billboards in the 60s and beyond.  Either way, they were both gifted musicians who could paint beautiful pictures with music.

Stevie Wonder (Stevland Hardaway Morris) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. , Stevie was blind since birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records' Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You".

Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin is an American actress. She is the only deaf actress to win the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, which she won for Children of a Lesser God. Her work in film and television has resulted in a Golden Globe award, with two additional nominations, and four Emmy nominations. Deaf since she was 18 months old, she is also a prominent member of the National Association of the Deaf.  Also an Emmy winner, Matlin is a prime example of an artist who has succeeded despite her disability; few other actresses have had as much success even without the disability.

Sudha Chandran

Sudha Chandran was born to family in Chennai, South India. She completed her Masters in Economics from Mumbai. On one of her return trips from Mumbai to Chennai she met with an accident resulting in the amputation of her right leg. She was given an artificial leg and despite this terrible disability, she became one of the most accomplished and acclaimed dancers of the Indian Subcontinent. She has received and still receives invitations to perform all over the world. She has been honored with numerous awards and has performed all over the world. She appears often on Hindi television and in films.

!!!Sky is no limits for those having loads of willingness and courage.!!!

Impediments? Break and Make[ Part –I ]

Last week we lost a great innovator and as well as an inventor, the Apple-man Steve Jobs is no more with us. Last eight years he was suffering from cancer but that not prevented him from his inventions.  Sad that great mind always short lived.

Back home we lost a golden voice, it is Jagjit Singh the famous Gazal singer. I don’t think we ever interested in Gazal before he started singing.

Every one born with certain god gifted qualities but then we all failed to utilize it. Sometime I amazed by the people who made it big by conquering the shortcoming. Today and as well as next week I am going to throw lights on the life of these luminaries.

Helen Keller

Helen Keller, American author having overcome considerable physical handicaps and served as an inspiration for other afflicted people. She was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama. When 19 months old, she was stricken with an acute illness that left her deaf and blind. No method could be found to educate her until the age of seven, when she began her special education in reading and writing with Anne Mansfield Sullivan of the Perkins Institute for the Blind.

In 1890 Keller learned to speak after only one month of study. Ten years later, she was able to enter Radcliffe College, from which she graduated with honors in 1904. Keller then served on the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. Throughout her life she worked and raised funds for the American Foundation for the Blind, and she traveled and lectured in many countries, including England, France, Italy, Egypt, South Africa, Australia, and Japan. Keller was also a pacifist and was active in socialist causes.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein did not talk fluently until he was nine and believed to have Asperger’s Syndrome. He failed his college entrance exam and had a difficulties to remember simple things such as his phone number or how to tie his shoes. He also he was also rumored to have been dyslexic as a child. He was having some problems with language. After having early drawbacks the man was possibly the greatest mind to lived the earth.

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 17 December 1770. Beethoven was named after his grandfather Lodewijk, who was a musician too. Beethoven started taking his first music lessons from his father Johann van Beethoven. 

At the age of twenty, Ludwig van Beethoven hearing began to deteriorate in the late 1790s, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and perform, even after becoming completely deaf. Beethoven then used special hearing tubes and felt the vibrations of his piano to compose music. One of the most well-known composers in history, his accomplishments are as dazzling and spell-binding when taken into consideration that he was never able to hear his own work.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down by a form of polio. In August 1921, when he contracted what was diagnosed, after an unfortunate delay, as poliomyelitis. In great agony and completely unable to walk the disease that left him bound to a wheelchair. However, backed by the determination of his wife and Louis Howe, Roosevelt decided to return to his work as soon as possible. Roosevelt is known as one of the greatest presidents in American history leading the population through many tumultuous times. The Great Depression and World War II were two of the worst periods in American history known for their volatility and the loss of both human lives and many Americans’ livelihoods. However, Roosevelt was the man for the job leading America through these times with confidence and grace that was not marred by his disability.

Marla Runyan

At the age of nine, Runyan developed Stargardt’s Disease, which is a form of mascular degeneration that left her legally blind. Marla Runyan is a three time national champion in the women’s 5000 meters. She won four gold medals in the 1992 summer Paralympics. In the 1996 Paralympics she won silver in the shot put and gold in the Pentathlon. In 2000 she became the first legally blind Para Olympian to compete in the Olympic games in Sydney, Australia. She holds various American records such as 20,000 Road (2003), All-female Marathon (2002), 500m (2001) , Heptathlon (1996). In 2001, she co-wrote and published her autobiography ‘No Finish Line: My Life As I See It’.

Today I will end with a quotation of Steve Jobs.

!!!Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.!!!

From Guru’s Doorstep to Down the Wire!!

I was a globe trotter then don’t misjudge me. It was work which took me there, yet. some of my visits were unforgettable. Frankly speaking moving around India gave me more pleasure than somewhere else. The travelogue today I am going to share was one of my best. My destination was north, Kulu-Manali-Simla-Delhi but I decided to drop at Amritsar before going through others.

Specially Amritsar was my idea because traveling through the mountains itself is a tiresome job and Amritsar to Manali was a quite hectic, so my family was against it but finally they gave in to my wish. We decided to stay in Gurdwara, so before traveling I met the people in the local Gurdwara to get an idea. So, we started with Amritsar and the famous Golden Temple.

Amritsar

Amritsar is a city in the northern part of India and is the administrative headquarters of Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. Amritsar is situated 217 kilometres northwest of state capital Chandigarh and is 32 kilometres east of Lahore, Pakistan and therefore, very close to India's western border with Pakistan.

Harminder Sahib

The Harmandir Sahib, also referred to as the Golden Temple, Construction of the gurdwara was begun by Guru Ram Das, the fourth Sikh Guru, and completed by his successor, Guru Arjan Dev. In the early nineteenth century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh secured the Punjab region from outside attack and covered the upper floors of the gurdwara with gold, which gives it its distinctive appearance and English name of "Golden Temple".

It was October and it was durga Puja time. We reached Amritsar by a train with same name. We reached Amritsar around eight in the morning and got bus waiting there that belongs to Gurdwara itself. It was a free ride. Once we reached there we got a room too in Guru Arjan Dev Niwas. After the bath first thing we did was visited the Golden Temple. I was amazed by the beauty and surrounding. That afternoon we had food at the Gurdwara itself. Visiting Gurdwaras and having food at langar is not new for me. I had long association with some wonderful Sikh people but the arrangement in this Langar was exceptional. It is opened to all throughout the day and rich and poor eating together. The other things which fascinated me was the discipline in the temple. There were Kar Sevaks, those are serving the temple in every department, cleaning, washing dishes and helping in other area too. Lakhs of peoples visiting every day yet there is not a single untoward incident registered.

The real surprise was stored when we visited Wagah border, I heard about it but never knew that the experience would be the

Wagah Border

Wagah is the only road border crossing between India and Pakistan, and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Amritsar, India and Lahore, Pakistan. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn. The village was divided by independence in 1947. Today, the eastern half of the village remains in the Republic of India while the western half is in Pakistan.

The Wagah border, often called the "Berlin wall of Asia", is a ceremonial border on the India–Pakistan Border where each evening there is a retreat ceremony called 'lowering of the flags', which has been held since 1959. At that time there is an energetic parade by the Border Security Force (B.S.F) of India and the Pakistan Rangers soldiers. It may appear slightly aggressive and even hostile to foreigners but in fact the paraders are imitating the pride and anger of a Cockerel. Troops of each country put on a show in their uniforms with their colorful turbans. Border officials from the two countries sometimes walk over to the offices on the other side for day to day affairs. The happenings at this border post have been a barometer of the India-Pakistan relations over the years.

We traveled there by a car but then have to walk a kilometer. The mood in the crowds were very charged one during 'lowering of the flags' at sunset. In the evening we came to back to Gurdwara but my mood was remain charged with same emotion.

Next day we explored the places near by the Gurdwara and no need to say that includes Jalianwala Bagh and day after that we left Amritsar by car. Those two days was very special one, one for the Golden Temple itself and other one for Wagah Border.

!!!While standing at the border had a unique feeling, I felt like more Indian than before!!!

Power of Knowledge!

There was a time knowledge was limited to print media and reading was the main option. It was books, News Papers and Magazines. I was a member of couple of libraries and frequency of my visits were exceptional. Once I was a avid reader, today I hardly go though any books rather than computers. Apart from books other device which we used to stick to was our good old radio. Every bit of knowledge we acquired that time was with lots of effort. This effort is still working, specially while calculating I hardly use a calculator. There was  some print media available that time but it was out of our reach. We envied the people who was having the series. It was Encyclopedia, specially The one from Britannica.

Once having the volumes of Britannica was a status symbol and I knew many of them those having these series in their bookshelf but never scanned through a single page in their life. The oversized volume, printed by Koberger shortly after Columbus discovered America, was a history, atlas and almanac with biographies and news items - an encyclopedia

What is Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a book or series of books that contain general information about many topics or areas. The world encyclopedia comes from the Greek enkyklia paideia, which means "a general knowledge." The word has been in use for at least 500 years, and used in print for the first time in Encyclopedia, or Knowledge of the World of Disciplines, which was published in 1559.

The first encyclopedia was written in the first century BC by Pliny the Elder with the help of his nephew. The work consisted of 37 volumes and covered everything from anthropology and human physiology to agriculture, painting, and pharmacology. An encyclopedia is often confused with a dictionary, although they are inherently different.

In the 20th century, the Encyclopedia Britannica has become the standard for encyclopedia works. Topical encyclopedias have also become more popular, and cover topics as varied as economics, bioethics. Many encyclopedias are now being published in CD-ROM form, with the most notable example being Microsoft's Encarta other encyclopedias are now entirely available online, with no print version, like Wikipedia.

Some of old and popular Encyclopedia

Pliny the Elder

One of the earliest encyclopedic works to have survived to modern times is the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, a Roman statesman living in the 1st century AD. He compiled a work of 37 chapters covering natural history, art and architecture, medicine, geography, geology and all aspects of the world around him. He stated in the preface that he had compiled 20,000 facts from 2000 different works by 200 authors, and added many others from his own experience. The work was published circa AD 77-79, although he probably never finished proofing the work before his death in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

The Britannica

The Britannica  is the oldest English-language encyclopedia still in print. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland as three volumes. The encyclopedia grew in size, and by its fourth edition (1801-1809) it had expanded to a well known 20-volume set. Its rising stature helped recruit eminent contributors, and the 9th edition (1875–1889) and the 11th edition (1911) are landmark encyclopedias for scholarship and literary style. Beginning with the 11th edition, the Britannica shortened and simplified articles to broaden its North American market. In 1933, the Britannica became the first encyclopedia to adopt "continuous revision", in which the encyclopedia is continually reprinted and every article updated on a schedule.

The Encyclopædia Britannica, published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert contributors. It is regarded as one of the most scholarly of encyclopedias.

The size of the Britannica has remained roughly constant over 70 years, with about 40 million words on half a million topics. Although publication has been based in the United States since 1901, the Britannica has maintained British spelling.

Microsoft Encarta

Microsoft Encarta was a digital multimedia  encyclopedia published by Microsoft Corporation  from 1993 to 2009. As of 2008, the complete English version, Encarta Premium, consisted of more than 62,000 articles,  numerous photos and illustrations, music clips, videos, interactive contents, timelines, maps and atlas, and homework tools, and was available on the World Wide Web by yearly subscription or by purchase on DVD or multiple CDs. Many articles could also be viewed online free of charge, a service supported by advertisements.

In March 2009, Microsoft announced it was discontinuing the Encarta disc and online versions. The MSN Encarta site in all countries except Japan was closed on October 31, 2009. Japan's Encarta site was closed on December 31, 2009. Microsoft continued to operate the Encarta online dictionary at dictionary.msn.com until 2011 when they discontinued the dictionary making Encarta discontinued altogether.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia - This one is a cracker and proud to have an account with them.

Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based, free-content  encyclopedia project based on an openly editable  model. The name "Wikipedia",  wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.

Wikipedia is written collaboratively by largely anonymous Internet volunteers who write without pay. Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles, except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism. Users can contribute anonymously, under a pseudonym, or with their real identity, if they choose.

The fundamental principles by which Wikipedia operates are the Five pillars. The Wikipedia community has developed many policies and guidelines to improve the encyclopedia; however, it is not a formal requirement to be familiar with them before contributing.

Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia  has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference websites, attracting 400 million unique visitors monthly .  There are more than 82,000 active contributors  working on more than 19,000,000 articles in more than 270 languages.

!!!Source of unlimited Knowledge just under our finger, go grab it.!!!

Dramabaji’s and nautanki’s [dramatically and Operatic Dramas]

In India and as well as some of our Asian counterparts housing a good numbers of these breeds. I will write about some of our in house products. While staying in Mumbai, I was knowing a Gujrathi fellow, he was having a family with grown up children. Often he used to visit to the different Maidan’s in Mumbai, don’t get me wrong he was not visiting there on demand, I mean on nature call. He was having a well furnished house with all basic amenities. Of course men often find the road with full view is more  comfortable place then their own bathroom. Forgive me, I guess I am heading to the wrong direction, let me come back, yes that man often visited to the maidans for a day long hunger strike for different causes. His family itself was tired fed up him for his antiques. Nice way to get an instant fame. It was long time ago I don’t know what his current status.

Let me list a few darambajis of India who could have landed in bollywood and got all accolades.

** Sharad Pawar – With his twelve crore assets and an unfulfilled dream, everyone can guess it, the kursi I mean Prime Minister’s chair, a poor man indeed. At least, for a day PM should concede the chair  to him otherwise, the chair will be haunted forever. His dramas are very smooth and calculated because once he was known as a good administrator and equally a best CM Maharashtra ever had.

*** Sushma Swaraj – I wonder, why this lady never opened a dance class. With missing  waistline, the jig was not at all enjoyable in Rajghat but it left a few cracks over there and aftermath two earthquakes that followed. This slogan is only belongs to he- ‘Mera Bindi Mahan’. If she participate in  largest Bindi contest, she will be a clear winner.

*** Lalu Yadav – He sang in the Parliament ‘Sau sal pahle’, but Bihar wished he was not exists in Bihar even ‘hazar sal pahle’. Of course he gets a pat on his back from me for the railway job.

***½ Karunanidhi – Remeber his hunger strike? Better forget it, whoever he sent to Delhi, never failed return with a bagful gold, but pity have to come back to Delhi and then to Tihar.

**½ Mamta Banerjee – I grown fond of her in the time of Rajiv Gandhi and then things changed drastically, later irritated and felt sick whenever of her sight. She knew her mistakes from those different dramas and then gone through a make over. Let us wait and watch. In her hand the railways will be always  going to run in reverse gear.

**** Yeddyurappa – His side of drama has many shades. Story about his famous Surya Namaskar [sans cloths], his girl friend, laptop breaking session and various tiff with governor. Finally his all dramas ends up with a resignation and may be in future Tiharians going to get a free Surya Namaskar lesson from him.

****½ Mayawati – She is a pure drama queen material. She also considered to be a 365 days birthday girl. You can see her smiling ear-to-ear, whenever you uttered ‘Statue’.

****½ Ramdev –  I already spend some of my precious time and energy writing about him.  Looking at him sometime I wonder, which is the most profitable business where you don’t have invest a dim, your guess is, as well as mine – Sadhu ..... Sadhu.

*** Shankersinh Vaghela – One morning he shouted at Modi from his rooftop ‘my hunger strike is strongest’ and he too decided to sit for the same. Now, it is interesting if Modi promoted or demoted then who will be the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

**** Balashaheb Thakre – If my memory is not that short then all I can remember that not for once he left beyond Maharashtra. Roaring always from his well guarded house in Bandra. No wonder he choose upon a tiger as his party’s symbol. Whatever he wrote or told about any prominent women leaders, you better forget it because it is available in a slanguage dictionary, if you have one then please keep  away from the children. He has good company around, includes his nephew, sons etc. So that was a tiger story who only roar from his caves.

***** L.K Advani – Every time he opened his mouth I choke whatever was going in or coming out from my mouth, even my words that I was about to say. Rath Jatra after Rath Jatra, only for the same thing, arre yar that same PM post.  Why don’t he goes to Jaganath Puri and stay over there. All his life he able to maintain a five star status, kudos.

***** Narendra Modi – Whenever I see him I liked to tell the children in my house ‘Shhh! Sleep beta sleep, otherwise I will call NM’, strange its work like a magic. After consuming gallons of give me red substance, three days hunger strike is cake wake. A earthquake in several state when he took his first step towards Delhi, God, what will happened to the country if he become a Prime Minister. When he saw Anna Hazare’s hungur strike and the popularity, he too turned a Gnadhians.

Did you ever heard this Hindi idiom – ‘Sau Chuhe Khake Billi Chali Haj Ko’.

!!!Therefore, The Dramabaji of the year award goes to NM and Life time achievement award to LK.!!!

Trek to Matheran!

While staying in Mumbai, I had a fixed picnic schedule, two picnics in a calendar year. On 15th August and on 26th January, every year we had a unique picnic destination. The destinations were not as same as any others were. We often breezed through the city’s hotspot and stopping every place for a couples hours. A pattern often was like this, we started with Charni Road Chowpati, after a minuscule stop and a multicultural breakfast, we proceed to Malabar hill to Kamala Nehru Park. We used to stay there until late afternoon while had our equally interesting homemade lunch. Then we took a bus to Gateway of India, bus route too was very interesting. It was via Nariman point and then passed a few important structures before we reached GOI. We spend there a couple hours and of course, this time we had Bhel, it was too from our own kitty. Finally we came back to Victoria Terminus and then to our own destination. Therefore, when all looked for a picnic spot, for us it was no problem to find one. We liked trekking and we always tried to find a trekking destination, specially on 15th August. We were amateur trekker, every time we ventured, we found it very difficult. Every time we decided to put a full stop to it but once, we back and within twenty-four hours, we planned for the next one.

I visited Matheran twice, once with my neighbours and next with my buddies. Both the visits were memorable for different reasons. Our plan for Matheran was not as per schedule, we gone there in mid nineties, it was neither on 15th August nor on 26th January. We gone there on Dussera day, it was somewhere in mid October. I had another memorable trip before. So, when we friends decided to go to Matheran on foot, that was not the first one for me. There are three ways one can reach Matheran. Take any Karjat local from Mumbai V. T. and get down at Neral.  Once you reached Neral station, you can trek or you can enjoy a toy train ride and you can go there by a taxi too. No modern days vehicles are allowed inside Matheran town. One go by taxi, have to get down at the gate of the town and then walk. Let me tell about the place.

Matheran Matheran is a town and a Hill Station in the state of Maharashtra. It is the smallest hill station in India. It is located on the Western Ghats range at an elevation of around 800 m  above sea level. It is located around 90 km from Mumbai. It is one of the few places in the world where vehicles are not allowed, which makes the place different from others. Because of vehicles being banned in Matheran, the place is quite peaceful despite the thousands of visitors coming to visit throughout the year. Matheran is connected by toy train to the mainline rail route at Neral Junction. Neral Junction is well connected by local trains from CST along the CST-Karjat route.

There are lots of lookout points that provide spectacular views of the surrounding hills and valleys. Matheran has a reasonably dense forest cover. There are around 38 designated look-out points in Matheran, including the Panorama Point that provides a 360 degree view of the surrounding area and also the Neral town. From this point, the view of sunset and sunrise is breathtaking. The Louisa Point offers crystal clear view of the Prabal Fort. The other points are the One Tree Hill Point, Hart Point, Monkey Point, Porcupine Point, Rambagh Point, and more. There is a Lake known as Lake Charlotte, it is the main source of Matheran's drinking water.

My first visit was with my neighbours, mainly remembered for the glitches and that made the trip very interesting. We gone there and back by a toy train and stayed there for two days. Second time it was for one day and by foot. My niece was visiting me and we decided to go to Matheran. We started from Dombivili at six in the morning and got a return ticket for Neral but when we about to reach Neral we found the ticket given to us was for Nerul that was at the other side, towards New Mumbai. We have to fool the T.C and managed ourselves out. Trekking was not easy yet by eleven we reached there. It was one of my best expedition of course trekking to Valley of Flowers was incomparable. Evening we started at five but this time we were not on foot, we took a cab to come down. It took us only half hour to reach Neral station. On our way back,  we saw film star Dev Anand, who too was going down in his car. We took a train back to Dombivli and we return with same ticket. I don’t thing it can be branded as cheating, wrong tickets that given to us for Nerul, pinched our pockets more than Neral.

!!!Life without a backpack, is boring to the power infinity.!!!