A Short Drive to Purandar Fort (Once Again)

Recently I had been to Purandar Fort (yes, for the fourth time) just to de-stress. 

This fort was one of my favorite destinations over weekends because of its close proximity to the city and the nature alike – which is really a rare occurrence. I just really love the way the roads wound up to the top through the trees and quaint nature.

I had already been to this area thrice before, I would not go into the details of the journey, once again. The previous logs are found at the links below:

2011 Log

2012 Log

2015 Log

This time, we noticed quite a few changes around the fort:

• The infrastructure of the whole area was maintained quite well as it is nowadays mostly being used as a training academy of the army.

• Security was really really tight. Everywhere there were guards with arms to guide the tourists and threaten the miscreants.

• Camera was not allowed to the top anymore. You have to submit your phones or cameras to the security personnel.

• The roads were being cleaned, renovated and widened. 

• There were well designated parking areas.

• Thorough checking at the entry gate.

I have tried to add some narratives for each one of these pictures below, though there are not many photographs this time.

The Ruins of the Past

Remnants of the early Army settlements on Purandar Fort (in the year 1665, the famous Purandar Treaty was signed here between Chhatrapati Shivaji and Rajput ruler Jai Singh I, a commender of the Mughal Empire).

See the scriptures on the wall at the left. Sad to see that our lack of awareness and callous attitude are slowly destroying our own heritage and culture.




The Deserted

The entrance of the early settlements in Purandar Fort. Not maintained at all.



The Church

When the Britishers took over the charges of this fort, they built a few churches inside the premises of the fort-city.



The View

A cliched view from the top. How beautiful our country is! The urban beauty is in full display.


That's all folks!!

A Short Drive to Purandar Ghat via Saswad

There goes a saying – an idle brain is a devil’s workshop. Well, this might not be true everywhere, for an idle brain on a lazy Sunday morning produced a brilliant idea, which led to the creation of this post.

We were sipping on our morning cup of tea and brooding over the fact there was nothing to look forward to for the rest of the day. Then, like a sudden strike of the lightning, it occurred to me that we could really seize this opportunity by embarking on a short trip. The better half readily fell for it and it was up to me to find out a destination close to the nature and which is not far away. We decided on Purandar Ghat – which is on the way to Purandar Fort, famous for the Purandar Treaty from the History – as it is close (around 50 Kms only) and we can be back within 4-5 hours and primarily because the route was known. We never intended to visit the fort; all we planned was to be in close proximity with the nature and some good opportunities for a few random clicks.

It was easier said than done – having an infant at home always poses new challenges – and we could only start at around 11 in the morning.

The road that we followed could be found below (no help from GPS). Mostly when we crossed the overly busy Hadapsar Industrial Area, it was a smooth drive towards Saswad through Dive Ghat and beyond. From the diversion for Purandar Fort to the Purandar Village (located at the base of the Purandar Ghat) was a little challenging for hatchback and sedans, but once we were past the village, the actual beauty of the rustic nature unfolded and the roads were in much better shapes. It was easier negotiating the hair-pin bends and the steep curves.

The plan was simple – go till the entrance of the Fort and then take a U-turn. All along the way towards the fort, it was lush green. The narrow tarred roads were winding up through the hillock, through thick vegetation. The purity of the air was easily noticeable. Chirping of the birds, the sound of the falling leaves and the gentle sound of the wind breezing constituted some otherworldly atmosphere. We stopped at many intervals, perhaps at every possible opportunity, sat, relaxed and then started once again, in a cyclic order.

When we felt that we were quite rejuvenated and had accumulated enough strength to fight the battle for a week, we turned back towards ‘home, sweet home’. We were back at Saswad by 2 pm where we had a small Maharashtrian lunch and then took leave. And by 3.30 pm.we reached home, reinvigorated and fresh.

A short but memorable and a crisp but enjoyable drive indeed.

Map of the Route:

Please see the link here.
  

Let the pictures utter thousand more words:

Roads - Winding Up

View from the top - surely a cliched click

Still don't have the faintest idea of what it was

Friendly??

The Spirit of the Western Coast - The Konkan Log - Episode 6

Episode 5 : Shrivardhan (Previous)

Chapter 7: Aravi Beach – One of the Best Beaches in Konkan

From Shrivardhan, driving towards Diveagar through the narrow village roads and through the magnificent coastal route, took us to the unspoiled and virgin beach of Aravi. The beach does not boast of any resort, no hotels and absolutely no form of unnecessary commercialization.

A tarred motorable path separates the Aravi village from the beach. We parked under the shadow of a tree, and went on the beach through a series of stairs.

It is almost stretched to a mile and one cannot miss this while driving through the road. The beach, from a distance, looked like a white sand beach but a closer inspection confirmed that it also was a combination of white and grey sands, but more white than grey.

Like a typical Konkani beach, as I noticed earlier with the other beaches, this one was also surrounded by hills.

The village was full of greeneries in the form of coconut and palm trees, the combination of blue sky and the green array of trees along with the whitish sand was too picturesque to be missed.

The above is an example of co-existence of a typical Konkani village and the beach.

Walking up towards the hills through the beach filled our minds with joy and peace. We only watched this kind of spellbound beauty in the Hollywood flicks. The coastal route penetrated the steep hills with a seemingly dangerous inclination. As I said in the introduction, India is truly a place with the most diversity.

A closer look on the hilly road is below.

The place where the inclination ended in a flat stretch of a valley and the hill and beach became one, we found there are some reefs formed by the salt and water dumpings from the sea waves on the rocks. This was the speciality of Aravi beach.

The rocky beds surfaced from beneath the water and held their heads high against the waves – a perfect romantic place for the couples who would like to spend a quality time in serenity with each other. But bathing may not be ideal and suitable at this side of the beach.
 

The village seemed to be far far away from this side. I was so over-enthusiastic I went into the water to click the following snap.

We walked through the beach for a long time, to and fro, many times.

My wife, as per her usual custom now, indulged herself on collecting the shell-souvenirs. Unlike the famous tongue-twister, she will never sell the sea shells on the sea shore, or anywhere for that matter.

The sea shore was not completely devoid of human soul. The villagers, mostly fishermen, were busy fishing, children were playing on the beach and still it looked fully secluded, perhaps because of the absence of the urbanization. I doubt how long Aravi can sustain its purity.

The snap below is one of my personal favourites.

Bidding a farewell to Aravi full of grief but with a promise to come back again, we headed towards Diveagar.

The whole Aravi beach was visible from the top of the hills.

If your nasal ability doesn’t betray you, you will surely not miss the dried fishes on the way.

At one place, the villagers anchored their fishing boats, waiting to set sail again next day and the day after and so on. The life goes on.

The monochrome effect of the same:

Episode 7: The Beauty of Diveagar (Next)

The Spirit of the Western Coast - The Konkan Log - Episode 5

Episode 4 - Harihareshwar (Previous)

Chapter 6: Shrivardhan – A Sea Shore of the Birds

After Harihareshwar, we drove backwards to Shrivardhan. It used to be a small little Konkani village, but nowadays urbanization has engulfed the place. So it was not difficult to find a place to eat.

After the lunch, we drove towards the main attraction, the beach. Unlike Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan is a smooth beach, and one can drive on the beach as well.

It was again a white and grey sand beach with a stretch of at least a couple of miles.

When we reached, the beach was completely secluded, apart from a few enthusiastic tourists, who gave more priority to the beach than the lunch during the lunchtime.

Just like a typical Konkani sea shore, the beach is blocked at two sides by towering hills and a Konkani village was nestled at the lap of the hills, bang on the beach.

The waves were gentle and submissive, relentlessly going back and forth.

There was a small jetty at one side, the motorboats and launches were visible at a distance, their whistles echoing all around.

The beach was very serene and peaceful. And perhaps that’s why we saw them, a group of coastal birds, probably feasting on the weaker sea-lives. There were many of them together, some chirping, some cooing and some of them communicating with each other in a different way. The scene made our day, really.

When the feast was over, they flew away to some more lucrative destination. The backdrop of the Konkani village when they flew was marvellous.

Not much activity can be performed in this beach so we (the ladies in the group) indulged ourselves on picking up some shells, a natural memento gifted by the nature.

When we were planning to leave, we saw more inflow of people, the lunchtime was over. And some means of amusements too, their silhouettes gave an opportunity to click the below.

Once again, we hit the coastal route towards Aravi beach. The route was truly breathtaking through the cluster of tall, sky-kissing trees – a combination of light and shadow.

Another monochrome creation of the coastal beauty to finish this post is here.

Episode 6 - Aravi - Another Fascinating Beach (Next)