A Lazy Drive to Kaas Plateau

Recently on an online forum, I was following a discussion about locations around Pune for long drive and nature photography. Seeing the rave reviews Kaas plateau was getting, I was tempted. Only recently I had done the Nizampur-Pachad ride and time was ripe for a long cosy drive. Besides, Kaas looked very safe from journey point of view.

My week-long leave was ending on Friday, and postponement of Ayodhya verdict meant there was no reason to hold back the plan. So on Friday, 24th September, I took my photography gear and left for Kaas.

This time, I wasn't eager to do high speeds. I was more looking for lazing around on the drive, and enjoy the morning drive. So after leaving Pune via Chandani Chowk -> Bypass route, in an hour I reached the Khambataki Ghaat section. This is one ghaat which can get very boring to drive sometimes, especially if you are driving a car. The road is only enough for 2 vehicles at a time, and the trucks and buses are very intent on overtaking each other on the slopes, choking everybody behind! First - the slopes are daunting, and second - these trucks and buses are usually overloaded and don't have enough power left to go for an overtake. So this overtaking ordeal ultimately ends up looking as if those big vehicles are making slow love to each other, with each one of them blaming the other for lacking agility due to size! hmmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmmmmmMMmm ... (silence. catch breath) .... HMMMMMMMMmmMMMMM ... HHHOINNGGGG .... (silence again) .... hmmmmMMMmmmmMMMMM ... You can only pray they have a quick orgasm and be done with this drama sooner.

I took the route to Satara, which goes from under NH4, after Bhuinj; rather than the usual route which takes right-turn on NH4 itself. A local guy whom I gave lift, guided me through some narrow lanes and roads and finally we came at the Raajwada Bus Stop - a busy chowk with the Raajdhani Palace tower (probably a hotel) in front. From there, you keep to the left and climb the slope in front. When the slope ends, take a right, and then an immediate left. Within 200-300 meters, you notice the tunnel, from where you take right just before the tunnel. That's it. Kaas is around 15kms from there. This drive is nice, with good road, and views.

I reached Kaas in half an hour, and to my surprise, the flowers and plateau turned out to be a bummer. The flowers are teeny-tiny ones on 10cm saplings. Violet, yellow, white is all we have there. Only thing is they are there in large numbers, so due to density, the green shade is hidden behind these yellow, white and violet shades. That's it. There is nothing more to it. If at all you are going, this is all you are going to find there. Teeny tiny flowers; rather than big pleasant flowers. So set your expectations correctly to avoid the kind of disappointment many people (including me) had there. Seeing my DSLR mounted on a tripod, many of the people there felt I was a pro(!) snapping up photos for some newspaper. Many a ladies asked me forthrightly - "कुठल्या पेपरसाठी फोटो काढताय का? पेपरमधे ही फुलं इतकी मोठी कशी दिसतात? लोकांचा भ्रमनिरास होतो इथं येउन ही छोटी फुलं बघून." (are you taking these photos for some newspaper? how do these flowers look so big in the newspapers? it's disappointing to see these tiny flowers when we come here looking for big pleasant ones as shows in the papers.) What would I tell them when I myself was feeling a bit disappointed. I just briefly explaned them how different lenses are used to blur the backgrounds and achive magnifications.

After doing some photography there, I decided to move on little further to Bamnoli, which I had found to be very scenic couple of years ago, during our trek to Vasota fort. This drive was also quite pleasant, especially because we enter the Koyana Wildlife Sanctuary little distance after Kaas and the road winds through dense mini-forests. By that time, the atmostphere had dramatically changed from glaring-sun to heavy showers in a matter of half an hour! Drive till Bamnoli was very good and pleasant due to all these factors.

Had a tasty and hence sumptious lunch in Bamnoli. Did some photo-session after the showers were reduced to light drizzles; and left looking for a road to Tapola. My plan was to go to Tapola enjoying the scenic drive, then onwards to Mahabaleshwar and then to Pune via NH4. But that was not to be. The road was already bad, and it prograssively went on getting worse. After 5-6kms, there came a situation when I lost confidence in me making it to Tapola in reasonable time and with all tyres intact. If something was to happen to my car in that area, even a towing jeep would have refused to go bring my car from there. That was the only time I missed my bike dearly. When you want to roam around in docile conditions, like a highway or a good road, car is a perfect vehicle. But when the conditions turn hostile, and you still have the desire to push forward, there cant be anything better than a powerful bike. In such hostile conditions, a car becomes a liability, while a bike becomes an asset capable of rescuing you.

I dropped the plan to go any further. Somehow managed an about turn on that small road, and came back to Bamnoli -> Kaas -> Satara Tunnel -> Raajwada Bus Stop (Satara) -> NH4. Rains had lashed whole of Satara city and considerable part of NH4. So I kept my speed in check. But even in that situation I could see cars racing around, playing catchup with each other. Roads after rains make me very nervous, and I am extra-cautious while driving on wet surfaces. One mistake, one case of slight aquaplaning at high speed and you risk your time and organs, if not life. Dying will still relieve you from this world, but if you end up losing an organ like a hand or a leg, it can turn rest of your life from heaven into hell. There is only a thin line between daredevilry and foolhardiness. You are good as long as you appreciate this and take calculated risks.

I also had my share of being challenged for a race. There was this guy in a Maruti 800 (of all the cars!), flashing his beams and sounding his horn behind me, even though all the remaining three lanes were totally empty. I was doing around 80-90kmph, so it was not like I was choking the high-speed lane either. I waited for him to choose another lane, but he was probably on a high, so I gave up and switched to the middle lane. He came in parallel and revved hard couple of times. I guessed he was challenging me for a race. I neglected it. But if at all I had a chance to have a dialogue with him, I would have given him a real piece of my snob-mind - "Dude, you are overlooking some hard facts here. Read it again. It's a Palio. It races with a Honda City vtec, not with a Maruti 800. My car wont forgive me if I pitch her against an M800. I see you have got some fancy alloys there and that sound of free-flow-exhaust; probably an esteen engine too, given your audacity to challenge a 1.6 Palio. Good for you. But if there is a race, then let it be amongst equals - hold on till I bring my Apache!" Some neat शिष्टपणा!

I slowed down, and let him pass disappointed. Later on I saw him challenging a Chevy Optra/Cruz. So I gathered, the guy probably had a very painful breakup recently. Better to leave him alone. ;)

Reached home comfortably that evenining. Apart from some photographs, and a lazy long drive, there was not much to take away from this trip. I found Kaas to be grossly overrated. If you are going there only for the flowers, you are in for a major disappointment, unless you are kind of a 'plant-guy' who knows in and outs of plants and flowers, and can identify one from the other.

If you are going for a long drive, it's definitely worth a drive till Bamnoli. One can also do boating at Bamnoli. Though, one note of caution - September last week and October 1st/2nd week is the time when the flowers bloom in Kaas. To translate it in English, on these weekends, there will be lot of tourists visiting the area, and a lot of cars and vehicles on the road as a result. So choose your destination wisely, depending upon which day in the week you are going.

Bike Ride: Pune to Raigad via Nizampur-Pachad Shortcut

After a long spell of lethargy, our group was finally coming together for Raigad trip on 2nd October. But despite my attempts to convince them about a bike-ride till Pachad, public-transport won the vote with couple of guys sitting on the fence. All my attempts were in vain, as they always are, when it comes to convincing people about a long bike ride.

When all this was going, I was also looking for a possible route to the base of Raigad. Usual routes are either through Tamhini ghat, or through Varandha ghat. The one through Tamhini ghat, which was closer, goes like -

Pune - Chandani Chowk - Pirangut - Paud - Mulashi - Tamhini Ghat - Nizampur - Mangaon - NH17 - Mahad - Pachad - Raigad (chitta-darawaja)

But I was pleasantly surprised, when I came across one strikingly camouflaged short-cut, which connects Nizampur and Pachad directly. Camouflaged, because when you ask Google Maps about a route from Nizampur-to-Pachad, it takes you through Mahad. But look closely on the satellite terrain view, and you will find one thin streak of zigzag line going through the mountains, connecting Nizampur to Pachad. And such a hint of a bike ride through lonely villages in remote mountain areas, is more than enough to seduce any biker worth his salt. And it did'nt take a moment before I fell for it.

I had this crazy ride of around 6hours, couple of years ago, while on a journey to find out Torana. That route had taken me through one काढवे खिंड (Kadhave pass), which was such a remote place, that, all along the 10-20km ride on a half-baked 3-ft road, for around 2 hours, I was the lone human-being in that area. So when I came across this surprise route from Nizampur-to-Pachad, I knew my fantasies about the route will just eat me from inside till I go on that ride. Fortunately I had a week-long leave coming, and had ample time.

So one fine morning, I got ready, had a breakfast and left for Raigad. The night before, I had prepared my camera-bag to securely hold the tripod making it a perfect photography kit. But Tamhini itself is a lonely place, and given the the horror stories I had heard, about those on bikes being robbed and those in cars being waylaid, I decided against carrying any valuables. Besides, the area I was going to venture into, was totally unknown, and expected to be absolutely deserted. So it was better to be safe rather than losing my costly photography gear, which, in India, can't be insured either. So I carried only some cash, my trekking-mobile (Samsung Marine with BSNL prepaid 1P), and my Moto Milestone (insured) for its 5mp camera, hard GPS and excellent compass.

Anyway, I kept driving through the Tamhini and realised one thing very clearly - Tamhini on a weekday, is much different from Tamhini on a weekend. No maddening traffic, no horns, no rush, no crowd and no sex-starved youth letting their frustration out by dancing in the middle of the road on cheap beats with vulgar steps and making hideous sounds! On a weekday, the Tamhinis are serene and peaceful and you can have all of it to yourself. I drove on, gave lifts to locals, asked around about देवराई (sacred grooves) locations, had a small detour of around 30kms to Pali-Siddhagad, and reached Nizampur by around 1pm. In Nizampur, there is one reasonably large-sized board indicating the direct route to Pachad. There was also this Warning that due to a bridge construction, road between some villages was not available. I neglected the warning and went ahead.

The road was good enough to do decent speed without getting irritated and the breeze was, well, sheer pleasant. It also helped that for most part of the day, it remained cloudy without any drizzle.

After driving 15-20km for around half an hour, the road started coming apart, and at the same time it started getting more and more scenic. And then I entered the mountainous area with the road enveloped in quite dense jungle from both sides. I had heard about leopard sightings in the area around Raigad, so was on lookout for any movement in the bushes, but lost hopes in short time. Big cats are big snobs. They never give a damn about people dying to have a glimpse of them in the wild.

The last 7-8km stretch of this road is horrible. It takes major chunk of time to cover this part only. But the silver lining is the scenery and the remote, deserted area. There is one place here, called बांधणीचा माळ. The eerie silence of the place haunts you. It's very scenic, calm, green and tranquil; but haunting nevertheless. Typical of such remote places in Sahyadris.

After crossing this stretch, I reached the जिजामाता-समाधी and from there Pachad and Raigad base is hardly 1km. Reached the चित्त-दरवाजा in a jiffy. Had a look around. टकमक-टोक आणि हिरकणीचा-बुरुज are quickly identifiable. I stared at the mountain range around, trying to make Lingana out of it somewhere, but, to my disappointment, couldnt. Went to drop a local to his home at Raigadwadi below, glanced around from there, and there it was! Lingana! It evoked all those dreams about that final-frontier trek of Torana to Raigad. Lingana, Railing Plateau, बोराट्याची नाळ, सिंगापूरची नाळ - all these terms evoke a huge emotional response. Hopefully I will get to do this trek this year. Though on this trek, which is sure to load-test my physical endurance and mental strength, I think, it will be a hara-kiri to go alone. This time I will need to find some company.

Promising to return back on 2nd October, I left चित्त-दरवाजा in a little hurry. It was already around 3:30pm, and I wanted to cross Tamhini and get to at least Pirangut before dark, which means not later than 6:30pm.

It again took me around half-an-hour for that horrible 7-8km patch. But then, once smooth road was reached, I threw caution to the winds and started working up the throttle. By 4:30pm I was in Nizampur and had started racing against time to reach home early. Maintained reasonably high speed of 80-90kmph quite consistently in Tamhini and as a result, reached home by 6:30pm!! Nizampur to Pune in 2hours straight.

Overall stats of this trip -
Date: 21-Sep-2010 (Tuesday)
Route: Pune - Chandani Chowk - Pirangut - Paud - Mulashi - Tamhini Ghat - Nizampur - Pachad
Distance Breakup:
Pune to Nizampur ~ 110km (at least 2 hours)
Nizampur to Pachad ~ 30km (at least 1 hour)
Total Distance Travelled: Around 300kms
Total Time on Bike: From 9:30am to 6:30pm ~ Around 9hours of biking! That's my personal record. 6hours was the previous one.
Road Quality:
Pune to Nizampur - Varies from very good to very pathetic. Most of it is good. 7 out of 10.
Nizampur to Pachad - Again 60% of the road is a driving pleasure, 20% okayish, 20% absolutely horrible (the last 7-8km stretch). While on the way back, I got a crazy idea of filming the road while on the move. Followed the impulse and here is the result -

Overall Ride Rating: Must do at least once. Views and the tranquillity is to die for. During monsoon, the green syrup is sure to soothe the eyes.

It's all about the green syrup to the eyes, majestic mountains to belittle the heart and the tranquillity to calm the mind. Add to that - the cheerful bird-chirping around you in that peaceful environment! All of this conspire together to take you into a totally different world, where there are no niggling issues, no core-dumps without a cause and no day-to-day politics to disgust .... just some mysterious, peaceful and cheerful forms of nature around you. It's a kind of spiritual experience and believe me, it's mighty addictive.

High Speed Exploits - 151 kmph

Now that my car is 'official', time for show-off'ing some drives and exploits. First up is the top-speed I clocked while on my trip to Sangli, and back.

While leaving for Sangli, the idea was to stay away from trucks and avoid high speeds, as I had learnt driving only a month ago. But when the road gets smooth, when the excessive traffic withers away and the long stretch of lane seems vacant to quite a distance, the eternal etch appears from nowhere and throttle starts feeling the pressure.

While on the way to Sangli, initially, when I was seduced, the aim was to break free of the 125kmph mark that I had reached on my Apache. It's a shame if a car cannot comfortably outperform a bike. And comfortably it did, thanks to those 100 horses under the hood. I was quickly onto 130kmph. Now that blood was tasted, and the car showed absolutely no indication of backing up, with no vibrations or loss of steering/control, in no time the target was remapped to 150kmph. I did reach 144kmph in few seconds, and there was quite a bit of distance till I could go full-throttle with the A-pad touching the floor ... but ... there were those cars, around 500 meters from me, braking frantically to avoid potholes! For a moment, there was this intense desire to go full-throttle, attain 150kmph and then brake full; but these are the moments where your mind should rule over your heart, for you to get a second chance at attaining your target. Thankfully mine did. A-pad was released, B-pad and C-pad in action with quick shifting of gears, to bring in engine braking to aid the B-pad. From 144kmph, I dropped to 2-kmph with around 5-10 feet to spare from the car in front. I noticed it was a cherry-red Maruti Ritz, and I wished I had banged into her rear with full might, instead of sparing her. I just hate her pathetic looking rear. Wonder what Maruti Suzuki people were smoking while designing cars like Ritz and A-Star. And let's not even talk about Wagon-R.

After that, I didn't get a chance to speed up till I reached home. So 144kmph remained an eye-sour throughout the weekend. I kept whining, and looking forward to the return journey.

Came Monday morning, and in an hour of sedate driving to warm-up the engine, I reached Peth and took to the NH4, like a fish to water. In next few seconds, I was into 130 kmph, inching towards the target. There was quite a bit of traffic than usual, but it was in the middle lane. Even the bus/asiad drivers, who have this nasty and irritating habit of choking the high speed lane with 60kmph speed, were considerate enough to take to the middle lane. The high speed lane was empty for quite a long stretch, and that was enough of a bait for me. I stepped on the gas. 140 - 145 -147 -148 - 149 - 150(!!) - 151 - danger-ahead - brakes - down to 130 - 125 - 115 - cruise. I saw Karad flyover. You don't realise how time and distance passes by when your mind is fully onto something else.


Speed was down to a more of 60'ish owing to pedestrians and traffic congestion near the flyover. And I spotted a traffic police waving at me, asking me to stop. After assessing presence of all car-related documents in the car, I slowed down to see what he wants. He wasn't going to get a bribe from me, that was for sure. But he turned out to be a highway police, asking for a ride to a toll-booth where there was going to be a रास्ता-रोको (road-blockage) to protest against rise in tolls across NH4 toll booths. So all my plans of breaking the 160kmph barrier, and more importantly, breaking the 3-hrs Sangli-Pune record of my bike, dissolved into thin air. He was approaching retirement, so I kept the car near a more descent 100kmph mark to avoid making him uncomfortable with the speed, and to avoid getting a lecture on how high speeds cause accidents and how this current generation is being reckless etc etc.

I dropped him around 100kms from Pune, and after that, due to morning traffic, there was no chance to speed up. 100-120 kmph is what you can get and maintain max.

At a hindsight, I cant help but praise the car like anything. I have read/heard stories of how sedans like Esteem start vibrating during the 140 kmph mark. This car, totally living up to her reputation, didn't even make me feel like I am doing high speed. Only the blurring trees in the corner of my eyes, made me appreciate the kind of speed I was into. My heart was beating quite normal despite the adrenaline surge.

Next up on the radar is the Mecca of a speed-junkie - The Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Top speed of a Palio is said to be capped at 165kmph. From my assessment at 151 kmph, I feel it can do much more than that. My black beauty, owing to those 100 bhp, should be able to make it to 175-180.

My job will be to take this horse to water. Let's see how much she drinks.

An Affaire with an Italian Beauty

Sleepless nights of endless research, the eternal state of confusion and two-minds, shaky hands while making the deal (for the fear of being deceived due to lack of car-knowledge), choking secrecy (to give a surprise to my parents), month-long painful patience while learning to drive and the BITS MS exam that only tested the level of my patience; after all this trouble, finally it's official. I got a car couple months back - the much sought after - Fiat Palio Stile 1.6 Sports. It's a scorcher, rest assured.

I had to hold back blogging about couple of quality drives due to the secrecy.

Finally last weekend, I drove the car to Sangli. Told my parents that I have quite a bit of luggage in the rickshaw, so come down on the street to help me pick it up. They did come down waiting for a rickshaw, and when a black beauty approached them, by chance they had a look at the driver, and they couldn't decide if that was a dream or a reality. It was their son, driving that beautiful car.

My dad kept asking me - "tell me the truth, who's car is this? कुणाची कार घेउन आलायस ही??". I had to show him the RC for him to believe that it's my own car in reality! After an hour, mom was still doing in-and-out on the terrace to check the car out. What was needed was somebody secretly filming the whole episode. It was fabulous.

My dad never gets perturbed by surprises. He remains quite composed. But that day, he was bowled. Mouth open. It was a bigger shock for both of them because they didn't even know that I can drive a car now.

Last two months - July and August - have been, without a doubt, the busiest and hectic-most times of my life till date. All those troubles and tortures of those times, were all worth it. I had expected huge cheers from my parents on this surprise, but the extent of it, I had grossly under-estimated.

Enough of emotions, now on to some stats about the car. As I said, it's the much sought after hatchback in the used car segment (along with the yellow S10). It's a top-end Sports edition of a 2008 model, black Palio Stile with 1.6 litre engine, producing 100BHP of power. Such a scorcher of a car, which had run merely 40k kms in 2yrs, I got it for peanuts, compared to it's on-road price of around 5.5lacs at the time of purchase. This, thanks to the very low resale value of Fiat cars in general, and Palios in specific.

Many people criticised me for buying a used car, which is discontinued now, with the bad reputation of Fiat-TATA after-sales-service on the back, and which is known for its low mileage. A lot of these bad vibes about the Fiat cars, IMO, is more of a FUD campaign - Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt. Of-course there are problems with the car and the service, but they are not soooo significant, for these cars, built like a tank, to deserve peanuts in resale value. I was convinced. And Warren Buffet's principle about stock market, convinced my other paranoid mind. "Be fearful when people are greedy; and be greedy when people are fearful". In pre-owned cars market, prices clearly tell this story - people lust after a Maruti, while they are very fearful of a Fiat. My choice was clear.

Besides, it was a love at first sight for me with regards to this car. And then, good, trust-worthy middleman, clear norms about deal-making and positive outcome during check-up at Pandit Auto made it easier for me.

All in all, here she stands at my door. I have driven her for around a 1000kms now, but apart from a minute chuk-chuk sound (which is suspected to be a WA/WB issue), she has been delightful till date. The handling, steering feedback, total assurance of control at very high speeds and acceptable mileage being the highlights. This deal has probably been the best value-proposition I have accepted till date.

Somebody on Team-BHP has summed up emotions towards Palio very succinctly -
"One thing you have to keep in mind when you buy a Palio. True Italian beauty that she is, expect her to be temperamental; needing love and attention, unlike the German/Korean and Japanese."