A small ride to a Mazar near Mumbra

What’s the highest intensity of itch you have ever tolerated? Well, it actually depends on the person; some just can’t survive it a day, others have mastered the art of living with it forever.

I had this itch of riding for last few weeks. After multi-unsuccessful attempts to ride on a Sunday with friends, last Sunday was the ultimately the savior. All I need a little scratch, if not a long ride. I had had a plan to visit the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai. While preparing for the ride, I remembered a picturesque spot about which Abhimanyu, my unofficial photography guru, told. This spot is somewhere near Mumbra. So, I decided to first visit this place, have some snaps and then ride back/ahead towards Gorai for some 50km a side ride. It certainly was an unplanned plan; and I was really happy to be on such a subtle ride.

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I started at about 11:30 and took Belapur-Thane Highway, and at Kolwa, took the NH 4 towards Mumbra. On the way I gave lift to a road side hawker who told me about Mumbra Devi Temple on the hills. While riding along the ghats I saw the temple, but thought to have a trip of the ghats before visiting it. Riding ahead I crossed the ghats and reached Mumbra. Mumbra is a small crowdy town. Without spending much team there, I started back on the NH 4 through the ghats. This time I saw a few people descending from the hill. They told me about a Dargaah atop the hillock. Leaving my bullet aside the highway, I started trekking. It was raining intermittently, and the route was slippery as well as rocky too. Beautiful was the surrounding, providing quite a good frames to be shot!

A view of the Mumbra town down the hill

A beautiful insect, probably a bhanwara (bumble bee)

Some 20 minutes of easy trek, with a few sections actually being crawled, I reached Rais Baba’s Dargaah. There I met Moin, care taker, who thought am an Akhbaarwala (Journalist), thanks to my DSLR. Later, on request he blessed me with a divine smile that would soon feature in my Smiley Saturdays section. Across the hill there was a small dam or a pond probably. Moin told me about another mazar at the top of that hill at another 20-30 minutes of trek.

Moin, Mazaar's care taker, asking if am an Akhbaarwala

Entrance board of the Mazars

Having plenty of time in hand, I moved ahead to visit the Pahalwan Baba’s mazar. En route, I met Saddam, who with his friends came to visit the mazaar from Kalyan. He was sitting there alone, listening to FM on his mobile, as his friend stranded him to trek ahead. We moved ahead together and visited the Mazar. I offered my prayers and went ahead clicking the Mazaar and the bird’s eye view of the cities. While I was clicking pictures of Saddam praying at Mazaar, he tried to glance slyly to know what I’m up to! That was one funny incident!

A bird's eye view of Mumbra city

Saddam at Pahalwan baba's mazar

Sight of the Mumbra on the eastern side of the hill and Thane on western was awesome!

A panaromic view from Thane on left to Mumbra on right

Few minutes there with Saddam and his friends, talking, taking pictures, we started downhill. It was so slippery that I had to take my shoes off and walk bare foot. That was when I got my left sole injured and had to abandon the plans of visiting Gorai. Down the hill, Saddam and one of his mates tried my Bull, an attractive beast it’s! Just no one can ignore, ever!!

Well, I couldn’t make it to Gorai; but that was an awesome ride I had! Unplanned, un-destined, ride and rain – the rain ride, a small trek – after an eon, if not more; what else you can ask to scratch an itch!

Looking ahead for the Weekend ride with my New identity in Bullet-World, the Bisons! Do visit our FB Page, will write soon how it feels to be Bison after being an Inddiethumper...soon....

For more ride/trek pics click here, to view pics of Saddam and friends click here.

Banned Indian Books

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It’s been there for geological ages, we have been looking at it for last about 4years and I have been planning to trek it since a long time. Finally, few weeks back, we trekked the Ghansoli Hill. Ghansoli Hill is located at the eastern boundary of Ghansoli town, behind our office complex at RCP. The hill or better hillock is a part of small range that separates Kalyan and Navi Mumbai towns. A search on Google Map returns with a name Parsik Hill for it, though there is one more rather famous Parsik Hill in Navi Mumbai. We also found a NewsArticle , that talks about NMMC plans to develop Nature Awareness Centre at this hills and calls it Gawli Dev Hill. Here, we would be calling it Ghansoli Hill . I asked my colleague about it and he readily agreed. The very next Sunday we did it with another friend. We weren't aware of the route. All we knew is that a Central Road runs along the western edge of the hill and can be reached through the Vashi-Mhape road. We later found that there’

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Incidentally I wrote a post of my tranformation from just around the corner corporate junkie into a Rider (for sure, still gradually) few days ago. Now, here are the Indibloggers with a Contest for the Bikers of the Nation with Castrol guys . Evolving Biker Code of the Nation When you look at the scenario of Biking in a general sense, you would be attracted by the road-rowdies and rookies who ride to spread nuisance and are mostly acknowledged for their deeds by the newspaper. Hooligans may be the right word. But, once you get involved with the passion, you would be able to see how the passion of Biking, or rather Riding, is evolving in the country where 2-wheelers over-power 4-wheelers by scores of galactic height, but have never earned respect on highways just coz they are the smallest-speeding machine there! I would try to let you through the Indian Riders tale, so that you be able to appreciate how the riders of the Country are working, though in a segregative way

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