Queen of Sahyadri hills – Mahabaleshwar

Mahabaleshwar – It is termed as the summer capital of Bombay. My husband is very fond of road trips and hence we decided to go on a trip to Mahabaleshwar. As we stay in Pune it was a pretty easy to begin our journey. We rented a Mahindra Scorpio and began our journey with lots of snacks and tonnes of music. We went during the month of May as it was very hot in Pune.

When we were on our way, we started to witness lots of strawberry stalls on both sides of the road. This is the first sign that we have entered Mahabaleshwar.

View from Bombay Point

We reached the Bombay point in the morning and realised there were none – because it was a sunset point. On the uphill of Mahabaleshwar the roads are too narrow and hardly have we seen people on the road. For about 3 kms, it felt like only we are driving and none are coming behind us nor going forward. Little scariness start to creep in. Some places are really spooky around 3pm. So be careful if you are not used to lonely roads.

It took an hour to find this place called The Arthur’s Seat. The place was breath-taking. It is said that King Arthur sat and kept gazing at the deadly deep pit with gushing Savitri river that killed his Wife and Daughter. The scene was too spectacular to witness. I don’t know how the king managed to do that. The view from this point is very magnificent and commanding. It is said that Arthur point is the queen of all points.

View from Arthur Seat

Although there is no water now, to imagine the fact that there was a river is itself is terrifying . Some people even say that the stratification of the rocks, layers and the death of the giant hills is compared to that of the Grand Canyon in Colorado, USA.

View from Arthur Seat

However hot the weather is, when you reach Arthur seat, the wind slaps your face and slowly coldness starts to sneak in.

Please visit the exquisiteness of Shahayardri hills from the Arthur seat. It’s forever wonderful. No lens can capture this beauty.

View from Kate’s Point

Then we have the Kate’s Point, Elephant Point, Wilson Point and 3 Monkey Point.All these can be seen on the way to Arthur seat and from Kate’s Point too. Be prepared to walk for a while. Elders need some assistance as there will be few steps here and there. We spotted a place called Tigers water. Legend says that years back Tigers come here to drink water as it will be very pure. Now, an old lady is sitting near that water outlet and charges few pennies to drink that pure water. Trust me, the sight is so disgusting and you don’t need to take that risk.

Though these places are of a huge tourist attraction, basic facilities like rest rooms, shelter heads are not there in a good way. Beware of monkeys. Plastic pollution still prevails as people throw water bottles and soda caps against the wind. Such things can be avoided, as slowly these will kill the beauty of Mahabaleshwar.

As we travelled via Panchgani, we had few places to see there as well. Like the Mapro Market. It is known as Mahabaleshwar products and it is most visited by every tourist. Mapro has variety of fruit squashes and candies all made naturally and we can see almost everyone will buy at least one Mapro product.

Mahabaleshwar is said to be the big market for strawberry and they are planted in abundance.

After all the shopping we decided to head back to Old Mahabaleshwar where there is a famousShiva temple and Krishna temple. The Krishna temple has (Panchaganga) five sacred river water flowing inside a small pond in the temple. The architecture looks very beautiful and the place has nice vibrant sun lights flashing from small windows. These natural lighting are very startling when they hit the pond.

Points to note in Mahabaleshwar are, the sign boards are mostly hidden behind the tress and it is very hard to locate them. So try to have a GPS just in case, sometimes even the GPS will go down. Try to spot localities and ask them the way.

Harrison’s Folly

While returning from Mahabaleshwar, stop at the Harrison’s Folly Point. It’s the last you will see while coming down. This is an interesting place. You can witness Panchgani on one side and Wai on the other. It’s completely an open space, so be careful when you go with kids. There are no fences and the view is remarkable.

Nights are very cold here. Do opt for open air dinning in the places you stay, as the peace and chillness will be very soothing when u sip a hot cuppa soup :)

Posted in adventure, family, fun, holidays, road trip, tour, trips | Tagged 3 monkey point, arthur's seat, bombay, car, colorado,fun, grand canyon, harrison's folly, kate's point, leisure, Mahabaleshwar, mapro, mumbai, nature, pune, queen of hills, road trip, USA | Leave a comment | Edit

Pandharpur vs Vitalapuram – Not the same

It has been a while since I blogged. I get busy all the time and forget that I used to blog. I will crib about it later.

On my parents anniversary I had been to this beautiful place called Vitalapuram, just few kms from Mahaballipuram. Many people have told numerous stories about this temple, hence we started our journey.
  

Vitalpuram’s main God is Lord Pandurangan (Lord Vishnu). The temple looks very neat, beautiful locality, surrounded by many trees and flowers. Yet, something was missing (why I felt something was missing is the story I am going to unfold) I kept asking my mind ‘what...what… what’ 

I kept gazing at the Lord, thinking why this place is oh so quiet?

The priest came in a jiffy and started the morning rituals for the deity. He adorned many garlands to the Lord, walked here and there for agarbatthi. I was still not impressed. Mind Voice: what is so special about this place, I don’t know. If I say this to my mom she would give a fiery look, so I kept quiet and kept gazing at the priest’s activities.

Vitalapuram - Pandurangan Temple, Chennai

The priest took the Chapala kattai (musical instrument which Lord Naradha has) and began to sing. I was shocked. Itseems in this temple Lord Panduranga is worshiped through ‘Nama sangeerthanam’(worshiping God through singing and not just mear slokas which is usually recited in any temple). The energy the priest had was amazing, he yelled Panduranga..Panduranga.. Panduranga.. to his fullest energy and made us join his hymns . This energy gushed my memories backwards.

Lord Panduranga - Vitalapuram, Chennai

Why I felt something was missing at the beginning? 

Because I have been to the real ‘Panduranga’ temple situated at Pandharpur, Sholapur district. A person who had visited this temple will never accept any other Panduranga temple as the best one. Like I said in my previous blog, there is only one thrirupathi and likewise there is only one Pandurangan temple which is at Pandharpur.

We took a cab and reached Sholapur city via Pune. We chose a wrong season, the heat was tremendous. We started our journey from Bombay; the driver said that he will figure out the place on his way. We were thinking it’s just an easy drive. Well we were terribly wrong. 

The highways were trolling in massive heat. After a point the driver did not know how to reach the temple. We were surrounded by nothing. Hunger is killing us. Mobile navigations stopped helping us because of poor signal. 

We kept asking any local people we find for the route. Somehow by late afternoon we reached the city and decided to stay in a hotel and go to the temple the next day.

Morning we got all ready for the darshan. We had planned the entire day before even reaching the temple ( I am sure God must be laughing at our thoughts). I vividly remember mom telling us that if time permits we will see visit the temple again by evening. (I laugh thinking about it now…)

Pandharpur - Vithoba Temple, Sholapur

Lord Panduranga and Goddess Rukmani - Pandharpur, Sholapur

There were many people trying to make money by saying, they will help us in getting a very quick darshan. We never believe such people and decided to see the God via que. We took half hour to find the que(that’s a different story)

When we stood in the line, my mother was telling us stories about this temple and how Lord Pandurangan was very dear to all the people of this town, the chandrabhaga river, dhukaram the massive devotee, Goddess Kanobhatra etc… She was thinking that it is just a matter of few minutes to see the Lord, and she had to tell all that she knew before we reached the main Lord.

The path leading to the temple is built in a unique psycho way. Yeah, serious a big crook must have built the temple to torture the devotees.  A devotee must climb up seven storey and climb down the same seven storey building and then entre the temple. OMG, seriously the path is annoyingly filthy, stinks endlessly; a 6 foot tall person cannot stand for more than a minute, that’s how each and every level was built. 

If you are not a localite nor does not know hindi or Marathi(majorly) you are in for a terrible trouble. The people around you will be the natives of Pandharpur and all they know is Panduranga. I am from south and I have not seen such a bakthi even in my side of the temples. Their bakthi cannot be matched at all. They were stewing in their own filth and stink and sweat and whatnot. They never shrink their face nor do they complain about it unlike me. 

We did not realize that we are climbing up and down the same direction until we saw the same set of people who went before us standing in the opposite direction. OMG, it took so long for us to figure that out. 

It took SEVEN hours for us to reach the temple. In-between there were fights as to who will go first and who will follow (I was thinking, really these people want to fight at the very end of the darshan? Oh plz just be sane and proceed. I lost the energy to yell, fight, scream nor even see the God… totally lost it.) No good drink for 7 hours took all out of me. 

A slight breeze kissed my face after a very long time of congestion; it was like a blind man getting his sight for the first time. The breeze was never lovely before. I knew I am out of that tedious path and I am approaching the temple. All stories which mom narrated at the beginning of the que came to my mind and was looking for all that she told me. 

The best part of the darshan was, every devotee irrespective of their caste, gender, creed, colour, social status etc is allowed to hug the Lord Panduranga. Yes, every devotee can touch the main Lord. Every devotee can feel the God in their own bear hands. Every devotee can pour his feeling to Lord Vishnu in that one hug. It is a new thing for us. When I hugged the Lord, I definitely forgot the pain I underwent to reach him. And I got to know one more thing. Those who gave huge sums of money for a quick darshan are allowed to see the lord only from a distance and not hug the Lord as we did. It is called ‘dhoor darshan’… huh... I felt so happy knowing that.

The temple is very beautiful, completely ancient, very chilling, has a lot of history. A person who visits this temple cannot accept any other temple as Pandurangan temple. To see the God keeping his hands in his hips looks so classy and charming. One cannot stop adorning the Lord. He looked radiant, ravishing, pleased, smiling, looks like he would come for a walk with us and talk. This temple gave a new dimension for worshiping. Since then I could not stop adoring him. I even printed the Lord and the Goddess in my wedding invite. 

The only sad thing about the temple is that, the priests around the Lord Pandurangan and Goddess Rukmani are very much money minded and demand 700 to 1000 rupees easily for a prasadam. Such things really annoy. 

My advice to those who are willing to go to this temple would be to have a lot of patience, never give money anywhere specially those who offer you darshan quickly. They loot 1000s of money.  

I went inside that temple in a bright day light and entered the exit gate when the sky was covered with darkness. On our way back home, myself and my brother recalled our mom’s innocent thoughts of visiting the temple for the second time in the evening on the same day. (haha the look on her face was priceless) 

When I reached Bombay and crashed in my bed, I could not believe what I just underwent and dozed off with flashing images of the journey. 

I have still got plans to visit the temple. I am only scared how I am going to survive the que. Fingers crossed. Hope the God will have mercy on me.

The crowd, the devotees, the chants, the hauling of mantras, pillars depicting the story of Lord Panduranga, and lots more are missing in Vitalapuram.  I just could not digest the fact that the place is completely quiet. This is what I missed. 

I still wonder how people say that Vitalapuram is exactly same as Pandharpur. I doubt whether those people even visited the real temple. Vitalapuram is not even 5% equal to Pandharpur. The main Lord itself looks different. Well I went with too many expectations. Of course on the other hand, knowing Vitalapuram will not disappoint you, whereas knowing Pandharpur and then coming to Vitalapuram will surely disappoint you. 

I say leave certain places to the pros. There cannot be a replica for such ancient temples. If you want to visit Lord Panduranga, reach Pandharpur, fight your patience and hunger and see HIM. That’s the only true way. 

Thirupathi - A Walk to Remember :)

This morning I woke up with a strong thunder sound around 5:45 types. I got up and opened the window; I had to hold it very tight as the wind was too heavy and I fixed the door with the balance knob and switched on the TV. I heard the subrabatham in Jaya tv. I have heard it many times before but today it felt like I was standing in heaven. Thanks to the amazing climate and thunder which woke me. This reminded of my walk to Thirupati last year during Diwali. Trust me, this is the best time to get a nice darshan as the crowd will be very less. I usually travel to Thirupati in car, get a super darshan and return with full satisfaction. That’s how it has been for many years.

However, last year was an exception perhaps, an unexpected exception. We as usual took a car and reached kizh thirupati. My brother came up with the idea of climbing 7 hills. I looked at him with a red face. ‘Do you even think it is possible? – we never took this kind of risk and no way we are climbing’. I somehow thought that those who climb the hills are equal to God and it’s completely insane to even think of walking 3550 steps. I made up my mind of not climbing whatsoever.

Thanks to the driver, he gave so much insight about climbing and it’s not all that difficult is what he told me. Everyone can walk and so can you. He gave the courage. His courage gave motivation to my parents and the next thing I see is my mom calling me to climb. With a gulp reaction, we smashed a coconut and started the walk. Honestly I was preparing for the worst and got few details for rescue in the middle.

I had zero courage inside yet managed to show a courageous face.

We reached this Raja gopuram in about 10 mins from the start point. It was pretty hot. I was tired by the heat and gasped for breath as the steps were little tall and small.

Raja Gopuram - The first empty tower from the start.

Okay I want to make this clear, there are 3550 steps. It does not mean you will climb just these steps; there are many corridors and roads in between the steps. So basically it’s much beyond 3550 steps. It took some time for me to realize this and surprisingly my parents were enthusiastic about climbing. This however gave me confidence.

To lighten the mood my brother kept cracking jokes and made me feel comfortable. We had our own pit stops accordingly to our strength and capacity.

After two hours of walk we reached a place where bio-metric tokens will be taken – and we reached this banner.

Banner detailing the outline of the path to be covered.

I was a first timer in walking and from a distance when I saw this I thought wow we finished climbing. I scolded myself for fussing so much. I gave a closer look at this banner and realized I have not even climbed 20% and it’s just the beginning of the walk :( I saw the blue line with a huge sigh of scariness.

I wiped my fear and headed towards the steps and corridors.  I must appreciate the devotees who climb the 7 hills very frequently. There were many people few were much older than my parents, climbed faster and brisker. I was nothing compared to such devotees. It showed the fire inside such bhaktas. Applaud their courage. It was a wakeup call for me until I saw a man climbing the steps with his knees. Seemed like God telling me that, ‘you think you are walking your best – see others’ I had no words seeing him. He was sweating terribly, all he chanted was Govinda Govinda. He had nothing to offer for God except his bhakti. I am sure nothing matches to such kind of bhakthis. I salute such people. This gave me the fullest motivation and started to climb with lots of hope and poise.

Without my knowledge I reached 2850 steps and felt happy about myself. So did my parents. We came across many weird animals and birds. Thanks to monkeys, they really frightened me so much (though they were less than sholinger). I always get tensed worrying whether these creatures will grab my dupatta, jump on my shoulder, pull my water bottle, scratch my skin and lots of other eerie tensions. If only they could understand when I talk and never come near me... Sigh!! I hear a lot of people say don’t get scared its ‘Lord Ánjaneyar’ – it will not harm you. Every time I hear this, I wanted to ask ''oh really then why don’t you all buy a monkey as pet at home instead of dogs and cats''. Argghhh... Tackling all these animals we preceded further.

2850th step.

I must mention the climate. When I started it was super hot and as I went towards higher altitude the place started to get chilled up. The sceneries were breath taking.

One of the beautiful scenery.

I was stunned to find that there was no trash all way through the corridor. It was too crisp and looked so neat. I appreciate all the workers who are behind this amazing job.

The neat corridors all way.

Though all the people who were climbing with us were tired, the walk gave some kind of peace. A positive vibe, an optimistic outlook, clearer mind set, a focused attitude-all at once is very hard to obtain. I don't know whether it is because of the smell of the fresh air or the slokas which kept running throughout the path or the dense natural beauty. But I knew one thing for sure - It is definitely heaven on earth without any doubt. A walk made it possible to rejuvenate.

We started walking at morning 9:45am and reached at 3:20pm at this final step of 3550. Yayyyyy :)))))) I was so elated and took this pic of me stamping my mark at the final step :) A sigh of satisfaction covered me.

Finally done :)

Then we proceeded towards the queue and I am thankful to God for giving us darshan in less than 2 hours.

The real realization for me was when I came down from Mel Thirupathi after all darshan and prasadam. The driver showed us the walk way while we were relaxing in car. I was starring at the path we walked. Unbelievable no way I crossed so many steps. The driver kept driving from mel thirupathi to Kizh thirupati for almost 20 – 30 minutes.

Blurry pic of the path crossed.

I could not click properly, but the length was amazing for me to digest the fact that we climbed. I saw the path and told, really? Did I climb? I could not do it again. My super dad said, no you did not walk, you did not climb, you had the urge to do it and Lord Srinivasa pulled you up and that’s how you did it.  Very true. Really blessed to have got that strength to climb.

Thanks to my great brother, hadn't he initiated we wouldn't have been a part of this amazing journey.

Now, I want to try the climbing more often than going in car and getting a comfortable darshan. With all the pain and sweat and tiredness, the feel of getting a pleasant darshan is no way compared to VIP darshans. However, according to me those who climb are the REAL VIPs. I am happy to have been in the REAL VIP clad.

Definitely a walk to remember!

R.I.P Telegrams - You Will Live in Our Hearts Forever

Few weeks ago I was digging my cupboard to relish my childhood pictures and other letters my grandparents and cousins wrote for me. As I was flipping through the bundle of pages, a small rectangular paper fell. It read ‘Delivered a girl baby. Both are fine’ – it was a telegram sent by my maternal to paternal grandfather when I was born. I was so happy seeing it as I have not seen a telegram in my life. I know back then, there was a ‘telegram culture’ when our communications were sunken deep.  Many emotions were tied to that piece of paper which used to come across many paths. At that time postman would look like God of communication. A salute those postmen who did an amazing job with the invention of telegram.

I personally have not received a telegram nor have sent it. I honestly do not know how it functions. Yet, it was so nice to hear from my mom about the telegrams they used to send and receive like 40 years back.

I felt bad to know that this 163 old culture of the great communication has been officially stopped in India – guess effective July 14th 2013. I was not a part of this culture but, I definitely want it to be alive, as this is the biggest history that unfolds how our great grand parents lived with communications.

Email, mobiles, landlines, sms, whatsapp, viber, chats etc have unquestionably made our today’s communication faster and effective. Still, there are certain things which should never be killed just because we have grown huge in communications.

Already handwritten letters have been dying and now the oldest hero of communication has died. Now, the future generations will not know the term ‘Telegram’ unless they Google out. Sad

I am happy to have been born in the age where I have seen life without internet/communication advances and with everything at once.

If you find a nice telegram in your home, please do frame it, because that will be the only personal proof for the coming generations. ‘RIP Telegrams.’ I never missed you but I do now. 

25 My Best of 'The Godfather'

If I had ever seen a movie more than 100 times in my life – it’s nothing but the Godfather.  No movie has inspired or pulled me so close in the first shot.  If I start praising the movie it will be never ending. So, I decided to put up my favorite 25 quotes/dialogues/saying - however we call it from the movie.   Certain quotes below can be understood only when the movie is watched. For those who have not watched it, please watch it at least once before you die (That’s what IMDB says it ;)) and for those who have already worshiped the movie like me, enjoy with me. Note: All three parts will be mixed.

If I don’t begin with this first quote; it will be a crime. :) Gracias ;)

1. Don Corleone: I'm gonna make him an offer he won't refuse.

2. Michael Corleone: If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone.

3. Tom Hagen: I have a special practice. I handle one client.

4. Tom Hagen: Mr Corleone is a man who insists on hearing bad news at once.

5. Sollozzo: What are you worried about? If I wanted to kill you you'd be dead already.

6. Don Corleone: A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man.

7. Michael Corleone: Today I settled all Family business, so don't tell me you're innocent, Carlo.

8. Sollozzo: I don't like violence, Tom. I'm a businessman. Blood is a big expense.

9. Don Corleone: Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again.

10. Michael Corleone: Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

11. Don Corleone: Whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.

12. Don Corleone: Revenge is a dish that tastes best when it is cold.

13. Michael Corleone:  My father taught me many things ... keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.

14. Hyman Roth: Michael, we're bigger than U.S. Steel!

15. Michael Corleone: I don't want anything to happen to Fredo while my mother's alive.

16. Michael Corleone: Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

17. Michael Corleone: I would burn in Hell to keep you safe.

18. Michael Corleone: When they come, they'll come at what you love.

19. Michael Corleone: Don't overestimate the power of forgiveness.

20. Vincent Corleone: Your enemies always get strong on what you leave behind.

21. Michael Corleone: Your father, my brother, we were opposites. We would fight and argue. But I never doubted his love. He would do anything for me. But his temper, too much, clouded his reason. I don't want you to make that mistake.

22. Michael Corleone: I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.

23. Michael Corleone: Fredo, you're my older brother, and I love you. But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.

24. Don Corleone : A Friend should always underestimate your virtues and an Enemy overestimate your faults

The Last one is my very favorite scene and quote. Ahh.. Just love the way the dialogue was delivered. Kudos to Al

25. Michael Corleone: My offer is this - Nothing!

Grazie per la lettura :)

Legend behind 'The Ashes'

My family keeps discussing about all cricketing actions. I don’t know from where the discussion begins, but when it starts it will begin from where it originated till Dhoni to everything and everyone. This incident happened when I was in school, one day my brother went ga ga ga about ashes. My mind paused. I know there is a tournament called Ashes, but why do one call it ‘The Ashes’?

I did not have the power of internet when I was in school, so I used to see in newspapers whether there is any mention about it. Bad luck! I could never find out. I got all frustrated and asked my dad, why the hell they call it ‘The Ashes’?

There he began, explaining me. After listening to it, I thought it is the coolest thing ever happened to cricket and media is amazingly powerful. Here is what it is all about.

We all know that Ashes is a test series played between England and Australia in either of their home grounds. In 1882 Australia defeated England at Oval – London, I guess in 7 runs. That was the first time Aussies have won in English soil. The next day, The Sporting Times – A British newspaper published a mock obituary written by Reginald Brooks stating that English cricket had died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia. Further the media nicknamed the next English tour to Australia as the quest to regain The Ashes. It is said that during that tour a small terracotta urn was gifted to England captain Ivo Bligh by a group of Melbourne women (Though Ivo Bligh’s wife, has a different story to it). The contents of the urn are believed to be the ashes of a bail. – And that’s how the name ‘The Ashes’ came into existence. Isn’t cool :)

There are many stories behind how the ash was put in the urn and how it was presented. However, this is really legendary to know.

I did not believe this story until my brother showed it to me in real at Lords - Marylebone Cricket Club Museum. It seems that the facsimile of the urn are given to the victorious teams but the actual urn has never been presented as a trophy since it is presented to MCC by Ivo’s wife after his death. However, irrespective of whoever wins the tournament, the original urn always stays at MCC museum forever :)

'Are you hurt, or are you injured?'

One of the Pretty Little Liars quote which took my attention.

Jake, the martial arts teacher (Aria's date) asks Aria a question as she is still not out of her little situation. 

His question was whether she is injured or hurt? and goes on explaining that he would ask his students the same “If they’re injured, I’ll just send them home. But if they’re hurt, I’ll tell them to just shake it off and get back in the game.” 

A call that a sage advice :)