The Horizon Beyond the Arabian Sea

Sand, trees and wind

Awaas curving into the distance

It is a peculiar experience to stand looking out into the sea at the Gateway of India, with the magnificent concrete jungle behind you. Head deeper into the waters in a catamaran and you see in the distance a difference in the colour of the water a few miles away -- a while sheet by a shore lined with coconut palms swaying in the wind. Mumbai and Alibaug stare at each other across the ocean and a regular stream of tourists from the city escapes to the beaches on weekends.

We decided to avoid both the weekend crowd  and the popular, commercialised Alibaug proper. Thanks to Rushikesh for recommending the other beaches along the coast and the suggestion we look for a homestay . The idea appealed to us and after some searches on the internet, we zeroed in on Shree Holiday Resorts at Chondi, near Kihim beach. Owned by Mr. Kaustubh Raut, it is his ancestral property, a pretty courtyard full of coconut trees with his own home and a separate building with neat rooms for guests. The pleasure of living for a couple of days in this simple and clean small town home will remain a fond memory for many years.

The journey by ferry was itself unique. On our way to Mandwa we decided to take the PNP catamaran at 8:10 am. It had been a while since Vidya and I had set out on one of our short trips. Our last one was Matheran back in July and we were eager to enjoy this one to the fullest before a new hectic phase full of work.

The ferry reached Mandwa jetty at about 9:00 am and the connecting bus soon dropped us at Chondi. Shree Homestay is located along the main road to Alibaug which made it very convenient for us to travel to places nearby. Mr. Raut welcomed us with some delicious upma and tea for breakfast. The food we had on the two days -- "very simple food" as our host described it -- was scrumptious Maharashtrian homemade cuisine with usals and daals and sabjis like paneer burji and gavarchi bhaji. Needless to say, we relished every morsel served fresh and hot.

We spent the afternoons on the courtyard playing carrom and having a go at the glorious hammocks and swings. I felt like a child again: the place is just so lovely you cannot stop gurgling all the time.

Vrindavan -- a private park, nursery and plantation just a few feet away from our homestay -- was full of different kinds of plants. Hot as it was, we could just about roam through the grounds before returning home for lunch. But even in the sunny weather, we hungrily took in all the greenery around, the rare plants and the hills in the distance. In a mere couple of hours were in a place starkly different from Mumbai. It was a break in the true sense of the term. I kept imagining how beautiful the landscape would look when the monsoon sets in.

On the first evening we visited Kihim beach which was barely three kilometers away. Most of the auto rickshaws have no meters here, so you have to believe and give what the auto driver asks. However, the distances are quite long, and the small autos are engaged only to places that lie away from the main roads. On the whole, we found that the local people guided us quite well. Obviously, it is much more convenient to get around in your own vehicle, but I personally enjoyed immensely the opportunity to explore travelling in the local buses as well as the six-seater shared autos (which actually seat some 10 people ;) ) and vans plying from Alibaug to Saswane/Rewas, taking and dropping off passengers at various points.

Kihim was rather muddy at low tide, a little littered and more crowded than Awaas which we visited the second evening. But still it is hardly commercialised in comparison with Alibaug. We did head to Alibaug from Kihim (that would have been a good ten kilometers) and here the most exhilarating experience was the horse cart ride at dusk along the curve of the beach and right into the waters as well! We left the dear  animals with a caress, carrying back the thrill of horses' hooves galloping through waves in the falling darkness, the sea fort in silhouette against the horizon.

On the morning of the second day (11th), we set out to trek up to the Kankeshwar temple. Very enthusiastically, we got up early and left by 6 am. But the town was still asleep and we had to wait for nearly 50 minutes to get an auto which dropped us beyond a railway line some distance away from the foot of the hill. By now the summer sun was already shining down upon us and, in spite of my admonishing, refused to go hide behind the hill and let us climb in peace. The climb was not difficult as treks go, but yours truly was a bit tired, what with the heat and the newly acquired rotundity. Vidya was patient as I kept stopping and disbelieving signs that announced the number of steps yet to be conquered. When we began to climb it looked as though the summit would not be very far as it was a small hill. But the peak and temple at the top were hidden from view, so that the climb was actually much longer. Nonetheless, I enjoyed every bit of it, most of all because hardly a soul was in sight. For the two of us, this was the best aspect of the trip.

After a stop at a Maruti temple with a water tank nearby, we reached the main Kankeshwar temple of Lord Shiva. After meeting all the gods, we had breakfast at a small dhaba and headed back, clicking some snaps of the landscape on our way down.

The second evening had more cheer in store for us. Karmarkar Shilpalay, a small building that houses the creations of the sculptor in his own home, was another enjoyable experience. We spent an hour admiring the statues that surprised us with their life-like quality. The cow in the backyard looked so real it could have mooed right there, and the servant who sat by the gate was as convincing as a man in flesh and blood. The caretaker narrated an anecdote of how the statue was once mistaken for a man by visitors in the late evening who complained of his impertinence when he did not respond to their greeting.

Awaas beach was the perfect climax of our holiday. We walked through a lane flanked by some enviably green and dense private property on either side and suddenly emerged into a vast, vast expanse of beach. Not a single juice stall or ice-cream seller was nearby and the beach waters roared magnificently in the hour immediately after high tide. We walked on the beautiful patterns formed by the sand admiring the bend of the water into the beach and the long coast. Mumbai is a white blur of ghostly sky scrapers at a distance from here. I could just not have enough of the salubrious breeze, the colourful shells on the shore and the amazing formations of sand and water. We took in the calm, the space and the air sitting on the rocks and walked about feeling a world of peace about us.

On the morning of the 12th, we clicked a few pictures of our homestay and waited on the main road outside the resort, where the Maldar pick up vehicle arrived on schedule and took us to Mandwa jetty. The Maldar catamaran is spacious and well-kept: the upper deck has fine seating arrangement and a good roof against the sun. The journey back was a bit rough in the beginning due to the direction of the wind, but the feeling of being back on the waters was a thrill once again.


All good things must come to an end and so did this most satisfying and utterly beautiful trip, but like the best things, it brought a fresh lease of life that is sure to tide us over several months and have a place among our dearest memories.