• TravelWithacouple Unny Bindhu Koyna Tapola Satara
    Adventure - Hikes - Nature's Wonders - Places - Sanctuaries - Treks

    Travel in 2020: The End

    January 10, 2021 - By 

    (Also read Travel in 2020: The Beginning and Travel in 2020: The Middle) We often hear in literature or in general about how insignificant we feel as a tiny speck in this vast cosmos. Travellers speak about that especially in the context of the Himalayas or other mountain ranges. One doesn’t need to go that far to feel our cosmic insignificance. All one needs to be at any spot by the banks of the huge Shivsagar lake, the backwaters formed by the mighty Koyna dam. More on Koyna later. The final trip of 2020 was the perhaps the most looked…

  • Upper Deck Resort Lonavala TravelWithacouple
    Beaches - Hikes - Hotels - Places - Sanctuaries

    Travel in 2020: The Middle

    December 19, 2020 - By 

    (Before The Middle, there was a beginning. Read Travel in 2020: The Beginning. After The Middle, there is also an end. Read Travel in 2020: The End) In September, we made the first outing. Sometime in August, many hotels and resorts in nearby places in Mumbai had started to open. After a lot of deliberations, we decided to go to Lonavala, which otherwise wouldn’t have been in our consideration at all, unless it is a base for a trek. A first time visit to Upper Deck Resort and a 2-night stay was worth it, after locking up for months together…

  • TravelWithacouple Bindhu Unny Thoseghar
    Places

    Monsoon trips around Satara – Thoseghar, Urmodi, Sajjangad

    June 29, 2018 - By 

    (This is slightly modified version of one of our articles originally published in Mid-Day, Mumbai edition) . The past few years have witnessed an exodus of tourists to Satara’s famous Kaas Plateau. As a result, other scenic parts around Satara like Urmodi, Thoseghar etc tend to go unnoticed. During and post monsoon, this region, like most of Maharashtra, is painted in different shades of green, with multicoloured flowers, gurgling streams, and roaring waterfalls. We chose to take the lesser-driven roads around Satara that were in good condition, thanks to the work done by the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).…

  • Amboli Ghats, Green Vine Snake
    Nature's Wonders - Places

    The Night Life In Amboli – With Herpetofauna In Company

    May 6, 2018 - By 

    Amboli has vibrant nightlife. Or so we heard. And we were looking forward for a glimpse of it. The wettest place in Maharashtra has its charms during the day, too. In 3 days, we could enjoy both. The term biodiversity has become a well-worn expression, used by all and sundry without really understanding or appreciating its intensity and depth. For some, it means wilderness or a patch of greenery. (What about our precious deserts?) We even have senior forest officers thinking of building artificial nests for birds displaced out of their natural habitat when trees are cut for widening highways.…

  • Forest Village TravelWithaCouple
    Places - Weekend Stays

    Weekend Stays From Mumbai # 01 – Forest Village

    September 23, 2015 - By 

    Weekend Stays From Mumbai is a series on places to stay for a weekend away from Mumbai. It focuses on the place of stay. Details about the destination are very limited. Note: These are NOT sponsored posts. We paid for these stays and travel 🙂 Forest Village, Khanvel Forest Village is on the Khanvel–Jawahar road, about 4 km from the Khanvel junction. It is a quiet resort with around six units, and each unit has two self-contained rooms, a central living room, and a very spacious sit-out area. There is a nice lawn just outside the sit-out area. At a…

  • Unny Radhakrishnan Bindhu Unny Travelwithacouple
    Places - State Tourism Boards

    Maharashtra for Monsoon-Tourism

    June 20, 2015 - By 

    (This article was originally published in Mid-Day, June, 11th 2015) Make a big splash for Maharashtra With the rain gods knocking at our doorstep, it’s a matter of time before Maharashtra’s parched landscape comes alive in different shades of green. Undoubtedly, it’s also the best time to explore its forts, valleys and stunning topography. Experts share what our state tourism department can do to showcase our treasures in the best way possible. It’s an open secret that the monsoon is the best time to explore and enjoy Maharashtra. The manner in which the landscape transforms from a dry, dull brown shade…

  • Urmodi Dam, Satara, Travelwithacouple
    Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places

    Monsoon Secrets of Maharashtra #1 – Roads to Nowhere Around Urmodi Dam

    October 1, 2014 - By 

    The landscape of Maharashtra gets a makeover every monsoon. As the parched earth soaks up the rainwater, the brown plateaus, hills, and valleys change to varied shades of green. That it’s such delightful scenery is an understatement. Urmodi was no different. This monsoon, we chose to explore around Satara. One of the routes we selected wound around the Urmodi dam, a magnificent waterbody fed by numerous waterfalls from the surrounding hillocks. Urmodi is around 17 km from Satara, via Parali village. The dam was commissioned in late 2000s as a major irrigation project. There are a few villages around the…

  • Adventure - Nature's Wonders - Places - Treks

    Mighty Harischandragad and Magnificent Konkan Kada

    October 30, 2013 - By 

    We have heard a lot about Harischandragad and Konkan Kada. The former is a temple and hill fort at over 4,500 ft above sea level. At one end of the Harischandragad plateau, the land suddenly drops to over 1,800 ft. This semicircular cliff, Konkan Kada, offers an unhindered, spectacular view of plains all the way to Konkan. Sunset at Konkan Kada is a view to behold, so we were told. Harischandragad has been on our trekking bucket list for a few years. Last time when Nature Knights organised this trek, chickenpox stood in our way. This time, we did it!…

  • Adventure - Nature's Wonders - Places - Treks

    Adventure of the Season − Siddhagad in Monsoons

    August 31, 2013 - By 

    A couple of years back when we did the Gorakhgad trek, we thought it was a mighty mountain. (Read about the Gorakhgad trek here – The Motely Crowd and Mighty Mountain). Mighty it was then. At that time, we had set our eyes on Siddhagad peak, seen at a distance, engulfed in dark clouds. Little did we realise then that Siddhagad (3223 ft) was taller than Gorakhgad (2137 ft). If Gorakghad was thrilling, Siddhagad was beyond that. Rains lashing with vengeance and water gushing down through the trail added to the excitement. Siddhagad is in the Malshejgat region, but along…

  • Adventure - Fun - Places

    The Road to Khodala

    June 26, 2013 - By 

    The road to Khodala is not paved with gold. Neither Khodala is a city of gold that awaits you. But for over 4 months in a year, when the sky brims with monsoon clouds, when the parched earth soaks up the rainwater and turns vibrant green, and when the hills and valleys are adorned with tiny streams and roaring waterfalls, the road to Khodala becomes much more than that. The best thing that can happen to someone itching to get out of the city on a Sunday morning while the clouds waiting to burst is perhaps Khodala!! Not known to…

  • Arts & Culture - Culture - Fun

    Kala Ghoda 2013 Diaries – #3: The Auto Show

    March 7, 2013 - By 

    Decorated or redesigned vehicles are part of KGAF every year. Of all the vehicle installations at this year’s KGAF, “Birth Story of Vespa” stood apart. This installation represents the famous Vespa scooter. It brings out the similarity in form that the Vespa shares with wasp. Vespa is Italian for wasp. A good option to reduce pollution and consumption of natural resources but cycling on Mumbai roads can be suicidal Artist Hetal Shukhla says the “poor artist syndrome is oudated, boring and uncool. The new artist wants CHANGE.” Eleven-year old Dev Mehta reflects the ever-changing colours of Mumbai on this car…

  • Arts & Culture - Fun

    Indikaleido: A Cultural Kaleidoscope

    February 27, 2013 - By 

    This year’s Kala Ghoda Arts Festival got over recently. While blogging on that, we realised that we forgot to write about Indikaleido, another cultural festival that delighted Mumbai’s music and dance lovers in November 2012. This 3-day festival, an initiative by Horniman Circle Garden Trust, featured a few really good performances. We could attend only the ones on the last day. One part of the Horniman Circle Garden was dedicated to stalls of NGOs. Stall of Trishul, an NGO involved in slum sanitation, teaching less-privileged kids, and women empowerment. A colourful collection of bags at one of the stalls Pottery…

  • Arts & Culture

    Kala Ghoda 2013 Diaries – #1 Cardboard Creations

    February 7, 2013 - By 

    We haven’t missed one Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) ever since we came to Mumbai. This time around too, we were there, braving the crowd and enjoying the artistic side of maximum city. KGAF, in a way, symbolizes Mumbai’s motley crowd. It offers so much variety–be it music, dance, literature, drama, street plays, workshops, artful installations, movies, heritage walks, or stalls offering a great potpourri of products–that we really get lost. Literally too, as the Art Plaza where the installations, stalls, puppetry, and surprise shows attracts a lot of crowd, especially in the evenings. It is not possible to attend…

  • Places

    Lavasa: First Impressions: Planned Hill City or Planned Destruction

    January 1, 2013 - By 

    Disclaimer: We are not experts in ecology, architecture, or town planning. This critical view is to be read as a layman’s perspective. First impression, unfortunately, is not the best impression in this case. Lavasa has aroused our curiosity when we heard about it first—especially as the ‘first planned hill city of India.’ For Indians, there cannot be any hill station without colonial baggage. So this sounded pretty interesting, but we never managed to visit Lavasa. When controversies erupted on this project, we were keenly reading all the news and reports. Finally, we managed to get a glimpse of Lavasa. While…

  • Places

    The Unassuming Panshet

    December 30, 2012 - By 

    Outlook Travellers’ guide on weekend trips from Mumbai notes Panshet as one of the places around Pune. A place where you can’t do anything. Just be there. That’s what we did indeed. That Panshet has an MTDC resort made it an easy choice of destination. But the real sweet spot was not that, but dams—which always held our fascination and never fail to arise within us mixed feelings:  fear, awe, delight, and many more. The MTDC resort is conveniently located on a hillock between the two dams—Panshet and Varasgaon. Backwaters of both lie almost parallel and run into kilometres. And…

  • Adventure - Heritage - History - Places

    The Cliffhanger @Takmak Tok

    December 9, 2012 - By 

    Hang at about 1000 ft and have a 360-degree view of the landscape down. Thrilling and spine-chilling! Slowly move down until you reach a ledge at 300 feet. One misstep and it is a straight drop of 700 feet. Carefully trudge along the ridge and trek back to the top. That’s all about rappelling at Takmak Tok, Raigad. Raigad Fort, near Mahad, Maharashtra, was Shivaji’s capital. It was at Raigad that he was titled Chathrapathi. Attacked and destroyed by the British, the fort is now in ruins. The queen’s quarters, durbar hall, and marketplace are still discernible among the ruins.…

  • Flora - Nature's Wonders - Places

    The Ethereal Kaas

    September 12, 2012 - By 

    Lalu’s ears. Sita’s tears. American softhead. Coat button. Mickey mouse—funny they may sound but these are some of the ethereal beauties of Kaas Plateau, near Satara in Maharashtra. Lying underground for most of the year, these plants pop their heads up as soon as monsoon drenches the red laterite soil with elixir of life. Home to more than 400 varieties of plants, Kaas is one of Unesco’s World Natural Heritage sites where nature works overtime to weave a carpet of oft-changing colours. As the monsoon recedes, the plateau gets carpeted with a million flowers—blue Sita’s tears, purple jambhala, white pan-gend,…

  • Places

    Goa, but not the Beaches

    July 30, 2012 - By 

    Go to Goa. Spend a week. But not a single beach. Then that could have been the new definition of Original Sin. But that’s a sin worth committing. This time we didn’t spend a week. And we did go to many beaches. But we also explored the other side of Goa a little bit. The one that most tourists give a skip. Unless he or she is fascinated with hills and forests. Overlooking Goa’s large coastline and covering a good part of the state is its share of the Western Ghats eco system. Bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka, these lush rainforests…

  • People - Places

    Anandwan – The Forest of Joy

    February 27, 2012 - By 

    Travelling around, seeing new places and people is certainly joyful. But it has another remarkable aspect as well as impact. At times, we are reminded of the mightiness of nature, the timelessness of the universe, and how insignificant we human beings are in this grand play. At other times, there are instances when we stood in awe at the immense capabilities of human beings in dreaming, creating, and inspiring generations to come. A reminder that all of us have the power to create and change the world for better. And a sharp nudge to some of us who often crib…

  • Arts & Culture - Heritage - History - Places - Publications - the great driving challenge

    Pick Your Escape Route (Mid-Dday Feb 02, 2012)

    February 11, 2012 - By 

    If you choose to do one trip a month for the whole year, that is 12 short trips in an year. When Mid-day asked us to give us an all-year itinerary in Maharashtra for travel lovers to explore, we were only happy to do so. It was late January and so we came up with a 11 month schedule. Here it goes. The full text February: Koyna Valley (Koyna Nagar) Why should be here: Far away from the maddening crowd. Without the trappings of any hill station. Spend a quite weekend in the MTDC resort or a couple of other…

  • Publications

    Hit That Trail

    November 5, 2011 - By 

    Happy to tell our readers that we were part of a team commissioned recently by India Today & Maharashtra Tourism to publish an Annual Volume on travel called India Today Maharashtra Tourism Guide. Our contribution was an essay on all Trekking options in Maharashtra which was covered under a section called Special Interests. The issue was out in August and is available with a cover price of Rs. 100/- We were particularly happy since we have been travelling across Maharashtra ever since we came to Mumbai and feel previleged in getting this opportunity.

  • Places

    Grassroutes: Connecting Rural and Urban India

    May 5, 2011 - By 

    A beaming youth welcomes us to Purushwadi, applying red sindoor on our foreheads and adorning our heads with the typical Maharashtrian headgear, the Gandhi topi. Each gets a flower, too. We are at Purushwadi for the two-day Navratra celebration, a part of the rural tourism initiatives by Grassroutes. After the sleepy journey on the early morning Kasara local, the jeep ride to the tribal village Purushwadi in Bhandardhara excites us as the jeep leaves the highway and takes the country roads. Traversing the meandering roads becomes more thrilling when we climb on to the top of the jeep. We try…

  • Birdwatching - Nature's Wonders - Places

    8 hours. 100+ Different Birds. Bliss…

    February 27, 2011 - By 

    “My heart was brimming with the longing: to travel all those miles, sometimes nonstop, and come to your place. The urge was so strong, I couldn’t resist it. Oh! Just thinking about wallowing in the cool waters, relishing the scrumptious food aplenty, meeting friends from across the world, made me do a little jig. But where did it all go? I thought I lost my way. Hell no! I am at the right spot, but the marshy expanse of water is no where in sight. A few early birds were hanging around. Where do we go now after having flown…

  • Birdwatching - Places - Treks

    A Short Trek to Vyagreshwar

    October 13, 2010 - By 

    An ancient Shiva temple on a hilltop. Reaching there involves a medium trek. A waterfall atop adds to the excitement. The trek, organised by Nature Knights, had the added attraction of birding at Uran. Taking more time than expected at Uran meant a delayed start for the trek. Our bus driver was not sure if the minibus would climb the narrow, steep roads to the base village. So we got out to reduce weight and walked one kilometer or so to the village. After shedding our weight, the bus also made it to the village. After a short photo op…

  • Places

    Five Monsoon Weekend Drives from Mumbai

    August 31, 2010 - By 

    If getting out of Mumbai means Lonavala and Khandala for you, then read no further. Not that Lonavala and Khandala aren’t beautiful. They are indeed. But then, let us grow up. Here are five weekend monsoon getaways from Mumbai. 1. Go beyond Malshej Ghat. Malshejghat is a regular and hugely popular monsoon weekend getaway. Misty mountains and unlimited waterfalls. An MTDC resort facing the valley. Most people from Mumbai travel to Malshejghat via Kalyan for a day trip or a weekend trip. Here is another alternative: Hit the Mumbai–Pune expressway and take a left at Wadgaon to Chakan and then…

  • Jadhav Ghad Pune, TravelWithaCouple
    Arts & Culture - History - Places

    Jadhav Gadh. Exuding Old World Charm

    May 9, 2010 - By 

    As we approach the entrance, the doorman ceremoniously lifts the bugle and plays. A little embarrassed, we enter the fort. More welcome ceremonies follow. A lady applies sandal paste on our foreheads while a gentleman waits with perfumed towels. Located at about 20-odd km from Pune, off the Pune-Saswad road, this fort-converted-hotel is run by the Orchid Group. An eighteenth century fort built by Pilaji Jadhavrao (a famous general of in the army of Chatrapathi Shahuji, grandson of Chatrapathi Shivaji), Jadhavgad is small and less splendorous compared to other Maratha forts. But it has a quaint charm and the redevelopment…

  • Matheran Toy Train, TravelWithacouple
    History - Places

    A Toy Ride. A Joy Ride

    May 3, 2010 - By 

    It’s in the long list for UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Whether it will get the heritage tag or not, the Matheran Light Railway is a fun ride as the small bogies laboriously climb up and down the hill. So when a friend and Mid-Day reporter decided to do a story on this to-be or not-to-be heritage rail, we decided to tag along. Being a Saturday, the general seats were all taken. So we went First Class, which is an eight-seater cabin with cushioned seats. Though not the fastest way to reach Matheran (meaning ‘wooded head’), a tiny hill station that…

  • Birdwatching - Nature's Wonders - Places

    Mumbai Winter Visitors Turn Pink

    May 2, 2010 - By 

    By this time, they would’ve already set off to Kutch or getting ready for the journey. When we met them in December, they were busy feeding on the algae in the Sewri mudflats. Flamingos migrate to Maharashtra during winter after spending the breeding season in Kutch, Gujarat. Sewri, a port area in Mumbai, is one of their favourite hangouts. How did they choose to come to this derelict area?  Maybe, the rich algae found in the muddy tracts that get exposed during low tides. Feeding on these algae that have a carotenoid pigment, these migratory birds turn rich pink by…

  • Places - Sanctuaries

    The Real Land of Tiger – Tadoba

    February 23, 2010 - By 

    The year 2010, hopefully augurs well for us in travel. After the good start in the new year week, one of us had a solo trip to Bangkok, while the other had a solo to Coimbatore and Kerala. But the most awaited trip of January was to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district, Maharashtra. The planning had started in November itself. The tourism/forest department calls Tadoba the real land of tiger. Perhaps rightfully so. For the first time, we spotted the big cat. Albeit for a short while without giving us enough time for clicking. With multitudes of…

  • Birdwatching - Places - Sanctuaries

    Birding at Nannaj Grasslands

    October 31, 2009 - By 

    The Great Indian Bustard didn’t reveal itself to us. But our birding experience at Nannaj Bird Sanctuary wasn’t disappointing. We spotted many other birds (don’t ask for names, though we went there armed with A Field Guide to the Birds of India) and as a bonus, saw two wolves chasing blackbucks. Nannaj Bird Sanctuary, officially called as Maldhok Bird Sanctuary or GIB Bird Sanctuary, is at 25-odd km from Solapur, Maharashtra. It is home to the endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB) and is one of the few places where it is still spotted. Nannaj was declared a bird sanctuary in…

  • Places - Uncategorized

    The Lost War Against Plastic

    October 19, 2009 - By 

    This sounds very pessimistic. Yes, we lost our optimism after a trip to Mahabaleshwar recently. We were there in the last week of September. Being off-season, it wasn’t crowded at all. But the amount of plastic waste strewn around was shockingly beyond our imagination. Plastic bottles, cups, wafer packages, pan packets, beer bottles … Every tourist spot, main streets – virtually every nook and corner. Even the back-of-beyond places were not spared. While tourists were there at the common sight-seeing points even during off-season, most seemed to give a miss to Connaught Peak point. As per our usual practice of…

  • Treks

    Pouring Rains, Lashing Winds, Gushing Streams, Slippery Rocks, Slushy Pathways … Monsoon Is On. Treks Are On

    July 16, 2009 - By 

    The hills and mountains that cover the entire western part of Maharashtra have many forts. Most of them have seen hectic activities from 1400 to 1900 AD (an average, and an assumption). After the Mughals, the Dutch, the Portuguese, the Marathas and the Britishers finished their party, what was left were more often only rubbles of forts. Except in very few cases, where the government has taken up maintenance for archeological reasons or those maintained as places of worship. From 21 century onwards, it was the turn of city slickers to lay hands (and legs) on these forts. People who…

  • Places

    Orange Country & Orange Gods

    July 5, 2009 - By 

    The history of orange says that the fruit has its origins in India. And perhaps most of India’s oranges come from its centre – Nagpur. So somewhere in back of our minds we knew that a trip to Nagpur cannot be complete without a visit to an orange farm. While planning for trips, we provide for on the spur changes in the itinerary and explorations. Yet visiting an orange farm was not part of our Pench plan. While we had some intention to peek into some farm while returning to Nagpur, we did not expect that we almost could go…

  • Pench Madhya Pradesh, Travelwithacouple, Unny Radhakrishnan, Bindhu Unny
    Birdwatching - Nature's Wonders - Places - Sanctuaries

    Where Mowgli Roamed – Pench National Park

    June 21, 2009 - By 

    As the dawn was breaking the Sambhur belled Once, twice and again! And a doe leaped up and a doe leaped up From the pond in the wood where the wild deer sup. – The Jungle Books, Rudyard Kipling Every morning, Mowgly and his friends perhaps would have woken up to this scene. We too were hoping for the same. The early morning drive from the Maharashtra side of Pench Tiger Reserve to the Madhya Pradesh side of Pench was filled with expectations. Never mind the rattling of the old Toyota Qualis and the chilly wind. We had to cover…

  • Birdwatching - Places

    Karnala Revisited

    June 15, 2009 - By 

    One of our early treks was to Karnala. Karnala, with its thump-shaped pinnacle on its top cant be missed when you take the Mumbai-Goa highway. An easy climb. Till the pinnacle. Conquering the pinnacle calls for technical rock climbing. The trek is more interesting as it is through the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. If you can combine early morning, keen eyes, and luck, you will spot many winged creatures. In our first trip we spotted a crested serpent eagle and an owl. This time, on May 1, we decided to celebrate Maharashtra Day by taking an early morning hike through the…

  • Places

    The Rubber Waste Yard at Harihareshwar

    June 14, 2009 - By 

    A rubber factory is an unlikely place to be written about in a travel blog. And certainly not a rubber factory in Harihareshwar, a quite village known for its temple and pristine beaches. Harihareshwar for sure did not have a rubber factory. But we did find something closer to that. More like a factory’s waste yard. A little away from the beach, on the rocky coast, we saw loads of abandoned, worn-out, damaged pieces of footwear. Laced with a few plastic bottles as well. Plastic bottles are no surprise, since they already form part of our natural environment, nurtured carefully…

  • TravelWithacouple Unny Bindhu Bordi Ganapathy
    Arts & Culture

    Of Faith & Creativity (the Divine Tree)

    May 3, 2009 - By 

    With countless number of Gods & Goddesses (83 million by someone’s estimates or 830 million?), roadside stones and trees turning to temples is not new in India. There is no rural-urban divide in these phenomena. All that matters is faith. This interesting tree apparently has a mild resemblance to Lord Ganesha’s trunk. It is clear that the clever and creative painting is what brings it live. Nevertheless, the Ganesha tree has already started attracting attention of travellers and is listed in the ‘must-see’ places in and around Bordi. We saw this in the Bordi-Asavali road, about 2 km from the…

  • Places

    In Chikoo County

    May 3, 2009 - By 

    If you can’t travel or drive too much and all you need is a quite weekend getaway from Mumbai, then you can try option no #85, Bordi. That’s what precisely we did.  When a family friend wanted a weekend break to introduce their one-year old son to outdoors, we scoured our maps, books and internet to pick a place. Bordi has a 17-km long beach. Chikoo and vegetable farms dot the quiet village. Hills towards the east and a small dam. More importantly, we haven’t been there. And, MTDC has a resort in Bordi. A perfect combination. At about 180…

  • Places

    “No Punjabi Dishes Please …”

    January 1, 2009 - By 

    If you happen to be in Ratnagiri and looking for good eating joints, here are some really compelling options. If you are a vegetarian, try Hotel Mithila. Excellent is perhaps an understatement. What we did was a breakfast and what we tried of course were the basic south Indian fare – idli, masala dosa, upma, vada, and sheera. Yet, it was simply awesome. Incidentally, some of their family members run an Indian hotel somewhere in the US, which is supposedly very popular. For the non-vegetarians, try Hotel Amantran. It was a dinner affair for us here. True Konkan fare. Fish/seafood…

  • Places

    Diwali 2007: Lonar

    November 2, 2008 - By 

    We prefer the subdued Diwali celebrations in villages rather than the high decibel gala in cities. So last diwali (2007) also saw us packing our bags, and this time it was Lonar that caught our fancy. An overnight bus journey to Aurangabad, and we were 145 km away from Lonar. After a 2-hour fruitless wait for the state transport bus, we caught a bus that took us a little closer to Lonar. One more bus, and 2 taxi-jeeps, the last one packed beyond imagination, and alas! Lonar was just a few kilometers away. The last stretch was covered in an…

  • Places

    Have Two Days? Try Option #134

    October 19, 2008 - By 

    While Outlook Traveller gives us 52 options to de-stress our weekends, in reality, the permutations and combinations of plans one can make out of that is far too many. So, if you are a travel lover, have two days and can manage your own conveyance, here is an option that will leave your senses rejuvenated and spirits recharged. Best done in September as the monsoons are just receding …   A long drive from Mumbai through Pune (Chakan) to Narayangaon. From there, it is country roads through the fields and vineyards to Junnar. Climb the Shivneri fort. Stay in a…

  • Places

    Hug the Clouds & Kiss the Beaches

    October 19, 2008 - By 

    Every trip of ours in Maharashtra reinforces MTDC’s marketing byline ‘Maharashtra Unlimited’. Be it treks, road trips or backpack trips. Numerous options that emerge from the combination of the long coastline and the Sahyadris running parallel to it, in fact gives one an unparalleled experience. Not to mention about the options in Central Maharashtra, which we are yet to touch. Last Christmas, we did a road trip that featured kissing the beaches, then climbing the hills, and hugging the clouds. A 4-day road trip with spur-of-the-moment detours, searches for a place to stay, warm hosts at homestays and much more……

  • Places

    Cottages by the Sea. Seeing Is Disbelieving!

    June 28, 2008 - By 

    We reached Malvan on the third day of a Konkan trip. Being a popular tourist destination, we didn’t bother to book accommodation. Armed with a list of ‘home-stays’ and their telephone numbers, given to us by our home-stay owner at Kunkeshwar, we started calling up these places soon after we reached Malvan at noon. We were all damn hungry, but decided that it would be safer to find a place to stay before anything else. This later proved right. AD, the only person conversant in Marathi in our team, called up the first number. The person attended the call asked…

  • People - Places

    One Night in Guhagar – Tasting Local Hospitality

    June 14, 2008 - By 

    Guhagar, being 320 odd km away from Mumbai means fewer crowds. Or so we thought. We forgot that Pune was probably only 200 km away. We reached Guhagar a little late in the evening, around 7.30. We were a bit overconfident that in these little not so known places, hotels, lodges or home stays would be easily available. But as always Murphy has the last laugh. All (two or three) known hotels were full. People indeed are traveling. We drove a few times up and down through the main street knocking the doors of a few hotels and a few…

  • Places

    Smallest Wildlife Sanctuary

    June 1, 2008 - By 

    Where is the world’s smallest wildlife sanctuary? It is right here in India, in Maharashtra. At 5.15 sq km, Mayureshwar sanctuary is the smallest WLS (that we know of). Once while returning from a road trip to Ajanta-Ellora, somewhere between the Pune – Ahmednagar road, we took to the country roads. With a vague idea of its location, we kept searching for Mayureshwar, unsuccessfully checking the map and asking almost anyone and everyone on the road. Finally, at a place that one would never imagine as a wild life sanctuary, we asked a few more villagers. Not a chance! Since…

  • People

    Lonar: ‘Who Is the Country?’ and Desi ‘Angrezi Log’

    May 18, 2008 - By 

    Scene 1: Four backpackers – wearing capris and coolers – were taking a walk along the rim of the Lonar crater. A villager grazing his cows wanted to show his hospitality to the tourists. He smiled and asked, “Who is the country?” The backpackers looked at each other, thinking “who’s the country among us?” After a moment they realized the villager wanted to know which country were they from. Seeing the capris, coolers, and backpacks, he mistook us Indians for foreigners. Also, he didn’t expect Indians to walk the 5-km stretch under hot sun. When we said, “Mumbai se he”…