There wasn't a me, there wasn't a you,
There wasn't a moment of low.
There wasn't an iota of lingering sour,
There was no friend, no foe.
It was just the fog to keep us company,
The showers, the greens and the exotic rainbow.
But it is a task to return to truth,
Though gladly the memories formed a delectable dough.
Aritra
It was early in the morning when we started off for our weekend indulgence, of sinking into the thirst quenching greens, of the countryside of Maharashtra, around the maddening city of Mumbai. It was overcast and the greens were in pure glory, we took the Mumbai-Nashik Highway. Looking out of the window of the car, gave a sense of being alive and breathing. To me the journey to the destination is a also an integral part of the vacation, so it is important to make it joyful. We drove, we giggled and off-course we let ourselves become the paparazzi for the self proclaimed celebrities in us. There was no end to clicking, posing and more smiles. We stopped for hearty breakfast midway, but the fascinating stop for me was the tea break. The road was more than empty, the sideways were lined with lush greenery and tangible clouds. The wind whistled and fiendishly danced around, while the grey mountains exemplified dichotomy against the prolific greens. Oh! What a beauty and how opulent! And then to add to the surging pleasure were steaming cups of tea, from the road-side tea stall.
From left Avishek, me, Shalaka and Nilesh
Our Travel-diaries
and the cups of tea....
We reached Igatpuri in the afternoon and thanks to our friend Nilesh who arranged the resort in the extremely short notice of a day, the place was absolute serenity. Placed in a quantifiable distance from the main highway, or infact from any possible hamlet, "Jen Jon resort in Igatpuri" stands for peace. But mind you, there is no ATM around and internet/mobile networks are exceedingly poor, so if you ever plan to plunge into absolute seclusion, carry enough cash. Our rooms were literally made of glass, but strategically enough the transparency varied giving you adequate privacy and off course the curtains did the rest. View from the rooms was breathtaking with the "Vaitarna Lake and the luxuriant greens" to keep you company. The food and hospitality were warm, well warm goes with both right!! On a serious note I loved the "rotis and chicken curry". In the evening we drove down to the dam and lake, it was so refreshing. The tranquility of the water, the overcast sky and red soil around will remain with me. I recommend JenJon to all who aspire to have some raw piece of peace and experience alienation for sometime. Believe me it is worth it!!
Jen Jon, our glass rooms
View from our room
View from our room
Dip Dip into the waters of Lake Vaitarna
Next morning after breakfast we headed to Bhandardhara, completely unplanned, thanks to the technology that GPS guided us to our destination smoothly. But sadly after the soft serenity of Igatpuri, overcrowded Bhandardhara did not match our expectation. The natural beauty, the waterfalls, the grey mountains and opulent spread of green was somewhat upset by the mindless and arrogant crowd. They were littering, shouting and had parked their vehicles haywire creating traffic jam. However after visiting the famous Radha falls we decided to stop in a place which was in seclusion, and that we did. We stopped by a nascent waterfall, streaming on the stones, it started raining and we completely drenched ourselves and relieved from the impact of the head-splitting crowd. Here I request everyone reading my blog, even if the number is very small, please spread the word "STOP SPOILING the natural beauty of the places, do not litter, do not park inappropriately."
Radha Falls
Radha Falls
At last a place to relax
At the end we reached Mumbai but only after a wholesome Punjabi meal in a road side dhaba and off course oodles of tempting memoirs. Thanks to my companions Shalaka and Nilesh and my darling hubby Avishek for making a two day trip worth a lifetime....
Aritra Chakrabarty Sengupta
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