Summer Vacation Travelogue - Part 4

Today, we were scheduled to travel to Pune. Once more, we had an early breakfast and started off. Traffic was sparse and we made quick work of the Amboli-Belgaum road, which we had traversed a couple of days earlier. But, the real fun started after Belgaum, when we got onto NH-4. Towns were dispatched in a flash and Kolhapur was reached in 45 minutes. A quick lunch, and a petrol top-up later, we were on our way to Pune. We were there in another 2 ½ hours. The best part about this drive was the reactions of the hapless drivers puttering around in their Jeeps/Esteems/Altos/Omnis, when a beauty like Scarlette zoomed past at 160 clicks. Some just braked, while others panicked due to the gust of wind and swerved wildly to the left! It sure felt nice to know that I was now one of the people I called maniacs, back when I drove our old M800! Tomorrow morning, we get back to Bombay.

Summer Vacation Travelogue - Part 3

An early breakfast, and we were off to Sawantwadi. Nice road to Sawantwadi through a twisting and turning ghat. We reached the place in an hour’s time. There, we saw an innocuous looking signboard which proclaimed that Panaji was 62 km away. Dad and I looked at each other and in a trice, we were off! NH-17 is an excellent road which tests your overtaking and cornering skills. Brilliant piece of tarmac if driving and hobby come in the same sentence for you! The Goa govt. seems to take the upkeep of its roads very seriously. Looks like the other states could learn something here.

Lunch was a much laid back affair on Miramar beach and consisted of brilliantly fried Surmai (Kingfish) and Chilly Crab. I would have loved to wash this down with a glass of local port wine, but I was driving. Half a grand exchanged hands for a kilo and a quarter of cashews, and we were back on NH-17.

We also stopped over in Sawantwadi on the way back, as originally planned. It seems that this is the place to visit for all sorts of wooden handicraft. We also found Alphonso mangoes being sold here for Rs. 90 a dozen! All the appropriate purchases were made and a couple of hours later, I am back writing this.

Summer Vacation Travelogue - Part 2

Since we were knackered after yesterday’s drive, we got up late today. Turns out that most of the points provide a beautiful view early in the morning. Since that was not an option at 11 am, we decided to visit Mahadevgad point and then, drive to Belgaum. In the process, we made a discovery that it is NOT a good idea to execute a 3-point turn when the road is uneven. A scary wheel-spinning moment a few inches from the edge of the ravine later, we made our escape from the point, leaving behind the smell of burning rubber! The drive to Belgaum was pretty uneventful in comparison. In Belgaum city, we had lunch and purchased a few packets of ‘Kunda’, which is the local speciality.

We spectacularly got lost on the way back, thanks to a political party’s poster stuck over a signboard! A 30 km detour later, we managed to find our way back!

We have decided that we will visit Sawantwadi tomorrow. The only problem is that I will have to get up early for that!

Summer Vacation Travelogue - Part 1

Finally! I woke up an unemployed man! I never thought that the day would dawn when I would be happy about this! But hey, shit happens!

It was also the day when we would finally take out Scarlette on a long holiday – stretch her legs, so to speak. We had a nice and early 7 am start and thankfully, there was no traffic till Kharghar. Scarlette responded beautifully on the expressway too, and we were in Pune, come 9 am. Satara came up a couple of hours later. This made us decide to skip lunch at Satara, and take a call when we reached Kolhapur. Little did we know what sort of impromptu entertainment we would be subjected to! We went to a nice looking hotel in Kolhapur, which advertised an AC Family Room. We discovered that there was indeed a family room. The only problem was that the AC was not switched on. We pointed this out to the waiter and he told us that there was a power cut. When asked whether they had a generator, he replied in the negative. Now, this was extremely puzzling, especially because I could easily see a couple of fans working! When I pointed out this anomaly, the waiter scratched his head and went to his boss for clarification. He returned with the explanation that the AC was not working. We protested and told him that if he was not prepared to provide us with AC comfort, we would look for a different restaurant. One more visit by the waiter for confirmation later, the AC remote was produced from some alcove and the AC was finally switched on! A few minutes after we had taken our seat, we began to feel a distinctly warm breeze, which was definitely not coming from the AC. Further investigation revealed that the windows in the room were still open! No harm done, right? We called the waiter and told him to ensure that all windows were closed. He was successful in this endeavour as far as the first window was concerned. When he went to the second one, he discovered that the window did not have any shutter at all!!! The less said about the food there, the better!

A couple of hours later, we were finally in Amboli. Nice place, cool weather. All in all, a nice getaway from hot ‘n humid Bombay! More later.