Time: 8.30 pm on Friday 15th Oct'21. Place: Just after Ghoti Toll Gate on the Mumbai-Nasik Highway. Polo parked safely by the roadside, Headlights off. Hazard Lights on. My partner in crime: Balak, my best friend. We were almost 100 kms away from Mumbai. This was yet another 'Unplanned', a drive where we never have any destination in mind, we just keep driving, wherever the road takes us.

"Maybe, lets go to Nasik. Stay at Ginger overnight for some 2000 bucks. Have dinner at Blvd Lounge next to Ginger and leave early next morning" I said.

"Sounds good", said Balak while checking Maps on his phone simultaneosly. " The Nature Leap resort that you suggested earlier should be good. Its just beside the mighty Vaitarna Lake" Balak suggested.

"So should we go there? Looks pricey at 4500 bucks for the night, more than double of Ginger. Kya karu? Book Karu? " I asked Balak. He said "Yes, Kar de!!". We took a leap of faith & booked Natures Leap Resort at Upper Vairtarna.

I must have travelled to Nasik a thousand times before this. But I had never taken the inconspicuous left turn towards Upper Vaitarna Lake, which supplies bulk of the water needs of our megacity called Mumbai. The drive to Natures Leap was a crisp 30 minutes. On the way, we saw young village kids huddled in close circles with their mobile phones in hand. We realized that they all meet at a common place where the internet network was the strongest. Hotspots, me and Balak joked.

Natures Leap is a short detour from the main road, we took a left on the patchy, stone infested approach road. The entrance door was locked, the contact number given by 'Make my Trip' went unanswered. There was no one else around, no homes, no shops. It was pitch dark, only the shrill chirping of the insects broke the nights silence. Did we make a mistake booking this Resort, a thought crossed our mind. I switched off the engine. Headlights on, I honked a couple of times. After some time, we could hear a loud whistle and someone approaching us from within the resort. Out emerged the security guard with a tiny cat behind him. He opened the Gate for us. The tiny cat was "Bunty", she looked a miniature version of Kuku. Bunty got into the car, explored it, got worried a bit and jumped out towards the safety of her known surroundings into the resort.

The room was basic but spacious, housekeeping was left half done. The heavy rains of this monsoon had taken their toll on the ceiling, we could see patches of moisture and also some stains on the walls as well as the curtains. But the most basic things for an overnight stay were clean: bed and toilet.

It was almost 10 and the local village folks, who double up at Natures Leap had to wind up the kitchen before heading back home in that pitch darkness. So we had a quick dinner. The food was simple, almost like our home cooked food. I opted for a simple veg dinner of Roti, Sabji, Dal Rice. Balak opted for the chicken option. Bunty, who had by now snuggled by near our legs, got to eat chicken too along with Balak. Back to the room, we read for a while, watched the IPL final and then decided to call it a night.

I woke up to the sound of quacking ducks. There was a small pond next to our room where they made merry. How can one swim so effortlessly, I wondered to myself. Watching them glide on the water was extremely soothing. The air was fresh, there was a slight chill. I opened a book, stretched out my legs from the chair in the open deck and began reading. A perfect start to the day.

It was 9 am by the time we went to the common area for Breakfast. Bunty was not around. We thought she must have had a heavy dinner and must be lazing around somewhere. Krushna, the staff cum local village boy signaled to us that breakfast was ready to be served. After a couple of rounds of Upma and one of the best Aloo Parathas I have ever tasted and a cup of both Tea and Coffee, we checked out from Natures Leap Resort. On our way out, we saw the vast expanse of the Vaitarna Lake. The road was dotted with tiny villages. We watched kids play, waving to us as we passed by. We waved back to them & their reaction was priceless. We saw a kid cross the road hurriedly when he saw our car approaching. We had disturbed his 'shi-shi' routine and the poor kid got a big fatka on the back from his mother for crossing the road recklessly as well as half naked, holding onto his tiny chaddi. We saw young kids returning from school. Probably they walk long distances everyday to reach school. But they had a smile on the face, mostly because tomo was Sunday, a school holiday and day to play whole time. Their uniforms were long and mostly oversized, mostly being passed onto them from their elder siblings. Most villagers do not have money to buy new uniforms every year for their Kids.

Our next stop was around 90 kms away to the 'Amruteshwar Temple' at Ratanwadi, at the foothills of Fort Ratangad. Sundar estimated the time at 3 hours to destination. I was wondering that why it would take such a long time to cover a short distance. But Sundar was right. The road from Ghoti to Ratanwadi is in shambles. We drove at 10 kmph for most of the stretch. The road is so bad that even a snake would break his bones on such a road ( well, if they had any bones). We missed a turn & Sundar was frozen, so we did what is possible best in India. We asked for directions to the local folks and they happily obliged. Thankfully, we had gone off track just a couple of kilometers and were back on correct route quickly. I beat Sundar this time.

We paid 160 bucks at the Forest Departments check post (30 per person, 100 for the car). A Guide approached us to show us the tourist spots on the way for 500 rs. We declined politely. On they way to the Amruteshwar temple, we saw many waterfalls ( now almost dried up) like Necklace Waterfall, Nanhi Waterfall and Koltembhe Waterfall. Water or no water, we joked that Indians have a liking for any waterfall and they would crowd there like bees on a honey hive. After yet another rough patch of the road from the checkpost, we finally reached the Amruteshwar Temple. Village kids gheraoed us to buy flowers, but we quietly denied to buy from them. Their faces dropped and they walked away from us. Looking back, I think I should have handed over our food to them. They would have been more than happy to have a happy meal.

Amruteshwar Temple was built around 10th century by King Jhaanjh. The king had built many such temples near the origins of different rivers. Amruteshwar Temple was built near the origin of River Pravara. The dam which was built last century by the British on this Pravara river now forms the scenic backwaters of the Bhandardara. The temple has many intricate carvings, each depicting a some kind of story. But without any proper written literature on this history, we were left with our own imagination, thinking what would have been the thought process to build such a magnificent temple. The 'Pinda' is submerged in water and there is an absolute sense of tranquility that prevails within the temple walls. I strongly believe that this is a kind of place where God resides. I felt one with nature as I closed my eyes for a short prayer.

In the backdrop of the temple, one can see the mighty Ratangad Fort. There are many range treks, I understood from Balak, that 'true' trekkers do from Ratangad. There is Kalsubai, Kaatraabai, Alang and Malang that one can trek. This he said is not stuff of vloggers on Youtube. These kind of treks are done by trekkers who have a huge respect for history, nature and the complete ecosystem as such. I understood from Balak that there are many Trekkers who collect plastic and other waste thrown out by reckless individuals on and near the forts and temples and dispose the garbage in proper dustbins.

There are not many options to eat in Ratanwadi. There are some small shops that sell Kanda Bhajyas, Zunka Bhaakar and Tea. We ate a fresh cucumber spiced with salt and red masala powder, bought from a lady just outside the temple. And we started our return journey to Mumbai.

It was yet again time for me to beat Sundar. We stopped on the way to ask a local villager the best way to travel to Mumbai. He suggested us to take the route to Igatpuri and not Ghoti. And what a priceless suggestion it turned out to be. We had the mighty peaks to the Sahyadris on our left and to the right, we saw villagers walking towards the river to fetch water. In a way, it is a big irony that villagers dont have running tap water for them even though they live in one of the most water abundant places of India. We clicked many pictures on the way, including the cover pic of this blog. Out last leg of the drive, turned out to be the most rewarding.

Travel teaches us a lot. It helps widen our perspective on Life. We noticed luxurious resorts like "Kazstays" ( which lets out villas at 30000/night), another upscale Hotel properties like Tropical Retreat at Igatpuri, Green Heritage at Ghoti, Jayshin Resort at Vaitarna. But we also noticed young school kids requesting us to buy stuff from them, for 20 rs to 30 rs a packet. We saw 'rich' people throwing off plastic from their 'expensive' cars but we also noticed some clean homes of those poor villagers. We noticed 'weekend crowd' spitting on the roads but we also saw local villagers chanting aartis while selling their wares. This 'Unplanned' once again opened my eyes to an India, an India which is rich in heritage and history, an India thats lives in its villages.

PC: Balak, model in the Pic- yours truly and ofcourse, our tried and tested Polo

PS1: Learn more about the history of Forts in Maharashtra from Swapnil Pawar on his link https://www.youtube.com/user/Raanvata. Although it is in Marathi, switch on the subtitles to understand in your language. Lot of credit to his video which helped me understand the history of Amruteshwar Temple.

PS2: Sundar- Sundar Pichai. Google Maps

PS3: Book I read this week " Harsh Realities" by Harsh Mariwala. Book I am reading now " Do it Today" by Darius Foroux