Mumbai to Balewadi

I have come to national insurance academy, Pune on a number of occasions earlier. Off the cuff i can recall programmes on health insurance, IT appreciation, finance for non finance,counselling skills, corporate governance seminar that i had come here earlier for.Every one of those programmes were very unique and enjoyable. Yes, I enjoyed playing badminton those times, enjoyed the kitchen free evenings/mornings, enjoyed the company of other colleagues, enjoyed the morning/late night walks on the beautiful lawns.Enjoyed classes? Yes, to some extent, but then the classes were a necessary prop for the real enjoyment which took place outside of it.
But today was special. I was not attending a programme but came here as a guest faculty. I had made up my mind some years back that i have been a participant enough number of times and i want to be on the other side of the classroom in NIA. I have just finished my session and am resting before leaving for mumbai. I enjoyed being in the classroom this time!
The road from Mumbai to Balewadi was picturesque and had those unique shades of green that one can witness soon after monsoon on the western ghats. It was a feast for the eyes and i over indulged myself to the full.The bald rocks sported green topis, skewed at an angle reminding me of dev anand and his rakish angle hats that we used to fall for in those days.The tunnels were quite a few and as i have never done this stretch on road, I was looking forward to each one of them. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, is a phrase which kept popping up in my head everytime i entered a tunnel. The weather was perfect and we kept a steady pace. We did it in a little over 2 hours. It is bang on the national highway and the bold letters on the tall water tank in the NIA compound did help matters.
I enjoyed the trip, I enjoyed interacting with lady managers from all the insurance companies and i enjoyed chit chatting with madhumita, the course coordinator and a very good friend.