Amboli Ghat – A Slice of Nature

The German Bakery blast at Pune had proved very tragic for my friend Saurabh who lost his confidence seeing the grotesque scenes at the site of the blast. He was there at that time and had escaped the blast by a whisker. He was very distraught, upset and had lost focus in life. All of us were bent on bringing him back to normally but nothing seemed to work. His boss asked him to take a break and go out of Pune and relax and come back to work. The situation demanded that we escort him and therefore we decided to go to Sridhar Apte’s family house at Sawantwadi. The pristine surroundings of the place would be the best antidote for his disturbed mind. I was at Mumbai at my sister’s place and Saurabh had come to meet his mother in Mumbai. Sridhar, Saurabh, me and Anagha my sister’s daughter planned to go to Amboli near Sawantwadi.

We drove down to Sawantwadi crossing Panvel and Chiplun and unloaded our luggage at Sridhar’s house. The six hour drive refreshed us as the surroundings towards Sawantwadi are rejuvenating to the mind, body and soul. It was time for lunch so we had lunch at a local inn and had good poli, bhaji and pitla. Then we drove to Amboli which was around a half hour drive from Sridhar’s house.

Located at a height of around 690 m this lovely hill station – The Amboli Ghat is a picture perfect frame of beauty, scenery and magnificence. Surrounded by mountains it has deep valleys on three sides and the Konkan coast on the other side.

Saurabh was silent and resilient but we tried to get him out of the mood. Anagha said that it was a British General called Colonel Eastrop who developed Amboli.

“Westrop” mumbled Saurabh. WE all looked at him. He reiterated “ Colonel Westrop, not Eastrop. Anagha said Eastrop.”

We smiled at each other. Anagha’s plan was successful. She had intentionally miscoded to involve Saurabh’s attention.

Saurabh continued “It is the wettest region in the state of Maharashtra. The forests here are courtesy the heavy rains. Mist is the main feature here and people come to feel this difference.”

We silently listened to him not letting him know that we were glad he was getting back to normal conversation. Soon we reached Amboli. We had approached a resort owned by MTDC. WE didn’t halt there instead had some grub at a hotel nearby. We then asked at the MTDC centre what to see in Amboli. He gave us a pamphlet. The first place we went was a Botanical Garden.

This beautiful place was a garden and also a centre for research. There was a huge area for playing and the whole place looked beautiful with the verdant expanse but it looked completely deserted.

From here we went to the Hiranyakeshi temple. This is a place where the River Hiranyakeshi begins. This was around 6 kms from Amboli. We left our car and decided to take an auto so that we don’t lose our way. The temple was absolutely serene and had a pond in front. This spot was a perfect place where one could discard negative feelings and get rejuvenated with positive energy. The perfect place for Saurabh to forget whatever he saw and start getting real.

There was a cave next to the temple which we wanted to go to. But Anagha was scared to get in and told that she had heard of people telling her not to go there as we could get attacked by creeping little insects. We guys wanted to go; in fact, Saurabh actually expressed a desire to go. But Anagha didn’t want to and we couldn’t leave Anagha alone at a place which she was not familiar with so we cancelled the plan of getting into the cave.

Then we made our way to the main road. Here we saw an Ashram called the RAgheshwar Ashram. Here there was a temple where the presiding deity was the Swayambhu Ganesha. There was also a Nag Devta temple here. This ash

ram had the most peaceful and tranquil surroundings with a lot of meditative power within. It is here that Swami Ragheshwar is believed to have meditated and got his Samadhi. With the River Hiranyakeshi flowing by, this place was yet another venue where Saurabh could surely get the feel of being closer to God, and thus gain a lot of mental strength. We were glad we brought him here. In fact, when we saw Saurabh, silently resting under the shade of a tree, we let him be and sat and inhaled the beauty of the place and the silent peace that the place exuded.

After all this mental and spiritual enlightenment, we went for some adventure. We proceeded to the waterfall nearby. This lay around 3 km from the place where we were. It lies near Sawantwadi around 3 km away from it. As we approached the falls we were struck by the magnificence of the place and the spray mist that the falls emitted could be felt well in advance. There were steps under the fall and we could see the innumerable tourists under the fall enjoying this perfect hydro adventure. It was a completely therapeutic feeling to go under the waterfalls and experience this water massage. All our tiredness, fatigue, anxiety and tension seemed to vanish as the force of water fell on us. I looked at Saurabh and sure enough he was smiling, enjoying himself and the water was certainly doing him good. We all had lot of fun, spraying water at each other, throwing water and screaming along with the sound of the waterfall. Completely cured of any kind of tiredness, we dried ourselves and thanked our intelligence of carrying a spare set of clothes with us. We changed and then went to Sawantwadi. WE were hungry so had lunch at a local hotel. Steaming hot puris and aloo bhaji. Delicious and mouth watering with the ambience around.

We then made our way to Shilpgram. This was a place that was managed by the Sawantwadi Municipal Council. Here one could the wonderful works that the locals of Sawantwadi are famous for. Amazingly created crafts and other handicrafts were on display here. There was a restaurant here which was open. We wanted to get into the center but it was unfortunately closed. Instead one of the locals who saw our disappointment guided us to go to a place called “kanekar Toys”.

Here there were beautiful items of wooden craft. Sawantwadi is incidentally famous for this kind of art. This was only 2 kms away so we decided to go there. An auto rickshaw took us there and the drive up there was also enjoyable. We chatted a lot and soon we saw Saurabh was chatting with us and we were happy to find that he had forgotten his sadness. At Kanekar Toys what we saw completely astonished us. The woodcraft was stupendous and the place was called Chitra Alli. We saw many articles crafted out of wood. We went round the place seeping in the beautiful things that were on display. After taking photos of whatever was on display we went to Shilpgram where the restaurant gave us some delicious Malwani food.

Our next destination was the palace at Sawantwadi. There was a facility of taking us on a guided tour of the palace. We had to pay Rs. 25 per head and then we were guided under the instructions of a hired tour guide. He took us to the Queen’s Durbar. Here there was a throne made of silver. This was the Royal throne. There were also two wild animals which the Queen had taken on her hunting spree. The place was magnificently decorated with a lot of swords and shields which gave added beauty to the place. We walked around the place liking the whole experience. There was a display of cards which were called the “Ganjifa” cards. These cards were beautiful with a lot of decoration and craftsmanship imbibed from Persia. We were totally overawed by the magnificence of the place and the scene was enhanced by the presence of palanquins and many other artifacts of vintage value. Then we went to the Crafts Sales room where we had a lot of items made of handmade papier mache .Then we went to the Kavaleshet point. Here we got good scenic views and then went to the Nangartaas falls. Very similar to the Jog falls these falls gave us the time of our life.

With all this in tow, we really had had an informative and valuable trip to Amboli. Not only did we enjoy a lot, but also could get Saurabh out of his depression. That is the beauty of Mother Nature and the beauty of Amboli Ghat.

Rossaying: Feel life at Amboli.