Of the Whirls and Swirls.....

Now this is another one of the wonderful experiences I have had so far. Surely a once in lifetime experience.....Who had imagined that rafting would be such a fun indeed....Now I am an amateur poet and want to express the experience by means of a poem......Please bear with me.....

We started off in the dark of night
The highway paving the way with its lights
With no traffic we jet past the city
Alongside the dawning amiability

The morning was foggy and cold but pleasant
A hot adrak chai was beckoning
I wonder anyone could resist it
And we were tempted to have two cups indeed

As we moved, the fog only got denser

Blurring our visibility

The irresistible picturesque sugarcane fields caught our sight
Only hoping we could have stayed there for a little more while

We drove past Haridwar to reach Rishikesh after a six hours drive
And now had to reach Shivpuri, a small town uphill
A sixteen kilometer road so narrow
The twists and turns were coarse shrugging mud off its contour

The sight of Ganges flowing between the mountains was awe-inspiring
With some patches of water gushing and some lull
The raft was ready and instruction were clear
'Ganga Mata ki Jai' was an orison

Confronting the mighty tides and the ice cold water
We sailed along sometimes to the left and to the right
The successful first encounter with the rapids
Made us determined and enjoy the roller coasters, double swirls, golf courses

A dip in the Ganges and dribbling away along with the stream
A fifteen feet dive into the water
A sight of cliffs talking to the mountains
Had all left an indelible impression

A reflection of enduring animated illustrations Imprinted on my mind forever
An experience of life time it was
And I still live with those memoirs anew ...

Into the hinterland.....

Unplanned we started off

To destinations unknown and unaware

As the mystery unraveled

We stood dumbstruck with jaws wide open

We were on the shore before the boundless sea

The waves splashed and receded away

Taking away the sand under our feet

It seemed as though someone was snatching away something

It was time we were unable to decipher

Time passes away but the memories will live

In retrospect shall we all cherish them and cheer…..

So here I go about writing our next post on our recent trip to Shrivardhan, Harihareshwar and Dive Agar. Experiences worth cherishing and to live with this memorabilia will always be an inspiration of sorts in retrospect. A destination unknown with paths not treaded so far, it was a mysterious journey into the hinterland of the heart of Konkan patch of Maharashtra. Now that’s enough of an introduction……

Surraj, Kumaran aka Kums, Jayaram aka JK, Deepak aka DB, Bhaskaran aka Boss and me, Anirudha aka Deshu. We started off from Andheri W station to Kurla and then to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus abbreviated as LTT, people belonging to Mumbai may be familiar for a train to a place called Mangaon 173 km from here. We got the tickets for unreserved compartment and were waiting an hour in advance so that we get place in the train when the train is parked in the bay. However when many like-minded come together you have a total chaos and that is what I clearly witnessed that day. Many people were already waiting there and unfortunately you do not have a system of queue for getting into the general compartment as you have for the buses in Mumbai. The train was parked and the whole lot of the people rushed to the doors, opened the emergency windows, and tried pushing people through the emergency windows just to get hold of a seat. As I was carrying food packets and water, I could not rush through the crowd. Surraj, Kums, JK and Boss pushed through and we were lucky to get 4 seats in that jam packed train. We had not had lunch so far and then Surraj and DB distributed lunch.

A buffet in a moving train and that too in a general compartment…could you ever imagine …it was fun again….

Well we were still dissatisfied and PET maange more was the call of the moment….we stuffed ourselves with whatever came in the train from samosas, bhel, chikoo n I don’t remember what not…We reached Mangaon at 6.00 p.m.

We came out of the station and caught an auto to the bus stand to go to Shrivardhan. However there was this alternate option to go by Trax. We enquired with the driver of Trax and he said he would take us to this place called Mhasla… We taught this would be a faster means to reach our destination and resorted to taking a Trax. The journey from Mangaon to Mhasla was awesome. The road was making its way through the mountains, the wind was blowing cold on us and we were like trying to gaze through the dark to try hard to find where we were moving… We reached Mhasla at 7.15 only to find out that the Tum Tum or 6 seater autos were not plying after 7 to Shrivardhan. So we enquired with a guy around and waited for the bus to Shrivardhan. We got a bus at 7.30 p.m. and traversing through the pitch dark forests we reached Shrivardhan at 8.30 p.m. We had already contacted a cottage owner over phone and once we reached there we thought we will look for an alternate stay option. A person was very eager to help us through one of his relatives who was going to receive him at the bus stop. However, the guy did not turn up and we waved him a goodbye and started off to the place where we had decided to go. We called up Mr. Bhagat who was the owner of this cottage called “Sawali”. We reached to a point and could not proceed further to find this place. So Mr. Bhagat sent Kamlakar Kaka to receive us. We could see a middle age hospitable guy who had come to receive us on his bicycle. We enquired with him about getting food and drinks on our way to the cottage. He briefed us on that repeatedly and in a detailed manner. Very contradictory but true of course it was. He was like repeating the same thing again and again till he got an assurance that we understood what he had to convey. He was all the time talking in Marathi and as I was the only person who knew Marathi I had to bear him. But to be frank I really admired the marketing skills he displayed. Given a product to market and a KT session I think these villagers will do a very good job of selling.

Finally at 9 p.m. we reached the cottage. Sawali in Marathi means shadow and that was the name of the cottage. The very name had a feeling of warmth in it. it was a good 2BHK + Hall cottage. Then Kamlakar Uncle had got us an auto to go to the market to get drinks and other stuff. The Mansaharis meaning non-vegetarians wanted to enjoy fish for their meal. So me and JK pushed off in the auto to get the stuff from the market. 2 quarters of Smirnoff, 1 Bacardi White Rum, 2 Bacardi Breezers – Jamaican Passion and a quarter of Signature Whisky – my all time favourite. From there we went to a restaurant to buy some fish fry and prawns. You know “Shakaharis” have a problem as they generally do not have enough variety to eat from and this is what had happened that day as no veg starters were available at this restaurant. This is precisely the reason why I have taken a conscious effort to change to a “Mansahari”. Meanwhile Surraj, Kums and DB had moved off to the seashore and made the arrangements to sit there. Also the warmth was pouring in the form of yummy Chicken Tandoori cooked by Kamlakar uncle’s wife. I still cannot forget the aroma. An absolute WOWWWWW……..Kamlakar Uncle had told me that he would keep the dinner in the room once it was done and also warned us not to stay on the beach after 12 because there was patrolling going on because of the recent Mumbai terror attacks. These terrorists have shook our nation I say. Its time to wake up..oh I am sorry!!! I generally get emotional about this topic. Me and Kamlakar Uncle had a short discussion on this issue. We all realize that something has to be done in this regard but no one knows what and how we could be of help.

Me and JK reached ‘Sawali’, collected the stuff from Kamlakar Uncle and along with Boss pushed off with our stuff to join our people on the seashore. The beach was a 10 minute walk from the cottage. The weather was at its best last few days in Mumbai and we witnessed the same weather on the beach. The area was very clean and we were the only people on the beach…yes ‘the only people’ on the beach. It was pleasing. The sound of the waves which hit the shore was very eminent. This was totally unlike the scenes you witness at any of the beaches in Mumbai which are clumsy, dirty with waste strewn all over and…..do not want to describe it further because Mumbai is ‘meri jaan’.

Now it was time for the spirits to get our adrenalin running high and for some emotional stuff out of us....It was booze time. It was a ‘Cheers to our friendship, to some of the best moments we have had together so far and to the very place itself’. As usual Boss got a high in 2 pegs. We had to pack up and leave the place by 12 and so did we. We went back to the room and then had 2 more pegs and were off to sleep.

By 7 o clock the next day Surraj, Kums and DB were out of bed and took a stroll to the beach again. Me, JK and Boss got up late. We had ‘Kanda Poha’ for breakfast, settled the bills and pushed off to Harihareshwar.

18 km from Shrivardhan we took a Tum Tum (6 seater) to Harihareshwar. It is a sacred place adjacent to the sea and is otherwise called Dakshin Kasi. The design has been made similar to that of Uttar Kasi temple. First worship Kal Bhairav and then there is a way from there itself to Harihareshwar temple. Once that is done you need to take a ‘Pradikshna’ to the temple. This is one of the best part that one could ever imagine.

For this we first need to climb a mountain top. From there you have steps that take you down to the other side of the mountain facing the sea. You see boulders, rocks small and big and water splashing on these. These rocks have an altogether different look and that is probably because water has eroded them off their surface. There are huge craters on the rock but they themselves create such a beautiful design that you the right word here incantation. Infact we were all exulted by the very serenity of the place. You know the very feeling of going close to the Mother Nature; you just got to experience it.

From there on everyone was eager to get into the water though I was not and decided to stay back to take care of the belongings and also to enjoy the bliss of solitude. The guys undressed and then wanted to have a running race. Boss emerged as the winner with the first runner up being Surraj. The natural constraints however did not permit JK and DB to come bac :P. Just kidding….Well we were at the beach for a while and then pushed off back to Shrivardhan. We had our lunch there at a road side home cooked food restaurant.

It was 5 p.m. and we had to decide whether to go to Dive Agar or back to Mumbai. Considering that we would not be visiting this place again, we decided to go ahead with the former option. We immediately decided to take a Tum Tum to Dive Agar. It was tough negotiating with the auto guy but he finally did not decline to come down a rupee below 200. We too gave in and pushed off.

Now here we were moving once again on a route which left behind imprints in our memories that would not leave us for a long long time. The road cutting across the hills and the sea running adjacent these hills to gulp us just in case we were to fall off….no that was not so scary….it was rather bonnie, scenic, splendiferous...the sun was shedding its light and the night was making itself bright…We reached Dive Agar at 7 p.m. It was pitching dark then. This place hosts the temple called Suvarna Ganesh Temple meaning golden temple of Lord Ganesha. The history of this temple is quite interesting. The golden idol was found in 1997 when the ASI people were digging at this place. The idol was gifted to a King in 11^th century AD and was buried underground then. We still had an hour left to take back the bus to Mumbai. So we decided to go to the beach which as per locals was a 10 minute walk from the temple. We started moving towards the beach. We were at a point which was very narrow and pitching dark. It was as though we were shooting for a horrow movie. The scenes of Raaz, REC and all the horror movies we have watched so far flashed across at that moment. Believe me it was shit scary. DB was scared and did not want to come along and so he decided to stay back at a road side hotel at the mouth of the deadly street. We cruised along slowly and slowly with the torch that showed us the way. However, the beach was nowhere in the site. Then the road split into two more roads with tall grass all over on the sides of the road. Now it was even more perplexing. We had no clue which way to go and because we did not have enough time we choose to go back. Boss was a bit disappointed as he is person who likes to explore new things and ready to risk at it. Well the majority of us wanted to go back and we joined DB at the tapri, had good tea and left to the bus stop. There was another half an hour before the bus arrived. We played Dumb C till then and then boarded the bus at 8.30 p.m. This was a direct bus to Mumbai but to our misfortune the conductor said that the seats were already booked and we need to stand and go throughout for 6-7 hours before we get down. Now that was impossible and so we decided to get down at Mangaon and take either a train or bus from there.

The bus journey was another experience of its sort. People pouring in inspite of being aware that there were no seats, singing songs along the way, playing songs on their mobiles to the full volumes, some limping, some others catching up a fight in order to get a place and some others just having a peaceful nap…Meanwhile me and Boss thought of taking some snaps. Though Boss could click good snaps, I could not. I am not that good a photographer you see..Well we reached Mangaon at 10.30 and now we had 2 options, either to take a bus or take a train at 12.00 am. We thought the latter would be a better option. We went to railway station only to find out that the counter would open 15 minutes before the train timing. So we decided to take a nap till then. Meanwhile Boss, Kums and JK got some stuff packed for dinner and joined us at railway station. At 11.30 types we came to know that the train was late by an hour and would come by 1.00 am. We waited and shared our experience about our trip and recorded them on the videos.

It was total fun all in all. We were told by some of the people on the railway station that the general compartment would not be full as this was a holiday special train. To our surprise, the train was full and the people were reluctant to open the doors of the general compartments too. We were struck with no other option but to climb the reserved compartment. We found an entry into the reserved compartment and got in. We tried to make ourselves comfortable near the bathrooms and wash basins. Meanwhile the TT had come and we had to shell out extra pennies in order to allow us in stay back in this reserved compartment. After a while all of us got seats and we were off to sleep.

At 4.45 am in the morning we arrived at Dadar, took a local back from there to Andheri and reached our rooms at 5.45 am.

All in all a trip which was totally unplanned but worth sooooooo much more than just a memorabilia…..