Velneshwar Trip – Day 1

~2/21/09

My excitement was palpable by my sleep pattern the night before I left on this road trip. I couldn’t sleep! Not that it was something out of ordinary but still there was a reason this time around. When I am eagerly looking forward to something, I normally beat the alarm … did so on this occasion too. I had called up Rahul – my partner in arms for this trip – the night before and he was out for Delhi-6 :P so he would be sleeping late and would wake me up before he left Pune @ 05.30. I beat him too coz my alarm had been set to 04:45 ;)

It was chilly so needed hot water … while I waited for LPG to do its job, I posted the blog entry from the night before coz my net had ganged up on me earlier. Plan was to meet up with Rahul @ Shri Datta Snacks on Panvel naka at 8 AM and head onto NH-17 towards Pen together. He had a long way to cover – crossing whole of Pune and then making his way across old Mumbai highway (NH-4) so 2.5 hrs lead time sounded good enough. He did have a fairly new, borrowed Pulsar 150 at his disposal so he could rip the 110 Kms. I assumed! But murphys law is not hypothetical.

Well, as per the plan, I was all suited up, bag packed, medicines taken along (for my corny leg :P) and at my bike @ 06:10. My Discover was Reddy-serviced the day before so dint need to clean it up much. I was on my way at 06.15 sharp hoping to reach Panvel by 07:15. Took the JVLR – Airoli – Belapur route as people were setting off for their morning walks. I prefer this route in the morning coz it is less crowded and the air is full of fresh, unadulterated aroma of chemicals which line the route from Airoli to Belapur.

Hehe … it took me 55 mins to reach Shri Datta which is decent speed. I just had to stop midway to chuck away my gloves as it was getting warm and I wasn’t used to riding with them on. But I am glad I took them along as I will point out later on.

So Panvel naka @ 07:15 and I was joined by a Bullet gang … guys n gals (as pillions) – around 10-12 of them waiting at the naka … I got about waiting for Rahul, restraining myself from calling him up so as not to slow him down. A hot cuppa adrak-chai and some rising sun photos were followed by my favorite pastime – watching the myriad flow of humans out for the weekend in their cars and trucks and bikes. I had my eye on the bullet gang who were enjoying poha (another important factor on this trip) and not eager to get back on the road at all. I later understood that this was their meeting point too and they had a few more bikes to join them before they proceeded … so I had company. I was restraining my urge to gorge on poha and kesar shira and sabudana khichadi – just so that Rahul could join me. Our rendezvous time was 8 AM and I knew he would be late but I called him up at 8 sharp to check where he was. He did not take my call but I got a call back in 2 minutes saying “Reached Khopoli…where next?” told him the directions to this naka lest he go all the way to Panvel town as that was 5 kms further on. “On the crossroad of JNPT-Mumbai-Panvel-Goa, take a right and you will see this place with lotsa cars parked … and a Bullet gang ofcourse.” 30 minutes was what he said. He was almost correct. 36 mins it took him to cover the 30 odd KMS … and I was there to lead him into the parking. Black visor helmet n gloves … he was decked up too. He asked for the bullet gang but they had just left, having collected all their latecomers … once all of them were on their steeds, there was some heavy duty, synchronous honking – as if to announce “Make Way Y’aal … here cometh the mean machines”. They sure sounded mean.

The dude a.k.a Rahul, had missed the turn from Aundh to Hinjewadi and so had to double back …hence the delay. Well he was there and that’s all that mattered. I had breakfast swimming in my eyes and ears. So I dragged him along and we were soon hogging on poha, shira and khichidi as I had promised myself :D Pet pooja done, we were ready to move towards Pen and Konkan… We had to take the Goa highway which was fairly easy unlike the online map that I saw on some site which said take the NH-4B but there was no board saying which part was NH-4B. Well Goa highway was simple.
It was getting warmer especially with the jacket and the helmet on but once we were hitting 60 in moderate traffic, all was forgotten. After reading several posts on BN and having done some driving earlier, I knew driving in a group of bikes can be tricky but we were just 2 bikes so wasn’t much of an issue. I know one thing that one needs to have some logic and general presence of mind to drive well – where you are capable of taking driving decisions – and Rahul was kool on those lines.

So we passed Karnala Bird sanctuary (where it suddenly cooled down for a few minutes) and rode with the wester ghats on our left ... and a decent green countryside on our right. Pen came and we hit the Nh-17 to Mahad and Chiplun. There was some moderate car traffic but we guessed that it would be till Mahad where people go to visit one of the Ashtavinayaks there. Otherwise driving at 70-80 kmph was oooh-la-la  Rahul was driving safe, not taking his more powerful bike to full throttle while I was taking my bike to decent speeds considering my lower power. But we played one up – one down on each other … he would overtake me and go ahead and then I would catch up and go on ahead … this was fun as it kept your mind alert. One thing that was going on in my mind while I rode was what all I could write in my blog :D … it was funny coz later on when we took a stop, Rahul mentioned the same thing going on in his mind too … though I bet he aint gonna come up with anything … right mamu?
Mahad came around 11.30 … and we had taken a couple of stops already .. one for petrol for rahul’s pulsar … well actually Aasif’s pulsar which Rahul was driving and one for quenching our parched throats coupled with some back water photo sessions. This was a well shaded garden hotel with lots of place to laze around and it a soooper view of the backwaters … both our backs were also creaking by now … Rahul had driven a lot more than me but he was much more fitter than I am so we were at par … but I wanted to get back on the road coz that was what I come for … so we paid up our cola bill and left … headed towards Poladpur which was our next waypoint.

But before we hit Poladpur, there came a town called Manegaon which had a detour towards Guhagar and Velneshwar but through inside roads … some of which would go by the sea … but the roads were not so good supposedly so even though Rahul slowed down there, I signaled him ahead to stick to Nh-17 which was makkhan really – which for all means the road was smooth as butter … well almost!

I knew and had heard from people – darth Lucifer n others – about the ghats on this route so I was waiting for one … that’s when we came to Poladpur … and here we saw a turn towards Mahabaleshwar going towards the left. That was one of our return route options … atleast for Rahul as he would head home and so a mental note was made … the other option would have been from Mahad and through the Warandha Ghat … or via Tamhini ghat and Paud …

So with that in my mind, we crossed Poladpur and came to a sign which said “Kashedi Ghat starts here…”. Hurraaaaaaaaaaah ….. this should be fun I thought … and we zoomed off with renewed enthusiasm … Within the first 2 minutes after that moment, I could feel that “renewed enthusiasm” was way too mild … Kashedi is a bikers delight … constant twists n turns … (I am shaking my head as I write this … )that was how it was … we drove in these twisties for around 20 minutes and I can say for myself that It was pure adrenalin rush experience … I actually did a (left – right – left) * 2 curves, turning at a slope of 30 degs … which for a novice like me is a lot … if I probably had a faster handling bike with tubeless tyres n all .. I would have loved to go 45 degrees + … In this state of mind, I stopped at a wide turn ahead … and removed my helmet and looked back …. Rahul was slowing down waving his hands in the air like he had made a touchdown or hit a homerun (this the baseball home run for all those dirty minds) or some other great achievement. I was in a wide grin but his reaction made me go all toothy. We clicked away here and took in the road traversed
and the valley to our left … with the glory of the Sahayadari around it … it was well past noon and the remainder of our journey beckoned so we left, back to curving n curling down the Kashedi … I thought we would go down but there was still some climbing to do before the slopes started.
We were enjoying it all until we came to the foot of the ghat and were flagged down by traffic cops (or mama’s as they are referred to in this part of the globe). Probably a check post was what I thought till I saw the overturned oil tanker … we were heading towards an oil spill … all crude … cheap crude as it has been in the range of $35/barrel … so we slowed down to a crawl … carefully making our way through it all … the road was semi slick and dangerous to drive normally too … and so it remained for another kilometer. As the road got better, we had taken up another ghat – Parshuram ghat – so named after the warrior avatar of Vishnu. Up we went again … into some more curves … and after some time the sight that beckoned us to our right was magical. A valley … green like it was august and a wide river flowing through … Konkan, as I knew and had read about had arrived.
I have been in Maharashtra all my life and have come till harihareshwar but this was a totally different land – new for me … and do I regret not having come here before. This sight would explain why the Konkan railway is so popular … the train line passed right by (as can be seen at the bottom of the snap) but no snap can capture the visual delight that my eyes saw. Further on, we came to a signboard which said Chiplun – 20 KMS straight and Guhagar – 40 KMS to the right. Rahul was hungry and it was 2 PM but I convinced him to hold back his hunger till we reached Guhagar. So we turned towards our destination. The river that we had seen from up above was the Agastya river (named after Rishi Agastya) and it was in full flow. The currents were so rapid that it would have pulled us down river in no time. So that changed our minds and we skipped the idea of taking a dip.

40 KMS was the distance to Guhagar but this road was equally pleasurable to drive on … a fairly decent road … not makkhan but we could still hit 70 and there were a lot of twisters here too. We were eager to reach Guhagar/Velneshwar so we were zipping on the near empty roads. But 20 Kms down, we came to a crossing with another signpost pointing to the left saying Velneshwar 29 kms. Both of us stopped … confused … my idea had been that we have to pass guhagar to reach Velneshwar so this was unexpected. Asked a local and he said this was a direct road which was better than the one through Guhagar … so I smiled and Rahul and we took the turn – his stomach growling over the engine sounds. 50 – 60 – 70 and we were zooming closed to Velneshwar, on top of this mountain. Signpost said destination 4 kms but we were on the top of a mountain and no sign of any water … forget the sea.

Rahul’s hunger had now found volume … and we slowed down … we should have eaten before chiplun itself, he complained … 4 kms more dude … I went off and he came behind. That’s when I saw the sea at the distance … he passed me and said you are hallucinating mamu … chal aage …but I aint one to hallucinate at least this time … we reached a curve and we got our 3rd thrill of the day … a beautiful beach nestled between mountains, lined with palm trees about a km below us and we were on top of the mountain. Check out the photo lest am accused of over-reacting. This was Velneshwar. Thank You Darth for suggesting this place.

Some asking around and we reached Kinara beach house …right by the sight we saw from the top. Enquired and took a room – just 2 beds and an attached bathroom and nothing else … not even a fan … but a sea facing view with the waves at a distance of 200 meters from our door. What more could one ask for. We asked the owner if we could get lunch … it was already 4 PM … but he obliged us saying “aamti, bhakri only” … god bless you mate. Freshened up and came down in the backyard where there were tables setup and hogged on the aamti-rice bhakri (as is common here) – rice and mix vegetable generously made in coconut gravy. The taste was different but I was used to this at home so no complaints at all. Rahul took his own sweet time to finish as his habit is while I enjoyed the sun, coming down to meet up with the Arabian sea in the horizon. There wasn’t much noise except for the road of the waves – at 5 pm … so one can imagine how sparse the crowd was at that time. We sat talking and then we stopped – both of us had dozed off in the chair itself … I woke up to some noise behind to see some more tourists arriving and when I looked right, Rahul was dead … of exhaustion that is … the sun was almost into the sea and we had slept there for an hour. I woke him up to tell him that we had to get the sunset but all I got was a “hmmm get my camera…”. I ran up… well limped up actually as the ride had made the corn on my foot painful. But I didn’t want to get into my shoes and I dint have no slippers … so I raced off to the beach and the water edge and into the sunset … while Rahul continued his evening siesta.

The beach was empty … by city standards and it was clean … and the sand was very soft … and it was beautiful… and it was calm… one can only dream of these adjectives, staying in Bombay. I was only a few hours in Konkan and I was loving it. The people here – a mix of Marathas and Brahmins – were different than in the plateau regions inland. The way they spoke Marathi was as if they were singing. Puneri Marathi was supposed to be flowery but it seemed phony compared to this. “Hey bagha … pudhe jaoon davya bajula disel agdee samorach tumhala” :) No need to draw ur guns here … all I want to say is that it seemed a different world to me. Almost every other kid I saw, had green or brown or blue eyes. There were still old houses – wadas … it all seemed surreal for me.
Rahul had joined me and we had a long walk … the complete beach was around 2 kms long so it was easy. Walking in the soft sand was less of a worry for my feet and we reach the other end where there was a fishing village and the Velneshwar temple. There were a few more beach houses between Kinara and the village and we could see some city slickers at the beach now. Beyond the village in the distance was a power plant which we later found out was Jaigad Hydroelectric power plant – so the sea water was being put to good use. As the fishing boats came in for the day, with their catches and lights bobbing in the sea, we headed back to our haven.

Rahul wanted to feast on fish and only fish for dinner so we told the owner. That wasn’t a problem at all as fish was what people came here to eat. So I was da odd man out coz I asked for veg food… can’t stand the smell of fish let alone think of eating it… that’s me! A group of people had come by now… were from Karad… seemed like government babus and they had started on their boozing so I went back and lay down by the sea of water and beneath the sea of stars. This natural sight beats the planetarium anytime. Gazing at the stars – sound of the waves in the background and just your thoughts engulfing you! Hmmm … Rahul was busy playing sms-sms with my cell as his idea didn’t work there. I would have probably dozed off if it hadn’t been Rahul’s fish craving. So we went off to have dinner.

As we waited for it, the owner’s father came to chit chat with us … enquiring where we were from and what business we are into and he nearly lost his few remaining teeth when we said we had come on bikes from Pune/Bombay. It was really a nothing trip but for him and few more people there, it was a long trip to do on a bike. That was konkan. In the 20 minutes that he talked and we listened, he told us how his childhood had been spent there, when he got married, how he came about this land by the sea side, how his son started this business, how he has been barred from climbing the palm trees to collect “maadi” which is the pulp from the palm trees… how he was surprised to find that we were the only people there who were not boozing …! Phew! It was as if he hadn’t talked to a human being in ages. But it was nice listening to him. Some people can open up so easily with strangers. I find that very difficult but probably its coz of the simple life that he led …

Food was there and fishes were gobbled down while I enjoyed the cabbage and peas curry with a lot of grated coconut and bhakri and a special appetizer called Solkadhi which was made of mainly kokam. It was my first time having it and I loved it... Somewhat like jal jeera but has a lot more ingredients. As we were having our dinner the owners wife came down and kept asking us to have more of everything. These people have no MBA’s or service industry experience. Yet they cared for us like we were their only customers (which we weren’t). I have seen this in a lot of small town India and in the US too … people in the rural parts are much more hospitable and sweet than city dwellers. They don’t expect a lot in return and that puts us at ease.

Ah well …. Dinner was over and we hit the sack, totally bushed out … no strength left to do anything else. The sound of the waves was like a lullaby constantly trying to put us off to sleep. And that wasn’t a difficult task.

Disclaimer: This is long one. I know disclaimers are supposed to be at the start but hey at least you reached here ;) This is just day 1 btw :D