Sajjangadh- Thoseghar Oct 2011

Day 2 of the satara trip.

left the hotel early morning and headed straight towards sajjangadh. knew the way towards the bogada, same one enroute kaas, so didnt had any issues reaching it. had breakfast in another obscure place. the drive to sajjangadh was another awesome one, with green hills all around, no waterfalls though, but green all around nevertheless. stopped at few places to take some snaps, which came out real good.

reached sajjangadh after few sharp twists n turns. real narrow road to reach the top, but in the morning with not much traffic, the drive was pleasant (but what did i knew :). parked the vehicle at level parking, with another two cars, the stairs start right from the parking place and are in decent shape n size. so climbing was no trouble at all. just the commercialization of the place really bothered me. there was no natural feel at all to the place. too much trash strewn all over, tanks all green in color with ladies washing clothes in it. was real eyesore. lots of local people, lots of shops, lots of houses, makes this place a village rather than a fort.

this place has samadhi of ramdas swami, the spiritual guru of shivaji maharaj. a math on his name. ram temple. went through this place at our own pace as not much rush was there. went to the backside of sajjangadh to get some real awesome views around, a dam, a serpentine road towards thoseghar, and a awesome view of sajjangadh itself. spent some more time here, just clicking photos. by this time it was 12 and time for lunch.

this place arranges lunch for people, issues free coupons, with few conditions. all "men" have to bare their upper torsos and sit. chant the shlokas behind the ones from temple, and should not discuss anything among themselves. the lunch was good enough, rice, daal, sabjee and some sweet. we ate our heart out. after that we have pickup our thalis and drop it at specified location.

we started climbing back to the parking after the lunch. and to our surprise , now there were about 30 cars and few buses parked in that small parking, with my car at the back of it all, cant move the buses :) had to wait for sometime till some hundred kids from some school gathered around this bus , littering all over the place with coke cans, the bus started moving soon after, it took nearly 30 minutes just to move out of the parking, going back n forth in that narrow place.

the route from here till thosegarh was real treat, no traffic, no people around and just green nature around. had snaps stopping at every place that we felt we should. reached thoseghar. the windmills were to be seen all around , but on the next hill. at thoseghar , asked for directions to reach the steps that takes you to the viewing gallery, therez nothing to ask really, its a small place. still. after you descend down to the gallery, the view is breathtaking. couple of falls around, must be a treat to watch in mid-monsoon, now only water was there, no mist around to add to the drama. anywayz. it was worth the effort and distance that we covered.

as we started to leave, it started to rain heavily, got drenched (again) to the core, but this time we were ready with multiple spare clothes in the car. so no issues. had chai at the tapari, and moved back, as it was raining heavily, and didnt know how far the chalkewadi farms are there, the windmills were visible from here, but you cant really gauge the distance. the route back was more awesome with more hills in the front and sajjangadh in full view. we again stopped at multiple places to click photos.

reached satara by 4.30 sumthng, bought kandi-pedha from the shops around bus-stand, and started the return journey to pune. the route feels a bit a shorter than while coming, maybe cause of the ghat , which you dont have to cross while going back, a tunnel cuts the route short. remember while climbing it was one way. as while returning you come via different route. which merges to the main road somewhere further. had masala-dosa n tea at kamat. and was in city by 8 sumthng. it was a aaram se covered trip with no regrets.

parting shot , for you guys to get inspired :)

Kaas - Bamnoli Oct 2011

after a long long prodding (by u know who...) finally planned to visit kaas. didnt had many expectations, cause of the crowd ofcourse. did the smart thing by planning to visit the place on weekday. friday it was. planned to stay one nite and visit the nearby places at my own pace rather than hurrying up unnecessarily and end up home at unearthly hours.

so woke up to a bright sunny friday morning at about 7 am, and was on road by 8ish. was kinda sore with day's outing at lonavla with office group. but was feeling okay with dont know what to expect. had breakfast on bangalore highway post crossing the tunnel. some dumb place, dont remember the name or exact location. the crowd on highway was as usual idiotic pune crowd, with people on foot running across the highway careless about the blazing horns and cussing drivers.

ghat on the way was the worst that i had came across(not that ive seen a lot), with one way traffic and speed of vehicles in reversely proportional to its size, with huge trucks not moving at all, cars in first gear only and two-wheelers raring to get the top spot. it was fun nevertheless. u have to feel the heat once to become a seasoned driver :)

satara comes in a whizz, maybe 2 hours from pune, dont need to ask anybody any directions. entered the city and searched for a hotel to stay for the nite, got one , and came out freshened up. turn from the eiffel tower wala chock is kinda tricky, made famous last week by our very own mr.amir khan. took a wrong turn there, went ahead, asked directions, turned and was on way correctly this time to kaas pathar.

post satara the route is as beautiful as it can get, all the way to kaas and beyond. had heard that we had to park the vehicles much before the actual place and from there some bus will get us there, but thanks to my own good thinking (on a friday remember :), we were able to take our car till wherever we wanted, park it wherever we wanted, and take snaps the way we wanted :) very few people around, could just imagine what the situation will be on a sat/sun. as i had thought, the place was a let down. yeah the place had flowers all around, wild ones, white, purples, blues, and dont know what. not sure if we were a bit late in visiting the place or was it just really boring and hyped.

anyways, clicked few more snaps like these and went straight to bamnoli, the so called mini-kasmir of this side. the ride to this place is the one to go for. screw kaas, and just head to bamnoli in rainy season. its really worth the pain and the distance. the lake is surrounded by green colored hills all around. had a boat ride till the sangam of 3 rivers(forgot the names), now, a word of caution for all boat ride lovers, get into it only if u can survive the ears shattering and mind numbing dhad dhad of the boat engine. i cudnt bear it any longer and wanted to jump out of the boat in middle of the sangam :)

headed back towards kaas, and had another round of snaps at the plateau. a bit longer session than what we had in the afternoon. by the time we started back to satara, the darkness was falling in the valley. midway, it started drizzling and in few minutes, torrential downpour started. and i started driving ram-bharose. pitch dark, ghat road, the downpour, and just pure instinct about being on the correct route back :) thats what i call ram-bharose driving.

by the time we entered satara city, the rain was left behind in the valley sumwhere and the city was dry as hell. came back to the hotel, freshened up, went out for dinner. came back and slept. so much fun for a day.

parting thought, i mean shot.

Shivneri - Lenyadri Sep 2011

after last week's fiasco at raigadh, took matter in own hands and planned for shivneri. shivaji maharaj's birth place. the place is about 110 odd kms from pune. way via pune-chakan-khed-narayangaon-junnar. road from pune to narayangaon is good, you need to cross two tolls and two ghats to reach narayangaon, and take a left at bus stand at narayangaon. passing thru the place is a bit difficult cause of the narrow road passing thru the crowd. from here to junnar is a breeze, not much traffic. about 20 odd kms.

till here the shun shined so bright , as soon as we started towards junnar, it started raining and it rained. torrential rains. for the rest of the day. had a wet weekend last week, so was not worried much about it. 

take a left at shivaji putla at junnar to reach shivneri, clearly marked signs make the task easier. car park is short distance up and away from the base. from the parking steps start and take you through numerous darwazas to reach the top plateau. the scenery while climbing the steps as usual astonishes you, even if you are drenched to the core. take your time to climb the stairs and click snaps.

once you reach the top, you take a way which takes you round the fort and you reach the shiv janmsthan, take you time, roam around and head back. 

after coming down, go back the same route till shivaji putla in junnar, and go straight ahead, left will take you to malshej ghat, and right back to narayangaon. cross a bridge after a km or so, and take a right towards lenyadri, you can see the mountain in the background. after taking right, take a left after about another 2 kms or so. you can see the lenyadri mountain ahead of you, pay 10 rs for car park, go ahead park your vehicle, start climbing some 300 odd steep steps. the girijatmak is in about 7th den. take shower below the waterfall there (if its falling :) and decide if youve got any more strength left to finish off all caves, else take few more snaps and start climbing down. beware of the monkeys though, they are notorious.

take thali lunch once you reach the base, and nothing much to do, head back home. you can as well visit ozar from here, if time permits.

ended this week's adventure with no hidden surprises and felt good about it :)

Raigad Aug 2011

Ahhh where do I start? I dont believe in going to treks arranged by someone else, somehow I feel not-in-control of the happenings and Im not comforatble somebody else messing up my fun :)

After a long gap i decided to go on a trek organized by a team rather than planning it out on my own. a huge team of 70+ people turned out for the trek, a bit too much i guess to really enjoy an outing. havent visited raigad before, so was keen to join myself.


the day started a bit too early , at 5am, went to pickup stop by 6 and had to wait for the bus to arrive for another hour, rain had already started and we were already drenched before even the trek began. anyways it was just the starting and nobody knew what it has instored for us further.

reached raigad by 12.30 sumthng, via hinjewadi-paud-tamhini ghat-nijampur-mangaon-paachhad. the view via tamhini ghat was real deal, the place-to-go in monsoon, but as we were with a crowd, cudnt ask for photo stop.

anywayz, reached raigad, and the climb starts right from the first step itslef.

had read that we had to climb about 1400+ steps, but at the end im sure it wouldnt have been more than 7-800. at least it didnt seemed so.

the visibility was not more than few steps, too much fog. rain was in full force, we were already drenched to the chaddi in that torrential downpour :) so had no worries of keeping ourselves dry. after numerous steps and those many waterfalls on the way, we reached the maha-darwaza. we had some opportunities to click few snaps , as it was raining cats-n-dogs (whatever that means :)

by the time we reached the top, the visibility was really poor, the fog, the rains and on top of that cudnt put on my spects (no wipers on that :), what a waste. rhea started to shiver by that time, and my mood was gone to do anything more here.

without visiting any of the famed spots on the fort,somehow the organizers found out the place to eat, the mtdc one. fully drenched in the chaddi-soaking-rains , we sat another hour and half till the guys at mtdc tried to arrange the food. and food arrived in parts, first rice, then roti, then daal and then sabzee. what fun it was. changed wet clothes for the kid, i had no chance and desire to change into sumthng comfortable.

it was already 5pm. and outside it was raining like never before and night was already started settling in. few of the clever ones decided to get down by the roapway to avoid getting into further trouble and  further wetness. (but what did they knew...)

the roapway was another kind of experience(with 110 rs each), gives you a bird's view of the fort walls, shows you the view that cant be matched with anythng else in the world, gives you an idea of the grandness of the fort, but... it takes you down in less than 3 minutes flat. what fun.

had to wait another hour till the remaining adventurers carried on with the fun and climbed down the way they came up. the bus came,we sat inside, settled and then the counting started, they messed up counting thrice, as 70+ people were there and two buses. after three tries they gave up and decided to move, so much for "organizing". 


it was pitch dark by this time, about 7.30 sumthng. the journey started back, after another few agonizing hours (still in dead wet clothes) somewhere in tamhini ghat , the bus decided to take a break. sumthng broke down, literally and they decided to get the ladies and few men into one bus and taken them home, whatever happened to the remaining ones( another bus was supposed to reach them by 3am sumthng). reached hinjewadi by 1am , came home by 1.30 and the last surprise was waiting for us, no power at home. so no hot water. screw the bath i said, just changed and slept, and that was the end to it.


end to a perfectly screwed up trek.


the parting shot...

Hadshi Jun 2011

Had a bit of mixed feelings about this one, this temple has multiple gods, inaugurated by a human god, location is like heaven, other then temple nothing much to do, but still , it has something in it, that people flock to this place in hundreds, if not thousands.

drive to this one was the tough one that we chose, being on a car, on a rainy day. not sure about the route thru chandni chowk -paud and further , as we went via hinjewadi,paud and further, the temple is just after kolwan village, from pune its @ 35-40 odd kms. route mustave been gud enough on bike.

 

the last stretch from this pravesh dwar till the parking is a steep hill road, but a gud one. even to a novice car driver like me.

luckily did not found any car coming down the hill as we were climbing, as I wudave surely panicked :)

parking is free, has a snacks shop with tea, bhajiya and locally grown sai-keshar mangoes. take your pick. we had tea.

once you enter the place, it simplicity and the background just leaves you speechless. see for yourselves. no words.

 

stairs in the front takes you to the first floor , it has vithhal-rukmini , do the chores and come down to the ground floor, it has sai baba and his avatar satya sai baba alongside. do the chores , buy something from the store if you feel , and come out.

not sure what gave me more satisfaction, just visited gods or the heaven around. rains, mist, mountains, green, and nothing else. its just so awesome place. this place has lotus ponds with few lotuses in it, click click click.

rains poured for few minutes and the place got much wilder :) know what i mean? the serene scenery just leaves you speechless , good that its still not so famous and the crowd is still at a manageable level.

also it has these chinese kinda corner places for you to take shelter in rain or sunshine, as it comes. we took our own lunch so had that under one such chinese corner :)

well, as i said, nothin much to do , kid got bored in few minutes, no posing around , time to leave. just a parting snap for all you people to look forward to.

Bhuleshwar Mar 2011

Had read a lot about this one, so was itching go visit it sometime soon.
Chose a bright Sat morning for the same with Sun all guns blazing :)

Waking up a bit early than normal is tough (even if it is just half an hour early) , still was on road by 8 sumthng, with wifey and kiddy in tow.

The road was well known and minus any twists and turns after hadapdar. till hadapsar it was all traffic and chaos all around. that solapur highway in hadapsar in turning into a land of flyovers. another one being constructed near magarpatta junction.

had special wada-paav @ joshi-wadevaale , just crossing hadapsar, wifey chose to have misal-paav, which she didnt liked. anyways, road from here is a straight one.

on solapur highway, hadapsar->loni->uruli->yavat(minus 2 kms) , took a right just before yavat. all over the internet the directions to bhuleshwar kept saying take a right one before 2 kms of yavat, now how Im supposed to do that, kinda funny.

the right one come once you pass the second toll naka, and cross the canal.

anyways, one cant miss the right turn, u can see the "bhuleshwar" tags on the lhs of road, just approaching yavat. took right and it leads straight to the temple.

you can easily identify the site as its on the only hill in that region(atleast it looks like), the last few kms goes through a ghat section, but the road is newly built and easily rideable. u need to take one more final right post the ghat section, to start the final climb towards the temple.

the last few metres of climb are real steeeeeep, and had to get wifey n kiddy to walk the stairs , had a fear of toppling the bike backwards :) , nevertheless its just few steps.

its some 12th century temple , peshwe-kaalin as told by the priest later. there were few enthusiastic people like us, who chose this bright sunny day for the visit. the inside is real awesome, dark, cold, architecturally beautiful, broken , still beautiful.

again, as told by priest, the lhs of the insides depicts various scenes from ramayana and rhs has mahabharata on it, if you can make it out. as most the sculptures were broken very badly, its tough to recognize anything.

clicked few more and lots more of snaps and had lunch that we took along under a tree. spend some more time and started back.

that was the end of it, nothing much to do on the temple. 
on the way back, picked up marigold plants from a nursery, and wifey clicked few more snaps of kiddy alongside the flowers. 

dont forget to pick up your share of exotic grapes from the "national research centre of grapes" just before hadapsar on your way back. didnt saw such huge grapes anywhere in pune.

thats it for now.