Weekend Escape: Sawai Gandharv

No, before you start drawing any conclusions, I should state that I’m just an amateur classical music lover. I do carry some level of understanding of Sufi and Gazals. But when it’s comes to more classical forms of this art, I knowledge limits until knowing to some of the famous vocalist and instrumentalist or knowing some of the famous ragas (I can surely not recognize any of them).

Having said that, I shall now contradict myself saying that this year it was my forth sitting at Savai Gandharv Sangeet Mahotsav J.

For those who are born or turned Punekars, like me, this should not be a not known event. And in case you too, like me, take pride of deeming yourself an amateur classical music lover, I’m sure you must have heard of the same. For rest, Savai Gandharv Sangeet Mahotsav is an annual event held in Pune to celebrate classical form of Indian music. It has a legacy of sixty years and has the honor to witness some of the maestro of musical fraternity. Late Pt. Bheemsen Joshi was among the founder members of the event. He used to be a regular here till as late as 2006. That all for history.

I still remember my first sitting back in 2009, I was sited in between two older couples on both side. The average age of the room was almost double of me. Though I was able to find some of students like me there, but only to find later that they all were music student.

“Hei sastriya sanggetcha karyakram ahe, kutla rock show nahi” (This is a classical music show, not a rock show). The old man sitting next to me welcomed me this way.

“Mahit ahe” (I know), I replied. Before I could start giving it a thought if ‘m I placed at a right place considering my age, he again replied back “I’m happy that youngsters of your age also find interest in such things”. The initial jinx melted off soon and we started talking. I found that the couple is into their 30+ sitting here. They have listened to so many great voices here and have very vivid and depth knowledge of ragas, vadya, gahrana and stuff related.

Our brief introduction was hindered by Shankar Mahadevan who sang the famous Tukaram’s abhang “Majhe Maher Pandhari”. I was not able to understand the meaning of the song but as they say music needs no language. J The performance went on for some 2 hours and after that till date this song is a regular in my morning playlist.

It was my first introduction to Maharashtrian Devotional Music. In the years that followed I got chance to hear more of them from some of the best who do it. Today, I won’t be over doing if I say that I have experinced some of the best and gained an tasteful appetite for abhang. My personal favorite are “Tirth Vitthal Kshretra Vitthal” and of course “Majhe Maher Pandhari”, both sung by legendry Late Pt. Bheemsen Joshi.

This year I tried to attend a non-vocal (instrumental) performance. I was eager to attend Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia’s performance, but then my loyalty to my office didn’t allow me that (it was a Friday afternoon show). Anyhow next day I attended Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s Sarod Vadan, yet another musically pacifying evening.

 If that was not enough, I managed a gate crash into Srinivas Joshi’s performance too. To my luck, he was singing the same old abhang which I heard here only some 3 years back. Throughout the performance I was trying to draw similarities between his version to his father’s iconic version of same.

     

I still cannot recognize any of Ragas nor have gained any expertise in appreciating any of these Gharana. But what Savai has given me is an out-of-the-box experience and I plan to take it for many more years to come.  

Weekend Escape: Palasdhari

Probably a 3300 KM of travel in last week was not enough for so I’m hitting the roads again.

Actually small correction, it’s not road but railroad. This will be my first outing of this wet season. IndraDev have already been late in his deliverables by if not at least a month. Anyhow it’s always better to be late than never. It’s 8:00 in the morning and I’m standing on Pune Railway Station, Platform No.1, Alone. Even after a numerous attempt with all of fancy and hype I could create, I was not able to convince even a single of my knowns to accompany me over the trek. So, pulling me up with the only Ravindra Sangeet I know “Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Cholo Re”, I boarded the Lonavala local.  

One hour later, I’m standing on Lonavala Railways Station, Platform No. 2. I can easily see clouds drenching uphill. But that not my destination (maybe some other day). Meri manzil kahi aur hai. Some few minutes later I boarded an Express train to Karjat and yes, the very best of Shaydri was in front of me, Unadulterated, Untouched. And if to see this spectacular scenic beauty, a Sheikh Couple flies in here from UAE annually, no one should be surprised.

Anyhow, this too is not my destination. 40 Min later I was at Karjat Railway Platform and exactly 10 min later I was standing on Palasdhari Railway Station, soaking in typical anti-Asheesh rainfall (I mean the one which starts only when ‘m out and stops as soon as I find a shade).

My pre hand research offered me two options, either to scale up Palasdhari Fort which was visible from here and second one was to move to Palasdhari waterfall. I wanted to do the former but chose the later. But I have reasons to it. All that I could read about this place had one thing in common. They all have warned to beware of wild boars, and some even have heard leapord. Aur abhi toh meri shadi bhi nahi hui hai. So I opted to be amongs human rather than encountering someone I cannot handle.

As a rule of thumb or a nature's law, or an engineer’s law, whatever you call it says, "Waterfalls are always located on hills, and railway tracks are not”. So anywhere you go, the waterfall is always located away from railway station, so is this. You have to walk for 20 minutes from station to reach there. The walk passes through lush green surrounding, and that's enough to turn you on, even if you've been there tens of times. The first sight of waterfall was disheartening especially when you are obsessed to relative "big". Nevertheless, the crowd was minimal. And it was actually a private waterfall.

I moved up the waterfall and sat a rock stable enough to seat me. The gushing water from both side and water tripping off my sleeves, well this was my destination. I was able to simulate the same feeling what Indradev shall feel seeing from above. I might over exaggerate it, but then it was sort of the feeling of being the Lord of Waterfall.  

Moving a little up the water fall I could find a place lonely enough to do the thing which I like the most, SOUL SEARCHING (and was much required as the Review Process in office just ended). The whole of Shaydri was there to listen to me. Express Trains kept making their presence occasionally. The winds were in a hurry to be somewhere and have dried me by now. After having a good talk with “Better Me” on what, why, how, where and politely asked him what next. He said “Ghar chalte hain”.

It’s 9:00 in the night and I’m standing on Pune Railway Station, Platform No.1, Alone Again. J

Weekend Escape :Aga Khan Palace

I have grown LAZY.

And probably for the same reasons I have neither being neither traveling nor writing for long. Probably this lazy IT culture is taking a toll over me. Today, fortunately I have some time and mood to write. So here it goes.

Aga Khan Palace, though being is the heart of the city, is hardly visited. Off the busy Pune-Ahmednagar Highway, as you move into the compound, you will feel like being taken back good 50-60 years in history. Strangely the entry gate of the palace is locked and you will be entering from the Exit. It is a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon and the place is occupied by few lovebirds, a family out on a picnic and me.

As you move close to the palace and you carry some sense of architecture, you will surely be scratching your head as to under which architecture to place it. The pillars are typical English-Roman type, the roofs have dooms giving it an Islamic touch. As you walk a little closer around and look around, you might spot a Rajputana style fountain, making you more confused. Anyhow I and my confused mind moved into the palace and were greeted with this information that Aga Khan Palace was an act of charity by the Sultan Muhammed Shah who wanted to help the poor in the neighboring areas of Pune who were drastically hit by the famine.

I smile spread over my face appreciating the fact that the city which today feed people from almost all part of India, didn’t had enough to feed its own people some 120 years back. Well this is life for you. There are only three rooms made to display for public. Rest all are out of bound for commoners. The first two rooms stations some of the poorly managed photographs and hand scripts of Gandhiji. The frames were missing, there were whitewash stains over the photos. It was a total mess here. Arguably it is a national heritage structure. Thankfully there was a photo exhibition by Maharashtra Tourism Board which saved the day for me.

The third room had some of the personal belongings of Gandhiji and Ba. One thing that kept with me was a hand weaved saree of Ba. The amount of dedication, hard work and believe that must gone into it was so very clearly visible in every thread of the saree. I actually stood for a good 5 min just looking at it. This was the best part of my visit to this place.

Leaving all this aside I moved toward the Samadhi Sthal and paid my homage to Ba and Mahadev Desai who breathed their last here. The campus today holds a Khadi Gram Udyoug Kerndra and a play school, all to help poor and needful women around the city.

The campus has some really spacious and well maintained lawns (a good place for a family outing). It’s been more than 3 hours around, and I’m seating on a wooden bench outside stupidly staring at the building. The sun will soon call it a day and streetlights will take over. It seems like I have moved into a third world, where life still runs at a pace it should. Allow me to take one last deep breathe of this world before I move back to my “World”.    

Weekend Escape :Bhuleshwar

That day I was reading about Pune and got a very interesting explanation of it. It says, Pune is a place where every hilltop needs to have something on it. Be it a fortress, a temple, a view point and if not anything atleast a TV antennae. I know this is completely out of context but just want it to be on my blog so here it is. Well coming back in context, after a long break I was on roads again this weekend.

To start with, I will confess that some weeks back, I didn’t even know of this place. Thanks to a friend of mine and facebook, the secret broke to me. After doing some google over Bhuleshwar, I found it a very interesting place to dump me this weekend.

Going out of box, a Saturday afternoon start (I usually like an early morning start), a 50KM ride on Solapur Rd. and then a right turn on country roads. You can see the temple from a distance as good as 2 KM. This temple is temple by no means.

The first site of the temple that catches you is an Islamic Architecture styled Tomb and you will forced to reconfirm if you are on the right way or not from a local. This Temple has been razed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in an attempt to mutilate Hindu art and restructured it with a mosque styled tomb. This suddenly took me back to my memories of Babri Masjid. You can find more symbol of destruction once inside the temple.

 In the meantime, as you close the place you will find it walls to be that of a fortress, again confused. Well actually, before being a temple this place was a fortress to pheshwas, east gate to Pune.

Finally when you are in the temple, you will be all taken by the iconic Dravidian styled rock curved sculpture.  The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Bhuleshwar in Marathi means “Lord to Seduction”, and you will agree to it by looking to these sculptures.

Though most of them have to destroyed or disfigured, it will take a very little of your imaginative power to appreciate the art, had that been untouched. One of the very unique and interesting sculpture was of Lord Ganesha in feminine posture. This for sure will be one of its types in the world. I spend good 30 min over here to decide if it was a mistake form artist or he meant something.

The place is very rarely visited, peaceful and scenic in its own. Even if a temple visit doesn’t excites you much, you can drop here to see the sunset. Open landscapes all around the hillock will surely put your thoughts churning and you will return back home satisfied.   

It’s already dark here and time to leave. Sign off!! J

Weekend Escape :Tulapur

It’s a beautiful Saturday morning.

My clock has positioned its needles at 217’ 30’ and 90 degree to the zero point for the smaller and bigger respectively (it is 7:15 in the morning). My GPS is perfectly doing its job, uttering “Somewhere 20 km Northeast of Pune”. My best pal, my phone, sitting beside me is singing “MA REWA” of Indian Ocean for me. The climate has also made the all thing perfect for me. A slow breeze is waving things left to right and temperature is not more than 14 degree on Celsius scale. All other things are going as perfect as I would have liked it.

And to add more beauty to this there is a ‘Sangam’ of rivers Bhima, Bhama and Indrayani. Probably that’s why “MA REWA” was the first choice to me here. I’m sitting at a river bank facing east (actually want to say braving sun) with my jeans pulled up to my toes and legs dipped in water. It’s all green all over and the yellow is slowly gaining grounds. Beside me, sharing the screen with me, are few more creatures, a sparrow, a kingfisher and few fishes, to name a few.

And after detailing down all the particulars, even now you find it hard to picture one for yourself here is one for you.

After a heavy week at my desk, I badly needed a cut off. And what better time can be to use the cycles, my company have now allowed be with you even on weekends. It was some of very few weekends, where my plan was set. All started with early retirement to bed on Friday night and hence an early start on Saturday morning. Paddling down some 20-25 km, ‘m here, TULAPUR.

It’s a place not far from Pune but of course not very popular, one the best place to dump you down for weekends. Out from busting traffic and howling crowd, you will get a feel, might be a pinch of it, of traditional Maharashtra hinterland.

In case, you are one who needs a destination to travel up to (I mean all those who find it hard to enjoy a travel to nowhere), there is a temple named “Sangameshwar” and also “Samadhi” of Raje Sambhaji (son of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj). I always feel irked to give such nitty-gritty details of a place, but then some of us like it to be complete, END-TO-END, as my managers says.

Well, it’s 9 in the morning, and time to get back to my world. There is good number of action items waiting for me. Will sure update you once find a new to place to explore.

Signing Off for Now…..

Bhimashankar Trek

I really feel pity on those Puneities who cannot find any good weekend out-going place than Lonavla. Grow up man, there are hell lot of place to explore in the vicinity of Pune and one such is “Bhimashankar”.

Its really a lifetime experience to trek Bhimashankar via shidi ghat. It was not exactly dicing with death but one must take some extra care for rocky patches. We were a team of 7 from Pune. We started our journey at 8:30 morning(typical professionals, never on time, rather 2 hrs. late) from Pune and reached Khandas(the base village) at 11:30 via Karjat by Tata Sumo. It was hard to control the excitement of trek.

 We booked a guide for Rs.250. We heard that Ganesh ghat is easy but lengthy and time consuming and we were already late so to make up the lost time, we decided to go via shidi ghat, a tough but   short route. It was really a thrilling trek. we started at approx 12:00 noon after breakfast. Weather was little warm. After few steps it looked like a reach for the moon. After crossing 4-5 difficult rocky patches we were thrilled to bits. We climbed with our lives challenged by nature but the challenges were there to be overcomed. There were three ladders to your support to get across the edges of deep cliffs through the vertical rocky patches. Two of them were feeble, rusty and aged like a poverty-striken beggar. One of the ladder, the third one, was newly replaced and was strong (bamboo ladder has been replaced by iron one now - thanks to the Dhumketu Group!). We felt as if Nature said to us "Hey Man!! You passed the test. Why not you be gifted now? My blessings are with you for rest of your journey..." .

Crossing these ladder was a real play with fire. The weather had changed now, the sun had disappeared into thin air. Lunch (bread butter, Dates, dry fruits, biscuits, peanuts etc. etc.) in between the way made our mouth watery. A bath in a waterfall was real refreshment and then little shower was better than anything. We took lots of breaks in the way and enjoyed the trek as a picnic. As we climbed up and up the trek became easier and easier. We could sense the fragrance of clouds when we were near the temple. We completed the trek in 6 and a half hours. Really the this trek was not a piece of cake.
There was a holy Kund Outside the temple with chilled water. I was gathering all my confidence to took bath in that Kund. At last got a grip and with the watchword 'BAM BHOLE', I was IN.

Changed clothes and then spent 1.5 hours in a queue to get Darsan in temple. For safe side we called the Sumo at temple for return journey and because of this decision, now, we are back to tell the tale.At 8:30PM we were back in Sumo.
Now it was the time for 'Wadapav' and tea. I don't know whats special in it and why people can't resist them self for eating this. AT 11:00pm, we started our back journey. It was full of fog with least visibility. Deepak, Amol and Surinder took the responsibility and walked in front of vehicle to show the route. It was something like "Do one trek and get a walk free!" After 2 kms when some fog disappeared, we started the journey in full swing.

At 1:00 AM, on a highway Dhaba we stopped for dinner. There was only single option for Dinner 'Pure veg Thali'. We had to choose this way or highway, so we opted for Thali.
After that on the way home, I don't know what happened and how long it took until I got senses, when Deepak wake me up in front of my home. I Said "Good Night" to all and went to bed directly. just saw the time It was 3:00 AM, just starting of a comparatively relax day.

In the end, I would say if you keep extra caution, be extra careful and have extra courage then you can cross world's hardest hurdle and this trek was a real example of that.

Now we are planing for next trek, venue and date is yet to be decided :-), If you want to join and ready to take challenges, let me know...:-)

Till then...
Happy Trekking
BUM BUM BHOLE

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Read my other travel experiences like Dandeli Jungle Safari, Kundilika River-rafting, Bhimashankar Treking, Benaras:Journey Back into Ages,Konkan Railways

Kundalika River Rafting - Review

Kundalika river rafting is one of the only options from Pune, nestled amid the Tamini ghats roughly 100 KMS from Pune, Kundalika offers budding rafting enthusiasts an amazing experience.

We signed up with Himalayan Rafting for the rafting trip, for information you can check out their website www.kundalikarafting.in Need to pay their fees in advance, the lady who interact with you is friendly but does not provide too much of detailed information.

Kundalika's main water are the monsoon rains and Tata Hydel Project nearby. During non monsoon months, the only source of water is the outflow from the hydel project. The gates open at around 8 AM every morning and the currents are dependent on the number of gates that have been opened. One gate is also good enough to give the desired thrill to an amateur but this requires you to be there by 8 AM.

How to get there:
Need to take the road from Chandini Chowk towards Pirangut, Mulshi, Tamini ghats. There will be a toll booth few meters from Chandini chowk, where you need to wave your hand and pass thorough :) the Pune style. Of the total 100 KMS, for about 30 to 40 Kms, the roads are bad, not too sure if this is how it is through out the year but safe to add few hrs to your travel time. The bad roads, ghats and narrow state roads meant that we covered the distance in 3 hrs.

Despite the road condition, drive all along is very pleasant and the natural beauty that you get to see is simply awesome, the hills, water reservoir and the fauna along the road. Direction map provided is barely sufficient, the lack on road signs adds to your anxiety. Surprisingly Kundalika is not that very well known with the locals en route so if you ask for directions many times you might get misled.

Reporting:
The reporting locations are 2, whether you have a driver or not, check with the company on where they need you to report as the distance between the 2 points is roughly 10 kms. Transport is available from one point to the other but this is charged extra and they do not bargain.

We did not have a driver, so we drove up to the office, changed into our rafting gear and then took a Commander jeep to the start point.

Instructions ....that scare you ...
Once you get into your rafting gear, put on the safety vest and helmet, its time for the safety instructions. Our guide Ravi, did have a unique way of scaring everyone with the instructions especially the ones where he tells you how he will pull you in if you drop into the current.

The instructions are very clear and basic - forward paddle, back paddle, stop, etc. anyone with basic understanding will grasp all that is required. Do pay special attention to the safety tips, not sure when you will require. Once the instruction are over, the raft is ready, the team (you included...) now carry the raft into the river and there starts your river rafting experience on the Kundalika.

Rafting ...not all about the rapids ...
The raft we had was a oar boat model and according to our guide, Ravi, its the one with the least possibility of ever toppling in a rapid. Good to hear this. The other aspect of the oar boat is that, you contribute only 25 to 30 % of the total effort, the main controls are with the Guide who sits controlling the 2 oars. Good for first timers, not sure if the experience guys will ever like this..

The total rafting is for 10 Kms on the river and takes roughly 3 hrs to complete. This includes 6 to 8 rapids, that range from Grade 2 to Grade 4 and between the rapids you get to admire the river banks that are lush green with their special guests the cranes and other bird species.

The rapids themselves give you the thrill for which you drove early in the morning and so would the drift down the current and also the swim in the calmer waters.

The rafting trip ends with you carrying back the raft on land and then taking the jeep back to the base camp. Once on the road, you get what is packaged cold drinks (that surely has been packages some where nearby and not in any bottling plant), tea and vada pavs. All are reasonably priced. The vada pavs help in filling your tummy after the 3 hr drift down the Kundalika.

Overall:

• Monsoon or no monsoon - a great place
• Rafting in non monsoon months - only for amateurs
• Rafting in monsoon months - for the thrill seeker
• Drive - Great for the scenery, bad for the road quality
• Mercury Himalayan Explorations - Great
• Food availability - Decent veg and non veg food right through the drive
• Petrol - Need to fill up before you start or need to drive towards Mumbai Goa highway from basecamp for a bunk
• Liquor - available all the way
• ATM - Very rare, Carry cash for Tips, Jeep Rental and Food

Read my other travel experiences like Dandeli Jungle Safari, Kundilika River-rafting, Bhimashankar Treking, Benaras:Journey Back into Ages,Konkan Railways