My Travelogue – 'Romancing the Konkan Coast'.

My Travelogue –  'Romancing the Konkan Coast'.

It was August the seventh (a Friday) in the year 2015 – the day of the beginning of our expedition across the Konkan coast. That night I set out for my weeklong expedition, along with my cousin Nikhil, who is a young mechanical engineering graduate and he had just completed his Bachelors in Engineering then.

We boarded the train  to Goa - Nizammudin express (Train#22653) from Trivandrum Central Railway station (the starting point of our journey) shortly after 00:00hrs. We began our long journey across the Konkan to Goa, Mumbai & Pune,  in the wee hours of  August 8^th. After boarding the train we soon dozed off.


Aug-08-2015 - (Saturday): Our expedition begins...

We woke up that day by the chugging sound of the train, the sound of tea vendors passing through the bogies, and other noises around.  We had our plans well sorted out months in advance with bookings done for travel and stay.

When we woke up that day by  6:20am, the train had just reached Shoranur junction. The journey from there brought to us the different shades of lifestyle across Kerala, the culture and the landscape of the Northern part of Kerala. By 9:00AM, we reached the busy city of Calicut.

The train reached Udupi by 1:45PM. On our way from Udupi to Madgaon the panoramic beauty of Konkan coast was a treat for our eyes, and a soothing effect to the mind. Lush greenery with coconut trees, bright green paddy fields, traditional houses and walls covered in thick green moss, the lagoons and rivers which passed by until we reached Goa all invoked a mixed feeling of nostalgia, thrill and enjoyment.

The enchanting beauty of lush greenery which Kerala was so famous for, was revived and exhibited in a much more thrilling way in the coastal area after Udupi. There were vast green paddy fields, inland waters and thick dense green vegetation all over the place which can’t be seen at such a large scale even in Kerala.

We passed through around 15 tunnels of which some were too long that in some of them, the train which was accelerating at top speed took around 2 to 3 mins to pass through!

 We reached Madgaon that evening after 6:30PM. We caught an auto rickshaw to our hotel – ‘Margao Residency’. The drive from the Railway station was short. The auto driver took us through rough and isolated places with few shops and buildings around, and finally over a winding flyover & at last we reached township and city life. The Goan city appeared to be dull with just wine & liquor shops all around and buildings in ancient Portuguese type construction. Anglo Indian ladies clad in top & skirts could be seen around.

Our hotel “Margao Residency” was in the heart of the city, just opposite to the Goan municipal building which was a yellow colored building in ancient Portuguese style.

After checking into our room on the 7^th floor of the hotel overlooking the city of Goa, Nikhil & I went down for a stroll across the Goan streets. We had a nice stroll around the city. It was damp & wet all around and it started drizzling on our way back, and we rushed back to our hotel. We had dinner from the first floor restaurant (Preethi restaurant) of our hotel Margao Residency and settled down in our room.

Aug-09-2015 - (Sunday): The Goan tour

That morning, by 9:00AM, we set out for the Goan tour. We were directed  to a small bus outside the hotel, by our guide: ‘Maria Noroa’ – a matured old Anglo Indian lady. The bus started at 9:30AM.

The bus went to Colva beach, which was a short ride of 15 mins, where some other families boarded the bus. Later we headed to the Mahalasa Temple. On our way we reached the main city centre (INOX) from Colva beach and travelled to the outskirts covering marshy places, paddy fields, and hills. There were houses on either sides, and also churches and schools and other buildings around. All were amidst thick greenery. Some houses reminded me of the traditional tiled houses of Kerala, however some of them had a European tinge as well. After travelling for quite a while we encountered a steep slope. As the bus climbed up, a panoramic view greeted us with thick greenery and vast expanse of land all over. After travelling for almost a kilometer we reached the temple.

The thick green foliage all around, paddy fields and hill draped in green all reminded me of Kerala. Goa is an advanced version of Kerala with a blend of ancient Portuguese Anglo Indian and North Indian culture.

Our guide gave some brief description about the temple and gave us 15 mins to spare. We quickly went inside the premises, and into the temple and took lot of snaps.

We left the place and headed to Abyss aquarium & horror house. On our way we passed through several industries and companies like Pfizer etc, and finally reached the aquarium. There we happened to see some exotic fish like Piranhas and small sharks, also crabs, and other poisonous and dangerous marine creatures like sting ray.

We left there and went towards the beach. On our way we again passed through paddy fields. One unforgettable sight was large expanse of green paddy fields stretching as far as the Arabian sea, and right after the fields you could see the brownish blue waves lashing against the shore. I had never seen paddy fields so close to the sea!

We passed through the highway, and towards the bay where people cruise across the river, and passed through a bridge beneath which there were lots of boats. We could also see the cruise ships at a distance.

We climbed up hill a bit & went through narrow alleys, with the inward water on one side and thick greenery on the other. We climbed up a hill and finally reached the Aguada fort. The guide explained to us the significance of the fort and lighthouse, and that there were prisoners beneath the fort. We spend around 20 mins in the fort & took lots of snaps. The fort was constructed out of huge blocks of sandstone cut off from cliffs, and looked sturdy. We could see the Arabian sea down from atop the fort, and it was a panoramic and enchanting sight. We could also see the beaches at a distance. The greenery inside the place made it appear as if the entire fort was melting with chlorophyll!

We left Aguada fort by 1:15 PM and went to Sequirim beach where there was a small fort as well. On our way the guide stopped the bus & showed us Coco beach from the top of the hill, which was closed due to bad weather. She showed us the spot where people used to watch the dolphins. 

The bus stopped near Sequirim beach. We had to walk a short distance to reach there. The sea was very rough & turbulent and there were resorts behind the fort ( including Taj Vivanta). We could only spend a short while there, and soon left to Calangute beach.

We had lunch from a restaurant there by around 3:00pm, and walked towards Calangute beach. We spend a brief time there. We left there and went for river cruise.  Finally we left there by 7:15PM and returned to our hotel.

Goa in my own words:
The terrain and climate of Goa reminded me of my own state Kerala. It's geographical similarities are striking. Meanwhile the hoardings and the people remind you that you are in unfamiliar grounds. It was an ancient Portuguese colony in India. Hence there are lots of Anglo Indians and lots of houses with Western/Portuguese style construction. You can also see ladies all over the place clad in western (Anglo-Indian) attire - skirts and top. 

Goa is a place which geographically resembles Kerala, but in all other aspects is a beautiful blend of North Indian & Western culture.

Though on the same coastline, the places on the coastline from Kozhikode till Goa receives better rainfall per year when compared to places in mid and southern Kerala. Hence I could find the difference when compared to my hometown - Trivandrum. There is lot of greenery all around. The walls of houses and fences and roofs (at times) are covered in bright green moss. There were rains during mornings and evenings during our stay there, hence all the places were wet and moist. The beaches in Goa are not shallow like Kovalam & Varkala – the famous beaches of Trivandrum. Hence the Goan beaches are not safe & good for surfing as there are strong under currents in the waters.

The place is very beautiful with striking similarity with Kerala. There are lots of vast stretches of barren land with green hills on one side, and the Arabian sea on the other and lots of fishing boats in the sea and tourists from all over the world. You can't find hotels or restaurants everywhere, neither super markets or confectionaries. These are limited and confined to only certain specific areas of the city. Wines & liquor shops can be seen at every nook & corner as the beverages are not levied any tax. Nice restaurants are mainly located towards the beach side. There are lots of river cruise boats and cruise ships anchored in the inland waters. There are casinos (even in certain ships), and also dance bars there.


Aug-10-2015 - (Monday): Goa to Mumbai... Our adventure continues:

Got up early by 5:00am. It was the end of the Goan expedition. We checked out of the room by 6:30am and went to Madgaon Railway station to catch our train  Mandovi express to Mumbai.

The train journey to Mumbai was also beautiful. Lush greenery all around with different kinds of vegetation - but no coconut trees and the creepers you see around in Kerala. As Konkan railway is laid at a good elevation the panoramic view of the world around draped in concentrated chlorophyll mesmerized us. As it was the rainy season, it was raining outside. I used to press my face against the glass pane, to get an occasional glimpse of the scenery, through the misty window pane of the train compartment, .

The train was a bit late. It reached Panvel around half an hour late from its scheduled time, (by around 8pm). Then Thane passed by at 9pm. Then came Dadar and finally the train pulled into the final station, our final destination- Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminus (CST). We got out and went to our resting abode – ‘Hotel SeaLord’, which was quite near to CST.

Aug-11-2015: (Tuesday): Mumbai tour.

Next morning we left CST and travelled to Dadar on suburban train to catch our tourist bus for the  day out in Mumbai.

We had got up very early in the morning and walked to CST Railway station. As we waited in the queue at the ticket counter, the magnificient pillars and architecture of the interiors of CST railway station, reminded me of ‘Hogwarts’ – the school of wizardry from Harry Potter books/movies.

We arrived at Dadar after passing through Byculla -> Chinchpokli -> Currey road -> Parel etc. We crossed over the bridge and walked out. It was hardly 6:00am, but Dadar station was still crowded. There were lot of vendors on either side of the passage way. We climbed down and passed through the area where lots of women were selling flowers of all kinds - mainly yellow & orange chrysanthemums. The fragrance of fresh chrysanthemums was all over the place. On enquiry we were directed the route to reach ShivSena bhavan, which was our boarding point of Mumbai Darshan bus.

As we were too early that morning, we walked to a park (Shivaji Park) nearby and waited, and also had breakfast from a restaurant nearby.

The Mumbai darshan bus - (Neeta travels) arrived by 9:20am and we boarded it. There were lots of other tourists families in the bus.

The guide in the bus was a thin and fair man with lots of grey hairs and dirty teeth. He started narrating various stuff about Mumbai, Bal Thackeray's power in Mumbai, about the places we'll be visiting and the ticket fares to be paid, in local Mumbai slang (Hindi).
The bus went a little further and we got down to visit a temple (Shri Siddhi Vinayak Mandir) in Dadar.

We then headed to Nehru science museum. On our way we saw deep red coloured transport buses, double decker buses and black taxis with yellow roofs all around – typical sight in Mumbai. 
We went to the science museum and saw lots of exhibits describing acoustics(sound) and optics(light). We spend around 20mins there and at 11am sharp we rushed to watch the science odyssey which was screened there.

After that we left the place and on our way the guide showed us the greatest drain system (nala) of Mumbai which was drained into the ocean, showroom of Rolls Royce in Mumbai, Head-office of Cadburys, etc. The guide showed us the tallest towers of Mumbai, Anil Ambani's house "Antilla", Lata Mangeshkar's residence, Jaslok hospital, pale yellow houses of Parsi folks etc. We entered Marine drive road and was headed to Collaba and Nariman point. We could see the Arabian ocean on the right and the long coastline.

The sky was overcast & it started raining a bit. We travelled around through straight road with occasional halt due to heavy traffic. The bus finally stopped aside the Prince of Wales museum opposite to the restaurant – ‘Aamdhar Nivas’ from where we had lunch later.

We walked to Gateway of India. We could see Taj hotel opposite to that. A 45min long boat ride was arranged for Neeta travels passengers. We tooks snaps in front of Gateway of India and Taj hotel and then we were directed to the boat.

We climbed the boat and occupied our seats and went for the boat ride. There were lots of boats, big vessels, cruise ships, and ferry boats. The panoramic view of the majestic city from the ocean was a sight that is worth a lifetime. Tall buildings from one end of the coastline to the other with the landmark of Mumbai - " the Gateway of India" prominently seen.
After the boat ride, Nikhil & I walked towards the restaurant.

We reached our restaurant and had lunch - thali meals. It was served on a steel round plate with 2 chappathis and a plate of veg pulav with plently of subzjis in small round dishes all around. On table a small bowl of cut radishes were kept alongside a small bowl of pickle. Post lunch we crossed the road and walked to the Prince of Wales museum (Chatrapathi Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya). The road was a broad one with lots of trees all around. There was police head quarters on one side, a theatre screening Ajay Devagan's ‘Drishyam’ on another side, and National Gallery of Modern art on another.

We entered the premises after the security checks and walked to the building.
The museum was a huge ancient palace strewn out from blocks of rock. It was ash grey coloured. We walked in to the main portico and into the building.

The ground floor was a large atrium where all sections of the floor diverged. We could see the semi transparent ceiling of the dome at the top which was shimmering in sunlight. On either side of the stair case opposite the entrance was hung two huge paintings and there was a European couple who was inspecting the portraits. 

Nikhil & I walked to the adjacent section which was a huge hall with mini stone sculptures of Buddha, Buddha's kingdom and various events  in his life, Lord Vishnu in his famous posture on multi headed serpent, and various others from ancient Indian mythology.

We went to the upper floors. There were lots of old photographs of places in Mumbai  which were hung on the wall near the staircase entrance to the second floor. There were several halls and sections, each of which comprised of several paintings, sculptures, antiques, & ancient weapons.

One hall had ancient paintings depicting events from life of Krishna, another one comprised of only European paintings, while another had lot of Chinese curios, antiques, precious Chinese utensils and vessels, miniature model of Chinese monastery. Another section comprised of ancient weapons - swords, daggers, machetes, spears, ancient crude guns and pistols. There were lots of Westerners among the visitors in the museum.

We left there by 3:30pm. Our next destination was the Hanging Gardens. We left Collaba & travelled back wading through the traffic of Mumbai.

On our way we saw the Mumbai high court, BSE(Bombay Stock Exchange) etc. We passed through CST, Churchgate, and the guide explained the significance of each & everything. We again passed through Ambani's residence, Jaslok hospital, Lata Mangeshkar's residence, Cadbury's head office, Mumbai Audi showroom etc and reached a by road and climbed uphill. Either sides of the road were completely draped in green. There was thick foliage on either sides  of the road as we climbed uphill and the guide showed us Juhi Chawla's residence.

The bus drove downhill a bit & took the deviation to the Hanging gardens. The gardens were on either side of the road - one on elevated ground and other at a lower area. Nikhil & I walked to the elevated garden - which had rows of flowers, and benches. We could see tall buildings around. There was an area with a huge pillar with a clock at the top, and a black coloured globe with metal rings at another section. We walked around quickly taking snaps & selfies. 

A sight which was heart rending was when I saw a European traveler girl consoling a poor Indian woman in the park. The Indian was in poor shabby clothes with dirt all over her, & she was moaning while the traveler was hugging her and consoling her.

We quickly walked down to the lower section which was more of a park rather than a garden. There were benches at several places and tall huge trees all around. It was very shady as there were lots of huge trees around. Dense forest was way down beyond the boundary wall and from there we could see the beach and the waters lashing against the shore, and the tall buildings of the long coastline. 
There was a shoe house, a small circular house and a park beyond that section. We went towards the boundary wall where we could get a glimpse of the sea & took lots of pics. Then we walked around the place quickly as time was running out and had to return to our bus shortly.

We then went to Juhu beach. We drove through long stretch of road with the sea on one side. Once again we saw the hospital "Saifee" which looked like Taj Mahal, the horse race course, etc. We entered the famous Mumbai Bandra-Worli sea link and from there caught a panoramic & magnificent view of the city of Mumbai.

A journey of 45mins will be reduced to just 4mins if you drive through the sealink. We reached the other side of Mumbai where Juhu beach was there. In Worli we passed by the famous Lilavati hospital, and bunglows and apartments of Bollywood stars - Shar Rukh Khan (Mannat), Bunglow of Rajesh Khanna which is taken care of by Akshay Kumar, Apartment of Salman Khan, Johnny Lever, grey coloured bunglow of Sachin Tendulkar, the church depicted in the movie Amar-Akbar-Antony, office of script writer Javed Akhtar etc. We reached Juhu beach, and we spend some time there taking snaps. It was the last point of our Mumbai Darshan. I had a nice bite of roasted corn.
We left there by 6:45pm and on our way back the guide showed us Amitabh Bachchan's bunglow (Jhalsa) and Asharam Bapu's residence right next to that.

After Mumbai Darshan they dropped us at Andheri railway station, from where we boarded the suburban train to CST. We had a 45mins train ride & we passed through Ville Parle àSanta Cruz àKhar roadàCotton GreenàReay RoadàMasjid à CST. After getting down, we walked to the front of CST to catch a glimpse of its grand main front building which we had seen from the bus as well. Later we returned to our hotel.

Aug-12-2015: (Wednesday): Trip from Mumbai to Pune – the trip to the final destination.

We got up very early that morning. We got ready quickly and before 4:45am we vacated our room and checked out. We went to CST and boarded our train - Indrayani Express to Pune. The train chugged out at 5:40am, & we bid adieu to Mumbai, the biggest city of our country.

On our way we passed through Khandala and Lonavala. The places were a delight to our eyes.  The most beautiful part of our trip was the journey across Lonavala and Khandala. Lush greenery all around with mountains in the backdrop. There were plenty of tunnels cut in solid rock with water tickling down its rough corrugated surface. Lush green terrain with occasional streams passing by, made us delightful. As we neared Lonavala we could see huge mountain on one side and a big drop to a flat terrain at the sea level in between. The train was passing on high elevated ground. On the huge massive mountainous barrier on one side, a milky white stream of waterfall cascading down could be seen. No lens of any camera would be able to capture the sight, and convert it into pixels in its original beauty and grandeur. The most beautiful sights are the ones which are imprinted in our minds, and cannot be converted to pixels to be made as your desktop wallpaper !

Another memorable moment was our journey through the tunnels in between Lonavala & Khandala. The tunnels were cut out, of huge rocks and rocky barriers, and in some of them at certain regular intervals the ceiling of the tunnel was open to outer broad light. So when the train passed through such long caves, and while taking a sharp curve, sunlight would filter into the tunnel from above and also with water splashing down from the mountains above. From the window, I could see in the darkness of the tunnel, the bogies appearing all of a sudden while beneath these openings on tunnel roof, which was like the spotlight in an opera, with sunshine shimmering on it and the mountain water splashing on it. It was such an adorable and memorable sight !

As we neared Pune we could see vast areas of land with black soil and sugarcane & corn cultivations. The stations Pimpri, Chinchawad and Khadki passed by. As we had to visit our aunt in Khadki, we got down at the next station – Shivaji Nagar.

Reached Pune (Shivaji Nagar station) at 9:00am. It was chilly out there, as Pune was on higher grounds – on Deccan plateau. We went to pay a short visit to our aunt and then headed to our abode  - ‘Hotel Basera’ in Bajirao road.

The hotel was located in the heart of Pune city with lot of hustle and bustle of the busy life seen all around, heavy traffic, congested streets, honking and blaring sound heard all over. The hotel was on the street – Bajirao road which is behind Shaniwarwada.

Later that evening by 5:00PM, Nikhil & I walked to Shaniwarwada, through the congested streets of Pune with street vendors all around, book stalls and textiles and shoes stores all around. We entered inside the fort (Shaniwarwada) and spend a nice time there.

Later we walked around and roamed through the streets, and finally returned to our room.

Aug-13-2015: (Thursday): Roaming around in Pune – reviving old memories.

We woke up by 7:00AM. We had breakfast which comprised of Poha, Roti, Bread, butter & Jam and a hot cup of tea from our hotel – Basera.

Pune was the place  where I started my career as a trainee in Wipro. I decided to travel to Wipro office in Rajiv Gandhi Infotech IT Park in Hinjewadi, to visit those places, and to meet some friends.
From our hotel, we walked to the bus stand and caught a bus to Hinjewadi. Many roads and many places were familiar to me & I could recollect lot of places on the way. Got down at Hinjewadi Phase-1 bus stop near Wipro and walked around the place, and met some friends.

By afternoon, Nikhil and I returned to our hotel and in the evening we roamed through the city, and did some shopping. That night, we went to a Punjabi restaurant and had dinner of - Roti, subjzis, curd, papad, gulab jamun and rice.

Aug-14-2015: (Friday): Phileas Fogg & Passepartout on their way back.

We got up early and checked out of our hotel before 6:00AM. We were on our way back. We caught an auto rickshaw to Pune central railway station to catch the train “Pragathi express” to Panvel in Mumbai and again to catch the next train Netravathi express bound to Trivandrum. 

On our way to Panvel from Pune, we passed through Lonavala & Khandala again, enjoying the enchanting scenic beauty, (which was described earlier). One memorable sight was that the train passed through a small waterfall cascading down & falling right next to the tracks. We could see the rocky barrier on one side with water falling down right near the bogies as the train passed by. The train pulled by at an isolated location and I went over to the door to take snaps. It was a mesmerising sight and I took lot of snaps. The milky white waterfall gushing down on the far rocky mountainous barrier could be faintly seen in my snaps, but it was a spectacular sight from the train.

We reached Mumbai's Panvel station by 10AM and waited there for quite a long while for our next train - Nethravathi express to Trivandrum. We boarded the train by 1:00PM and our weeklong expedition had almost come to an end.

Aug-15-2015: (Saturday): All is well that ends well.
It was 69th Independence day and we were nearing the fag end of our journey. We spend our time in train going through the snaps taken, reading some books & sleeping at times. They journey back home seemed to be a longer one for us. We reached Trivandrum at 7:30PM in the evening.
We were finally  back in our hometown after our week long journey across the Konkan coast.
All is well that ends well !

-  - Suveen Jacob Abraham.