The spiritual weekend...

came out of the slumber and took family on a spiritual abode. a bit different from what i wud have liked but nevertheless, went.

about 20 odd kms away on the NH4 towards mumbai, a place called prati-shirdi. shirgaon.

easy to locate, pass the first toll that comes your way, on the left u can see a huge ganapati idol on the mountain, more on that later. take a left just after passing the toll, go ahead about 2 kms, follow the signage to reach the so called replica of shirdi ke saibaba. though i never understood why its called prati-shirdi, itz as good on its own as the shirdi one, still. 

the hugeness of the place astonishes you, and wonder how come this big temple in about nowhere.
 

prati-shirdi ke saibaba

anyways, big queue awaits you if you are at a weekend, otherwise no idea.few minutes in the queue and you can see the god. the saibaba himself. and know whatz the best thing about this temple? you can take as many pictures as you want, no restrictions :) just dont forget to do namaskar when your number comes :)

the eatery

come out and you can take a coupon of 20 Rs. and have a hearty lunch in the place, much bigger and taller than the temple itself. just dont waste any.

spent some more time there, and started back, take a right just before u touch the highway, to reach the ganpati idol-on-the-mountain.

the idol on the mountain

u just cant imagine the size of this idol from highway. the more steps you climb, the idol grows in its size. 

too much sun was there, so cudnt look up much, but the weather turned cloudy and misty in few minutes, and the cameras started rolling, i mean clicking :)

spent some more time and headed back home, wanted to climb the shiv temple as well, but kept it for some other time.

thats it for now.

Tikona Jul 2010

Woke up to a sunny day, not gud for trekking, just sweat and no fun.

Got ready with family and again was on road by 7.30 sumthng. Gud enough for a start.

Sun followed us till kamshet, we turned left towards pavananagar and it went straight ahead along the nh4 :)

The weather turned cloudy if not rainy, much to our liking.

Lots of twists and turns on the road, till saw pavana dam in front of us, and turned left from there. Couldnt recognize tikona, as there were too many fort like hills around, must be some forts only, just not too sure, which ones.

As climbed up the hill next to pavana dam, saw the famous tikon of the tikona. It was getting all misty on top :)

Turned left and went into the tikona peth, parked bike at the temple, funny, there is a temple at each and every "peth" at the fort foothill.

Well, parked and started on foot, went 100 mtrs, and wifey asks me to get bike and go a little bit ahead, as road looks good enough to carry a little ahead.

Came back took bike, and went ahead, it was slippery, a word of caution, if its raining, has rained or about to rain, don’t go any further in your vehicle :) 
Start on your foot.

There are multiple choices for you to climb, steep, not-so-steep, and no-idea-about-the-third-one.

We missed the steep one, the working men from the village, were building the not-so-steep pathway, called us from sumwhere above and guided us to the "peepal" tree wala path.

I missed the "peepal" tree, as I had forgot how one looks like, (ab wakad / pimplesaudagar mein ped hi nahin hai to peepal ka ped kaha se dekhu), went a lot ahead and had to turn back.

Anyways, got the appropriate pathway, climbing was easy, even with kid in hand. The pathway was literally being laid out afresh, the soil was loose but didn’t slipped at all.

Went thru the initial phase in few minutes, no issues.
The view of the fort from here was just soooo awesome. The green, the fort walls, the breeze, u get the idea :)

Took a break here, kid ate some biscuits, the snaps as usual were cute and awesome.

few cave like structures, on-the-edge pathway, green grass, and a maruti structure made pretty good pics.

a stopover in between, u can ask for lunch as well, we didnt and went forward, a pond with fishes and a temple with babaji welcomes you for a steep ride ahead.

from here the steepness just gets more steep with nearly vertical steps, was not much of a trouble, apart from carrying the kid, and kinda exhausted a bit, but the view that you get from here is worth all the trouble that you took in life, including marriage :)

the distant tung , the pavana dam, backwater, tikona's side wall, and a deep fall on other side, just made our day.


u climb till here and therz not much to do, as its not really a fort, its a watchtower, and literally, other than few high(really high) points, therz not much for you to see and awe at the structure itself. but the small climbs from here till the last top stop, each turn of your head gives a different scene, the mist gives a bit avatarish feel to it as well.

go ahead and climb more and therz a shiv temple, the guard tells its "jagrut", wifey asks to god, what every wifey asks with one kid, another one :) hey bhagwaan.

the pond at the backside was not clean, dirty people had made the pond dirty like themselves,shame. could hear few peacock cries from the jungle down.

sat there, had food, was thrilled to have conquered another one. took n number of snaps here, the weather kept its promise and was at its best behaviour. clouds, mist, greenery, breeze, hmmmm.

started to climb down(u ask how do i do that?climb and that too down), sat at few more places, just admiring the works of the ultimate painter. the steep stairs were kinda tricky, my legs started to hurt with cautious downward-climb. but as i said its worth. worth everything.

came down, started bike, looked up, tikona was covered in mist, and it started to drizzle. it was a sunny day allright :)

Purandar Jul 2010

woke up early, by 6 sumthng, wifey got up much earlier, made parathas.woke up kid, got everybody ready by 7 am. was on road by 7.20 am.

started from wakad towards aundh, slight drizzling started, perfect way for a long day ahead :) went towards, aundh, towards esquare, towards camp,towards race course, towards hadapsar.

didnt took the hadapsar flyover, went underneath it, and took a right turn at the gadital towards saswad.

left hadapsar and it started raining, awesome, went ahead, crossed uruli.started on dive-ghat, awesome road, stopped at few places, clicked some snaps.just before the ghat ends, stopped to overlook mastani talav, few more snaps and back on road.

reached saswad, crossed the place, came to a fork, asked for directions to narayanpur. therz a shivaji statue, where things get a bit confusing, asked and went on the road. crossed a chhotasa bridge, on right ull see a beautiful temple, thats the way that tells you, that you are on right track.

the scenery changes gear from here, and awesomeness starts.its a straight road, no confusions, just pure bliss and the only color that u see is 100 shades of green.

few kilometers ahead(@10 i guess) on left u can start seeing a half mountain, half because other half is in clouds.took few more snaps,and went ahead. comes another fork, with a huge board that tells us that u need to take the left one to reach purandar.

go ahead with purandar in your front now. majestic and again half(as other half is still under clouds :) 

come to purandar gaon, if u are an avid trekker, park your bikes at the chowk under the tree, ask how to reach up and start. others follow the "right" route.

from here the climb starts, the road is freshly laid, so no issues. cudnt see beyond few meters, we were there by 8.30am, so full of mist. stopped at n number of places, took so many photos, a snail one as well :) 

cant define the joy that we were experiencing, words, even photos doesnt do any justice to the beauty.

will reach a gate at top which tells that we are entering a prohibited area.took few more snaps :)

go ahead, cross the gate and go inside, few more turns, road not so good, and ull reach the first darwaza and a old church in pretty good shape. few more snaps and went ahead(still on bike). 

reached the parking area, nobody was there, as it was @ 9 am. hotel ppl were just starting to cut chillies and onions for bhajiya for the day. took tea there , and asked how to go further.

here two things are there, if u are just for picnic, go straight into the army blockade and do whatever god has to offer you. as I didnt ventured there, no idea what to expect.

for avid trekkers, get into the purandareshwar temple, do namaskar, and start climbing from back.
dont forget to keep clicking photos. you wudnt, i know.

the trail starts from there , its pretty easy, no sweat, we thought. the air was cool, full mist around. formed nice droplets on our eye-lashes.pic wifey's eye.

we started sweating allright, could feel insde.

as they say, while trekking, if you are continuosly descending, you are on wrong track, at a fork, usually take a right. if feel lost, pray :) retract your steps back and start afresh. thats what we did halfway.

few more darwazas, few more snaps, few more water tanks, we saw something like steps out of nowhere, leading to nowhere, starting in mist, ending in mist.real awesome.

climb the stairs, few more steps, and then few more, and then ull see the majectic shiv temple.

enter , take a deep breath, have food, if uve got any, rest for few mins, take few more snaps, and u can start back :)

you can come down and visit narayanpur and beautiful balaji temple as well. if you are godly inclined these places are a must visit, if you are like me who just visited heaven and met god, you can happily head back home.