Family Sojourn...visit...short break...vacation...and lot more: 2010

On the occasion of Datta jayanti, one of our relatives called up and asked to visit their resort located at Girivan http://www.girivanpicnic.net/ near Paud village. Last year they have built a temple in the resort which was the main reason for this trip. We decided to make this a short sojourn. My cousin’s family also joined us.

We started from home at 1:00 pm. Soon we were joined by my cousin’s family near Chandni chowk. There was heavy traffic till Pirangut. As usual we had an argument at the unauthorized Toll Booth. I paid 27 Rs at the toll booth. This toll booth is illegal and unnecessary. You can always spot few goons collecting the toll. Though many times this has been highlighted in news papers, authorities are not taking any action. Road till Pirangut is in good condition with exception at Bhugaon village. After Pirangut, road was ok with broken patches in between. We reached Paud at 1:35 pm. After reaching Paud village, we took right towards Girivan. This road is in bad condition with lot of potholes. Also the road is very narrow. You have to take your car off road for oncoming traffic. We reached Girivan phata around 2:00 pm. There is a small ghat to reach Girivan. This resort actually is a scheme of bungalow plots on a hill. You can see many beautiful bungalows in it. We drove to the extreme end where the resort is located. In Girivan, they have given marathi names of flowers to all the small roads. There was Gulab path, Bahava path etc. We reached Sahyadri Retreat http://www.sahyadriretreat.com/ at around 2:15 pm.

We were welcomed by my uncle and aunty. I had visited their resort around 6 to 7 years back. It was simple farm house. However seeing the resort in its current state is definitely surprising. It’s a carefully planned resort with lots of greenery. First we visited the Gurudevdatta temple and offered prayers. Then uncle and aunty showed us entire resort. It has around 5 to 6 self contained rooms, a family hall having 8 beds and a big hall where 20 to 25 people can be accommodated. You can see nature at its best in the resort. The plants selection and the areas dedicated to specific type of plants are absolutely beautiful. There is a big pond containing hundreds of lotus flowers. From one side of the resort you can see Tikona fort, Hadshi temple and many Sahyadri mountain ranges at a distance. On the other side there was a big black mountain next to the resort. The sheer size of this mountain was scary though inviting for trekkers. The resort also has a farm growing vegetables. There are different varieties of flowers. Everything was maintained very well. Resort tour was done in an hour or so. Then we had nice hot tea.

We then went to Hadshi village which is around 3 to 4 kms from Girivan. This village has a beautiful Vitthal mandir, Shree Satya Sai baba mandir. The area is absolutely beautiful. Actually the temple is built around 8 to 9 years back. It was officially inaugurated by Satya Sai baba last year in October. We have visited this place earlier. At the parking, the smell of garam bhaji coming from the canteen couldn’t stop us from eating first. The rates are on higher side but the snacks very tasty. Then everyone took darshan in the temple. We also went to dhyan mandir which is a beautiful hall. After clicking lots of photos we started driving back to Pune. Drive back home was uneventful.

This trip was short and sweet. It gave everyone a nice break. We decided to visit Sahyadri Retreat soon and next time we will definitely stay overnight. 2 to 3 hrs are not enough to enjoy the nature.

I will post more photos shortly.

Paud Road

Silver Arrow waiting for 2nd car at Girivan Phata

You can cut sugar cane from field and get the juice. Amazing.

Shree Dutta mandir

Sahyadri Retreat garden

Lotus pond

Beautiful flowers

Beautiful

Close up shot of yellow lotus

Guns and Roses...no need of gun though :)

Red color Krishna Kamal...a very rare flower

That's Tikona

Hadshi temple

Walkway

Mountain next to the resort

Look at the number of papayas

Hadshi Temple entrance

Vithal Mandir

Beautiful Fountain and surroundings

Visiting Ambajogai was the next priority after visiting Malvan. During our malvan trip we came to know that Ambajogai is the kul daivat of all chitpavan bramhans. Also performing Ambajogai’s kulachar is most important. We finalized the dates 27, 28 Nov considering the main goal of this trip to be Ambajogai darshan.

We started searching for online information about Ambajogai. Very little information is available on internet since it’s not a famous place. Initial plan was to visit Ambajogai only however Tuljapur was also included. We decided to visit Tuljapur on day one and stay at Ambajogai and come back to Pune on day two. Initially I was desperate to drive however everyone protested and suggested to hire a car. Also my in-laws were supposed to join us so I agreed to hire car. While searching on internet I came across a very good blog site (http://myharshalpicnics.bolgspot.com/) containing Ambajogai yatri nivas, Hotel Krishna and Guruji phone numbers. This information turned out to be one of the most critical factors of this trip. There’s only one well known hotel having decent accommodation. I called up the hotel however it was full. Wife called up yatri nivas and immediately booked 3 rooms. Charge per room was 250 Rs. We booked Innova considering the long distance travelling and the comfort this car provides. Innova rates are always high as compared to other cabs. Tried negotiating the rates and finalized at 12 Rs per kilometer. On 26th called up yatri nivas and confirmed our room reservation. We prepared our luggage and packed up all the necessary things. I was feeling relaxed since I was not driving this trip. I also called up the driver Mr. Ansar and explained him our address. We decided to leave home by 6:00 am.

Route taken
Pune-Indapur-Solapur-Tuljapur-Dhoki-Kalamb-Ambajogai-Parli Vaijnath-Beed-Jamkhed-Ahmednagar-Pune

Places visited
1) TuljaBhavani temple
2) Ambejogai temple
3) Sakshi ganesh temple
4) Renuka mata temple
5) Mul Ambajogai temple
6) Parli Vaijnath temple

On day one we were ready by 5:30 am. My 3 year old daughter was also ready to embark on this journey. White Innova arrived at 5:45 am as planned. I got the first surprise of this trip. The Innova had 2 captain seats in the middle row. This posed a problem since we were 6 adults and 1 child. So we decided that I will sit in the front row, my mom and dad in the middle seats and wife and in-laws in third row. We started from at 6:00 am (trip meter: 21) and picked up in laws. I was skeptical of the Pune Solapur national highway no 9 since it’s very notorious for bad road and traffic jams. Also it’s a two lane highway adding to more problems. Everyone insisted that we stick to the regular road. NH9 is in the worst condition from the start. There was heavy truck traffic all the way. Our progress was very slow though our driver was extremely skillful. I would highly recommend everyone not to take this route. We reached Kurkumbh at 7:55 am (trip meter 110). We stopped at Bhigwan at 8:30 am at our regular hotel. Hotel Sagar is a nice place serving good breakfast items. We left hotel Sagar at 8:55 am. Near Ravangaon we saw heavy traffic jam and the vehicle queue was almost 3 kilometers long. Ansar bhai skillfully took the Innova out of the jam. Because of his presence of mind we could save almost 2 hrs. The traffic jam was due to truck accident. Journey till Solapur was tiring and boring due to bad roads and heavy traffic. We came across traffic jam multiple times.

Loni – 9:48 am (trip meter: 160)
Indapur – 10 am (trip meter: 174)
Tembhurni – 10:30 am (trip meter: 194)
Mohol – 11:45 am (trip meter: 257). Stopped at Mohol for natural break.
Solapur – 12:25 pm (trip meter: 279)

Early hours on NH9

Initial 40 kms are 4 lane on NH9

Road work in progress at lot of places + Heavy traffic

Innova on NH9

Road work + lots of diversions

Hotel Sagar @ Bhigwan

Breakfast

One of the diversions

First traffic jam. Vehicle queue was 3 to 4 kms long.

Ujani dam

You have to take left turn instead of going to Solapur city to reach Tuljapur. Tuljapur is around 40 kms from Solapur. As you reach near Tuljapur you can see the hill from distance. We reached Tuljapur at 1:15 pm (trip meter 322). There’s a statue of Shree Shivaji maharaj at the main entrance. You can take left which takes you to car parking or take right which takes you towards the temple main entrance. I would suggest everyone going to right which can save you 20 Rs of parking charges. There is ample parking space available near the main entrance. We went straight to Karhade guruji’s house. We got fresh and went towards the temple. The trust has recently built couple of new queue halls which initially we thought unnecessary however turned out very good. It took us around 30 mins to take darshan. Wife and mom offered oti to Tuljabhavani devi. We returned to guruji’s house and had a tasty lunch. Everyone feasted on the delicious puranpoli. We left tuljapur at 3:50 pm after thanking guruji.

Hotel Sunil @ Mohol

What a display of Sweets

Ansar bhai (in shades) purchasing sweets for his children

Road towards Tuljapur

Tuljpaur hill seen at distance

Shivaji maharaj statue at the Tuljapur entrance

Why, why, why?

Tuljabhavni temple main entrance

Main Temple

A shop selling sarees offered to Devi

Shops near temple

We took the road Osmanabad-Dhoki-Yermala-Kalamb-Ambajogai. Road till Yermala (4:50 pm trip meter: 372) is National Highway 211 which is in good condition. At Yermala we took right towards Kalamb. The roads are in bad...infact worst condition. I was thanking my family for not allowing bringing our silver arrow. Reached Kalamb at 5:30 pm (trip meter: 399). We had to ask for direction multiple times during this leg of journey. Reached Ambajogai at 6:45 pm (trip meter: 443). We reached temple after asking local people on few occasions. It was pitch dark everywhere since there was no electric supply. Yatri nivas is right next to the temple which is very convenient. We checked-in to yatri nivas immediately. The rooms were descent and much better than our expectations (standard room rate 250 Rs, with TV 300 Rs). After getting fresh we visited Ambajogai temple for the first time. It was mix feeling and everyone prayed in front of devi Ambajogai. Then we visited Sakshi ganesh temple which is at walking distance. People told us that this ganpati remembers everyone who visits the temple. We called up Ausekar guruji who lives near yatri nivas. Guruji immediately came to meet us in our room. We decided to offer Abhishek and purnacha naivedya next day. Guruji asked us to be ready by 7:30 am. We had dinner at the yatri nivas. Dinner was hot and tasty and the charges were nominal 40 Rs. per person. We hit bed since everyone was tired due to the long journey. We travelled around 450 kms on day one.

NH211

Look at the broken tarmac

Shree Yogeshwari devi

It was pitch dark so took this photo using some exposure settings

Temple entrance from the Yatri nivas side

Day two started in an unusual manner. At 5:00 am we heard loud bhajans on the temple loud speakers. I and wife could not sleep since our room was exactly in front of the speakers. By 7:30 am we were ready and Guruji asked us to wait at temple. Guruji asked me to wear sovla. Off course he helped me in wearing it. There are only five gurujis who are allowed to perform Abhishek at the temple. There were many chitpavan families present at the temple to offer Abhishek since it was a very auspicious day. Our abhishek and aarti was over by 8:30 am. Sitting right in front of Shree Ambajogai and offering abhishek was the ultimate experience for me. We returned back to our rooms and ordered breakfast (upma). Then we decided to visit few nearby temples since we had around 2 to 3 hrs till lunch. We had very nice lunch at Ausekar guruji’s house. We took the Tambul prasad from temple which is the unique thing at this temple. Tambul prasad contains crushed paan. We thanked guruji from bottom of our hearts since he arranged everything on time.

Temple in the morning

Main entrance

Entrance from Yatri nivas side during day

Yatri Nivas

Then we headed towards Parli Vaijnath which is around 25 kms from Ambajogai. Road was in bad shape with lot of potholes. We got darshan at Parli vaijnath quickly and left towards Pune at 2:10 pm (trip meter: 481). After having bad experience of NH9 we decided to take the route bia Beed, Ahmednagar. Journey towards Pune was uneventful and tiring. Parli to Beed road is in good condition and we could manage speeds of 80 to 100. We reached Beed at 3:50 pm (trip meter: 580). Tanked up Innova in Beed. Reached Jamkehd at 5:15 pm (trip meter: 638). Beed to Jamkhed road was ok with broken patches at some places. Jamked to Nagar (6:45 pm, trip meter: 714) was again in worst condition. The only good thing about Parli to Ahmednagar was less traffic. We stopped at Smile Stone hotel and had some tea and breakfast. We reached Pune at 10:45 pm (trip meter 851) and this drive was the most comfortable journey due to the four lane super smooth highway. We thanked our driver Ansar bhai for his wonderful driving skills and helpfulness. I was really impressed by his driving style and confidence. This trip was special since we visited our kul daivat for the first time and we decided to visit again next year.

Parli Vaijnath temple