The compensatory trip for wife to let me go for my Monsoon Railfanning Sojourn is becoming an annual affair now.What she fails to realize is that I end up going for 2 trips under the disguise of compensation. Not that I am complaining. Her group consists of 6 girls and 5 boys from her MBA gang. We are the only married couple in that group. Some are single and some are in different stages of their relationships. For them its escapism from families to spend time with each other. For us its a break from hectic work schedules and time to relish our oneness.
Search for weekend spots started in the first week of July and Lonavla, Igatpuri, Matheran, Khandala and Alibag were off our radar as they were, ' been there, done that' for all of us. We came across a relatively unheard off place much closer at Atgaon (near Shahpur on NH3). Its called, Dirghayu Farms Agri Resort Pvt Ltd. Its located near the Bhatsa Dam. Our plan was to leave on Friday evening from work and return back by Sunday Evening by spending 2 days and nights at the farm.
This place being off track from the normal trekking and waterfalls spots people head to during monsoon, we had little or no reviews available on the internet.The package was cheap and we got an AC room for around 1600 bucks per night with all set meals included.The total cost for the trip was approx 20K for 9 people, As unmarried couple were not allowed separate rooms rest of our group contended for a 2 BHK house adjacent to Bhavia and my room. I wanted to ensure that we cut travelling costs and travel by local train to Atgaon and book a Jeep for local site seeing at Atgaon,but the others were quite apprehensive of getting into second class coach of a Kasara local from CST / Kalyan on a Friday evening. Eventually we had to settle to hiring a Mahindra Scorpio from Mumbai itself. It was a cheap deal though.The vehicle was with us for 3 days at 6000 bucks.
Everyone assembled at Andheri by 5:45. I was picked up from Airport Road at 6pm and off we went. Our driver was a young chap who worked for Chembur Fire Brigade and off his duty he drove Jeep for passion and some extra money. He had a pass which allowed him to go through internal roads of unseen Mumbai. Having a man working for Fire Brigade meant that we saved on each and every toll and we witnessed for the first time a road which started from Marol Pipeline, went behind the Renaissance Hotel,Vihar lake periphery , through Bhandup Water Treatment Complex and directly reach Khendipada in Nahur. We passed through multiple check points without any stoppages all thanks to his pass. There was traffic at Navghar and beyond Mulund Check Naka he rarely went below 80.The speedometer was mostly stuck at 100. He had amazing controls of the wheels.
We stopped at few joints in between and at Milestone mark of Nasik 83, Indore 500, we took the right turn to Birwadi, Bhatsa Dam Project. 3 Km inwards was the picnic spot we were headed to. We reached around 10pm as we had multiple stopovers in between. On reaching the resort we checked into our respective rooms .The walk from Reception (which is near the gate) to the rooms is almost 100 meters away lit with Solar LED lights. Both the sides of the walkways are barricaded with nets to prevent animals from criss-crossing it. After keeping our bags we returned back to the dining hall which served us buffet dinner. It was going to be a Set Meal with rice, chapattis,3 veg bhaji, 1 non veg bhaji, salad, papad and Aamras.
Though it wasn't great in terms of variety, everything that was served was very tasty, being farm fresh. We returned back and had fun and frolic till late midnight before we decided to return back to our separate room at 1 am and sleep. The party continued for others of our group as alcohol was high on their agenda.We being teetotalers, decided to rest after a long hard day for the next morning.The 2 BHK is very budget conscious and functional room and has a small front room and 2 bedrooms on either sides with bathroom and toilet connected to hall. Our separate room was small but very functional with a wardrobe, bed, ac, cooler (too), bathroom and toilet. Hot water facility is through LPG Geyser.
Everyone was ready by 10 am and when we opened the door, we were welcomed to a green carpet and light drizzle. We walked up to the dining hall and enjoyed the serene,calm and green farm till our eyes could see. Breakfast menu was Tea/coffee, noodle poha and bread omelette.We had decided to venture out for local site seeing and hence took our jeep further down the Dam road. About 1.5 km on this picturesque village road lies the Bhatsa Dam.It looks like a huge wall of concrete and there are many gates which were off course closed as monsoon this year hasn't been up to the mark.One of the streams was let open from the side and that itself was good enough to go down further to form a small river. The gushing of pure unadulterated water was a sight to behold. After many photo-ops we got down the stream where the flow was controlled and sedate. We spent some time playing around. Then we decided to get to a panoramic point and with some local guidance reached the Govt Guest House at a higher ground which gives a dramatic overview of the dam and the entire reservoir behind it. The clouds had descended and scenery was absolutely stunning.
We returned back for lunch which was a similar affair like last night's dinner (off course we had different bhaji this time). There was an option of going to Tansa Reservoir but that would have meant travelling for another 15 odd kms hence, we decided to settle in the farm at their swimming pool which is big enough and has a Burma Bridge through the Pool. The standard depth of water was 5 feet and we spent the entire afternoon and late evening in the pool. Adjacent to the pool is a pond where we could see fishes and frogs breeding. We returned back to the dining hall for some hot tea and biscuits as temperature in the environment around us was in 18-20 degrees Celsius. In the night, there was another round of music, dance and jokes after dinner.One thing to be noted is that since the place is in the middle of the farm, between 6-8 pm if you open the door, be rest assured to get a lot of insects waiting to enter your rooms. We devised an idea to close all lights, outside as well as inside before opening the doors and save ourselves from the insect attacks. For people who are petrified of insects I would say a strong "No" to visit this place.
We slept late at 12:30 am and in the morning after the chores and a breakfast session which had missal pav and some egg based pancake, we headed to the in-house bullock cart ride and tractor ride which is complimentary to all guests. Its a small ride through their farm and its funny for people from the cities.We decided to drink,"Aam panna" and head for the 1.5 hr agricultural tour through the farm which includes learning how to identify different flora and fauna,vermiculture and we also experienced planting trees with our own hands. It was a very humbling experience. Everything inside that farm was organic and made from unconventional energy sources. They had solar panels for heating, lighting and fertilizers and pesticides were all made from composing the bio waste and vermiwash.
We had a Jain girl in our group who wanted to visit Manas Mandiram,a Jain temple on the outskirts of Asangaon so we headed to the place and were spell bound by the beauty of the place and the temple surroundings. She changed into traditional attire and visited the temple.We took a periphery walk around the sprawling temple complex, though non Joins are allowed too with proper attire. We bought some sweets and decided to reach Asangaon as me and my wife and 2 others were happy to return back by local train as going back to the farm must have made us lose time.We took 16:44 CST fast and reached Dombivli by 17:31 and home before 18:00 to spend the rest of the evening at home to get ready for the hectic week coming up. We were satisfied with the simple living over the weekend. We had no TV or ultra modern amenities in the farm, so a breakaway from the technology was quite nice. I won't recommend it to people who like 5 Star comforts on vacations. This is more for people who would like to go slow on life and enjoy the silence and serenity of nature.
Now with less than a month to go for the railfanning trip, excitement is building up for the next one on the agenda.
