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!).

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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.

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On the way from Pune to Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, a casual traveller can easily ignore Wai  as just another dot on the map.  But, if the little effort of deviating around 3km from the main road is made, you are assured of getting enough natural beauty to your heart’s content.

Route to Wai from Pune (from magarpatta): Go to Hadapsar, take the left on Prince of Wales Dr (the left after the left close to Big Bazaar) and keep going towards Kondhwa Road. From here, follow directions for Katraj. There are a few forks on this route, but keep going towards katraj. Once you reach Katraj, you will pass the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological park (a.k.a. Pune Zoo or Katraj Zoo ) on your left. You should see a Ghat section in front of you. On crossing this road, NH4 will “arrive” from the right. Join it and enjoy the drive for around an hour. After around an hour, you will come across a mountain cutting across the highway leaving you wondering on how to cross it. This is the Khambatki Ghat. The best part about this Ghat section is that it is one-way leaving you freely to overtake slow vehicles even on a blind curve. The ascent on this ghat is wonderful and if you can, do stop for some beautiful photo opportunities. No, don’t plan for a photo session on the way back, as the way back doesn’t have a ghat section, but a long tunnel! Once you cross this Ghat, you will see signboards for Wai/Mahabaleshwar (go under the bridge to the right). This is a nice single lane road with lot of banyan trees for company.

After around 8-9 kilometres, you have to turn for Wai (Going straight will take you to Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar). After around 3 kms, you enter Wai village. Maybe Wai was a village long time back, but it is a bustling town now and you will surely ave a strange look on your face as to why so many sources on the internet called Wai a beautiful village (just as i did!). But, what you have reached is the town centre. The real beauty of Wai is beyond that.

The village centre too has interesting spots. There is the Maha Ganapti mandir (the first photo of this post) and some nice small temples/bridges to photograph! But, the real reason why many visit Wai is a further 3 kms away, in a place called Menavali Ghat (or Menavli). Btw, it is pronounced “May”navali and not “Mee”navali. I confused quite a few locals by asking for directions to “Mee”navali Ghat.You just have to keep going a further 3 kms on the same road you entered Wai. Do not take the left (near the Ganpati mandir) crossing the bridge. We shall go there later

Menavali Ghat, the place which contains – as people would like to say – the temple appearing in Shah Rukh Khan’s Swades. This was the place which the movie referred to as Charanpur. Of course, they must have spent a lot of time cleaning up the temple’s surroundings to make it look so good. Nevertheless, the place is calm and serenely beautiful. You don’t see people by the hundreds like in Lonavala, just the few who have taken the trouble to drive over to this remote area. We spent close to half an hour taking lot of photographs.

Akshara was quite interested in the buffaloes, as she was seeing such an animal for the first time After the Shaniwar Wada trip, Akshara has taken a liking to the umbrella and it is very difficult to pry it away from her once she takes it.

I also read somewhere that the big banyan near the banks was the one used in the movie Swadesh for the Panchayat scene. So, we took some photographs near it for posterity’s sake

Right neat to the place where you park for Menavali Ghat is the Nana Phadnis Wada. This is the place where Nana Phadnis, a minister in the Peshwa era built a wada (house) for himself on the banks of the Krishna river. We didn’t have time to go inside and explore the house, but the wada looked very photogenic in the light drizzle that was on.

Not many who visit Wai take the trouble to drive another 9 kms in the single lane road until Dhom dam. You have to come back to the village centre from menavali Ghat and then cross the bridge next to the Maha Ganapathy Mandir and take a right. This road will take you to Dhom dam. But, it seems, dhom dam is closed to public and there are also signs that photography is not allowed. But, we drove a little ahead and asked people to point us towards any place where we can get close to the water (backwaters of the dam). We were shown the way towards a boating place. It is a narrow lane which opens up once you come close to the water and the view was AMAZING!

The pictures definitely don’t do justice to the beauty of this place. Vidhya even started comparing it to the views near lake thun in Interlaken, Switzerland! There were just 2 other groups of people there and they were also about to leave. The view was such that you felt the need to immediately take a panorama.

There was this strange formation on top of the mountain nearby (Second photo below). We thought that it may be the remnants of a fort, but the locals said that there was no fort there and it was just some rock formations. They looked pretty impressive from far and i am surprised that i never saw any information/photo of this online. If you have any info on this formation, drop in a comment.

We spent close to 15 minutes at this place enjoying the solitude. We left as we wanted to be back in Pune before late night. Some more photos…

On the whole, it was an enjoyable 7 hour round trip –> 2 hours from Pune to Wai (1.5 hrs if you leave early in the day), 1.5 hrs back (time saved because of the tunnel through Khambatki ghat) and the rest spent in photography and a south indian snack at gandharv dhaba (just before the Wai exit on the road from NH4 to Panchgani).

Related posts:

1. Balaji Temple at Narayanpur Village

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!

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1. Sinhagad Fort in Pune – the lion fort

Lions view point was easily the best part of my lonavala trip. The moment you reach the edge of the cliff after walking across the road, you just cannot avoid saying “wow!”. The view is majestic and panoramic. You would see dozens of small waterfalls all over the place with one waterfall pretty prominent in the view. If you know what the waterfall which appears in the middle of the pictures above and below ( and know the way to reach it), do leave a comment.

The wind is extremely strong at this place and it was quite thrilling to see many adventurous (or some may say foolhardy) people get close to the edge to get “that” living-on-the-edge photograph! On the left , you see a conical hill, which i came to know was referred to as the shiv-ling. Lions view point is a must-visit on a trip to lonavala.

Related posts:

1. Lonavala waterfall
2. Bushi Dam in Lonavala

During the monsoons, everywhere you turn, you see waterfalls in Lonavala. Why then a post called “Lonavala Waterfall”. This is the official lonavala waterfall, not just water which falls somewhere! A short climb after the Bushi Dam, you will come across a huge parking lot on the right with lot of shops selling the usual corn, pakodas and chai. From this parking lot, you have walk/trek/scamper down over the rocks to come to this waterfall.

I went to one of the shops and asked the way to the waterfall, as there were no signs. The guy at the shop nonchlantly pointed me towards the edge of the cliff and asked me “walk down there”, “there” –> edge of the cliff where water was falling off. I was not  convinced that this was the way as there was no path there, just random slippery boulders over which water was flowing at a steady speed.  Another shopkeeper also pointed in the same direction.

The rocks are actually not so slippery as they look. But, it was quite an experience to walk over the rocks when the water is also flowing. it would be quite difficult for old people to make it through. Once i reach the bottom, the waterfalls appeared on the right and the stream/river flowed to the left. There were people everywhere, really everywhere. But, it looked like fun. The flow was pretty fast and people enjoyed the mini-rapids. Some were even brave enough to go behind the falls and have a different perspective!

The view of the hills from the falls is amazing. You can frolic in the water and then just relax looking at the view!

Once you have had you fill of the waterfall (no pun intended), you can even go for a camel ride at the parking lot. i have no clue how or why a camel ride fits in here, of all places!

Related posts:

1. Lions view point near Lonavala
2. Bushi Dam in Lonavala

Bushi Dam is located a few kilometres from Lonavala and is a very (very very) popular weekend hangout for Pune’ites. When the Bushi dam overflows, the water flows over a series of steps and then over some easily accessible rocky terrian. The terrain and the water make for a fun combination and this is why Bushi dam gets extremely crowded on weekend. So crowded, that a first time vistor (like me) would be left searching for the “steps” which everyone talks about, only to realise that every inch of the steps have been occupied.

Every open space close to Bushi dam will have a board “Bushi dam parking” and there will be guys literally peeping inside your car and turning your steering wheel towards their parking. Thebest place to park would be beyond the dam (on coming from Lonavala) om the sides of the road. Parking on the road also helps you to get out of the place faster. There are no single/double yellow lines to bother you here.

To reach the dam, you have to wade through knee-deep water (depending on the water level). There are lot of shops selling rubber slippers which are more suited to the water/rocks rather than your expensive fake Nike shoes. But, i noticed that many were well prepared and had worn the worst slippers that they could find at home.

Bushi dam is so commercialized to the extent that there are a few dozen shops in the small area next to the dam selling anything from corn and pakodas to chai. You can relax on the steps and order them and they will be delivered to you right at your doorstep.

Overall, this is a good place to visit if you love getting wet from head-to-toe.

Related posts:

1. Lonavala waterfall
2. Lions view point near Lonavala

This was the first outing after the rains had started. Having seen the “wet green” in photographs of the western ghats, my expectations were very high. Sinhagad lived up to these expectations. It was drizzling and most of the fort was covered in mist. The sun was peeping through small gaps in te clouds making the whole scene ethereal.

This was also the first “long” trip for the Xylo. Yeah 25 kms qualifies as a long trip in Pune! The drive was enjoyable and Xylo managed the bad roads pretty well.

Route from Pune to Sinhagad fort: It took more than an hour to reach the base of Sinhagad from Magarpatta. You have to reach Swargate to catch the Sinhagad road. To go to swargate from magarpatta, go on the solapur highway (big bazaar, krome route ). Keep on going on this road and you will reach Swargate signal. From there, you will find directions to Sinhagad. The route to sinhagad passes through Khadakwasla dam. The dam was not overflowing then. Even with less water, the dam was a pretty sight with lot of revelers enjoying the waves and eating corn!

Even with just a week or so of the rains, the greenery on the way was worth watching. Once we reached the base of Sinhagad, the commercialisation of the place became obvious with so many jeeps vying to offer you a drive to the top, if you didn’t want to go by yourself.

The road to the top of the fort is steep and the condition of the road is also not so good. Particularly, the hairpin bends have been very poorly designed with no provision of any kind of banking. It was a thrilling experience to take the xylo (with 7 adults) to the top. On many turns, i was forced to stop because of some oncoming vehicle and it was tough to start again on the curve and many a time i started to screeching tyres.

We did make a lot of stops on the way for many photo sessions. Nearing the top of the hill, mist almost covered the entire place. One particular view was amazing. The whole valley was in the shade/mist with the sun showing through only on a small area in the middle. The photo below doesn’t do any justice to the actual scene, but it can give you an idea have to start using RAW for all images from now on!

Once on the top, we had to get Akshara all dressed up, as it was quite chilly. This was our first outing with Akshara in Pune and it took quite a while to get Akshara in the sling. The last time she was in the sling was few months when she was much smaller! We didn’t spend long enough on the fort to explore it in its entirety, as we had some party to go to that evening. Anyway, this demo version was good enough to ensure that we visit again. More photos of the fort then.

Related posts:

1. shaniwar wada – the palace fort inside Pune city
2. Balaji Temple at Narayanpur Village

My first outing in Pune was to the Balaji temple near Narayanpur village. I didn’t take my camera with me at that time, but the place/route was good enough to make a second visit within 2 months. The balaji temple near narayanpur is meant to be a replica of the Tirupati temple in all aspects. The priests there have come from Tirupati and every “sevai” done is similar to the one in tirupati. They even give out one laddoo to every visitor!

The temple is very well maintained and if you visit quite early in the day (they open at 5 AM) , you can see the main deity in a matter of minutes whereas on a weekend or in the later half of the day, quite a queue builds up. In summer, the ground gets really hot and it can be quite an experience to reach the comfort of the shade from the point where you leave your slippers.

Route from Pune to Narayanpur: I stay in Magarpatta, so all the routes mentioned start at Magarpatta! Go towards hadapsar market. Do not go over the flyover, go tothe left of it. Once you see the hadapsar bus stand (to the right, when going from magarpatta), you have to go around it . You have to go on this quite a long distance to reach Saswad village. You will cross a Ghat section to reach Saswad. Once you reach here, you would see a bus stand (a bigger bus stop to be precise!) and also a Sivaji Statue (not a good landmark, as there are Sivaji statues all over Maharashtra, just like the statues of Mayawati and her elephants all over UP). Beyond this bus stand, you will see sign boards for Narayanpur. The moment you take this turn, you will enter a maze of extremely small streets. After crossing this village, the greenery starts to open up. This road will take you right into Narayanpur and to the Balaji temple beyond that.

One of the landmarks you will see on the way is the structure below while crossing a narrow bridge. I somehow get reminded of Angkor Wat whenever i see this photo, dunno why!

The first time when i visited here, the surroundings were pretty dull, but everyone told me that things drastically change with the onset of the monsoons and they were right! The whole route was bathed in green with numerous small waterfalls and streams dotting the sides of the road.

A trip which should normally take around an hour one-way ended up taking almost double the time, because the temptation to stop the car and go out and take photographs was too much to overcome.

Just a few kilometres ahead of the balaji temple is the fort hill of Purandar. A small road goes to the left (with clear signs, albeit in Marathis). If yo don’t know Marathi/Hindi, look for the Sivaji photo! We had not planned a visit to this fort, but i drove towards it just to see the demo version so that i can plan an exclusive trip later. The road was in a pretty bad condition. We met one passer-by and confirmed that this indeed was the road up to Purandar. He confirmed that and said that road condition is much worser further on. It had also started raining heavily by then. So, we turned back. But a walk/trek up to Purandar (a drive, if your car is well insured) is a must on the to-do list!

Related posts:

1. Picturesque wai village near Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar