Memorable Trip with Friends for Life...!

"Life is meant for good friends and great travels."

We, the Navodayans, are the people who lived our childhood away from home. It was a year of 6th grade, when we said goodbyes to our parents and from there on our new journey began. Many cried, many were confused as it was an age of innocence and we had no clue of living away. Days passed, months in sorrow, and slowly we found a new family in each other. Seven years of arguments and rejoices, facing together the moments of adversities, gradually developed a strong bonding and made us far more resilient than we could ever be. Now this is our identity; we are the Navodayans. Meeting Navodayans is always a memorable event to cherish. Here I present one of the travel stories that we people shared.

It was a B'day bash of Dr. Vishakha and we decided to meet up and go out for fun. Out of various suggested and available options we planned to visit the coastal line of Konkan covering Diveagar beach, Janjira Fort and Kashid beach. People gathering were from Nagpur, Sangli, Mumbai and Pune at Mumbai.

People from Nagpur and Sangli started for Mumbai on 21st of Feb 2019. On the pleasant morning of 22nd we started from Pune to Panvel by hired Tempo Traveller to pick people gathering in Mumbai. And finally we met at Panvel station. The scene at Panvel station was very sentimental. Few of us met after a gap of many years. Everyone went into flashback on meeting each other. From there our travel saga began towards Diveagar beach. Sameer compiled a track with all the songs on which we had performed while in Navodaya Hostel. That track was played throughout the journey with intervals, which kept on memory lamp and discussion ignited.

We could reach the resort at Diveagar beach well before sunset. We dressed up and moved quickly on the beach with bat, ball, volleyball, football.  We began with cleaning the beach surroundings and then played some sports and soon all the sports equipment became the photo session material. With this the photo session began to create memories of the trips. From a very safe distance from the sea we started enjoying the waves which were as joyous as we were. During the sunset we sat beside the bank of the shore. All silent and only the soothing sound of waves was rushing into our ears. Everyone was enjoying the mesmerizing impact of peace and serenity near the shore and lost in their own world of thoughts. As a surprise for everyone I carried Japanese Sake which everyone shared followed by decent dinner. Then came the bonfire and dance, followed by silent talks, music by our guitarist Souras and singers Ragini, Yogita and Chandan.

Sunrise at Diveagar Beach 👌

Next day morning we went again on beach to experience the beauty of sunrise. Soon we left for 2nd destination, Janjira Fort. Janjira Fort and its structure and built has always fascinated us and we started recollecting our history classes. We hired a guide and adored every single information he shared.

After having lunch we headed towards Kashid beach. Kashid beach was very lively. We performed various water sports there. The most fascinating was Banana Boat. They took us away from the shore and dropped us into the sea with everyone wearing life jackets. The surprise fall gave us mixed feelings of fear, joy and excitement. We had lots of fun in the sea there and enjoyed yet another soothing sunset near beach. After snacks our return journey began. Even after so much of exertion and play none of us were tired. With the same zeal and enthusiasm we started playing Antakshari in the vehicle and made fun of each other.

At the end of the trip we were like we don't want to separate now, the trip should go on and on. The memories of the tour are very deeply bound into everybody's heart. Even now we have conference video calls, remember the moments, and just laugh, laugh and laugh. From this trip many other trips are happening and we feel very lively due to these.

Memorable trip... Friends for life...😇