Kolhapur Darshan

Whole day went by and I was wondering how these people will run out of office and rush to the station to catch the train. I was lucky I took leave so I had all the time in world to pack my back and leave home at my ease. As expected my over cautious nature brought me healthy 1 hour to spare before train arrived.

I went out by central bridge to Dadar east and was waiting for my friend to show up but as usual she ditched and I was all alone standing in front Hanuman Mandir. Just as I was keeping my mobile in place it rang, a unknown number but sure enough it was from known person. Ashu called enquiring about my whereabouts. He was surprised to know that I was waiting for nearly 45 mins. Soon we all gathered at platform no 5, near our S11 bogey.

Around 8:30, a harsh announcement came from speakers overhead.
“Something something Kolhapur jaane wali mahalaxmi express coming at platform number 5”.
Once we heard the train name we all got excited, picked up our bags and rushed towards the digital bogey display showing S11. Train arrived and Abhijit was standing at the door waving his hand. As soon as train came to halt we rushed in with our luggage. We knew train waits only for 2 mins at Dadar.

Now inside train,
We saw an array of unexpected occupants on our seats and all the booked seats were dispersed far apart. Later we came to know that these people will get down at Kalyan and aisle would then clear up. Once train left Kalyan we started plea management to get two seats together. Luckily Nikhil and Ashu were able to get the seats in sequence.
Who said dinner in train metabolizes faster because of ongoing churning process? No one. Dinner went well with surprise waiting for later part a polythene bag filled with Aloo parotha made by Salils mom were a bon appetite. The best Aloo parotha every tasted better than only parothas Trust me on this one.

After a nice stomach filling dinner Samdhia decide to sleep and soon it was deeps turn to hit the bed. But my eyelids though heavy refused to shut down. Remembering my Jammu Journey brought enough zest to keep going and also the cold air coming from small gaps brought sudden chill (Hudhudi barli).

Time pass by with fun gossips and grapevines. Clock ticked away in wee hour couple of drowsy eyes still talking with each other. Nikhil cramped up between Ashu and me. Abhi took efforts to sleep in a sound position balancing him between two middle berths and then suddenly Aunty on lower berth woke up started packing her back and rummaging the seats keep her head low and there she was waiting for Abhi to get up and so did the rest of us got up just to help aunty get down. But it was not sangli where she intended to get down. Laughs all around woke up everyone and then started the ritual of brushing in train (remember the song “Maaeri”)
I forgot to mention we (Abhi and I) got photos of almost all stations the train halted. The final halt was at Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj station Kolhapur. So we reached Kolhapur. It was 8:00 am and people were ready doing Shree Ganesh to their business. As soon as we got the station doors we were rushed upon by beggars, vada pav walas, Rickshaw walas and few private transport people. We consulted among ourselves and decided to take the private vehicle to take us to some decent hotel. ( Not hotel Decent). Looking at us no one thought we would be IT working crowd ready to spend on luxurious rooms in Kolhapur, with same perspective Driver uncle suggested us Dharmashalas. We drove around station area searching for rooms. Many must have planned to visit the City of god and goddess on this long leave coming ahead (26th January – 60th Year of Republic INDIA) but in vain no hotels were available. Then after a long search we got one room for 9 people with a mere cost of 100 per head. Hotel Venkatesh was our abode for Kolhapur.

It was Saturday Morning 10:00 am hungry stomach was making noise and visuals of missal pav were flashing in and out of sleepy but not tired mind. We boys (Salil, Abhi, Ashu, Nikhil and I) set out to find some restaurant for our breakfast and we found a nice hangout for starving stomach – Hotel Avanti specialty in serving hot Vada Pav and awesome tasting missal pav along with Sweet rava halwa it was just the perfect morning breakfast to gorge for. Coming back we saw a roadside tea stall selling tea in unique cups and we had our “ek cup cutting chai”.

After our morning ablutions we were out and ready to explore the scenic Kolhapur. Mahalaxmi Temple was our first stop it was walking distance from our hotel.

The Shri Mahalakshmi Temple of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India, is one of the Shakti Peethas listed in various puranas of Hinduism. According to these writings, a Shakti Peetha is a place associated with Shakti, the goddess of power.

Mounted on a stone platform, the image of the four armed and crowned goddess is made of gemstone and weighs about 40 kilograms. The image of Mahalakshmi carved in black stone is 3 feet in height. The Shri Yantra is carved on one of the walls in the temple.


Just round the corner was Bhavani mandap

Bhavani Mandap is a historical building, although smaller in size than Mahalaxmi temple, Bhavani Mandap holds equal importance to the citizens and pilgrims all over the country. It is the temple of goddess Tulja Bhavani (also known as Bhavani) who according to mythology is a guest in her elder sister Mahalaxmi's city Kolhapur. The place has the nostalgic charm and typical architecture of the British Raj bringing back memories of the rich princely state Kolhapur used to be.

At Bhavani Mandap, we can find the life size statue of Kolhapur's most loved prince Shahu Maharaj and many stuffed animals. An eye catcher is huge Gibson cover is saffron from the daily rituals.
Before heading to old museum we went walking to Binkhambi ganesh Mandir unfortunately it was closed. An architectural wonder, the unique feature of the Binkhambi Ganesh Mandir is that it has been constructed without the use of even a single pillar.

Next on the travel list was Old Museum which was closed for lunch but we did captured few nice nature pictures from that spot. Few of the bats and lotus pictures were clicked here. From there we headed towards New Palace (Shahuji Chhatrapati Museum).

The New Palace in Kolhapur houses the Shahuji Chhatrapati Museum- a weird array of the former Maharaja's possessions, who recently died in 1983. British architect Charles Mant designed the New Palace in 1881 in the Indo-Sarcenic style.

Just outside the palace we clicked lot of snaps of caged deer and emus. It was almost lunch time but looking at the today’s visiting spots we decided to skip lunch and gorge on bhakarvadi from MM mithai wala and cold drinks which made Abhi burp hard enough to get decibel calculator clicking.

Around 4pm we reached Kaneri Math/Siddhargiri Museum

A person is born and brought up in his own surroundings and he adopts the very same culture. He does not tolerate any mischief or interference by anybody with this culture. It is often his endeavors to protect onslaught on it. For that purpose he has in his mind his own image about the culture. This museum is a humble attempt for the guidance of posterity.

Just next to siddhargiri Museum was unknown but beautiful Rashi garden. It had all the 12 zodiac signs sculptures making it somewhat a unique garden. We were running out of time and we had to go to Rankala Lake to do boating. As we reached the Rankala Lake sun was going down on horizon and our plans for boating were screwed. We ended up on Rankala Lake enjoying kolhapuri bhel though not a specialty it was different.

The fun part begins now, we came to our rooms stomach partly filled and after few mins we plan to go for dinner to the same restaurant where we had our breakfast. Luckily we had to wait for our turn because the seats weren’t empty then. We waited for nearly half and hour but the wait was well rewarded with the best solkadi I ever tasted. It was good enough to delight the taste-buds of the Gods.

Early morning we rushed through the time and got ready to check out the hotel and head for Panhala. At 23kms away from Kolhapur, Panhala was waiting for us. As soon as we filled the toll we were greeted by boisterous statue of Bajiprabhu Deshpande. As we went up the steep road in search of a hotel we saw a nice apartment named ‘Casa Royal’. Unfortunately it was only available for stay for bachelors. After a long search which includes skipping the breakfast, we finally got accommodation in MTDC Cottages at a very reasonable rate.
We kept our bags in the room and then went for lunch to a nearby mess/ Khanaval. The name of hotel was Gauri Hotel and all the dishes were named prefix with Gauri (Gauri Chicken Deluxe. For some special reason Nikhil and Ashu turned vegetarian and everything in their plate had started to turn wow. We got a new word for the trip wow to be said in Saif Ali Khan style. After heavy lunch we set out to roam Panhala fort which had lost its beauty thanks to India tourism that refuse to maintain this heritage. After that we went to Panhala garden. Truly a laugh riot in Panhala garden with sneha trying her skills in climbing a rope ladder and Salil ‘the macho man’ doing the same with ease. I also tried some tricks of my own but in vain. After lot of photos in the garden we (Sansani Mandal) decided to do something totally outrageous we decided to shoot a video
Lights, camera and action, we were dancing on the tunes of PAA. It is a video to be watched at your own risk because you will laugh your heart out. That was crazy. We had jolly ride on a toy train outside the garden. Our brain nuts which were already loose must have surely fallen after ride. In real sense I would call that ride as seeing the ups and downs of life.

Snacks at Panhala included (Missal Pav / Tomato Omelet / Pav Bhaji / Dosa /Tea) and then we were off to hotel. We went searching for holy water but maharaja had other plans for our Knock out phase. We had a quick dinner at Rasna Hotel. The same plate system with Kolhapur specialty of pandhra rassa and lal rassa always available at all hotels. After that we were in a room of versatilities with people from IT proving there worth in physics, sports, acting and dancing.

Early to bed, early to rise may contradict our sleep schedule because we followed the mantra of late to bed, early to rise. Had a long day planned ahead with North - East Bound Tour of Kolhapur. After leaving Panhala the first stop was at Jyotiba.

Jyotiba Temple is located 14 km north-west of Kolhapur in the Panhala Range, in Maharashtra. It is situated at an altitude of 3124 ft above the sea level.
The temple is dedicated to Jyotiba (also Dattatreya), which was formed by the amalgamation of the jyotis (souls) of three gods - Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. Legend has it that the three gods took the form of Jyotiba to destroy the evil Ratnasur.


After Jyotiba we went to Chinmaya ganesh

The 66-feet Chinmaya Ganadhish idol in Kolhapur is at present considered to be the tallest Ganesha idol in the world. The idol sits on 24-feet Dhyana Nilayam (raised platform). Thus the statue is 90 feet from the ground level. This tall Ganapati is a permanent statue unlike the idols created during Ganesh Chaturthi.

Unfortunately this beautiful work of art was not finished yet. This came as a disappointment to us. But whenever you are disappointed you must say to your heart all izz well. We told our heart all izz well and left for Narsobachi Wadi.


Narsobachi Wadi, also known as Narsobawadi, is a small village located about 22 km from Sangli and 45 km from Kolhapur, in Maharashtra. Situated at the confluence of Krishna River and Panchaganga River, the place has great archeological importance.
Narsobachi Wadi Temple, dedicated to Lord Dattatreya, is another point of attraction

When you are in a village you will get great hospitality and amazing food. We were lucky to find a mess which had a really sweet owner who insisted on extra rice and chapatti. It was best Maharashtraian food you could have. After heavy stomach bursting food we went to Ramling a scenic temple of shiv ling situated in a cave where water from the above mentioned river is available 12 months 24 hours a day. After all temple visits it was back to our abode in Kolhapur – Hotel Venkatesh. We kept our bags and we went on a shopping spree. Kolhapur is well known for its textiles and cottons - Kolhapuri saris in particular. It is also famous for its jewelry and leather sandals or Kolhapuri Chappals which are famous the world over. Mahadwar and Shivaji Roads are good places to shop. We bought some chilly paste (thecha) and then sneha and I went in search for famous kolhapuri chivda and our search hit the treasure house we entered a unique name shop “Sangeet Chivda” after asking the history of the place we came to know that in early days when plays were famous actors used to feel bad that there was no music in the plays. There complaints or grudges were discussed at this place with some music or sangeet and it became a time pass activity. All actors who enjoyed this chivda compliment it by saying, “Kiti sangeet chivda ahe.”

After doing with eatables it was time for kolhapuri Chappals. Sneha, Deepika got two pairs each and then we got 20 or more small kolhapuri Chappals as gifts to our friends and souvenirs. All shopping done for the day and we were back to hotel. I do not know what fun these guys had because I was tired and fast asleep.

Next morning we were returning back to Mumbai by Koyna express. We hardly missed any station which we may not have captured in our camera. Train journey was good and musical though we were out of order. No sur no Taal. Journey came to end as we all got down at Dadar and returned to our respective homes.

If was a great refresher for me after a tiring no trip 2 years in Bangalore, frankly speaking I was bored and this trip vivified my “once upon a time” life back to normal. Sansani Mandal Rocks in true sense.

Jai Maharashtra! Jai Kolhapur! Sansani mandalacha vijay aso ;)