• 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Places

    The Enchanted Gardens @ Pune

    April 4, 2010 - By 

    It is a hard-to-miss board—The Enchanted Gardens—on the Mumbai-Satara highway, just after the Express Way ends in Pune. We have passed this board many a time, each time postponing the visit. But during our recent drive to Jadhavghad, we dropped by and got enchanted, as the name suggests. Spread across 1,20,000 sq ft, Enchanted Gardens claims to be one of the largest nurseries in India. They also have a network of farms, totalling an area of 60 acres. The sheer variety of plants fascinated us. We obviously haven’t seen or heard about most of them. Many indoor, outdoor, flowering, and…

  • 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…