Krushnai Water Park

Yesterday being Maharashtra Day, it was an off day for us and we decided to make good use of it. For the last two weeks the temperature has been hovering around 40 deg. C, so the idea of going to a water park appealed to everyone. We had only heard of the Splash Water Park a.k.a Diamond Water Park in Lohegaon, but the long drive from our place and the road construction work in-progress on the Nagar road was putting me off. And we found some not so good reviews of the place on the net. Finally Google came to rescue and we came to know of Krushnai Water Park, near Donje village (some 4 km. ahead of Khadakwasala Dam).

It was a good one hour drive as we kept taking the wrong roads, kept taking wrong turns, kept stopping to ask for directions and finally reached the place around 11am when it had started getting really hot. I don’t know why they didn’t give us clear directions, but you just need to go to Khadakwasala dam and then take the road to Sinhgad. You’d cross Donje village on your way. As soon as you cross the village through the narrow lane, the water park is on your left, opposite Hotel Madhuban. The place is called “Krushnai Water Park” and it is open from 10am to 5pm.

The place was much more crowded than what I had expected, so it seems it is a well known family hangout on holidays. The entry fee is reasonable – Rs.300/- for adults and Rs.150/- for kids, which includes a vegetarian lunch in their restaurant.

The overall management, though not up to the mark, is pretty decent. Though like most public places the security guards and attendants hardly had a voice of their own and did little to maintain order and enforce rules.

The place has enough lockers to store your stuff. There are enough clean (pleasant surprise!) showers, changing rooms, bathrooms and loos.

They do try hard to enforce the only-swimming-costume in the pool rule, and do make swimming costumes available for use, for some nominal fee. The ladies’ costumes include thigh lengh t-shirts and full-length/capris style leggings, in order to make ladies of all age, size, weight, make feel comfortable Unfortunately, you’d still find some ladies splashing around in their salwar suits/ t-shirts etc. and men in their vests, shorts, track pants instead of the mandatory swimming trunks! This would’ve infuriated a younger me, but these days I’ve…hmm…just become more tolerant of all kinds of people.

The park has been built on some 5 acres of land and has the standard water rides and pools – lazy river, wave pool, many water slides and tunnels, deck for rain dance.

Oh well, we did get into an argument with a jerk, who insisted on keeping his bags on the benches instead of letting my parents sit there. He kept muttering that they were around 40 people who had come there and so we should let them be. I wanted to ask him why he hadn’t booked the place exclusively to himself, if he really wanted to be treated like a royalty, but I kept peace. Hubby dear tried to get the attendants to do something about the ill-mannered fella, but obviously they did not want to get involved, neither did they seem capable of handling him. They made some half-hearted effort of calling someone to settle the dispute, who did not turn up. The jerk sat there with his bags, refusing to budge and we just stood around patiently till he just got fed up and left.

So, except for this incident, overall the experience was ok. The place is good if you want to spend half a day there with your family. If you have your own group of family and friends, you’d probably enjoy more.

Earlier I’ve written about the NIT Water Park at Nagpur. This does not compare to that place at all. But, it is an ok place to take your kids, when the weather is as hot as it is right now!

Conversations…

Me: (while picking up the Little one from the day care) Jaldi chalo, hamein bakery jana hai.  (Hurry up, we need to go to the bakery)

Little one: (at the bakery, looking around at stacks of biscuits and muffins) Mamma, isko bakery kyon bolte hain? (Why is this place called bakery?)

Me: (brightly) Kyonki yahan…hmm…biscuits milte hain! (Because we get biscuits here)

Little one: Phir mujhe cakery jana hai, mujhe bakery nahin pasand. (Then I want to go to the ‘cakery’, I don’t like ‘bakery’.)

…

I know there has been too much TV and too much cricket going on in the house, when the little darling, who is not much into TV asks – “Mamma, yeh Ishant Sharma uncle kaun hai?” (Mamma, who is Ishant Sharma uncle?)

…

(At around 11:30pm after the Little one has had her quota of 3-4 stories, has made me listen to ALL the nursery rhymes she can remember)

Little one: Bahut batein ho gayi, ab so jaten hain! (Enough talking, lets go to sleep!)

Me: ???

Of toys, games, shop and shopkeeper

I had to buy some gift for the little one for Christmas. While I was busy thinking of some new and different idea, I remembered a colleague telling me about an interesting game. He had also mentioned the shop, Maharashtra Trading Corporation (Pune), where he bought the game. So, I decided to check it out. And I have to admit that I came out a very satisfied customer with a very interesting experience to recount.

The shopkeeper is a very typical Puneri, aajoba-like (grand-fatherly) person. When I entered, I was the only customer in the shop. I asked the shop-keeper for the particular toy my colleague had suggested. He immediately understood, showed me the toy and as soon as I replied in affirmative, an attendant was dispatched to fetch a packed piece. That gave me a pleasant surprise, because very often shop-keepers happily shove already opened items in your hand without even bothering to re-pack neatly. And you have to explicitly ask for a packed piece. As I stood there looking around he asked who was I buying the toy for and if I would be interested in looking at some other things; I agreed. He very enthusiastically got into the act- pulling out boxes, giving various details, very animatedly explaining and exhorting me to try each toy/game out. Another elderly lady entered the shop. She described a particular item she was looking for and asked him to hurry up. The elderly shop-keeper chided her for hurrying him.

This is how the conversation went-

Elderly lady: Aaho jara ghayi karta ka, malaa kuthe tari pohchayecha aaye. (Could you please hurry, I have to reach some place.)

Shopkeeper: Mazhya dukaanaat ghayi ghayi ni yaayech naahi. Me yanchya shi boltoye. Jara thamba. Yanchyashi boloon jhala ki tumhala je paahije te daakhavto. Mazhya kade nehami ved kaadhoon yayacha. Mala ghayi karnare lok aavdat naahi.

(Don’t come to my shop in a hurry. I’m talking to this young lady, so wait for a while. When I’m done talking to this lady, I’ll attend you and show you whatever it is that you want to see. When you come to my shop, ensure that you have enough time in hand. I don’t like people who come to my shop in a hurry.)

People who’ve never been to Pune will probably find it difficult to believe that this conversation actually took place between a customer and a shopkeeper

And aajoba, very nonchalantly, continued showing me various items. He not only explained and demonstrated various toys and games to me, but also gave tips on how to store the toys/games at home so that various parts and pieces of games don’t get lost making it useless. Make a toy-box out of a shoe-box, decorate it brightly for the child and store this toy in that toy-box, use a ‘potli’ for storing tiny pieces of this game.

I started feeling comfortable taking his time while there were other customers waiting for him. So, I quickly made my selection and came out smiling, four neatly packed boxes tucked under my arm and a promise to re-visit the shop

The shops has a nice variety of toys and games. If you are a young parent and are bored of the standard toy stores that only sell soft toys, Barbie dolls and Beyblades in the name of toys – do check-out this place once. Heck…you may be any age, if you are looking for some interesting, affordable, locally made toys and games of decent quality- head here.

A job site with a difference!!

Every household has a ‘maid’ story- the good, the bad and the ugly. Any woman who has had anything to do with running a household is capable of talking for hours on the topic. No girlfriends’ meet ever gets over without a healthy exchange of ‘maid stories’ The blog world has seen its share of stories. A formula that worked, a relationship that clicked, a perennial search for that perfect match (a post by themadmomma that I cannot link to anymore )

So, here comes a job site with a difference as described here!! Right now it caters only to the need of blessed Bangloreans, but they are looking forward to expanding in other metros. I agree its not a complete solution to the problem, but surely another very good avenue to help you with your search and some help for the ones looking for employment!

Ae zindagi…

Theres inherently something cute about a two and half year old singing a song on zindagi Yesterday I caught the little one singing to her doll-

Ae zindagi…na naa naa, naa naa

(continuing in the same tune…)
row row row the boat, gently down the stream…

Over the weekend, my record was stuck on “Ae zindagi gale laga le” and I just couldn’t get the song out of my head. I think the little one picked it up from me. It was so damn cute hearing her utter the word zindagi