Exploring Igatpuri, Maharashtra

 

The Occasional Traveller:

            I guess, I am that occasional traveller who heads out once in while and makes sure that the whole world knows every detail of trip. And that is why this post.  Just bear with me for a while. Let’s get started asap.

Where and Why?

            After months of being cooped up in a 1 B.H.K flat, we (me and flatmate/colleague) were ready to explore some place once the lockdown started to ease. And frankly, I would be ashamed if I did not go somewhere after endlessly watching touring videos on YouTube . And after no deliberation at all, we agreed we wanted to go to Igatpuri, a hill station, perched atop the Western Ghats of Maharshtra. This place offers scenery so beautiful that you will make a point to brag about it to your grand-children.

How?

            Igatpuri is accessible both by road as well as railways. But as one man more wise than me has once said “ The most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between”, we decided to rent for ourselves some bikes (Suzuki Gixxer sf 250 and Bajaj Dominar 400. I know I know). The distance from Dombivali (from where we started our journey) to Igatpuri is a mere 90 kms and although the roads were super smooth, it took us around 3 hrs to reach our first destination because apparently, we were ABSORBING the nature.

Places visited:

            Since we had only one day to explore (it’s always one reason or the other) we shortlisted a select few from a variety of places that Igatpuri has to offer.

·         Vihigaon Falls:  More popularly known as Ashoka Falls after the shooting of a song sequence from the movie Ashoka ( I think Shahrukh Khan wali hai ), this place was listed high on every trip-advising site. After crossing a couple of Dams and Bridges, clicking God-knows-how-many photos, splashing cool water on our faces from the road side small streams of water trickling down the slope of the hill, we reached the place only to be told that the Falls was closed until further orders. But we were content because the scenery while reaching the Fall was so enriching (also because now we had tons of cool photos to post).

·         Bhavali Dam: Situated a distance of about 05 kms of the highway, this site had a typical waterfall. But what we found amidst all the hubbub of people posing near waterfall was a lake and standing in shallow water, a mere 2 m from one the side of the bank was a lone tree. It was a scene straight out of a maiden’s dream. Barely anyone (a young couple, which hurriedly left after we arrived)was there, this place was the central point of our trip. After resting in the cool shadows of the tree for some time, now all we needed was lunch.

·         We met Abhay:  After stuffing our stomachs with Paneer, Tandoori Roti and Nimbu-Pani, we were ready for our last leg of the trip. Let me tell you, the photos/reviews posted online do not do justice to the place that Talegaon Lake is. Google Baba seems kinda of lost when it comes to locating places in the countryside and so we followed a different trail which led us to a vast open field with mountains on all sides, as if we were 2 wildebeests grazing in the fields of Savannah. We were mesmerized by the beauty of all of it. 

        I guess sometimes you just have to get lost. And to rescue (not much of a rescue, was it?) came Abhay, a sweet boy of 12, who was herding his cattle in the nearby fields. Abhay, who knew our Prime- Minister only by his more popular name “Modiji”, had a sense a wisdom in his eyes, an innocence found only among the Village-boys, showed us exactly how to reach the Talegaon Lake. The lake itself was very beautiful especially in the evening with the setting-sun in its background, made the whole place look like Heaven.

 Return Journey:

                 The Journey back to Mumbai was pretty much uneventful except for that one time where were stopped by 

2 Crime-Branch Police Officers who supposedly were looking for a gang of chain snatchers ( I can’t blame them very much, I was getting death threats by my family for my beard at that point). Traffic in Mumbai was as usual unbearable. After returning the bike, we booked a cab to our place, sleeping on the way, dreaming about the place that we just had been to.