To the lost hills of Jawhar

To the lost hills of Jawhar Sunday, January 27, 2008 Wanderlust has been hovering around frustrated! With mom’s health, and work playing spoilt sport, there was no way I could leave the city! It seemed my new 500cc Machismo, christened “The Nomad” wasn’t gonna get any highway action for a while! Finally after a whole month of no riding (commuting isn’t riding) what-so-ever, I could no longer bear the calls of the wild, the open highways beckoning me like a temptress teases a rich old man. I knew I had to get out of the city, even if just for a while. Two feline friends of mine, The Mad Cat and The Cougar, has independently done the Jawhar circuit and were awed at the place. Reading their trip logs and looking at their pictures wasn’t enough, I had to experience it myself. Called up Omkar and Monish, and they were game for the ride. Had to change the date from the originally planned Saturday to Sunday. 3am Sunday morning, Monish gives me a wake up call, and we head for the beach before meeting up with Omkar. Spent an hour over suttas and catching up at Madh Bhatti beach. Leave and ride down to Kashimira, the ride was pretty uneventful. Monish's engine was making some weird sound, but decided to throw caution to the wind and ride anyways! (later realized it was a bearing issue, hope Liberty gets well soon) Reached Kashimira at 520, ten minutes earlier than the decided meeting time, and called up Omkar, who was still at home getting ready to leave. The climate was bone chilling, the ride thrilling, and all three of us ripping! Finally at 6am we were off, first stop was at Virar, outside the HP petrol bunk. Was freezing cold, Monish and I had a smoke to warm us up, while Omkar chose to freeze ;) Next stop was at Manor, (Mastaan Naka actually) Hogged on some Kheema, Omelettes, bread, butter, chai. Breakfast turned into lunch.. as it normally does. Proceeded towards Vada, and asked for directions even though we had already taken the right turn. Was given wrong directions, pretty soon realized and came back onto the right route! This place is infamous for wrong directions!! The ride was just about to get interesting! The ghats unfolded themselves at a steady pace, footpeg scraping at 80 all the way up to Jawhar via Vikramgad. The power of a 500 was making all the difference, 80 on a ghat was a breeze! Reached Jawhar, dispersed to speak to locals about the places worth visiting, found out about a sunset point, and a Palace! Headed out to the sunset point, the view was breath-taking! I still haven’t recovered! A nice long photo session later, we were off to the Palace. The entry to the Palace is through a Cashew plantation! A ride along a mud foot-path. Drew up on our steeds, parked them near a circular garden, and I went wild with the camera, photos from all angles ensued. Pictures of us with a cannon, the palace, the view from the backyard, the cashew trees, everything I could see, were captured. Casually I happened to ask the attendant if we could enter, and he matter-of-factly says yea! I was grinning like the Grinch was when he burnt down the Christmas tree! A quick walk around the Palace, and a 50buck tip later, we were in! The palace was built in the 1940's, mostly out of marble. Walking around in the palace if a king who evaded the British and Maratha invasions was a marvelous experience! As we were about to leave, my memory card failed. Fortunately was able to recover most of the pics. The ride back was zippy. Got super carried away on the ghats, hit speeds upto 100kmph, den realized I had left Monish and Omkar behind! Rode back from Vikramgad met them some 5 kilometers away, and rode back to Manor together. Stopped at Virar for some goli-soda, and then directly at Kashimira to bid adieu to Omkar. 153kms one way, a mix of straight-line NH8 highway, and twisted ghats, a little town forgotten by time, a people who were once warriors, now peace loving farmers, a chance to clear my head, a chance to meet up with old friends, a chance to run-in my bike at 80-100kmph, one heck of a ride! Pictures: http://s95.photobucket.com/albums/l134/christopherkeve/Rides%20n%20Trips/Jawhar%20-%20IHMC%20-%2027012008/?start=all