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Friday, 2 December 2016

Indeed, time spend at salaulim dam.



 This year Ganesh festival,2K16 was full of joy and over enthusiasm.
Every year we celebrate this festival with my in laws in Goa. So this year we planned for the extended days to spend in Goa. During these days, here I was taken to unplanned halt, the Salaulim dam which is nearly 10 km away from my stay. It was season of monsoon, but we were lucky to enter the vicinity as the clouds were clear (no rains). A breathtaking place, as i exit my car.Its a huge dam with parallel panoramic view of botanical garden. Salaulim dam has a spillway which manifest the charm of the dam. it has the entry fee for the visitors and cameras and photography is strictly prohibited (still manage to take some pics).


There is lot of geographic information on net but here i am going to clearly reveal my experience. When you walk on the dam, on one side is catchment area of the dam, full with water and trees submerged and reflecting in the water. Some green hillocks are the back look from a distance.
The main attraction is in the middle of the dam. There is a semi circular outlet from which the water fall from the height of 50 ft and another 100 ft to go into the river below. The waterfall force is so much that it goes up in the air like smoke and falls back on the dam like rain. This beauty of the dam move you ahead, adhere with botanical garden.You come across sprawling lawns, pied kingfisher birds, playing areas for children and facilities like washrooms and canteens which are well placed. We were fortunate to avoid the crowd, and also delighted to spot the rainbow seeking from the clear clouds. We embarked walking to the narrow pathway which lies below the dam.


A variety of flowers and shrubs came on our way of exit, which were often seen. surely going to visit next year too as the place is quite close to my resident(goa) and had a serene feeling.


Wednesday, 4 May 2016

An epic of Ashtavinayak darshan.

It's all about Ashtavinayak Darshan which is well known all over Maharashtra. It is basically a tour of eight abodes of Lord Ganesh which is situated in Pune. This yatra or tour is plan for 3 days. There are various modes to complete this yatra such as by own vehicles or to choose any tour package like kesari travels, purple travels , chinmaya travels and many more.
I am thankful to Chinmay tour for the legendary importance of each temple. Each of the this temple have its own history and significance as distinct from each other. All the murtis are known as "Swayambhu" means they are created by its own accord.
In this post, you get the information and religious story about each of this distinct murtis.



The list of temples from Mumbai are :
Ballaleshwar temple - Pali
Varadvinayak temple - Mahad
Mahaganpati temple - Ranjangaon
Moreshwar temple - Morgaon
Siddhivinayak temple - Siddhatek
Chintamani temple - Theur
Girijatmaj temple - Lenyadri
Vighnahar temple - Ozar
This listed temples are visited according to shastra, starts from Moreshwar (Morgaon), Siddhivinayak (Siddhatek), Ballaleshwar (Pali), Varadvinayak (Mahad), Chintamani (Theur), Girijatmaj (Lenyadri), Vighnahar (Ozar), Mahaganpati (Ranjangaon) and then again  Moreshwar (Morgaon), which ends and complete your Ashtavinayak tour.

The most interesting part of this tour is about the stories of each temples


Moreshwar :
It is the most important temple of this tour. This temple is built from black stone and situated in the centre of the village. The village derives its name from the name of the bird "Peacock" in marathi. The original murti is smaller in size and enclosed in a copper sheet by the Pandavas and placed behind the currently worshiped murti.






Siddhivinayak :
This temple is built by Peshwa's. legend say that lord brahma with the blessing of lord ganesh was busy in creating the world. while this was going on, lord vishnu felt asleep and the two demons emerged from vishu's ears. they started troubling all Gods, Goddesses and Sages. on realizing only Lord vishnu could kill the demons. on the request of all Gods to kill them, lord vishnu fought for about 5000 years and failed in defeating the demons. on the advice of Lord Shiva , vishnu worshipped lord ganesha and was successful to kill the demons. hence. the place where vishnu performed the prayer(Penance) and gained siddhi, is known as siddhatek and the lord ganesh who conferred siddhi is known as siddhivinayaka.





Ballaleshwar :
This temple is named after Ballal who used to worship Lord Ganesha. He was blessed by Lord Ganesha to be superior devotee with larger life span. It was noticed that a speciality of this temple is to offer besan ladoo instead of modak.




Varad Vinayak :
He is the known as giver of wealth & success. On my way to the temple, I came across the fact, that the murti was found in adjoining lake in an immersed position. One day, the subhedar of the village found the idol and built the Varada Vinayak temple and establish the village named "Mahad". The dome of this temple has depicted to the shape of cobra and a constant lighted oil lamp is always observe burning continuously since 1892.



Chintamani :
The temple is located in the village of Theur. The idol of this temple is believed to have a precious Chintamani Jewel. One day, sage Kapila put this jewel in Ganesha's neck and thus named as Chintamani Vinayak. This happened under the Kadamb tree, therefore Theur is known as Kadanbanagar in old times and the lake situated behind the temple is called Kadambteertha.




Girijatmaj :
The story of this temple is based on Parvati's son Atmaj. It was known  Parvati as Girija and son as Atmaj. And further named Girijatmaj as Lord Ganesh. It is believed that Parvati (Girija) performed a prayer to bring her son Atmaj (Ganesha) in this world. This temple stands amidst a cave complex of 18 caves of buddhist origin. This temple is in the 8th cave called as Ganesh-leni. To reach this temple , 307 stairs are carved from single stone and the temple features a wide hall with no supporting pillars. I enjoyed this temple most as located on hill with a very good view from hill.


Vighneshwar :
The story of this temple surround with the known name Vighnasur, who was a demon created by Dev Indra to destroy the prayer organised by King Abhinandan. However, the demon went a step further and destroyed all vedic, religious acts and so on. But Lord Ganesha defeat him and the demon begged and pleaded with Ganesha to show mercy. Lord Ganesha granted his plea on the condition that demon should not go to the place where that demon should not go to the place where ganesha worshipping is going on. In return the demon asked a favour that his name should be taken before Ganesha's name, thus the name of Ganesha's became Vighnahar or Vigneshwar. The Lord Ganesha of this temple is called Shri Vighneshwar Vinayak.


Mahaganpati :
The story of Mahaganpati is emphasize on Lord Shiva, who believed to have worshipped Lord Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripurasura. This temple was built by Lord Shiva, where he worshipped Ganesha and the town enclosed by this temple was known as Manipur and now known as Ranjangaon. This temple is constructed in such a way that the rays of the sun fall directly on the idol.



After Ashtavinayak darshan, the most inspiring part was the narration of each stories. The tour was splendid and help me lot to understand more about the epic of each Lord Ganesha.

This post does not hold on the food, accommodation or voyage,but about the noted facts which are rarely known or understand by us. Coming to an end by saying ...Ganpati Bappa Morya !!!!!













Friday, 5 February 2016

The last trip of the year 2015 - Alibaug.


Alibaug is about 4 to 5 hr road trip from mumbai or one can either choose waterway to travel from Gateway of India (Mumbai) to Mandwa (Alibaug) through ferry point.

As we had only 2 days to explore alibaug, we took a decision of road trip. I had visited this place many times before but this time it was going to be an amazing time to spent with my husband and with new member in family(my son) along with some close friends together.


Varsoli Beach

Varsoli beach, a breathtaking place and a good place for relaxation. A very quiet and calm beach that whispers in your silence....same day we spend the evening on varsoli beach to beckoned the sunset. Later we drove to alibaug beach, where one can delight with street "golas and icecreams" and many other options for chaat too. Colaba fort is adjoined to alibaug beach. ( can be avoided).


At Alibaug Beach

A day was nearly coming to an end. Next early morning, had a beach walk with my husband & son on varsoli beach and drove forward to catch up our next destination, Murud Janjira Fort. It is 4 hours drive from varsoli beach. We left varsoli by 7 am and reached Murud Janjira by 12 noon. The rough patches on the way, made our drive a bit tiring.


Murud Janjira Fort
Fort timings for noon is 2:00pm to 5:00pm. Among the rest food eateries, we found patil khanawal to relish a good non-veg food. Murud janjira fort is built on island which is just off the coastal village murud (raigad district). Visitors have to purchase the ticket of Rs. 20 per head and travel through the small boat to reach the fort.Tour guides are provided by the local sailor on choice. We completed our trip by 4:00pm and start our extended journey towards birla mandir and kashid beach for water sports and relaxation for some time.
Other option for water sports is Nagaon beach.


Birla Temple

Kashid beach sunset
Kashid Beach









Pretty spent well day and as it was getting over, there was a realisation of returning back home.

Bye Bye 2015 $ Welcome 2016