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 3 -The Nature Trail

The nature trail at Ekaant is one of the big attractions at Lavasa, and is open for all visitors to Lavasa. The trail takes over 2 hours to cover, which is why we planned to start early, so that we could be back in time for breakfast. Unfortunately, due to matters beyond our control, we were delayed and had to give the trail a skip. However, the trail exit was where we rushed to take photographs of the rising sun (see my earlier post), and couldn’t resisit taking a sneak peek into the trail itself. While all of us ventured in a little bit to indulge in a photo shoot, Nisha and I, being enthusiastic travel bloggers, took a short detour inside to take even more photographs!


The trail itself has been created in a very interesting manner, taming the wild topography of the mountainside and the foliage into a semblance of order by means of well paved pathways. This makes the whole walk quite an easy affair for the tourists, instead of the brisk trek it would have been otherwise. Instead of wasting more words, let me take you along with me through my photographs…..


This is supposed to be the exit, but we entered the trail here…..



And the first thing I see is a birdhouse!


There is a canopy over this part of the trail… I wonder why…..


Here are some sections of the path...



And this looks like a tiny postbox, but is actually a holder for a board, which seems to have disappeared!



The beautiful view seen through the stalks….


Look at the view from here…


The sun peeking from amidst the leaves…


The path curves downwards…. See how well steps have been laid in…



Fungi are all over…..




And so are spider webs – these seem to be the only things I see when I walk on nature trails!


One portion has been declared as the butterfly garden….


There is a concrete bench to sit on, here…..


As well as a board mentioning the difference between butterflies and moths......


And lots of flowering plants (to attract the butterflies, I suppose!)





We did see lots of butterflies…. But not in the butterfly garden! You can’t enclose the butterflies can you?









There is another place to sit here…. With a thatched canopy this time….



And the area around a lone termite mound has been cleared and labeled….




There is a board here too, for people who like to learn on a vacation!



There's even a board pointing out the service exit, which reminds us that it’s time to go back……


I was rather disappointed that in the 2 hours that we had been awake, we hadn’t seen a single bird! Not even in the nature trail! But as we waited for the car to go back to the Waterfront Shaw, I heard some bird sounds and went to investigate. It just turned out to be a pair of bulbuls which I see all the time at home, but since they were posing so prettily, I couldn’t help take some pics…. So here they are…..




This was just one short section of the nature trail, which took us about 10 minutes to cover, even with all the photography. The whole trail would surely have taken us 2 to 2 ½ hours, but it would surely be worth it, so if any of you go to Lavasa, don’t forget to wake up early and visit the nature trail!
Enhanced by Zemanta

Comments

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