Thursday, November 10, 2016
I came to know about existence of the Kugaav fort, after
reading Aashish's blog. As it was on the way, we planned to pay it a visit too.
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| Kugaav fort aka Kalasi Village or Inamdaarcha Wada in the water |
After visiting the Palasdeo temple we headed back to the Solapur-Pune Highway. Drove till we reached the Varkute Phata. It took us around 15 to 20 minutes to reach Varkute Phata. A couple of people were gathered there. Not sure why, maybe they were waiting for a ST bus or a Jeep to take them to their destination.
We asked them about the whereabouts of
Kugaav Fort. Not a soul was able to provide us with directions. Aink. That is strange.
We then asked for Kalasi Village or Inamdaarcha Wada. Then the helped us with
directions. A small tiny road from Varkute Phata leads to Kalasi Village.
Please note that there are no signboards
here, your GPS might not work. So keep asking the locals for directions as and
when you find them. Like we did.
I don't know, the history of this fort, but,
if you are aware then please let me know.
Finally after driving over the bumpy roads
and spending nearly an hour we reached Kalasi Village. Asked a couple of boys,
about the whereabouts of the fort. As per the boys a portion of the movie
'Sairat' was shot here. They were surprised, when they heard that we had come
all the way from Mumbai to see this fort. They gave us directions to reach the
banks. The tar roads were now replaces by muddy and bumpy roads.
The sun was right over our heads. I could
see the fortification in the middle of the river. It was too far to swim, so
had to board a boat to take us to the fort. 'Where is the jetty' no sign of it. Finally a local came
along on a bike. I asked him, he said that we need to walk down to the banks of
the river, he pointed out in a distance and said that the boats leave from
there.
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| pomegranate plantation |
'Now that we found the so called Jetty,
Where is the boat' I said to myself. The local also wanted to board the boat to
cross over to the other side. He make a couple of calls to find out about the
whereabouts of the boat. He told me that the Tehsildar is come to survey the
village and hence he has taken the boat along. They should be back here in the
next 2 to 3 hours.
'2 to 3 hours?' that is a long wait time to
see a fort. We didn't want to waste time as we had loads of historical places
on our agenda. I discussed with Manohar and we decided to leave for Akluj fort.
I was sad as we had come a long way, but could not explore the fort.
Again we had to drive slowly as the roads
are not in good condition. On the way back we stopped to see the pomegranate and
maize plantations. Both sides of roads were filled with pomegranate and maize plantations.
I was not aware that it is a flower which then gets converted into a fruit. I
don't like pomegranate much, but it is still good to know information :)
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| pomegranate plantation |
Finally we reached Vakrute Phata. Not sure
if there are rickshaw or jeep or ST buses which ply to the village. Back on the
Solapur-Pune Highway again. Our next pit stop was the Akluj fort.
