Tour De Khodala…
On the 1st weekend of December, Mr. Hiren Rathod, Mr. Avinash Veer and Mr. Riten Dixit went for a trip to Nashik. We decided to work for a day at our Nashik center, have some drinks at night and roam around the next day which was a Sunday. It was great fun and we 3 bonded with each other very well. While returning back, we decided that we should make it a point that every month, atleast 1 weekend we should go out together. With our busy work schedule taking out time on any weekend was a little difficult (especially all 3 together). Still we managed to find time on 16th January. Initially we thought we would go to Daman. Last time during our Nashik trip, we lost our way to Daman, so we still have the excitement to go there. Avinash Sir called me and told me check out Khodala-Suryamal – a new place just off the Kasara Ghats. I checked it and liked it. So we decided to go there for our 1 day outing. This was the outing for the month of January.
We were contemplating on the fact whether to include anyone else apart from us 3. Navin was asked and her responded in affirmative. He never comes with us but this time he said yes without even thinking about it because his wife is out of town. Well they are expecting a child soon and his wife has gone to her Parents place for the delivery (congratulations and best wishes to both of them), so he could make it for our excursion. We were excited about the place as the website described a lot about it and we could see some natural beauty along the way. We were pretty excited as our last trip was a huge success about which you can read here. ()
Well the trip started by 7:30 in the morning but the preparation started 1 day before. I picked up an Old Monk ka Khamba one night before the trip as we kind off expected not finding alcohol at Khodala-Suryamal. Next morning, I picked up Riten and left for Thane. At 8:00 we picked Navin and waited for Mr. Veer at Majiwada. We left from Majiwada at 8:30 and were on the highway to peace. Unfortunately there was some traffic on the road which delayed us for a while. Avinash Sir started pestering me with how people are overtaking me and how I was so slow on the road. Suddenly the Schumacher in me woke up and I started overtaking left, right and center. We halted for tea and breakfast in between and refreshed ourselves. Again we went on the road and we went of the Kasara Ghat to get on the road to Khodala.
We stopped at various spots as usual for enjoying the natural beauty and the wonderful scenery the Ghats in Maharashtra has to offer for us. We clicked numerous snaps and had our share of fun. There were many rocks where Navin showed us his rock climbing skills and reminded us of the Monkeys in Matheran (Sorry Navin). We saw a beautiful waterfall which was dried up to a greater extent but still had its charm and enough amount of water to attract us there. We went down where again Navin was very athletic and his excitement levels matched those of a 6-7 year old Kid who was seeing the combination of Rocks and Waterfall for the first time. We enjoyed pulling Navin’s leg there and Riten was like, “Avinash, ye kisko uthake leke aaya tu???” I was just giggling around and enjoying the scenery along with the usual leg pulling started by Riten on Navin. Navin went in the water (not completely), he climbed the rocks, he started running here and there and we were like, “Dude, are we getting too old for this stuff???”
After leaving from here we went ahead to Khodala. We reached there by 12 in the afternoon. We just found 1 village out there; no scenery nothing. We went ahead to Suryamal. Again nothing. We asked a localite about the existence of all the spots we had read online to which he replied that there is only 1 sunset point but that’s useful only in the evening. Hell, we knew sunset point should be visited only in evening but we enjoyed the innocence with which the guy explained us about sunset point. Then we decided to go to Khodala, find a good hotel to sit and drink. Someone suggested us to go to Maratha Khanaval. They prepare good food and you can drink there too. We went there and Riten as usual was skeptical about the quality of food. We asked the owner/manager/cook/caretaker Mr. Shrikant Pawar of the Hotel about availability of Veg food as this time we had 2 vegetarians amongst us. He assured Riten and Navin that he will serve them good quality veg food. So they were happy with that. I and Avinash Sir started our usual rounds of drinks and these 2 were outside clicking ‘n’ number of snaps of each other. Riten was again in his SRK mode and giving various poses for his snaps. Navin always tried to give serious looks for his snaps. Shrikant cooked great starters for us. It was spicy and we enjoyed it. He cooked great variety in Chicken and Mutton for us and he served Riten and Navin with Aaloo Mutter and Dal and Curd Rice. They were happy with what they got. We enjoyed the round of Food & Drinks there, clicked some awesome snaps, saw a school which was built in 1891 (pretty historic), played couple of balls of gulley cricket with 2 kids, etc.
We left Khodala to again go to Suryamal as Shrikant suggested us to visit a person in Suryamal who specializes in providing medicines for bone fractures, slip disks, spondylitis etc. We tried locating the place but after a couple of vain attempts, we quit. But in between that, we saw few goats and cows being walked by their owners. Avinash Sir caught a goat by his arms and started posing for pics. It was a beautiful place and our SRK (Riten) was at his best to give poses for pics. One pic which I enjoyed the most was where Riten posed like SRK & Avinash Sir posed like Kajol and they sat together facing the sunlight. It was something out of the world… 😉
We left from there to get to the waterfall once again. We had to go to the waterfall via Khodala. We halted for tea and snacks and we saw a guy who was being carried around by 10 other guys to the Local Hospital. The young guy had a broken foot where I was reminded of the Henrik Larrsson Injury. This guy had his foot hanging below his knee similar to what Larrsson had here. When we enquired, we found out that the guy was hit by a Mahindra Scorpio. We felt pity for that guy and hoped speedy recovery for him…
We bought in chips and soft drinks and reached the waterfall. One thing to be very clear, that place by evening is one of the most romantic places I have ever seen. And there I was with 3 other guys all set to drink and enjoy. Irony of life actually. We sat by the rocks, immersed our feet in the water and started our rounds. Riten & Navin with thumbs up, me & Avinash Sir with Old Monk. It was a great feeling. Something very carefree. We all have a hectic schedule when we are in Mumbai, but there we all were feeling very relaxed and acting like kids who are 15-18 years of age. There was serine calmness amongst us after sometime. We again started our photo session and this time the poses were getting bolder… 😉 Riten posed like SRK, Avinash Sir like Nana Patekar, Navin tried a very serious Manoj Bajpai, and your truly was trying out a Salman Khan… 😉
The light was fading away and we were enjoying our evening in the most natural settings and surroundings. We were even enjoying the lights of the S.T. on a bridge not far away. The bottle was done, cold drinks were finishes, chips were over and it was already dark… This gave us a clue to leave the place. Someone at the same place was trying a bonfire and we assumed they were having some Chicken Grilling sessions. We thought of asking them if we could join them but then decided against it. Riten started to drive as he is our most reliable designated driver and once my first drink is in, my car keys are in his hands. He drove carefully through the ghats and once we touched the highway, he was at his normal speedy best. He had an appointment at 10 with someone (special) and we were enjoying the songs on the road. Some amazing songs we listened to and enjoyed the drive.
After dropping Avinash Sir at Thane and Navin at his place, I and Riten drove home thus ending an amazing trip to Khodala-Suryamal. More than the destination, we enjoyed the drive, the route and the company. I guess all our future trips are going to be in a similar manner. Next we are planning a trip to DIU during a free weekend of February. People who think they can enjoy with us and have fun in our ways of having fun are invited to join us. I am sure we’ll find a new bakra next time to be the butt of our jokes… 😉