“I can only say after I come there and finish my assignments,” said Lakshmi thoughtfully. After my operation, I really needed to give my children a break. We had made plans to go to Cochin, Guruvayoor, Thekkady and Munnar but it all got foiled because of my operations. My children were very co-operative and understanding but that was quite bearing down on my mind. So when my sister Lakshmi said that she would come down with her son Shardul, for a week’s stay, I was more than happy. Lakshmi and I decided we would go out for a two day break from Mumbai, where I live. But the problem was Lakshmi had her own commitments professionally. That’s the reason she said “I can only say after I come there and finish my assignments”.

The day dawned as usual; my daughter and I finished her college admissions and came back. “Trrring!” rang the phone. I saw it was Lakshmi. “I have booked an Innova van for us to go to Alibaug tomorrow.” She said.

“Whoopee!” I yelled. My children came running to know what happened. I told them they had to pack immediately as we were leaving for Alibaug the next day. Lakshmi decided to stay over at her friend’s place and bring the car so that the driver needn’t search for my house. So it was a happy trio, Kavya, Shiv and Shardul who went in the evening to the shop and got themselves some snacks to eat on the way. We were going for two days and so decided to take 3 sets of dresses each. We packed and went to bed early.

The next morning, all of us were ready. As usual, I didn’t hesitate to pack the idlis that I normally pack anywhere I go. Lakshmi came on time, and we left at 7 in the morning. It was a misty morning, full of energy and the slight drizzle added to the energy around. I called my parents and told them about our sudden plan. We were all truly perked up and looked forward to having a good time. We halted at Kamath at Panvel and had a sumptuous breakfast. Once you are out of the house the need to fill your tummy is more out of pleasure and less out of routine. The car had a video screen and we saw some movie which was playing on it. All of us fell asleep in the car and all the way Lakshmi was co-coordinating with her colleagues to get a room arranged in Alibaug. As we hadn’t decided till the last minute, there was no booking made for hotels. All of us fell asleep and finally at the end of four hours we reached Alibaug. We headed for one of the resorts/cottage that Lakshmi’s friend had recommended. We reached the place – Sanman Beach Resort. It was a small setup with around 6 cottages in it. We had one room empty. It was beautiful with a double bed, a television, a wardrobe, a table and the room overlooked the sea. We instantly fell in love with it and didn’t think any further. We asked the room service to get our luggage and just plonked ourselves on the bed. The sheer joy of being away from routine and the absolute ecstasy of finally having been able to make it left us happy and excited. The kids petered in and it was a tired lot which fell exhaustedly asleep on the bed for the next hour. I woke up to the sound of the cell phone ringing and saw that it was my husband. After attending to the call, I woke everyone up and we had a cup of tea, and left for some site seeing. We went to Murud Janjira first. This was apparently a fort that was built by the Siddi Jauhars. It lies off the Murud village and is famous in Indian history as the only fort which was never captured by anyone.

The drive to Murud Janjira is around 40 kms from the place where we were. We settled down to a long drive and soon we had the rain falling on our windows. We opened the windows and let it fall on our faces. We enjoyed the beauty of nature when it was raining and also loved to see the greenery around. The atmosphere was hypnotizing and the ambience was mesmerizing. As we went up the winding paths, we were eager to see the historical fort and travel up to it. We reached a dead end after enough enquiring where the fort was located. From the dead end, we could see the fort. As it was high tide, trips to the fort were suspended temporarily. So we were not very lucky. Otherwise we could have gone up to the fort and had a good view of the magnificent construction of the past. Anyway, I took some video and photos of the fort from where we were and then we made our way back. As we came down the winding lanes, we saw the Siddhi Jauhar Palace. Entry is not allowed here and we couldn’t therefore enter. However we sure could take some pictures of the erstwhile palace.

We then proceeded further and went towards the beaches. We reached Kashid Beach. There was the Kashid Beach Resort nearby and people who had come there to spend the weekend also were there at the beach. We kept all our valuables and cell phones with the driver in the car and then went and spent a lot of fun time in the beach. Shardul refused to come In and stood there and saw us enjoying. The huge waves came lashing at us as we sat on the beach and we were thrown forward each time the wave hit us. In fact, Shiv my son almost lost control while we were sitting and enjoying. We decided to sit a little away from the beach waters yet the waters came lashing at us. We enjoyed a lot and I ate so much sand that after some time, I found blobs of sand coming out of my nose. There was a lady there who was giving us buckets of water. Rs 20/- for one she said. We got a bucket each and then three more buckets for washing the clothes that we had soiled. It was good that we took some spare clothes with us. To be on the safer side, we had actually carried our entire luggage with us. We then had scrambled eggs, bread and omelet while Lakshmi had Kandey Pohey (a snack made out of puffed rice) all made by the women in the shack there on the beach. The taste of the omelet while we sat there eating it, looking at the sea seemed to be double folded. The atmosphere was one of fun, laughter and frolic and I was loving every single moment of it.

We then proceeded further and went to the Nagaon Beach. There we saw another shack which had hot tea and snacks. We had a good cup of masala tea and then took the winding path which led to the beach. All beaches in Alibaug are raw and real. There is very little commercialization which sets the tourist at rest. He is not in a pressure to perform well as a tourist. Everyone is allowed to be themselves and this is the best thing that I liked about Alibaug. We walked down Nagaon Beach. The black sand and the light rain drizzling on our faces rendered us completely weak and we were just not wanting to get back to Mumbai after this heavenly experience.

We left Nagaon and then went round the town of Alibaug. We zeroed in on a hotel and had dinner there. I guess we would never ever forget this dinner as we had the worst dinner ever here. Dal Tadka (Boiled lentils) had excess of oil floating on the surface. Curd Rice had a coat of oil on top. The waiter said it was seasoning. We said we never wanted seasoning and for that matter this kind of seasoning where oil was floating was totally uncalled for. He took it back and for whatever reasons replaced it with a good bowl of curd rice and didn’t charge for the earlier two bowls of floating oil curd rice that he gave.

Laughing and chuckling over the goof up of the choice of a hotel we finally reached Sanman Beach Resort again. All of us were tired beyond words and just wanted to hit the sack. After a lot of trial and error as to who has to sleep where, and how, it was ultimately decided that Lakshmi and I would sleep on the floor on a mattress while the three kids slept on the cot. We just dumped the beach filled clothes in a cover and it was a tired lot that slept, snoring away to glory and dreaming of lovely evenings on a sandy beach.

The next morning we woke up and Lakshmi was amazed and enthralled to see the view from our hotel window. She just egged me on and urged me to join her for a breezy morning walk. We stepped out and simply inhaled the beauty of nature and walked down the rocky path that lay outside. The walk through the casuarinas trees was incomparable to anything and we felt we were in paradise. With glimpses of couples trying to snatch a little bit of private time, and families from resorts nearby lazing around in the black sandy beach. the walk was very fruitful. There were rocks along the shore of the beach where we could sit and enjoy the beauty of the virgin morning. We walked and inhaled the freshness and came back and woke all the children up. After a breakfast of tea and omelet, we took the children out and had a full experience of the freshness of the morning.

We then drove down the road and reached Alibaug beach. There were vendors selling corn and tea. We had the choicest of corn heated in a mud stove and had it burnt and tasty. We then had tea. My son came running and said that the horse cart there would take us to the fort in the middle of the sea. We went and haggled the price with him. “Rs.500.” He said with finality in his tone. We agreed and the five of us sat on the horse cart. We were feeling miserable that we had to put the horse through this trouble of pulling all of us. But we had no choice. We sat and then went towards the Kolaba fort which was in the middle of the sea. Built by Shivaji this fort was an effort to protect the Marathas against any kind of sea attack. Legend has it that they used to put glass pieces and crocodiles all around the fort to wade away enemies. The horse ride took around 15 minutes. Soon enough we were in the fort. It is a different kind of experience to get into a fort of the past. The history, the nostalgia and the tales around it seem to exude out of the ruins that lay there. The amazingly built monument seemed to tell a thousand tales as we walked up. We saw what might have been artillery or a granary, or a storehouse. We also saw a temple. Every fort built by Shivaji has a Bhavani temple and a Dhwajastambha. We saw all this. Then we saw what must have been the swimming pool of those times. It was huge and was a huge pond. Maybe this is where they used to have bath. Then there was a doorway which overlooked the sea. The view from here was magnificent.

We came down the fort path and saw the horse cart driver signaling us to come fast. The tide was rising and it was imperative we reach the other side soon. Alongside our cart there was another cart driven by a lone horse. As we reached the shoreline, there was an impromptu race between the two and suddenly our cart started racing ahead. My son had a thrill in winning the race though he said the other single horse too did a good job.

After Alibaug beach, we went back to the hotel, and packed. Lakshmi and I cleaned all the sand from the clothes after the previous days frolic in Kashid beach. The whole bathroom floor was filled with black sand. We went through the check out process at the hotel and checked out at 12.30. We had other plans too. We wanted to see the Observatory which incidentally is the only one of its kind. It is the Geomagnetic Observatory. We reached the place which was less than a kilometer from the place where we were put up. But the watchman there said that it was not open to public now for security reasons.

We then went to a Synagogue in the town. This too was closed. So, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we were not as lucky. We then proceeded to Mumbai and halted at Panvel for lunch. I had Thali Peeth (Indian bread) which I like very much. After this, we went ahead with our drive. The drive when we were going to Alibaug was filled with joy, excitement and so much to look forward to. The drive down was filled with lovely memories and tales to tell. On the way we saw the Karnala Bird Sanctuary Board. We halted there and got tickets for getting in. the attendant said that we wouldn’t be lucky to get to see birds as they were mostly seen in winter. Yet we wanted to walk inside the fresh ambience of a sanctuary and feel the freshness seep into us. It was raining cats and dogs and all of us walked around 4 km inside the sanctuary. We also went up a nature trail. We could just see two small birds twittering around. We were happy. We didn’t want to work miracles there but the sheer feeling of being inside a sanctuary made us happy. After enjoying the beauty inside we went back to the car and settled down to reaching home sweet home. As we entered Vashi and made our way towards our house, it is only simple sweet memories that dominated our thoughts.

Thus ended our quick getaway to Alibaug and thus ends my blog which I conclude with a heavy heart but with fond memories.

A word to the diary: “Always remember to visit some beautiful place in a small weekend.”

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