Lamas from Thiksey monastry enjoying a repose.

One of the interesting features of these buildings is Nahar i Bahisht (River from Paradise). A small canal running the length of the main building. Keeping it cool and giving a visual interest.

The royal dressing room, bathroom, prayer room and of course Rang Mahal. The royals were aware of the importance of nature and walks for long life. They called their garden Hayat Baksh (Life giving). The Sawan Bhadon pavilions – such poetic names for the buildings. The tank in one of them has niches for candles in sides. Imagine the view!

unfinished Glory

Eccentric Allauddin Khilji had grand plans for the Qutub complex. He expanded the “Quwat Ul Islam” mosque, built the magnificent Alai darwaja. He also started work on alai minar which was to be twice as tall and grander than Qutub. Destiny did not give Allauddin time to finish his grandiose dream. He could not finish it in 20 years that he had. His descendants were more practical and did not pursue his grand dream. Result is a monument that is  a perfect commentary on Allauddin Khilji - giving you a glimpse at what could have been even though it is nothing but a pile of stones.

Mode of transport – Innova

Route and Itinerary

25^th Dec – Pune – Kolhapur – Amboli

Night halt at JRD international Amboli

26^th December Amboli – Sawantwadi – Tarkarli

Night halt at Matoshri resort Tarkarli

27^th December Tarkarli

Stay at SagarSangam Tarkarli

28^th December  Tarkarli – Velneshwar

Night halt at Vivek Gokhale, Velneshwar

थंडीतलं महाबळेश्वर कसं खास ‘लोकाग्रहास्तव’ असतं. पाहुण्यांसमोर शहाण्यासारख्या वागणा-या मुलासारखं. उन्हाळ्यात ते भडक गुज्जु असतं वेण्णा लेकवर नवीन उपटलेल्या चौपाटीसारखं. पावसाळ्यात मात्र ते फक्त स्वत:चं असतं. सगळ्या स्थिर, चर, वस्तुमात्रांवर हिरव्याचं आक्रमण झालेलं असतं. दगड, रस्ते, झाडे, भिंती, छपरं, माणसं, सगळं दमट आणि हिरवं.  

पावसाळ्यातल्या महाबळेश्वरला एक स्वभाव आहे. गुढ भासतं ते या काळात. सगळ्या आसमंताला गुरफटुन टाकणारी ढगाची घोंगडी, लहरी पाउस, शेवाळाच्या झिप-या पिंजारलेली निष्पर्ण झाडं. महाबळेश्वर मोठं ‘ऍटमॉस्फेरीक’ असतं. ग्रेसच्या कवितेसारखं रहस्यमय, आकर्षित करणारं, स्वयंमग्न आणि लिरिकल!

    Traveling anywhere in the festival season needs advance planning. Tickets are hard to get in the season. We had booked our tickets 2 months in advance on the date and we were ready to roll!     

     Azad Hind express, plying from Pune to Kolkata takes 2 nights and a day to reach its destination. The journey gets tedious due to the length, the beggers and the hawkers.        Our co-passengers  for this trip were a charming family consisting of Granpa, Granma, their daughter, son- in-law and the daughter’s kids. 7 year old Chinmay and 6 months old Gayatri. They were visiting Bellur math during the Diwali. Granpa was  a hyper person. He was very excited about the journey, more than the kids infact.     

      The fun of celebrating Diwali is to have lots of janata at home. The more the merrier. We were nine of us, Abhay’s parents, Abhay’s Brother and his family, whom we were visiting and three of us. Our diwali was great, with lot of “Mishti”, fireworks, gifts and shopping at Shree and New market!

A day visit to “Jheelmeel” formerly called Nicopark was a hit with the kids.    

        We spent a day relaxing at a guest house of a mill curtacy Dada’s acquintance. The guesthouse was a Kothi built by the mill owner during 40s, right on the bank of the river. The day was a glimpse into the affluent and unhurried life style of “Old Money”.

The spaciousness of the rooms, The “class” of the paintings, sprawling lawns, tree lined avenues, the leisurely flowing Hugali on the side,  Uberpampering!
On one of the evenings Dada arranged for a boat ride on the river. We sailed from one of the ghats, cruising towards Hawara bridge,with the decked up hawara station to our right. After crossing the bridge, we turned around and sailed back towards Ravindra Setu,

The twilight softened the harsh realities of Kolkata, giving a hopeful dreamy look to the city. Small processions were approaching the ghats to immerse the devi idols. (This was annapurna not to be confused with Durga or Kali), the river looked mysterious with the reflections and dancing lights. The mood was introspective, contemplative …

The gardens laid barren,
Will flower again in spring
For my Spring ravished garden,
Whom should I ask for blooms?

My heart felt like singing “O re Maazi!”

आंजर्ल्याला साठ्यांकडे अगदी घरगुती जेवण झालं. केळीचं आडवं पान. भात-पिठलं, डांगराचा गोळा, लोणचं आणि आंबट ताक. काकू रांधायला आणि पट्टेरी चड्डी घातलेले काका वाढायला. (मला गौरीच्या पुसाळकारांची आठवण झाली) सगळ्यांनी आडवा हात मारला.

आंजर्लाला खाडीवरचा पुल ओलांडला. मॊठा देखणा परिसर आहे. एकीकडे चकाकणारा करडा अरबी समुद्र. दोन्ही बाजुला पुळणी, सुरुची झाडं. माडापोफळीच्या बागा, दुरुन दिसणारं कड्यावरच्या गणपतीचं देउळ.

पुढे हरणेची कॊळी वस्ती. इथॆ किना-यालाच समुद्र खोल आहे. किना-याला लागुन कोळ्यांची घरं, बाहेर ओढुन ठेवलेल्या होड्या. एवढ्याश्या पुळणीवरुन समुद्रात पोहणारी २० – २५ कोळी पोरं अगदी सी गल्स च्या टोळीसारखी डुंबत होती.

कर्दं उजवीकडे ठेवुन घाट चढायला लागलो. आसुदच्यापुढे व्याघ्रेश्वर. तिन्ही बाजुंनी डोंगरांनी वेढलेलं, नदी किनारचं टुमदार देउळ. गाभा-याला हेमाडपंथी शिखर. सभामंडप मात्र कौलारु. आवारात असलेले अवशेष आणि काळे चिरे गतवैभवाची साक्ष देतात.

डोंगरांच्या ओंजळीतुन वाहाणारी झुळुक उन्हाळ्याचा विसर पाडत होती. `शंभो हर हर’ म्हणत आम्ही दापोली पोलादपुर मार्गे महाबळेश्वरी निघालो.

`कोण आहे’ ला उत्तर नाही.

दुसरीला जाग येते. उरलेल्या दोघांना पत्ता नाही. परत दार वाजवल्याचा आवाज.

`कोण आहॆ?’ … शांतता..

उठुन खिडकीतुन डोकावुन बघितले तर बाहेर कुणीच नाही. नुसती रातकिड्यांची कीरकीर.

दुस-या दिवशी शेजारच्या खोलीत झोपलेल्या आजी सांगतात की त्या रात्री उठल्या तर त्यांच्या खोलीचा दरवाजा सताड उघडा. झोपायला जाताना तर बंद केला होता.

प्रकरणाचा उलगडा होईना. ड्रायवरने फोडणी दिली, `रात्री मला पण कोणीतरी बाहेर असल्याचा भास झाला. गाडीत झोपलॊ होतो तर मागुन कोणीतरी येतंय. चेपलो जतोय असं वाटलं. मी टरकलो. म्हटलं ‘मरु दे’ चादर डोक्यावरुन घेउन झोपुन गेलो’ (कोण मरु दे? हा का भूत? कोणास ठाउक?)

चौघांना एकाच रात्रीत आलेले अनुभव. बाकीच्यांना काहीच कल्पना नाही. काय घडले असेल याचा बराच खल झाला. पण सर्वांना समाधानकारक वाटेल असे स्पष्टीकरण मिळेना. मग तिथुन संभाषण इतर किस्स्यांकडे वळले.

कोकणात प्रत्येक घरच्या अश्या अद्‍भुत कथा असतात. पु.ल. म्हणतात तसा देवाआधी देवाचराला नमस्कार घडतो. आम्हाला आमची कथा मिळाली.

We had our lunch at one Mr. Sathe’s place. After Pithale Bhat, we headed towards Asud near Dapoli. We visited our “Kuldaivat” vyaghreshwar which is situated there. The temple is quaint, built in a typical kokan style.

From Dapoli we reached the highway and from there climbed up thru Poladpur, Mahabaleshwar and to Pune from there.

It was a long and tiring day. We reached back to Pune at 10 pm.

There were lcal people traveling on the ferry. The lady was happy to have her snap taken. After the snap she took it upon herself to direct Abhay’s photographic efforts.

From Danda Rajapuri we chartered a boat to take us to Janjira. Janjira is a sea  fort built by African merchant called “habshi” by locals in 1118. It took them 37 years to complete the fort. The fort was built from the blocks cut from the rock on which is standing on. While the tide was out the workers would work on the ramparts. When the tide came in, they would work on the buildings in the fort.

The Siddhis were a cruel lot. They were also trading in slaves along with the spices. The first Peshva – Balaji Vishwanath, his brother and his mother were sold to these people, they could have been taken to other shores but they were bought back by his mama and the rest is a known history.

This is the carving near the fort entrance, a tiger, holding six elephants, four in it’s four paws, one in it’s mouth and one in it’s tail. This also used to be imprinted on their coins.

The buildings inside are pretty much in ruins.

Twice in the history attempts were made to win this fort. Once by Sambhaji and then by Chimaji Appa ( Bajirao first’s brother) but on both occasions they had to leave the campaign due to pressing matters near home. The fort is difficult to conquer. There are 22 watchtowers surounding the fort. The watch was posted on all of them 24 x 7.

 Any enemy approaching could be hit by the mighty guns. This one is called KalalBangadi.

The tide was moving in fast. We hurried back to Dive Agar. The rest of the day was spent in playing modified beach ball on “saravalele angan” , frolicking on the beach and hogging the great food.