10.07.09
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 5:32 am by Avdhoot Harshe
3rd October 2009
I am posting something on my blog almost after 1.5 years! Motivation ? – Most of my previous posts have been about my trips around pune and so is this one. Though its not a rule but i prefer writing travelogues.
Since my marriage with Uttara last year i have frequented many places , but i have already posted something about them on the blog . This trip however was new to me as well.
It was a long weekend (Oct 2nd 2009 to Oct 4th 2009) and the time was ripe to explore newer avenues. I had heard of Sajjangad, Thoseghar and Kass lake from office colleagues and so i was intrigued to travel to those places.
The next question was how to reach there ?. Some suggested to go on bike, but, i was not too comfortable traveling 240 kms in one day on a bike. i think if we can save exhaustion of “traveling or driving” then we can enjoy “real” places more aptly. Well there can be contrary arguments, but then so be it ! 
Since the place was completely new to me, i called up Kiran Gosavi – my office colleague and asked him how to reach the place? He suggested that we can take a Bus to Satara and from Satara there are private vehicles available that will take us to Sajjangad and Thoseghar! This sounded fair to me…. He also suggested that we reach the Samarth temple by 12:30 so that we can have “prasad” (usually lunch served at such religious sites). Ok sounds good!
We decided to catch a 8 a.m. bus to Satara from Swargate so, that we can reach Satara early.
As decided, we reached Swargate at around 7:45 a.m. We took a non-stop (Vina-Thamba) bus to Satara (Per person fare Rs. 70/-). The bus dropped us at Satara Station at 9:45 a.m. At the bus station we inquired about buses to Sajjangad and found out that there were buses to sajjangad every hour. In fact a bus to Sajjangad was ready to leave in 10 mins time, but, we let go that option because we also wanted to go to Thoseghar….. So as suggested by Kiran we ventured out of the bus station to check if we could get a private vehicle which would take us around…
As a child i had always seen my father inquire about things from traffic- policemen when we went to some new place. He was of the opinion that these people in general don’t mis-guide people. So taking that into context i walked up to a traffic constable just outside the bus station and asked him from where to hire a vehicle to go to Sajjangad and Thoseghar. He readily guided us to a lane just near the bus station where private vehicles were standing in queue . (This lane is actually to the left of the Satara bus station- if you are standing facing the bus station). The policeman even obliged me by telling me the approximate fare that these guys would charge.
We then walked to that lane and after negotiating (actually bargaining ) hired a Indica for Rs. 700/- (2 places to travel Sajjangad , Thoseghar and back).
After hiring the indica we asked the driver to take us to a hotel for breakfast because we all were hungry!. He dropped us a Hotel near “Shivaji Circle”. We had “garam- garam” puri-bhaji, puri-korma and sabudana. The time by them was 10:45 a.m. Everything on track.
After breakfast, we headed to Sajjangad. After about a 45 min drive we reached the intermediate base where cars are parked. (Time 11:30 a.m). From here one has walk up the steps to reach to the Swami Samarth Samadhi Temple. On the way we clicked some pics and were proceeding slowly and steadly, however, we had to rush when we came acrosss a board reading that the temple is closed from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.!!!; that is when we checked our watches to see that we only had 15 mins in hand to take “Darshan”. We hastened up the stairs and managed to take darshan just in time.
We then proceeded to the back of the temple which has a big grass covered plateau. The site of mountains from here is breath taking. A dam is also visible from there. We clicked some pics, took some rest and returned to the “Mahaprasad Gruh” to take “prasad” . After this we proceeded to Thoseghar.
The road from Sajjangadh to Thoseghar was just too amazing. Since it had rained the previous day in satara, the road was completely under cloud cover. The cover was so dense that the visibility was hardly 25 mtrs. Due this we lost our way in between, but fortunately we came back on track after we met kid on the way who guided us to the correct road.
The waterfall at Thoseghar is just mind-boggling and clouds passing through the hills made it look all the more bountiful. We spent some half and hour there, clicked some pics and made our way to have look at the wind mills.
We were a little unfortunate in this part of the trip, the cloud cover was making it impossible to spot the wind mills. We spent some time hoping that we would be able to see one but alas!:(
Anyways, we returned back to the Satara bus Station. It was 4 P.M. by then. We then took a non-stop bus (fare Rs. 75/- per head) back to pune at 4:30 P.M. which dropped us to swargate at 6:30 P.M. Till now though the cloud cover was threatning, but, it did not rain. However, as we neared our home there was heavy downpour…we mitigated it and reached home…..!!!
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03.16.08
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 11:47 am by Avdhoot Harshe
16th March 2008 -Sunday
As per my routine- the previous day i had gone for a morning walk/jog to Dighi – 4kms from my place. During the jog i had come across a signage reading “Bird Sanctuary”!!. Just out of curiosity i went up that road in the Bombay Engineers Group (famously known as Bombay Sappers or B.E.G) training area and to my surprise, there were indeed migratory birds nesting near a water body! I had then decided that i would come again the next morning with my camera to click some photos.
So, here i was on a Sunday morning with the camera walking 3.5 kms to this Bird Sanctuary. As soon as i reached there i was eager to click some pictures but, the birds were so alert to my movements that a little noise here or there and phew! they flew away…!!!! i was really disheartened!……..i thought they would come back but, it seemed less and less probable as time passed….i pessimistically thought this was it!…i ain’t seeing any more birds!
Anyways, i just kept going on this quiet path to see where this road led…. I had presumed it would end up on a Gate or something where civilians would not be allowed further….since it was military training area….
I had just about walked 200 mtrs from the water body i had left that i started hearing chirping of birds, their loud noises and flocks of them flying together in the distance! Wow! there was another very large water body which had hundreds of birds nesting there!!!! My day seemed successful!- mission accomplished i thought!!!
I started clicking pictures of birds from wherever it was possible i had not seen so many beautiful migratory birds in my lifetime!
I must appreciate the B.E.G for making this available to civilian population. In fact, these guys have created a small platform – named the “View Point” from where one can overlook the whole lake and keep watching these beautiful birds! – just one word that comes to mind – Marvellous!
I am uploading some pictures that i took. So, if people say Bhigwan is the place to watch birds i would say have a look here first before driving hundred odd Kms to Bhigwan
To reach this place :Route : First come to Vishrantwadi and take the road to Alandi. Around 3.5 Kms after vishrantwadi you will see a board as shown in the above picture on your LEFT. Take this Left and you will reach this spot. Don’t know if civilian vehicles are allowed inside.
Last but not the least….you SHOULD have a good camera with atleast 12X zoom. I could have taken better snaps with that capability camera…mine is only 3X zoom 
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03.15.08
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 11:45 pm by Avdhoot Harshe
9th March 2008.(Sunday)
We got up early around 6:45 AM and had planned to hit the road at around 8 A.M. But, according to Indian Stretchable Time (IST) we started at 8:20 A.M. Since, it’s early March theres still some coldness in the air during this hour of the morning and so we decided to cover as much distance as we can to avoid the hot sun later in the day. We were fortunately helped by empty roads because it was that time of the SUNDAY morning when people are still thinking of coming out of bed….zzzzz
I had heard from Sabhtarsha(my company-mate) that Theur was hardly any distance from Manjari, (hadapsar) . We reached Manjari in around 30 mins after taking a start from home so i knew that within next 30 mins or so we would reach Theur.
My gut feel was indeed true and we reached Theur at around 9:15 A.M. Time taken was only 55 mins and distance travelled 32 Kms.
The Sanctum Sanctorum of Theur temple is pretty similar to that of Ranjangaon. I presume this is because the temple was built in the era of MadhavRao Peshwe as is the case with Ranjangaon. The name of the Lord Ganesh here is “Chintamani”.
Since it was Sunday and only 9:20 A.M. there were relatively few people in the temple. This helped us to take the “Darshan” very peacefully . I must say the idol of Lord Chintamani is really beautiful! (“ManMohak” to be precise). I had this same feeling when i had been here with my parents 1.5 years ago for the Ashtavinayak trip.
After this, we had our break-fast at the nearby hotel. The time by then was 10:10 A.M.
Next on our cards was Bhuleshwar. (Route: Pune -> Hadapsar -> Theur -> Urali Kanchan -> Bhuleshwar)
I had researched about this place with Sabhtarsha so, i knew that i had to take a turn few Kms before Yavat from the Solapur highway.
We reached to the point (around 22 Kms from Theur) where we had to take a RIGHT turn to head to Bhuleshwar. From this point onwards the road is nightmarish!! By saying nightmarish i am not exaggerating but, indeed the last 8 Kms of road is really in a poor condition. Having said that, i can see light at the end of the tunnel because, i could see road expansion work going on….and i hope the authorities will also fix the current road.
Coming back to Bhuleshwar, the temple of Bhuleshwar is situated on a hillock. According to internet sources this temple is built in the 13th Century and was initially called fort “MangalGadh”. This is indeed very obvious because there are still remnants like fort-walls that support this theory.
Though i was cribbing about the bad road, i must say i was mesmerized by the beauty of carvings in this temple. The carvings are as good as Konark temple in orissa, or Dilwara temple near Udaipur or Khajuraho in M.P. You can watch the photos below and judge for yourself !
At the end i will just say that even if all this so beautiful , the best time to visit this place would be post monsoon – end of September or early October when the pastures are lush green and the temple is surrounded by green trees !
We came back to Pune at around 2:10 P.M. had a King’s Lunch at “Durvankur” dining hall on Tilak road and got back home!
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02.27.08
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 12:11 pm by Avdhoot Harshe
Date: 24th Feb 2008
It was not like any other Sunday when one usually wakes up late and does all activities at a snail’s pace. I got up early around 6:45 a.m. and thought of going for a long morning walk. On week days the 2km walk is followed by a 10 minute jog but on this day i decided to walk 4kms more to Dighi. On the way back i jogged till i was out of breathe… in fact I was so tired when i came back home that i had to take a 45 min nap
Usually on saturdays or sundays i cook food at home but, somehow on this day i was not in mood of doing that too. The morning went-by watching India v/s Aus. cricket match. Aus. had piled up 317 runs and it seemed improbable that India would chase it down successfully.
I had suggested to Balu (Vikas- my younger brother) the day before that we can probably go to Ranjangaon as it was Chaturthi on Sunday. When we came back after having lunch and saw that india had lost 4 wickets, we were sure that we would go ahead with our plan . We finally made the move to Ranjangoan at around 4 P.M.
We reached Ranjangaon within only an hour to my surprise! (Route: Pune-Wagholi- Shikrapur- Kondhapuri-Ranjangaon). It was precisely 38-39 Kms from my place.
The temple of “MahaGanpati” has been wonderfully built. As the history goes , the Sanctum Sanctorum was built by MadhavRao Peshwe in the year 1790 A.D. who used to worship the lord whenever he went for a battle. The wooden sabha Mandap has been built by one of the Sardar’s of Peshwas viz. Sardar Shinde
The mythological story of the temple and place has been shown the pictures below. 
There was a pretty long queue in the temple because of Sankashta Chaturthi as in visible below :
We finally had our “darshan” after standing in the queue for about 45mins. Fortunately, people were allowed to take “darshan” – “shanti se”. I am saying so because at many places the pujaris / constables just make you do the darshan in haste…
Unprecedentedly the day had turned “auspcious” for me since nothing was pre-planned and yet such an good deed had happened. I would say the lord was benevolent to us and allowed us in his abode.
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01.19.08
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 10:51 pm by Avdhoot Harshe
If you ask a person what makes him/her happy when not working, you are bound to get all types of answers…umm..painting, listening to music , dancing, photography…etc.etc… All these activities are basically stress busters where a person gets involved so much that he/she forgets everything else….
Of lately, i came across one more way where i get involved so much that i forget everything else . Yes, its playing with my 3 month old nephew(‘bhanja’) Pratham. i have come across idioms where people describe babies as ‘bundle of joy’, ‘angel’ ..etc but, i could not relate to it until i experienced it myself….
Once you are with the baby, you are so engrossed in trying to make it smile or laugh that you yourself start doing wierd things…making wierd noises, fooling around and what not…. That baby becomes the center of your world then and you just forget yourself, your worries, tensions, apprehensions….
Coming back to Pratham, he is Deepali (my first cousin)-Jalaj ’s kid and born on October 11, 2007. To be honest he is pretty decent baby with no tantrums whatsoever…..He goes to all and is not overwhelmed when he sees lots of people.
I am eagerly waiting for him to turn to a 1 yr old baby when he will start understanding a lot of things, most probably must have started walking and speaking small works like ‘baba’, ‘mama’, ‘nana’ etc…
One more cute photo below where he is playing with his ‘girlfriend’ named ‘Simran’
Balu met Pratham for the first time…a nice snap below.
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12.26.07
Posted in Avdhoot "mhane" at 12:05 am by Avdhoot Harshe
This may sound a bit ‘out-of-mind’ but, this was indeed what we did on this christmas. We travelled almost 14 hours (to-fro) on bike (thanks to anish’s pulsar) to Dapoli just to see the Sunset, enjoy some konkani food and of course, take the adventure head on!
On the eve of christmas, pratik just gave a passing reference – ‘Chal Dapoli pe Sunset dekh ke aate hein!’. At that point i was like ‘Ok -lets go….’ , not knowing it would really happen. Sabhtarsha was already in so, we asked a couple of more guys, Rohit, Vineet, Vivek Agate if they would come…everybody like me, i presume said…’Ok’… Pushkar was roped-in by Vineet……
Finally, it was myself , pratik, pushkar, rohit, sabhtarsha, vineet…who met at Chandni Chowk at 8:00 AM in the morning…. to head to Dapoli.
We took the route : Tamhini- Maangaon- Poladpur- Bharne- Khed-Dapoli.
The road from Tamhini-Maangaon was horrendous….myself and rohit (being on the same bike)..were almost shuddered when we passed two pot-holes….!!
We had two snack breaks- one in Tamhini at Disha and other one at Hotel Samruddhi in Maangaon.
Once we left Maangaon, the road was smooth as butter. All the three bikes viz. CBZ Extreme (Pratik-Sabhtarsha), Pulsar 220 (Vineet-Pushkar[permanent pillion ]) drove not below 75 Kms/hr. All of us alternated to drive so that we dont drain out ….
After an exhilarating 7 hr biking we reached Dapoli at around 2:30 P.M. Though the ride was good, the pillions(all had alternated- so all of us ) had a bad time i must say….all our pelvic parts had started shouting by then . Finally, we reached Kamat’s beach resort at around 2:45 and had a delicious taste of Konkani food! The fish lovers attacked the fish….to be honest i was so hungry by then that i could not stop myself from tasting some Surmayi (king fish) and some prawns!!!
After having a King’s Lunch we went out on the Beach to enjoy the sea…the water to my amazement was really clean….pratik and rohit were after taking photographs…vineet, myself and pushkar were enjoying the water….Pushkar especially was behind Crabs! …he was trying to find all shells where the mini-Crabs were hiding!. It was 4:45 until now….and it was time to move to our MAIN destination – the sunset Point….after all, we had come there to so see the Sunset!
We had great time at the sunset point, clipping all types of snaps of the sun, the sea and the lone small boat which we could see in the sea….. and after some 45 minutes to 1 hour….the sun set and alas! we had to return….i was in no mood of returning mainly for two reasons…one being that i had had a beautiful day out and secondly, because the pain of sitting behind a bike and again bearing the pain was nagging me
On the way back we decide to take the route: Dapoli-Khed-Bharne-Poladpur- Mahabaleshwar- Wai- Pune.
This route was decided mainly because we were already fed-up of the bad Tamhini road….
The night was dark and the lights coming on to the eyes were blinding ….the topsy-turvy curves added to the adventure. The road from Poladpur to Mahabaleshwar was indeed very lonely and frightening. The chill in the air was adding its flavour to this experience. i almost had my teeth battering against each other couple of times….
We took dinner at Mapro…after pleading to the person there who was ready to put the shutter down. The coffee and bread-butter-jam dinner was sufficient to cool our hunger!…
We then got down from Mahabaleshwar and joined the NH4….my goodness driving on the NH4 is an experience in itself!…..we finally reached pune at 1:00 A.M. ..i dropped rohit at his place…and drove back home…..
i then had a hot shower to sooth my senses and fell asleep like a dead rock!
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