A day at Wan

On twelfth of june 2016 when we started from Gwaldam guest house towards Dewal road, we did not have any fixed plan. We reached Gwaldam with a plan to trek upto Bedni  but somehow the feedback we received there discouraged us to venture on the route. We Got an impression that the terrain is too challenging for our age. So on the morning we set out to reach the last point accessible by vehicle on that route, that is Wan. We drove with a leisurely pace stopping in between to click pictures, to listen to the rhythm of silence flowing through the forest of tall, stately pines.
And then we reached Wan. At the turn of the road was this tiny shop. We parked our vehicle there and inquired whether we could get a cup of tea . It’s Jamuna dadi’s tea shoppe. Here we met Hira. Hira takes trekkers – individuals and groups on trek tours to Bedni, Roopkund and beyond. Few minutes of conversation with him and he convinced us to embark upon the trek to Bedni. Somehow or other the way he took upon himself the responsibility of making this trek possible for us made us free of all worries. Jamuna dadi too with her enchanting smile encouraged us . Ultimately it was decided that we shall spend the day in the village and then next morning start our trek.


  Jamuna dadi, the shop owner
This stay at Wan was totally unplanned but perhaps such unexpected changes make traveling very fruitful and enriching. The day we spent in the tiny village was truly rewarding, Sitting there in the tea shop in salubrious surrounding of green hills we met many new people and listened to various travel tales. There was this gentleman who once upon a time worked as porter and had accompanied many foreign nationals to uncharted paths, untraveled roads on high hills, through dense forests and deep valleys. Now with tired limbs and weakened joints he roams and works within village limit only but he still looks with longing and fondness towards the high peaks and sharing the tales of his glorious, tough travels make his eyes shine with luminous joy. He remembers with fondness his past adventures and conquests but not being able to do that now had not made him bitter at all. This calm acceptance of  the inevitable  patterns and changes in way of life is very endearing….a life long lesson. The real travel is just not visiting new places but learning new lessons of life, developing a new eye to various facets of life.




                             Panoramic views of Wan
Hira took us for lunch to his home. His home was in front of tea shoppe, across the road on a slightly higher plane. His mother and wife prepared the food.  Fresh hot dal, vegetables and salad from fields, chapati and rice with home made chooran was tasty and we enjoyed it a lot. During entire day we visited other houses too, had tea in different courtyards and learnt a lot about local customs, traditions, festivals, fairs, Gods and Goddesses.

In conversation with Hira and Yashwant, near the river flowing through the village






out of these three pictures, the first one is the stream of river, whose flow the villagers get diverted to run their indigenous flour mill. Second pic is the outer view of their flour mill ,while the third one is the inside view. such praiseworthy effort on the parts of villagers.

Lady walking towards her field to cut the wheat and in the upper one cutting wheat in the field.



Separating grains from plants. I admired the school, college going girls, who study in nearby bigger places but were at home during summer vacation. They participated equally in  all the agricultural activities.


It was time of harvesting wheat. The women folkfields were busy cutting wheat from fields, separating the grains by beating the dried plants.
Meeting the children and interacting with them was a wonderful experience. Yashwant, Deepak, Pankaj, Yashpal, Pushkar etc were in the age group of nine to fourteen. Few of them studied in schools of some nearby bigger places and were in the village during their summer vacations. Awareness level of the children living in those remote places was amazing, from latest mobile technologies to political scenario of state and country to each and every plant, trees of their area, mythological tales, local rites, rituals each of them was very well versed in all these subjects. Very sweet, affectionate kids were they.

                   enjoying tea and gossiping with women

                              children in their courtyard

Pankaj holds in his hands a plant , he plucked from road side. Children told us that a very tasty curry is made from this plant. They described the entire procedure of cleaning the plant and cooking it.

             Walking towards Ghanti Dhar with children
They showed us their fields in the valley, introduced us to various plants and their utilities. Narrated the tales and facts heard from their grand parents about centuries old Surai trees and  by their description made alive  the crimson clad valley in the season of Buransh blossoming. Excitedly they invited us to revisit their village at that time. Those lovely smiling faces as if reflected radiant Buransh.
While returning from Ghanti dhar we were caught unaware by a sudden spurt of lashing rain. No cover was available. we had not taken our umbrellas with us, children were not worried about themselves but were concerned that we had to start our trek early morning and we didn’t have any change of clothes with us. A little ahead on the side of road we found a bent, hollow tree under which we tried to get shelter. We tried calling the driver of our cab to come and take us but that too did not work as no BSNL coverage and connectivity is available in Wan and nearby areas and we both and our cabby Prem all three of us had BSNL numbers only. With luck we saw two people coming towards us, Kids asked them whether they had a mobile and then they called their mother to send our driver to pick up all of us. Finally huddling together inside the cab we reached the village, where jamuna dadi was ready with black hot tea to greet us. The entire episode was so fun filled. It revived our childhood spirit and enthusiasm. True, the joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, changing horizons. The simple joys are the most nurturing ones.
We spent the night in a small, low ceiling neat room with mud walls, whose door opened to green high  hill beyond the valley. The bed sheet, quilts and blankets were clean and we had a undisturbed sound sleep. Kaloo, the black, bulky dog sat on rooftop entire night as if on guard.

At the door of the room we stayed for night

                              The inside view of room

Next morning we left the place with Hira on our trek to Bedni but we did not leave Wan. We brought it with us. It became a part of us and simultaneously we left something of us there behind. We returned back to our daily city routine but the journey never ended. It keeps rewinding again and again within the deepest and quietest chambers deep down inside us.

                             An overview of Wan village road



All the pictures by Sunder Iyer.
Details of Our guide–
Hira Singh Bisht Garhwali
Village — Wan, Dewal. Chamoli, Garhwal, Uttarakhand.
Phone number — 09756480219[ whats app available on this number], 07895165848.

A quiet afternoon on the banks of Krishna at Menawali

Menawali  is a village about three kilometres from Wai in the Satara district of Maharashtra, India. As Sunder had already visited the place long back with his photographic club friends, he wanted us too enjoy the quaint charms of ghats at Menavali. From symmetrically laid down steps, spread in vast area , the elegant wall of Wada of Nana Pahandwis, the temples at the ghat to peaceful Krishna flowing placidly, the green surroundings and simple daily chores being conducted on the ghats by the village folks.....everything at the place had a balmy impact on  heart. The leisurely pace with which life seems to move here provide a restful feeling.

There are two openings to enter the ghat. We entered from the lane near Vishnu temple. Even at the first glance one is bound to have a cozy , comfortable feel .The wall of wada running along the wide platform leading to steps provide a kind of privacy to this ghat. May be that was the purpose when the ghat was originally constructed. It might have been designed for the exclusive use of inhabitants of Phadanvis wada. Today too I feel it is used mainly by women folk or may be the time we reached there it was occupied mainly by women busy in washing clothes etc.

Vishnu temple is built  on the highest level. Long steps from it's outer wall descend to the level where Shiva temple is erected on a high ,wide. square platform. We could not go inside the campus of Vishnu temple as the door leading to it was closed. However had a nice, peaceful meeting with Lord Shiva. It felt as if Shivlinga was installed on the bank of River and then high squarish platform raised around it and then in the middle the temple walls and shikhara were erected. Why I felt that ? narrow steps lead us to the garbhgrah. The garbhgrah was very deep and dark. If not the recorded voices of Shloka playing continuously ,it would have been difficult to reach Shivlinga.

We sat for a long time on the platform at the back of temple. From there we could see the steps leading to Vishnu temple, it's Shikhara, the fields behind it, the forests , trees running on both the sides of Krishna river, the river itself flowing calmly and then turning , getting lost midst the trees. At a distance in front of us we could see the village belle coming with the loads of clothes on head. Few were already their washing clothes.At a distance a man was bathing his bullocks, a dog was leisurely swimming in the stream. Travelling from a distance the voices and laughter of women reached us in soft, tinkling notes. Ripples of Krishna added to the sweetness of the hour.The moment was wrapped in a blissful indolence.

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All the pictures by SUNDER IYER.

wai

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Long back once while returning from Pachagani - Mahabaleshwar , we stopped at Wai for half an hour or so that too on insistence of our cab driver. In fact it was quite late and we had to reach Pune so we wanted to proceed straight but our driver said at least we should visit the temple of Dholya Ganpati which is located near by only. At that time Sandhya Arati was being conducted. The temple was full of devotees. From that trip I could remember only the huge, colorful Ganesha idol, sitting comfortably, smiling benevolently showering happiness and alround positivity. Everything else around from river Krishna to adjacent Kashi visheswar temple were cloaked by the inky darkness.
This time we reached Wai early in the morning.The town has not yet shed it's slumber completely. Shutters of the shops were down. very few people were taking bath in the river , while some were sitting idly on the steps of ghats . Doors of temples were open. Dholya Ganpati sat there smiling as I remembered Him. In his smile I could as if read clearly, ' Look, you wanted to revisit and I called you." How calming and joyful to feel that assurance.
After our meeting with Ganpati bappa we entered Kshi Visheshwar temple.Behind the big Peepal tree in the premises, the early morning sun glistened , pouring it's ethereal golden light on the temple.Shikara...... and the rays danced tentatively in the courtyard too, Two Deep Stambh in black stone stood on the either side of a Mandap, erected behind Nandi.The unique feature of this temple is the figures etched on Shikhara of temple. This interested me a lot and arose my curiosity........whose idea and imagination it was - the sculpture or the royal authorities who built the temple, what was the thought behind creating such diverse images, a tapestry of social fabric of the time mingled with faith and beliefs.....I shall stop here and let you see yourself......

                                             All the images on Shikhara have been as if placed inside frames.

This couple -- it does not look like image of any God and Goddess. The turban style reflects traditional attire of that period perhaps.

               ..

can you spot that Buddhist monk image in the upper panel.

This bust stood like that in the middle of courtyard and on farther end is Nandi mandap

The deep stambh

.here comes our very own Lord Ganesha

.On front side Kartikeya and the other one are they Lord Shiva and Parvati

 Mahishashur Mardini

 These all are the pictures of Kashi visheshwar temple.

 There are seven ghats here on the bank of the Krishna river here in Wai and many small temples and shrines are around but the main attraction are Dholya Ganpati and Kashi visheshwar temple.

Wai falls in Satara district . It is very near to Pachgani - Mahabaleshwar.

All the pictures by Suner Iyer.

Bhor Rajwada

It was a mid April afternoon when we reached Bhor Rajwada. The day was hot , the sun blistering. As we got down from vehicle the view offered was pretty ordinary and simple. In a circular arrangement stood two storyed structures with verandah running in front of them. In the middle of circle was a park with dried grass and a thirsty fountain structure. Along it was a small temple. Most of the rooms of buildings housed some government offices, offices of certain political parties etc. It was a day after Holi so most of the offices were closed . We surveyed the scene with a little bit of disappointment creeping in. However on our right side we noticed a gate through which we had a glimpse of flowing river.With the blazing sun pouring above that calm stretch of water was such an inviting view that we felt drawn towards it and started walking in the direction. this is river Neera.

Beyond the gate and wall the steps lead to water. Two or three women in bright sarees were washing clothes at the last step . Their voices floated to us like humming of bees.now and then voices from other banks echoed. Leaves of ages old Peepal tree standing on the bank rustled soothingly. The quiet afternoon filled heart with calm and peace. On the left side a door opened to Radha Krishna temple. The interior of temple was semi dark and cool. San any ostentatious pretension it touched the purest of emotions. All the worries and tensions of daily life  as if dissolved and feelings of completely surrendering myself to some unknown, unseen power made my being weightless. I can neither decipher nor explain such experiences but they always make me feel that there is more to life that we can define, see and feel. Something surreal eludes the grasp but makes it's existence feel with thumping certainty.

After that we visited Bhor Rajwada. We sat on the steps of the outer courtyard  for some time, then the care taker arrived and opened the gate from inside to let us in. Rajwada is quite grand. I shall let the pictures talk about that. Care taker informed us that now a days the Rajwada is used mainly for the shooting of various bollywood and marathi movies, the latest one being Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Baji Rao Mastani.There are many layers of corridors, rooms opening one behind another on both sides of courtyard. There is a Ram mandir inside Rajwada. The care taker informed us that on Ram Navami many people visit here as grand ceremonies, pooja  are organized on the occasion.The inner rooms were dark, empty but every wall, every corner has it's own story to tell. Way back in the past it must have experienced different kind of life and now it gets decorated with different kind of sets every now and then. Many stories are enacted, emotions displayed . It experiences whirlwind of activities for some time and after every pack up it once again stands in solitude and life moves on.

On the threshhold of Radha Krishna temple on the bank of neera river

River Neerra

all the pictures by Sunder Iyer

Location--- Bhor is about forty kilometer from Pune in Maharashtra.
Other places of attraction in Bhor --- Bhatghar Dam in bhor
Best time to visit-- From scenic beauty point of view as is the case with entire Maharashtra monsoon is the best season when green hills and surging waters make the surroundings enchanting.