India never ceases to amaze me or Surprise me. This country has fascinated me from the first day I travelled in a truck while moving from a small town to Delhi when I was 3 till right now whenever I get into a train and see obscure villages and towns go by.
Kashid has been a long awaiting trip for me. Ever seen I saw pictures of the long winding roads leading to the beach and the palm trees lined up alongside the white sands, I have been itching to see this heavenly place with own eyes! The moment arrived on a Saturday when we set our course for Kashid in a friend’s car.
It’s become a feature of my weekends now. A new place to visit and explore every Sunday and last Sunday was no different! Korlai was always on the agenda and this time my friends and me were eager to check out the lighthouse and the fort. Though the initial plan was to ride all the way to Alibaug, where Korlai is located, we decided to head by boat to save on time (Which we eventually didn’t!). A quick view at the Google Maps made us relatively comfortable that Ferry Warf (Bhaucha Dhakka), from where bikes can be ferried to Alibaug wasn’t so far away from Bandra, but alas we still ended up getting lost! Thankfully some really helpful and extremely sleep uncles (yes in that order) did help us figure out the way to Bhaucha Dhakka and boy were in time or what! Reached there just 5 minutes before the boat left the shores! Phew!
It is been a see-all-the-beaches-you-can-while-you-can for the last few weekends and this weekend was no different. A 2-day trip to Diveagar was planned for the Diwali weekend of 17th and 18th October 2009. Planned by a colleague,
Daniel, I tagged along with another colleague Neville and Daniel’s cousin Rohit and common friend Nilu. We met at 7 in the morning at Sion Station and headed out towards Vashi. From there we went to Panvel and took the Mumbai-Goa Highway (NH17). For most part of our journey we were on NH17 which is a pleasant ride! Finally after reaching Mangaon we took a right turn to go to Diveagar, the place where a 1000 year old full-gold statue of Lord Ganesha was found!. Below is the road map of the route (Source: Google Images) we took to reach Diveagar.
The coming of New Year day always fills in my soul a kind of excitement and adventure to just move away from the normal monotonic area and visit some far away loving places close to natural beauty.
When I was a child New Year just meant a day off from school, greeting ‘Happy New Year’ to all the neighbors, relatives and a kind of planning day for good things I am going to bring in my life in the new year. A day after New Year generally begins with wishing of the same to classmates and teachers.
When I was in my 11th an
d 12th class the New Year just meant nothing since I was too busy in my preparation of IIT-JEE exams.
When I joined college the New Year eve used to fell always in the holiday period after Autumn Semesters of current year. So, most of the time I found myself locating to my hometown enjoying with bunch of my classmates who also used to come home during same period.
Then comes last week of my year 2005 and also my 2nd last semester when ‘Mood Indigo’ cultural festival of IIT-B gave me chance to visit the campus of IIT-B in Mumbai.
The fest got over two days before the New Year night and my friends and his hostel mates decided to visit a place called ‘Murud Beach’ near to Alibagh around 160 Km from Mumbai. So, there I was celebrating my first new year at a place near to sea and scenic beauty.
