Trio Beach Trail with three shades of Gerua
It was 6 am in the morning, when X called, my hubby who lives apart in Pune, and he spoke to me in a voice of deep despair, he would be unable to make it. I know a chance to photograph and travel to some beautiful places, means so much more to him (than travelling with his wife), I could totally empathize. Here for my Hamlet was a tragedy. I told him to take heart, we decided it would be too much for both of us, to not be able to make it, and so I would continue. There were some minor escapades with the cab driver, he arrived a bit late, and very confidently took me to the wrong Sindhi society, just as I had begun to wonder, the road seemed terribly long, and then enter tour guide Nishant and team HK.
Nishant, Preeti, Tanu, Nikhil were waiting for us at the HK gate, having guided the taxi wala to HK, Nishant took on the navigator role and the front seat, which is a routine for us for all our trips, Tanu joyfully declared him as Papa'esque, Priti got him to buy juice, biscuits and chips, and we continued. A couple of hours with some Chai Nashta(R) (copyright registered with a nice restaurant on road to Raigad) tucked in, and a half an hour break where X was picked up enroute, we reached Harihareshwar.
Harihareshwar, known as Dakshin Kashi is quite atypically, a temple beach. There are two temples, one Lord Harihareshwara, and another Shani temple. I have since discovered that we needed to go into the Shani and then the larger deity (blissfully unaware we did the opposite), the river Savitri enters the sea from Harihareshwar. We technically took a temple-turn route (parikrama), for the temple which goes over the hill, along the cliff near the sea, and then along the rocks, back to the temple. Pictures below. There were small whirlpools forming at the end of the rock cliff , tossing and turning (so much for seamless integration between the river and the sea). The cliffs were odd shaped patterns with pockets of water and contours and shapes, testimonies of time, and witness to the continuum and moods of waves. :-) I believe some waves come laughing joyously, some give up before reaching them, there are others that come
lashing with strength, attempting to break the rocks, and maybe the rocks witness some days of quiet peace and some nights rainy with storm.The rocks bear the scars, and stand with fortitude, overlooking the sea, I had never seen a rock cliff overlooking the sea, needless to say, I was quite enchanted.
Since we had only had a day to cover and two to go, we quickly chatted with a Coconut Wala on the benefits of drinking coconut (multitude - age-disease resistance, thoughts on maintaining a local beach) tried local aam 'kairi' candy, and quickly made our way to SreeVardhan.
SreeVardhan looked like a regular circus straight outside the Mumbai movies, when Mumbai beaches were clean, a horsecart, running with balloons, a man paragliding in the sky, showing a big bright yellow and a little dot, of the figure of a man, there were lots of activities, but we decided to quickly move on, to our last stop which was Diveagar.
It is quite fascinating to note that these beaches are really close to each other, while one has a rocky cliff, Diveagar is a beach strip with white sand, running along the road, we walked along, sat down, to witness the orange hues of the setting sun, and then made our way back. Diveagar to me is the most walkable beach ever, clean, soft sand, stretching 2.5 kms long, if you can forget the small crabs running across from one hole to another.
Joining me in my trip memories was Tanu who I met for the first time, and who got her chittiyan kalaiyan fast forwarded at 11.30 pm in the night, phone-a-friends Preeti, Nikhil and Nishant, who reminded me of the constancy of connections. Its nice to note that somethings don't change, and also accompanying us was my dear enemy and trip sponsor, Mr X from Pune. As a token of appreciation for my sponsor's benevolent gesture, please find below the pics of the trip he had taken (as and when they are made available to me), very grateful to him for his generosity, and hoping for continued support.
Nishant, Preeti, Tanu, Nikhil were waiting for us at the HK gate, having guided the taxi wala to HK, Nishant took on the navigator role and the front seat, which is a routine for us for all our trips, Tanu joyfully declared him as Papa'esque, Priti got him to buy juice, biscuits and chips, and we continued. A couple of hours with some Chai Nashta(R) (copyright registered with a nice restaurant on road to Raigad) tucked in, and a half an hour break where X was picked up enroute, we reached Harihareshwar.
Harihareshwar, known as Dakshin Kashi is quite atypically, a temple beach. There are two temples, one Lord Harihareshwara, and another Shani temple. I have since discovered that we needed to go into the Shani and then the larger deity (blissfully unaware we did the opposite), the river Savitri enters the sea from Harihareshwar. We technically took a temple-turn route (parikrama), for the temple which goes over the hill, along the cliff near the sea, and then along the rocks, back to the temple. Pictures below. There were small whirlpools forming at the end of the rock cliff , tossing and turning (so much for seamless integration between the river and the sea). The cliffs were odd shaped patterns with pockets of water and contours and shapes, testimonies of time, and witness to the continuum and moods of waves. :-) I believe some waves come laughing joyously, some give up before reaching them, there are others that come
lashing with strength, attempting to break the rocks, and maybe the rocks witness some days of quiet peace and some nights rainy with storm.The rocks bear the scars, and stand with fortitude, overlooking the sea, I had never seen a rock cliff overlooking the sea, needless to say, I was quite enchanted.
Since we had only had a day to cover and two to go, we quickly chatted with a Coconut Wala on the benefits of drinking coconut (multitude - age-disease resistance, thoughts on maintaining a local beach) tried local aam 'kairi' candy, and quickly made our way to SreeVardhan.
SreeVardhan looked like a regular circus straight outside the Mumbai movies, when Mumbai beaches were clean, a horsecart, running with balloons, a man paragliding in the sky, showing a big bright yellow and a little dot, of the figure of a man, there were lots of activities, but we decided to quickly move on, to our last stop which was Diveagar.
It is quite fascinating to note that these beaches are really close to each other, while one has a rocky cliff, Diveagar is a beach strip with white sand, running along the road, we walked along, sat down, to witness the orange hues of the setting sun, and then made our way back. Diveagar to me is the most walkable beach ever, clean, soft sand, stretching 2.5 kms long, if you can forget the small crabs running across from one hole to another.
Joining me in my trip memories was Tanu who I met for the first time, and who got her chittiyan kalaiyan fast forwarded at 11.30 pm in the night, phone-a-friends Preeti, Nikhil and Nishant, who reminded me of the constancy of connections. Its nice to note that somethings don't change, and also accompanying us was my dear enemy and trip sponsor, Mr X from Pune. As a token of appreciation for my sponsor's benevolent gesture, please find below the pics of the trip he had taken (as and when they are made available to me), very grateful to him for his generosity, and hoping for continued support.
Well written, Stuti....really liked the bit where you describe the waves!
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