MONSOON MAGIC

Uksaan a small village in Kamshet can be a wonderful getaway from the hustle bustle of Mumbai especially in Monsoons.
I went there with my colleagues for a special team building training. We reached Kamshet at 8:30 on a Friday night. It takes a 3 and a half hour drive via Mumbai Pune expressway. Take the second exit for lonavala from the expressway u will be on the old lonavala highway. Once u cross a railway line there is a left turn towards kamshet. The road gets bumpy as u reach closer to the village.
Our first Den was Native Place overlooking the uksaan Lake. No TV, room service or newspapers just beautiful calm surroundings. A sky filled with stars above and shinning jugnoos on the trees below.
After a brief introduction with our consultant Mr Mangesh we were ready for dinner. Any meal in Native place is a buffet and tastes like nice home cooked food. After dinner we explored the place a little, took a small stroll in the garden and then the entire gang sat for a singing session, which went on till midnight.
Next morning we started early. Western ghats offer u lovely treks specially in this season. We trekked almost till the top of a hill enjoying the view, chatting and cracking jokes on the way. It was quit an exercise for the senior members of the team who have a sedentary job. The uksaan village, our resort and the lake made a beautiful picture. One hour of trek and everyone was hungry for a breakfast of Poori Bhaji. 9:30 am it was now time for some serious stuff.... team building activities and lot of discussion. All of us were asked to introduce not ourselves but one other member of the team. I think it was Interesting for everyone to know what people think of u. The entire day passed doing several great team-building puzzles some of which we could solve and some of which we couldn’t. Whichever way, it was a learning experience. Many people realised their mistakes some didn’t. But on the whole it was great. In the evening we moved to our camp Pegasus Institute for Excellence, a military style camp, tents with no beds, amazing lakeside, quit and calm surroundings. A small group went for some fun on the lakeside, it was heart warming to see grown up men turn into kids and competing, who can throw the stone and create maximum ripple circles in the lake.
It was getting dark and it started to rain, so we all rushed to the camp. The rain got lovely weather with it so the dinner was laid in the open. After a nice session of Antakshari i went to sleep cause next morning we needed energy for trek and rappelling.
Next morning we did some exercise in a very interesting and different style - singing and dancing. Tanaji – who was the in charge caretaker of our group was directing us. In Pegasus the side open tents are called gazebo’s we assembled in gazebo 1 for breakfast and after that it was time for action.
A steep trek of 25 min took us to the Rappelling point. I was the 9th one to rappel down and the moment I tied the rope on, the rain god decided to make things adventurous for me. Yet it was a cool experience...u just have to put all your weight on the waist and thigh band, tilt at 60 degree, control your rope with left hand and walk backward. First 50 ft was ok then I took my feet away from the rock and lost balance. But quickly got back to normal, it stopped raining and the rock was now slippery so just 20ft above the base I slipped but didn’t loose my cool. With help of a team member and one of the trainers my feet were put back on the rock and I landed safely on the ground.
By the time the entire team rappelled down it was time for lunch in gazebo 3. After lunch there was a brain storming and introspection session that went on till 5:30pm and then we were ready to head back to Mumbai. It started to rain heavily so a treat of one hot cup of chai with pakoda’s was much needed. We all had that and ran to get into our vehicles. I think the entire team went back with a very important lesson that –
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."