Tourist Attractions and Places near Pune and Mumbai

In spite of this mini golf place being open for more than a year, not many knew about it, at least amongst my colleagues and friends. No, the low awareness doesn’t mean that this place is of low quality. The place gets a definite a+ as far as entertainment at a reasonable cost is concerned.

I have been a fan of mini golf right after the first time i tried it. I have been to all the courses in Cyprus and even a few in USA (San Jose was excellent). The ones in Cyprus pale in comparison to Golfway. The course is called “Glow in the Dark” course and has been beautifully designed such that everything glows (Neon light kinds) when the lights are switched off (or is it on ).

Considering the ‘exotic’ness of games such as mini golf and go-karting, the price is extremely reasonable.  For rupees 150, you get to play 18 holes of mini-golf and you also get a sandwich and a fruit drink (which is homemade TANG, much better compared to any of the bottled drinks!). On top of this, you also get a game coin which can be used to play any of the numerous arcade games. A game of air hockey costs just 1 game coin. So, if two of you go, you can get a good game of golf + food + a neat 2 games of air hockey!

If you have already had your lunch/dinner and are in mood for these ‘free’ foodstuff, a 18 hole game without all these perks costs just 100 bucks. And this is for 1-1.5 hours of good fun. On top of this, you would spend some time appreciating the neat idea of “Glow in the dark” and maybe like Vidhya, think about adapting some of these concepts for your home!

There are lot of hidden bonuses too. The score card which you get to score your game has a “Buy 1 game, get 1 game free” coupon at the back. So, don’t throw it away. You could get a game free when you visit the next time. The 18th hole would look like an anticlimax to the other 17 holes. It is just a straight-forward shot into three possible pits numbered 1,2 and 3. But, what they don’t tell you is that if you hit into Pit no. 1 which requires you to get a straight shot, you get a free game coupon. Its a pity that we didn’t know about this, only Vidhya and Anu (2 from the 4 of us) managed this. Then, a guy slowly walks in and gives them free game coupons! That’s a freebie of 200 bucks! Now that you know this, there is no excuse for you to miss the number 1 pit!

The hole number 12 is a masterpiece. No, not in terms of the difficulty to hit the ball, but in terms of the design of the hole. Even if you have a bit of scientific inclination, i assure you that you will spend some time admiring the way the ball travels to the hole and try out all the combinations on this hole. I don’t want to give away the design of this hole. Go and admire it yourself!

On the whole, a very good place to spend  couple of hours on a weekend or a weekday rather than wile away the time watching India TV (Ok, a game of mini-golf cannot give you as much entertainment as an hour of India TV!).

written by Rajaram S

Rajasthan is considered by many to be a remote state somewhere in the western part of India. The management of Chokhi Dhani wanted to ensure that this element about Rajasthan is not missed, so they established their traditional rajasthani Village experience in a remote corner of Pune, so remote that you can easily get scared driving along the approach road at night!

How to reach Chokhi Dhani from Magarpatta: Go on the Mundhwa road towards Nagar Road. At the Nagar Road t-junction, if you take left, you go towards the airport. You have to take a right here. This junction is 5 kms from Magarpatta. Once you take a right, you have to travel for 3 kms. There is a narrow lane to the right at this point. There is also a signboard for Chokhi Dhani (on the right side). So, it is quite easy to miss this (because it is on the opposite side) at night. Once you take this right, the nightmarish road begins and goes on for 3 kms until you reach Chowki Dhani.

I made the mistake of going to this place on a weekday evening. Please don’t do that. This place would like a mela on a weekend where there are big crowds (many friends have said so), but on a weekday, it is absolutely deserted. Also, I have “attention-o-phobia” i.e. i become uncomfortable when everyone around comes forward exclusively for your service (much like a salesperson following you in a shop!). Since the place was deserted, all the performers were almost exclusively performing for us.Also, if you are not ok with hundreds of flies/insects around you, carry a spray or something, as this place is in the middle of the woods and it is infested with thousands of insects “exclusively” for you!

All the discomforts apart, they have put in a lot of effort to spruce up the entrance. The entrance fee is 300 Rupees per person which includes all the entertainment plus dinner. The moment we entered, we had a “horse” thing welcoming us. Akshara was shocked by the loud noise and she remained in a state of trance the entire time at Chokhi Dhani!

Attractions at Choki Dhani: When you pay the entrance fee, you also get 12 coupons which you use for various attractions. All the shows are free, but for the rides like the camel ride, horse ride , train ride or the Giant wheel, you have to pay using the coupons. The price varies from 2-3 coupons.

Horse Ride: One of the dirtiest horses i have ever seen and the ride was scary too. I almost fell off the cart! It is a 1 min ride through the darkness, more like a roller-coaster ride. Avoid taking kids on it.

Camel ride:  The best part of a camel ride is the time the camel stands up or sits down. You dont experience this here as you mount a standing camel. If you have never been on a camel before, go for it.

Train ride: This ride is located in a remote corner of the already remote Chokhi Dhani which means that the insects living there will relish your presence as they don’t get visitors often. An excruciatingly noisy and polluting train ride, it is on a circular track running on a petrol/kerosene engine powered through a loosely hung wire from the centre of the circular track which makes it extremely easy for one to get electrocuted!

With the rides done, it was time for the shows. They were good and would have even better on weekends with the crowds. With only us (plus few other unfortunate weekday visitors), i was struck by extreme attention-o-phobia to actually enjoy the shows.

Vidhya also get a Mehendi done on her hand (while i was watching the above guy show all his tricks). Unaware of this, i pulled on Vidhya’s hand and in the process, got mehendi done on my hand too!

The other things that we skipped were Head and Body massage, astrologers (of various kinds), Giant wheel, game stalls (absolutely junk prizes for the winners) and few other things on the sides.

Once we had exhausted the activities, we went for the dinner. Vidhya overheard one of the waiters ordering for 10 rotis for the 4 of us. 10??? 10 phulkas would be barely enough for just me. The waiters were overly eager to move on to the next course after the rotis, whereas i was stuck in a loop of “Ek aur roti”. After a while i got fed up of their attempts to push the rice on my plate to get me moving and stopped asking for more. The food was good, but just not enough for me after the exhaustion of fighting the insects.

Moral of the above long story:  Never ever go on a weekday. Go on weekends and i guess you would have fun. I don’t see the scope of going there more than once.

written by Rajaram S

Two weeks back, i was driving from Lakshmi road (had been to Chitale Bandhu) to Rasta Peth. On turning around a corner, a huge wall came into view. it didn’t look like a normal city building. The wall continued on and on as the road went around the complex. It looked like a fort and it looked very photogenic. The first thing i did on returning home was to research about this and i found out that this place was called Shaniwarwada and it was a fort mansion built in the 18th century.

In all my research on places to see near Pune, i had missed something so big right inside the city! So, i visited the place the following saturday. “Saturday” – this place is called Shaniwar Wada, because the foundation stone was laid on a Saturday and “wada” comes from the fact that it was a residential complex. Peshwa Baji Rao built this mansion as his personal residence.

Route from Magarpatta: (the route that i know of ) Go towards hadapsar signal, turn right on the road to Kroma/Big Bazaar, after you cross the race course (on the right), you will get a small turn to the right (one-way), taking this road and continuing on straight will take you to M.G.Road signal, go on M.G.Road , turn left at the end (near the statue) , keep going on this road until you reach a major traffic signal (ask for rasta peth if you get lost), turning left on this signal and turning left again at the t-junction will take you to Rasta Peth (statue of a fisherwoman on the roundabout). Take  right at this roundabout (towards a small Hanuman temple on the middle of the road). Keep on going straight until you hit Shaniwar Wada (you will see the huge walls). Drive around the fort to find the parking lot.

I had modified the above photo in Photoshop to blur the areas other than the statue to emphasize the statue! Shaniwar Wada, in spite of being at the centre of the city and having an almost negligible 5 rupees entrance fee, is very clean and well maintained.  You don’t see the plastic junk which has become characteristic of almost all forts and tourist spots in Pune.

It had just drizzled just before we went there and the greenery inside the mansion/fort was appealing to the eye. So, what is to be done or seen inside Shaniwar Wada? Nothing much. Walk around, enjoy the calm, the greenery ,read about the history of the place and of course, take lot of photographs!

There is also a fountain (was not operating the time i was there). I have read a lot about the splendour of the fountain. Opposite the fountain, there was a place with lot of depressions on the ground. But, there were no signs explaining them. So, we assumed that it was community bathroom with lot of bath tubs

There is a huge wall surrounding the place. You can climb on the wall and walk the entire circumference. You get a different perspective of the whole place and also the surrounding areas. But, if you are a little horizontally prosperous, getting up the stairs could prove a challenge.

At the front of the mansion, you can climb one more flight of stairs to go to the front porch. The view from here on a clear day extends far into the city.

There were lot of eagles over Shaniwar Wada. Actually, Pune seems to have lot of them!

written by Rajaram S