You plan to go somewhere with your best buddies on a day... but something happens and the plan gets cancelled..
How many of us have had this kind of experience? Well, I guess all of us..
You have a holiday.. you just go meet your friends and decide to go somewhere.. very instantaneously..and then you go over there.. have a great time...
Things which are done unplanned have their own significance..
What would happen if such an unplanned picnic sows the seeds of a perfectly planned trip in future?
What would happen if this trip gets executed as per plan and it also has the imprompu flavor?
Our kokan trip on bike is one of such experiences in my life..
It all began an outing to mulashi dam one fine evening..
that was 30th December 07..
vabs, panky and I had a great time that evening enjoying the scenic beauty along the way and at mulashi..
Panky and Vabs always have some cool ideas in their minds... And that evening was a decider for such an idea - kokan trip on bike....
The idea itself was so good that it was almost fixed to go for trip on 19-20th of jan..
Thanks to research by pankaj and planning by vabs.. we were all geared up for the sojourn a 2 -3 days before day 1..
There were 4 of us - Vabs, Panky, Deeps and myself...
4 Guys 2 bikes 1 travel - travel for a unique experience
Evening day 0
We all met once at panky's place.. decided to meet at paud road at 6 am and dispersed..
Day 1
Out there we were all set at 6 am to unwind.. Bikes were at full throttle..
We crossed the chandani chowk and headed for pirangut..
It was all dark out there..
Panky, the most observant guy amongst us sensed something is wrong with the road... "I dont think we are on right road", said he..
But Vabs and myself, confident as we were, affirmed panky that we were on right track..
when we saw the beautiful orange tinges on the horizon before sunrise, we became aware that we were in ghat..
It was an extremely beautiful ghat...We took some snaps out there and headed ahead.. We came across a village called "Mutha"..
Startled, we tried to remember if we had come across such a village en-route to Mulashi..
Panky was right.. we had taken a wrong turn at Pirangut.. And we had come 14 km ahead..
But the takeaway was the beutiful sunrise in the ghat..
after 1 hour of extra journey, we were back on track.
Pune is considered to be pretty cold a place during winters... but very few know that there exists an extremely frigid road just 10 km from chandani chowk..
So we were back on track where chilling wind was flowing at a rate greater than that of tsunami..
Man, i still remember the resonance of cluttering sound of our teeth... Deeps and i were still better off for Vabs and Panky, the drivers were mollifying the intensity of wind by facing it..
Desperate for having something as hot as boiling tea, we started seeking for dhabas around.. finally we found one. This place was more of a park than dhaba..there were ducks and some other birds over there..All of us wanted 1 thing and cups and cups of it – tea. We all had 2 cups of tea each. You experience the real taste of tea only when you are chilled to death.
Back on the track.. now with changed positions. Deeps and I were the drivers and Vabs and Panky – the pillions. We were hardly 20 km away from the main attraction of the journey and that was Tamhini Ghat. Meanwhile we took a short break for photo session near mulashi dam. And we reached Tamhini. An avid trekker that he is, vabs showed us some Gads (forts) from the ghat. The Pune end of ghat is full of beautiful Jungle and trust me guys worth visiting during monsoons. Then we throttled again.. and continued till we reached Poladpur. Vabs remembered having sumptuous misal in a hotel over there. We all headed over there. And had lots of misal. This was break no 2. And now we were set to go to Dive
Aagar non stop.
We were cruising at decent speed of 60 kmph only till a cop stopped us. Actually we had license and stuff but he was hell bent on showing insurance papers. Obviously we dint have them. Never mind. We could still have got away and Panky was doing needful. But Vabs struck again. This cop was hardly 28-29. And vabs called him “uncle”. His anger was understandable J and we had to pay him the kickbacks.
We gave kinda speech to vabs about it and carried on.
At 1 pm sharp we reached at Dive Aagar. It’s a beautiful village having typical kokan aura. Thanks to Panky, we had a room booked over there.
Then we had the famous kokani food (which included solkadhi). Vabs has taken nice pic of the dish.
After a rest of 1 hour, we headed to Harihareshwar. This place is famous for its Shiva Mandir. And the rocky beach. We had the Darshan and we enjoyed the beauty of the beach.
A few kilometres from there lies the Shrivardhan beach. Seeing the sunset on a beach is a splendid experience. And playing in the sea at that time, even better. We tried to do something crazy over there. We rode our bikes on the beach and trust me its hellua of fun.
What followed was one of the most memorable evenings in my life. The road from Shrivardhan to Dive Aagar goes along the beautiful coastline. There are hills and beaches along the way. There is a point on the hilltop from where you can see picturesque sea. Add to this the maddening sound of the waves and a wonderful sea breeze and you have the evening of your life.
We all were bedazed by this evening. And together we decided, “we gonna to come back by this road only”. This was the place which made our evening and we did not want to miss the beauty of sunrise at this place.
All exhausted, we had our dinner at a place in Dive Aagar and retired for the day but not before playing a few games of cards :)
Day 2
We all got ready and went to see the temple in Dive Aagar. It is a very nice temple and the speciality about it is that the Ganesh Idol which is made up of Gold was found in the backyards of a home while digging.
Here we were, once again, on our bikes, this time on the way to Murud Janjira. Cross a beautiful ghat in the Sahyadris and the village welcomes you. We did our pet puja before booking a ticket of the launch to the fort.
The beauty of the fort lies in the fact that – you cannot see the entrance of the fort till you reach it. It is one of the major reasons why the fort remained unconquered for 800 years. Inside the fort all you see is the glory of the bygone age.
How many of you think that a cannon can be as cold as an icecube? Dont believe me? Visit murud Janjira and see Kalal Bangdi... The coolest of the cannons claiming hundreds of lives in her heydays...
And you will also find a lake which is full of quicksand now..
Then we took about turn to our place of the day i.e. Dive Aagar. Now the only thing remaining was the Dive Aagar beach. We had lunch and rested for a while.
Thanks to the room owner, he had bat and ball. So we played li’l bit of cricket before going to the beach.
And here we were, on a beach which has crystal clear sea water, which is surrounded by endless patch of coconut trees and which full of golden sand. We played over there for 2-3 hours. We played beach cricket. Then we made a fort out of sand.
I have seen a beach in morning, evening and night. Most of you might argue that evening is the best place to be on a beach. But trust me, beach in moonlight is much more resplendent than that in the evening and for that you got to visit Dive Aagar.
All night went in anticipating the morning, coz as i said earlier, we had decided to go by the “Dive Aagr – Shrivardhan” road.
Day 3
The return journey had started. And we were again on the road... biking along the coast while the horizon was poised for a beautiful sunrise. We took a break. We watched the sunrise. And I must mention 1 thing. An idea of “two legs on two islands” kinda pic by Pankaj :) Panky as I always believed is full of fabulous ideas. Vabs executed this pic to perfection and i am sure even you people would admire it.
Then were back on the track. We took 1 last break to see the sea for the last time. And we wrote our names on the sand “Vaibhav, Saurabh, Pankaj, Deepak”. As someone famously said (and that someone is me J)“Sea waves can erase this but memories are unforgettable.”
I called up at office and told my supervisor that I am sick and would not be able to come to the office
Poladpur, Tamhini came and went. And now we were all eager to reach the place where we started. The final destination and that was Pune. So when we reached the Chandani Chawk, the entrance of the city, we yelled, we shouted and we were nervous coz the journey was over.
There is a ritual you got to follow when you are in Kothrud. No prizes for the guesses if you are a Puneite. Cold coffee @ Durga. The best of the cold coffees you could ever get on this planet.
All good things come to an end. Don’t they? But that’s the way they are supposed to culminate. And it is necessary anyways because it paves way for the next good things to come. As I end this article I am getting the same feeling. Don’t feel like ending it. But can’t help it.
A few days from now is the first anniversary of this trip. And thank you panky, vabs and deeps. You are the witnesses of my most memorable journey.
