3rd Trip : A Trip To Mahableshwar and Panchagani.

2009-10-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

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Introduction :-
:-) Hi... How are you guys.. M back? Believe Me Friends when you are staying in Mumbai and working in a Software Company it becomes "Mandatory" ( * ) to have a break every 3 months or atleast 6 months. We have already covered more than this tenure without a single break and this trip to Mahabaleshwar was a result of that Fatigue. This is my first break after joining Mastiff, my new company.
We made this plan way before. We made this plan in the very first week of September. 2nd October 2009(Friday and Gandhi Jayanti) so holiday, Saturday and Sundays are holidays in this company also so again a descent time span to spend out.
(Please note that I stay in Panvel, Navi Mumbai and we were using our own Maruti 800 for the trip.)
Our Plan : -
As I said in the first para of Introduction that this plan was out of Fatigue and Frustration. We were so much frustrated that we were actually just hunting around in the calender in search of Holidays. We noticed that 2nd October 2009 was a holiday being Gandhi Jayanti and to our luck it was a Friday which meant that again Friday, Sat and Sunday... 3 consecutive holidays.. :) .. I called up MTDC main office in Mumbai and got the number of MTDC in Mahableshwar.. I called them up 2 Weeks before.. Spoke to Mr. Avinash.. Telephone numbers are furnished in the end... He told me that "Sir, Booking toh sirf Online Hota hai.. " I said, "Ab 2 din ke booking ke liye mujhe naya credit card lena padega.. Mera confirmed hai aana, please kar dijiye na.." He said.. "Aap aane ke 1 - 2 din pehle call kijiye.." Ok, I said... Called him up on 1st October 2009 and got the room booked..

2nd October 2009 :-

Morning 4' O Clock wake up and finish your morning schedule as everyday :-) . This time we decided to leave more early.
Sharp 5' O Clock me and my wife inside the car.
Reaching NH-4 (Thane - Satara - Chennai) by 5:15 am.
Drive Non-Stop to Mahableshwar and reach by 12:30 pm.
Visiting few points in the remaing half after having lunch.
Back to MTDC by 7:00 or last by 8:00 PM.

3rd October 2009 :-

Wake up by 7:00 AM and finish our regular and irregular jobs. Out by 8:00 AM for touring.
Visiting Pratapgadh, Panchagani and few more points in Mahabaleshwar.
Back to MTDC by 7:00 or last by 8:00 PM.

4th October 2009 :-

Leaving MTDC by 9:00 AM.
Visiting few more points and then leave for Panvel.
Have lunch some where near Pune or Lonavala.
Back home by 1:00 PM.

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Day 1 : - (2nd October 2009)
We woke up at 4:00 am and were ready by 5:00 am to leave. Got delayed by 5 mins but thats ok.
The schene here that you can see is a scene that has been taken at 6:00 AM as there was no natural light at all.. And guys remember, all the photographs are taken by my NOKIA N 70. Although from next trip I will be having my new KodakZ1015IS camera with me which has 10 MP, 15X zoom and a good flash. I bought this yesterday on diwali, 17th October 2009, it has a nice flash, so getting photos at night is not a big headache for me now.
This photo is taken when we were crossing Mahad. It was then 7:45 AM. Feeling good. The headlights were still on as it was a bit foggy. I was on the top of the world enjoying the drive. My car must be cursing me "Sala kaise insaan ke haath me gir gaya... har 3 Mahine baad ghode jaisa bhaga ta hai.. :D " .. But I really respect my car. We had taken some 2 packet of bread and 1 bottle of jam for eating as you feel hungry when you get up early in the morning. So while I was driving, my wife applied jam on bread and was feeding me also.. :D .. she feeds me by her own hand when I am driving.. :D ..
While travelling, after crossing Mahad, we came accros acres of land associated with a steel factory, the "Jindal Steel Factory". As I was driving fast, missed out the Main Entrance of the factory, khair bhagte huye chor ka dhoti bhi bahaut hota hai.. I got this photo for you guys.. :D .
We reached Poladpur fata at about 8:30 AM. The road in the Poladpur ghat is not so good.. Its very rocky. Our small baby Maruti 800 had to do a bit of Off-Road ride, but I guess it didnt mind. But remaining road was good. Almost 12 KM before Mahabaleshwar we found a good hotel and we halted there for Break fast. Had Kanda poha. By that time it was 9:15 AM.
After having our break fast again we headed towards Mahableshwar. Actually the view points started from here, the entire road view was beautifully drawn by nature. Below are the some pictures that we have taken in a water fall which we came across while moving towards Mahabaleshwar.
After doing some photo shooting over here we then headed towards MTDC restaurant.

The MTDC restaurant itself is a beauty and a tourists spot. Its huge and occupies a vast area of land.

After reaching MTDC we contacted Mr. Avinash, with whome we have had done the telephonic booking. He gave us a Economy Room (ER 5) ... Not so good, Not so bad type of room.. 800 Rs/- day.. It was 500 Rs/- day till 1st of october, and the tariff changed from 2nd of october as it was the starting of season.

We kept our luggage (only one big handbag). Got freshed up. And left the room for site seeing.We first visited Venna Lake. It was a huge lake. Just see the number plate of car. We also did not notice when did this happen :D . I guess it happened when we were crossing the Poladpur Ghat. At the time of taking this photo also we were not knowing that number is missing from number plate. By the time we left from Venna Lake it was 1:30 PM. We were hungry, so before preceeding towards the next point we planned to have our lunch. On the way of going to Panchagani (we didnt go to Panchagani Today), we so a open restaurant on the road which seemed to be good. We had भाकरी and भरीत . Good to taste and good in quantity but a little bit costly. After having our lunch, we headed towards Katest Point. We thought that other points were far from each other but it was totally different then what we thought. It was one big point and each side was named as 1 point. :D ..After covering this we went to Mahableshwar temple and Panchaganga temple. I was actually very tired and was raining a little bit and wanted to have a smoke with tea so I visited only Mahableshwar temple and then handed over my Nokia N 70 to my wife as she was going to Panchaganga Temple.
By the time I had finished having tea and cigi, my wife also came back from Panchaganga temple. And then we headed towards other points. Not knowing what all points we will be able to see in the direction we were moving we came reached a point where we could see marjorie point, elphinston point, lingamala fall, Arthurs Seat point, Marjorie point. After going to so many places we were tired and wanted to settle down for the day. So we planed to get back to MTDC. Also that since it was getting late, as we head towards MTDC the enviornment will become darker and darker. And we were right on this point. We drove back to MTDC and reached MTDC at 6:00 PM and trust me guys it was looking as if it was 8:00 or 9:00 PM and it was raining too. The first day was paisa wasool. We were tired. So we thought of having the dinner in the room only, because we had some bread and jam of morning. If we did not have that, It will go for a waste. So after coming back to room, I just washed my hands and legs, my wife got freshend up.. and we went to MTDC restaurant for a cup of tea.. Had tea and a plate of Kanda Bhajiya.. Then came back.. It was just 7:00 PM.. We just sat talking to each other.. Had a little nap of 2 hours.. At 9:00 PM, I alone went to the restaurant and bought Chicken Biriyani and Chicken Lolipop. The worst ever I had.. Trust me guys.. WORST.. Somehow had some biriyani, ate the bread and jam and complete lolipop and remaining biriyani into the dustbin... and went to sleep...

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Day 2 : - (3rd October 2009)

As we do every time, we got up early morning at 7:00 AM. Ready to leave from MTDC by 8:00 AM. Our todays plan was to go to visit Pratapgadh Fort and Panchagani. And belive my guys, this was the best day in all 3 days. You will understand when you see the photographs. As planned we went to Pratapgarh fort. But before we reached Pratapgadh fort on the way we saw a shivajis handcraft exibition center. This exhibition had life history of Shivaji in short embosed on Brass. See photographs. Entry fee is 20/- but worth paying and visiting. Inside there is shop where you can buy things. Even in the exhibition you can buy things. Prices are bit high. We did not buy anything.

After visiting this hand craft exhibition we headed towards Pratapgadh fort. The pratapgadh fort was full of fog and cannot be seen anything beyond 10 meters. The guides forced us to hire them saying that "इधर बहुत सारे पॉइंट्स है, आपको पता नही चलेगा " and since my wife is very much interested in historical things, so we hired a old guide here you can see his photo in the album.

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The pratapgadh fort itself is huge and spread over a wide are.

The guide told us that it had total of 785 steps to climb. I was like just laughing at myself. My wife also started laughing at me. We did not know what to do. So we started climbing steps by steps. The guide told us that he was one of the "Kille'dars" during the time when Shivaji ruled. He was 78 and still climbed Pratapgadh for daily 3 times taking tourists. Then we had our lunch at almost 1:30 pm in a restaurant which was in the fort itself.

This is what we had. भाकरी, मसाला वांगा, पीठला, कांदा and ठेचा ! Guys I had in all 6 भाकरीस . My wife was like shocked to see me having 6 of them. Generally 2 is enough as it is very very think. :) so cheers to my stamina. The food was much cheaper and better that we had food in MTDC hotel..."Shee"ken.. So what I did was, I packed 8 bhakris and double masala wanga and double pithla. Told the hotel owner to pack more thechaa and kaanda.

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After that we decided to go towards Panchgani. There we saw Mapro garden.

Basically Mapro is a company which produces Jelly's and Jams from fresh fruits. Its a factory of food products. The Mapro factory is small and located inside the Mapro garden itself.

Very nice a beautifull area. Lots of food stuffs are available. I had a strawberry ice-cream and my wife had a choclate cake. It is so beautiful and wide spread that we were actually not willing to move from there. The road was all over foggy, pleasant, charming and .. how could I forget.. romantic.. specially when you are alone with your wife.. :)

The strawberry ice cream that I had they actually made in front of me from fresh strawberry pulp. 45 Rs but worth because of its quantity and more than that its quality and taste. My mouth is still watering.

After finishing Mapro garden, we went towards Parsi hill. Nice cool place. But again full of fogs. Could not see anything. We chose a wrong time to visit mahableshwar, we should have gone this December and January. During this December - Feb, its chilled and clear. And you get strawberries to eat also. We did not get strawberry to eat. After Parsi hill we went to Bhilar water fall and then at the end Rajapuri caves.

After reaching Rajapuri caves, we found that we could have skipped it for few reasons like, its very long, only 2 caves, woman are not allowed as the temple within the caves is of Kartikeya. Panditjee did not allow to do photography. The reason that he said was, if any woman see the photograph of Kartike then she becomes a widow within a week.

After that we returned back to MIDC. Took a stroll in that area itself. Had our dinner, that we bought from pratapgadh.Tummy full.. Good night.. Sweet dreams...

Day 3 : - (4th October 2009 - Last Day)

In these 3 days we missed few points. So decided to cover those before we leave for Panvel. We went to Lodwick point, it was a monument of some dead अँगरेज़ (British)...

After Lodwick point we again halted at Parsi point as it was on the way towards Panchagani. The best point that we visited was the Sydney point. I cant express it in words and you need to go and experience it. This photo is from Sydney point itself.

After this we left for Panvel. While returning we came thru Wai. The route is lenthy but its चिकना .. No problem at all.. In wai we halted in a restaurant and had something. Wai is a place which joins Mahableshwar and NH 204. So while coming back we caught the NH 204 and came back by 4:30. In Lonavala we halted for lunch in Annapurna hotel. Nice hotel. Had something very light. It was raining heavily in Lonavla. Then we drove non-stop to Panvel and reached Panvel home by 4:30 pm.

बातें भूल जाते है ... पर यादें रह जाती है..... :) सुहाने सफर की सुहानी यादें ....

Travelling Direction / Route Map : -
NH - 17 - Panvel to Poladpur. Then Left turn from Poladpur till Mahabaleshwar.
Mahableshwar to Wai and then NH - 204 Wai to Panvel.

Important Phone Numbers : -
MTDC Mahabaleshwar : 02168-260318

Total Expenses : -
Toll : 25 Rs (while coming)
Petrol: 500/-
LPG: 700/-
Food: 1000/-
MTDC : 1000/-
Misc Expenses : 800/- (Cigrete, Bidi, Hukka, Time paas munchies for my wife :) )

Tools / Accessories / First Aid carried : -
Tools: One rope, पाना, पीन्चिस, torch light, screw driver, blade, hammer, electric wire and few other things
Accessories: Nothing
First Aid: Lomotil, Metrozil, Metacin, Detol, bath Soap and paper soap, cotton, bandage, bandaid, boroplus, burnol and others.

Next Plan
Aurangabad, Shani-Shingnapur, Ajanta and Ellora. (If time permits then Nashik and Shirdi also).

Our Travelling History and Geography....

3rd Trip : A Trip To Mahableshwar and Panchagani.