Batmobile!

IMG_0292, originally uploaded by Ankur P.

This is the Batmobile. From Batman Begins. Up close.

This picture was taken in one of the back lots of the Warner Bro studio in LA. This place houses all the "kewl" vehicles used in recent Warner movies. Like, the futurustic car from Minority Report, the flying car from Harry Potter 2, the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, Batmobile from Batman Forever and this awesome hunk of a car in the picture.

On this studio tour, we were accompanied by two dudes who were totally crazy about Batman ... or Batman movies. The whole time (around 4 hours) they were just going on and on and on about Batman (our guide was pissed off by the end). And the only things they were interested in the whole thousand acre complex were the things that had to do something with ... yup, Batman.

BTW, I am also a Batman fan ... but the movies somehow don't match up to the books (or comics, or graphic novels). Still, looking forward to The Dark Knight:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
http://slashfilm.com/2007/05/19/the-joker-revealed/

Trekking in Monsoon

F1220016, originally uploaded by Ankur P.

This is a photo taken 4 years back during a trek up the Lohgad fort. Those were the days when we could afford to make a plan in a minute, pick up a bag, kick up the bikes and go trekking in the mountains around Pune. In pouring rains, in misty places, in screaming winds ... we used to trek almost every weekend. Those were the days ... when we were not married :-). Now, you have to see if the vehicle will go up to the top of the place, if there'll anything decent place to eat and drink, if there'll be a loo around and so on. Sigh ;-).

Anyway, this photo was taken during June 2003. Beginning of the monsoon. The whole place, from the bottom of the climb to the top of the fort was covered in thick mist. Although for sightseeing, that is bad .. but it somehow added an element of beauty and mystery to the whole place.

Lohgad is an easy trek. It is located just off the Pune-Mumbai expressway, near the town of Malavali. You can also go there by local train. There's also the Karla and Bhaja Buddhist caves in the vicinity and so is another fort: Visapur (tougher climb). The vehicle can drive up to almost half of the route ... and from there its a simple, not so steep but a bit long climb. The fort itself is in a good condition, probably one of the best preserved ones. On the top, its quite big and you'll need almost half the day to explore it completely.