Harishchandra Gad - Want to click Photos? stay here Overnight

Not sure why this place is called "Harishchandra Gad" though ideally this is not a fort considering its location and no records/information around suggest that this place has seen any wars earlier. It does not give any indication of being a watch fort as well. However, I not being an historian will not go much into the details and will keep my curiosity in check.

This place was on our list for quite a few years now. We had seen photos on many travelougues, heard from many who had been there, however, somehow could not make it our destination. This time on the 15th August long weekend we were determined to go on an overmight adventure. We decided to visit "Bhandardara" as well another place quite close from Harishchandra gad.

Our plan:
1. Leave early on Saturday morning. Sight seeing at Bhandardara and stay at a place called Rajur.
2. Leave early on sunday morning for Harishchandra gad and by evening reach Pune.

As simple as the plan looks, it was not to be. We had to face quite a few complications later due to improper information and research from our side.

We reached Bhandardara at around 12:30. Had a pathetic lunch at the MTDC restaurant. In case anyone of you visits Bhandardara, dont even think of this restaurant. Instead a streetside "zhunka bhakar" is better. We had a nice day of sightseeing at Bhandardara though it was raining heavily, we had our times when the skies got cleared intermittently. Bhandardara has a dam and a lake. The lake has a circumference of around 20 kms. It is a pleasure to ride along this route and is just a relish to the eyes and refreshing to the body. Exactly at 10 kms on this route, you find an ancient temple of "Amruteshwar" worth visiting. Some snaps on the route around the lake:

In the evening at around 8:00 PM we headed towards Rajur which was around 25 Kms from Bhandardara. We enquired at Bhandardara and all of them told us that we would easily get a place at Rajur. However the story took a Uturn when we reached there. We could not find a single good place where we could stay. The only government guest house was full as a MLA was to visit there and needed 50 rooms. Not sure what he was supposed to do with the 50 rooms. None of my business and obviously not a topic of my investigation. We had to go around Rajur for a while when luckily we found a hotel where the owner took 150/- for a Hall. We jumped in at the place and also agreed for the amount.

The next day we left early in the morning so that we could reach Harishchandragad as early as possible. From rajur we had to go to a village called "Panchnai" which was the base village for the trek. The route to this village in itself was a pleasure that got us excited. Here are some pictures from the route:

Finally, after a breathtaking ride from Rajur to Panchnai we were at the base village. It took hardly 2 hours climb to reach the top. We had a zhunka bhakar at the top. This was a nice and lovely experience, having nice and hot zhunka bhakar with a waterfall running just besides. Some snapshots:

 Finally our way back to Pune:

To summarise:
Good trek, a bit tough one, not to be trekked during rains if you are an avid photographer. Perfect trek after september until Feb.

Read More......

Palaces, Forts and Snow!!

In my office, apart from a day or two off from work, "LEAVE" is restricted to marriages, funerals and ICU admissions. So when I said I needed a week off so that I could go on a vacation with my wife, all I got was a blank look. My reason was "unheard of"; hence no argument ensued. After a couple of weeks of silence, my leave was approved!! Yippee!!
Reema and myself, along with Prichard and Marilyn planned out a week long tour to re-live our college tour experience. Here's what we did..

Day 1 : Fri 14 Jan 2011

We land in Jaipur at about 10.45pm and are collected by representatives of our resort - "Suryaa Villa". The pick-up from the airport was supposed to be charged, but then they forgot about it.
The rooms did not match the grandeur of the elegant looking palatial resort. Seeing walls with blue ceramic tiles up to waist-height, no wardrobes, and two single beds wasn't exactly what I traveled 2000 km for.

Day 2: Sat 15 Jan 2011

Started our day with humongous road-side breakfast - paranthas and lassi.
Prichard and Marilyn were to join us in the evening, so we spent the day on a govt. organized half day tour of Jaipur city.

Prichy & Mari reach at dinner time, and we head to Hotel Om Tower revolving restaurant. Nice setting where you sit on the 13th floor and revolve about the tower's axis so you can have a look at the entire city while you dine.

Food - 5
Service - 8
Ambiance - 9
Value For Money - 3

Day 3: Sun 16 Jan 2011

Breakfast at the famous Lakshmi Mishtan Bhandar. Nice rich food.. especially "Badvi Baazi" which is actually to be pronounced as "Bedvi Bhaaji", but due to that spelling we happened to embarrass the waiter a little.

Jantar Mantar -
Walking among the huge astronomy apparatus we're suddenly surprised to hear konkani conversations around. It was a group of current engicos on their "study" tour. We remembered our college tour all the more.

Nahargarh Fort -
Here we were welcomed by a guide who appeared very filmy. He reminded us of Rajpal Yadav, had a filmy name - Ramkhilavan; and he narrated the story of King Savai Madho Singh II as if he were a porn star. Apparently he lived with two queens at his palace. Nine others were housed in this fort. The story of how nine queens were kept in the same palace without access to each other, and the secret passage which allowed the king to visit one of them every night without the others having a clue about it was meant for general public. But then he took the guys aside for a little boy-talk where he revealed that the king actually had 52 queens of which only 11 had survived. The reason? "Raja saheb ka saamaan thoda lamba thaa". We wondered why a young guy like Ramkhilavan carried a walking stick around until he used it to illustrate the above "fact" to us.

Sympathizing with the poor queens, we move on to Jaigarh Fort to see the world's largest cannon. NO! Not the "saamaan".. a real cannon.


From here we move down to Amer Fort.
Amer Fort hosts a "Sound and Light show" every evening narrating the history of Amer. This is a must see. We didn't have cameras good enough to capture the show.

Day 4: Mon 17 Jan 2011
Chokhi Dhani -

Chokhi Dhani is a village resort with people doing road tricks and keeping you entertained. A very nice place to spend an evening and totally worth the price. Camel/elephant rides, fortune telling, magic shows, weird skill demos, archery, air guns, street dances, artificial caves etc etc topped with amazing food.
Placards stuck all over the place say "Do not encourage tips". But nobody can save you from "Raam Raam Saa" which at this place means "Give me some money".
Every entertainer on completing his piece of art greets you with these words; and appreciation of skill can only be done in cash.

Day 5: Mon 18 Jan 2011

Having seen Jaipur we now head towards Delhi to catch a bus to Manali. Most of the day was spent on the road.
The memorable part was nice Italian food at "Mamma Mia" in gurgaon.

Day 6: Tue 19 Jan 2011

We reach Manali at about 7.30 AM. Manoj, the guy who was supposed to pick us up is not to be seen. Worse still, he doesn't pick our calls. Worried we might freeze important parts of our body, we start walking towards the hotel asking for directions from the few people we could see around. 2 kilometers trek up the slope in snow with luggage on our back was quite an experience. A cute dog saw us walking and accompanied us until the hotel. We decided to name him Manoj.
At the hotel Flamingo Resort, we were greeted by Tuleram Khargosh, the receptionist/waiter/manager - a very hospitable man who fed us to the brim with the complimentary meals everyday. For some reason, he liked to be addressed as "T.R."

Our first activity at Manali was skiing at Sollang Valley. Not yet having adjusted to the sudden drop in temperature, our stamina wasn't at it's best, so we were done with skiing pretty soon and most of our time here was spent clicking snaps in the snow.

What amazing landscapes! Don't aim. Just shoot!

Our new friends on the trip .. Rohit and Samiksha. It was 12 AM and their anniversary which called for some celebration.

Day 7: Wed 20 Jan 2011

We wake up to a cloudier, colder morning and the water heater can hardly give us any hot water. That's because Tuleram's assistant has just broken ice in the overhead tank and the water's gonna take some time to start flowing.
After breakfast our driver takes us to Manikaran hot springs in Kullu. Two and a half hours drive but absolutely worth it. A pool of hot water!! The sight in itself was such a relief. We jumped into the water and didn't get out for over an hour. :-)
Day 8: Thu 21 Jan 2011

Warm sunny morning! We could do without warm clothes. It was our last day in Manali, and the day for local sight seeing.
Hadimba Temple
Club house
Vasisht Hot springs (Manikaran was much better)
Back at the hotel, pack up and we catch the bus back to Delhi.

Day 9: Fri 22 Jan 2011

Reaching Delhi at 6.00 AM is quite scary, especially when we don't know the way to where we're going. But we did find our way to Goa-Sadan without much hassle.
Dilli Haat -
Very nice place for food.. Authentic food stalls from a number of Indian states. I had the best chicken momos I've ever had.
The Kashmir stall served Gushtaba which was delicious too.. but a little expensive I'd say.
It was the end of the tour for Prichy and Mari who caught their flight to Goa after this.
We rode on a bus to have a look at the Qutb Minar.
Evening train - Rajdhani Express to Bangalore

Day 10: Sun 23 Jan 2011

Food was on the house in Rajdhani. So we ate, watched 3 movies and relaxed. Easy day.

Day 11: Mon 24 Jan 2011

Back to work :-(

Read More......

Motorcycle Diaries - Kemmannugundi

The greatest heights of Karnataka - Kemmannugundi.. This was the third time we were planning this trip and hence were pretty strong willed on making it, come what may.

At first, we made the plan with 3 people. A number of people seemed interested on being told about it though.. and like the saying goes.. "Log aatey gaye aur karwan banta gaya".. The highest we reached was a group of 12 people to join in with 8 bikes! Well, the joy of a big-gang trip plan was short-lived; as people soon started backing out. And finally one night before the trip, just the original 3 were left :)

The route

Nice road, scenic ponds, green surroundings... life!

Thats Akhil... A saying about him goes:

"His speed doesn't vary with the quality of the road; only his pillion rider's luck varies..."

- Anon

After battering many a butt, he now rides alone.

The hour long trek to Z - point. Amazing .. Adventurous .. Awesome!

The winds are so damned strong that you can barely stand still for a few milliseconds

On the way from Kemmannugundi to Chikmagalur.

Whoever told Abdul that it's a bad road probably rides on the runway.

After this, came the Belur temple, lunch in Hassan and then the only bad part of the trip.. an incomplete highway between Hassan and Nelamangala.

All in all, a well spent weekend. Looking forward to the next road-trip.

Read More......

Motorcycle Diaries - Pondicherry

Pondicherry trip

Since we've all become very busy (read lazy) nowadays, blogging isn't really possible. I thought I could utilise this webspace to keep picture records of my trips.. hehe

This one's about my Pondicherry bike trip with friends and family on 6-7 Feb 2010

The route

Somewhere down the road

Thiruvanamalai TempleSaapaad near the temple
Gingee Fort And the other sights on the beach

The famous Le Cafe

All in all.. we had a good time :)

Read More......

Weekend destination: Silvassa

Laxminarayan and myself planned and executed road trip to Silvassa yesterday... Laxmi was to spend the night before the ride at my place, n when I said it would be egg-curry for dinner he said he wanted to be around to see me buy the eggs... to ensure I don't feed him pigeon eggs :) Well... he was late and had to trust me with that...

Next morning... 24 Nov '07, 0530 hrs IST..

We're out of the house n hit the western express highway within minutes... couldn't speed too much as the trucks were pretty reckless.. however, we weren't too pissed with them cos their exhaust was thawing us out of the 5.30 chill... When we got out of Mumbai onto NH-8, trucks were fewer, it got much darker than before, and much much colder... Our windcheaters weren't good enough and my bare fists were practically frozen...

We stopped at a dhaba in Manor to heat up a bit.. had hefty alu parathas and tea...

By 9 o' clock we were in Silvassa, and our host for the day - Abhishek Desai picked us up n took us home.. An elaborate breakfast was waiting for us... Laxmi was already full.. so I helped him a bit.. :)

Our first destination after breakfast was Dudhni... about 40 km from Silvassa, through the mountains n trees...on a very well made up road... was an awesome ride... At Dudhni we sat together at a picnic spot discussing the hostel days... updating each other etc... had lunch, and went waterscooting in the Damanganga river..

Next destination: Deer Park... another lovely ride... but the gates were closed n we had to plan something quick for the one hour left until they opened...so we went to Bindrabin temple and had a nice refreshing dip in the chilled pond.. that was like the best activity for the sunny afternoon.. We felt so fortunate that the deer park was closed...

Came back to the deer park... Man! its tough to ride when the roads are not tarred...

Well... mud biking is real fun... but then it kinda hurts to ride your own bike on stones.. :)

Excited seeing some wild animals pretty close, and covered with dust, we got out of the deer park and went back to the town... and got onto the highway to head back home...

We missed seeing a camping site as it would've taken us too long.. Abhishek suggests we plan an overnight to this place... go with a big gang.. I'm game.. interested people please contact me..

The ride back to Mumbai was pretty interesting... we did the first 140km in 2hours... and the remaining 15 km in 90 minutes.. that is Mumbai's way of saying.. "Welcome back!" :)

Read More......