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Ganpatipule - On The Road by the Sea

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The destination for our monthly ride was chosen - Ganpatipule, a village famous for its temple on the beach. This is where it had all started for me, backpacking solo. My first visit here was around 12 years ago, as a 17-year old. I had come back here around 4 years ago too. And now, I was going back there, on a bike! It was nostalgic. Somewhere near Pali It was our usual meeting spot at 6 AM, the McDonald's at Kalamboli (Ronald McDonald probably knows us by our first names now). The regulars were Sanket, Saurabh, Abhishek and me. Swapnil had been with the gang on 2 rides before this. Ameya and Kunal completed the team. While we had Nitin who joined us only for breakfast. Although everyone met at McD, we went for breakfast at Datta Snacks, which is a famous food joint in Panvel, on the old Mumbai-Goa highway (or whatever is left of it). By the time we started, it was 8 AM, and it was hot already. Our first destination was Harihareshwar. The roads were mostly under main...
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Saputara – Why do we fall?

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Fresh from a ride to Igatpuri over the last weekend, the office bike riders’ gang had united this time, and we were headed to Saputara via a small village called Jawhar which was halfway between Mumbai and Saputara.                Jawhar is well known for Warli painting by the locals, and it had a palace too. We planned to visit the palace, have our lunch, and then proceed towards Saputara. The gang!                There were eight people in the plan – Abhishek, Pranav, Roy, Saurabh, Shukla, Sid and Yash.   And the plan was to start by 4.30 AM. I reached Belapur highway by 4.15 AM, and was joined by Shukla, and Yash arrived soon after. We were supposed to meet Sid at Thane by 5.15 AM, but just before reaching Thane, Shukla lost his way, and the three of us had waited for him for some time. I should’ve realized then that this was ...
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Uttarakhand - The Summer Escapade - III

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16 th March, Thursday – Day 7: Snow at Khaliya Top                A quick breakfast and tea, and we went off for the trek. We started our trek at 10 AM. There was another family with a guide. The guide advised us to eat the petals of a red flower, which had medicinal qualities. We plucked the flowers along the way, eating the petals. It was definitely effective. The trek was tiring, and we reached a resort midway during the climb at 12:30 PM. The resort was called Alpine resort, where we had a cup of tea and placed an order for lunch to be had on our way back. A bit of snow was visible now, as we continued our climb. We finally reached the top at 2 PM. It was covered in snow, and in my excitement, I picked some up, and stepped right into one foot of snow! My hands were numb, and I could hardly operate the camera – frost bite. We started descending as it started to snow. By the time we reached the resort, t...
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Uttarakhand - The Summer Escapade - II

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13 h March, Monday – Day 4: Clicked by our Safari jeep driver                Camera batteries charged, we had our pickup at 6. It was an exciting prospect to spot a tiger in the wild. We spotted a few birds in the beginning, a barking deer and a few other animals. But two hours into the safari, we started to get the feeling that there is not going to be any tiger spotting today. It had been the case for the past 4-5 safaris across the country in the past, but we’d hoped Corbett would be different. Three hours later, we completed the safari, disappointed that we couldn’t see a tiger. Stork-billed kingfisher                We returned to the hotel, and went off to explore the area behind the hotel. There was a river there. It was beautiful, and we stayed there for a while clicking photos. After returning from the river, we ch...
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Uttarakhand - The Summer Escapade - I

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10 th March, Friday – Day 1:                Our flight to Delhi was at 5:45 PM. I left office at 3, met Ashwin and Kiran at the airport by 4, purchased a copy of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ and got on the flight. The take-off was delayed by an hour, and by the time we landed at Delhi, it was 9 PM. Lakshmanjhula                I was supposed to book a train to Haridwar from Delhi, but I booked it for the wrong date, and we had to take the bus instead. The cab journey from airport to the bus stop was eventful too. The traffic on the way was blocked for an hour or so, because a VIP had to pass by! It had ‘Welcome to Delhi’ written all over it! The bus was just about to leave when we reached the bus stop. It didn’t though, and we were able to get in. It was a 5-hour journey to Haridwar from Delhi, and the bus was reasonably comfortabl...
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Kalsubai –Heights of Trekking!

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The moon Pun intended in the title! We gathered at Kasara railway station at 4.30 PM. The plan was to get to the base village called Bari, rest for the night, and start the climb early next morning. There were nine of us reminding me of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. We got into a cab, which would seat nine, to reach the village. It took us two hours  to reach Bari, and we started to settle into the place that would be our home till our return the next day. We freshened up and went for a walk around the village. The house opposite to ours had a beautiful graffiti painting, done by someone who had also visited the place for the trek. We went to the village temple, where kids were singing bhajans , and it was a wonderful experience to watch them at it. I wouldn’t know if they understood the words of what they sang, but the joy on their faces, as they danced with the little cymbals ringing was pure emotion! Dinner We left the temple after a while, and returned to ou...
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Kashid – Riders reunited

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Parked on the way                This weekend, the destination was Kashid, around 100 kms from Navi Mumbai. I’d met with a minor accident a couple of days back, and both me and the bike were a little damaged. But after people coming in and dropping out of the plan, there were just the two of us who would be riding out on Saturday morning – Me and Moses. I had done my first ever ride with Moses in October, 2016 on a borrowed bike. The Arabian Sea                We started at 6 AM from Belapur (he started at 5 from his place). The road was supposed to be a national highway, but it had deteriorated badly. It was difficult to ride on it, and the average speed was around 40 kph with the trucks and buses adding to the traffic. Once we left the highway, riding was easier. Although there were a few bad patches, traffic had eased out. We h...
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