Tourist Attractions and Places near Pune and Mumbai

ISKCON is a wealthy organisation and it shows in their new temple recently opened (inaugurated by our president Pranab Mukherjee) in Kondhwa (Earlier got confused with Kothrud!). This one is called NVCC – New Vedic Cultural center and has grand plans. The one in Kothrud has also a Balaji temple, a replica of the Tirupati temple.

Construction is still on (as of Mid-April 2013). The temple is architecturally very beautiful and nothing has been spared to make the interiors very appealing. The central hall has huge carvings on the roof with central dome depicting Krishna and Radha. The corridors around the main hall have murals depicting various mythological stories and also many from Krishna’s upbringing.

There are three main “deities” – Sri Sri Radha Vrindavanachandra, Sri Sri Gaur Nitai & Jagannath, Baldev & Subhadra. There is also an idol of Sri Prabhupada, the founder of the ISKCON movement.

Location of the temple – See map below for route from Magarpatta.

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The darshan timings – the times when the door of the deities are open to the public are given below. The temple is also well-lit during the evening and it is a beautiful sight.

Kichdi is served free of cost through out the day. ISKCON also runs a Govinda restaurant which serves regular vegetarian fare like dosas, parathas and some sweets. The first time i went, it was during the lunch time and hence there was not much activity. The second time, i went during the late evening and darshan was on along with a bhajan. The bhajan along with the dholak and other instruments produced a mesmerizing noise. People were dancing in the central hall and it was almost a trance like situation. The energy was unbelievable and it would almost be impossible to resist the urge to dance!

On a personal note, i am not a big fan of ISKCON, because of various reasons. Anyway, the temple is a nice place to visit. Go there, enjoy the music and experience the amazing energy. Up to you, whether you want to join and become spiritually engaged with ISKCON!

written by Rajaram S

Unless you are the kind who jets off to Disneyland and Universal studios for the weekend, there is no reason why you should give this park a miss. It seems that the Yashwantrao Park in Sahakarnagar has had these exhibits for over a year now and surprisingly, the first time i came to know about it was sometime last week when i saw a photo in the newspaper.

Most of the modern tourist cities have a mini-world exhibit as they always attract tourists who want to experience all the sights in one place. It’s good that Pune has joined this list too, albeit on a smaller scale. But, the effort which has gone into the exhibits is definitely not on a small scale. The miniature structures are not half-done paper mash one, but very realistic ones made of metal/fiber. According to reports, designer Nitin Desai and Pune based architect Mahesh Nampurkar were involved in its making.

Location of the park: The park is located in Sahakarnagar, close to swargate. The entry is free for the park. A landmark is the Rajiv Gandhi Academy of e-Learning which is bang-opposite the park. But few things to note: Every second park, even those just few square metres big, is named Yashwantrao Chavan Park. In the quest for this park, i was led to 2 other parks of the same name. Also, asking directions by mentioning Wonder of the world, Statue of liberty, Eiffel Tower doesn’t help much! Directions to the park from Magarpatta City are given below:

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The park has the following exhibits: Eiffel Tower (a big one!), statue of liberty, the leaning tower of Pisa, the Colosseum, Stonehenge, Taj Mahal and the pyramids. The park closes for the afternoon and opens at 4pm. The evening light is awesome for photography.

Of course, the exhibits are such that you can quench your thirst for the typical family-in-front photo or the cliched Pisa tower photo.

But this is not all. There is a 4d show within the park. You have to buy a ticket of 20 Rupees (per person) for this show. The park is free to enter though. I have been to many 4d shows and this is as good as any of the good ones. Considering the price, it is awesome. The show is 5 mins long and there are three of them – Count Dracula, Aladdin and Alice in wonderland which are shown in rotation over the days. Anyone > 3 yrs can go inside the theatre. It has got all te 4d elements – the spray of water, real bubbles floating around and the moving platform. Note: if you decide to keep your kind on your lap, they don’t give the extra 3d glasses for your kid.

There are also a few cartoon exhibits, the kind where you put your face in the space and get a photo taken. Btw, does anyone know what the tree (shown below) is?

But, all is not well. The PMC has done a great effort in getting this all up, but it will all go to waste if not taken care properly. It is good that the entrance is free as it gives an opportunity to all, irrespective of their economic status, to have a look. But it leads to a problem, the problem of plenty. The crowd is too big to control and there is just one guard , constantly blowing on his whistle, in an effort to get the kids off the exhibits.

What needs to be done…

1. Put a small barricade around each exhibit such that it doesn’t hinder the view, but prevents people from climbing onto the exhibits
2. Put information boards for all exhibits in Marathi, Hindi and English. it doesn’t help anyone if they come and just see “some buildings”. In fact, i saw an adult explaining to the kids, pointing at the tower of Pisa: “Kids, this is the eiffel tower and it is in America”. You have done most of the hard work, just get some explanatory boards near the exhibits”
3. Have a guided tour of the exhibits. There is LOT of info that can be shared with kids on these wonders

On the whole, a good place to spend an evening.

written by Rajaram S

Induri fort is a relatively small fort constructed in the early 1700s by Sarsenapati Sardar Khanderao Dabhade. The fort is mostly in ruins and full of overgrown bushes, but it still is a good place to visit for an evening. Located in Talegaon on the banks of the Indrayani river, the evening scene from the fort is very picturesque. There is a temple of Goddess Kadjai inside the fort. This temple has been restored/painted and is in a good condition, regularly visited by the locals.

Location of Induri Fort: This fort is inside the Talegaon town. Once you drive inside, it is easy to miss the walls/entrance, but if you are coming from the highway across he bridge, you will see the fort walls as you cross the bridge. We went to this fort on a short road trip which included a short climb to Ghorwadeshwar Cave temple, Birla Ganapati and the Shirgaon Sai baba Temple. You can take the small diversion to this fort whenever you have around 30-45 minutes to spare when you are in this area. Given below are directions to this fort from Pune (Magarpatta). Talegaon is very close to the start of the old highway to Mumbai (close to Somatane Phata). If you want to avoid the toll, take the left before the expressway, go into Shirgaon village, go under the expressway and then join the old highway and continue to Talegaon!

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You can drive right into the fort. You can park next to the temple. Once inside, walking through the bushes towards the river will take you to the walls of the fort. During the monsoon, this river and the greenery around should be beautiful.

Even though in ruins, there is lot to explore inside the fort, albeit a bit adventurous considering the dense overgrowth. You can climb to the top of the entrance (watchtower) and even walk for a distance along the walls on the side of the entrance. The steps to the top are broken in many places and it would help to have a flashlight, at least the light from a mobile. We spent around half an hour exploring the ruins, in the hope of making archealogical discoveries

A good place for a short trip and would be even better, if combined with the other places nearby. You can come back to Pune by Chakan road/NH50 to make it a round trip.

There is lot of history associated with the fort and who else but Abhijit Rajadhyaksha to turn to for such details. Head over to his blog if you are curious to know about the history/significance of this fort.

Flight Options: Air India Express, Air India, Air tickets

written by Rajaram S