Goa - Train to Goa

Thursday, August 21, 2014

I decided just a week in advance that I wanted to visit Goa in the rains.

Now as you all know that I don't travel alone, so I decided to ask my friends as to who can join me on such a short notice.

Finally Namrata who had accompanied me to Aurangabad, managed to get herself leaves to join me.

We booked the tickets six days in advance, though we were confident that we won't get tickets. 

We had two budget travel options, Konkan Railway and Bus.

Our first choice was the Mumbai CST Mangalore Junction Super Fast Express (12133) which departs from CST at 22:10 PM to arrive at Madgaon at 7:10 AM the next morning. We got Wait List tickets 67 and 68. We were confident that these tickets wouldn't get confirmed so we had to look for options. 

Our next choice was Dadar Madgaon Jan Shatabdi (12051). To our surprise tickets were available for this train. We wasted no time in booking the tickets. We booked the tickets on the IRCTC website. We booked a window and a middle seat at the train had chair car seats. The train departs at 5:25 AM from Dadar on the Central Line to reach Madgaon at 14:10 PM.

I boarded the train at Dadar. We had confirmed tickets in coach D7 seats 48 and 49. We didn't get the window seat but we got middle and aisle seats. First thoughts on this coach is, that the seats don't move backwards like in the buses going to Goa, and to top it the seats are very uncomfortable. I couldn't sit on them for for then 2 hours at a stretch. But this train reaches Goa in the shortest possible time. Namrata was to board the train at Thane. 

Kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai. :( 

As it as the peak season the train was packed with passengers who had Wait List tickets too. These people accommodated themselves near the Entry points of the train and outside the Loos. Making life difficult for the commuters to commute between the compartments.   

The view around was truly awesome. Sadly we couldn't click any photos due to our seats. 

But we still managed to get beautiful glimpses all around. The Konkan Railway passes through the Konkan belt of Maharashtra, which is truly beautiful. It had rained here so it was green all around. 

The skies were blue, the rivers green, the hills a combo of green and brown. coconut and mango trees all around and tiny houses among st them. I don't mind living here. Totally disconnected from the city life.

Not sure if the train has a good pantry. But they serve cold drinks and eatables. Cost being above MRP. But hurry, as stocks don't last long. But good quality vada pav is served at Chiplun and Ratnagiri at Rs. 10 each. Do pack food articles to eat on the way along with water supplies.

I like the life in the village, a hard life though, which I find difficult to live. Get up early in the morning around 5 AM which the rooster as the alarm, to do homely chores and then go to the farm. Eat simple but nutritious products of their farm, then come home in the evening. But 8 PM call it a day and head to bed.  

I don't mind having a house near the riverbed. Fishing for food daily, nice na. Hope to do something like it when I retire from work.

This train journey has loads of bridges and tunnels on the way. One of the tunnel took us around 25 minutes to cross. Not sure as to what speed the train was running on. 

The train was delayed b 20 minutes and at 2:30 PM we were at Madgaon station.

The journey was tiring but as I said above Kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai.

Next, we had to look out for a accommodation near Madgaon and I know of a place here, as I had stayed there when I had come for the Carnival in 2012 which happens somewhere in the months of February and March. 

Kalsubai

Saturday, March 29, 2014

It had been a long time that I had been for a trek. My busy work schedule was keeping me away from outings. I made up my mind that this week I will go for a trek come what may. I asked Nimish and Darshan to which they readily agreed.

Where should we go, was the question, I had in my mind. As it had been a long time since we have been on an outing. When I has been on a family outing , we visited Bhandardara. Nearby to it , is the Kalsubai peak. The highest peak of Maharashtra. From the road we could see a minute orange colored structure atop it. The temple of Kalsubai.

Kalsubai peak flashed in my mind and so I informed Nimish and. Darshan about it. They too were on visiting it. How to go about it was the question that was lingering on my mind. So I gathered directions to it on google and so set out that night to explore it.

View of Bari Village

 As planned we decided to board the Mahanagari Express to Gorakhpur at Thane Railway Station. The train was going to arrive at platform no.5.  as announced. When we reached the platform there was no one there, nor were the lights lit. So we were doubtful if the train would arrive here. Let me inform you that we reached Thane Station about an hour early. Finally people started gathering on the platform. But no sign of the lights. Finally the train approached the platform as announced by the Railway authorities at 23:03 pm. The platform was not lit up and there was no indication as to where the unreserved compartments would halt. It would be sheer madness to hunt for them in a 17 boogie train in a record breaking three minute halt. We were just running to see which part of the station had the maximum crowd.

Finally we managed to board the compartment in the record breaking three minute time. Eeeeehaaaa. The unreserved compartment was packed with people. I guess the the compartment was packed with double the capacity. We managed to get a place to stand near the loo. :( some place is better than no place. Now we had to stick to this position till we reached Igatpuri station. The train was supposed to arrive at 1:30 am. We were hoping, there should no be commuters at Kalyan and Kasara. Else travelling would be a major pain.

The train reached Kalyan and then Kasara. The train was flooded with eatable vendors but no commuters , which was a good sign for us. Finally the train reached Igatpuri station at the decided time.

Another view of Bari Village

Now how do we kill time till 5 am. As the first bus to take us to the base village of Kalsubai departs from the ST bus stand which is around 20 minutes away from the station. Walking offcourse. That is the only mode of travel in the morning.

We killed time by chatting about our jobs and how we enjoyed our previous trips and plan the trips to come.  Now it was getting colder and we were beginning to feel it. Luckily we had windcheaters to save us from the cold and also rains incase.

As we were approaching the bus stop, we could hear "dhup dhup dhup" sound. Soon the sound was growing louder and louder. We were eager to find out where the sound is coming from in the dead of the night. We saw a troop of Boy Scouts marching towards us. The leader kept yelling Ek Do Ek and the troop followed him. The banging of shoes on the ground and the heavy panting of the troops was sound to our ears.

Greenery all around

Finally we reached the bus stop . We inquired at the ticket counter , we were informed that the first bus is at 5 am in the morning. The bus stop was also the halting point for some of the troops of the Boy Scouts. I guess only a few made it for the early morning run, the others were fast asleep here.

As it was approaching 5 am, the crowd started gathering at the stop and finally the sleeping troops,had no other option but to wake up.

As this was the start point of the bus. The bus arrived at the depot at 5:10 am. We boarded the bus to Pune which passes from Bhandardara. We immediately boarded the bus, only to find out that it was just us in it. The bus was painted last night as we could smell it. Now we were worried, hoping the seats were not wet with paint else our ass would be painted too.

One of the houses in Bari

Finally the bus took off. As the bus gained speed it grew chilly. Though the windows were closed but we were still feeling cold. Finally the wake of dawn. We could see the water bodies and hill ranges all around as we were travelling, the view was amazing. Sadly I couldn't take any photos as it was freezing  and my hands refused to come out of my pockets.

Finally the bus conductor alighted us at the base village of Kalsubai Fort. I don't recollect how much we paid for the tickets. But I guess it was around Rs. 45 each.

There was no one there. Just the three of us. Finally we saw a man running towards us. We were shocked to see that, he had come to receive us. Wow. He came to inquire if we would be interested in having breakfast. To which he readily agreed.

Breakfast time at Bari Village

The village was indeed beautiful. The fields were green. In fact I could see all possible shades of green there. In between the greenery I could see a cluster of village houses. They were covered with early morning due or fog, which made the sight even more beautiful.

As the time was around 6:45 am now. As we headed to his house we saw the women busy drawing water from the well. Children preparing to go to school. I was I fact happy to see the children going to school.

View from uphill

We finally reached his house. This house was very old. As per him it was built by his great grandfather. The carvings made on the wood was beautiful. He also had a shelter outside his house for cattle. He was a farmer by profession, side by side he also catered to the breakfast needs of Trekkers.

In a couple of minutes he bought us breakfast in the form of poha and tea. Both were amazing. We enjoyed every grain of it. Cost wise it was a bit expensive, but for that kind of quality and quantity, we didn't mind paying him Rs. 200 collectively.

One of the metal ladders on the way up the peak

He informed us that there is a bus to Igatpuri railway station at 3:30 pm. We decided to board this bus on our return journey.

At 7:30 am we kickstarted our trek. Crossed ankle length water from a waterfall , muddy and slippery roads to reach the trekking trail. As we kept climbing higher the view kept getting better. The hills were covered in fog so we could hardly see how tall they were.

The trail was slippery and mucky as it had rained the night before. But as there were sudden rain showers it was quite pleasant. We saw crops being grown on the  plateau as we were climbing uphill. The entire sight was beautiful.

Kalsubai Temple

We finally reached the metal ladder. We thought we had reached the top. Now we were searching for the temple when the fog around us cleared and we noticed that we still have a long way to go. We met a farmer on the way,when we inquired with him, as to how long it would take, he told us that we had covered  just 25% of the journey.  We were fooled by the fog a couple of times till we reached the top.

After crossing three metal ladders we had finally reached the temple, the Kalsubai temple. Services are held here. We had our snacks here. The weather was so cold that I was literally shivering here in the wind cheater. The fog was so thick that we could hardly see around us. For a moment we thought as if we were walking in the clouds. The same feeling I had got on my trip to Lohgad  in the winters. It took us 4 hours to reach the top.

We were hoping that the sun comes out and shines on us so that the fog disappears and it gets a bit warmer. But our prayers were not answered and the weather remained unchanged.

Flowers all around us

Finally at 12 noon we decided to head back to the base village.

The last metal ladder which we climbed was really steep. At a 80 degree angle. I was not getting the confidence to get down. So I asked one of the locals to watch over me wholi I was getting down. Once I made it to the bottom of it I got the confidence to get down from the other metal ladders.

The valley was blossoming with flowers. Blue colored flowers which made it even more beautiful.

We started to descend and gained speed on the muddy and slippery trail and in a matter of 2 1/2 hours we were at the base village. That was fast. Surprisingly none of us slipped while descending.

Three of us atop the Jeep

We immediately headed off to the bus stop hoping to get a ride to Igatpuri railway station. The time was now 3 pm. In a distance I could see a ST bus approaching the bus stop. I only hoped that, it was not the bus we needed to board. Sheer bad luck, that was the bus.

We inquired when the next bus would be, as there were many who couldn't board the bus. They told us, that it is at 4:30 pm.

We didn't want yo wait for 1 1/2 hours and so wre on the watch for an empty jeep, that could reach us to Igatpuri. But all the jeeps that passed by were packed.

Finally our prayers were answered. A jeep came by heading to Kasara at 3:45 pm. Though the jeep was packed, there was place on the carrier. Yes you heard it right. We travelled to Kasara on the carrier. The journey was fun. It was chilly and as the jeep gathered speed it gre more chilly. Though we were wearing wind cheater we were still feeling cold. 

Finally at 4:45 he dropped us to Kasara station. We immediately ran to book tickets. We not only got the tickets but all managed to board to CST bound fast train.

All that I can say is, this journey was fun :) 

Forts on Ghodbunder Road

Monday, March 19, 2012

Ghodbunder Road (commonly referred to as State Highway 42 or GB Road) is the connecting road between Borivali, Mira Road and Bhayander and Thane. It intersects the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway and cuts through the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

I had been planning to see the forts on Ghodbunder Road for a very long time. But Internet exploration and conversations with other trekking groups had failed to yield any information about these forts.

All I knew was that they were located on Ghodbunder Road. I had never travelled on Ghodbunder Road. So I inquired with a few people and they told me that it would take me around an hour to reach Thane. The same people warned me that the road was very dusty.

A few days ago I chatted with Kiran from Wild Ventures and told him that I wanted to visit these forts on Ghodbunder Road. Kiran is a resident of Thane but was unaware of these forts. He immediately agreed to join me in exploring these forts. He too started gathering information as to the whereabouts of these forts and we shared the little information we had with each other.

We decided to meet at 8 am at Hotel Fountain, which is located at the intersection of the Ghodbunder Road and the Ahmedabad Highway. From there we were to explore the forts together on his motorbike.

Bastion on the Fort

I was all set for this trip. After months of asking people on the Internet, I was finally going to visit these forts.  I boarded the Borivali local at Andheri and headed to Borivali railway station.

From here I had many choices. I could board a BEST bus, an ST bus, rickshaw, private vehicle or walk it out.

The BEST bus stop is right outside the station. There are three buses that ply on the Ghodbunder Road, AS-700 AS, AS-458 AS and 700 Ltd. I could locate the bus stop for AS 700 AS, but there was a crowd waiting for that bus. I could not locate the other bus stops so taking my chances I decided to walk a little towards the ST bus depot located equidistant from Borivali station and the Mumbai Ahmedabad Highway.

Luckily I got an empty bus that was about to depart. I immediately boarded this bus. I bought a Rs 10 ticket to Hotel Fountain. This area is known as Versova Bridge. As I was not familiar with Ghodbunder Road, I asked the conductor and the passengers around to guide me to this stop.

The bus goes via Kashi Mira to Ghodbunder Road. This part of the journey was fun. The sun was rising slowly in the distance and the entire city was filled with fog. The view was a pleasant sight to see. As we turned onto Ghodbunder Road, it became chilly as the bus gained momentum. The greenery all around, the road with its twists and turns and the mining done at the shore were a pleasant sight to see and of course the driver driving the bus as if it was a formula one car. Vroom Vroom!

Versova Bridge

But my bus journey was short lived as I heard a voice saying, “Bhaisaheb, apka stop, Fountain Hotel aa gaya.” I thanked my co-passenger and got off the bus.

I was 10 minutes early. I called Kiran to make sure that I had alighted at the right stop. To which he said “Yes” and told me that he was on his way and would be there shortly.

Kiran arrived at 8.20 am. Apparently his bike tyre was punctured. That didn’t dampen our plans and we set out to see Ghodbunder Fort.

The road to Ghodbunder Road is exactly opposite Fountain Hotel. A small dusty road takes you to the fort. So started our journey. Now there are signal posts near this junction but as usual they were not functioning. One has to be very careful when crossing the road. We managed to cross and took off on the narrow road.

The road was very narrow and we had a bumpy ride. To top it all, the road was a bit slippery on account of the fog, but we managed to reach the village safe and sound due to the expert driving skills of Kiran. Kudos to him.

Hotel Fountain

We stopped at a tea stall to have some hot tea on the cold day. Since the temperature was low, our tea quickly became cold. Kiran informed me that he had around 22 years of experience in travelling and that of late, he had begun to organise camps and treks for the general public. I was impressed with his years of experience. We soon finished our tea and headed out again. It took us around 35 minutes to reach the village next to the fort.

The road is near the creek where dredging is carried out on a high scale. I guess this is the major activity here. The village was packed with small hamlets. We passed through them via the thin tiny roads. Finally we got to see a glimpse of the fort.

At our first fort, Ghodbunder Fort, we immediately parked the bike and set out to explore the fort. The fort, not too big, is a result of construction from two eras, which have yielded the new and old walls. According to Kiran, the old walls were a product of the 15th century and the new walls a product of the 17th century. He added that the fort was conquered by the Portuguese in the 17th century. No idea who was the ruler prior to it.

We walked through the fort. Some of the walls had beautiful arches like the ones I had seen in Vasai. Some attempt was being made to restore the walls to their past glory.

Old and New ruins on the Fort

There is a cylindrical structure about a storey high from where the view is amazing. It gives a good view of the village below, the creek nearby with the mining work carried out there, the mangroves in the distance and civilisation in the form of buildings cropping up in the distance.

We felt sad to see this so-called development. Kiran and I agreed that if we had come here 10 years ago, there would have been only mangroves around. Today there were buildings here. Who knows what will happen in the future. This fort on which I am standing might get demolished and a skyscraper might be standing here.

We shot a couple of photos here. Kiran said that at one time, there might have been a cannon up here to guard the fort. He said this based on the circular duct on the floor.

As we got down from there we saw two rectangular nets put up on a small ground in the fort premises. They looked like the ones that are used for batting practices in cricket.

Kiran and Me

I noticed that there was no graffiti in the form of names or any other words on the walls of the fort. This is a good thing, but probably because it is not visited by people and is fairly unknown. When it comes to our ancient heritage, anonymity is a good thing.

We then headed back to the village on the outskirts of the fort. Here we spoke to an elderly man who told us that there was once an underground tunnel that connected this fort to Vasai Fort. That tunnel is now buried.

We then inquired with him about the Nagla Bunder Fort and he told us that it was near Gai Mukh on the Ghodbunder Road and that there was a church up there. With this piece of information we set out to see the fort.

Again we headed back to Fountain Hotel and took off on Ghodbunder Road on our way to Gai Mukh. On the bike I noticed sign boards warning the public about leopards. Kiran said that leopards usually cross from one side of the jungle to the other and are usually spotted at night.

Fort Premises

Finally we got a glimpse of the church on the hill on our left hand side. We then figured out the road to take us there. A dusty bylane leads us to the Church.

I guess two hillocks have been demolished thanks to mining. And I could see another two headed for destruction. If we let mining continue, soon we will not have any hillocks left and the animals will not have a home soon and will be seen staying and living along with us in our cities.

Just imagine, a lion or leopard walking on the road or chasing us humans like dogs chasing cats. Where are we headed, is the question we need to ask ourselves. In destroying the homes of these animals, we leave them no option but to move to the cities. That is why we hear of instances of wild animals attacking people. It is humans who make inroads into their world. We are to blame for it.

Finally after travelling along the dusty road we reached the church. We couldn’t see the walls of the forts so we headed off to see what we could spot from up there.

Church at Gai Mukh

The church is very small and is named “Our Lady of Hope.” There were devotees praying inside. We set off to find out if we could find any remains of the walls of the fort. Kiran deduced that there might have been a fort here, based on the way the ground appeared. But the church itself looked quite old.

We then sat there in the shade of the compound to have our snacks; Kiran had brought egg bhurji (scrambled egg) which I ate with enthusiasm. As we had our snack we discussed our future plans.

After relaxing there for some time we headed off the Ghodbunder Road. From there I boarded a BEST bus to take me to Borivali.

As I sat in the air conditioned bus, I recollected all the adventures we had. We had discovered Ghodbunder Fort and Nagla Bunder Fort. I bemoaned the mining and dredging activities which were destroying the mangroves and urbanising the area.

Finally my wish of visiting these forts got fulfilled. Stay glued to my blog for more on hidden treasures our world has to offer.