In the Pursuit of Happiness travelling across India I reached
Mumbai. Gateway of India ,
a place when you can find 1000s of emotions. And in between those of emotions I
find the true meaning of Happiness. There was a 5yr old kid, who was jumping,
running, dancing across the street to catch soap bubbles. Trying again and
again, running from one place to another on his small naked legs just to catch one.
And when he was able to catch one, the happiness on his face was indescribable.
Explored Mud Rush - Monsoon Edition Woodland 's Association
By Amrit Mishra - September 03, 2013
When was the last time you tested your limits?
When was the last time you pushed yourself to the end?
When was the last time you explored the wildness in you?
If you have not done anything like this, then Mud Rush 2013
will make you do it and it will make you discover the beast inside you.
Mud Rush – Monsoon Edition came with more mud, more
excitement, more obstacles, more energy, and I was read as ever with my Woodland shoes to crush the mud, break the obstacles, run
through the fire and be a Mud Rusher. My whole event was sponsored by Woodland, and I feel lucky to be one, the woodland team was really amazing, as I got a Woodland tee shirt too, the team helped me a lot in getting through the registration process and attend the race.This time Mud Rush was organized at Pune, Jadavgard fort
and the climate was also very good, there was a huge energetic crowd from Pune
and Mumbai who made the event even more exciting. With the spirits of “Never
Say Die" every one ran to be Mud Rusher, from small kids to elderly
people, every one was singing to the tunes of MUUUD RUUUUSH, MUUD RUSH, MUUUD
RUUUUSHHHH.
Race started with warm up exercise from the trainers of Gold
Gym, and when the flag was set to green, nothing could have stopped the mud
rusher from overcoming the obstacles. Tightening my Woodland
shoes, I also became part of the madness. It was 6.5km race with 21 obstacles
to test your limits, strength, endurance, power and above all will to overcome
your fear. Started with uphill run till first obstacle slowed us, as we have to
jump to the 3 feet mud, which could shallow you if you don’t come out in time.
Then it was time for song long jump, rock climbing, fire
obstacle, mud trap and many more. When we completed half of the journey, we
thought that the upcoming obstacles won’t be any more difficult. But in the
mean time we were proved wrong, it was just the trailers of forthcoming
obstacle. There was spider track where we need to cross the wall holding the
rock and incase you fall, you end up entering to huge mud full pit. And if you
cross it, then you have to enter a huge pipe and crawl the mud to cross it.
There were many more different obstacles like sliding from top to the bottom,
which was again covered with mud. It was like
"Screw Calm lets go Mental"
"Hell full of Mud"
The more you try to escape, more you get trapped in it, We
had two options in our hand, either do it and create a history or leave the
game be a history. We held our adventurous spirits high and continued to break the
obstacles, the tougher was the obstacle, tougher we were getting and finally
when we completed the journey it was an awesome experience. As if we had won
World Cup and it was time to celebrate with Kingfisher. It was amazing journey, thanks to Woodland I am now an Extreme Explorer
In the evening everyone was welcomed with Sun down DJ party
with loud music and bass making your feet dance and the fire show made everyone
more excited even after such a long journey.
Whole day was really amazing the Jadhavgard fort, the adventurous
tasks, the beautiful participants, the kingfisher beer, sundown party,
everything was just superb.
It was one of the best kinds of Adventure sports I have done
till now. One thing I would like to include in the end :
"To be a Woodland Extreme Explorer one needs courage, guts and never-say-die attitude."
Dahi handi is like integral part of Maharastrian family, celebrated one day after Janmastami. I had been to many places in India, and seen many different kind of Janmastami celebration, and I can say it is must to watch for.Tousands and lakhs of devotees gathering at one place to watch making of Human pyramids and breaking an hung earthen pot filled with milk, curd, butter, fruits to celebrate the birth of the god Krishna.
Many groups which mainly consists of young crowd try to make human pyramid to reach the hanging earthen pot. This was my first time and I was too exited to watch this, I reached the spot on time as it was about to begin which extended 2 -3 hrs. Watching people coming in groups and forming the pyramid with loud music gives goose bumps. Every time a group tries people use to cheer them and thank to god no one was injured, and DJ playing latest Bollywood tracks making all the devotees dance to the tunes of Govinda. Overall it was an awesome experience, which made me inspire to be part of the Human Pyramid
Many groups which mainly consists of young crowd try to make human pyramid to reach the hanging earthen pot. This was my first time and I was too exited to watch this, I reached the spot on time as it was about to begin which extended 2 -3 hrs. Watching people coming in groups and forming the pyramid with loud music gives goose bumps. Every time a group tries people use to cheer them and thank to god no one was injured, and DJ playing latest Bollywood tracks making all the devotees dance to the tunes of Govinda. Overall it was an awesome experience, which made me inspire to be part of the Human Pyramid
8th Feb 2013,
It was early morning when I reached Jaipur, it was somehow raining and climate was cold too. After getting fresh at my hotel I started my city tour in a Tour Bus with other 20 people. Tour operator was really funny the way he was describing everything, but it was good, as I was able to complete most of the major places in Jaipur in a single day without any problem and that also in time.
So we started with Birla Temple first.I have traveled many places, and seen many Birla Temples all over India, but every temple is unique and attractive as others, the best thing I liked about these temples is there is no restrictions regarding any religion, any one can visit.
| Birla Temple, Jaipur |
Temple is surrounded with beautiful hills and gardens and the weather that day was making it much more beautiful.
| In the morning light and rain drop temple is shinning bright. |
We spent around half an hour, in the temple and then we continued our journey to the Albert Hall. It is considered as the oldest museum of Jaipur. Even then it is so amazing, it contains so many historical monuments, mainly related to the history of Rajasthan. We can see the culture, traditions everything as well as the dress, weapons, etc used by Kings of Rajasthan. It was so huge that it need 1 day easily to go through each and every item properly.
| Front Door of Museum. |
Now we started for the Jantar Mantar, to reach there we travelled from the old city and covered Hawa Mahal on the way, our tour operator was explaining the history related with it, but it was so beautiful that I just forgot everything and got busy clicking snaps.
| Hawa Mahal, Jaipur |
While travelling in the old city, I came to know why it is called Pink city as all of the buildings were pink in color and it was really beautiful to watch it.
| One of the entrance to Pink City, Jaipur |
| Shops, building colored in pink color. |
And finally I reached Jantar Mantar, and if you are visiting it without any guide you will not understand any instrument, or else you need to buy a headphone kind of machine which describes everything and all the details, but it was little costly, as I had none I actually got bore over there.
| One of the instrument of Jantar Mantar, Jaipur |
When we left the place it was already noon when we left the place and started towards the Amer Fort. So we had our lunch, I was happy to have Rajasthani food for first time, few items were same, but food was really delicious.
| Rajasthani pagdi selling :) |
And after travelling few more minutes I reached the Amer Fort, the palace was really amazing and huge, and covered with hills. The best thing in my journey was as the climate was good, so I was not getting tired and I enjoyed each and every moment.
| From Top of Amert Fort |
| Inside the Amer Fort |
The palace is really big and beautiful, and confusing also. Confusing because you can find many steps and corridors, doors, windows all look like same, and I got lost also in between, but some how I was able to come out of the fort in time. As it was getting dark so we started for the remaining place ie Jal Mahal. And when we arrived there, I was like "WoW", this is so amazing, a palace surrounded with water lake, which is surrounded with hills, that was really beautiful.
| Jal Mahal, Jaipur |
There was a small garden around the lake, where we spent some quality time. The place was really good, as there was not much pollution or noise. And finally completing the journey we traveled through the old city again, and reached my hotel.
And with this I completed my half of journey. I was really very tired after traveling so many places, and I came to my hotel and had beautiful dreams, cause I had to leave neat day early to attend my friends marriage, as I was again excited for that also.
My journey extended 2-3 days more where I enjoyed gazar ka halwa, rajathani marriage, beautiful weather. everything. And on 10 Feb 2013, I started back to pune, when I was waiting for my train I was totally not interested to go back, i was feeling like staying few more days and enjoy more.




























