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.