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Place: Neelkantheshwar-Lavasa
Nearest town: Pune
Distance: 160 Kilometers Round trip from Aundh (Pune)
Attractions: Natural Spectacles, Landscapes, backwaters, temple, roads.
Road condition: from Nice to total worthless.

It feels so nice to have ridden after a significant gap now. My earlier plan to visit Raigad with my family got cancelled, and I was stuck up alone at Pune. I was angry how the year started for me. Still I dropped a SMS to my friends in Pune, for an outing to Sinhgad on Sunday, and the responses weren’t favorable at all. So late Saturday night, I decided to ride solo for this one, even changed the destination to Neelkantheshwar.

Neelkantheshwar is a temple ten kilometers away from Panshet. From Pune it amounts to be around 65-70 kilometers. Neelkantheshwar means blue, Kanth roughly means neck and Eshwar as everyone knows means God; its one of Lord Shiv’s names. It’s situated on a small hill and so you can say much portion of Panshet and Varasgaon backwaters from the top. Hence I decided to go there for its natural beauty.

I had planned to leave by 0630 but, thanks to the sweet winter, I could not come out of bed till 7. Finally I managed to leave exactly by 0745. The roads were deserted on the Sunday morning, and a foggy chill engulfed the city. I went on to Sinhgad road and went outside the city. Out of the city limits the temperature dropped at least by a couple of digits. Sun was not out yet; the clouds were overpowering its abilities to bring warmth to climate. First break I took was at Khadakwasala, after the extended monsoon, it contained a lot of water. It was a visit after a long time, and felt so nice to be out of the city limits. The craving for roads had come again. I clicked a photo of my beloved steed there, and started the journey ahead.



I left the Sinhgad road at the Panshet diversion and went on towards Panshet. After Panshet there comes Varasgaon dam. There are two ways to go to Neelkantheshwar, one for the bikers and car owners, which takes you on a curvy road till the base of that hill. The other is the water way. Small boats can take us on the shoreline of the Neelkantheshwar hill, and from there, it’s a walk of around 3-4 kilometers. Since I had my bike, I went on the route mentioned prior. My friend had warned me about the worse condition of roads there, but then I didn’t listen to him for I wanted to visit the place anyhow. At first the roads were superb, without much hassles and potholes, the chill still lingered in the air, and the twists and turns were pleasing my mind. I took a wrong turn ones only to know that, that road led to bikers paradise, but more on it latter. I corrected my course and then the perils started.







This was possibly one of the worst possible roads I have pushed my steed without her consent. If you could directly see it, you’d wonder where exactly the road was. Since I was feeling the gradual degradation, I didn’t feel until my bike stopped dead in tracks. First potholes started, and then I crossed the border of tar, when there were only layers of small stones they use as the base of the road. I could feel the tires trembling and skidding, as I went. Soon enough even that namesake attempt of calling it a road ceased and I could see only red soil everywhere, with numerous rocks, and stones lying around. I was in a mood of contacts WRC, even they would have not qualified it as a road. Soon the despair ended, and I could see tourist jeeps and trucks parked at the base of the hill.







I parked my bike there, and kept my helmet at a tea stall to reduce the weight to carry. I started the climb, and soon I realized the drawbacks of not being regular traveler anymore. I could feel energy drain out of me. Somehow panting and breathing heavily I reached the steps of the temple, and entered the premises.





“Silence of mountains is broken by the sound of winds; you stand on a rock, looking at the valley below. You see no living soul but a handicapped dog trailing you. The wind passes & takes the chill with it; Leaves you with Silence yet again with a disturbing air of solitude.”

Till I reach there, I was listening to classical Indian vocals, sung by Pt. Jasraj and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Music like that sets in a spiritual mood. And temples like this fulfill your reason of starting the journey in the first place. Unlike more established, authentic pilgrimage centers, this temple still has that charm. When I say established, I really mean commercial, where you go in a rush, visit a stampede and exit after buying your set of blessings from the lord. This is not one of such. When I reached there, people were already present in the Sabhamandap (place in front of the idol, but outside the inner sections). There were small children playing here and there, but the grounds were big enough to accommodate that quantity. When just the quantity increases, it reduces the quality, sanctity, experience. Here I sat calmly on a stone marble in a corner. There was no disturbance big enough to affect me. I could breathe in the air along with the soothing tranquil it offered. After a while I got up to roam around and see the rest of the campus. The temple grounds have numerous statues of Gods, Sages, and Kings. I clicked a few of them. I could see the backwaters of Panshet from the top and though it was past 11, I could see the lingering blanket of fog everywhere.





I came down, had a Misal and tea, and started the return journey. AS I had mentioned in my Lohgad blog long ago, if the ascent takes a toll on you then Descent will be worse. I met a lot of people asking me on my way down, how was the road, how far was the climb. It was hard to maintain the wheels steady on a surface having so less coefficient of friction. Somehow I managed to reach the base unscathed. Then I thought of the wrong turn I had taken before. I asked a passerby how far it was. A score of kilometers was not that big a problem, and so I embarked on a detour, towards the Biker’s Paradise… Lavasa.





When you have worse experiences, the bad ones do not hurt that bad anymore. Agreed that the road was in bad condition, but it was not as worthless as the one I had been on. There was a backwater of the Temghar dam on my left, and that natural landscape made me forget the state of roads. After a long journey of those twenty kilometers, I reached the other gate of Lavasa. It was the time of celebration. After that entire perilous road, I was back on Tar Sweet Tar without any potholes and fissures, the road just kept winding and winding and kept me swinging along with it. I never came to know when I reached back to Chandani Chauk again.

Tomorrow another routine week starts, but I have refilled my mental batteries…

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Sunny

Travelogue Approved

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ksatish

nice writeup and cool pics...

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