We
started our drive at 7 in the morning; luggage was loaded the previous day
itself. Three minutes into the drive, we got a call from home that one bag was
left back! Despite all the checklists we somehow manage to goof up. The roads
of Goa, though narrow are smoother than most Indian roads and at 7 in the morning
they are ruled by the cattle.
It
was a lovely drive on NH 17, all the way until Sawantwadi. Once we reached this
sleepy town, we halted for breakfast at a restaurant called ‘Mango 2’. I
remembered that this restaurant was once called Vithal Kamath, even as early as
five months ago. On asking the waiter, he said that the management was changed
three months ago. The food was good, but the restrooms were dirty as ever. Vithal
Kamath’s maintain clean restrooms, a service provided by very few Indian restaurant’s.
From
Sawantwadi until Nipani, is all state highway. The roads all the way until
Nipani were good, a few potholes here and there do exist, but nothing that
Zeita could not handle. The high point
of this section is a small ghat at Sindhurg. We stopped there for about 45
minutes, ate a hot roasted corn cob. Though it was not the freshest, like
anything hot that tastes awesome on a cold day, this corn too tasted top notch!
The
place has a lot of monkeys, and it was fun watching and learning a few monkey
tricks and teaching the monkey’s a few of our own. There is a waterfall here, with steps leading
up in it and if you are the one who loves to take risks and don’t mind breaking
a few bones, then a walk up the stairs is not a bad idea. The water will not
only drench you, but can even throw you off your feet.
This monkey had a few tricks up his simian sleeve- eating bread and relieving himself was one among them.
Highway patrol.
A part of this state highway is in Karnataka,
while the majority section lies within Maharashtra. The last time we were here,
in March of this year, the Karnataka section was cobble stones and rubble; it
was as bad as it could get. Now however the road is as smooth as a road should
be, better than most of the highways in fact. It was a pleasure to glide along
the road, with lush green enveloping you from all sides.
Aari keeping a close watch on me- lest that I wander and get lost!
After
Nipani, it is NH 4, also called the Pune-Bangalore highway. The road until
Kolhapur is in great shape, and on a weekday sparsely populated by traffic. We
reached Kolhapur by 0130 PM, and my GPS navigator, showed the way right up to
the hotel. But
I could not find it, and went about randomly driving in the crowded Kolhapur
market, to be led right back to the same location after about 1 hour of hectic manoeuvring.
This time I was wise enough to make enquiries with the locals, who kindly
directed me there.
A few reluctant goats, who felt they had the same right of way as Zeita!
NH4 - Until Kolhapur is somewhat like this- despite the monsoons.
Road signage, taken over by moss.
Some of the many waterfalls that dotted the route
Hmmm...looks like me !
The hotel reception greeted me warmly, and I managed to
prove my Indian citizenship (see yesterday’s post for the full story) beyond
doubt, now they wanted to prove that Aari and I were married!! Amazingly, Aari
carries a copy of our marriage certificate and producing it palliated any doubts,
that I had randomly picked Aari from somewhere off the road. We went to our rooms, freshened up and headed
to the restaurant for lunch. The lady at the reception questioned if we were
heading for breakfast. I looked at her and wondered if people of Kolhapur eat
their breakfast at 3PM. I politely replied that we were heading for lunch. We had a lovely lunch, and spent the rest of
the day in our room, planning our future endeavours.
