To know about the route to Bhuleshwar temple from Pune, check out the post from my first trip.

This time, i went a little earlier in the day around early evening. So, there was sufficient light inside the temple for me to photograph the statues. If you look at most of the statues inside the temple, they would have mutilated heads or legs. It seems that these statues were broken by the Mughal invaders centuries back when there were on an expansion spree.

Akshara was sleeping during the drive up to the temple. But she woke up on hearing some drums being played outside the temple. Even though she was half awake, she was very cooperative with our various photo requests

My new camera, Sony DSC TX5, has a sweeping panorma feature which is pretty cool. Click on the photo below to see a much bigger version.

Related posts:

1. Visit to the Bhuleshwar Shiva temple
2. Visit to Baneshwar shiva temple
3. Balaji Temple at Narayanpur Village

Route to go to the Pune Zoo (From Magarpatta): Go to the Solpur road, keep going towards Swargate, at the swargate signal, turn left towards Katraj. Keep going straight. After a while (a long while), you should see the zoo on your left.

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Go to the Pune Zoo only under the following conditions:

• If you have never been to any half-decent zoo before. One can literally count the number of animals in the zoo.
• If you want to have your morning walk/jog in the presence of few dozen deers. With an entrance fee of 5 rupees, it is the best bet for a good run amongst a bit of greenery. Of course, avoid anytime after the mornings, as the place gets thronged with whoever has 5 rupees change in the pocket.
• If you love to see deers and more deers. The ratio of deers to other animals is around 92.5 to 1. Maybe, other animals were obtained under special packages such as buy a tiger, get 20 deers free.
• If you want to test the limit of your big zoom lens or to test your ophthalmologist’s claim that you can identify objects at farway distances after your recent eye operation. I have a 200 mm lens and it proved to be extremely difficult to get decent shots of the animals. It is easy to recognise animals if they move around. Imagine a bear lying still around a 100 m away..Half the crowd was playing a trasure hunt trying to spot the location of the bear in the compound. This is the first zoo i have seen where the elephant is kept around half a km away from the viewing area. We could get to see the trunk and tail of the elephant (at least that is what we thought those were!)
• if you are studying any course in design and want to get examples of how not to design things. The design of the pune zoo is a marvel in itself. When you enter the zoo, you can either turn right or left. On the left, you will find monkeys, snakes and other smaller creatures. The board towards the right says “Elephant” prominently. Akshara is very fond of elephants and hence we turned right. Bad decision!  We walked on for almost 200 metres and were yet to come across the first animal/cage! The road on the right goes past lot of enclosures for almost 1.5 kms. Each enclosure is at least a 100 m apart and every second enclosure has deers. Unfortunately, the elephant was the last. But, we were ok. Akshara didnt seem to mind seeing a deer every second second! Then came the bad news! The only way to get back to the start/gate of the zoo was to walk back the entire 1.5 kms as the road finished at the lake and it looked like swimming across the lake was not an option. Maybe, the zoo authorities wanted to ensure that you didnt miss any deer. This proved to spoil the day as my parents. already tired from the long walk had to now walk back. There was mini-tram service and that looked to provide an easy way. But, this was not a hop-on-hop-off service. It took a group of people around the zoo and then took them back. With just a few trams and few hundred people, the waiting time at the start is something not worht mentioning.

Some photographs from our trip.

Akshara didn’t seem to mind, as there was always some animal to watch and she was being carried or driven around in a pram.

But, even in such a zoo, i found few takeaways. There were boards kept near many enclosures which explained the roots of the names of animals and also the differences between antelopes/deers and turtles/tortoises. The difference between turtles and tortoises was a cool thing to know.

There is also the boating facility on the katraj lake. Surprisingly, there were no life jackets or life guards around.

The highlight of the zoo was this enclosure which had graves for the dodo and the Indian Cheetah and a proposed one for the Tiger. The message was strong and direct. I stayed next to this place for a fewminutes and it was funny listening to the comments of people ranging from “Oh, this must be the place where they bury dead animals” to “Oh, a tiger died recently?”.

Related posts:

1. Golfway – Glow in the Dark – mini golf course in Pune

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! UPDATE: It seems that the price now( As on June 2010) is 190 rupees for just the game (on a weekend). The weekday rate, i guess, should be a little lesser.

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!).

Related posts:

1. Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park – Pune Zoo and Katraj Snake Park

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.

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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.

No related posts.

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!

Related posts:

1. Sinhagad Fort in Pune – the lion fort
2. Trek to Purandar fort – in the rain