Goa

Goa was one destination I always wanted to go since my childhood but could never go for first 25 years. But since then I have been there 4 times in last 3 years, each journey with a different group of people. Each journey has been a different experience and ideally I should have written four different blogs for those!

How to reach: Regular flights from all major cities of India, Direct trains to Madgaon and Vasco from major junctions

Places of Interest: Mangeshi Temple, Shantadurga Temple, Basilica of Bom Jesus, Dona Paula point, Big Foot (Ancestral Goa), Old Church of Panaji, Aguada Fort 

Beaches: Miramar, Colva, Calangute, Baga, Arambol, Palolem, Varca, Anjuna

Food: For a non-vegetarian, there are plenty of options. For vegetarian like us, options are limited but they are available all around Goa. We found Rajadhani in Panaji a better choice.

Goa is located on the western ghat of India. Goa state has been divided in two districts: North Goa and South Goa. During my recent visit, we decided to go Goa by train from Pune and to explore the South Goa. Our stay was in Margao Residency governed by Goa Tourism. There are some advantages of going to Goa by Train. There are many tunnels on the way and of course, there is Dudhsagar water fall.

For most tourists, Goa is a land of some wonderful beaches. We explored Varca beach and Colva beach which were nearer to our hotel. Colva beach being a more popular one is always crowded and offers variety of water sports. Varca is lesser known and therefore is preferred by visitors who want to avoid crowd and enjoy the soothing Arabian sea. One can easily get vehicles on hire for reasonable rates in Goa. We hired one two wheeler and explored the area around Madgaon.

P-1 Sunset at Colva Beach

Goa tourism organizes daily site seeing tours to North and South Goa. There are other special tours also. Next day we decided to go for the South Goa site seeing. This gave us chance to explore Goa mainland and its culture. We visited Shantadurga Temple and Mangeshi Temple. We also explored various churches of Old Goa including the Basilica of Bom Jesus which houses the relics of St. Francis Xavier. This journey also took us to Big Foot – Ancestral Goa. As we roam around in the village created, we come across various idols which depicts the culture and life style of Goa. It also has Saint Mirabai sculpture which is India’s longest laterite sculptor. There was also a Portuguese house there which depicted lifestyle of Portuguese who once rules Goa.

P-2 Basilica of Bom Jesus

Though we visited Panaji during our South Goa site seeing tour earlier, we decided to explore more on two wheeler. Panaji is around 30 km from Madgaon and it was a pleasant journey on NH-17 as the weather was not-so-cool-not-so-hot. Panaji(or Panjim) is one of the beautiful city of India. Nicely constructed roads, road-side greenery and well maintained market add to its beauty. We spent some quality time at the Miramar beach before heading to the famous Panaji Church. Located in the center of the city, this is one of the picturesque churches around Goa. One might have seen it in some Bollywood movies shot in Goa! After exploring the church, we went to Dona Paula point. Again this point has been popular for movie shootings. It has a nicely constructed platform where one can sit and enjoy the vast sea in front.

P-3 Panaji Church

As always happens with Goa, we never realized how days went by but we enjoyed every moment of our stay in this beautiful place. There are many places in Goa apart from the ones mentioned here which I explored during my earlier visits. Surely I would like to cover them in my next blog on Goa!

Bhandardara

Akshar Bharati is a social organization which provides very good opportunity for the volunteers to get connected with little kids and spread knowledge by setting up libraries for them. Jyoti and I have been active members of Akshar Bharati since we came to Pune and have enjoyed many activities over the last few years.

Recently Akshar Bharati organized an exciting nature trail to Sahyadri covering Bhandardara, Randha falls, Pravara River, Amruteshwar Temple and many other points on the way along with library set up activities at two locations.  We participated in this fun-filled activity along with other 30+ members.

P-1 Randha Falls

We started our journey on Saturday early morning from Pune and our first target was ZP school of Kothe gaon of Sangamner district. We donated books to start a library for the kids of that school and spent some quality time with those kids. Despite being a holiday, kids came to the school to take part in this function. The smiles on their faces and sparkles in their eyes made our trip successful. After having a refreshing breakfast arranged by Vandana Jadhav who is also one of the volunteer of Akshar Bharati, we continued our journey. Next we reached Randha falls. We had a lot of fun in the water there and it felt really nice to get wet in scorching heat.

P-2 Bhandardara Dam Backwaters

At the time of lunch, we reached Shendi village after crossing Bhandardara Dam(Wilson dam). Our next target was Amruteshwar Temple at Ratangad. We continued our journey on narrow roads of Sahyadri surrounded by beautiful lush green hills and grounds. We reached the temple in the afternoon. It is a temple of Lord Shiva. It's an ancient temple having beautiful carvings. The temple is in the foothills of Ratangad. One can also see Maharashtra's highest peak, Kalsubai from here. We were accompanied by Swamiji at the temple who is also looking after the library Akshar Bharati started at this place earlier. In his company, we shared peaceful time there and also enjoyed musical mehfil of religious songs.

P-3 Amruteshwar Temple

After having our dinner in Shendi, we reached Indori of Akole taluka at night. This is where we spent our night in the house of  Bhanudas Abhale. The house was surrounded by beautiful farms. We also had camp-fire for short time and discussed the stars and the constellations. The long day thus ended here and I had the most peaceful sleep during that night!

P-4 Sunset at Ratangad

Next morning was a refreshing experience for all the volunteers. We spent some quality time in the farms full of sugarcanes, carrots, sorghums, cucumbers and bottle gourds. We then headed to Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram where we started another library for the kids staying there. We also enjoyed scientific toys demonstration by Suraj. We then visited Agasti Rishi's Ashram at a nearby place before having our lunch. In Lunch, we enjoyed the real taste of village's delicious food. After having filled our stomachs with tasty food and lots of love, we started our return journey. We enjoyed lots of games, songs and dances on the way. We all stayed like a big family for two days and never realized how quickly those two days went by. I thank all the organizers who planned such a wonderful trip and brought us close to our culture and values.

Andaman - Port Blair and Havelock Island

There were many locations my wife Jyoti and I considered for our honeymoon in December 2008 including Shimla, Manali, Leh, Lakshadweep, Singapore. But finally we both agreed to go where we would have really loved to spend the beautiful time together away from city life. And we chose Andaman. I started planning for this trip at least 5 months in advance and got good help from my friends who have been there before. I contacted Andaman tourism and after some discussions over email, finalized my itinerary and hotel reservations.

Andaman and Nicobar are group of many islands, some of which are now commercially developed. But rest are still residents for the local tribes. There is a legend that Lord Hanuman once reached these Islands and stayed here for some time. And the name Andaman actually derived from Hanuman. Our 8 day journey in December, 2008 was limited to Andaman Islands. One needs longer stay to reach and explore Nicobar Islands as they are farther away from Port Blair, the main Airport on these islands. In eight days, we explored Port Blair city, Ross Island, North bay, Chatham, Chidiya tapu and Havelock. 

Port Blair Jetty

Port Blair
How to reach: Regular flights from Chennai and Kolkata airports, Chennai-Port Blair cruise service

Places of Interest: Cellular Jail, Sagarika emporium, Samudrika Marine museum, Mini Zoo, Corbyns Cove beach, Chatham saw mill, Chidiya tapu, Science Museum

Nearest Islands: Ross, North Bay

Food: For a non-vegetarian, there are plenty of options. For vegetarian like us, options are limited but they are very good. Annapurna restaurant in Aberdeen Bazar was our preferred choice.

We reached Port Blair Airport from Chennai in a 3 hr flight. We were received by our driver Mr Sanjay at the airport and for the remaining journey he used to become an important part of our stay there. Port Blair is a beautiful city, the most beautiful city of India in my opinion! Nicely constructed almost empty roads and easiness in the air was a welcome change from busy metro life. Looking at its current development, it becomes hard to imagine that a century ago this place was a synonymous for one of the most brutal punishments. 

The place which was feared by many was the very popular Cellular Jail. It was a home to many Indian Freedom fighters who were sent to these Islands to crush their enthusiasm. Post-independence, Cellular Jail has been converted into the National Memorial to pay tribute to all those Freedom fighters who once lived here. We attended the Sound-and-Light show at the Cellular Jail at night and came to know about the struggle our Freedom fighters faced here. 



During day time, we visited the Jail again and this time we went inside to see the cells and gallows. The jail is a huge structure, originally having 7 wings. Four of which were destructed by Japanese Air strike during World War II and remaining three still exists today. There is a special cell in one corner on second floor of one of the wings, just opposite to gallows. There lived a special prisoner who made a significant impact on Indian Freedom Struggle. His name was: Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. Savarkar wrote poems in Marathi on the walls of his cell and some of this work can still be observed today. The Cellular Jail is located very near to the sea and nice breeze of air is felt when you reach top of the jail. There is a museum inside the jail which depicts lives of prisoners and message of patriotism.

Port Blair has a very well constructed jetty and harbor to reach different surrounding islands via boats and ships. We visited Ross Island and North bay in small boats. Ross island used to be a home for British officers in pre-Independence era. It was destructed to a great extent during Tsunami in December, 2004. There are still some houses, offices and church left on the island. We also encountered some deer roaming in the open area during our stay there. North bay is a very small island, mainly thrives on snorkeling and scuba diving activities. The island is surrounded by very beautiful coral reef and doing snorkeling there was a life-time memorable experience.

During our stay at Port Blair we also visited Samudrika marine museum, Mini Zoo, Corbyns Cove beach and Science museum. Sagarika emporium is an official store to purchase handicraft and spices for which Andaman Islands are famous.   We also drove to Chidiya tapu, around 2 hr journey from Port Blair. It was famous for water sports but was destroyed in 2004 Tsunami. It was being redeveloped when we were there. On our last day, we went to Chatham Saw Mill. It is considered to be one of the biggest saw mills of Asia and it’s a heritage. It was attacked by Japanese fighter planes in World War II and Post-independence it was rebuilt. 

On the way to Havelock

Havelock

How to reach: Small passenger ships from Port Blair, 2-3 hrs

Places of Interest: Radhanagar Beach

Food: Hotels do provide good food but there is a restaurant named Royal Palace in the market especially for people who prefer north-Indian style food

 Mangroves

Port Blair is a beautiful city, but it does not have any popular beaches. To explore the sea, we decided to go to Havelock. Havelock is a small Island situated at around 57 km North East of Port Blair. It comprises of 5 very small villages and there is single main road of appx 11 km which runs through the Island. We started at 6 am in the morning from Port Blair and reached at around 10 am. Our hotel was adjacent to a small beach and we can see mangroves from our cottage. After spending some time at our hotel, we headed straight to Radhanagar beach. Despite being a small isolated island, one can find auto rickshaw easily there. Recently ATMs of few banks have also been set up there. 

After crossing the market, we reached Radhanagar beach. And the very first impression was that nothing can be more beautiful and peaceful than this in this world! Radhanagar beach is considered the most beautiful beach of Asia, and should be very close to being best in the world. There is clean sky blue water, not too deep for few hundred meters. There is very soft sand on the beach, and the beach itself is surrounded by green forest from one side. Unlike many beaches in India, there is ample of space available for you to relax.  

Havelock has been a preferred destination for many Europeans and Israelis and we found many on Radhanagar beach. The blue water was so tempting that we directly jumped into it and spent entire afternoon there. The beach is on the western side of Havelock and provided the best view of sunset. As with other Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Havelock follows Indian Standard Time (IST). But being on the eastern side of the country, day begins early and ends early. We witnessed the marvelous sunset at around 5pm and returned back to hotel. Next morning, we again reached Havelock and enjoyed elephant ride on the beach. At Radhanagar beach, we also tasted the sweetest coconut water.  

We couldn’t manage to go to the Elephant beach which is known for snorkeling due to lack of time. There are also Islands around Havelock having very beautiful coral life and one can enjoy snorkeling and scuba diving there. After filling our hearts with the beauty and simplicity of Havelock, We returned to Port Blair on second day evening. I would also like to thank our friends whom we met in Port Blair and who made our Christmas special.

Tamilnadu Tourism - Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal is a hill station located in Dindigul district of Tamilnadu. It is at three-and-a-half hour journey from Madurai and twelve hour journey from Chennai by road.  Nearest railway station is Kodaikanal Road, around 80kms from Kodaikanal. We reached Kodaikanal from Madurai at around 11:00 am in the morning. Half of this journey is on mountains and you realize sudden drop in temperature as the journey proceeds. As you go further up, clouds start surrounding you. Kodaikanal bus stand is near the famous Kodaikanal Lake and entire town is centered on this lake. Due to commercialization, many hotels and lodges are available for accommodation.  After some efforts we found a good hotel and had a very good lunch in the market. Entire first day we spent in roaming around in the market and getting used to the environmental changes. There is a definite freshness in the air which relaxes your mind. Market has many shops selling home-made chocolates and spices. After doing some purchase, we booked our site-seeing and forest trek for the next day. Clouds start surrounding you by 5:00pm and the temperature drops. By 9:00pm, it becomes so foggy that it is hard to see anything beyond 5 feet.

P.1 View from Coaker's walk

On second day, we first went to Coaker’s walk. It is a nice photogenic valley view point. From here our forest trip started. There is a check-post at the forest entrance and prior permission is required to enter the forest. There is a road connecting Kodaikanal to Munnar(Kerala) through this forest and our journey was on the same road. On our way, we saw Silent valley, where Britishers used to come for meditation. Finally we reached Berijam Lake which was the destination of our journey. It has a picturesque view and soothing environment with nice green surroundings. After spending sometime at Berijam Lake, we returned to Kodaikanal city for another trek.  This second trek was along with different waterfalls, and we crossed many in our short jungle trek. Here we saw the waterfall where the famous Liril soap was shot. The water was very cold but soaking legs in that took away all the tiredness we had that day. Then we went on to see the Dolphin Nose point which was another 40 minute downward trek but couldn’t really see anything because of sudden appearance of fog and drizzling. We were scheduled to depart for Chennai on third day afternoon. So we decided to roam around the streets of Kodaikanal in the morning. We did boating in the beautiful Kodaikanal Lake and it was indeed a fun. Next we hired a tandem cycle for an hour and saw different roads and streets around the Lake area. Synchronizing your leg movements as with your partner and also keeping balance is an art and we thoroughly enjoyed that. Soon it was noon and we finished our lunch and waited for our bus to arrive. Finally the time came when we bid farewell to Kodaikanal but memories of this one of the most beautiful south Indian hill station will always have a special place in our heart.

P.2 Berijam Lake

P.3 Liril Falls