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.

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.