Para.. Para.. Paradise..

“Just take me somewhere.. anywhere..” said the wanderer inside me.

Monsoons have already hit Pune. The weather was blissful with rain showers 24*7. The landscape had changed its color. I had no excuse left..!!

So I set out to Tamhini Ghat with a friend of mine. It’s a passage in the Sahyadri range to join Mulshi to Tamhini (Maharashtra, India).

It was probably the first time that I didn’t prepare at all except downloading Google maps and of course safeguarding my stuff from rain. We left for Tamhini at 9 a.m. in the morning. After riding for some 20 km, the scenery started to change, Green replaced Grey, Hills replaced Buildings, Drenched me replaced the normally dry me.

We crossed Mulshi lake on the way which looked like a big muddy reservoir surrounded by mountains.

Failed attempt of pose returns..!!

*Tip: Don’t waste too long here because the real beauty awaits further..!!

We spotted a tomb-like structure on the way. No signboard was to be found anywhere near. Another forgotten memory. It was secluded little spot perfect for Introspection or to take a picture of my cute umbrella.. ^_^

 

Life support in monsoons…

 

Further into the Western Ghats, we started spotting Waterfalls… We stopped to fuel ourselves with Chai and Kanda Bhaji ( Tea and Onion Fritter ).

The mandatory tea in the rain…

Rain + Tea + Fritter + Nature = Pure Bliss

(At least for us middle-class Indians 😛 )

 

View from our Tea Point

 

 

If this isn’t heaven.. then what is.!!

 

We were now driving in Clouds. Spotting multiple waterfalls pouring out from hills all around us. Sometimes it would start raining heavily and the rain drops felt like millions of needles injected at once. But then the weather would clear returning the Pure Bliss.

We climbed up on one of the waterfalls, the climb was pretty easy. Although the place was packed with tourists, there was no rush. Everyone had left their city life behind.

 

The waterfall we climbed on.

 

After driving further into the Ghats, exhausted, hungry (especially hungry) we decided to turn back. We ate at some restaurant in Tamhini which served decent food.

 

Our ride.. 😉

 

Content.. Happy.. Drenched.. We returned back to Pune.. promising to return back soon…

Pachmarhi- A Monsoon Adventure (Day 1)

Sometimes you make a trip that you are bound to compare all your upcoming trips with. It becomes a benchmark not because it was perfect or it had the perfect location but because right things happened at the right time and you were there to witness them..

I happened to make one such trip and it became a trip of a lifetime for me. I was living in Bhubaneswar, Orissa at the time and me along with my five other friends had planned to visit Panchmarhi, Madhya Pradesh. The reason for choosing it was simple: It was located more or less at the center of India and we needed a location which could be equidistant for all of us as we were coming from all the four directions. Hence the location was finalized, tickets booked, hotel booking confirmed.

We had planned to gather at Nagpur and start the journey from there. A day before the trip we came to know that one of our friends will not be coming due to work issues.When me and my two other friends reached Nagpur, we got yet another setback, Two of our friends had missed their train and so it was just three of us cursing and determined the trip was doomed. We started our journey anyways. But that was not it.  Our adventure had just begun. There had been heavy rainfall and the road was blocked as a tree had fallen.

Finally after waiting for hours, the road was cleared and we were all set to embrace the mother nature.. (We had to, what other option did we have..) We reached our hotel at around 10 a.m. and booked a sightseeing package for the same day.

It was raining and so we had to buy raincoats and hats from a local shop. Filled with energy and dedication to make it an awesome trip, we started the sightseeing.

1. Jata Shankar Cave: It was our first stop and the rain had stopped resulting in a pleasant weather. It was a religious spot dedicated to Lord Shiva with a mythological story of Lord Shiva taking refuge in the cave from a demon.We had to walk some distance to reach the caves. There were various natural rock structures resulting from erosion from streams.

The stairs leading to Jata Shankar Caves

Me and my Friend trying to be Funny

2. Pandav Caves: Next stop was Pandav Caves, yet another refuge place for Pandavas when they were in hiding. It had started to drizzle so we couldn’t take a lot of pictures, but still we managed to take a few.

A part of the Pandav Caves

Top View from Pandav Caves along with my friend

3. Handi Koh: It was V Shaped ravine created by two hills. It was really steep and a major suicidal point. It didn’t have much to offer except for sheer natural beauty.

Handi Koh

4. Green Valley: A view point which is believed to be the spot where Pachmarhi was discovered. It is also called Priyadarshini Point.

Not so green picture of Green valley

We came back to our hotel exhausted, wet, tired and hungry. We then gorged on tea and samosa, a north Indian street food and called it off for the day.