Tales of Alibaug - Nandgao Ganapati - Dec 09

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For quiet few days, Nam has been talking about being to Alibaug.Agenda - Take their beloved Ashok kaka to Pali Devsthan & enjoy a family holiday.So when we got a office holidays worked out on office front, we executed what we have already planned. Worst plan was only both of us travelling & best plan was to have all..namely Vinayak, Mahesh, our Sasubai, Balakaka & Kaki.We settled for something inbetween.Previous day when Nam called up all of these folks,to check their availability,all confirmed except Balakaka who confirmed conditionally.He was travelling from Satara the previous day & while approaching Mumbai, he got stuck up, only to reach home very late that night.So he has withdraw.

So on Christmas Day, December 25th, we left home around 10.30 pm.Thanks to our late arrival at home the previous day from office.Since it was X'mas, it was lovely time in IC Colony.Nam picked up some Plum Cakes for people in Alibaug.And there we both met our respective f'ends.Nam met her old office colleague & I met Amol, my old society mate.It was pleasure talking to them after a long while.We started on a pleasant note.Vinayak was waiting for us at Andheri Highway.We reached there by 12.30.Fortunately he has to wait for not for too long.From there to Bandra - Sion - Panvel-Pen-Vadkhal & finallt to destination Alibaug.Mehesh & Nam's mom have reached the pick up spot atleast 30 mins back but traffice on the road, took us a while to reach the hospital spot that Mahesh has suggested.It was fun time then on.All of us except Vinayak were quiet hungry so on the way, we were discussing possible choices for lunch.Finally we zeroed on a hotel called "Shankar palace".Later on this name became our code word for indicating that we are hungry.We just have to use appropriate words to indeicate degree of hunger such as "Solid Shankar Palace" or "Jabardast Shankar Palace"...!!One thing that will surprise you at this hotel is speed with which your order will get served.It was almost like Waitor having a Genie.None of our orders took more than 1 minute to serve.and have a look at what we ate - 2 plate puries,5-6 Roties,Veg Kolhapuri,Chana Masala,Paneer Bhurji.No wonder, the waitor earned some good tip for himself.Except some traffic near Wadkhal most of the journey was smooth & great fun.We reached Gulmohar Hotel by 4.30 pm.

Its only after reaching there that we realised that our hosts have undetaken some home repairs works so the living room was a bit messy.But Nam & compnay was happy to see their uncle & fly after long time.Almost a year I think!I was able to make out one thing clearly that Ashok Kaka is definitely the most liked Uncle among all these siblings & Cousins. He had a patch of not so good health inbetween but recently after some good medical treatement, there was some drastic positive changes in him.They used to talk a lot about it on phone but now that they all were there, all were able to witness that in person.And what a joy it was.For me, I could not make out the change but he was more at ease & definitely at top of his energy levels.He was deligted to see his children around him for sure!

After having tea & Biscuits, we all left Gulmohar to visit Prakash Kaka & Kaki.Like Ashok kaka they were equally delighted to see us all.Compared to Gulmohar, at Prakash Kaka's place, there is a lot see around before once actually enters the house.And thats the surrounding trees.The Guava tree was flourshing with many fruits hanging from its branches.We took one off & ate it among all of us.Anu Kaki prepared some hot coffie for us.After walking thru all the latest updates on multiple trees & their growth, we then entered the house.There we had another thing waiting for us.Amey has worked on a video highlighting the key moments of recent US visit of Kaka & Kaki.Myself & Nam were part of that when they arrieved in US.The video starts with the footage of Niagara Falls visit that we did together in Sept during the last week of our stay in US.It was fun to relive those moments!The video editing & effects were fantastic I must say!The video & our chat took a bit longer than expected.So we decided to skip the next stop ie Visit Uma kaki at her place.Instead we went straight to Chondi, which is nearby market place & bought some material for preparing Bhel.

Back in Gulmohar, Kaki Company got together to prepare some nice Bhel.Mood was all set to play cards.We had a discussion on what to play with conflcting view coming from all but finally settled for Badam Satti as Mahesh was not ready to play Mendocoat for some personal reason!!After one trial, we got players together. For those in family,will find this interesting. But among all that we got around the table (the bedroom bed), two of them to were making a comeback to the competitive game after a long time.They were Ashok kaka & my Sasubai, Leela Vahini ;-)The last time they played was apprarently in 80's ie almost 28 -30 years back & then all the tricks of trade came out.They used to have a secret code to share with their partners for communicating their cards in those day.E.g Running your hands thru your hair, means Hearts.Somebody said "Mummy Returns"when we started playing to welcome these old hands to the game. I thought it was apt comment ;-) The game started.Rutuja was our scorer.Inbetween,we were having Bhel.Stakes was bottom 3 will treat the top 3 with Ice Cream after dinner.The game turned interesting after each round.We had total of 6 rounds I think.The old duo did tried but could not repeat the magic of old days.I ended up as winner with lowest score of around 35 & Leela Vahini ended as last with top score of 120 +.First 3 were me, Nam & Vinayak.Last 3 were Ashok kaka, Mahesh & Leela kaki.It was absolute fun!!

We then had dinner.Chichen with Bread & Rice.The living room which was messy when we came in evening was all cleaned up before we returned.That opened up the chioce for sleepover.We had Prakash Kaka's place all the time but I sensed that if the fan can be turned on then most of the visitors were keen to stay at Gulmohar for the sake of Ashok kaka.So that they can spend some more time with him!Two domestic engineers, Mahesh & Vinayak took it upon themselves to fix the fan issue.After 30 mins of hard word they were able to get all the wires in place & connected.But next 30 minutes went in figuring out why the fan is still not operating , in spite of everything being in place??It was the smartest among all of them who got the answer.They were switching on the wrong button,instead of fan they have connected the wires to Light button but it took 30 mins to figure it out ;-) So finally the fan was on & we decided to stick to Gulmohar for overnight stay.

Next Day morning, most of us got up on time except the usual suspect.Yes You guessed it right..Mahesh was last one to get up & get ready.Myself & Vinayak moved to Prakash Kaka's place.One it helped us get ready faster & second we can pick up both Kaka & kaki from their place.We returned after having bath & breakfast within almost half an hour.In the meanwhile at Gulmohar, Leela kaki broke the news that owing to Holiday Season, People were visiting Pali in huge numbers.There was reported waiting time of almost 3 hours.After the news broke,some of the senior citizens expressed discomfort about standing in queue for such a long time.And they were not wrong as being temple, once we reach there, nobody will feel nice if they have to exit without offering prayers to Ballaleshwar!!After some detailed discussions among seniors we agreed that next best alternate was Ganapati Temple at Nandgao.Its equally distant from our start point & also offer us chance to visit Murud if time permits.So off we went.Myself, Nam, Ashok Kaka, Vinayak & Rutuja in my car & rest of the folks, namely Prakash Kaka & Kaki, Archnana Kaki, Mahesh & Leela kaki in the Tavero that we have hired.

First Stop, Pradhanwadi ie Earstwhile Home of Vinayak Kanade & fly when Bala Kaka was posted there.He knew a famous Bhaji Wala & so we halted in front of his thella.We enjoyed fresh Bhajiyas with everybody.Having locals with you on travel always helps ;-) From there, next halt was Kashid Beach.This time people in hired car reached there first.They have already ordered for some cool Nariyal Pani from nearby stall.Would you believe that we had almost a dozen Coconuts among us plus some fruits & all that for less than Rs.100.We clicked some of the best snaps while eating & drinking at the beach.Beach was crowded being hiliday.Plus the weather was awsome!but what a fun ww had.Money cant buy you happiness for everything else there is cash ;-) We settled dues of the Nariyalpani wals in cash & moved on.Next stop was the temple at Nandgao.We reached there by 1-1.30 I think.All of us offered prayers to the God Almighty.The Surroundings of the temple are as good as its interiors.Very well maintained!!

From there, we had difference of views around what to do next!Some of them were of view to be back to Kashid for lunch & some of them wanted to extend the journey to Murud for the same.Ashok Kaka was in favour of going to Murud, so ultimately we decided to oblige him.After all it is after years that they were out with their favourate kids on a picnic!However that decisio turned out to be bad one as on that day, they had Murud Annual Festival on & those small roads were completely jammed.We went halfway & after realising that its futile to continue, returned back.On the way back to Kashid, we located a decent joint.Shri Samarth Khanawal by Bore Brothers.the place was full so we literally have to plan among us to secure the seats.First we got a table of 4 where myself, both Kakas & Nam settled.Rest of the folks arrieved a bit late so they have to wait a bit long but waiting time for not too long.We had 8 chicken plates & 2 fish plates among us.Food was decent but then we didnt had much of choice as we have lost some time going back & forth to Murud already.

It was almost 3.30 pm so few of us thought that it would be wise to seperate now & move on instead of going to Alibaug & seperating from there.Vinayak has to return home for studies & so does us for some household work.Outside Hotel, we exchanged greetings again.Alibaug residents boarded the car going to Alibaug & rest of us residing in Mumbai, boarded mine.We were worried that NH 17 would be crowded but all our estimates proved to be wrong, which was good for us.I think the journey from thereon till the first halt at Hotel "Kshanbhar Vishranti" was non stop & also fast.Roads beyween Vadkhal & Alibaug have improved over last time for sure which made it comfortable for us.Since all of us were travelling to Alibaug by car after a long time,all of us were misjudging the location of our hotel.At one time all were so erritated that we thought of haling at whatever decent hotel that we see next.In fact, like "Shankar palace", "Khanabhar Vishranti" also become our code to indicate that we have to travel a long way till destination.But when we halted finally at that hotel,it was a welcome break. We all got fresh.Had some tea & Bhajiyas again before resuming the journey.

Towards Mumbai we took a wrong turn inbetween but quickly got us back on the right track.During the journey, the Nepali singing & Dialogue show by Vinayak was simple awsome & entertaining!Worth recalling when we travel together again.After reaching Mumbai,in a drastic decision we all agreed to halt at Versova for overnight stay instead of going home.At versova, it was beginning of yet another fun riot with Balakaka in full flow!We ordered some food from Malvani Kalvan Hotel as both Kaka & Kaki were also out that evening.Food was tasty so was the commentary by the hosts.All in all the day which started with great fun also aptly ended on a equally funny note.Nam & Vinayak went to sleep happily that one of their long standing wish of taking their beloved Ashok kaka out on picnic had just materialised & it was great fun!

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Photos

Arrival @ Gulmohar
See the Joy on everybody's face !!

K 20 Summit
Kanades & Kaki's at Kashid Beach