Places Around Mumbai - I : Tungareshwar, Vasai

It was just another Friday of a week filled with work and office hooplah, when we decided to have a small day trip somewhere around Mumbai. With a lot of ideas generated by some of my friends, the decided place was Tungareshwar, which happens to be at Vasai, a village on the outskirts of Mumbai. Its very well connected by Local trains to Mumbai. Its hardly a 45 minute ride by road or through the ever glorified local train if you start from Andheri. Since Mr.B in our group supposedly worked out the car from his sister, we had no problems reaching Vasai by 10 a.m. Thanks to Mr. B's driving skills. The only pain which i suffered was that i had to getup at 8 on a Saturday and meet the other guys on the Mumbai-Ahemdabad highway near Borivali.

Well, all set we reached Vasai at around 10, had some tea with hot Samosas. It had been raining quite heavily since the last night and my newly bought windcheeter dint help me a lot in keeping myself dry. I was soaked to the bone and a quick change helped me feel comfortable. Its so good to be dry... man! At around 10:30 we started walking from the village, the road was quite good upto a certain area after which the tar started to fade out into the mud and we entered the area which could be safely called as a forest area(This is a part of Sanay Gandhi National Park by the way). Well, the trek or walk, whatever you call it(i would hardly call it a trek, its more like walking on a kuccha road) was accompanied by heavy rains. It didn't seem to be the perfect weather to actually walk the way. I later on found out that vehicles actually go upto Tungareshwar, but a few metres of walk and i found out that the vehicles couldn't cross the river due to the swelling of river by the heavy downpour. To continue the trek further, we had to cross this same river which looked dangerously swift and somewhere in the middle of this rain, forest and a cautious" cross mat karna" warning by the bhutta wala, my adventerous streak to cross it faded out. However, there was this adjoining track(lets call it loser's track.who cares!) which we finally took. It allowed us to reach where we wanted to without getting into the water. What followed was a beautiful walk admist the forest area, wild flowers to be seen, numerous pics to be taken collectively by Mr. S, V, Su, B and well, me. We would have walked for around an hour before we reached this place where lot of aunties(a.k.a. devotes) were chilling out in, lets say..ankle deep water. Keeping the fantasies for the later part, we moved on and reached the temple. The temple is quite well maintained with things like Chips, Tea, Gola, Bhutta and what not in this whole damn world available in the adjoining shops. Quite a decent place to have tea, and thats what we did.

We were told that the waterfall is closeby to the temple & we headed straight to the waters. A few meters ahead there was another water channel which was quite a good place to actually take on water sports like trying to swim in knee deep water. Well, puns apart, the water is not deep at most places but its swift. We found a decent spot to have same water fun & we found one. The place was quite abuzz with some 10-15 family guys but as soon as we took on, the numbers started to reduce and in 30 minutes, all that was left in the wilderness were we guys. Quite an achievement, eh! It was almost 2 hours we were in the water before we planned to move on. The waterfall at Tungareshwar is quite amazing, but equally dangerous. We were not directly beneath the waterfall but further downstream. The rains had made the waterfall all the more large as we found out later. There are a lot a of rocks in this whole area and when mixed with swift currents, things do become a bit dangerous and you need to take care. Well, as we were moving up the waterfall, i realized a guy actually was taken away by the current. Well, lucky him that he din't hit a rock and ended up safe!

There is nothing more to explain about this trip as the water and the forest wilderness are the only things to look out for. We trekked down, drove back & ended up stuffing ourselves with chicken, mutton, veggies at one of the food joints on the highway.

Well, I had read a lot of things about Tungareshwar on the internet, I read in a few blogs things like "Heaven on Earth" or "Best places in India", I would rather not agree to them, as i saw for myself, its a nice place but there is nothing adventurous about it. It is a decent place where you can arrange a small day trip even with family members. If you are not going to the temple & looking out for fun, rains are the only time you can be there as thats the only time you will find water. Without it, there is nothing to look out for apart from the Lord Shiva temple.

The trip was what i wanted, a small no frills trip on a rainy day with good friends. The small trek admist the forest, which happens to be a part of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a beautiful one where one can forget the honking of vehicles or the chatter of the Mumbai crowd. Its an amazing getaway from the hustle-bustle of what Mumbai is. The best thing about the place is that it is so close to Mumbai that you can round up the trip replete with travel, trek, fun in just a day. Definitely suggested for a monsoon weekend trip!

Some things to take care:

1.Don't try to ride a bike on the alternate jungle route, you might end up breaking your mirrors as what happened with an idiot. Is it easy to ride bikes on slippery rocks(not roads...rocks)? Take the road, if you cant take it..simply trek!

2.Take a camera alongwith you, there are good things to be seen and remembered.

3.There are monkeys to be seen on the way, take care of your mobile & purse.

4. If it isn't the rainy season, avoid this place.

5. Avoid plastic. If you can't, then avoid littering, the forest area is clean, lets maintain it that way.

6. Most important..dont use a shoe in this rainy season(or use a waterproof one)! Ur feet would start smelling and you would make shrieking sounds while you walk once the water is inside them! Its damn uncomfortable!!

TAWANG, heaven unexplored as they call it.

These days there is a lot of word doing the rounds about Tawang, the small town in Arunachal Pradesh at the India-China border. I understand the fuss has been generated due to the visit of the Dalai Lama. China is staking claim over this place since the time India lost out on the war. Anyways, whose interested in politics here! Definitely not me.

In one of the newspapers today, there was an article about Tawang. My roommate got typically interested in this place on reading this article and since i have been there, i made sure i tell him things to get him more interested, maybe sometime he might take me along free of cost. I can be the guide!

Tawang is a small town in Arunachal Pradesh very close to the China border. It has always been in the news because when Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet, he had taken this very route to reach India. This place has Asia's second largest monastery for Buddhism. Now my dad was transferred to this place for around 2 years and i visited this place twice during that time. My dad at times has been transferred to very very obscure places and i have visited most of them in my holidays. But now when i look back and think, these places might not be the most talked about they have been a great experience. Now i will talk more about this Tawang!

To reach this place you need to catch a flight to Guwahati. You pick up a ride to this city in Assam called Tezpur which would take around 5 hours. From Tezpur, it would take you around 2 hours to reach the border of Assam & Arunachal Pradesh. This is where the journey starts. Winters is the time to be there & I promise that if you havent been there before each and evey mile is going to be the most awe inspiring. As soon as you enter the gate on the road which reads " Welcome to Arunachal Pradesh" and "OM MANE PADME HUM" in Tibetan script, the width of the road suddenly halves so that only one and a half vehicles can cross at a time. So if you see a vehicle coming from the opposite direction of the mountain you need to stop your vehicle where there is some space & let the opposite vehicle pass. Well as you enter this mountainous stretch you look out the window to see river Dirang flowing and if you are lucky enough on the opposite side you can see some elephants. I did't see them however. You see a waterfall running from a mountain high up and your driver tells you that we have to travel up this mountain. Its getting cold and you just close down the windows. They get instantly frosted.The nearest petrol pump would be around 150 kms away so it has to be taken care of. Forget a petrol pump, there would be no houses for long stretches. Here it is highly advised not to travel in the night. At every kilometre you see two or three signboards reading " To the loving memory of.........who lost life at this point". Its frightening. You realize this only when you look out of your window & see a wide open crevasse. For most part of the journey first time i was praying with my eyes closed. It gets colder as you move higher and you feel the cold Himalayan breeze which seeps open through that open jacket button and you are chilled to bones. The trees have gradually changed from the wide leaved ones to conifers and pines. It gets really foggy in the winters up there and i am not able to see my brother who is standing 10 feets away. We stop and i am having black tea in an unusually large mug. Feels warm! There is the only place till you reach Bomdilla where you can get good tea. Its a shop cum house made up of black wood, stones with black chairs. Inside a lady was making tea on firewood. Its been almost 5 hours since we started this journey climbing up the hills. My mom was staying at a place named Tenga Valley in the Army quarters with dad. We would be reaching there in about two hours. Its already evening, the sun is setting and now all i see is Army camps and very few shops. I can see local people in some really heavy dresses smiling everytime you look at them. The people here are really content, they have very few needs and they are always happy to help. After around two hours i reach home. This place looks like just another place with lots of people, a small market. There are no mobile phones available here and the only place where you can go and talk is the STD ISD PCO shop inside the campus. I had to call up a friend, so i went there. There the shop owner tells me that the telephone lines are down. Its because its raining, the telephone lines are down most if the times. You have to be really lucky if you need to make a phone call. Anyways, the mobiles started working there after 2 years & now people are seen walking & talking. The real personification of Walk when you talk!

Tawang is still 8 hours away from this place. My dad is already there for some work and i would be leaving for Tawang after a week with mom. It was after a week that me and my mom started the ride early morning at around 6 a.m. My mom had already made some tea, put in in a flask. She did so because most of the people eat beef here ans she wont even touch the glasses and cups from these people..forget drinking in them. Holy Cow! We had already booked a Tata Sumo. 30 minutes riding, there is a big bump and something shatters. What was it! The windows of the sumo look perfectly alright. However, as i had taken out the flask and out in the back seat, i am told my mom to check it. Well, i just shake it and a voice comes as if the tea has been crystallized into small pieces and they are jingling merrily. We ask the driver to stop and throw away the flask ..well, the tea goes with it too. I feel bad that because of me mom is not going to get any tea till the time we reach Tawang. As we ride along, it starts to get colder. The roads start getting wet and in a distance i see a mountain filled with snow. That is Tawang i am told. We move and move endlessly, now i am able to see some snow on the roadsides. As we move, the snow covers the roadsides, then the road. The vehicle gets slower and slower. I am told that you can easily skid on snow while driving. And skidding here meant only one thing! At times, whole vehicles with people have been untraceable. They are never found in these mountains. There are no trees to be seen now. Only white snow & deep gorges, the types which girls feel dizzy on seeing. There are huge rocks on the sides of the road. After sometime, it starts snowing and we have to stop due to a huge landslide. I hear people are working to get it cleared. Its cleared after an hour and we move ahead. The weather has become monstrous. Its snowing and the fog has made everything go invisible. I feel i am floating in the clouds in a Tata Sumo! The fog clears after sometime and we reach SELA pass. This is one of the five mountain passes India has. A pass is a very narrow road between two mountains. This place is probably the best i have ever seen. I saw a hollywood movie where the Branden Fraser asks " Is this Heaven". I repeated that line. There was a gate saying " Welcome to Sela Pass". Standing at 15,340 feet above sea level this is the highest i have ever been. I see two big mountain bases on both sides of where i am standing. The ground is fully flat. No more gorges, no more trees. Its like a snow desert. There are two lakes on my sides and they are fully frozen. First time i can see yaks eating snow to glory. Inside the snow there is frosted grass i am told. To picturize a yak, just wrap your woollen cardigan over a buffalo. Yak's milk is yuck! I will realize it in some days.

Sela pass is truly something you need to see in a lifetime. Ever wondered how a frozen waterfall will look like? Or how it would be if a drop of water falling from a leaf got crystallized midway? Its unbelievable right. This is the place to see that. Untouched by humans, this is real nature as god made it. Tourists do not come to this place just because they are unaware of it. Maybe thats also the reason for the worthiness of this place. Being in the North Eastern India, these places are considered to be some of the most backward and uninteresting. But the wonders they hold are something which cannot be described. In my consequent posts I am going to talk more about Tawang. Remember, i still have not reached Tawang!!