AMBOLI

A paradise with all that is good from Konkan and all that is exotic from Goa…have you been to this place? No? Then you may visit Amboli.

Red earth to walk on, blue sky overhead and ranges of mountains, one behind the other, fading in colour from lush green to blue-black to foggy outlines towards infinity…

But entire Amboli resides in a finite radius of half a kilometer. Ambolians are hosts with extra ordinary hospitality. Lodgings, some lavish, some humble need no advertising thanks to the tranquility and scenery around. Food, in humble and homely places has Goan taste. The residing families truly represent this tiny place for its charisma.

This much is for the place where you stay. What attracts tourists here round the year? These are scattered points and peaks and valleys and falls that have equal lavishness and humility as Amboli’s lodges.

Yes, humility, I said. Our Earth has many reserves that teach you humility and simplicity by example. Amboli’s scenic ambiance is one of them. When a child depicts two (pointed) mountains and the Sun in-between with rays flowing out, we usually take it as a child’s attempt at drawing. What if you see exactly the same on the horizon in front, at Sunset? Involuntarily you utter…how humble is Nature, attempting to show in real the child’s drawing….?

I took a picture of this Sun through a forked twig of a small bush. The Sun was humble enough to contain within the arms of that twig. This place is called Mahadev Gadh. It’s a high point with valleys around and dangerous steep cliffs and caverns aplenty. Violate safety limits and Nature’s humility ends along with your own end. I had to warn a prodigal youth trying to dare a cliff for the sake of a snap. Monkeys (there are abundant) wondered why I warned him. They freely jumped around on or off the cliff onto tree branches all over. I obliged one by taking its snap.

They say, never probe deeper in a saint’s past or a river’s origin because you may be disappointed. Well, I never tried to probe any saint’s past but I did it to see how Bheema River originated and was absolutely disappointed. Not because there was no origin in sight but because the tininess of it. It, by no stretch of imagination, could come to life as a roaring flow of water miles and miles ahead. The same was true at Mahabaleshwar where “pancha nadi” (five rivers) originate. Here, at Amboli, it is the Hirannyakeshi River that has its origin. This is a beautiful, tranquil place kept very clean by sadhus residing there. It has a small stream (invisible to us) behind a small cave temple. The water is cool and very clear as it collects in a small pond and flows down as a stream to become the river gradually. The approach to this place is nicely built with wide benign steps. Here too monkeys were plenty, shy and expectant for some offering from us.

You may have maneuvered a drive in Ghats, reached some place of straight road ahead with thick jungle around and longed to see mountain heights to climb. They are not anywhere in sight. You are told that such and such a fall is located somewhere here. But this place does not look high enough for a fall to fall..!!! Something must be wrong. Perhaps you have missed it at the last turn a few miles back. And, behold… suddenly you spot a rusty hoarding, a dilapidated cement concrete small structure, a few monkeys and some villagers. You stop the car and read the hoarding. It displays the name of the falls you desired to see!!!

Twenty five steps below you reach a strong barrier fence. About fifty plus meters down below is a steep valley receiving an incessant roaring flow of a water fall emanating from a place level with the road by which we arrived here. This was November. The villager standing there told us that the flow now seen is just a quarter of its volume in rainy season. Those with vertigo symptoms should never look in the valley. It’s very narrow, very steep and, perhaps, virgin thus far, because no one can dare climb down this death trap with a wish to come up again. Here again monkeys is an exception. This place is called…Nangar Taas

There are more such places in Amboli but the foregone about covers representative sites. At night, in such quiet places, there is another attraction. Amboli couldn’t be an exception. Power cuts, otherwise hated by all, are welcome to enjoy this attraction….wonder what? Yes, the night sky. It’s an open book of Universe to see, read and contemplate on or indulge in philosophy. If you have a little bit knowledge of stars, planets, constellations and galaxies your mirth is unfathomable. No telescope is required here. In November, there are no clouds too. Others hear you say…

Here is “Andromeda”.

See that “Orion with its Sirius”.

Can you see the pole star? No? Just see where the nose of the Orion points at…can you see a small shining star? That is the pole Star.

Here is “Vruschik” Constellation.

Those are “Kruttikas”.

Someone asks..where are “Saptarshis”? You answer, …when “Andromeda” is above you “Saptarshi” is just below you. You cannot see it now…

Such is the fun and amusement and relaxation and leisure. Would you get it in Pune…in Mumbai…in your city..?

The least I may insist is that a visit to Amboli is a must.

Beware; such places are, year by year, becoming scarce. As years pass such places get more polluted, more crowded and less attractive.

So what are you waiting for………..??????

BERMUDA ISLANDS

BERMUDA---An Emerald Volcanic Erruption –a Gem in Ocean!!

A streak of lightening….shadow of dark clouds….a sudden showing of sun….a fragrant breeze….again more clouds….drops of rain. Down below a fairy’s anklet is sparkling and throbbing. It’s a tip of rock, an emerald spread….just a speck in ocean.
That is BERMUDA’s fine group of islands.
In that incomparable environ, imagine enjoying “Darabari Kanada” by Ustad Salamat-Najakat, the unrivalled duo. Here was a sonorous blend of Darabari raga beautifully woven in lower frequencies and there were the waves pounding on shore rocks to reverberate the duo’s presentation. What could be more precise than the periodicity of these waves in hitting the shore with that infinite deliverance of energy?
Is the ocean blue? Yes and no. Is it azure? Yes and no. Is it green? Yes and no. Is it purple? Yes and no. Is it emerald? Yes and no. Name a shade and it still is “yes and no”!! Perhaps it is like a pure and serene mind of a divine saint, whose rich mind and heart, is as much colorful and unfathomable as this ocean. Perhaps not because the sea is salty but a saint’s entire being is never with a pinch of salt!!!
I have, however, no reason to undermine you, Dear Ocean. You are what you are.
Millions of years back Bermuda was an uneven sea bed. A monstrous volcanic eruption lifted this beauty of an island for us to enjoy. Millennia passed. Navigation in and around this beauty continued for centuries and then an unfortunate accident happened. A disastrous sea wreck in the seventeenth century threw the ship crew forcefully on this God forsaken rocky land. An unfortunate incident was, perhaps, fortunate for mankind albeit with the sacrifice of precious lives. Innovative and courageous generations of these sailors, created this amazing mass of thriving beauty, over centuries.
Also for millennia the beautiful soft and pink sand of Bermuda was under manufacture. Made from trillions of tiny sea creatures that sacrificed their red skeletons, the sand became pink when mixed with white-bluish clams and other sea waste. We took a boat to experience what sailors feel when they do not see any land at all on any horizon.
We were now at a spot on the sea from where no land was visible around. It was fearsome. Weather too was not exactly kind. Fairly huge waves were lapping—almost pounding—against our boat sides and we rocked inside like a pendulum.
The sight below was another tragedy enacted a few hundred years back. Our boat’s glass bottom showed and said it all. Cement blocks of that era lay around. The ship’s boiler and other structure made a dismal sight. I tried to look for a loose nut-bolt or a rivet. I couldn’t. Smallness is not exactly a virtue here. It’s recorded that only 700 casks of liquor was all that could be saved from the ship!!!
The fish around were accustomed to receive bread at this time each day. They lurked and pounced on the food all at once. The fittest of them won. Jungle law operated universally after all. Why blame only humans? I ruminated on this Jungle law. Living beings go by that law. Does the sea follow it? Unequivocally NO, the sea does not. It could encroach upon all river-territories on the globe if it desired so. But, far from killing the weaker rivers, the sea welcomes them and they happily unite.
Can you imagine that a Nature’s wonder here, in Bermuda Islands, waited to be accidentally discovered just a hundred years back? And uncovered by a small boy, playing with a ball? Well, it’s exactly that. Stalagmite and stalactite formations grew—and are still growing---over millennia at a rate of a cubic inch per hundred years. They are today thousands of cubic feet, some long and strong columns, some thin straws a meter or two long, some spread like corals on underside of cliff, some under water, some resembling dragons, some depicting human face----all extremely beautiful, like real jewelry, and yes, all totally hollow!!! Hollowness allows them to grow. Water is continuously dripping through the hollow and as a drop separates, it deposits a tiny calcite particle.
A boy found his play ball roll and fall in a hole on the ground. His dad lowered him by a rope tied to a nearby tree, down 140 feet below. It was all dark there. No ball could be seen. Yet the boy saw at the end an underground expanse of water submerging the crystals, fairly visible, and with a ceiling, again of crystals.
It was then a matter of time and patience and care and curiosity for men around to excavate this beauty. A few years later another sibling the Fantasy Lake was discovered.
Nature works silently on such beauties. God alone knows how many more such boys and such lost balls would come forward to add to our treasure.
Original inhabitants located a beautiful white bird with a long tail, nowhere seen earlier. They named it the Bermuda bird, a National symbol. There are also trees like those found right in Pune city of India. A neem, a mango, a “mogara”, a “kahneri”, a “Gul Mohor”!!! And we thought here, in and around USA, Indian flowers do not bloom. We also thought that in this part of the globe flowers are without fragrance!!! We were wrong. A “mogara” of Bermuda and the one in Pune smell exactly alike!!
Want to really enjoy a place, a town, a city? Go walking. If not, go cycling. If not then go by a scooter. Our time permitted the scooter option and we never repented. Fine roads, albeit narrow, and alongside the ocean, took us everywhere. Traffic discipline here is amazing. Ups and downs and curves and hairpin turns all are present but they present no difficulty. At age 67, I was riding a scooter at 40 plus kmph with ease, with wife Padmaja behind.
They are mainly fish eaters, these Bermudians. Their alcohols are tasty and with a variety too. The rum preparation blended with fruit is wonderful. Rice is scarce, Bread is the staple food. Fresh water is not exactly scarce but is not abundant too. They catch rain water. Rain is round the year. Someone said “our cocoanuts too do not have water” Others said coconuts do have water but “we do not find it cheap to climb the tress to fetch them”. Be that as it may, we did find plenty of coconut trees but not many coconuts on sale.
This right hand drive British colony has several models of cars, but mostly small cars. No visitor is allowed to hire or rent a car. This is for environmental reasons. People—natives—are both black and white, perhaps in equal proportion. Power is plenty. Diesel is cheaper. Farm produce was prominent by absence. Industry? Well tourism is the main hub.
There is an international airport and flights, incoming and outgoing, are frequent. Hotels and resorts are plenty. Facilities in hotels are excellent but they are in proportion to the looseness of your purse strings. Our stay was at “Arial Sands”, a resort on the private property of a famous Hollywood actor. The resort is extremely beautiful with all comforts that a five star hotel boasts of.

There is that myth (?) of Bermuda Triangle. True or false, both sides have supporters. Bermudians couldn’t care less.
Our trip was thus memorable.
A bit more so, thanks to an incident. On a beach bathing spree we found Aboli, our granddaughter, missing. The coast guard had to be summoned. She, it seems, went astray, unawares of time and location, in the presence of some friends.
Well that too was an experience..!!!