|| Om Shanishcharaya Nam: ||

Shri Shani Mahatmye has 5 chapters or adhyayas. It mainly tells you the story of Raja Vikramaditya of Ujjain who faced serious consequence for abusing Lord Shani. And mentions some examples from Puranas, Mahabharata & Ramayana where many faces difficulties because of Shani dasha on them. Finally everyone in their lifetime will face the wrath of Shani dev, even Mahadev Shiva is not spared. Anyhow by worshiping him in those difficult times, impact can be reduced and thus pass such bad days. 

Shani dev is considered the main god/graha among 9 planet lords / Navagrahas. As I was offering him pooja [24th May 2014] with the guidance of our archaka guru / priest, reminded me of the main Shani temples visited - Shani Signapura which is an hour from Shirdi, Maharashtra & Navagraha temple of Ujjain, Madhaya Pradesh.

Navagraha Temple [Triveni], Ujjain

Triveni Sangam [confluence of Gandaki and Shipra rivers, mythical holy Saraswathi believed to be the third]

On 9th June 2013, morning we left to see Maheshwar & Omkareshwar from Ujjain, where we had spent a whole day to have darshan of Shri Mahakaleshwar, Shakthipeeth Gadkalika and many other important places within the holy town. Just as we left, around 8km from Ujjain, our driver mentioned about a Navagraha temple being there which has a triveni sangam / ghat. We decided to get darshan of the Navagraha deities as well, a good way to start the day.

As we reached the place and entered the premises, it seemed as though a ceremony or a fair was held which might have seen a very large crowd. Because it was a bit messy around and some staffs had started cleaning early that day. We first went inside the temple and prayed with the 9 lords, who were installed (prathishta) at the direction of the respective lord's are meant to be. Each lords were dressed with the colour of their preference and idols were mostly soaked with gingelly (sesame seed's) oil offered by the devotees.

Then we got reminded of the Triveni sangam ghat (ouch.. we should have visited the sangam before temple darshan :-| hmm.. anyhow..), where confluence of Gandaki river with Shipra (Kshipra) takes place. The third river which meets here is said to be holy mythical river Saraswathi. As we went near, we were completely surprised to see heaps of clothes, footwear/sandals lying around all over the bank of the river at the ghat. A guy was instructing some workers to clean them up with whom we enquired and learned that previous day large number of people gathered as it was special day to visit there (Amavasya/New moon & Shanivaar/Saturday). Devotees who visit the temple take a holy dip in the triveni sangam and leave/dump their clothes, footwear.. !! It's believed that by this, bad omen (graha doshas) will be washed in holy sangam and will be left behind with the clothes !!!

30 June 2012: Shirdi is an overnight journey in bus. It's one of the richest temples in terms of donations it receives in India. Being Sai Baba's birth place, followers from all over the country keep visiting the place and take darshan. Some people do the paada yatra from their place till Shirdi whatever the distance !! Usually in such yatra they travel as a group with a truck/tempo assisting them with water and food. As we reached early morning, checked with a hotel for just to have bath and freshen up for the temple visit. Within a hour we finished the darshan, which was not much of a time as we expected will take and headed to the Signapura town in a cab which was around 73km from Shirdi. 

Shri Shani Maharaj at Signapura

We had heard that the town was unique and the belief is so strong among the people of that town, the homes/buildings doesn't have any doors !! And yes.. it turned out to be TRUE !! Just a screen was put in every house without any doors, even in the newly constructed ones !!! There were stories.. like if a thief steals something, he'll go through a horrible fate and the stolen items will be returned to the owners somehow. Such incidents are said to have occurred which multiplied the faith in Lord Shani, being a true protector of the people. As all such stories/legends were sinking within us we took the blessings from the lord with crow as his vāhana or Khagesha (lord of the planets) Shri Shani dev. Whatever is the fact, one has to admit.. Belief is everything :-)

Pass over the Naneghat..

"Wooohooo..." everyone were excited like hell !! It was fully chilling with fog, drizzle and wind that blew too strong to stand still casually. I had to make effort to keep my balance. Fortunately fog/cloud had drifted beneath us after 10 mins of waiting.. I quickly started my camera in video mode. Even though not a full clear view of the valley below but a glimpse for some seconds itself was enough to make us enthralled !! I guess we screamed for more than a minute. Nobody else were present near by. The visibility itself was not more than 5mts. May be by our screaming sound another group came over to the top who were just some distance below expecting the clear view but it had already again covered by clouds. The heart full joy it offered will not be forgotten for life, even though it was not one of the greatest hill-tops, still excellent climate made us the day :) Delwin was visiting for the 2nd time who guided us through the trek (and of course guide as such not required. The trekking path will guide us automatically). We had been climbing for almost 2 hrs 15 mins before reaching to the peak. Descent should not take more than 1 hrs 15 mins but in monsoon it's not that easy. Need to be careful because chances of getting slipped is high.. [Check out the video recorded below :) :D]

Naneghat - one of the most popular trekking destination of Maharashtra in Malshej ghat region where we see a unique  mountain pass, caves rather than a fort (which is quite normal in maratha region). Its a simple-medium range trek which require 2-3 hrs for uphill depending upon the breaks we take. According to wikipedia : Naneghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range near Junnar in Pune district of Maharashtra, India. During the reign of the Satavahana (200 BCE–190 CE), the pass was extensively used as a trade route between Kalyan and Junnar. Literally, the name nane means "coin" and ghat means "pass". The name is given because this path was used as a tollbooth to collect toll from traders crossing the hills.

Rakshith, Delwin, Karthik & Akshay at the starting point

We planned to start early from mumbai to cover 165 km to reach the starting point of the Naneghat. We had a reliable contact, Sunil for a cab to book when we need for our trips (he's from kulupwadi near borivali east, mumbai). A really decent fellow, if he can't come himself he'll arrange another for sure. As planned Qualis reached our apartment at 6 am on 28th July 2012 for which we had made the usual deal for 300km/day at 9rs/km + 300 rs BATA for the driver. We took the route to the base of Naneghat from our place Thane - Kalyan - Murbad - Tokawade and 4km further from a place called Vaishakhare where a diversion appears with a board Nanghat. And that's the starting point for our adventurous ascend to the Naneghat Peak :)

Oh yeah.. we need to cross that peak too.. !! Lovely :)

There was another route which was nearer to Pune or Ahmednagar. But it was a round about for Thane/mumbai people. The advantage of that route is.. no need to trek at all !! Yeah.. it will take us right to the next end of the mountain pass which I mentioned at first. And from that pass, it was just 500mts to the peak. Anyhow we were very enthusiastic for the trek rather than lazy drive till that end. Always trekking makes us feel deserved to see the beautiful view from the peak which makes mind peaceful.

Resting, Energizing-up en-route :)

Chilled sweet water source at a stage. No mineral water can beat its taste :D 

Calm wind, cloudy lush green surroundings, soothing fog, now and then the drizzle touch.. WOW !! The best weather ever in which we did a trek. That's the reason this trek will always remain special.. For 2 hrs we crossed steams, plains, forests, mountains, enjoying the nature which was at its best (also takings pictures ofcourse..). At one stretch we did not even sit for a min to take rest. Err.. don't think we were full of stamina and spirited to finish with competition but as we tried to take rest, were not allowed to by the most irritating creature of the planet.. mosquitoes !! :P As we approached the peak the one who totally exhausted was Rakshith.. He had sat down giving up to move any further. He had started to feel dizzy a bit too.. After eating some biscuits, banana and water.. along with a bit of rest, encouragement slowly he followed us.. And thus in a while we reached the 1st destination - the mountain pass and caves :) Everything else captured to explain !!

Almost there to the starting of mountain pass and caves.

Protective railing in front of the caves.

Me at one-end of the mountain pass. Right rock cut stairs is to the 2-3 caves where trekkers usually take shelter over-night. At the monsoon peak, this pass will be half filled with water flowing !! Yeah a bit dangerous at that time to cross.

Yes, the cars at the other end of the mountain pass (from Junnar route). Just see the visibility due to fog :) 500mts from here, it's the peak of naneghat !

At the peak 'The Hobos' (hehe, just a name we made up for our group :P) where this blog article started :)

Aurangabad - The city built by the throne !!

"Muhammad-bin-Tughluq (The brutal and foolish ruler of Delhi Sultnate, 1325-1351 AD) wanted to make Devagiri second capital so that he might be able to control south India better. Devagiri was named Daulatabad by him later. However, after a couple of years, he decided to abandon Daulatabad largely because he soon found that just as he could not control south India from Delhi, he could not control North from Daulatabad." - All must have read these lines in their school days. This Devagiri is 25km from Aurangabad city of Maharashtra now, was initially capital of Yadava kings but captured by Ala-ud-din Khilji of Delhi. Anyway rather than that, we wanted to visit Aurangabad to see another marvel of our olden days architecture, UNESCO heritage sites, Ajanta and Ellora !! There's one more place, a pilgrimage, a jyotirlinga temple where the lord Grishneshwar resides :)

Aurangabad (meaning - built by the throne) is a district at the center of Maharashtra which has a capital city by the same name. It is one of the industrially developed and fastest growing city of the world. The state government has declared this city from medieval period as the Tourism Capital of Maharashtra. And because of the 52 "gates" it's nicknamed 'City of Gates', but out of which only 13 such gates have survived to the present days.

Mumbai to Aurangabad is around 8-9hrs journey in train. As planned me, karthik, akshay, harsha, sunil and sreejith reached on 24th Sept, 2011 Saturday morning in devgiri express. Just outside the station, our typical dressing as mumbaikars with shorts and t-shirts might have made that cab driver understand correctly as tourists and offered us to show all of the Aurangabad. We liked him, he was sensible enough to understand our places of interests and hence a deal was made with him. Firstly he showed a budget hotel room for 6 to stay just for Rs.600 for a day.

Every Jyothirlinga temples have their own legend. They are the place where Lord Shiva himself descended to earth. There are 12 such temples in India. 3 of them in Maharashtra itself. One of them is Grishneshwar Temple 23km from Aurangabad city and 5km from Ellora. Go through the following link for the legend behind the temple. We had started the first day by taking blessing of Lord Grishneshwar and headed towards Ellora Cave temples.

Paithan is another city of Maharastra, 56km south to Aurangabad where a variety of fine silk saris are woven by hand called by the name Paithani Saris, is one of the richest saris of Maharastra. They are characterized by borders of an oblique square design, and a pallu with a peacock design (Haha, don't be amazed at my knowledge regarding a sari, just took help from Wiki to get the words :P :D). But simply to say, even I found it impressive, well-made ones and took one of them to Mom :) Surprisingly, she even liked my choice of color !! :P Sunil also took a sari and a chudi piece for his sister. Another variety of fabric made of silk and cotton called Himroo is also a specialty they have got. Himroo shawls, bed covers are famous for its unique style and design. Harsha had bought one shawl which definitely will come to use in Hassan, esp during winter :)

Devgiri hill fort from a distance

As mentioned earlier, Devgiri/Daulatabad Fort is 16 km from Aurangabad city. The fort is situated on an isolated cone-shaped hill rising abruptly from the plain to the height of about 190 metres. Quoting from MTDC website regarding its history - "Though the city of Devagiri was founded in 1187 AD by the Yadava king Bhillan V, the fort was constructed during the reign of Singhana II (1210-46 AD).  It was captured by Ala-ud-Din Kalji in 12 94 AD, marking the first Muslim invasion of the Deccan. Finally in 1318 AD, Malik Kafur killed last Yadava Raja, Harapal. Then in 1327 AD, Muhammed-bin-Tughluq sought to make it his capital, by transferring the entire population of Delhi and changing the name from Devagiri to Daulatabad. Then it was in the possession of the Bhamanis till 1526 AD.  The fort remained in Mughal control till Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 AD., when it passed on to the Nizam of Hyderabad." 

What fascinates to see is the fortified walls surrounded by water (may have contained crocs during those times !!). Fort is also designed strategically to defend from enemy attacks with canons and "dark passage" to confuse, scare the intruders (read the description in the pic). The orange colored Chand Minar, about 63 metres in height  adds attraction for the visit. Visit in rainy will give a beautiful lush green view from above the fort making you feel relaxed. :)

Water trench surrounding the fort..

The Chand Minar at Devgiri/Daulatabaad

The next day we wanted to visit 2 places - Bibi Ka Maqbara (aka The Mini Tajmahal) and the famous Ajanta Caves. Bibi Ka Maqbara was built between 1650-57 A.D by Prince Azam Shah (son of Aurangzeb) in the memory for his mother Dilras Banu Begam. But who thought it'll be strikingly similar to the Tajmahal of Agra !!? Yes, it is.. but a smaller version !! Hence also called Taj of the Deccan or Mini Tajmahal. Its too a UNESCO heritage structure with 5Rs per person ticket. Simply remarkable to see the structure with well maintained garden around. As we had reached early opening hours, it was only us which gave us an advantage to enjoy roaming around and have enough photos :P

Bibi-Ka-Maqbara (The Mini Tajmahal)

Next we headed towards the magnificent caves of Ajanta which is beauty on its location along with its sculptures and paintings. I think it's better to write on Ellora and Ajanta in a separate post..

Here's my-note-to-consider about Aurangabad: Need 2 days at least to see all the places. Grishneshwar Temple, Bibi-Ka-Maqbara, Devgiri fort, Ellora and Ajanta not to be missed. Remember, here Ellora and Ajanta should be allocated half day for each. If you have an extra day, visit Lonar which is at 160km from Aurangabad. Its a crater believed to have been caused by a meteorite hitting Earth around 52,000 years ago !! Now its world's only salt water lake in basaltic rock and thus geologically interesting. But we couldn't visit the place because of time crunch. And don't forget to visit Paithani silks saree shops which will be found all over the Auragabad. For reference check my map below to plan :)

A Fishy Tale - Pixtorified !!!

Location: Tarkarli Beach, Maharashtra. 

Date: 9th Feb 2013

Time: After 6pm

With: Karthik PJ, Akshay Nayak and Delwin Dias.

(1/12) After visiting the near by places we decided to relax the evening a bit at Tarkarli Beach, 

so vast and beautiful, felt too pleasant to roam along the shore. 

We could see the ocean till the horizon along with some small boats.

(2/12) Surprisingly, there were too many sea birds, in fact hundreds of them near-by those boats.

(3/12) Thats when we noticed a group of men ahead of us holding a very long rope 

and where trying to pull it out from the sea !!

(4/12) Oh yeah.. local fishermen, excited, enthusiastically pulling their net at the 2 ends. 

2 groups at the 2 ends of the rope were separated by around 500mts !! 

Yes.. the net they had spread to the sea was atleast 500mts wide !!!

(5/12) We learned from them that they had spread the net by observing a large black patch in the sea, 

which indicates a large school of fish :) 

When we asked about the amount of birds circling and catching the fish from the netted area, 

they were too glad because.. as large the birds number.. larger amount of the of fish they are gonna get !!! 

The net area was more than 3 kms away from the shore, so they estimated it to pull out from the sea only by 9pm.. 

Hmmm.. we now were too curious to see their prized amount in their net !!

(6/12) As time past.. the flock of sea birds were nearing the shore indicating the advancing net towards us.

 My God !! birds were frenzy catching fish with their signature dive in to the sea. 

Woah.. Some where even fighting each other for the fish they caught hold of.. 

was a treat to witness the whole scenario :)

(7/12) Gradually, men started to get the ends of the net,

 in which also there were fish stuck and struggling to get out. 

(8/12) Also due to the sweeping waves, many fish started to land upon 

the whole length of the shores. 

Whole of them breathing hard.. trying to hold their lives as long as possible.. 

struggling to get back to their home.. *sigh*

(9/12) OMG!! We just couldn't believe the amount of the fish we were seeing, as they started piling up.

(10/12) Though felt sad seeing those dying fishes, it made even, with the sight of satisfied 50 odd faces.. :) *cheers*

(11/12) Later on we got to know that these fresh fish would be auctioned the same night to the dealers; 

and for the 2-3 tonnes they gathered, expecting to fetch around Rs. 1lakhs.

(12/12) Hmmmm.... later on we slept the remaining night with the reeling images

 inside our head of the whole day's chain of events with much more to see in the next beautiful day :) :)

 Good night!!  Sweet dreams !!!

[PS: Pixtorified is not a real word but I coined to mean that it narrates a story with the pic sequences :)]

Monsoon Magic at Matheran

Climate was getting calmer indicating the transition from summer to rainy with drops soothing the dry and dusty earth. Do u know what's the best thing about Maharashtra? Hills.. Sahyadri Hills.. and Forts.. Forts on top of those Sahyadri Hills.. Out of 350 odd forts (as mentioned by Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation - MTDC here), easily around 65-70% are hill forts (as guessed by Mr. Ashik after roaming around the state :-P ). Now that's the reason why Maharashtra is famous for having so many trekking trails. Others include Land Forts, Sea forts, Forest Forts and Coastal Forts. I really appreciate the MTDC, which promotes the tourism very well, especially their resorts which usually gets occupied a month early at least for the weekends!! But still they have to develop many things else at the places of interest.

Matheran View Point Map (source: Wikipedia)

Hill stations are the place where we love the climate. That's the place where we can view the breath-taking natural valleys, falls, forests.. What's the ideal condition? It should be chilling, cloudy and foggy with a little drizzle; that's when u feel its heavenly !! :) There are many such places identified as hill stations in our beautiful country. Many places are quiet natural, but some are planned & developed for tourism !!

Matheran (meaning - "forest at the forehead" of the mountain) is one such place in Karjat, 90km from Mumbai which was initially developed by British after discovery of the place in 1850; now maintained well by MTDC. I have to admit, it really got some amazing view points and can be opted for a quite leisurely weekend anytime you want. It's at a height of 803mts from sea-level and covers an area of 8 sq.km. completely by forest; Yet with a small town and a plenty of options for staying overnight. Anyhow to cover entire area and enjoy the views one need at least 2 days unless u ride in a horse/pony across. 

There are around 30 view points out of which Alexander Point, Louisa Point, Echo Point, Porcupine Point (Sunset Point), Belvedere Point, One Tree Hill Point, Little Chowk & Big Chowk Points are not to be missed. Also Charlotte Lake from where a small dam water over flows and falls to the deep valley which gives amazing view (Lords Point) from that water fall drop. Let me say this straight, it's not possible to explain the tranquility we feel at those places in words. So better pack up to the place and enjoy first hand. I bet, you'll not regret the visit especially from July to December.

Matheran Hill Railway (Toy Train)

We already have visited 3 times in last 2yrs (July 2011, Oct 2011 & July 2012).. still we are ready to go over there once again, such a good experience it offers. Twice in monsoon and once in winter, but I recommend anyone to roam in monsoon which gives us a lush green views (though you might get completely drenched :D). If wanted to try a ride in toy train to the hill top from the base railway station, Neral.. it'll be available between Oct - Feb only. (Pls note: its not Nerul which is different place near Mumbai. I'm highlighting because many people by mistake take tickets of the latter and get caught by the TC s). This toy train, Matheran Hill Railway is one of 6 Mountain Railways of India.

A Beautiful View of the Valley from a view point of Matheran

This is how's the path to walk through forests at Matheran - heavenly !!

A View from Big Chowk Point, Matheran

Rakshith, Karthik & Me (L to R) pretty excited when the fog cleared the view at Lord Point near Charlotte Lake, Matheran (snapped by Akshay)

3rd time (July 2012) Me, Karthik, Akshay and Rakshith stayed overnight for the first time over there. Town-side is a bit crowded, costly (gotta be.. as its near to mumbai and its one of the favorite get away place for mumbaikars) moreover we prefer isolated and quite place to stay. I don't know how.. but whenever we need one, we get a perfect place to enhance our experience!! It was a privately owned place called Sunder Villa deep in the jungle and a bit far from the matheran town totally isolated. We got its presence by a woman who had a tea shop near a view point, Coronation. As per her direction we started searching for it as the dusk was nearing. As we walked for some minutes we found one compound without a gate and a name plate, Sunder Villa. It had some 3 or 4 separated old house scattered in a slope. We started searching around for some living being to show up, but couldn't find one for nearly 10 mins. My companions turned around to leave the place as we saw no one, but I felt like going a bit down to try once again and that's when I found one small home with smoke drifting skywards. So we got a old room for 4 with an attached bathroom for 600. It was like those one of a haunted room shown in Hindi horror movies, still we were pretty excited by the ambiance :) As the night fell, we got an awesome home made marathi food from the owner's house which really meant a lot for us being bachelors staying in a city far from home (hehe...) and had a sound sleep after discussing horror stories because of the feel we were getting..!! Meanwhile, on that dark night outside, it was still drizzling with wind and hooting sounds of the owls making it spooky perfect..!!!

The place we stayed in July 2012, Sunder Villa at Matheran