GLOBETROTTING WITH HARI

We have embarked on an ambitious journey. R and I with the 4.5 month old who has a mind of his own and already refuses to listen or reason. Spanning 6 days with travel almost everyday and 3 temples, it’s new territory. Travelling as a family with my parents and brother has always been memorable, hassle free and fun. But what I didn’t take too seriously is the amount of planning that goes into hassle free fun travel. R hasn’t travelled much by car and as of now BabyH is not averse to it but he doesn’t know how to handle the cramped space yet. Which is why we decided to limit our travel to approximately 250km per day. Everyone thinks we are crazy for taking so many stops and not covering a larger distance but where would the fun be in that? R is cranky, baby H is cranky which in turn means I am irritated. What does that amount to? A recipe for disaster.
Anyway getting back to the point, this is Baby H’s 4th trip but oh boy! Is it different from the rest! He’s grown bigger in size and in age which means he is more awake and wants more entertainment. We were armed with his car seat for travel safety, his baby carrier for temple safety and lots of toys and patience for a fun time.

DAY -1 (9th May 2025)

Mumbai - Satara (263km - 05:00)

We left Mumbai early on the 9th at 6:30am and headed to Satara. Our first stop was the food mall just after we crossed Lonavala at around 8:45am. I had a misal pav while R had a classic cold coffee from McD. Baby H just chilled and took in the new and different sights and sounds. After that we were back in the car. It was at this point that things went completely downhill. Baby H started howling. After a lot of cajoling he went to sleep. When he woke up the crying continued. This was when I realised that he needed a diaper change.

We stopped en-route to realise it was no ordinary diaper but a poopy diaper. Once changed we had the happy baby back. We reached Satara at about 12:00pm. We were booked at The Fern Residency, but they didn’t have a room for us as their check in time was 01:00pm. It’s peak summer in India. Temperatures reach 40 degrees Celsius at times but at that moment it rained like it was the monsoon. Temperatures cooled down instantly and that made baby H happy. He doesn’t seem to be someone who likes the heat. We decided to head to Kanase punjabi dhaba for a meal of the local mutton curry, the cashew curry and jowar bhakri with refreshing Solkadi.

After we were done we headed back to the hotel checked ourselves in and hit the bed faster than anyone could say good night. But once we woke up we were quite refreshed. We headed into the city to buy some kandi pedhe which are the speciality of Satara. We went to Rajpurohit which is near the hotel and the quality of the sweets is good there. They also have other snack items to purchase.
We called it a night by eating dinner in our room. Mutton sukka, roti and Hara bhara kebab. All in all a good first day of a memorable trip.

Until next time… Adios Amigo.

GLOBETROTTING WITH HARI

 Gondavale - Maharashtra

Part 2 -

So far we had left home early in the morning and reached Gondavale around noon. We had successfully finished the darshan. 

Having come so far we decided to eat the prasad. The temple premises are spacious and clean. The only scope for improvement would be adequate signage to guide the devotees. We asked some of the devotees sitting around, the way to the Annapurna hall. They were kind enough to guide us but no one was very sure and we were directed in a general direction - " It's somewhere that way". We had to walk quite a bit behind the many rest houses and the kitchen before we could hear the clanks of the plates. We figured that we had reached the Annapurna hall.  

They had a system in place. The hall was lined with tables and stools for people to sit and eat. There were plates and Sevak's were serving khichadi, sweet lapshi and watery buttermilk. After we were done we had to place the plates in a large tub. The hand wash was outside the hall. Once we stepped out we realised that, had we walked straight ahead from the samadhi temple, we would've reached the Annapurna hall. 

By now Baby H had woken up. He was hungry, cranky and the sun was definitely getting to him. We headed to the car and switched on the AC for him and settled in for our return journey back home. On the way we stopped to pick up some vegetables that were being sold by farmers from the villages nearby. We also stopped to have the most refreshing sugarcane juice with a hint of lemon in it. 

 Learning 1- Dress Baby H in light clothes while travelling in a car during the afternoon time in summers. He had turned red and was feeling quite stuffy in his full sleeve clothes and the rexine of the car seat. We did a quick dress and diaper change and were off on our way. The first half of the journey was quite uneventful. the real fun began after our tea break at Riverside hotel on the banks of the Koyna river. 

We had been on the road for close to 9 hours now. Baby H had started to lose his patience. He was starting to become cranky and needed some open space. As we reached Chiplun which is about 35kms from home, he began howling. No rhymes, bhajans or stories could pacify him. Not even his favourite song -  Kabhi Kabhi Aditi.  I had never heard him cry like that. We just kept patting and comforting him. 

Learning 2- 12 hours in a day with the summer sun making the car a furnace during the afternoon could be avoided. We finally reached home at around 8, almost 12 hours after we had left. It was definitely a successful trip and I am sure Baby H enjoyed it too. 

Until next time... Adios Amigo. 

GLOBETROTTING WITH HARI

 Gondavale - Maharashtra

Part 1 - 

After Baby H completed 2 months, we decided to take him to the Gondavale Maharaj Samadhi Mandir in Gondavale. It is approximately 137kms from Mundhar and takes about 5hrs 30 mins by road. We started our day bright and early at 06:00am. Strapped up ready to travel 11 hrs in one day, baby H began his journey by sleeping through the first 2 hrs. He woke up just as we stopped at Suswad Veg restaurant for a typical maharashtrian breakfast of Misal Pav. The food was mediocre and the service quite slow. We carried baby H into the restaurant in his carry cot - thats just his car seat that can be removed to ferry him around securely. Overall the road was quite good sans a stretch where the condition was very bad. 

misal pav at suswad veg restaurant 

We reached the Samadhi mandir at about 12:00pm, just in time for the afternoon aarti. With the sun beating down upon us we sat under the shade of a tree just outside the main temple hall, hoping to beat the crowd present there and take the darshan once the crowd had dispersed. to our surprise a temple sevak started ushering people towards the temple entrance. He didn't say anything to us as we were with a small child. 

After the aarti everyone was made to form a line. With no clear cut instructions we were under the assumption that everyone who had stood outside for the aarti would be let inside for the darshan. We again waited for the line to move ahead so that it would be less crowded when we went. Having just sat there for sometime and when the crowds started dwindling we realised they had closed the main entrance of the mandir after the aarti. Baby H's grandmother went to enquire and we realised that there was a completely different line for the entrance and the long line we were waiting for was actually the line for prasad. 

All cozied up for the long journey in his car seat

We immediately queued up in that line. the sun was beating down on us but thankfully baby H had slept through most of it. The people in the queue were quite taken to the carry cot, maybe they had never seen anything like that before. Someone even asked me if it was easier that way. It definitely was, especially cause baby H loves movement. We could just rock him whilst he snoozed in the carry cot. He was also lighter than what he is now. Given the combined weight it's impossible to carry him in that anymore. 

The people in the line were very kind and accommodating and let us bypass towards the end so that we didn't have to wait in the heat. We had finally reached the Samadhi. We placed our offerings, said our gratitude and prayers and were out of there without incident.  So far it had been a wonderful and smooth journey. More about what happened in the next post.

Until next time... Adios Amigo. 

GLOBETROTTING WITH HARI

It hasn't been too long that baby H has lived on this planet. Does he enjoy travelling? or does he hate it? Is he a vacationer? a traveller? a hiker? a glamper? It's too early to tell.  What I do know is that giving him the opportunity to decide is in my hands. This series is to simply archive his travels as he evolves and decides his preference. Come along for the ride and lets have fun. 

Mundhar

Day 40 and he travelled for the first time to his grandparents' village- Mundhar. Nestled amongst lush greenery during the monsoons and scorching plains during the summers, this village in the Konkan region of Maharashtra is where his second home is. 

Baby H in his new outfit, ready to leave.

Bright and early on 30th Jan 2024, he got dressed in his best clothes and sat for the very first time in his car seat, strapped up, ready to embark on this 7 hour long car ride. We - Baby H, his grandmother and me - left Mumbai at 07:15am, to beat the insane Mumbai traffic. He did get tired very quickly and slept for the first two hours of the car ride. By the time he woke up we had just stopped for breakfast at a highway joint for some steaming hot idlis and tea. 

A quick feed and diaper change later we were off again. We didn't stop for the next 4 hours as we wanted to cover distance before the sun came up and the car heated like a furnace. The journey was quite uneventful and the only activity that happened was a couple of diaper changes. Baby H did get down from the car at the next tea stop.  He was quite enamoured by his surroundings. Surely he had never seen anything like that before. 

Mumbai - Mundhar

Right at lunch time we reached home. There was Rangoli and decoration with flowers to welcome Baby H as he stepped into the house where he is going to be pampered and loved by all. His first trip was truly a memorable one, and has me wishing him safe travels all his life. 

Until next time... Adios Amigo.