Bhubaneshwar - The city of temples

Retail Banking does not pay a great deal. What it does however is give you great experiences, different job roles, different people to meet and my favorite part - lot of different places to travel to and experience. My latest travel program took me to Bhubaneshwar...The city of temples. Puri has always been a favorite haunt for the Bengali, and Bhubaneshwar - 60 km away is a favorite haunt for most travellers. However somehow it had not featured in the 4 - 5 trips i have made to Puri as a kid and it was my first visit to Bhubaneshwar.
I landed at 12.30 in the afternoon, the air connectivity is not great to Orissa yet with not too many morning flights from Mumbai. The plan for the day was to spend time at the Orissa state office and in the evening go to Cuttack. As is my wont I insisted on a traditional lunch and we went to Dalma - possibly the only national Odiya food chain - they have an outlet in Bangalore.
I went for the Prawn meal at Dalma. The meal consists of rice, a prawn curry which was a bit like the traditional Malai chingri - only redder than the Bengali version and quite tasty. You also get Dalma - which is quite simply Dal cooked Odiya style - with lots of vegetables and is a traditional Odiya preparation, decent but not outstandingly good. The highlight of the meal was the sweet dish we had - Rasaballi which is fried sweets soaked in Kheer. I am not a fan of sweets but the Rasaballi was really really nice.
We then left for Cuttack at around 5 PM, Cuttack is a twin city and is around 20 km from Bhubaneshwar. The route also contains one of the highest per capita sweetmeat shops in a 400 m stretch that you will ever pass through. The 400 m stretch is lined on both sides by shops selling sweets. We stopped and sampled the most famous Pahado Rasogulla. The Pahado Rasogulla is a browning Rasogulla made of Chhana. More than the taste which is quite good, what does stand out is the area with the lines of shops.
I spent the night at Hotel Crown back in Bhubaneshwar, ferreted in by my injured foot, ordering room service and watching some Ollywood - the odiya film industry. Next morning was the time of the 2 hours i allow myslef to sight see in the travels that work takes me on. The same is done from 7 to 9 AM before office starts. In Bhubaneshwar the most famous tourist sight is the Lingaraja temple. The temple however was skipped because of my dicey foot. I instead spent the two hours going to see two of Bhubaneshwars other landmarks. The Udaygiri/ Khandigiri caves - Jain caves built into hills which are heritage monuments and the more historical and land-mark-ish Dhualigiri Stupa which is built on the sight where Ashoka the great Maurya king saw the river soaked in blood and embraced Ahimsa. It was pretty cool going on top of the small hill where the stupa is placed, overlooking the river from the spot where Indian history took an entirely different course. Incidentally the river is also where Shahrukh and Kareena were romancing during the famous movie.
The rest of the day was work which took me to all parts of the city. The city is really rather well planned. The most impressive thing were the vending zones created by the government. These are places where hawkers have been relocated to, green in colour and having the feel of a bistro, the zones have resulted in the city being neat, and as evidenced by the business the hawkers doing good business as well. In the afternoon I had a chance to also sample the famous drink the Lingaraaja Lassi, which was unlike most Lassis brownish in colour possibly due to jaggery I am not quite sure, it is very heavy, though taste wise does not really come close to the Original Lassiwala in Jaipur.
The other really striking aspect I will always remember about my visit was how Orissa appeared to be a classic link between North and South India. The script was very like the script followed by the South of the country, the dialect however was similar to the North.
Overall - a very productive and enriching trip. I left with a far higher opinion about the state and the government than I had come with. It just goes with show that dynastic politics and a long uninterrupted party rule in a state need not necessarily lead to decay or slow progress. One just needs the right people for the job.

The Mumbai Cave Trail

Sometime last month... The exact date is lost due to the late consistency of my blogging, we embarked on the Mumbai Cave trail. Elephanta was done and dusted... It was time for the other two.

One right in the heart of the suburbs of maximum city, right in the middle of the urban jungle, easily accessible through bus routes, infact it acts as a bus stop but so non descript, so un-marketed that you have to see it twice to confirm the actual existence. I am talking about Mahakali Caves. The place everyone seems to know and pass but hardly anyone actually visits. Well we did, for a moment because there is little to see - uncared for, without proper space for parking a car and taking a good view. I actually did not even get out of the car. You can see from the pic that the caves are actually their. Do go and visit, take some pictures, exclaim a little... Maybe the Mumbai authorities will do something about it. Its a cave! for God's sake...maybe they could lease the same out to a restaurant chain for some fancy cave food? Yum!

The other, less famous but more visited and equally badly marketed are the Kanheri Caves...where are they located? Right in the middle of Sanjay Gandhi national park... Where is Sanjay Gandhi National Park? Its a bit off Borivali and completely worth a days visit. Only please do go there during the monsoons or winter as the place would seem quite brilliant. The caves are quite a bit inside the forest, around a 20 minute drive and are in one word breathtaking. Easily one of the most awe inspiring sights I have seen and completely unbelievable when you think of the fact that it is completely within Mumbai. Too bad that the place is hardly talked about. Kanheri Caves actually count 108 distinct caves, though we visited only 3, as it was very very hot. The caves have various Buddhist carvings and it is actually quite stunning to think of the effort that must have gone into the construction. I am sure that if Mumbai could market Elephanta and Kanheri to South East Asia better, you would have the MNS bringing out processions against speaking in Mandarin :)

Parsi Bungalows, Strawberry Fields, Pandavas Vanavaas Haunts, Driving to PratapGarh - Well almost...that is not to mention ParaGliding!!

We had a day off on Friday, 19th February due to Shivaji Jayanti. Slightly lesser known event but what the hell, that made it 3 days off and we decided to embark on our much awaited and anticipated road trip to Panchgani, Mahabaleshwar, Wai and Pratapgarh.

We had planned a 2 nights - 3 day trip but the unfortunate demise of my cousin Soumik caused us to shorten the trip by a night. However as it is the rule of the blog to focus on life's positives we will not dwell on that. Thank you Soumikda for all the good times that we have shared and may your soul rest in peace!

Day 1: Arriving at Panchgani, Visiting the Mapro farm, Driving through the Ghats almost to Pratapagarh Fort, Strawberry Fields, Falling in love with Il Palazzo

We left Mumbai at 8.30 AM after the usual late-to-rise syndrome. We picked up Dripto (who was to go to Pune) and set off all geared up for the longish drive (approx 375 km one way). The route we had planned was the express way to Pune and then on to NH4 to Shirval (on the way to Satara). We were then to take the exit to Wai and drive on to Panchgani. We dropped Dripto off at Pune and continued on NH4 towards Satara. After asking a few people as to whether we were going the right way we proceeded on to Shirwal for the exit to Wai. The exit is pretty easily identifiable and is basically under a flyover towards the right, there is a clear indication of Wai, Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar. After taking the right one needs to drive a further one and a half hours uphill towards Panchgani. The Ghats are pretty easily negotiable, one only needs to take care to overtake only when safe and absolutely necessary. We reached our hotel, Il Palazzo at around 12.45 PM. After checking in and being pleasantly surprised at the quality of the room we were on our way again to our first stop - the Mapro farm.

Mapro farm is located on the Mahabaleshwar Panchgani road. It is easily the most easily locatable place in the area which Mapro has inundated with sign boards. The farm basically constitutes

1. A chocolate factory - where you can see chocolate coated cashews and almonds being made
2. A flower nursery

3. Some plots of land where strawberrys are being grown

4. A food court

5. A mini market when one can taste Mapro product for free and buy Mapro products at a 10% discount

We spent around an hour and a half at the farm looking around and had lunch at the food court. They serve decent vegetarian sandwiches, though i was slightly put off by a group beside us finding an insect inside their sandwich. Guess that makes it Non Veg but i am not chinese!!! The highlight of the meal was the strawberry juice which they make right in front of you. Very nice and very strawberry. We the left the farm after stopping at the market for tasting and buying some goodies.

The plan was to proceed to Pratapgarh which I had read was a steep drive of close to 35 km. What i did not know was that the drive was through a very curvy and winding ghat. Ghat driving always has an element of danger to it and one needs to be completely concentrating on the road and maintaining lane discipline. One also needs a prayer as there really is very little one can do if there is a rogue driver coming from the other side.

The drive to Pratapgarh fort took us about an hour and a half and we were met with disappointment as we could not actually go up to the fort due to a bus that was not working and was clogging up the entire traffic around a kilometer from the fort. The mess we found would take atleast half an hour to clear, that information and the unwillingness to negotiate the road in front of us after sunset made us decide, i believe wisely, to turn back. The drive back for some reason seemed to be much quicker and on reaching Mahabaleshwar we drove towards Arthurs Seat - which is supposedly Mahabaleshwars premiere sight seeing highlight. Half way to Arthurs Seat we aborted the drive on finding out that it was still a 15 Km drive on a road that was pretty curvy.

We were proceeding back to Panchgani a bit underwhelmed before the day was saved and how! by the visit to Vrundavan Vaug which is a strawberry farm on the Mahabaleshwar - Panchgani road. We just entered the farm and had a ball there after picking ripe strawberrys by hand and then buying them. It was the first time we had seen strawberry thickets let alone ripe strawberrys and we had a blast plucking the best ripe ones ourselves. Thrilled by the visit to the strawberry farm we reached Il Palazzo tired and drained at around 6.45PM.

Il Palazzo is a heritage boutique hotel and is easily one of the best at Panchgani. It is very clean has spacious rooms augmented by the high ceilings, the service is prompt, polite and the entire set up gives on a feeling of it being a home away from home. The hotel is maintained by a Parsee family who actually stay there, they are actually the third generation of residents who take care and let out the hotel. We were staying in one of the rooms in the main wing, which has around 9 rooms. There are also cottages which are let out to larger groups of people. We were liking the place already but fell in love when dinner was served. They have small dining tables right outside you room where you are served. The have veg and non veg options of a set home cooked menu which is what is decided by the owners. I do not think one can ask for helpings but we really could not ask for anything more. We were served carrot soup, bread rolls, rice, baked chicken in cheese, chicken cutlets, roti, aloo - gobi subzi and mutton curry. This was capped by chocolate souffle. The food was actually home made and very tasty - the parsee family have the same meal, and it cost us only Rs 400 per head. Il Palazzo also has a buffet option for guests but I think you have to pre book. We then retired to our bed, tired after a long drive and totally satisfied by the excellent meal that we just had.

Day 2: Parsi Breakfast, Sight seeing at Mahabaleshwar, Paragliding, Quaint Wai, Driving at 140 kmph

We had quite a few things to do when we woke up the next day. We had to do our Mahabalehswar sight seeing, paragliding and visit Wai on our way back to Mumbai. Our relatively full plate (of things to do) was however nothing in comparison to the breakfast that we were served. It was easily the largest breakfast outside of a 5 star that i have ever had. We had (and believe you me, this was one meal only) mutton kheema, pao, a very large omelette (at least 3 eggs), poha, bread and home made strawberry jam. We were so full that we almost felt like going nowhere. We just about managed to get up and check out (after ensuring that we bring some of the home made strawberry jam with us to Mumbai).

We drove straight to Arthurs Seat retracing the route that we had driven the day before and further on. A lot of sight seeing points are on the way to Arthurs seat. Basically each and every valley view with the Krishna has undergone some branding - you find Parsee Point, Kates Point, Echo Point etc all through. The view at Arthurs seat was indeed special but I would recommend the view at Marjorie point.

The view that we were privy to, of the western ghats half submerged in cloud and mist was truly breathtaking.

We then proceeded back to Mahabaleshwar and were almost driving out of Panchgani, when we saw the paragliding point and stopped in the nick of time. Ritwikas feet are still recovering from the nail operation and she was not ready for paragliding healthwise but I went ahead and enjoyed the experience of feeling like a bird for ten minutes that they allow you. To be honest, I did not enjoy the experience as much as I had parasailing in Pattaya for two reasons. One, I was slightly worried about the landing, landing in sea is much safer. Secondly, I was pretty scared, one comment that the handlers had made about my weight had made me almost back out. It was not very windy and right before take off they tell me not to sit down too fast while take off, as otherwise there was a chance that me, the main paraglider (I was obviously taken as a co pilot) and the two helpers might all fall down off the cliff!! Add to that there was one aborted take off attempt because the wind was not strong enough. Anyway after one scare off an aborted landing, we finally managed to land safely without any broken bones. I consider myself richer for the experience, and poorer walletwise given that those ten minutes cost me Rs 1500/-.

After taking a break, we then proceeded downwards to Wai which is quaint town, and apparently hosted the Pandavas during their Vanvaas. We visited the two main temples in Wai, the Ganesh temple and the Shiv temple. The Shiv temple in particular was very nice. Made of black stone, the inner sanctum was cool and gave that feeling of peace which makes one wish one can stay longer. The architecture was also quite noteworthy.

The breakfast ensured that we did not need lunch, in fact we did not need much of a dinner either...We proceeded to drive straight to Mumbai with one stop for a toilet break at the food mall after the final toll naka. The road from Shirwal to Panvel is phenomenal - a four lane highway all through. The highlight here was hitting the 140 Kmph mark for the first time in my life. My highest previous mark was 100 on the Eastern Express higway. This however came with the learning at how easily the car reaches 120 kmph when machine and man are used to those speeds. It required a slightly wobbly turn on the Pune expressway for sanity to pull momentum back to 80 - 100 kmph.

We managed to reach Mumbai well before dark and were back in Powai by 7 PM.

Overall the trip was extremely memorable, though will always be remembered and tempered by the news of Soumikdas death. I would rate Panchgani, provided you get the stay option at Il Palazzo as the ultimate one night getaway from Mumbai. Go there for a complete weekend of rest and relaxation. Go there for picking strawberrys from the farms and having the fruit in all forms the juice, the jam, the crush and just plain and simple. The only side effect is that you will not feel like buying strawberrys off the shelf at the malls ever again.

400 Km drive on a single day! Silvassa and Nargol!

We were supposed to leave at 6.30 AM on Saturday morning. True to form and expectation however we ended up waking up at 7.30 and after a whirlwind 60 minutes we had managed to pick Dripto up from his house at Powai and were on our way to Silvassa and Nargol. I was slightly nervous and excited as this would be my first single day drive of around 400 Kms - I had previously driven around 300 Km on a day trip to Bordi but that was with my brother - in - law who did not actually drive much but provided the mental relief of there being a reserve driver if required. This was different as my younger brother and wife do not drive and I was all geared up. The route was pretty straight forward. Hit the Western Express highway and keep driving towards Gujarat, we had seen exits towards Silvassa on our way to Vapi and were reasonably confident of locating the same.

We made good time (hitting average speeds of eighty kmph) till just before Manor and stopped at a roadside resort for some Chai and breakfast at around 10.30 . Refreshed and happy (having seen South Africa at 6 for 2), we hit the road again after thirty minutes. We were then however reduced to travelling at snails pace as work on one side of the highway had caused single lane traffic for a good five odd kilometers. With oversized trucks and aggressive Toyota Innova tourist cars we landed up spending a good hour and a half just which made the 5 km seem like 50.

The traffic was however a lot better post the stretch of road repair and we took a right from Bhilad. There is apparently an exit for Silvassa before Bhilad from Talaseri but we missed that as the signages are not too great. Around 12 kms after taking the right from the highway we were in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Dadra and Nagar Haveli is built around the two settlements at Silvassa - the capital and Dadra. The road from the highway takes you to Silvassa first. Road in DNH are neat and well maintained, lined with trees on either side. The Daman Ganga river flowing through the UT seems to be the focal point for tourism with a number of resorts offering water sports facilities. I am sure that the place would be quite beautiful during the monsoons with the rived gushing through but unfortunately we were in the wrong season and the Daman Ganga was completely parched and reduced to a brook.

We stopped at one of Silvassas better known attractions, the our lady of piety church and after stopping to take the mandatory snap proceeded to Dadra and the Vanganga lake which offers options for some boating and is clearly Damans most popular picnic spot. We then drove back to Silvassa and had a pretty decent chicken and roti lunch at Hotel Greenwood. It was now time for the highlight of the trip - Nargol beach - the spot where the Parsees first landed.

To drive to Nargol we first retraced our path to Bhilad and drive the other side exactly opposite to Silvassa on the road that acts as a short cut. The road is narrow but is in a decent condition, although the problem is the lack of sign posts which makes one stop regularly and ask if one is going in the correct direction. The main approach to Nargol is from Vapi and that is where the short cut finally leads to after a thirty minute (15 km drive). One then proceeds to Nargol village and then onto the beach. One can either park the car in the village and walk to the beach. We however crossed the village and took the one pitch road on the right which seemed to lead to the see. At the end of the road was the largest tract of virgin beach I have seen in Western India and the place is a veritable paradise lined with pine trees on one side.

We spent some thirty minutes on the beach and then proceeded to drive back to Mumbai - almost missing the left and going towards Vapi in the process. We left Nargol at around 5 PM and managed to reach Powai by 8.30 PM, happy, tired and with plans of going back to Nargol one day with time to kill and a large picnic basket.

Saurashtra - Junagadh, Gir, Somnath!

After Elephanta the day before, it was time for the big trip. Pretty much the whole of Saurashtra, the trip plan was tight and comprised three highlights.

1. Junagadh - a historical city and in my mind space after reading "India after Gandhi"
2. Gir Forest - The home of the Asiatic Lion
3. Somnath - The most historic and holiest of the Jyotirlingas. Again in my mind space after reading "India after Gandhi"

The plan was the following:

15th Jan: Board the Saurashtra Mail from Mumbai Central to Rajkot
16th Jan: Drive down to Gir via Junagadh - Overnight at Gir.
17th Jan: Safari at Gir, followed by a drive to Somnath - Overnight at Somnath
18th Jan: Drive down to Rajkot, board Saurashtra Mail at 5.40 PM
19th Jan: Arrive Mumbai at 6 AM

The plan was all set. Chhoto Mesho had arrived in the morning from Indonesia, the booking were organised by my friend and colleague Mehul. There was only one catch. Our onward tickets were not confirmed. We had 2 RAC tickets (AC2)on normal and WL 1 - 4. As the in-laws were travelling I had booked 6 on Tatkaal (AC3) unfortunately getting wait listed WL 4 - 9.

As it turned out, the time the chart got finalised at 5 PM, we landed up with RAC 1 - 4 on normal and with 2 confirmed seats on Tatkaal. Reasonably confident that we were going we went to the station where we had to pay Rs 5500 for two confirmed AC 1st Class tickets and we spent the night slightly crazy with 2 people sleeping in AC 1st class, 3 on AC2 (The TT had given us one extra birth) and myself in AC3. Moral of the episode - Bribe the TT instead of the touts at the Railway station in case of travel. Far more effective and a lot cheaper.

The train arrived at Rajkot and Mehul was there at the station. After a wonderful breakfast of Gathias we boarded the Innova that he had booked and settled down for our journey to Junagadh. On the way we took a detour at Virpur and visited the temple of Jalaram Bapa. Apart from the temple the most interesting aspect of Virpur was the exclusive Nescafe outlet - the only one I have seen so far.

We reached Junagadh
- a 150 km, 2 hour drive (kudos to the Gujarat roads - a 4 lane highway with bouganvillaes on the side) and went to have the Gujarati Thali at Modern Restaurant. The thali was pretty ordinary (you get far better ones in Mumbai), post which we did our Junagadh sight seeing comprising the Maqbara, the fort and the Ashoka Edict.

The Maqbara
and the edict were worth a visit but i was very impressed by the fort (far better than I had expected).

The view of Junagadh from the point where the cannon is kept and the wells were the highlight. I recommend walking down to the well floor - there are steps leading down for a rather eerie and different experience.

We then proceeded to Sassan Gir (a further 70 Kms)to a farmhouse owned by a police commissioner called the Lions Paw. The Lions Paw is highly recommended for bachelors and groups of friends. It is rustic, well done and roomy. Whenever people stay the owner sends servants, who cook what you want (unfortunately only vegetarian), light up a bonfire in the evening and are at your beck and call. Where it does not score however is the cleanliness of the bathrooms where it definitely does not score more than 1 star. However the surroundings - pretty much in the middle of the jungle and the setting, unpolluted starry skies and the unmistakable sounds of the jungle peppered by the occasional lions roar more that made up for it and we hit the bed with an alarm at 5 AM to catch the Safari the next day at 6 AM sharp.

Jungle Safaris in Gir, work similar to Corbett, 30 permits in the morning for 30 gypsies and 30 in the afternoon. It is therefore very important to come early to a) get a permit (if you are #31 you do not get one) b) hit the jungle early as the big cats are best seen in the first hour. This time lady luck was certainly smiling on us (we saw no tigers in 4 days in Corbett), as we caught a Pride after 30 minutes! and it was a pride of 2 Lionesses and 7 cubs!!

We had started normally and seen the usual Sambarh deer and Nilgai. I did not have high hopes after Corbett and was intent to enjoy the jungle rather that pray for Lions when suddenly we saw a jeep in front of us standing still and we found out that there were sounds and the unmistakable bark of a deer. We too heard the deer bark and saw the forest guard in the jeep get down and walk into the jungle. The guide was gone for about 5 minutes and we were wondering what happened. Meanwhile 2 jeeps had piled up behind us and the one in front had gone ahead.

We were about to give up and move forward (as had happened numerous times in Corbett) when suddenly we herd something close to an owl hoot, this was the signal by the forest guard. Then all hell broke loose, we could see the lions and they were behind us. The jeeps sprinted on reverse to catch the lions in case they disappear. In excitement our gypsy actually crashed into the gypsy in front but we need not have worried. The King of the Jungle was in no hurry. Completely unperturbed the pride moved forward at their own pace, cubs playing with each other as they slowly moved along into the jungle while we fumbled with our cameras trying to juggle taking snaps and seeing the beast in its environs and in its full glory.

We could follow the lions for ten minutes before they disappeared into the bushes. The rest of the safari (two and a half hours more)was spent talking about the fact that we were so lucky to see 9 Lions. We saw a lot more deer, peacocks, owls, jackals and monkeys during the safari but nothing came close to actually seeing the lions. The only other thing i will remember was the Stag head which we saw. These are put
up at the spots where carcasses are found and fixed on trees.

The good part of Gir is that they have a sanctuary (16 sq km) where they keep some animals including lions. This is like an open zoo and the conduct bus rides (groups of 20) around it, one is almost guaranteed to see a lion through this ride. We took the sanctuary ride (they call it Deovalia Park) and duly saw three lions. We were lucky enough to see lions in the forest so it did not seem like much to us, but i think it is a good consolation if one fails and is something that the other national parks could seek to emulate. The lions there are obviously fed by the caretakers and do not have to resort to the law of the jungle to survive.

Exhilarated after the Safari, we had breakfast at our farmhouse checked out and drove to Somnath. In Somnath we checked into SukhSagar hotel, clean and very comfortable. Highly recommended for all travellers, this was also where we had some very decent Punjabi vegetarian food, there is only so much Veg Gujarati food that the Bengali stomach can consistently take.

We visited the Somnath temple in the evening at around 5. Somnath is beautiful, set right on the beach, the architecture and the color of the temple walls against the setting sun is truly breathtaking. I am not overtly religious but loved being at the site. It is also very well managed and does not get to be a pain to travel and see the main deity which typically places of worship in India (Tirupathi and Ajmer Sharif) become. One can stay at the site but darshan is very orderly and organised. Hats of to the planning done by Sardar Patel when the temple was rebuilt in 1947 and the maintenance by the Gujarat government. There are also cloak rooms to keep shoes and cameras and phones. These are not allowed into the temple due to the present terrorist threat. The other stark reminder of the terrorist threat was the warship of the Indian navy which patrols the coast.

Very happy with how the day went, we retired, happy and tired after a few rounds of 29 to round off a long and tiring day. The next morning we left Somnath at ten and drove down to Rajkot. We reached at 2 and had a non veg lunch after 3 days of vegetarian food. The restaurant "Hot and More" reminded me of the Chinese you get in the college canteens of Kolkata but after 3 days, it tasted pretty good. Right opposite the restaurant is Mahatma Gandhi's school which we also took some pictures of.

Our train was at 5.40 and this time our tickets were confirmed. We left Saurashtra on time still talking about the 9 Lions that we had seen! All in all it was a great trip and one which I will remember fondly for the rest of my life...The only downer - the food! Apart from Gathiya where i loved the carrot chutney they serve as a condiment, the rest of the cuisine was not up to the liking of my palate for lunch and dinner. Maybe I did not have stuff at the best places but on the whole Saurashtra cuisine was a dampener.

Elephanta Caves!

Am back after a break. Have been reasonably busy in office and there have been holidays in between, both of which are good things, anyway we are back and it has been quite an eventful action - packed week in which we have travelled big time to Elephanta and Saurashtra (Rajkot, Junagadh, Gir and Somnath)!

The In - Laws arrived in the evening on the 13th, landed with loads of Biriyani and Mithai (notun gurer shondesh)! We had an early dinner and hit the bed early as we were going to Elephanta Island the next day and wanted to be slightly early.

We were NOT early on the 14th and left our Powai residence at around 10:00. Ritwika, my parents in law, Ritwika's Chhoto Mashi and myself, we made good time and reached Apollo Bunder at around 11:00. We bought tickets from the MTDC counter - deluxe launches cost Rs 120 per person for a return trip. Boats leave every 10 Minutes and the last boat leaves Elephanta at 5.00 PM. We boarded the first "Deluxe Launch" we got at around 1:15 PM and found out that the journey would last an hour.

The launch was pretty decent and comfortable, they have a scam running that they let you go on to the top deck if you pay a measly 10 bucks, throughout the journey we found out that you need quite a few 10 bucks as you will find out. My Father in Law and myself went up and clicked some pretty neat snaps of the Mumbai skyline.

The journey though it starts of well (with the spectacular view of the Gateway and the Taj) gets pretty boring, one is pretty much reduced to
a. Looking at ships
b. Sleeping
c. Trying to guess which of the many islands is Elephanta and how much more time it would take (it takes pretty much 1 hour so the readers of this blog can do without the guessing)

We reached Elephanta at around 2:15, and it was very hot, we decided to take the facility of a toy train costing us 10 bucks a head for a return journey (if anybody is going in Summer, one is advised to leave at 6 in the morning so you are back by 10). The train took us to a place where the steps leading up to Elephanta caves start, you can start climbing the steps after paying another Rs 10 which we did.

Once you reach the steps, you can either climb on foot, which is what we did, or you can take the option of going up to the caves on a chair bound by two sticks. Four strong Marathi youth can carry you to the mouth of the caves and back for Rs 500 a head. High price point but in the mid afternoon summer heat, that is an option people with high disposable incomes can well exercise.

We trudged along on foot. The path is flanked by hawkers on both sides selling t-shirts, beads and food items primarily. The path is covered by tarpaulin sheets and is pretty much infested by monkeys all around. The monkeys can get pretty aggressive and one is advised to keep ones bags very close by, bright colored bottles (fanta etc) seem to be a particular favorite. The climb to the mouth of the cave took about 25 minutes,15 - if you do it without breaks and window shopping and the same is well worth it for two reasons.

1. The view which we took in over some cold drinks at a cafe near the gate. Its remarkable and covers the Island, the jetty and the toy train track. Tourism India can do some rocking business by creating a high quality resort but I am sure there would be some very good reasons why that is not happening
2. The caves itself for the history and the architecture.

The sculpture of the three moods of Shiva is pretty awesome as is the Nataraja sculpture. You have to buy tickets to get into the cave (for Rs 10 again!), the same covers a trip to a museum which disappointingly contains nothing but pictures.

We then retraced our steps which was a lot quicker. We boarded the ferry back to Mumbai and left around 4, reaching Mumbai at 5 totally famished as we had not had lunch. It was Pongal, and we needed to have some sort of proper food which made us select Madras Cafe as our high tea destination.

The Bisibele rice, Pongal and Butter Poodi Idli at Madras Cafe, nicely rounded off a tiring but very worthwhile day.