[wanderernomad]

Here is the travelogue of our Trip that started on 9th June from Pune and came to an end on 26th June at Pune.
Before I go in with the details of route and experiences here is the pictorial introduction of the entire team.

The first Picture is of the steed that carried us through while the second shows the entire team (ofcourse I am missing since I am behind the camera)

[wanderernomad]

It was a balmy raining morning on 9th June as we sat sipping our morning cuppa at CME Pune, where my younger brother is residing. All of us were busy trying to beat of monday morning blues as we discussed our journey that was to start the day after. As both of us poured over maps and team bhp travelogues for the first stretch of journey that was to take us to Donnapaula we started wondering as to if its possible to start today itself and cover a part of our journey.
The ladies were not especially in favour as they protested that leaving today meant doing all the packing in a hurry and with two infants we could understand how tedious it can be. By 9 am my brother was already on phone with a friend of his we were supposed to meet a day later for breakfast at Kohlapur. As he listened to our proposal he laid out the bait.. authentic kohlapuri mutton for dinner plus the prospect of buyin kohlapuri chappals from kohlapur itself. While we pondered and drooled over the prospect of mutton the ladies showed surprising agility in saying yes to us proceeding this very day. Hmm things were looking up and we told Patil (the friend at Kohlapur) that we would confirm by 12 noon.
tereko patta hai, kohlapur mein variety jyada milegi..
haan aur packing mein kya hai, thoda speed se kar lete hain..
dekh fridge ko theek se band kar , bartan aur kitchen kjo bhi tie up kar..
We could hardly suppress our smiles as both me and my brother strode into the living room pretending not to have overheard the ladies. The moment we proposed a night halt at Kohlapur we were inundated with confirmations..
haan haan ye theek hai, otherwise kal bahut hectic ho jaata..
hum to khud bhi soch rahe the ki kahin beech mein break karte hain..
Once it was finalised that we would be leaving today itself every one got busy with the allotted chore.The ETD was kept at 1300 hrs. While we got busy in preparing the steed and procuring last minute rations the ladies did a fantastic job of not only gettin ready themselves but also the kids by 1300hrs. (Anyone who has had an experience of 3 ladies getting ready and then getting infants ready as well would surely appreciate the effort required to get all of this done in about 2 hours time..).
We rolled off with the odo reading 17,905 and a slight drizzle. Fueled at the Shinde Petrol Pump and also got a PUC certificate done. The moment we rolled out my little one piqued up..papa potty aayee. What an auspicious start!!

[phamilyman]

more more sir.

this is become a tbhp travelogue trademark eh? suspense in small bites!

Waiting!

[HappyWheels]

A good start and was expecting some more reading content, but then the suspense had to be there. You have captured the moment very well, Wanderer!

And the icing was 'papa potty aayee'!

Carry on, mate!

Originally Posted by phamilyman

more more sir.

this is become a tbhp travelogue trademark eh? suspense in small bites!

Waiting!

[wanderernomad]

All heads turn in unison and the lil angel just smiles. We reverse into the bunk once again and enquire about the toilets. The staff was gracious enough to unlock the one meant for the manager. It was clean and had soap!!
After the ritual of who holds the baby and who washes her we came out and before starting again the Oracle spoke thus-
Let the one feeling ****ty speak now or hold their own till we reach kohlapur.
After hearing no voices pleading to be let out we rolled off in ernest this time.
The drive was excellent though the road could have been better. The toll nakas were more of a botheration as they were quite close to each other and the same act was repeated to perfection. The moment we used to come to a halt the hand would stretch out..
Army hai..
Pehle paise..
Suna nahin Army hai..
ID card hai..
Haan..
Deekhao..
And after scrutinizing it more carefully than CBI digging out dirt he would say..theek hai saab jaao.
We made good time and P was there waiting for us about 5 kms before the turnoff for the Kohlapur town. We followed his blood red indigo cs to his inlaws place for Tea.
I felt almost ashamed walking in with shoes into that house. After the potholed ridden streets and an almost non existant road the vitrified tiles spick and span were almost like a mirage. I just nibbled at the biscuits for I was too afraid to munch for the fear of crumbs falling to the floor. I managed to slice of 4 of them when I decieded to have tea.
2 sips as we sat discussing the merits of kohlapur having the highest per capita consumption of liquor when Hic. I felt a shudder and the tea spilled out onto that heavenly floor. My angel wanted to sit in mylap and would not let a mere cup of tea to stand in her way.
I almost took off my shirt to wipe out that stain when fortunately P decieded that its time for us to go shopping. Maybe he didnot want me to take a chance with a second cup perhaps.
Anyway we go shopping and the bazaar turned out to be like a village fair. It was crowded and hot and sultry and the joy of it was that there were no designated parking. I just followed P's example and STOPPED. The ladies got out but I didnot have the heart of leaving the vehicle on as is where is basis and offerred to stay back (atleast it was the official reason,a s I had no intention of going around those streets looking for chappals of all the godly things GOD made for women).
P took the drift and galantly stood by my side for company. After 60 minutes of appreciating the finer nuances of the kohlapur traffic the shopers returned. We proceeded to see the 'Ganga' which is supposed to have an equal holier effect as that of having a dip in Benaras. Another surprising thing was the abundance of Bars around the town. we wanted to add to the national statistical average and after dropping off the ladies we hit a joitn for appetisers, after all we were going to be treated to soem authentic kohlapuri cuisine and we wanted to wash away all the sordid tastes.
And what a revelation. Mutton with white gravy, Chicken that set our spirits aflutter, rumali rotis, we just could not have enough of it before reason and decency finally made us a reluctant deserter from the table.
Night arrangements had been made in the Offciers Mess of the Maratha LI TA and we wondered if Kohlapur would cease to amaze us or not. An Army guest room worthy of an atleast 4 star hotel. Aha the bliss of sleep over a heavy laden stomach. I kept tryign to burp to relive the taste, I know its gross but ....
The next morning was spent seeing the Kohlapur Pallace of the 'Chau Maharaj'. It was a pity that they didnot allow cameras in otherwise that gentleman has a whole zoo inside with life size animals stuffed and preserved for us to see. In a way I felt sad but then on the other hand maybe it is a nice way of showing our future generations what animals really looked like.

[maddy42]

@wanderernomad Great writeup. The look on your face when your family agreed for the change of plans must have been worth a look. And what a great way to start the trip. Waiting for few pics though

[anujmishra]

Great startup @wanderernomad
Can't wait to read more with pics for sure. Now we are in Maharashtra only, of course it is day 1 of your travelogue and day 1 of your journey.

By the way, what care did you took for infants?

[S@~+#0$#]

16 days, 6 states, 5500 kms - true to your nick, you are a real wanderernomad .

Very well written travelogue. The pace, humour and small details make it very interesting to read. I will be watching this thread, so let the travelogue unfold. Like Maddy42 suggested, can we have some more pictures?

[phamilyman]

yaaar, thoda slow ho gaya. dolphin and Sam update quicker than that

and pics??

[gowda79]

wanderernomad nice trip with the family and i hope u don't do this for us -

16 days, 6 states, 5500 kms

AND NOW

16 days, 6 Writeups, more than 5500words

[iraghava]

Bravo Vikram! Now that is a well-written travelogue! Continue the journey my friend, it is a joy to read!

And btw it was great to meet you in Cochin, finally I met somebody in South India who could speak North Indian "Lingo" properly much to the bewilderment of the Mallu's!! You know what I mean!!

[wanderernomad]

Now some useful info on route and distances for the first day.
Pune (1330hrs-17905)- Khambati Ghat (1525 hrs, 17989)- Satara (1600hrs,18037)-Umbraj(1630,18075)- Karar (1645,18092) Kohlapur (1730,18164)
Toll Plazas at Khambati Ghat, beyond 1 Vele (odo 18015) and then again at Taswade(odo 18080) and the last one at Kini (18142).

The road was excellent and saw a couple of Tata Nano's being tested on the way besides a good number of AMW Dumper trucks.

here are the pictures:-
1. It is the Kohlapur palace.
2. Waterfalls near Amboli Ghats.
3. Baga Beach, Goa.

[wanderernomad]

@anuj : Lots of bottles 6 each to be precise for the kids feed, chocolates, biscuits, basic medicines like crocin syrup, gramogyl, handy towels and a booster dose of patience for all adults, was what we packed for the infants.
Thanks guys for the nice words. Ill be interspreading the narrative with pictures and int he end will post some more pictures enblock in a sequential manner to soothe your eyes.

[wanderernomad]

Next day got up and had a hearty breakfast in the Maratha LI Mess. Never knew the fauj can cook so delicious a Upma. P was there again to escort us to the outer limits and soon after saying our gracious thanks and doling out promises of good things if his wife would learn everything we had been served last night we said our good byes.

The road continued like a dream till we faced the turn off after Nipani. There is Kaveri Dhaba and there are two on either side of the road which serve as a marker for the turn off. We were loathe to leave the excellent NH 4 to take the route towards Sawantwadi. The odo read 18180 when we started from the mess but the turn off at Tarvandi it read as 18234. It included some mileage done in local sightseeing.
The road turned bad and then worse. The ladies were their usual smart self.
Beta theek to jaa rahe ho,
haan maa,
lagta to nahin,
pooch ke dekho..
kisse? achha aap bahar dekho kitna acha mausam hai..
haan hai to sahi lekin raasta sahhi hai kya..
maaaaaaaaaaa.

The roads improved near Azra (1305 hrs, 18284) as we came to a fork in the road. I took the one that looked similar to the the one on which we had been travelling and loo it was the wrong one. The broken potholed of an excuse for a road was the way.
Told ya to turn right..
ohh yeah,

As we reached Amboli ghats the war of words was lost in open mouth admiration at the sheer greenery around us and then..it started raining again.
Stopped at Sawantwadi to have lunch while it was pouring like anything. Had a good meal of fish curry and rice for a princely sum of Rs350. The time was 1515 and odo read 18350.
It was around 1700 hrs when we reached Panjim. There always remained a confusion. While we were following the eicher road map it showed us a route braching off near sawantwadi but somehow we dont know but we were smack on the highway NH 17 without wanting to be on it. We wanted to go towards Ponda and Old Goa.
My mother had never seen a beach so we decided to hit Miramar before going on to our Guest House. The look on her face as she stood facing a turbulent monsoon sea was worth every drop of sweat and rigour.
This entire trip was planned for her. Both me and my Brother have travelled widely and still get a chance to take our spouses along but she hardly gets to see places beyond Himachal. ( Try her on the himalayan routes and she has been to more places than you can think of in that tiny himalayan state) but down south it was her first trip and the joy on her face was what we had sought in the first place. She stood there for minutes looking out to the sea and had a dreamy look about her. We just let her gaze and slipped past her to stand to one side.

[wanderernomad]

Goa in Pictures:-
Shows the Church In Panjim at Night (ofcourse)
Fort Aguda
Crossing the bridge over a small but beautiful river while coming from the Fort to Panjim.
St Francis Cathedral