Neil Island, Andaman

Sunday 20 September 2009

Nagothane

Bhaiya is a regular member of Countryside Adventure (www.countrysideindia.com) treks. I was in Mumbai during my term break and so we planned to go for the Nagothane trek which was planned by this club for the coming Sunday. It was 20th September, 2009 - the last day of my term break. We reached Sion on our own. A 30 seater packed minibus was waiting for us. We found our seats at the back and started our journey. The weather was pleasant and I was thoroughly enjoying the greenery alongside the highway that goes all the way to Goa. Our destination was some 120 kilometers from Sion. We disembarked near a village and lunch-box was distributed to us. The trek was a short one with moderate gradient.


Nagothane waterfall was visible from a distance. It is a cascading one of moderate height and the surroundings are beautiful. Having a bath in cold water under the warm sun of Mumbai was pleasant. We then opened our tiffin-box and had a sumptuous lunch. While trekking back, bhaiya noticed some amazing miniature natural mazes  of which he took some pictures.


We came back to Mumbai by 5 PM and by the time I reached home I was dead tired. I had to wake up early for the 7 AM flight to Bangalore next day.

Monday 17 August 2009

Shivasamudram

Trip: Bangalore > Shivasamudram > Bangalore

We planned the one day trip to Shivasamudram well in advance. It was an extended weekend so Kishore had no problem. Nidhi was the mastermind behind the planning. We started early morning on 16th August, 2009 for Kanakpura Road. The distance to cover was 160 kilometers ans we were expecting ourselves at the waterfall by 12 noon. Shivasamudram is one of the largest waterfalls in India in terms of throughput of water.

Gagana Chukki@Shivasamudram


Thursday 18 June 2009

Kanheri Caves

Trip: Delhi > Jaipur > Udaipur > Ranakpur > Ahmedabad > Mumbai > Davangere > Chitradurga > Bangalore

To have something like Kanheri in the middle of Mumbai is incredible. The place reminded me of Ajanta which by co-incidence I visited 5 years ago with Bhaiya only. It was a warm afternoon of June when we visited Borivali National Park. In terms of location, it is almost at the backyard of Bhaiya's home.


The first impression of this place is that of few remarkable structures carved out of rock. The is a giant statue of Budhdha in the very first cave. However this part is just a warm-up. What lies beyond these is unimaginable. There is a bridge which one needs to cross. A monsoon river flows below it during June-July. Taking a flight of stairs, the entire area is visible. The view is unthinkable. 


There is chain of small and large caves built up in ancient times for the 'bodh bhikshu' is visible. The planning is another amazement. There is a common mess,  a sitting place for the senior most monk, a series of wide caves possibly constructed as a guest house. Then there are 100s of caves of varying sizes built on both sides of a narrow gap.


At the top, there is large area with smooth slope where, I was told, people come at evening and find peace in the middle of the commercial capital city.