travel » Wide Aware

Coastal Coastal Konkan on Bike

Jan 062009

Giving in to popular demand, Wide Aware introduces “Coastal, Coastal Konkan on Bike” – the motorcycle tour we have been promising for a long time. And no, we are not talking about the Mumbai Goa highway, but of routes really along the sea as far as possible.

Another reason for this trip is the jealousy and interest expressed by most friends who hear our happy go lucky wanderings which are unbound by “planned sightseeing”. So now you have no excuse. If you wish for a taste of a life on the move, this is your chance.

Tour dates: 24th Jan 2009 to 29th Jan 2009

The idea is to travel the rural Konkan along the sea. In this journey, we will not be touching the NH17 (National Highway) at all. The journey takes us through the different coastal districts with a stay in each of them – Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

We hug the coast all through and always take the road that is closest to the sea. At times this means that we will come across creeks interrupting our route, and we will put our bikes on boats to cross over to the other side and continue our ride.

This trip is planned to be the essence of Konkan. Local food, MTDC or similar hotels and local ambiance all through.

The specialty of this trip is something that can’t be described in terms of places and agendas, but a holistic Konkan experience.

The bike will be yours, the fuel will be yours and the accommodation and food will be provided along the route.

One of the main reasons for this plan is that the NH-17 is crowded and has become a cliché for Konkan, but really, the Konkan is the rural region and the sea beyond the reach of the horn blaring crowds. The season is perfect, and the weather is going to be awesome.

Don’t forget your cameras!

We travel as far as Goa and dump our bikes on Volvos and travel overnight back to Mumbai – giving us the best use of our time for leisure and a quick return that doesn’t bite into our schedule back home.

So what are you waiting for?

PS: The photos of the previous trip that we have are in the gallery under ‘other trips’. They are not particularly good, as they haven’t been shot to convey a story of the trip, but just randomly shot for fun. Raka should be returning with better images from this trip and I will put them up by the first week of Feb.

Download more information: Coastal, Coastal Konkan on Bike

Why in the Outdoor World?

Hikes, Mountain Learning, Nature Awareness 1 Response »

Aug 152008

In a mood for mischief. Was looking around at various sites and blogs. The Mumbai Hikers Blog, Lonely Planet, wikitravel.org, Trekshitiz …. and I was wondering what do I write on my blog. This is what came up – my intense need to know.

What is it in the outdoors and adventure travel that calls to people? Honestly there is mud, mosquitoes, snakes and other creeps. There are no easy lifts and clean beds. Food and cooking is primitive. We exhaust ourselves climbing a mountain and risk life and limb to come down again. So why?

Why is the world so passionate about (to quote some inquiry emails I get) weekend gateways, hiking, treasure hunt riddles clues, rappling, climbing and so many other things that they don’t even know how to spell? What about those things tempts them? What makes them leave their warm and cosy homes in pursuit of strange hardships with even stranger people? Continue reading »

Celebrating Karjat

Mountain Learning No Responses »

Jul 132008

The whole Karjat, Neral area is so lush green and totally enchanting this time. I just spent a weekend there. I’d gone to Dr. Modi’s Health Resort to attend the ISABS Umang Party and generally get in touch with the community, and then Raka and I took off to a friend’s bungalow in Neral.

Driving around the place, I realized how far it has come from the time I had begun trekking in this region. New resorts in Karjat seem to have sprung up every where and this area and Neral and Matheran seem to have become the most popular picnic spot near Mumbai. Crowds of tourists that look like friends, families and even corporate groups can be seen in the waterfalls around Karjat, generally having a great time.

Its a loooong way from how we guys were considered odd because we wanted to head out to this region in the monsoons. Of course, our world was mostly roughing it out, hikes, staying in caves….. Photography in particular used to be considered an expensive hobby. None of us had really thought of photographs beyond memories of our trip.

As “Mumbai picnic spots” go, it is a whole new world. Nature resorts near Mumbai are a growing trend, both in availability as well as demand. Quick, clean service, lovely ambiance and a whole new attitude of “back to nature” is a far cry from the rural mentality of pride in simplicity and basic accommodation with few facilities. While I miss the good old days and the charm of life in the mountains, I see this as an evolution in the mindsets of the Mumbai crowd, where pleasure in the outdoors is becoming more and more accessible, inviting and desired for the less adventurous.

Once more, it was Raka, me and our trusted bike, out in the mountains wandering to our hearts content, remembering the good old days and welcoming the change.

Adventure Tourism in India? What’s that?

Adventure Sports, Outdoor professionals No Responses »

Jun 222008

The Tourism ministry insists that they want to promote adventure tourism in India. Like cultural tourism, etc. Basically what they want is more tourists.

There are fancy initiatives and Incredible India and what-nots. Yet, how much attention is paid to actually facilitating tourism? How much attention is paid to ensure that the tourists come? Sure, tourists come. India has been a hotspot for travellers for thousands of years. But, if we want more, what do we do to ensure that the people who we invite are able to come and have a good experience?

What we have in the name of tourism is fancy packages. Sure. That is one element of tourism. Yet, somewhere down the line, we forget that we are actually inviting people to experience the country. We have invited them. They are our guests.

Seth Godin shared an experience in a visa office and talks about several, really easy to manage things that could make the experience more inviting. Not just inviting, it could translate into better revenue from more tourists, convenient airline bookings, welcoming interaction…. I can empathise with this post so much. How many of us really enjoy conversing with a person behind thick glass, waiting in a place with inadequate seating that is in disrepair……. would we want to do business with such people? Perhaps…. if we needed the product. But tourism is not a need. It is a dream we are selling. Could selling dreams become more interesting in a condusive environment that says we are interested in you?

When I set up Wide Aware, I had a talk with my CA, who needed to know the nature of business for figuring out tax and things. It was a rude awakening to know that the Tourism Ministry’s invite for people to provide adventure services hasn’t made it to the Tax Office. There IS no category for adventure services. It was a pain figuring out “what we were”. We are not travel agents, we do training, but we are not consultants – we do outbound training and fun programmes as well, We do outdoor education, but we are not an educational institution…….. If the memo had made the journey to the Tax office, it would be a simple matter of “adventure services”. So, we want to promote adventure tourism, but of course, there is no adventure service provider in India. Really! Please bring your own rafting guide with you. We have the rivers. And yeah, travel agents conduct wildlife tours.

Rafting reminds me…. the river rafting that we do uses water from the dam at Bhire for the rapids. There have been numerous attempts over the years to try and bring some kind of predictability to it, so that the adventure tourism that the tourism ministry wants can happen. Nah! The dam officials don’t work in the tourism ministry, therefore it is not their problem. Thus, there is no way of knowing if water will be available, or you refund your bookings until the rafting run starts. Granted, the water is released almost everyday, but try explaining to a tourist waiting with gear ready that “oops! You get a refund – remember the cancellation clause that refers to events beyond our control?”

Last year, Amita wrote about a similar problem she had with Brightlands resort in Matheran. The hotel had overbooked, and she didn’t get the room she had booked. She took a refund, and when she called up the hotel owner, he told her that refunds were against their policy!!! There needs to be some kind of a regulation for this. I am not speaking of consumer courts, but enough issues in consumer courts reflecting in your licence.

There are tourists, there are locations, there are providers. What needs to be done is making that confluence easy and enjoyable.

Boss, wait!!! Why are you hitting him?

Experiential Education, Mountain Learning 4 Responses »

Jun 212008

I don’t know if this can really be called road rage, but something happened today, that got me concerned about how we act….

I was travelling to Powai from Borivli in rickshaw for a session by Sankar on learning styles (that’s another post). I enjoy interacting with different people, and I was chatting happily with the rickshaw driver, when a motorcycle zipped past and overtook us from the wrong side. As the car in front of us slowed (for reasons unknown), the driver braked in panic, and this poor motorcycle guy was hit by our rickshaw.

I am not aware of the exact sequence of happenings, but it was abundantly clear that the guy lying flat on the road was suffering the consequences of his own “reckless driving”. The rickshaw driver and I got out of the rick as the guy struggled to disentangle himself from the bike. Thanks to the crawling pace of Mumbai’s traffic and the additional braking spree that happened just before he was hit, he was relatively unhurt except for a very bad scrape that was bellding quite heavily on his left forearm and the matching side of his trousers damaged beyond repair. I’d call it getting off scot free compared with what could have happened.

Seeing the guy bleeding, I stepped forward to see if I could help, but my driver reached him first, and it was then I realized that the two of us had come out for different reasons. The driver collared this biker and hauled him to his feet and was just about to beat him up, when I interrupted him.

“Boss roko!!! Ise maar kyun rahe ho?” I asked – Boss, wait!!! Why are you hitting him?

“Madam, aapne dekha nahi, kaisi gaadi chala raha tha? Accident kota to?” he replied - madam, didn’t you see how he was driving? What if there had been an accident?

“Accident to hua. Galati uski thi, par bhugat bhi wohi raha hai. AAP use kyon maar rahe ho? Use pehlehi chot lagi hai.” I said – The accident did happen. It was his fault, and he is suffering the consequences. You or your vehicle or passenger suffered no damage. Why are you hitting him? He is already injured.”

The driver stared at me in amazement. It was clear from his expression that he honestly had no clue why he was hitting the guy beyond that that “it was what was supposed to happen” – in Mumbai, mobs sometimes bash up the offender when reckless driving endangers lives. Worse, my tone with him was also not that of anger… which was the standard tone of the innocent party after an accident…. I was sounding merely curious. He had no clue how to proceed in such a situation.

The cowering biker who was mumbling “sorry…. sorry” looked at me in equal amazement. It didn’t really fit his framework of “public behaviour” to be shown concern when he had caused an accident. His entire body language spoke of the acceptance that he was going to be beaten up.

I stood there, wondering what was wrong with this world, if people don’t even need to have a reason to hit a person who is already injured. I could see how shaken the poor chap was, and didn’t see the point moving his attention from the magnitude of his consequences toward being defensive in some conflict. Plus, how would hitting him add any value to what was happening? He had experienced the consequences of rash driving first hand, and I doubt if he needed anything explained at that point. What he did need was first-aid.

Such incidents happen in our lives daily. Be it aggressive people in buses, or riots after taking offense. I really see no meaning to this behaviour, except a declaration of a total lack of caring for the people around us.

Once, I got into a train to get off at Borivli. It was a Virar train. For those unfamiliar with Mumbai, Virar is further than Borivli, has fewer trains which are invariably crowded, and their passengers tend to be hostile to passengers who could use more frequent trains using these unnecessarily. It being a holiday and all, I thought it wouldn’t matter, and the train seemed to have space. This is the ladies compartment.

As I neared the door when Borivli came closer, one of the women grabbed my arm and pulled me back roughly. I asked her to let go, and she returned abuse. Her point was that I need to be punished for using that train. Standard punishment is that the person is not allowed to get off the train until Borivli is crossed, which gives the offender an experience of the inconvenience of the train frequency and a fear/understanding of the situation for further reference.

I do respect and fully appreciate the difficulties these people go through, but I didn’t see how this mattered in a train with plenty of space on it (by Mumbai standards). When this woman tried to manhandle me, I broke out of her hold, and simply pushed her away from me. I look deceptively tiny, and this woman was a heavy weight, but I have a whole load of pushing experience from 7 years of grooming and working with horses. She was lighter than a horse, she moved very easily, which put her off getting physical with me, and she satisfied her “outrage” by screaming abuse at me for the next 5 minutes till I got off.

Other women around rolled their eyes and made faces – all regulars on the same train. This woman stood there sweating and looking so unreasonably angry that she looked insane. She refused to respond to anything I or the other women said and just spewed hatred. That’s how I remember her as the train pulled out of the station…… sweating, red in the face, screaming abuse, and dressed like a middle class conservative woman…. I just wondered how frustrating her life must be, if she needed strangers to vent on…. travelling for about 3-4 hours everyday just to reach work and back…… I couldn’t find anger in me for her…. I was concerned.

Where does this anger come from? Why do we care so little about the people in out world?

Planning hikes in the Sahyadri

Hikes, Mountain Learning No Responses »

Sep 072007

Getting out into the outdoors is not as tough as it sounds. Honestly, even though I provide the service, I don’t do any rocket science. Most of the enquiries I get are for outings in the Sahyadri from Mumbai. So here, I provide a detailed method of going about it.

What do you want? Is it a challenge, relaxation, exploration……? What do you want to do when you have this itch to get out of the city.
Narrow it down – For example, if you’d thought of exploration in the previous step, go a step ahead. Is it exploring forts, caves, sea forts in particular, fishing villages……?
Figure out other stuff you want – how would you like to travel…. bike trip, local buses, private vehicle…? What would you like to eat – local food, self-cooked stuff, full-royal resort meals…? Stay where – in nature, resort, caves, local homes……?
Once you have this, you’re ready to begin preparing. Simply put together all requirements and make a list of everything you will be needing. Fuel arrangements, resort bookings, routes, stocks of food….. whatever. Make this list as detailed as possible. Feel free to ask other travellers for tips.
Most resorts can be booked online or through agents. If you’re planning to stay in a village or cave, there are no booking needs of course, but you may wish to find out details on the village or condition of fort etc. Most of this is readily available online.
Put one day aside for shopping and preparations. Get your act together and be sure to go through your entire list.
That’s it. Leave on time and have a blast.

As a general guide, if you have figured out transportation, food and accommodation; there’s little that can go wrong. However, be sure to cross check all information you get, as once out in the rural areas, it is not uncommon to find unmarked roads, or those that have been too damaged to use, etc. Similarly, a trekker who visited a fort a few years ago may confidently tell you that the village is 10 min from the fort, when in reality it may be 2-3 hours. Information that seems the same from a few different sources is generally reliable.

This is probably the only place where an organized trip is stronger, as we have strong contacts in most places we operate in, and checking any changes in status of information are a matter of routine. However, many trekkers and regular travellers know enough of the place to help verify information.

So why am sharing this? Because my objective is not to sell tours so much as to get more and more people venturing in the outdoors and developing a love for the land they live in. If this helps people get into a car and head out of town more easily on a weekend, I’ve got what I want.

The people who come to me easily become capable of this within a trip or two, so its no real secret anyway. I think they pay me just because they like the company, or would simply like me to handle the hassle reliably.

Working in the outdoors

Outdoor professionals 2 Responses »

Aug 152007

One of my freelancers was just enjoying a cup of tea with me during some spare time on a programme. He wanted some advice, and I had all the time in the world, unless something went wrong, so we plunged into the subject.

He had been offered a job with another company and was wondering if he should be taking it. He does some freelance work with Hills and Trails, Wild country Learning, us, OET, and some other companies as well, and earns, (like most other free lance outbound resource people in India) in a very erratic manner. A good month is riches and luxury and some months are a step away from being very badly broke. Not that it isn’t the same with any self employed person, but I find this particularly of concern in the outdoor adventure industry in India.

The salary offered in this case was pitiful, but it would be guaranteed every month. On the other hand, this boy would lose his freedom to choose jobs that he liked, paid well or even helped him learn and develop. It was a tough decision.

Most Indians are not too aware of adventure tourism, and even those aware of it are not always happy to pay big money. Most adventure businesses do reasonably well, but the pool of freelancers we mint our fortunes on, are not as lucky. Some of us are now taking care to offer better rates, more reliable working relationships, some security, etc.

But on the whole, an adventure instructor in India, is leading a life with its economy also in a desperate rescue scenario.

Most such people are more into the business as it doesn’t require any specific qualifications or skills beyond those they can earn on the job. So they aren’t always equipped to have any other profession. They are in a physically demanding profession, and even barring accidents, very few can work in the field as they grow older. They need to be able to figure out other ways of sustaining and providing for their futures, which is something that doesn’t really seem to occur to them.

Not having the benefits of a regular income, or investments through the work place, there is also no source of back up for money. Hardly any invest in any sizeable life insurance, medical insurance or even basic “nest-eggs” for emergencies.

I suggested the best I could. I asked him to tell his new employer that the amount offered was really low, and he couldn’t accept it, unless he was allowed to accept bookings from other companies on the days when the company employing him did not require him. In my opinion, he should have asked for a basic amount per month, with an additional smaller amount calculated according to the number of days he spent in the field. This is what I offer my regulars. Unfortunately, his new employer wouldn’t have allowed that, and I don’t have vacancies.

I hope things work out for him.

From Sangli to Kule Narshingpur

Mountain Learning No Responses »

Mar 192007

This post will be split into two, as there is plenty of content. I’ll focus this on the travel and the people and the next can be about the religious experience.

Getting from Sangli to Kule Narshingpur is a pain. First, there is a state transport bus journey to Islampur, which takes about an hour, and then there is the further journey by bus/rickshaw to Kule Narchingpur, which takes another half-an-hour.

We were lucky to find a luxury bus waiting as we reached the bus station at Sangli, and the journey to Islampur was comfortable and quick. Not much to do, except watch the kilometers tick by, and the wierd little conductor interact with the people on the bus in his singsong voice.

This region is all about sugarcane production, and we passed fields with sugarcane standing, or in various stages of being harvested, sugarcane loaded on tractors, bullockcarts, being stored….. whatever – sugarcane – and loads of it.

In Islampur, we gave up trying to figure out further state transport and simply hired a rickshaw to take us to our destination. The road was now bumpy. I guess the parents in law were not exactly comfortable. Raka was sitting on half the driver’s seat in the front, as these rickshaws are designed to seat only three, so I guess he wasn’t too comfortable either, but I was enjoying the ride through the countryside.

Narrow bumpy roads, blocked with bullock cart traffic – pretty heavy – we seemed to be waiting more than moving. Charming glimpses of the river, and all kinds of people chattering with our rickshaw man as we passed them. Very charmingly rural, if you overlook the not-so-charming ruts on the road.

Bullocks and goats seemed to be all over the place. Parked in front of homes having lunch, yoked, pulling carts, being loaded, unloaded…… I’ve never seen so many bullocks in one day.

We reached the home of the pujaris at our destination. Actually, the pujari on duty was someone else, but my parents in law had good relations with another, who wasn’t on duty, but we stayed with them anyway. I was surprised to find a Marathi family – I was expecting Kannada Brahmins (my in-laws are Kannada) like in Sangli. Apparently there are historical migrations and stuff involved and the seeming discrepancy was a normal state of affairs in such issues.

At least I could understand what was being said. I found myself feeling at home. The family were really charming people, complete with a really charming old widow grandmother – a typical joint family.

We visited the temple in the evening, and I have never seen such a charming location in this region (plenty in the Himalaya). What can I say, I’ll let the pics do the talking.

Finally, my travel account – Sangli

Mountain Learning No Responses »

Mar 152007

We left Mumbai by train and travelled overnight to reach Sangli. Uneventful, except for a hugely pregnant and very charming lady and husband occupying the remaining two berths in our “room”. We reached Sangli early in the morning and headed to the home of the priest in the temple we were visiting. We got refreshed (bath and silk clothes, etc) and went to the temple.

The temple is at a charming location on the banks of the river, that looks pretty nice, but smells something awful. The priests actually bathe in it as a part of their ritual cleansing – a thought enough to give me the jitters – it is probably cleaner not to bathe. Anyway, we bathed in a bathroom, so life was good.

Leaving the parents with their God, Raka and I skipped off for a quick tea and food break and discovered a restaurant called Swagat (meaning “welcome”) which was amazing for incredibly delicious food, and the lowest bill (Rs.54/- that’s less than a dollar and a half) for two people I have ever encountered for stuffing myself till I had vadas coming out of my ears. Overall, pretty good.

Floating along in the bliss of a stomach full of extremely desirable food, Raka and I returned to the temple to find that the puja was already over. That is really quick and efficient for these temples. We did the obligatory bowing and donations etc and it was time for lunch! I could swear that I couldn’t eat a bite, after what we were just returning from.

Fortunately, lunch at the pujari’s home involved a significant delay as it was prepared. Then it was time to give a “supache vaan” which is something I cannot describe. Suffice it to say that it is a collection of assorted items related with a female’s fortune in Hinduism, that we gave to the pujari’s wife. What I remember is a sari, comb, coconut, betel nut, betel leaves, kaja, rice, dal, jaggery, salt, some money, mirror, etc. Then it was Raka’s turn to give a dhoti and stuff to the pujari, and we were “clear”. Time to eat.

Food was good, except that there was a massive quantity of rice to consume with assorted dals and vegetables followed by sweet rice, spiced rice and finally curd and rice. I’d had enough ric for a lifetime by the time I was done with that meal.

After this meal, the only thing possible was sleep and all the four of us crashed for a nap in unworded agreemment.

Sangli, Kule Narshingpur, Kolhapur

Experiential Education No Responses »

Mar 052007

My parents in law are staunch theists. They believe in the multitude of Hindu Gods and the places they need to travel in order to obtain their blessings. One such location is this trip, which is actually three locations. These are the family Gods of our clan. No matter where we go, these guys are supposed to have their benevolent eye on us.

Apparently, my father in law had ignored the Gods for many years, as had his parents, and bad times came on the family, when my husband was young. Then some astrologer told them that their fortune will change if they go and meet their roots – the Gods who look after their clan. Full of suitable repentance, and reverence, they did so, and claim their luck has changed ever since. Health, happiness and money flowed.

I am skeptical. Where is this flowing health when my mother-in-law needs to take some 12 pills at one time 2-3 times a day? Diabetes, blood pressure, …. Their explanation is it could be worse. It is a matter of their previous actions that is causing them to come to these experiences now. Heh. It could be worse whether you believe in God or not.

But regardless of their beliefs and ours, I really respect them for not forcing us to conform. Except for this one thing. It is quite common in India. Newly married couples go to the temples in their villages to pray within a year of the wedding and ideally, immediately after. In our case, this didn’t happen. We managed to keep avoiding this tour because we were busy or something or the other. But whoever has lived in India, with Indian parents know, that once the mother decides on something, obedience is inevitable. It is simply a matter of time

Raka and I don’t believe this nonsense. We are both atheists. But we do love our parents, and you know how it is in India…… if your parents insist long enough, obedience is inevitable. We tried all the excuses and explanations we could. We didn’t believe, if God is everywhere, what is the need to go to a specific place…. and so on. Unfortunately, this has nothing to do with our debating abilities. The parents believe that it is our divine duty and it must be done – never mind that we don’t believe – do the actions.

Whatever. We like the region and are ok with travelling there, but so many temples…..? I guess resistance is futile

So here we are. Leaving for Sangli tonight. By morning we will reach there. Then it will be a merry go round of temples and offerings. We will be supposed to show our gratitude to the powers that be for giving us good lives and asking for good lives

This promises to be very different. Stay tuned. I’m going to be back on the 9th and will be writing about this trip.

Wide Aware

Coastal Coastal Konkan on Bike

Why in the Outdoor World?

Celebrating Karjat

Adventure Tourism in India? What’s that?

Boss, wait!!! Why are you hitting him?

Planning hikes in the Sahyadri

Working in the outdoors

From Sangli to Kule Narshingpur

Finally, my travel account – Sangli

Sangli, Kule Narshingpur, Kolhapur

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