Skip to main content

Featured Post

2023 - The Year That Was

Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with

Lavasa Trip Part 2 - Ekaant - Beauty in Solitude


This is a continuation of my earlier post on Lavasa. Please read Part 1 before reading further.



Waking up early is always a chore, unless one has something to really look forward to. This is especially true when we are on a holiday, but we bloggers were up and about before 5:45 in the morning of our day at Lavasa, eagerly looking forward to the nature trail we were supposed to go on.
As it turned out, our organizers had a late night, and none of them were awake! It was Biswajit Dey, who once again played Knight in shining armour! He was supposed to return to Mumbai the previous night, but fate had other plans for him, and he had to stay back. Stuck without even a change of clothes, our enterprising man took charge, and apparently washed his clothes, dried them with a hair dryer, and was ready by 6 AM. He hustled and bustled while we bloggers fended off a pack of dogs and took photographs by the dozens, and finally managed to get us a car to go and see the sunrise from Ekaant – one of the resorts at Lavasa.





Ekaant is situated high up amidst the mountains and offers a breathtaking view of the Warasgaon lake (so named since it is formed by the Warasgaon Dam, but is commonly called the Lavasa Lake too, since it is the main feature at Lavasa). We reached the place just in time to see the sun rise behind the hills and rushed for a better view…. Without more ado, let me take you straight to the place so you can see the breathtaking sight for yourselves………….









Liked the views, for more skies from around the world, go to Sky Watch Friday.




Once the sun rose and we had no more angles left to shoot from, we headed towards the other attractions…… the area behind Ekaant has been developed as a nature trail (of which I took so many photos that it deserves a post to itself, so nothing more right now) and there is a small section for kids with slides and swings which we enjoyed to the hilt, before heading over to their restaurant for a hot cup of tea.





The restaurant at Ekaant is named ‘Vyanjan’ which literally means ‘delicacies’. While we didn’t sample any of the breakfast delicacies, the tea was certainly wonderful! Served in huge mugs, they managed to appease our hungry stomachs which had been begging for attention for hours!



The restaurant of course gave us a great view of the lake and mountains, and we continued to click away happily.








Of all the places we visited at Lavasa, Ekaant was the one which I really loved. Situated so high amidst the mountains, it was far away from the main part of the city to be calm and peaceful. Apart from the wonderful view, the resort itself seemed simple, with just 20 rooms, which assured us of solitude even when full! While the Waterfront area seemed to be an attempt to bring Europe to the Sahayadris, there were no such pretensions here – it was just a set of cottages with a great view and a wonderful ambience! This is one place I would love to visit sometime with Shankar and Samhith. The only qualm I have about the place is its relative inaccessibility – the only feasible way to get here is by car, and for people like me who don’t drive and prefer to use public transport, that can be a disadvantage. At the very least, you will have to hire a vehicle from pune. But then, I don’t think this applies for most of you, right?

For more details about Ekaant – The Retreat and booking queries, check out their website, which has all the relevant details.

Best season to visit is the monsoon (of course!). But make sure you book well in advance (at least 3 months), because it is one of the most popular resorts in the area.


Related articles by other bloggers



Comments

  1. Thank you and much appreciated...Regards Team Ekaant

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank You Very Much ...Team Ekaant

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks a lot, Team Ekaant! It was a pleasure visiting the place!Its a really beautiful place!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.

Pandharpur Yatra 2023

The first time I visited Pandharpur was back in 2007 . The names Vitthal and Pandharpur, were just names to me. I had heard of them, but that was about it. Seeing the lord standing on the brick, hands on his hips, was memorable, but more memorable was the sight that greeted us as we walked out of the main sanctum of the temple. In the mandap just outside were a group of devotees singing abhangs , and dancing. This was the first time I had heard abhangs , and even almost 15 years later, I can remember the welling of feeling within me, listening to the songs, and how fascinated I was by the sight of the devotees dancing, lost in their love of the Lord. Over the years, as I have read more about Vitthal, and participated in Ashadi Ekadashi programmes at Puttaparthi, that first experience has stayed clear in my mind and heart. Every time I tell my Balvikas students of the saints who sang of Vitthala, it is that experience that I re-live. I visited Pandharpur again, in 2010, but that experie