Chaul Again

It all started in October 2024, we planned a full fledged trip to Gokarna as per our examination time table, which was then disrupted because of the sudden change in the timetable of our examination, all because of the state elections but nevertheless we decided to keep our plan active on some other dates in the same vacation, but it was frantically opposed by one of  our group members for some reason, though this story has a sad starting, it has a better ending (not a happy ending, I would say, but okay). 

Chaul

Since now we had to change our plan, we decided to visit Chaul again (Wait Again: Yes we had also visited in 2022, not blogged though it is well documented in a reel 😉). So lets move ahead, we all decided to go by  boat because boats dropped us at Mandwa Jetty and we had to visit the historic "Kankeshwar" temple dedicated to Lord Shiva built by  the then ruler "Raja Ramdeorai Yadav" of the Yadava dynasty in the 12th or 13th Century.

The experience was absolutely bliss, it took a lot of efforts to climb up  but was worth every drop of sweat we sweated to reach to the top. Though there are only 650 steps, each step is too long, almost each step an inclined slope, we had to take multiple breaks during our hike, for it was extremely tiring and almost drained out energy of us. Each break we took, I chanted "Saamb Sadaashiv" to invoke the Shiv and Shakti tatva within us for we were under there umbrella and were for not sure climbing up without there wish. One of our great members during our breaks, did not sit at all and argued that standing at one place for a while was enough for him for it was helping his heart beat becoming stable. I had brought the entire group here on wishes of a person who obviously would have been invoked by Shiva and the same person has asked me to visit Kankeshwar again for a specific reason but let's see all that is in Shiva's; the Supreme' s hands. 

The Historic Kankeshwar Temple 

The moment we reached someone was performing a Jalabhishek on the Shiv Ling but he was recording it despite clear instructions that photography and videography was not allowed. Here I would urge everyone to follow the laid down rules otherwise all your efforts are going to into vain. I meditated for a while, recited "Pasaydan" written by "Sant Dnyaneshwar" of the 13th century A.D. where he requests God to destroy the vile character of bad people rather than destroying the bad people. Then we had Vada Paav there and left, descending the hill was fun. 

The Scenic View From the Kankeshwar Temple Hill, While Descending (Shot Taken in Peak Afternoon)

From there we went to Alibag had lunch then we left for Chaul. The entire group visited my grandparents, we had chit chat with them for almost half an hour then went and played cards, we played a game, I don't remember its name as of now but it was interesting, but we were so indulged in the game that we completely forgot we had to go out for dinner and forgot that we were not in a city where restaurants would stay open till late night, the restaurant near my house had closed by then, we want further he declined saying, for such a large group (7 people, thala fans please do something) it would take lot of time and he would not be able to serve us, then somehow we found another hotel nearby, then had dinner there. Then we returned, we were watching some movie, name I don't remember, but by then I was so tired that other members in the group suggested me to sleep, next day morning we woke up fairly early like 9 A.M. or 10 A.M. and then went to "Saatkhani" in "Revdanda", clicked some pictures there, then went to "Revdanda" beach and played cricket and realised that all of us have either a Sachin Tendulkar/ Rohit Sharma and Zaheer Khan/ Jasprit Bumrah in us, all we need is a spark to trigger and oh yes, similar to our Malvan Trip here too on the seashore we found a dead snake. May it liberate. 

Then somehow we decided to have lunch in a restaurant, the same which we found closed the last night. While we were having lunch we got to know that we had to fill a form for a company on urgent basis, it took so long because we had to call and ask others/ brothers to help that the restaurant staff got worried and suggested that please leave the restaurant we have to close it to prepare for evening operations🙏.

Then we went home recorded some funny videos, we bathed and then went to the "Shri Ram Temple" in our vicinity and from there we wen to the historic "Shri Gurudev Dattatreya"'s temple which the devotees address as "Dakshin Girnar" out of utmost devotion. Since we had visited it nearby "Datta Jayanti", a "Yatra" (fun fair) was there, we all sat in a "Giant Wheel" and in "Break Dance" as we believe that keeping the inner child alive is a necessity(😉). Then after returning we visited the same restaurant we had visited in afternoon. (Ab hum itne bhi kuchh khaas nahi). 

We had dinner, and on returning the best thing happened we created a spoof of a popular interview show hosted by a popular Marathi news channel. We named it "Majha Patta" (If you want the link, DM 💀).  We sincerely thank and acknowledge the residents in our vicinity for their cooperation with us as we were recording till 02:00 A.M. in night. 

And then our trip ended, the next day, for we had to abruptly shorten it so that we could give the test of the company for which, the form we had filled. So in beginning I have wrote it was not a so happy ending, but overall we enjoyed a lot.

All glories to Lord Shiva, Har Har Mahadev !

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