Some places are always famous for their scenic beauty. They
are so blessed by God, that these places get heaps of praises from the
visitors, travelers, and tourists alike. India has got such places in plenty.
Of all others, my favorite is Konkan and Sahyadris. The reason for these,
1)
I cannot afford to go to Himalayas or Alps (lolz).
2)
No other place in India has witnessed the
presence of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, nor the display of valor, courage and
statesmanship. Shivaji Maharaj is the source of inspiration for Indians, here
and abroad.
So when Abhishek called me to check if I would join with
him, my immediate reply was yes. The journey was not going to be ordinary, as
we had decided to cruise along on his Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle. For me
it was dreams come true. We were planning since long for such a trip, but
somehow the plan did not materialize. Visiting your dream places on a dream
bike was a great way to elope from scorching May heat. The only missing thing
was a dream person, a damsel in my case. But then, if a damsel would have
accompanied me, I would have preferred to vroom to Goa and explore the
beautiful things there!!!
Initially we had a 14-15 days ride with an aim of visiting
each and every fort enroute, but later due to paucity of time the plan was
trimmed to 7 days with only major forts in the Konkan, Pune and Kolhapur section.
In any case it was going to be a win-win situation for me, because for apart
from riding the bike, I was going to spend some time with a decorated military
officer and observing him would have surely helped me in developing my
personality.
We moved from Mumbai on 2nd June 2012. The plan
we had chalked out had ample buffer time and this helped us lot, as we were
able to see each place with our own pace. We were able to experience the
history of the place. Just imagine yourself at Raigad, where durbar of Maratha
dynasty used to be held or the palace of Shivaji Maharaj. A cold shiver passes
through your mind when you visualize the scenario 400 years back. It requires
the place, the time and the mindset to experience this feeling as it cannot be
described in words. If I had an option of using the Time machine, I would have
surely opted to go back and watch the events of Maharaj’s life. Coming back to
flexibility of our plan. Our plan was so flexible that we added some places on
the go, deleted some places and at times stretched ourselves to the limits to
adhere to the plan. That was perhaps because of the time and energy spent by us
on planning. for 10 days prior to our move, me and Abhishek used to discuss,
negotiate, plan our travel all on the phone and I am sure that he must have
blowed off his energy and balance discussing with me for this trip, rather than
chatting with his fiancé. I would be a dead man of his fiancé knows this.
The Bike:
The bike was awesome. It never gave us any trouble except a
small puncture in the 1800+ km journey. It was like a honest companion party to
us in all our endeavours and mischieves. It was the one who dared rain, bad
roads and an inexperienced driver like me, who since getting his 2-wheeler
license had rided only below-100 cc bikes.
Still it was fun. Nicest thing happened to us was that since Panvel to
Kolhapur, for 5 days we never encountered a bullet. So, wherever we went, we
commanded respect. The feeling that only a bullet rider can experience! Though
riding was a good experience, rain spoilt the show. It followed us since day 3-
Devgad to the end of journey. Our speed was also considerably reduced. I am not
adding the pain caused to us when all our belongings were wetted. In Kolhapur,
we were joined by Prajakta, a celebrity there. Her joining us made some welcome
changes as we discussed more about movies, songs, social and prevailing issues
in Kolhapur, rather than history and wars. The presence of a girl brings an
amount of charm and elegance to your rugged life. And if that girl is your
sister ‘toh kya kehne!’
The Roads:
The roads we went were motorable, when on NH17 and NH4. The
state highways were also not that bad. Major delusion was while going from
Pratapgad to Umbrath on Day 3. We were greatly disturbed by the condition of
the road. The road gave us an impression that it was built and repaired last
time in 1965, when the Tanaji Malusare monument was built. Another major
laughing stock was the coastal highway from Kunkeshwar to Malvan. The road
never passed from near coast nor the road was on condition to be called as
highway. All our apprehensiveness for the roads came to an end when we visited
Vishalgad. After travelling through Vishalgad, we proclaimed that any other
road will be surely best in comparison to road to Vishalgad. I sometimes
wonder, if there is any notorious intention in keeping these historical places
and the roads going there shabby. An inquiry committee needs to be set up to
check this. During our Vishalgad ride, I also learnt one most important lesson
and that is to keep your emotions under control on road and to always remember
that you are doing a journey and not a race. There is a very faint difference
between confidence & over-confidence and also between adventure, risk and
stupidity. The adrenaline rush lets us forget the wise things mentioned above
and the animal instinct takes over. If we don’t tame the animal, it won’t be
late that we get get late. The accelerator is a great thing, but surely not a
good toy to play with.
The Place(s):
Konkan mesmerized me. I have always heard and read of Konkan
and Konkani Manoos in writings of P. L Deshpande, Jayant Salgoankar, et
al. They all have heaps of praises on
the scenic beauty of place and people. I experienced it. It was as if a scene
of a movie set. At times, the road were so calm that we stopped,rested, and
refreshed on the road itself. For two nights, when we went to Devgad after
taking diversion from NH17, after midnight, we encountered no vehicle on the
road, for a stretch of 50 km. Konkan is also famous for its dreadful ghost and
ghost stories. But sadly we met none, even when riding after 2:00 am in night.
Probably they knew of our arrival and had escaped to safety.
The forts we visited in these 7 days were Alibaug (Kolaba),
Murud Janjira, Raigad, Pratapgad, Devgad, Vijaydurg, Panhala, Vishalgad,
Sajjangad and Ajinkyatara. The offbeat tracks included Umbrath-Tanaji Malusare
Smarak, Sangameshwar- in search of Sambhaji Maharaj’s Smarak, Kunkeshwar and
Kaneri Math.
The experience will be incomplete, if I am not mentioning
the delicacies we tasted. We were completely carnivorous and missed vegetarian
safaris at will. Of these worth mentioning are Kokam Kadhi, akkha masoor,
Prawns fry. The biryani and kokam kadhi at Chhaya hotel in Mahad
was nice. Tambda and Pandhra Rassa at Prajakta’s place, that was superb.
To top it up, finished the trip with delicious Pompfret fry at Abhishek’s
house. Simply awesome. I added some extra kilos, though we two had decided to
eat fruits only to shed some weight and to cope with the heat, but ironically
we never had any fruit in the whole journey.
The food added some extra kilos, the sun tanned my already
dark skin and I resemble more like an African chap. Surely, I came back more
ugly, than while I went. Still, I will say, in the book of my life I had added
a wonderful chapter, which most of the other guys will be envious of.
P.S:Giving below picasa web link for photos.
