Morning Walk on Juhu Chowpaty, Vashi, New Mumbai on 27-Jan-2020

A nice one hour long morning walk was done on Juhu Chowpati, Park, Vashi, Navi Mumbai on Sunday. Vashi Mini Seashore is a 4.7 mile (11,000-step) route located near Vashi, Navi Mumbai, India. Place is good with trees alongside seashore making it a beautiful. Very good weather and nice Sunset with reflection in the lake. Idea of steel statues of Yoga postures is really innovative.

A very good public facility in the crowed city of Navi Mumbai ... !!!

Visit to Annapolis, MD, USA and Thomas Point Park on 08-Jun-2019

Visited Annapolis, Maryland and Sandy Point State Park with Myra, Priyanka, Ankit, Sadhana and enjoyed an evening in the historic city. 

Annapolis is capital city of Maryland and famous mainly for 18th Century brick-houses United States Naval Academy, and Chesapeake Bay. It was temporary capital of USA in 1783-1784. A happening tourist place with nice traditional main street famous for ice-cream, chocolates and fudges. The place has rich heritage of arts, culture and theatre.  Had a good walk on the main street with music playing and market full of tourists, variety of cars and bikes. 

Visit to Bushkill Waterfalls and Smithfield Beach on 26-May-2019

Bushkill Waterfalls is a series of eight privately owned waterfalls, the tallest of which cascades over 100 feet (30 m), located in Pocono Mountains in the United States. Beginning at the headwaters of the Little Bush Kill, the water descends the mountain, toward the Delaware River, forming Bushkill Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, Bridesmaid Falls, Laurel Glen Falls, Pennell Falls, and three additional, unnamed falls. The place is also  popular for hiking and birdwatching. The area has a variety of trails and bridges that vary in length and difficulty. The fall is also known as "Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania."

Visited Bushkill Waterfalls and Smithfield Beach with Paliwals and Sadhna for 4-5 hours. Completed a trail for about 2 hours enjoying the waterfall and the nature around.

With ever smiling Paliwals in front of the waterfall

Visit to Roland Lake, Baltimore MD on 17-May-2019

Lake Roland Park, Baltimore MD is a city/county park encompassing over 500 acres of woodland, wetlands, serpentine barrens, rare plants and rocky plateaus surrounding Lake Roland in Baltimore County, Maryland. A hidden lush green gem in Towson MD for walking, cycle and running around the lake.

Little Myra, Priyanka, Sadhana and myself visited the park in  the evening for 2 hours. Nice beautiful place covering over 500 acres of woodland, wetlands, serpentine barrens, rare plants and rocky plateaus surrounding Lake Roland . Ideal for a day-out in the surroundings of lush green trees, tweeting birds, and trails.

A Short Drive on Horses & Hound Scenic Byway on 12-Mar-2019

Today, I was very lucky to have a short drive for about an 30 minutes on  Horses and Hound Scenic Byway and was really enjoyed the snaky road and the nature around it. The byway is so named because of the fox hunting and horse breeding that has been a part of the culture in these hills and valleys.

Visit to Great Falls Park on 10-Mar-2019

Visited Great Falls Park along the Potomac River near Washington DC on 10-Mar-2019. Very nice place with nature's different flavor with tall leafless trees. We see here series of steep, jagged rocks making an idle place for kayaking.Easy to access from Washington DC and nice place to spare a few hours.

Shahs, Paliwals and Pathaks

A Snowy Day in Towson, MD on 20-Feb-2019

The weather was  pleasing and nature bestowed upon its best everywhere as snowfall continued through out the morning. The temperature was sub-zero. And anyhow with some determination, took an half-an-hour walk around the neighborhood and enjoyed the chill and nature's beautiful bounty.  Government vehicles were busy clearing the snow prompt using salt and me taking snaps and watching the scene -  नज़ारा. 

Visit to Junagadh, Girnar, Somnath and Dwaraka in Jan-2019

A visit to Guru Dattatreya Temple, Girnar and Somnath and Dwaraka was organized by Durg Malhar Treks and Tours from 5 Jan, 2019 to 8 Jan-19. The travel was done by railway, bus and auto-rikshaw. Sumant Kelkar, Sadhana and me extended this tour to Dwaraka from 5-Jan, 2019 to 11-Jan-19 and returned to Thane on 12-Jan-2019.

Visit to Dwaraka, Rukmani, Nagnath, Gopi and Bet Dwaraka from 09-Jan-19 to 11-Jan-19

On 09-Jan-2019, visited Dwaraka, Rukmini Temple, Nagnath Mandir, Gopi, Bhet Dwaraka. Krishna ruled from Dwaraka, spent time with Gopies at Gopi village and his residence was at Bhet Dwarka. Bhet Dwaraka is also known for the Sudama's - Krishna's childhood friend visit

.

Selfie at Dwaraka Station : The steam-engine named as "Dwaraka"

Visit to Somnath on 08-Jan-2019

Visited Somnath Temple located at Prabhas Patan near Veralval in Saurashtra believed to be the first Jyotirlinga of Shiva. The site of Somnath has been a pilgrimage site from ancient times on account of being a Triveni Sangam (the confluence of three rivers: Kapila, Hiran and Sarasvati). The present temple is built in the Chaulukya style of temple architecture or "Kailash Mahameru Prasad" style.

The temple is situated at such a place that there is no land in a straight line between Somnath seashore until Antarctica, such an inscription in Sanskrit is found on the Bāṇastambha (Sanskrit: बाणस्तम्भ, lit. arrow pillar) erected on the sea-protection wall. The Bāṇastambha mentions that it stands at a point on the Indian landmass that is the first point on land in the north to the South Pole at that particular longitude.

With Kelkar and Sadhana at Somnath Beach

Visit to Dattatreya Temple on Girnar Peak on 7 Jan-2019

A visit to Guru Dattatreya Temple, Girnar Peak was organized by Durg Malhar Treks and Tours in Jan, 2019. Girnar Mountain is older than Himalayas The temple of Guru Dattatreya is located on the top of holy mountain Girnar and takes a tough climb of 10,000 steps .On the way, the devotee passes Jain temples around 3,800 steps, Goddess Ambaji 5,000 steps and Gorakhnath around 7,000 steps. Gorakhnath is the highest peak in Gujarat. The climb is quite difficult and testing the mental and physical ability of the devotees.

Day 17 - Visit to Indore, Omkareshwar, Mandaleshwar on 01-Dec-2018

Khajrana Ganesh Temple  was built in 1735 by Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar. It is said that the ancient statue in the temple statue was seen in a dream of a local Pandit Mangal Bhatt. After this dream, the queen Ahilya Bai Holkar excavated and installed the idol from under the ground and installed it. From where the statue was removed, there is a well, which is right in front of the temple.

Day 15 - Visit to Bheda Ghat, Raisen as on 29-Nov-2018

Bheda Ghat  Major attraction is a waterfall known as Dhuandhar, which looks like smoke coming out of the river and therefore it got its name as "Dhuan(smoke)-dhar(flow of water)". Another major attraction is 'Bandar Kodini', when one travels in between the marble rocks in a boat, the mountains at both the sides at one point come so close that the monkeys are able to jump across them, hence the name "Bandar Kodini". 

Day 11- Visit to Konark, Pipli, Bhubaneshwar Dhauli Stupa, Simhachal on 24-Nov-2018

Reached Beach, Konark at Sunrise and surprised to see a few thousand tourists at the beach before 5 am to see the sunrise. The day was memorable because of the twilight of Moon, bath in the sea and observing the sunrise, offering prayers to the rising Sun. 

The beach in the twilight of the Moon just before Sunrise

Day 10- Visit to Puri and Konark as on 23-Nov-2019

Jagannath Temple Puri is one of four pithas (important place for Hindus) along with Dwaraka, Rameshwaram and Badrinath.  Spent about 3 hours in the premises of the Jaganath Temple and also had delicious prasadam in an earthen pot. The market is good but could spent about 30-45 minutes. Need to visit this place once again and move around in this holy city.

Day 07 - Visit to Mahanandi, Srisailya as on 21-Nov-2019

Mahanandi Temple, is located Nallamala Hills near Nandyal one of the Nava Nandis. The main temple is surrounded by three pools: two small pools at the entrance and one big pool inside the temple itself. Could spend 2 hours and it was a quick darshan before proceeding to Srisailya.

Mahanandi Temple

A Trek to Naneghat on 04-Aug-2018

Trek to Naneghat-Route Map on 4th August with an energetic group 35 youngsters. A pass of 250 BC used for commercial purposes during Satvahan era. Naneghat, also referred to as Nanaghat or Nana Ghat, is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range between the Konkan coast and the ancient town of Junnar in the Deccan plateau. 

With marathon runners Sharad, Vyankatesh and Suresh Nair

Visit to Lonawala in Rain Season as on 17-Jun-2018

Visiting Lonawala in rainy season is always a lot of fun due to lush green nature, heavy rains, strong wind and .... crazy crowd full of enthusiasm. Visited Tiger's point and Bhushi Dam and enjoyed the nature.

Visit to Sand Dunes, Kuldhara, Jaiselmer, Army Museum as on 21 and 22 Feb-2018

Visited Sam Sand Dunes near Jaiselmer the point which is famous in Thar desert for Desert Safari and camel riding. The safari rides are along the breathtaking crests and troughs. 


The Thar desert is a must place to visit as very different in nature. Best time is the winter only. Summer is very hot unbearable.

Warm Welcome at the resort

Visit to Lakshdweep from 11-Nov-2017 to 15-Nov-2017

Visited Lakshadweep from 11-Nov-2011 to 15-Nov-2017 by Samundrum Package by the Society for Promotion of Nature Tourism and Sports (SPORTS). 

Samundrum Package is a five days cruise to visit Kavaratti, Kalpeni and Minicoy by ship MV Kavaratti. Professionally managed tour by SPORTS and enjoyed every moment of it.  The tour comprise of 181 tourist coming from various parts of India like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and of course Maharashtra (Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Jalgaon). Eminent tourist were from Indian Navy, Judiciary, research institute and other areas. 

MV Kavaratti