Day 1: Malvan - Panya Madhe Killa

Day 1:
This time round, I and Rohit decided to travel to my home town - Malvan. Well, I thought nothing new. How boring. The same road, travelled atleast a 100 times back and forth in the last 5 years. But on a Thunderbird, it sure is a different story. To be honest, I had travelled to Malvan some 10-11 years back with Ananda Kaka and it was really amazing. This time, I was travelling on the Thunderbird.
Tanked up at Khed-Shivapur and started from the Konde-Deshmukh fuel bunk at 7:00 AM sharp. Took our first break at the toll booth after Satara, 15 Kms before Karad (approx.)
Some snaps -

- Again the same old companions parked in the shade.

Moved on towards Kolhapur and stopped right at the Kolhapur entry gate. The time was 10:15 AM. That is cool. I tell you, we covered 230 Kms in 3 hrs 15 minutes flat. Boy, are we good or are we good at covering distances.

Rohit caught up with an acquaintance in Kolhapur and with his directions, we headed to the most famous "Phadtare Misal House" in Udyam Nagar. I had not eaten at this joint in my earlier trips and trust you me, the misal is just awesome. No words to describe it. This eating joint is located in an industrial area and is open from 7 am till 1 PM. At 1 PM, the owner shuts down the eating joint and reopens the same shop as a garage. Thats business strategy redefined for you. :)

After having our stomachs (large ones at that) full, we headed towards the notorious "Gaganbawda Ghat". I was expecting very bad roads due to recent monsoon rains but to my surprise, the roads were in pretty good shape. With the wind in our "helmets", we rode on for 50 odd Kms on winding roads and some "WADAP" traffic and halted 8 Kms from Gaganbawda.

The roads are just awesome towards Gaganbawda. 50 Kms of blissful riding I say.

After this short break, we headed towards the ghat. The ghat was just awesome man. It was misty, the clouds had descended on the hills, there was a chill in the air. Let the pictures do the talking.

Took some snaps and then headed on towards our next halt Kankavli. At the base of the "Gaganbawda ghat", there's a village named "Karul". Hence this ghat is also called "Karul Ghat". There's a police check post there and seeing me on the bike, the policeman promptly signalled me to stop. I thought to myself, damn, u should have got the bike papers along. Now you are screwed big time if he asks for them. The conversation in marathi goes as follows:

(P)olice: Kuthun aalaat?

Me: Punyahun.

P: Kuthe challat?

Me: Malvanla

P: Malvnla kuthe?

Me: Bilwas la.

P: Bilwas? Tikde kon aste?

Me: Me asto.

P(confused): Bilwasche Palav kay tumhi?

Me: Nahi, Bilwasche Vaze.

P(still confused): Bar bar.

Me: Malvanche Dr. Sharad Vaze te majhe kaka

P: Palike samorcha dawakhana?

Me: Correct.

P: Bar bar, aho me pan Malvancha aahe. Aaplya gaavchya lokanna amhi traas det nahi. Jaudya.

Me: Dhanyawaad. Maagun majha mitra yeil, same ashach bike var. Tyala soda.

P: Bara bara.

Me: Hushshshshshshsh!!!!

Ride on!!! Next halt Kankavli. At Kankavli we decide to buy a Royal Stag khamba since civilization is atleast 10 Kms away from my home.

Fortunately or unfortunately there's no liquor store in Kankavli. The only option to buy is from a bar. Hmmmm...Now thats interesting. It is almost 2 PM and the weather has turned sultry since Kankavli is almost at sea level.

We enter the bar to buy the khamba. We pay up and on second thoughts, decide to have a beer instead of the tea. There's only 30 Kms of internal no-traffic roads to travel now.

We have 5 bottles of Fosters' between the 2 of us and are now feeling really good. There's no heat!!! Hick hick!!

Somehow we manage to pick ourselves up and ride on towards our destination.

We finally reach at around 4:45 PM. :)

We wash up, have some nice tea prepared by my father (he had reached there the earlier day). After resting for a while, we decide to visit town for some sight seeing, have our food and come back for the night. We also took dad along since he would get bored all alone.

We go to a place called "DaryaSarang" which according to Rohit is a cool place to hang out. We reach there only to find out that they dont serve beer there anymore. Shucks!!

We then headed out to the omni-present and now renovated "Hotel Hoy-Saayba"!!!

All the 3 of us get drunk on the all time favourite "Royal Stag", then have chicken tikka, pomfret fry and roti for food and head towards a paan shop for banarasi-kiwam-120/300 paan. Sllluuurrrppp...I love it, I love it.

Pan in the mouth, I kick started the bike, engaged the first gear and SNAP!!! The clutch cable had snapped. We tried to fix it but I didn't have a spare and could not do anything. The thought of walking 10 Kms through thick forest in the night at 11 PM crossed my mind more than once. Otherwise, I would have to make 2 trips on Rohit's bike!! That was not too good as well.

Luckily Mr. Vinayak Chavan lives in Malvan and owns a lodge in the town itself. Well, I know what you are thinking. But wait - he also owns a car.

Off we go knocking at Mr. Chavan's gate. He obliges with the car keys, and we reach home in the comfort of the a/c.

We are dead tired after the eventful day and ready to crash.

That my friends wraps up day 1.