Mapro Garden restaurant is mid-way between Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar and is famous for its strawberry festival in the summer. The restaurant offers many types of milk shakes, mocktails and pizzas, but it’s most famous offering is its classic sandwich. The sandwich (along with fries) is more than a mouthful and would easily compensate for a meal.

Strawberry shakes are available throughout the year, but they are at their freshest best during the summer. Should not be missed.

Mapro also makes the famous syrups and crushes. You can get any imaginable flavour of these along with the falero sweets.

The place is a garden restaurant. There is a big nursery as well as beautiful flower gardens all over the place. There is also a chocolate factory where you can see fresh chocolate being made.

Rather than have lunch at one of those oh-so-boring restaurants in Mahabaleshwar, stop here on your way to/back for a refreshing break!

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The location is off a side road which visitors to Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar rarely pass by. The side-roads would be a wonderful sight during the monsoon, usually filled with mist. The view from the amphitheater is awesome.

Now, a bit of reality. I actually didn’t go inside the school and see the amphitheater. Vidhya, Akshara and our friends went inside while i was waiting outside the gate. Why? Because, i wasn’t dressed properly – so said the school management.I was actually in shorts/bermudas and the school authorities didn’t allow me in

A few things to note:
- Be “properly” dressed
- Cameras are not allowed, but no one objected to mobile phone cameras
- I heard that “tourists” are usually not allowed, but when i was there it was the admission season and the school authority allowed me in. No, i didn’t fake an admission, but they said that it was ok at that time.

ISKCON is a wealthy organisation and it shows in their new temple recently opened (inaugurated by our president Pranab Mukherjee) in Kondhwa (Earlier got confused with Kothrud!). This one is called NVCC – New Vedic Cultural center and has grand plans. The one in Kothrud has also a Balaji temple, a replica of the Tirupati temple.

Construction is still on (as of Mid-April 2013). The temple is architecturally very beautiful and nothing has been spared to make the interiors very appealing. The central hall has huge carvings on the roof with central dome depicting Krishna and Radha. The corridors around the main hall have murals depicting various mythological stories and also many from Krishna’s upbringing.

There are three main “deities” – Sri Sri Radha Vrindavanachandra, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai & Jagannath, Baldev & Subhadra. There is also an idol of Sri Prabhupada, the founder of the ISKCON movement.

Location of the temple – See map below for route from Magarpatta.

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The darshan timings – the times when the door of the deities are open to the public are given below. The temple is also well-lit during the evening and it is a beautiful sight.

Kichdi is served free of cost through out the day. ISKCON also runs a Govinda restaurant which serves regular vegetarian fare like dosas, parathas and some sweets. The first time i went, it was during the lunch time and hence there was not much activity. The second time, i went during the late evening and darshan was on along with a bhajan. The bhajan along with the dholak and other instruments produced a mesmerizing noise. People were dancing in the central hall and it was almost a trance like situation. The energy was unbelievable and it would almost be impossible to resist the urge to dance!

On a personal note, i am not a big fan of ISKCON, because of various reasons. Anyway, the temple is a nice place to visit. Go there, enjoy the music and experience the amazing energy. Up to you, whether you want to join and become spiritually engaged with ISKCON!

Bhigwan is a small town around 100 kms away from Pune and is also referred to as the “Bharatpur of Maharashtra”, as it becomes a hotbed of migratory birds during the winter. Bhigwan is at one end of the huge Yashwant Sagar reservoir, forming the backwaters of the Ujain dam. One of the main attractions during the migratory season is the arrival of the pink greater flamingos. During the months of early jan – late feb, this place is thronged by bird lovers from all over Maharashtra.

To reach Bhigwan, take the Solapur road and drive for around 95 kms (from Hadapsar) or use the map below to reach Bhigwan (route from Magarapatta city).

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Most of the bird sightings happen around two places, Diksal and Kumbhargaon. The reservoir is dozens of kms long. Maybe, there are more (and better) locations downstream?? To reach the two places, do not follow the map as the roads can be misleading and the water levels depicted on the map could be very different than the current situation. If the monsoon was heavy, roads could disappear or for a bad monsoon, you would see uncharted roads appear out of the water! I went to Diksal last year (Jan 2012) and to Kumbhargaon this year (Feb 2013).

Diksal: Once you reach Bhigwan, you have turn left to go to Diksal. The “bird watching” place i.e. the waterfront is around 5-6 kms inwards. Ask for “Juna Phul” meaning “Old bridge” (photo below). This is the spot where many birds gather and also the place to rent a boat to go into the waterways.

Kumbhargaon: To reach this village, you have to drive ahead of Bhigwan for around 2 kms and look for sign boards saying “kumbhargaon” or “flamingo point”. There are multiple entry points to this village and we happened to choose the one with the “kuchcha-est road”, but the Xylo managed it with ease.

Plan your trip such that you are there before 7 Am. Even though it is winter, by the time it is 10 AM, it gets scorching hot and frustration starts creeping in if you have to wait in patience for the birds. We started from Pune at 5 AM and hence, when we got into the boat, it was around 6.45 AM and it was lovely. The chilly breeze with the rising sun made it a wonderful boating experience too.

If you are having a point and shoot camera or planning to take photo with a mobile, be ready for a big-time inferiority complex (if you are prone to it!). It is not uncommon to see “birders” here with lens longer and bigger than a typical walking stick. Note: My photos in this post are not so great due to various reasons including an old/unclean lens, typical touristy approach etc. When i was browsing around for photos from Bhigwan, i found a set which had amazing photos. When i looked at the EXIF data, the lens used was a 600 MM f4 and that costs 9800 USD !!! Many cars cost less! Anyway, whatever be the equipment, the photography is fun and it requires patience. When patience runs out and when birds dont come within the zoom range, guys (my friends who came along) started using me as a prop along with the birds.

The boating part from Kumbhargaon was fun. We were approaching a group of flamingos on the other side of the bridge and suddenly all of them took off. We watched them for a couple of minutes and once they settled down on the other side of the lake, we (both the boats) turned around and the chase continued. Boating costs 100 Rupees per person. Leave alone the birds, you get more than your money’s worth in just the boating experience.

The flamingos were very wary of approaching boats. But, probably they knew to differentiate between the locals and the ooh-aah noisy tourists with bazookas. They didn’t seem to mind the fisherman coming near them (he was using thermocol sheets sticked together as a floating device). As you can see from the second photo below, we had to be at quite distance to avoid disturbing them, but good enough to the naked eye to catch the details. The other boat had a guy with walking stick lens and a bazooka tripod. They tried to get closer and closer and at one point, the entire flock just flew off. It made a good sight, from our boat!

If you happen to catch a flock of flamingos landing, it is poetry in motion. See this series of photos of a group landing. The photos below don’t do justice to watching it for real

The boatman also throws dead fish in the water to attract gulls. The gulls don’t seem to mind our company and you can get to see them pretty close this way. I also tried my hand at rowing, but gave up after the boatman gave a slight hint that my car parked at the distance seemed to mysteriously keep shrinking by the minute. One advantage of going in early was that the light was just awesome if you managed to get your subjects in the right position.

The way i classify birds are as follows: Big bird, small bird, colourful bird and very colourful bird. Of course, this is apart from the crow and the pigeon. We saw lot of birds during our two trips and i put a collage of them below with letters against them. If you are one of the elite knowledgeable birder kind, please do name them in the comments section. The ones that i know. The first photo (also ‘d’): painted stork, j & n – Brahmini Duck, K – Pond Heron? , t – bee eater?

You don’t have to get lost at Kumbhargaon finding help. Contact Sandeep Nagare (9960610615), a kumbhargaon resident. Any non-localite entering Kumbhargaon seems to ask for Sandeep Call him up a day before and ask him to arrange boats for you. We found him (and his brother) to be extremely helpful and cooperative. He is knowledgeable too to help you go beyond “small bird” and “big bird”. After you finish the boating, you can have breakfast/lunch at his place.

Most of the modern tourist cities have a mini-world exhibit as they always attract tourists who want to experience all the sights in one place. It’s good that Pune has joined this list too, albeit on a smaller scale. But, the effort which has gone into the exhibits is definitely not on a small scale. The miniature structures are not half-done paper mash one, but very realistic ones made of metal/fiber. According to reports, designer Nitin Desai and Pune based architect Mahesh Nampurkar were involved in its making.

Location of the park: The park is located in Sahakarnagar, close to swargate. The entry is free for the park. A landmark is the Rajiv Gandhi Academy of e-Learning which is bang-opposite the park. But few things to note: Every second park, even those just few square metres big, is named Yashwantrao Chavan Park. In the quest for this park, i was led to 2 other parks of the same name. Also, asking directions by mentioning Wonder of the world, Statue of liberty, Eiffel Tower doesn’t help much! Directions to the park from Magarpatta City are given below:

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The park has the following exhibits: Eiffel Tower (a big one!), statue of liberty, the leaning tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal and the pyramids. The park closes for the afternoon and opens at 4pm. The evening light is awesome for photography.

Of course, the exhibits are such that you can quench your thirst for the typical family-in-front photo or the cliched Pisa tower photo.

But this is not all. There is a 4d show within the park. You have to buy a ticket of 20 Rupees (per person) for this show. The park is free to enter though. I have been to many 4d shows and this is as good as any of the good ones. Considering the price, it is awesome. The show is 5 mins long and there are three of them – Count Dracula, Aladdin and Alice in wonderland which are shown in rotation over the days. Anyone > 3 yrs can go inside the theatre. It has got all te 4d elements – the spray of water, real bubbles floating around and the moving platform. Note: if you decide to keep your kind on your lap, they don’t give the extra 3d glasses for your kid.

There are also a few cartoon exhibits, the kind where you put your face in the space and get a photo taken. Btw, does anyone know what the tree (shown below) is?

But, all is not well. The PMC has done a great effort in getting this all up, but it will all go to waste if not taken care properly. It is good that the entrance is free as it gives an opportunity to all, irrespective of their economic status, to have a look. But it leads to a problem, the problem of plenty. The crowd is too big to control and there is just one guard , constantly blowing on his whistle, in an effort to get the kids off the exhibits.

What needs to be done…

1. Put a small barricade around each exhibit such that it doesn’t hinder the view, but prevents people from climbing onto the exhibits
2. Put information boards for all exhibits in Marathi, Hindi and English. it doesn’t help anyone if they come and just see “some buildings”. In fact, i saw an adult explaining to the kids, pointing at the tower of Pisa: “Kids, this is the eiffel tower and it is in America”. You have done most of the hard work, just get some explanatory boards near the exhibits”
3. Have a guided tour of the exhibits. There is LOT of info that can be shared with kids on these wonders

On the whole, a good place to spend an evening.

Induri fort is a relatively small fort constructed in the early 1700s by Sarsenapati Sardar Khanderao Dabhade. The fort is mostly in ruins and full of overgrown bushes, but it still is a good place to visit for an evening. Located in Talegaon on the banks of the Indrayani river, the evening scene from the fort is very picturesque. There is a temple of Goddess Kadjai inside the fort. This temple has been restored/painted and is in a good condition, regularly visited by the locals.

Location of Induri Fort: This fort is inside the Talegaon town. Once you drive inside, it is easy to miss the walls/entrance, but if you are coming from the highway across he bridge, you will see the fort walls as you cross the bridge. We went to this fort on a short road trip which included a short climb to Ghorwadeshwar Cave temple, Birla Ganapati and the Shirgaon Sai baba Temple. You can take the small diversion to this fort whenever you have around 30-45 minutes to spare when you are in this area. Given below are directions to this fort from Pune (Magarpatta). Talegaon is very close to the start of the old highway to Mumbai (close to Somatane Phata). If you want to avoid the toll, take the left before the expressway, go into Shirgaon village, go under the expressway and then join the old highway and continue to Talegaon!

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You can drive right into the fort. You can park next to the temple. Once inside, walking through the bushes towards the river will take you to the walls of the fort. During the monsoon, this river and the greenery around should be beautiful.

Even though in ruins, there is lot to explore inside the fort, albeit a bit adventurous considering the dense overgrowth. You can climb to the top of the entrance (watchtower) and even walk for a distance along the walls on the side of the entrance. The steps to the top are broken in many places and it would help to have a flashlight, at least the light from a mobile. We spent around half an hour exploring the ruins, in the hope of making archealogical discoveries

A good place for a short trip and would be even better, if combined with the other places nearby. You can come back to Pune by Chakan road/NH50 to make it a round trip.

There is lot of history associated with the fort and who else but Abhijit Rajadhyaksha to turn to for such details. Head over to his blog if you are curious to know about the history/significance of this fort.

Flight Options: Air India Express, Air India, Air tickets

If you are looking for a break from the chaos of Pune city, then this is the place to go. Right in the middle of the city is the green haven, Chaturshringi Temple. The deity of this temple, Goddess Chaturshringi, also known as Goddess Ambareshwari, is considered to be the presiding deity of the city of Pune.

Chaturshringi literally means “four peaks”. The temple also has shrines of Durga, Laxmi, Vishnu and the miniature idols of Ashtavinayak Ganeshas along with the main shrine of Goddess Ambareshwari. During the navratri festival, the entire temple is lit up with lamps making it a wonderful sight.

Location of Chaturshringi Temple: As soon as you turn on to SB road from University road, the entrance to the temple appears on the right. Most of the time, the right turn to the temple (across the road) is blocked, so you have to go ahead and take a U-turn. There is ample parking within the temple premises. There are also few games for the kids , something like what you see in a fair. Location of the temple is shown on the map below. From the parking, you have to climb around a 100 steps to go to the main shrine. Also, a good option for a morning/evening exercise!

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You can climb further after the temple and go to the top of the hill (near the tower). From here, you get a great view of Pune city. I also found lot of birds on the top, small colourful ones. If you keep going further, you will find a trail which will take you to the other side of the hill, a short photographic walk maybe! A good place for an evening unwind and also gain some religious points in the bargain.

Khandoba is a tribal deity (and a powerful one) and considered to be an incarnation of Lord Shiva. The temple is on a hillock originally called Jayadri and now is known as Jejuri. It is said that God manifested himself as a turmeric to a group of shepherds and hence turmeric is considered sacred at Jejuri temple.

How to go to Jejuri Temple from Pune: Jejuri is around 45 kms from Pune (Magarpatta). You have to take the sasvad road and keep going until you reach Sasvad. At sasvad, there are exits for the Balaji temple and Bhuleshwar. But, if you keep going straight, Jejuri is another 18 kms away.

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There is ample parking at the base of the hill. It seems that there are two paths to go up. The one on the back side is supposed to be longer. The way to the top from the front has around 350 steps to be climbed. But nothing much to sweat about, as you would by occupied gazing at the dozens of stalls all along the climb. All along the stairs, there are many deepmalas. It would be a great sight when all of them are lit up, have to find out when that happens. This temple is for an avatar of Shiva, so expect a big crowd on all the shiv-friendly days.

Once near the top, there is a “resting place” which also doubles as a view point. You leave your slippers here and climb a short flight of steep stairs to reach the temple.

If you are carrying an expensive camera, be extremely careful with it. Turmeric dust is very fine and if it gets into the lens (of SLRs), you are in serious trouble. In front of the main shrine, devotees throw turmeric in the air chanting the god’s name. We didn’t go into the shrine as there was a long queue that day.

The view from the top is very pleasant and would be even better with the lit deepmalas. We noticed a person who was constantly trying to collect all thew turmeric to a corner. We jokingly referred to him as a “yellow-collared worker!”

It is also said that Shivaji’s father has been in the south for a long time with Shivaji in Pune. When his father came to see him, the foothills of Jejuri was the place where Shivaji met his father. There is also a “museum” kind of setup having statues describing this meeting. In the evening light, the statues have an aura around them.

If you are the kind that loves to know the history of a place that you visit, then you should e a regular on Abhijit Rajadhyaksha’s blog. I usually take a printout of his entry and then take it with me and that helps me understand a lot more about the place without which i would just be clicking photos. For the history of Jejuri, check out his entry here.

Almost everyone in Mahabaleshwar would know Panchganga temple, the temple where the waters of five rivers Koyna, Krishna, Venna, Savitri and Gayatri come together. But not many know about the Krishnabai temple, which is just a few hundred metres away. Krishnabai temple is supposed to be source of the Krishna river. The temple is quite old and surprisingly clean, in spite of being in ruins. But that is what makes it very photogenic.

Right behind the parking for the Panchganga temple, there is a small well-marked trail which takes you to the Krishnabai temple. The trail takes you through the woods, but the view from the temple would be something out of the blue. Truly, the best view has been reserved for the lord. In the photo below, you can see the other (and probably the most famous) view point, Kates Point, the one with the elephant shaped rock.

Location of the temple: The point A in the map is Old Mahabaleshwar. Switch to satellite view to see the Krishnabai temple at point B.

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A visit to this temple, particularly in the monsoons will be very rewarding. The growth of moss on the temple walls and the panoramic view of the mahabalshwar range from the temple are something photographically very inviting. The water pouring from the mouth (first photo below) is supposed to be perennial (as mentioned by the priest there) and it flows into a pond which flows out as river Krishna.

It was a typical summer weekend. Our last trip out of Pune, to Sangameshwar temple, was in February and it seemed ages ago. We just wanted to go to some place. So, i started browsing my Pune folder, keeping in mind that most of the scenic places would not qualify for a summer trip. Then, i stumbled upon Baramotichi vihir, an ancient step-well near Satara. This place had turned up in the search results when i was researching about step-wells in Rajasthan. The fact that a google search for this place brought up less than 5 results made this very intriguing. So, this was how the conversation went:
Me: So, do you want to drive 2.5 hrs to see a well?
Vidhya: (after few seconds of thinking). Ok, let’s go.
What we also did was to visit the Mapro farms in Panchgani on the way back (ok, a little extra diversion) to make it a nice road-trip.

This well was completed in 1646 by Sahib Sau. Virubhai Bhosale (Thanks Kaustubh for the correction) and was meant to be a water source to all the farms around. The well is octogonal in shape and was built to look like dug-out shivling i.e a vertical column with an arm extending to the side. It is 110 ft deep and 50 foot in diameter. This was not a traditional step-well like the ones in Rajasthan. A step-well is just a well with steps all along the sides which lead you to the bottom of the well. Of course, the design of the steps range from “just steps” to “intricately carved designs”. This one had steps from one side leading to the middle of the well from where there were look-out galleries.

How to go to Baramotichi Vihir: There are absolutely no boards or directions inside Limb village. The advise given by one of the villagers was for us to ask at every turn and then carry on. You have to go on NH4 towards Satara, cross the Mahabaleshwar turn, then before Satara, you will have an uphill section where you should see rows of modern buildings on the right. This is the Gourishankar institute of management sciences. If you fail to notice these building on the uphill section, you are better off not driving in the first place. As soon as you cross these buildings, you will see a very clearly visible board on the left marked for Limb Village. Do not take that! For some strange reason, there is a board for a kuchcha road into the village, but none for the proper road a hundred metres ahead. Take this left turn towards Limb village. After that, follow the map below or keep asking and proceed. I have marked the map right until the tree under which you have to park and walk to the well

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If you notice in the map, i have marked a point B. This is somewhere inside Limb Village. For some reason, we took a right at this fork and ended up in the narrowest of lanes ever possible, right in the heart of a rural village setting. The road was just wide enough to accommodate the Xylo. The tricky part was to avoid the open gutter on either side of the road. Imagine the situation: I was at the driver’s seat with the open window and trying to avoid the gutter on the right. Vidhya was looking out on the left and giving directions to avoid the gutter and the extended family of the village hen and its chicks. Akshara was between us in the front row alternating between “Appa, what are you doing?” and “Amma, what are you doing?”. And, with the gutters and the hens, we head into a marriage party! it took us over 30 mins to cross this narrow stretch, but it was fun!

Once you climb down the stairs, it leads to an arched opening through which you can reach the well. On top of this arched opening, there is a gallery which opens out to both sides. This was built to accommodate the throne of the king, but i have no idea what he would do sitting here. The gallery can be reached by a narrow “chor-darwaja” from the side (on ground level).

We were there on a summer day around noon, so not the best possible time for photography. But this well is “photogenic” and if you there in the monsoon/evening time, you can get some good photos.

We were tired by the time we finished and wanted some good refreshments. So, on our way back, we took a diversion to Panchgani and went to the famous (strangely, i had always driven past it to Mahabaleshwar, but never stopped!) Mapro farms. On the recommendation of a friend, we tried the sandwich and it was awesome. So, i am forwarding the recommendation! We had a good break there as the weather was a bit better in Panchgani