Ride - Trek - Pray - Wed - Trip to Kolhapur

We had to attend wedding ceremony of our officemate Sachin in Kolhapur. We decided to roam in & around Kolhapur so that we had to leave 2 days before wedding day. Major problem was getting leave from office, as many of us works on same project & our TL was also on leave for a complete week. Actually we wanted 2 days leave but got just a single day n that was enough for us. Sachin had managed a car for us at K'pur. At the end KK got out from the plan. So me, Rohan & Durgesh decided to go by Shivneri bus. Later Sachin told its very difficult to manage a car as its marriage season so can't manage car for us.

On friday we were going on bike towards Swargate from Sinhagad Road to book tickets. बोलता बोलता रोहन बोलला की चला बाइक ने जाऊया, road is just awesome, you will enjoy bike riding, we don't need to hire any car at K'pur & we can go anywhere we want if we have our vehicle आणि शेवटी मी पण थोडं फार तिखट मीठ टाकलं. Durgesh who's Splender got replaced by Ganesh's(his frnd)CBZ, as Ganesh's mom was in city n she can't sit on CBZ so he took Durgesh's bike. After giving a half an hour lecture Durgesh agreed to ask Ganesh. We knew that ganesh won't mind it. Finally we decided to go by bike & not to talk anyone at office so that we can leave office early by telling that we have bus at 5PM. Durgesh had already booked Auragzeb movie tickets 9:30PM show at R-Deccan. So we went for the movie & reached home around 1:30AM.

It was working Saturday so we came early at office & managed to finish work before 5PM. Our journey towards K'pur started. Mumbai-B'lore road is just an amazing so enjoyed riding on the road. We took a break after Satara & from Satara Road is simply great. First time in my life i enjoyed bike ride for such a long time. You won't get potholes on the road. Finally we reached K'pur around 10PM, had dinner & went to have ice cream at Empire Icecream around 12:30am with Groom(bakra). I liked this small ice-cream parlor & promised owner to come tomorrow to have ice cream's without dinner while coming back to home saw the night beauty of MahaLaxmi temple & Sachin told some history of Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

Next day got up early & went to Mahalaxmi temple to offer pray. Temple is so amazing & very large. We were very lucky as there was not huge rush in a temple. अगदी प्रसन्न वातावरणात देवीचं दर्शन घडलं. After having B'fast we moved towards Jotibak - दक्खनचा राजा. Jotiba is just 20-25 KM away from K'pur. We were on the way, got stucked by a crowd & Rohan told, "पाटील इथे बैलांची शर्यद आहे, पहायचं का? I bet you will enjoy it." It was cloudy & we were on time so we decided to see the bull race. Durgesh & me were quite excited as we were watching bull race first time. It took half an hour to start race. Initially we enjoyed it much. काही बैल गाडीसहित आपल्या मालकाला घेऊन शेतात शिरत होते तर काही थेट लोकांच्या घोळक्यात घुसत होते. हे बघताना हसू मात्र आवरत नव्हते. पण शेवटी शेवटी मात्र हि शर्यद बघणं नकोसं झालं. पुढे जाण्यासाठी बैलाला आपल्या धन्याकडून फार मार खावा लागत होता. बैलांच्या तोंडातून रक्त निघत होते. क्षणभरात रंगाचा भंग कसा होतो याचा प्रत्यय आला. Tons of thanks to Maharashtra Government who banned the bull races. त्या बैलात आणि आपल्यात काय फरक आहे असा विचार मनात घर करत होता पण खूप फरक होता आणि आहे!!!

गप्पा मारता मारता जोतिबाच्या डोंगर पायथ्या जवळ आलो. मे महिना असूनही शेतं हिरवीगार दिसत होती आणि हवेत पण थोडा थंडावा होता. एकीकडे पिण्याच्या पाण्यासाठी दाही दिशांना टाहो फोडावा लागतो पण कोल्हापूर परिसर मात्र यास अपवाद होता. जोतिबाचा डोंगर परिसर तर अत्यंत नयनरम्य आहे, मे महिन्यात इतकी हिरवळ तर पावसाळ्यात काय सीन असेल याची कल्पना केल्या शिवाय राहवत नव्हतं. There was a huge rush in Jotiba Temple, as most devotees offer pray to Jotiba on Sunday. Temple is so nice, Many devotees through Gulal & Coconut pieces while chanting 'जोतिबाच्या नावानं चांगभलं' loudly. We too joined them. One more thing don't miss any opportunity to have sweet(पेढे)in local shops around temple. I'll promise you'll enjoy the Varna products MP3 advertisement. :-)

Now it was time to become trekkers from baratis cum devotees. Why? because we were heading towards one of the popular & important fort Panhala. I guess Panhala fort is just 10-12 KM from Jotiba. This fort is completely different from other forts in maharashtra region. Its a huge fort & Taluka place so there are many houses, hotels & resorts. It was quite difficult to digest for us so we hired a guide who took us to many places & told some history in just 200 bucks. तीन दरवाजा, सज्जाकोटी, धान्यकोठार, अंधारबाव are just awesome & must visit places on Panhala. गडावरील बऱ्याच वास्तू अजूनही शाबूत आहेत. Recently i had read PaavanKhind book written by Ranjit Desai based on the life of BajiPrabhu Deshpande. So i was feeling the whole history but the resorts & hotels on the fort helps you to come back to present which is very bad.

Well it was time to have some Pet Pujaa(now don't even think of any girl with name Pujaa), मग काय झुणका भाकर आणि खर्ड्यावर तुटून पडलो. In between we heard of Paavan-Gad fort which is adjacent fort of Panhala. This fort is built by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Road from Panahala to PaavanGad is just awesome. Just follow the road which leads from the AndharBaav & you will be at Paavangad after 4-5 KM's drive. पावन गडावर फार काही गर्दी नसते, इथे फक्त हाडा-मासाचे गिरीप्रेमि येतात. I must say don't miss Paavangad if u plan for the Panhala fort. Later i come to know that there is walk path from Panhala to Paavangad is very beautiful & scenic, so next time will visit Paavan-gad by this way. Paavan-Gad is the second fort where i talked with her(my life!!!), it was Rajgad where i talked her first time. It was just amazing feeling. You won't get it. :)

We started descending from Panhala at 2:00PM & reached K'pur around 3:00PM. You can see PanchGanga ghat on PanchGanga river. We were quite tired so had looked it from the road. After having cuppa tea it was time to see Rankala - Juhu beach of K'pur. Its a lake located in city itself. This lake had given chance to prove Maloji Raje(Chatrapati Shivaji Raje's grand fater) & from then he became Umarao of PaadShaha Nijaam. Its a large history. If you are from Pune Mumbai, Pls don't expect smart faces..! कोल्हापुरात त्या type ची हिरवळ थोडी कमीच आहे. :-)

Next day went to Azra, wedding ceremony place which is around 120 KM from K'pur. We had to come back to K'pur & then drive to Pune on bike. After ceremony we moved towards K'pur with Sachin's frnd in his Swift. Durgesh was sat on my thigh for around 2 hrs. च्यायला माझ्या बायकोला पण इतका वेळ मी मांडीवर बसवलं नसतं. पण काय करणार आलीया भोगासी असावे सदर. It was drizzling. We reached K'pur at 5PM & moved towards pune. It was raining but thanks to god we didn't get wet. Finally K'pur dauarra came to an end around 10PM we reached Pune.

Photo courtesy - Rohan Patil from his brand new Samsung S4 oopps sorry S3.