Around Pune

Morachi Chincholi

“Morachi chincholi” literally means village of Tamarind trees (chinch) & Peacocks (mor). It’s a small village around 40-50 kms from Pune away from the main highway. There is an entrepreneurial trust called “Jai Malhar” has realized the potential and built a small ethnic village of sorts spread over 25 acres. For Rs. 200/- one has entire day to relax in the surroundings including lunch and evening refreshments. The place has farm fields, nursery of roses, agriculture school, small zoo, tree house and models depicting rural life of Maharashtra and of course tamarind trees. Tamarind trees are quite beautiful with black trunk and branches and million light green compound leaves which spread over a huge canopy. They are dense and provide lot of shade. The place also has an Astronomy science room giving lot of information for kids. Peacocks were slightly difficult to spot as they remain mostly on trees during the day, visible through the branches of the tree. Only in the evening did they come down and go around. We also had a bullock cart ride and tractor trailer ride on the bumpy rural road. The lunch was amazing with Bhakri, Pithla, Bharli vangi and four types of chutneys. I could go there only for having that meal again :) The trust is a great example of rural sustainable model where you make the best of the locally available resources.

Shivneri

Shivneri fort is birthplace of great Maratha leader Shivaji. His early days of life were also spent on this fort where he got initial training on warfare and politics. The fort as most of the forts is situated on a hilltop close to Junnar town. This was an easy fort to climb and go around. The fort was clean, green and serene with lot of varieties of plants having been planted. The day was beautiful with gentle rain playing hide and seek but sun out and slight wind. The stone building where Jijabai gave birth to Shivaji was a rectangular stone building with windows at one side looking at the valley where Junnar town is now located. There were many viewpoints around the fort where one could look out to valley and distant mountains, fields and villages and admire them.

Purandar

Purandar fort is another of Shivaji fort but which saw lot of action. It is situated near Narayanpur village, close to Saswad on Pune-Pandharpur road. There is a cantonment inside the fort but the motorable road to fort is very bad and goes around a bit. There is a trek route which is difficult but doable in 1-2 hours. When I reached there it was raining profusely but with breaks. I decided to climb the usual route but got lost a bit. After some deliberations and inquiry from retreating folks, got the correct direction and climbed. Due to rain, the mud had become slippery and the trek route was steep at some places, so it was quite a feat. The hills on which Purandar fort stands and adjacent hills on which stands a sister fort Vajragad creates an amphitheatre of sorts. It was mesmerizing to see these rocky hills covered with green carpet and grey clouds shrouding the top of the hills. On reaching the top I was quite drenched and surrounding were foggy and spooky so I did not venture much. There was a small canteen shop which was doling out hot tea and biscuits to whoever was coming there. On return I decided to go down the road just to enjoy rain and surroundings. Soon I took shortcut trails in the mountain slope, went around a little here and there but eventually managed to come down without much trouble.

Bhimashankar

Bhimashankar is one of the 12 jyotirlingas. It is nestled deep in the Sahayadri mountains road to which itself is dramatic climbing the hills and going through a forest. Just like any other trip, the journey was destination and we enjoyed quite a lot of scenic vistas around. At one point on the ascent to the hill, we saw a valley with muddy, winding river disappearing into valley further and a small village nestled at the loop. The scene was right out of picture postcard and we envied the people who were living in that village. The temple had a mile long queue of devotees thronging due to Saturday being holiday and it being month of “Shravan”. We couldn’t manage to go around much except Bombay Point which is edge of the hill range from where if we look straight we are looking towards Bombay. That day being overcast, there was no chance of even looking at valley down below clearly however changing views due to clouds shifting was a great entertainment. On return we went upto Babu Genu dam which is over an unknown river visible while ascending towards Bhimashankar from the road.

Koyna

Koyna Nagar is a small town nestled in the Sahaydri mountains whose claim to fame is Koyna Dam. Koyna dam is quite famous due to its scale. It forms a lake in Sahayadri mountains which goes upto 70 km all the way upto Mahabaleswar (Tapola). It was one of the largest dam projects of independent India and even Jawaharlal Nehru paid a visit here during its construction. It generates 560 MW of hydroelectric power. The dam and its lake behind is the main centre of attraction visible from various viewpoints. There is a Nehru Garden which is a nice place to relax and also to view a short documentary about the dam. The town is around equidistant from two major towns Karad & Chiplun on west and east side. There is a famous fall known as Ozarda which I had never heard of before. But it didn’t disappoint and was in full force. The waterfall is inside a protected park and one has to trek for 20 minutes to reach the base of falls though it is visible from far. The water was in such a force that it created a mist around and one could get wet evening being far from falling water. No one can dare stand under it anyways. Next day our destination was Guhagar, a town at seashore going through the town of Chiplun. It was a nostalgic journey for me having come to this area some 18 years back with my cousin and sisters. We had come from Solapur, stationed at Chiplun and went to Guhagar and Velneshwar. As soon as we rounded the bend at Ghat Matha which is the mountain pass to the other side of Sahayadri mountain I knew I have seen this before. I have a faint memory of that time getting scared looking at the valley below with a small river. This is Kumbharli ghat towards Chiplun. There is a hotel at the pass which is a view point to the valley below. Due to location of hills there is always wind at this point with clouds rising from the valley below. The Kumbharli ghat was so beautiful that we stopped around 5 times at various vantage points looking at the green hills covered with white clouds. Chiplun to Guhagar was low lying hill drive with dense trees around. Guhagar had few tourists who might have come due to it being Sunday. We then headed to Velneshwar where I had even spent a day but I didn’t recall at whose house it was? After Velneshwar, we went to Hedvi and paid visit to Ganesh temple there.

Jejuri

Jejuri is a small town around 50 km from Pune on Pune-Pandharpur road. It is famous for temple of lord “Khandoba” who was a warrior and killed demons. I have heard of Jejuri many times as being a station on Kolhapur line, people with surname Jejurikar and even a Marathi song “Chala Jejuri la jau”. We covered the distance in hour and a half going through Saswad. The temple is situated on a small hill top but well constructed like a stone fort with steep stair climb. There is a peculiar ritual here is to anoint the deity and several other small points spread around the temple with turmeric which makes the surroundings yellow. Even devotees get anointed with turmeric, the more you put the more devoted you are.

All the photos around Pune are here.

Oregon/Portland/Columbia River

During these recession time, just two days before Obama taking oath as 44th president of USA, I landed into USA in Bellevue, Washington state near Seattle. On very first weekend break, a close friend (Samrat) planned a trip down south in Oregon state to visit waterfalls in Columbia River Gorge. It is one of the many natural beauty sites which have been declared as National Scenic area by US govt. I had no involvement in planning of this trip as I hardly researched anything this time before coming. Samrat being his enthusiastic self and shouldering responsibility of taking entourage of 16 folks including his and two other families hired one of the biggest personal passenger vehicle in US, a Ford 16 seater. It was test of his cheerfulness as he drove 200 miles without any help and simultaneously cheering up rest of the crowd. The weather turned out to not the way we expected. It turned cloudy and started snowing as soon as we crossed Columbia river into the state of Oregon. Other than its natural beauty and liberal city of Portland, Oregon is also know as state with no Sales tax on commodities. This fact was on every one's mind and even on a recreation trip, we shopped at soon to close CircuitCity chain. But before that we first went to see what we came here for, the waterfalls. The mountain slope along Columbia River highway is home to many scenic vistas and watefalls. There would have had many waterfall streams otherwise had it not been chilly winters. This was the first time I saw frozen waterfalls, white patches on otherwise green slopes. Still there was water on the bigger ones. One of them, the biggest, is known as Multnomah waterfall which is the second largest drop in height of water after famous Niagra. Even in the bone chilling weather, the waterfall felt beautiful. There was frozen water around but a huge stream of water still dropping from height. The waterfall is in two stages. There is a beautiful arch bridge built in front of the falls which when looked from a distant casts a spell. Before Multnomah, we went to one more fall called Bridal Veil for which we had to walk a little as it was hidden in forest. The drop was not much but flow was powerful. By the time we were done with these, everyone had enough of chilly weather. So, we headed back to our hotel, Holiday Inn, which we had booked for us in Gresham, adjacent area to Portland. It snowed a little overnight and our plans of going to Mt. Hood were dashed. The reason for that was that in snow, vehicles are supposed to put chains on tyres so that they don't skid. We with rented vehicle did not opt for this. So, soon plan was made to visit the Portland city and have brunch at an India restaurant called "Swagat". The restaurant as if to our convenience starts lunch buffet at 11:30 AM. As we reached there, we were one of the first customers of the day. A bunch of 16 desis getting down from a vehicle which barely fit them would have been quite a sight for the people around. Nevertheless, we had a sumptuous lunch at the buffet though it was only palatable. We were done by 1 PM and we had to start heading back, so we were left with only 2 hours. After lot of deliberations, we decided to park at riverfront of Hood river and everybody goes his way and comes back in time. I chose to stick to riverfront promenade cum park. The confluence of Hood & Columbia river is near by. Portland is also known for Mt. Hood which looms large are visible from most part of the city on clear day. This was Sunday morning and a few Portland residents were out there exercising or just bathing in the precious sunlight though it was cold enough. Portland is know as heaven for gay folks and known for its weirdness. I read that some of local businessmen even pasted stickers all over the city to help keep city weirdness!! The city though did not seem to so busy had a tramway of its own which ran on vehicular roads though I did not try to step into it. After lot of wait for others, we finally headed back to Bellevue. The journey was quick given to beautiful road and day light still remaining. All in all an enjoyable trip.

All the photos can be seen here.

Coffee, hills, foliage and beaches

[ Please look at here for pictures from this trip ]
Coffee, hills, foliage and beaches were themes of my journey driving a car through Karnataka recently (August 2007) along with couple of friends. We cut through central Karnataka horizontally towards west and hit the coast. Then we went North hugging the coast throughout and finally went north-east to finish our journey where we started, that is, Hyderabad. The trip came into being when my friend Nitin booked his tickets to Hyderabad in the middle of August some four months back. I wasn't sure of where to go because its monsoon times and wherever we go rains could hamper any plans. There was not much of common interest around Hyderabad to keep us occupied for 3-4 days. So, after consulting a friend of mine, reluctantly I chose Chikmagalur. I could not research much before leaving but could gather that I could visit Hoysalan temples of Belur, Halebid and Jain pilgrimage of Shravanbelgola.

The D-day came when we had to leave and it turned out to be a Monday morning. When everyone was rushing to the office on the road, we were getting away from it. Hyderabad to Banaglore I had done before but during night time some 3 months back. I was trying to figure out various pit stops we took. I identified the place we had tea, had dinner and even where we refuelled which drove Nitin nuts and was asking whether a plaque has been installed here to commemorate my visit? Our first stop was on a bridge over swollen Krishna river with muddy water before Kurnool. There was an island a little distance away in between the river with a fort on top!! Nitin considers himself as someone whom Schumacher looks upto, he didn't disappoint and touched 130 kmph readily on a dual lane road without divider and moderate incoming traffic. We stopped again close to a level crossing skirting a sunflower field. It was unguarded and we took a walk that sunflower park. Even with cloudy weather, sunflowers were in bloom. A large portion of landscape looked yellow remidning me of mustard fields in North. There were few fruit sellers whom we provided a good business. After that we rushed towards Bangalore with few stops for lunch, tea and snaps. The landscape throughout the drive was uneven, boulder-strewn or sometimes with hills made of boulders. Because of monsoon, the landscape wore a green look. The drive to Nitin's brother's house in evening Bangalore traffic was expectedly hellish.

We started a bit lazily for Chikmaglur in the morning and had to grind through Bangalore traffic. Once we turned towards Hassan from Nelmangala, the road and landscape improved drastically and we were cruising towards Hassan with occassional photo opporunity. There were frequent signs announcing proximity to Belur, Halebid but we decided to visit them while coming back. We occasionally saw Bangalore - Hassan railway line which took long time to convert from Meter gauge and runs upto Mangalore, one of the most scenic ones in India. Hassan was a non-descript town with messed up roads. Once we hit the road to Chikmaglur, the roads improved again. The road was one of the better tarmac I have seen and I am sure many of the ads with speeding cars might have been filmed on this road. We curved through fields, hills and water bodies. We stopped at one unguarded field full of marigold flowers. The flowers were in full bloom and planted in rows. We walked among them, folndled them and clicked lot of snaps. Yagachi dam is a small dam on some river whose name I don't remember on the way and worth visiting. We were expecting Chikmaglur to be hilly but it turned out to be plain. Nevertheless, the hill range of Baba Budangiri and western ghats were not very far. We stayed in a concrete hotel in the town called Planter's court. One could stay at any of the coffee estates but then your agenda should be only to enjoy the estate and not venture out much. Moreover, these estates are a little distance away from the town, so you have to know where to go. Once we checked into hotel, we asked receptionist whether she could suggest an itinerary for attractions nearby. Once we had that, we head off to a Cafe Coffee Day outlet nearby. We were surprised to find one in such a small town but the real reason was displayed inside the Cafe. Chikmaglur is the HQ of CCD's parent company Amalgamated Bean Company Limited and they procure their coffee from region around Chikmaglur so they have opened this outlet as an honorary outlet. The parent company called "ABC" for convenience was on the oppposite side of the road. By this time, the idea of going to coastal Karnataka was hatched and we called up couple of people in the "civilisation" to help us with distances to various destinations. We decided upon going to Udupi from Chikmaglur, from there to Karwar just south of Goa and then return to Hyderabad via Hubli.

We wanted to trek the highest peak in Karnataka called Mullaiyangiri. Even though there is a road which winds up and goes upto the peak but we wanted to trek. The trek starts from a place called Sarpadari which is on the road to Kemmangudi. It is one of the recognized trek in this region. Other one is to go to Baba Budangiri peak via Galikere. Once we entered the gate through which trek starts, we were unaware of what lies ahead for us. With morning sun, mild breeze and oozing confidence, the setting was perfect for trekking. The trail was clear most of the time but mountain slope was all covered with overgrown grass and different plants and shrubs and occassional trees. Climbing was a little tricky at some points due to wetness and there was possibility of slipping. The trail most of the time was steep and we were gaining height rapidly. We got worried, how will we come down with slippery surface? But that worry was for later as we enjoyed the mist covered mountain upwards and valley beneath. The peak has a Shiva temple. Interestingly, the Nandi statue is located a little away from the temple in open. I have seen such a practice for the first time. The view from peak were so stunning that for first 15 minutes we just sat silent admiring the views and only later thought of praying inside the temple. We were now looking for options to go back by hitch-hiking or simply walking on the road. But we met a local young man who made going back down look like a cake walk. We reluctantly agreed and started getting the same way we came. It turned out to be easier but I slipped multiple times due to sllippery surface to laughter of my buddies.

Once we came down, we headed for Kemmangudi, also known as KR Hills (Krishna Rajapuram Hills). The road was bad but it is okay considering its location. There was a waterfall in every cervice of the mountain slope. Sometimes we saw the white water and sometimes we only heard it. Soon we reached Kemmangudi which is protected area and is devloped with lawns, canteen and some other paraphernilia. Hebbe falls was next on our agenda. I had been to Chhattisgarh recently famous for its giant waterfalls, so I wasn't so keen to watch it. The falls are inside some private coffee plantation and access is very difficult. One can go there in only a 4WD Mahindra jeep or similar such vehicle. The first view of falls was unimpressive thought it turned out to be only its first stage. From where jeeps cannot go further one has to walk down a little bit over rocky and slushy path along the river on which falls lie. One has to cross the river itself thrice which could be knee deep with stones at the bottom. Only once you curve into the valley where waterfall is, does one realize its enormity. The white water was gushing with so much force that water droplets were clouding the entire area, so even if you are away from the falls, you will get wet. There was a pool created beneath which was very deep and no one dared to venture inside. Most of the people who wanted to have a bath stayed at the periphery of pool using rocks as support. We also ventured like this and bruised ourselves while negotiating slippery rock surfaces and stones at bottom. Because of force of water, the wind was also blowing very fast. After being there in water for some time and competing among ourselves who can stay for more time inside water, we came out. In between I has a nasty slip when from standing upright, slipped and landed on my buttocks on a hard rock. Anyways I survived that. While on the ride back upto Kemmangudi, I befriended few locals who worked in the coffee estate and with broken hindi, english tried to converse which was very entertaining. I like such interactions. They were asking me to write a letter to tourism minister of state to build a road to this place which will end their woes. Once we were back to Kemmangudi, it was already dark and had to do away with plans to visit Kallati waterfalls and drove back to Chikmaglur via Kallatipura. Driving in the night through winding roads is such a thrill. Anyways, a mountain trek and bathing in huge waterfall is enough entertainment for one day.

Next day we started early and went to Dattapeetha on Baba Budangiri hill. There is a "Hindu-Muslim temple" as locals call the shrine dedicated to Baba Budangiri. Baba Budangiri is attributed to have brought coffee plant from Arab and there quite a few legends about him. From here, one could climb the peak and road ends at Manekydhara waterfall. The waterfall is again a muslim shrine and it was developed with areas to bathe etc. It was not very inviting so we concentrated our attention to deep valley beneath. The valley was so very gorgeous with lot of greenery and houses in between, stretching endlessly, only haze terminating the view. There were couple of lakes formed beside the road due to rains. The water was still and green and with green meadow of mountain casting its shadow on the water, the scene looked straight out of some foreign locale. We kept on stopping at all such occassions for pictures. We were confused. How many should we click? Everywhere we look it was equally beautiful and we really missed having a better camera to do justice to this locale. We again came back to Chikmaglur town because road to Udupi was opposite direction. While going down the same path of CCD, we stopped for a while to visit CCD's parent company. I was apprehensive that we would be entertained but staff there was cordial. The receptionist guided us to Asstt. Manager who gave answers to our questions and served us a coffee brewed mechanically in one of CCD's vending machine. The coffee harvest season is suppossed to be in Jan to April when green coffee berries which we saw in so much adundance turn red. The coffee planats needs to be protected from direct sunlight because of which lot of trees like Cardamom, pepper and Silver Oak are also planted along with them to give them shade. There are two basic varieties of coffee: Arabica and Robusta. On asking how does one distinguish between two varieties and which variety is popular brands nescafe and bru made of, he was clueless. Anyways, after some twenty minutes we left, him promising us to entertain us again during season.

Now we headed to Udupi via Balehonnur, Sringeri and Agumbe. The lush-green views refused to subside and we were continuously treated with great views of fields and foliage. Sringeri is famous for a "mutt" built by Adi Shankaracharya in 12AD. The mutt was closed for afternoon siesta so we could only visit the main temple premises and missed the wonderful meal that is supposed to be served everyday for lunch. Anyways, we took a round of premises, clicked pictures and saw big fishes diving for alms from visitors in Tunga river. We left the place and headed towards Agumbe which is famous for its sunset point from where on a clear day one could witness sun setting in Arabian Sea which is around 50 km from there by road. We climed to that sunset point and we could really see a portion of sea through hazy atmosphere. The valley beneath was all rolling hills with forest, clouds hugging them and a couple of distant waterfalls as specks of white on green background. From here we hurried to reach Udupi as soon as possible to catch sunset but eventually could not. The road from Agumbe down was all hairpin bends through Someshwar wildlife sanctuary. Before Udupi we crossed Manipal which is famous for lot of technical institutes and we could see lot of student community. It truly is a academic town. Once we reached Udupi, we rushed to Malpe beach which was 8 kms inside from the town. By the time we reached, sun has already set but enough light was remaining to give cloudy sky an orange hue. We could not resist ourselves and went straigh into the water. It was so refreshing walking on sand with waves slashing on your feet. We checked into Karavali hotel right on NH-17. Now was to time to hunt for hotel Mitro Samaj which somebody recommended for good food. We searched for it but it was closed, so had to settle for Woodland's the same one as in Chennai.

Next day we started early and headed for Kaup beach which is some 12 kms from Udupi. Once we were there, we could not locate where is the entry or open space where through which people enter the beach. After going back and forth once, we parked at one place and walked through the village to get to the beach. There was a light house perched on a rock to our left and beach was further left. To get to that we had to cross one stream. As soon as we crossed it, we landed into the crab colony. There were hundreds of crab infants running helter-skelter on slight disturbance. We circumvented it and came to the main beach. There were a few fisherman, unnetting the crabs they had caught. We spoke to them and held couple of crabs in out hands and did some other antics. We walked on the beach but it was not that great. First there was lot of drift wood or burnt wood floating in the water and lot of seashells which were making it difficult to walk. After spending an hour, we came back.

Our next destination was Karwar, some 210 km away. We started from Udupi on NH-17 and were expecting smooth ride but road was broken at many places which hampered our progress but the visual treat more than made up for it. Close to Maravanthe, the road comes right next to the sea shore. That 1 km stretch was amazing. We stopped and had coconut water just to elongate our stay there. Murudeshwar announced its presernce from a distance when we saw gopuram of the temple coming up there and lord Shiva statue from a distance. Since I had seen this vista previously in some magazine I easily recognized it. The statue is part of temple complex which is coming up in Murudeshwar. Murudeshwar seem to be dominated by some Mr. R N Shetty. His initials RNS could be seen on lot of buildings including a gorgeous RNS residency hotel. There is one Naveen restaurant which is built on water and there are few sea-facing seats which we readily occupied. The lunch was sumptuous moreover by the views we got. Next stop was Gokarn which I had heard about earlier. There is a Hindu temple here whose significance I wansn't aware of. Anyways, we headed straight to the beach but at that time of the day, it wasn't that inviting. So, we pushed off quickly and headed to Karwar. We wanted to reach Karwar comfortably before Sunset which we did. The Karwar coast has a Naval base and a port where a huge ship was berthed. We could see granite cargo being transported there. We headed straight to the beach here, undressed and jumped into the sea. The slope was very gentle here so we could go deep inside but the waves were equally gentle so we were not exhilirated. Karwar has few islands off its coast, one of them being famous for snorkelling and other water sports but they are not run in monsoons. The islands were clearly visible from the beach and one could make that it was raining on those islands. The clouds were engulfing the sun time and again and we were not sure of watching a clear sunset. But otherwise, sky was beautiful, grey clouds in orange sky and rain lashing the islands was very dramatic. Lot of people had gathered by that time and were watching the sun set peacefully in sea. We checked into Navaratna Lodge in the town which was the most reasonable one. We dined in Amrut restaurant which was famous for seafood preparation. We had Tandoori fish of Anjal type. We siphoned it off to our stomachs in no time. prawn fried rice was equally good.

Next morning we woke up really early and started for Palolem beach in Goa. The Goa border is some 20 km from Karwar and Palolem is a famous beach of South Goa. Till now, I haven't been to Goa and not even researched about it because it is so very well known and appeals more to people looking for party and clubbing experience. So, honestly I didn't know much about Goa. I had taken a vow that whenever I go there, I will go for a week or so and finish it off in one go. Anyways, that vow broke when we entered Goa. Probably it had rained last night because of which the terrain was all wet and sky cloudy. The greenery in form of trees, seasonal plants/shrubs and even algae was everywhere. House walls, bridge railings, rock faces and just about anything which has potential was draped with moss. After an hour or so around 7:00 AM we hit the beach. The beach was deserted except lot of fishermen activity towards north of the beach and few locals angling in choppy sea. We were in no mood to waste and immediately hit the waters. We splashed, we jogged, we sat and admired the natural beauty around. Soon, foreign tourists start trickling in but nowhere the number it must be during the season. The sky was mostly overcast with occassional rain but very mild and welcome. Here the waves were stornger and we let waves carry us away and we just gave in. After having enough we headed to a restaurant in a shack. It was buzzing with lot of foreign tourists, the decor and presentation to match the international needs and menu had lot of continental dishes. After gorging on them, we were all set for a long day ahead. We left the place and headed back to Karwar. In between we stopped to purchase the local drink, cashew fenny. The shop owner told us about Galgibagh beach which he claimed is very good. Since we had lot of time, so we headed for it. It was a beautiful 9 km drive inside NH-17 and we came to beautiful Galgibagh beach. By this time, sky had cleared and it was nice and sunny with mild breeze. There was no tourist except us and miles of white sand. The beach itself was tree lined. We had to literally tear away from such a wonderful place and head back. From Karwar we went to Hubli to drop off Nitin's brother in a Bangalore bus. In between, we took a detour to Magod waterfalls. It is not possible to go upto the falls but only oggle at it from a distance. But still it was worth going there. Hubli was one nightmarish town to drive around due to lot of one ways, traffic and bad roads. Somehow we managed within it and headed towards Gadag, Koppal and Bellary. The roads after Koppal turned a nightmare and with no signs of directions we lost way in between and instead of Kurnool ended up at Guntakal. We thought of playing safe and reached NH-7 Hyderabad-Bangalore road at Gooty. After that it was just a monotonous drive to Hyderabad.

An year has passed

Since I started my journey on my bike to Ladakh. I remember I started on 30th July 2006 from Hyderabad. Now when I recall that trip of mine, it just gives me goose bumps that I actually accomplished it. Mmm... Let me recall where was I on 4th of August, yeah today I had reached Keylong, capital of Lahaul Spiti. Oh yes, I have preserved my entire itinerary somewhere. Let me pull it out... Here it is -

30th July - Flew from Hyderabad to Delhi
31st July - Delhi -> Chandigarh
1st Aug - Chandigarh -> Narkanda
2nd Aug - Narkanda -> Manali
3rd Aug - Rest at Manali
4th Aug - Manali -> Keylong
5th Aug - Rest at Keylong
6th Aug - Keylong -> Sarchu
7th Aug - Sarchu -> Leh
8th Aug - Rest at Leh
9th Aug - Rest at Leh
10th Aug - Leh -> Diskit
11th Aug - Diskit -> Hunder -> Panamik
12th Aug - Panamik -> Alchi
13th Aug - Alchi. Visited Indus/Zanskar confluence, Basgo, Likir andAlchi Monastery
14th Aug - Alchi. Visited Lamayuru monastery
15th Aug - Alchi -> Drass
16th Aug - Drass -> Srinagar
17th Aug - Srinagar -> Jammu
18th Aug - Jammu -> Delhi by bus
19th Aug - Delhi
20th Aug - Flew to Hyderabad

It was uforgettable, life changing journey (may be bit exaggerated but definitely a milestone in my life) which I am fortunate I undertook. I was maintaining notes of the trip, very religiously initially and later cumbersomely but I still have them. When I came back I tried to write a travelogue out of them but it proved to be a hearculean task for my temperament. Just like you require special preparation to undertake such a journey through that moonscape, you require skill to articulate it in writing. Anyways, I am closing my eyes and trying to recall some golden anecdotes from that trip.

Higher the risk, higher the reward, thats what I can call the first memorable incident on the initial part of my trip from Shimla to Manali. Just before Jalori pass though not that high but supposed to be test of man and his machine, front type of bike got stuck between stones and slush, what the road was left after a stream decided to run over it due to incessant rain. The bike wouldn't move whatever method we tried. Then came a godsend saviour, a Ladakhi guy called "Motep" who was veteran of such roads and was driving alone to Leh. May be his experience or his strength or both, he lifted the front portion of bike and brought it out of slush. What a relief it was. Once we crossed over the pass, in that wet atmosphere, we got to see some of the best views of the trip. Clouds swept over valleys, rising higher through cervices of hills as if hills are on fire. A small village was nestled midway on the mountain, its blue house and triangle capony sourrounded by mist. Amazing. My partner rightly said, we've stuck goldmine.

At Keylong, met an interesting guy who hailed from Jammu, a pea trader whose job was to load peas being grown in the region, do some accounting and then send them to Azadpur mandi in Delhi. Suprisingly he was an MCA but did not find a desk job interesting. Now he travles around this region to fields, meets farmers and spreads this trade throughout Lahaul Spiti, his brother being posted in Kaza. He told us about a ritual specific to Lahaul spiti. Around 15th August, there is a fair held in Keylong where young boys and girls of marrigeable age are asked to come in the middle of a ground. Boy is free to pick any girl he chooses but girl is free to resist and run away. If there is competition among boys, then a boy has to face it and win over. If he captures the girl and keeps her for the night, then they are married the next day. Doesn't look like it is fair to the girl but there might be specifics which probably could be understood only if we go that fair !!

Baralachala pass (16000 ft) got us a couple of companions who stayed with us upto very close to end of this trip. Two very affable sardars on bullets from Chandigarh who were trying to push their bikes up the mountain slope due to landslide. We helped each other and got through with it. I still haven't sent them the CD containing pictures of this trip. I will send that on this anniversary. One more guy joined us, a British, thrice than my size and riding a 500cc bullet, an explosive engineer on an year long vacation through many countries in the world, going solo to Ladakh! Whoosh! I once took him as a pillion rider on my bike. I wish I could see how this scene looked, a monster sitting on a puny bike with equally puny rider.

A dutch gang of oldies out to do some adventure met us at Narkanda on their consecutively numbered bullet bikes. They kept playing hide and seek with us till Ladakh. The leader was gritty lady who never spoke to us just smiled. We overtook them just before Leh.

Advantage of taking bike to these regions as against bigger vehicles is that you can get away with any kind of blockages like slush and rubble, climbing mountain slope and narrow passage. That is what happened when we cleared through probably 2 km of truck jam, a feet deep muddy slush, standing at the head of breach that Gya river has caused just before Upushi, 50 kms from Leh. Fourtunately, a bulldozer was working to clear a part of mountain slope for atleast smaller vechicles to go through. We were the first one to pass.

On the way to Khardungla, we learnt what an army convoy is. 40-50 trucks going in a line, squealing on every throttle or break application, dooming this world by spewing fumes through their chimneys. But the men inside were humane. They kept on giving us sides, not the snobbish behavior that we witness everyday in the city. The K-top as Khardungla pass is called has a sourvneir shop selling t-shirts, key chains, caps announcing the glory of the pass and exalting the one wears it screaming "I was there". Come on, 18,380 feet is not a mean feat. Earlier, there used to be free tea served here by army canteen to whoever comes here just as a gesture to his/her accomplishment but alas that practice was discontinued for some time now.

"How far is Siachen from here?" Where can you ask this question in India?
"These folks have come from India?" Where do you get to hear this in India?
Probably only place is Nubra Valley beyond Khardungla pass, close to Pakistan and Chinese border, much beyond consciousness of mainstream India, a warm and beautiful valley, a world apart from real world. Only thing is one can stay here for only 6 months a year only. To stay for rest of the year comfortably, you should probably need to transform into an eskimo.

I haven't been to Rajasthan but I have now seen sand dunes. Where? In Nubra Valley at Hunder. You have real sand there as you find in Rajasthan; this is what I am told. Only difference is in Rajasthan the sand gets baked at 45 deg, whereas here it freezes to -45 deg in winters. One more stark similarity is camels. They are known as Bactrian camels who have two humps as against their counterparts in Rajasthan with single hump. But they are elusive and very small in numbers. We could find them only after lot of hunting around.

Driving in night is not advisable but that is what we did when we got stuck in a situation when we started for our destination with wrong estimation of distance. We were to reach Lamayuru but much before, night fell and we four riders were left alone riding along with only a single beam of light piercing the dark. It was moonless night and stars were not visible. Scary...

Allahabad is considered the holiest confluence but confluence of Indus with Zanskar river at Nimoo is magical. Two rivers full of water and character, with different shade of muddy water. Indus light brown and Zanskar a deep brown both coming out of gorge in the open. You get to witness this from main road quite high up in the mountain where you can appreciate the symmtery in their meeting. They converge like a perfect V and you can distinguish their waters due to a line getting formed in the middle.

Who can forget Kargil and Drass which became household names in 2001 when last skirmish with Pakistan happened. We too were excited to pass through the locale which come closest to the LOC. There is a sign on that road which says "You are in the eyes of enemy" depicting how close we to the LOC. This part was tense with heavy presence of military all of whom had nothing else but oggle at us and we going along sheepishly.

First view of Kashmir valley coming from Drass after days of rugged, brown mountains without vegetation, watching trees on mountain slopes was most welcome. When trees finish, a greet carpet of grass is spread all over. Here starts one of the most dangerous areas in the world in one of the most beautiful settings. I pitied all those soldiers who were posted every hundred meters on the road sitting all aloof. We had an idea and started waving to them as we passed them. Wow, they were equally enthusiastic to wave back at us. Then I started looking for them on road, behind the bushes and trees, sitting on a cliff higher up. Everytime we got an equally enthusiastic wave back. It was sheer bonhomie all the way.

Srinagar, though considered fortified but we were not stopped even once. Dal lake is more than a lake, its an ecosystem, a flourishing town with a unique character never to found anywhere else in the world. It was sad to hear that it will soon be uprooted, if only the residents had been a little proactive in maintaing it upto the mark.

How I wish I could go on and on but just like this trip I will have to stop somewhere. Now let me go to sleep with these beautiful dreams. BTW, photographs from this trip are here.

Bastar, Chhattisgarh

Ever since I and my friends went to Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh for our trip to coastal Andhra, we resolved to come back once to Bhadrachalam and visit Bastar in state of Chhattisgarh from there. The area though pristine is affected by Naxalite movement because of which the state remains underdeveloped and not many tourists visit it. Our main aim was to drive through this hitherto unknown region and visit beautiful waterfalls around it and take things as they come. We decided upon itinerary like this - Hyderabad -> Bhadrachalam -> Jagdalpur -> Bhopalpatnam -> Warangal -> Hyderabad spread over three and a half day with trips to Chitrakote falls, Tirathgarh falls and Ramappa temple near Warangal.

First day we drove to Bhadrachalam late in the night, in between checked by Greyhounds of AP police which were specially out to keep watch on infiltration of naxalites/maoists around Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border due to a recent battle between naxals and police in Chhattisgarh with heavy casualties on both sides. We stayed overnight in beautiful and plush AP tourism's Punnami hotel at Bhadrachalam. Next day we visited the Ramadoss temple for which Bhadrachalam is famous. Immediately after breakfast we started for Jagdalpur, district headquarter of Bastar district. It was only around 250 km from Bhadrachalam and we were expecting leisurely drive and plenty of time to cover the distance. But our hopes were dashed a bit as we got a taste of the road ahead. It was single lane, bumpy, pot-holed and slushy because of which our average speed reduced drastically. There were numerous streams which were swelling with water and forest around. One stream had interesting bank of rocks which were carved by flowing water. There were very few people we saw and we were jittery about that.



We passed through Konta, Sukma which are small towns in Chhattisgarh and couple of militia camps where tribals have been kept to protect them from naxals by police and Salwa-Judum combine. At one post we were stopped and searched by a boy carrying a gun, wearing a military like shirt and colored half pant. When asked whether he is from Salwa-Judum, he said "police" in a way which proved contrary. The terrain was all green with different hues, ground all carpeted with grass, misty hills in distance, cloudy throughout but luckily not raining. The houses were all built with wood, dried leaves and sometimes having tiled roofs. We did not spot many "pucca" houses built of bricks.

Around 40 kms before Jagdalpur Tirathgarh fall is situated. Tirathgarh fall was amazing to look at. The river on which these falls are, originates from a small lake (called "phool" in local parlance) a small distance away. The falls look as if water is rushing through a very steep staircase. The falls create a valley and there are lot of vantage points from where falls could be looked at. The water was white clean and tasted sweet.

Due to lack of time we had to start back for our destination at Chitrakote falls where we had booked log huts for stay. The road from Jagdalpur towards Chitrakote is excellent and terminates at the falls.


We had a misadventure there as we approached the log huts through slushy ground when our car got stuck. Only after lot of pushing and hard work did it come out and we breathed easy. The stay was comfortable with our caretaker and his helpers taking good care of us. The falls are illuminated with bright lights at night fall for few hours. We trooped towards it and caretaker specially switched on lights for us when he saw two tripod totting photographers. Dinner was basic but caretaker included one local dish of a mushroom like vegetable which grows only under "Saal" trees. He also got us local drink "Mahua" which is made of mahua flowers. It is distilled at different concentration levels. Ours was strong so we had to dilute with water but I did not like its smell and taste. There is another drink "Sulfi" which is available only during summers.

Next day we woke up to see the brilliant Chitrakote falls. There are no words to describe size, volume and magnanimity of falls. It seemed as if all water on earth is getting channelized gushing through these falls. The water enveloped the entire vegetation in the valley down below. The falling water was creating a magnificent cloud of mist around it but sky being overcast, we could not witness the rainbow.

Our enthusiastic guide was eager to take us to a sandy beach along the river in valley down below and one more smaller waterfall. We climbed down upto river's edge through thick foliage on a small sandy beach which was lovely.




After sometime we came back but due to fatigue decided not to go for another walk to the smaller falls. After sometime we were back again to river edge in valley below this time facing the Chitrakote waterfall. It was clicks galore from then onwards trying to find every possible angle to shoot, finding subjects in or out of falls to shoot, capturing every facet of the falls. After an hour and half we stopped and sat silent to sink in the enormity of the falls.





We were visited by a gentleman in the morning who talked about other tourists spots in and around Bastar. He wanted us to visit Barsur where there are two monolithic Ganesh idols. He also gave us each a set of brochures including a couple of CDs about Chhattisgarh tourism. Later I realized that the CDs were about a documentary about tourist places in Chhattisgarh which is sometimes seen on channels like Discovery etc. That set is one of my prized possessions. We reluctantly packed up and headed for Jagdalpur after tipping our caretaker-cum-guide heavily who insisted that its not needed. Small town innocence creating goodwill.

While going towards Jagdalpur we took a small detour to visit another small waterfall called Chitradhara. It was nothing compared to Tirathgarh or Chitrakote but terrain around it was beautiful. It was on a plateu so we could see the green fields around.

Jagdalpur was a chatoic small town with nothing much to boast of. The Anthropological museum was closed due to day being sunday and so were all workshops too where we wanted our vehicle to be checked. The town seem to have significant presence of Punjabis who are involved in transport, spare parts, workshop and eatery business. We had a delicious Chole-Bhatura at one such eatery. The Chhattisgarh state does not seem to have a state transport corporation as we did not see any govt bus, only private buses. Incidentally, the main transport company in Chhattisgarh is "Kanker Roadways" which is headed by a Sikh duo. We paid our homage to Railway station in town which is on KK line from Vishakapatnam upto Bailadila iron ore mines. The line has only iron ore freight traffic except one passenger train in day. We were banking on visiting a "haat" (local name for tribal market) in town but we are told there is no such market in town. Generally "haats" are organized in villages in the coutryside and a big one occurs in Narayanpur a long way from Jagdalpur, so we decided to miss this experience. Our wish of eating "Red Ant chutney" were crushed :)

Next day we started early as planned towards Hyderabad via Gidam, Bhopalpatnam, Warangal a 500+ km drive. The excellent road from Jagdalpur towards Gidam for some distance raised our hope of comfortable journey but again they were dashed by a long stretch of bad road before Gidam. We simply continued on road towards Bhopalpatnam which was playing bad and worse. However we spotted some real life of these parts.

Sometimes it was tricky to drive through slushy road and at few places car lost traction and we swerved like hovercraft much to the amusement of passers by. It is a different experience altogether to drive through Chhattisgarh. People are very obedient, as soon as we honked they would jump off the road clearing more than enough space for us to go through but cattle (cows and goats) were equally stubborn and would not budge for long time. We were cynosure of all eyes, four outsiders wearing modern clothing going around in a car out of which two being 6+ feet tall roaming around in this region of short and lanky people! The road was really giving us tough time but we were cracking jokes about it. One of us suggested that naxalites are probably all those disgruntled vehicle owners who had to suffer such bad roads. Because of govt apathy towards roads they have taken up arms :) At one place, there was a sign board annoncing shelter for flood affected people. We thought soon there will be a shelter for "road affected" people like us who don't seem to reach anywhere :) Anyways, 10 kms before Bhopalpatnam we enquired a motocyclist about how much more is left. He asked us where are we headed. We casually said, Warangal and Hyderabad. He said, "but sir there is no road ahead". We looked at each other with utter shock. Once we got our senses after few seconds, we asked why? Apparently, there is no bridge on the road towards Warangal on NH 202 over a local river and similarly no bridge over Indravati river towards Nizamabad which is NH 16. Since the rives were all swelling with water, there was no way we could cross it with vehicle and other interior roads are also blocked. We were told to go back to Gidam and then go to Dantewara and stay overnight there and return via Bhadrachalam. We had no option but to backtrack 120 km through that arduous road. This is the only time we got a little worried as our vehicle got stuck in slush 2-3 times and we had to push it to get it out and with evening approaching and this being heart of naxal territory. We reached Dantewara safely and stayed overnight there.

Next day we woke up early again and went to Danteshwari temple which is famous in this region. The temple was not open at 6:30 AM so we prayed from outside and started. We joined our onward road to Jagdalpur at Sukma and returned to Bhadrachalam without anymore hiccup. At our last moments of trips, we all agreed that it was a really worthy trip and we learnt a lot about rural and backward India and how hollow our urban development is.

"Solace" find in KG Basin

A visit to Coastal Andhra was due for a long time and I was waiting for right time, weather and company. Last week (Dec 2006 end) got the chance to go Kosta which is the local name for coastal Andhra Pradesh region. It has a few smaller regions namely Konaseema (Godavari river delta), Diviseema (Krishna river delta), Circar (region from Vishakhatnam to Rajahmundry) etc. We (me along with four other friends) deliberated on the itinerary and kept it flexible and kept revising the plans to maximize the opportunities. One of our friends was to join from Chennai at Rajahmundry. The plan was multi-purpose, to ride in a ferry over sacred Godavari river, travel on branch railway lines in the region, eat local cuisine and generally explore the area. We did not consult much on the internet because there is not much documented.

We chose to go to Rajahmundry via Bhadrachalam by ferry on river Godavari. We reached Bhadrachalam by overnight train from Hyderabad. The ferries run from a place called Kunavaram and Sreeramgiri around 60+ km from Bhadrachalam due to lack of depth in the river here . We couldn’t make it due to lack of time as boats supposedly leave on time at 8 AM. The ferry service does not cater much to tourists, so information is difficult to come by and not reliable. However we still went upto Kunavaram in an Ambassador which took its sweet little time dropping off newspaper to various points and murdering a dog by running over it. At Kunavaram we decided to take a bus to Rajahmundry but this too was a disappointment. First the bus was an ordinary, rickety bus and did not take the route through “Agency forests” so a distance of 190 km took 6 hours to complete. “Agency forests” are tribal regions, have forest covers and no outsider could buy property in the region to protect tribal lifestyle. This is the naxalite zone in AP. Anyways the journey took us through places which I otherwise would have never visited.

Rajahmundry is an important town in AP and lies on south-east corridor between Chennai and Kolkata. It is also famous for being constituency of late former PM of India, Narasimha Rao. At Rajahmundry we visited Pushkar "revu" which is close to legendary but now defunct "Havelock" railway bridge. "Revu" in telugu means bank of river or "ghat" in North India. There is a new bridge built alongside Havelock for trains. There is also a distant rail-cum-road bridge.


We decided to take a boat across Godavari to Kovvur and catch our connecting train to Kakinada from there. To our utter disbelief entire boat which could seat around 50 people was ready to take us across for INR 300 only.



The Godavari river is quite wide at Rajahmundry which can be gauged by considering that bridges are around 3 km over the river. During monsoon, the river swells like anything and almost looks like sea. It was an enjoyable ride with cool breeze on the roof of the boat with no other passengers, watching sunset and trains passing over the new Godavari Bridge. From Kovvur we caught our train to Kakinada.
Kakinada is an important town in Andhra but hardly anybody would know about it outside. Our intention of coming to Kakinada was to travel on Kakinada – Kotipalle branch line. But to our disappointment the train did not run on time (or did not run at all) and officials at the station had no clue!! Rather than wasting time at station we caught a bus to Kotipalle which is on the banks of one arm of Godavari. Godavari splits into three branches after Rajahmundry namely Gautami, Vashisti and Vynatheyam. From Kotipalle we decided to cross the river by boat and have a holy dip in Godavari as well. A boatman was ready to take s across. Ahhh, it was really amazing feeling to take a dip with water just about chilly with slight wind in the air. Actually we had to take two boats as the river is so wide that there is an island in between where we bathed. The boatman played lifeguard to us while we bathed in the river. After the dip we got a glimpse and indulged with local fisherman to pull up fishing net from the water.The boat to cross the second leg was typical country boat with men, women, paddy, bikes etc. all piled up a la "Swades" style.




We crossed the second leg, caught an auto to Amalapuram which was around 15km. Amalapuram is a town made famous by popular telugu song Aa ante amalapuram… Though the town did not have anything to write about but had a lot of STD boothes and greeting card shops. May be the urban culture is bit late in spreading to countryside. We went to a local mess and had rice and fish. Later we caught a bus to Pallakolu. From there we caught a passenger train to Narsapur. Narsapur is again on the banks of the Godavari which is the main arm after its trifurcation. Morning we decided to visit Antarvedi where main portion of Godavari meets the sea. Apart from that Antarvedi hosts a lighthouse and a temple dedicated to river Godavari. We had other option to visit Kolleru lake which is spread out in a large area and plays host to migratory birds including Siberian crane. To reach Antarvedi we had to again cross Godavari from Narsapur side to reach Sakenathpalli and catch an auto from there. Antarvedi is around 15 kms from there. Since we headed early the whole atmosphere was very nice. It being morning so there was slight chill in the air. The sun was mild peeking through haze and palm leaves and us riding along the narrow country road flanked by palm trees and paddy fields made the entire ride highly enjoyable.




Once we reached Antarvedi, we headed straight to the lighthouse. We managed to climb it by charming one of the staff members with a fee of Rs 5 per head for entrance. The view from lighthouse is out of the world alas it would have been gorgeous had there been no haze. We could clearly see Godavari meeting the Bay of Bengal, small villages, banana plantations, small ferries in the sea and further away a glimpse of some oil/gas well structure. This region is rich in oil/gas and Reliance has explored them at many locations in KG basin.



I managed a feat of sort visiting both the origin and end of river Godavari. I had been to origin, Triambakeshwar near Nasik some 10 years back. After visiting the temple and a breakfast of Ulattoo which is like Dosa/Uttapam but not exactly, we headed back to Narsapur.



We decided to go to Vijayawada instead of Machilipatnam directly so that we have better options to stay and catch some train action at the station. We stayed at AC dormitory at the station which was decent for the asking price. Next day we caught a bus to Machilipatnam. It is 70 km from Vijayawada. I expected it to be a tourist town unlike the places we visited till now but it wasn’t. I could not spot any touristy stuff there. This town had lot of importance at the time of British and it was headquarter of Guntur but slowly it lost its importance. It is famous for “Kalamkari” art form and “Bandar Ladoo” which is nothing but “Besan ka Ladoo” of north India. We went to Manginapudi beach about which I had heard a lot. It is around 12 km from the town through scenic road but beach did not have much going on except that it was secluded. Neither were there any shops/shacks nor any people but it was pristine. Actually the timing was wrong, 10 AM on a working day, what could you expect?





We came back immediately and caught a bus to Avanigadda enroute Repalle. This was Diviseema region in Krishna delta. There is a road bridge over Krishna river just before Avanigadda which is 3 km long. From there we caught an auto to reach Repalle. The intention of coming to Repalle was to travel on Repalle – Tenali branch line. Tenali is on main Delhi-Chennai trunk route. Repalle too was a chaotic and non-descript town like any other town we visited till now. We came to Tenali by passenger train and immediately caught another one to Vijayawada. This was my second visit to Vijayawada but I had not visited anything except station and bus-stand so decided to do some sight-seeing. I along with one more companion Tejender, who became my guide and had lived in the city, decided to venture out. We straight away caught a bus to Kanaka-Durga temple which thankfully had very less rush. Then we came to Prakasam barrage built over river Krishna and from here two canals originate to irrigate regions nearby. Then we caught a bus to travel on Bandar road which is one of the two arterial roads in Vijayawada, other being Eluru road. We also visited Ilapuram and Modern Café hotels there which are the good places to have food in Vijayawada. In the night we caught Narsapur express to come back to Hyderabad.



Overall it was a nice and hectic trip which I could have never performed the way we did, hopping from one place to another, visiting ordinary towns through rice-bowl of Andhra with miles and miles of fields, water bodies and palm trees. The trip could have not been possible without my four friends all of whom belonging to Andhra and so could speak to local folks. Still they told me that the dialect in these parts of Andhra is very different from Hyderabad. The coastal region of Andhra in my opinion is quite beautiful and is similar to Kerala to some extent but with almost nil tourist infrastructures. There are no good hotels or restaurants, information is very little and hard to come by and some good spots are not well-developed and language being a problem. But the advantage is that region is not spoilt and if you are a purist, then you could enjoy things as they are. The coastal cuisine is though renowned but we couldn't try much as there were no good eateries in any of the towns which are either advertised or cater to the tastes of urban tourists. It is mostly “river-food” as against “sea-food” that is available because fishing and Sericulture is done in rivers or fresh water respectively. The entire economy of this region is due to these twin rivers. They provide irrigation to rice-fields which are ubiquitous. Farmers here produce three crops per year and in prosperity they are comparable to farmers in Punjab. River is also source of fishing and sericulture. We crossed the river Godavari about ten times and Krishna about five times by boat, bus and train.