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In the wee hours of the morning of the 26th of Feb, 2009, there as a lot of hustle bustle in our house coz all the members of the house were about to embark on a 3 day trip to the Konkan.
Mom was getting some food stuff ready and filling up a couple of empty bottles with drinking water. Mom's sister, Venumaushi, was getting ready, saying her daily morning prayers and at the same time hunting for her cap. That’s called multitasking. As for me, I had taken my leisure bath, gotten ready and was checking my emails for any last minute work related stuff as I wasn’t taking my laptop with me. (What do ya know ! No Laptop for three whole days. What a nightmare!!!!)
7:15 on the dot, our rental car arrived. Within the next 10 minutes we loaded the car and were off but we were back home within 15 minutes as I had forgotten to take my blackberry. Yeah! That’s my life support system. (Come on, folks. Atleast did not carry the laptop 😊)
Okay, like we were already running 15 minutes behind schedule, our driver decided to take a long route to
get on the highway. There went another 15 minutes. Grrrrrrr. Sensing my frustration building up everyone calmed me down saying it was a holiday and I should relax… Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out….Whew….
Back on track, we drove past NDA, Chandni Chowk, Ambrosia and Bhugaon. Ah, it brought back loads of memories and I started reminiscing about my college days and long drives past these places including a boat capsizing incident at Manas Water Lake in Bhugaon where two of my buddies nearly drowned. I was snapped out of my memory trance by mom. Everyone had started getting hungry so we stopped at a roadside café called ‘Quick Bite’. Believe it or not, for the first time in my entire life I had misal (A typical Maharastrian dish which is a mix of curried sprouted lentil, farsaan, chivda, raw chopped onions and tomato served with Bread ). I quite liked it. I wanted to try something different on this trip. After a rather enjoyable breakfast, we proceeded on our way towards the Konkan.
Along the way we stopped at numerous scenic locations including the Mulshi lake just to take some good pictures. Offcourse I have a
limitation of having a 4 year old camera but I managed to snap away some good shots. I have to add one very important thing; our driver was super knowledgeable on the history of the whole Konkan region and particularly on Shivaji Maharaj. The whole commute became quite enjoyable with stories he kept narrating to us.
We finally reached Diveagar by around 1ish. Wow, this place was fabulous. Untainted by urbanism with coconut grooves galore and serene silence. I fell in love with this place almost instantly.
Mom had us booked at a place called ‘Ambiance Cottages’. They have these small cottages with the minimalist in design and the exterior had a small swing in the porch and the back yard extended into the coconut grooves, betel-nut trees and banana plantations. A super breathe-taking view, I must say. The best part is that the cottages management had provided tooth paste, sashes of Shampoo and soap. I was like totally impressed. Sometimes even 5 star hotels don’t give toothpaste.
After taking a wash and resting for about 20 minutes, we went have some grub. Ambience Cottages have a small dining area and you can pre-order anything you want. (Offcourse, you
can’t go asking them to make chicken Manchurian or sushi)
My mom, knowing how much I love ‘Ukadiche modak’ (a steamed dumpling stuffed with grated coconut and jaggery), she had already pre ordered them. I must have devoured about 6 Modaks within 10 minutes. I just realized how come I had put on so much weight on that trip. After having a hearty meal of bhakri, sol-kadhi and ussal along with those 6 modaks, I didn’t have any capacity to go out anywhere. Thankfully mom and her sister also wanted to rest a while.
At around 4 after getting ample rest and the ladies had been charged up with coffee, we left for Harihareshwar. We took the long route to Harihareshwar. We were warned by the locals at Diveagar that the roads were bad but I think their perception of bad is slightly different than mine. The roads so deteriorated that I could hardly call them roads. It was the bumpiest ride I have had until now. The only consolation was that the scenery was extremely picturesque.
After driving for about an hour along the scenic route we reached Harihareshwar. It is famous for it’s Shiva temple on the
seashore as well as the beach and the natural landscaping. The lord Shiva temple was constructed in 16th century and consists of idols of Brahma - Vishnu - Mahesh and Parvati. The other temples in the premises are of Kalbhairav and Yogeshwari.
The path to the temple was full of makeshift shops and stalls selling practically everything needed for a Puja from Agarbattis, coconuts, holy treads, betel leaves and other related items. After praying at the temple, mom wanted to take a pradakshina of the mountain as she said that the visit is complete only after the pradakshina of the mountain. Yeah, the mountain, a terrain which has uneven surfaces, wild plants and not to mention creatures big and small. I ain’t too worried about the big creatures but it’s the small tiny miniscule ones that scare the jeepers out of me if they bite.
Okay, with that thought I went and wore my shoes as I had anticipated some rough terrain which we would be treading on. And what do you know , my mom didn’t approve of the idea of me wearing shoes for a holy thing like a pradakshina.. My protests went in vain. Venumaushi did a
smart thing by just staying at the temple, mostly due to the fact that she was extremely tired. So Aai and I proceeded on the pradakshina.
This pradakshina was a path around the temple which climbs the mountain behind the temple, proceeds onto the seashore below and around the shoreline back to the temple. After a few minutes of the steady climb with rock cut steps, winding up to about 200 feet, Aai looked at me and said that I was right. Shoes would have been a good idea. The view from the top was breathtaking. Then there was a descent of another flight of rock cut steps which lead out to sea. Once on the base of the mountain there is a flat table top ledge with overhanging rocks eroded by the ever battering waves of the sea during high tides. I took some lovely photos here with the backdrop of the jagged rocky walls. As i was taking pictures I saw our driver walking towards me. He too was like ‘You should have worn shoes as the rocks could cut your feet’. Sheesh now why didn’t I think of that .. Duh ! ! ! .. 😊 Our
driver turned guide showed us a formation in the mountain which had been formed due to erosion. The uniqueness about this was there was a small cove that had been formed into the mountain. He also mentioned that in the wee hours of the morning there is a flow of sweet water coming through the crevice. Just above this tiny cove is a natural formation of an ‘Aum’. I was stuck by awe looking at this natural creation. Wow. Totally mind-blowing. Anyway after much amazement we continued walking on the slippery and jagged path back to the temple. Once the Pradakshina was completed, a sense of fulfillment engulfed us; the visit to the temple was complete. And I had my shoes back on.
Post the visit to the temple we went back to the cottages. We did pretty much nothing after reaching back but lazed around, played cards for a while and then hit the sack.
The next day was gonna be another tiring day when we were planning to go to see the Janjeera fort.
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sunanda
non-member comment
Hi sanjeev, quite informative. great. your writing skills are really really good. now, you keep traaveling and start sending us "Aankho dekha Haal. bye.