J Krishnamurti's Quote....

"It is a terrible thing to rely on another about the way of life, to be told what to do, how to behave, what righteousness is or is not- this seems to me a state of immaturity and no one can make you mature; all that one can do is to listen and learn...... "

Busy, busy and busy....

I am bugged with this word 'busy".....Are people really busy? ? I have actually stopped calling people who responded to my call saying they were / are busy with work...agreed that they might be busy for one day, two days, three days but cannot be for weeks!!..i refuse to take this explanation.....have realised that it is a question of priority... Do you think, that they may not have called a single person for those many days...absolutely not!!!...they definitely call their family, clients....for these, they are not busy..but when you call, they will give thousands of reasons (or are they excuses!!) for not calling / remembering you.....uuuughhhhhhhhh...I hate these kind of people!!!!!!

Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri (March 2-4, 2012)

Every birthday ends up either by going to office, if it is a weekday or at home if it is a Sunday / holiday...Fortunately/unfortunately, if not any other day, but on birthday I end up reminiscing on my past ...Result: : no significant achievement which I could boast of .....This year, I made it a point  that I will visit one religious place within India on my birthday...Since any good / new work starts with praying to Lord Ganesha, I started my first religious visit by going to Ganpatipule....

It was an overnite journey by ST bus. Reached Malgund around 7.30am......One of my friend Mr. Shailesh Salgaonkar, suggested me to stay at Malgund instead of at MTDC resort in Ganpatipule. This place is 2 kms away from Ganpatipule. I was hesitant at first, since I was travelling alone and the place also was new to me. However, i decided to give it a try...I was in for surprise, I realised, I had taken a very wise decision by heeding his advice. (Generally i listen to people but dont follow them or their advice)...First instance, I fell in love with the place.....It was a small village....with trees on both sides of the road....The place was very calm.....

First Spot: Keshavesut Smarak:

This is a place of a very famous marathi poet Keshavsut...This place is now being used as a hostel and a public library. This library stacks approx. 25000 books and has been awarded as the best public library. 

Second Spot: Omkareshwar temple: This temple is located slightly away from the residential area.Nearby there was nothing except farms. Not a single person could be sighted near the temple. I was bit scared to sit in the temple. However, thought I shdnt be scared since it was a temple. God is there with me...Sat for sometime...Place was so serene that i could hear the sound of the wind....Felt too good.....I could actually feel positive vibrations all over the place. 


Third spot: Someshwar temple: Locations and the atmosphere was very similar. This temple had a nice sitting place outside the temple...temple was made up of wood. Temple was locked but could see the diety from outside. Could hear the woodpecker's call. This place was also lonely. Not a single person was in sight. Was thinking If God happens to pass by, I would be the only one to get all the wishes granted!!!!!!!!

Liked the place so much, that i was completely engrossed in reading prayers. Decision of coming to this place was worth it!!


Fourth spot: Ram mandir: This temple was one of the oldest temple. It had a huge place. Students come here for study. 


Fifth Spot: Vitthal Mandir: Same calmness. temple was not locked. opened it sans making any noise...Noticed that there was no daan peti....


Sixth Spot: Hanuman mandir:  This temple was also closed. However they had put Hanuman mantra on the record. finally some sound!!!!!


Had a lovely lunch at SWAD... Ambiance and food was tooooooooo good....liked the restaurant very much. 

Visited Prachin konkan. They had depicted the old konkan through mud images....


Ganpatipule Temple:  Walked from Prachin konkan place to Ganpatipule. It was almost 1 and 1/2 kms. Walking in these places is not at all tiring. You feel like just walking...cool air and less pollution.....Temple is situated at the banks of the beach. pradakshina is 1km. one has to walk around the temple. After Ganpati darshan, sat a the beach. Sunset was tooooooo good. Enjoyed this visit very very much.....


Next day: Birthday...early morning went to malgund beach...On the way, met many female farmers.... aksed them where they were going...was sure they were not going to the beach....they said they were working at the farms...There is this particular seed called "kulit"  which is a local food. these seeds have to be removed before sunrise...could hear the sound of the waves. beach was clean and hardly 5 - 6 people were on the beach....had a lovely walk along the beach. watched the sunrise...suddenly remembered that i forgot to carry my camera...was cursing myself....(when i told this to my brother, he said but Tai u had mobile with you.!!!!)....missed capturing sunrise pictures....however they were captured with my eyes....while returning took a shortcut..crossed from the farms...had a lovely breakfast....

Visited Ganpatipule mandir to get blessings on my birthday.......sat for few minutes....this was one of my best celebrated birthday...praying at Ganpatipule.........

Ganpatipule temple

Since Velneshwar temple is famous for Shiva's temple, everywhere you will find images of the snakes..it is said that snake actually visits on Shivaratri day.....Since I had gone on other, I could not witness the visit of the snake..Had this wish of seeing actual snake since had heard that there were many in the village...when i was returning back from Karateshwar mandir, i actually got to see a snake crossing the road.......

Shri Swami Samarth

Later on, visited Hidvi, Velneshwar, Jaigad fort, Karateshwar mandir, Swami Samarth math and finally lighthouse....

Have you thought of ? ? ?....

I recently bought a VIP suitcase for the trek....Selected a maroon colour bag suitable for 8-10 days of vacation....this bag is sans wheels...One needs to lift it up....In the shop I could easily lift the bag since it was empty...The salesman also said this bag is better than others (meaning the bags with the wheels)..I usually rely on the salesman's advice. However, the decision turned out to be incorrect....bag became very heavy to carry once the stuff was in....since i had invested money in the bag, didn't wanted to show my stupidity for not opting bag with the wheels.....when i was carrying the bag at the Mumbai central station, my friend said i took a good decision by not opting for a wheeled bag...I looked at her enquiringly...she said, I am helping the coolie fellows by buying a non wheeled bag..she said becos of the wheels people have started carrying their own bags instead of taking the help of the Coolie !!!!!!!!!!!!!HUSH!!!!!!!!

Trek - Deo Tibba Base, Manali (May 21/June 02)

Trekking is an addiction! !...Once you do it and you are hooked...Only one needs to go with an open mind..no luxuries / no expectations.....end result is the "immense satisfaction".....people have always asked me, what happiness you get by climbing mountains, not taking baths for days, staying in tents / schools/ dormitories.....I just smile and tell them to experience only one trek...and they themselves will realize...no-one can describe the happiness which we get, but one has to experience on their own ...I manage to do one trek a year...this year it was Manali.....went with a "Zhep adventures", Pune..Trek was from Delhi -Manali - Delhi....My friend (Mukta) and myself booked rajdhani...We both prefer taking a train rather than flying....you get to meet people on the train...journey becomes quite enjoyable...Our fellow passengers were  interesting lot...one family with 3 kids and one guy who happened to be on a trek to Manali...of course not from our group...

We joined our group at Delhi....From Delhi we went by bus to reach the base camp at Manali...It almost took 18 hrs to reach the bus camp...normally it takes 14 hrs to reach Manali. Since the vehicle was a local bus..had difficulty in climbing the mountains.....Everyone who treks to Himalayan mountains..they have only one thing in mind..to see the snow clad mountains and the journey thru greenery / pollution free roads! ! ! the view of the mountains is so magnificent that you feel you are in HEAVEN!!!!!!

Finally we reached our base camp (Prini village, 3 kms from Manali)..we freshened ourselves..had a good dinner....instructions were given for the next camping sites..and the minimal things that we would carrying for the next 6 day trek...

Day 1 of the trek: Thakshak Nag, Arjun Gufa to Tilgan....(10kms)

• reached Sharban temple...beautiful wooden structured temple...surrounded by huge trees..almost 200 yrs old.... en route to Tilgan, via Shuru Gaon..crossed many farms & gardens...plums / cherry / apples/ apricots / spring onion / garlic,/ variety of roses. .Reached Tilgan camp (2100 ft) around 1pm. View of the camp site was superb...all the tents had a good view of snow clad mountains...view was breathtaking..it was worth the trek...we were given a welcome drink , followed by soup and then lunch....food was too good....later there was an net climbing activity followed by tea and snacks.....followed by soup..dinner..day ended with a campfire with hot chocolate....

Day 2 of the trek: Sarra Bhogi (10 kms) (2900 ft)

• started for the 2nd camp at 8am..after a sumptous breakfast we were given energy packets....we crossed mountains / lakes, snow falls, walked through forests....mostly there were pine and deodhar trees... reached the camp around 1pm..every camp had a menu set...welcome drink, followed by lunch, tea & snacks, soup, dinner, hot drinks....it is very essential to have liquid drinks since the intake of water is less as you go higher & higher....and one activity....we did valley crossing...

Day 3 of the trek: Kharimindiyari (10 kms) (3100 ft)

• en route, took halt at a place Jogi dug ...this was the place where people worshiped Bhajwan Fali Nag..This Nag is the smallest one out of the 18 Nags.. Every three years people take procession of the Nag idol through the villages....reached the camp at 12.30pm...every camp was better than the earlier in terms of the breathtaking view.....we did Rappelling...
• Passing thought: do these mountains enjoy visitors???or do they think we are nuisance!!!they need to be left alone???

Junifer leaf

Day 4 of the trek: Zameer (12kms) (3050ft) 

• camp was too good...surrounded by mountains,  water falls.. deodhar trees, bhoj patra trees 9ancient people used their leaves for writing) Junifer trees (used for agarbattis),  .these are used instead of agarbattis at the temple...reached the camp at 12.45pm.... experienced snow fall in the evening..did rock climbing...

Day 5 of the trek: Deo Tibba base (3900 ft)

• this was our last camp site....it is said that gods reside on this mountain..that is why the name Deo Tibba...one can actually visualise the mountain image..it was just like Lord ganesh resting on the mountain.....site was simply superb....one has to see to believe it...one could actually feel the positive energy....we could actually feel we were in heaven....our tiredness just vanishes after seeing the beauty of the mountains.....one interesting observation I made...right from the first camp till the last camp, one  particular bird gave us company ..that was the CROW!!! is that the reason why it has so much of importance in religious rites, I wonder!!!!Looking at the mountains, one is forced to think whether these mountains play any role in protecting US!!!..the answer is YES....they withstand all the seasons... .they protect us from all the natural calamities....it is very essential that we save them...
• .had a lovely time on the glacier.....in the evening it rained heavily...it was too cold.....we actually had to borrow additional clothing from the organizers to survive the cold....

Day 6 of the trek: Ooching Bihai (10 kms) (2900 ft)

• started our return journey...since the camp was at the lower lever, climate was slightly better....did river crossing...could do only half the crossing..was scared stiff looking at the river...

Day 7 of the trek: back to Base camp

• en route to the base camp, crossed Allain Duhagan Hydra power project (192 MW)...
• Pandu Ropa...it is said that Pandus stayed here..
• Reached base camp...

Noticed that all the houses had two horns on the top of the roof..considered to be an auspicious ...and every house had apple and apricot trees and rose shrubs.....

They even have a festival in which they throw apricots in each other's garden....reason being too much apricot cultivation.....

We started our return journey from Delhi.back to Mumbai...was feeling very bad leaving all the nature behind...however was already planning for the next year trek....told you, trekking is an "addiction" ! ! !