The Serene Beach of Ganapatiphule in Maharashtra.

There are  lot of beaches across the huge coastline of India ,besides few exceptionally good ,untouched beaches along the coastline of Karnataka, My most loved beach site in India is the not so well known GANAPATIPHULE BEACH in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Since , i prefer calm , tranquil, clean & serene beach ,not very crowdy . Its preferred to have prior bookings at MTDC beach resort ,Ganapatiphule for its best location on the beach & beautiful surroundings...There's other private beach resorts ,of which Krishnali's location is also too good. As one drives in from Ratnagiri city & crosses Arr-

Beautiful sunset at Ganapatiphule.

The Ganapatiphule beach (a view from the MTDC resort).

The view of the MTDC resort, Ganapatiphule.

Myself , in a leisure mood at the MTDC resort, Ganapatiphule.

The Saumbhu Ganapati temple on the beach.

The view of the Arraywarry beach from the hilltop as one drives from Ratnagiri.

The Arraywarry beach, Ganapatiphule.

aywarry beach ,the road goes uphill & gives a feel as if  one will end up into the waters Arabian sea...The beaches around are too serene & the only golden sand beach in the Konkan belt.There's a saumbhu Ganapati temple on the beach & is a must recommended visit site.

The serene beach of Ganapatiphule,

Just love the beaches here.....away from all hassles of mumbai.

The Arraywarry beach from top of the hill drive...

As one drive uphill from the arraywarry beach.

The Konkan Railway ,cutting across the western ghats.

MY VISIT TO THE NABAGRAHA TEMPLE OF GUWAHATI(ASSAM).

As we mention the state of Assam in India ,the first thing that comes to our mind is theR. Brahmaputra & the famous Kamakhya temple...................... But there's another famous temple in Guwahati City ie. The NABAGRAHA temple that's dedicated to the 9 planets that governs our life's cycle......Very few of us frequent the temple that's located ontop of a hill,from were the whole Guwahati City looks very pretty. Mostly people having problem with Saturn in their  horoscope tries to make sure to visit & pray here.... Since it was our 2nd visit to the City ,I wanted to make a visit irrespective of any such believe of planetary effects....... Since the road upto the temple complex passes thru' narrow bylanes across the hill, one should start early for the darshan orelse will get stuckup in the traffic on the way itself. There's no pull/push of the pandits like that of Kamakhya temple. After purchasing the dalli( puja items including Prasad) ,we climbed up the stairs to the temple grabagraha( main temple). The 9 planets are depicted  as 9 shivling structure & placed in a circular arrangement. One can pray on their own orelse can hire a pandit to arrange for the puja. Mostly ,I saw people doing strict & elaborate puja at the Shivling depicting SATURN or SHANI God.......................... But , I preferred to do my prayers alone with heart & soul as I hardly understand those Sanskrit mantras. It was truly a great experience in whole ,So I thought to share my views with others ,who might feel good to get the divine blessing from the Nabagraha temple darshan.

Myself, infront of the Nabagraha temple ,Guwahati.

The view of Guwahati City from theNabagraha temple complex.

Inside the main Nabagraha temple sanctum.

The Nabagraha temple , Guwahati, Assam.

MY ENCOUNTER WITH THE SNOWCLAD DALHOUSIE ON CHRISTMAS..

Many of us had been to Dalhousie like me before , but to be there on Christmas & be a witness to a white Christmas at Dalhousie is luck bychance. 2 days before Christmas this year 2013, we planned to go off to Patnitop to enjoy the snow. Its was 6am in the morning that we all started from our Jammu home but soon got very upset to see a terrible traffic jam on the Jammu bypass road.............vehicles where hardly moving ahead;We had to take a spot decision ,either to drive off 100kms in 8hrs(because of very slow traffic movement)or drive off 170kms to Dalhousie in 4hrs.
    We all took a U-turn & off we go to Dalhousie,though bit sceptic to get snow there or not;We drove from JammuCity via Kathua,Mamuun,Dunera, Nainakhad,  to DALHOUSIE.

As we entered the Dalhousie limit , we were thrilled to see snow on the roadside; Now feeling happy to take the decision to drive off to Dalhousie.Soon the enthusiasm kept increasing............. What a beauty !!!! all around snow;

Our enthusiasm saw no boundary now..................

But how to drive & Where's the road to move on .........................???Crazy situation indeed.

Just kept wondering!!!!! This wasn't the same look ,that we saw of Dalhousie in Nov'2012....Its all covered in snow...............Though looks amazingly beautiful But now after continuing our stay here in Jammu city this winter, I can say that its thrilling to see the snow  covered landscape but for those live here amidst the snow , Life is very very tough to continue....................Hope all those who would love to enjoy the coming Christmas in the hills of Dalhousie ,be lucky enough like us to be a witness to this White beauty.

SERENE HILL TOWN OF RAJOURI IN J&K.

People mostly correlates RAJOURI as a military territory & it hardly appears in any ones travel itenary to Jammu & Kashmir. But its totally a myth.Its some 90kms+ from Jammu city. After Jammu city limit ,we entered Akhnoor city & took the bypass lane towards Sunderbani..Skipping out Akhnoor ,who we visitd earlier. As we took the bypass ,after few kms we crossed over the HARAPPAN SITE of AMBARAN at AKHNOOR bes-

ides the river Chenab. Its very pretty....The above pic' is of R. Chenab at ambaran.

     On the way to Rajouri , there are 2 more beautiful places of tourist interest ,one is BHAMLA & other is SUNDERBANI. After crossing Akhnoor city , the hill drive begins after few more kms.............. & its truly untouched beauty....

 As we continued our drive from akhnoor towards Bhamla.

                                       At Bhamla..................
We continued across hill mountains & lovely coniferous trees adorning the hills add to the beauty of the region.....alongside the chill of the hills..... The drive upto BHAMLA is just awesome, can try out Paneer pakoras & hot cup of tea alongside the road & carryback home, some lovely homemade Khoyas from the stalls there;
   As we drove ahead ,we reached Sunderbani, which is also a beautiful small hill town on the way to Rajouri.

  Beautiful sunset from the hills of Rajouri....................

         Enjoying a hot cup of soup by a stream at Sunderbani.................

          At Sunderbani , by the stream........................

                Posing for the lens over a broken bridge at Sunderbani.....

       Myself, by the stream at Sunderbani.............in Rajouri (J&K).

                     Beautiful Sunset at Rajouri............................
After crossing Sunderbani ,which is also in Rajouri ,we drove another half & hour ahead & saw a small flowing stream.... instead only driving off ,we thought to stop & walk down the hills upto the stream.... It turned out to be a great idea indeed!!!!! There's a broken bridge over the stream...& we all opted for an afternoon picnic ,with freshly made hot cup of soup.Just a great way of enjoying a winter afternoon in the hills....................As it was almost sunset time at Rajouri, we had to start back for Jammu city. I could capture few lovely frames of the sunset from the hills of Rajouri. We started from Jammu city around 12pm & reached back by 5:30pm................ & well enjoyed trip to Rajouri thus came to an end. Hope to explore Punj in J&K next time.

My First visit to the Indo-Pak border at RS pura in J&K.

My the name INDO-PAK Border ,might excite some people & some others will bore a feeling of fear at heart..... This is my story , which might portray a different perspective about the place & others can make their visit & experience the pride of being there once in their lifetime.
     RS pura ,well known as Ranbirsingh pura is a area well known world wide for its Basmati rice yield is some 7/8Kms drive away from Jammu (satwari) airport on the opposite direction of the city limit.
   It was a winter sunday afternoon ,that I & my husband ,after fnishing our lunch was wondering what to do...as all markets & recreational places are closed in Jammu city on Sundays & we were feeling very bored. I logged onto the net ,but couldn't find much info. about RS pura... soon, I came across a blog posted by DC of RS pura about some wetlands in the area ,were Migratory birds makes it home for the winter season. I soon got that idea,to see the migratory birds & if possible will see the borders,as earlier our friends told that its 10kms from Jammu city....
     We started our drive around 2:30pm ...though not very well maintained but okay driving thru'  the Siakot road upto the crossing of SUCHETGARH & ABDULIAN. I just missed the direction of Suchetgarh & drove off towards Abdulian village ,the last on  Indian soil. The villages were so-o serene..I just loved the drive, But unfortunately couldn't find migratory birds as they come only in Jan-Feb months ( as informed by BSF people)... Then we turned back towards SUCHETGARH.... By the time we reached there, we found its not 10ms from Jammu city instead 37kms to be precise. SUCHETGARH post is now open for public but No display of parade takes place like Wagha border.Once at the post, the BSF people asked my husband to deposit his Army ID card & give his mobile nos..... need to sign on the entry register & only mobiles are allowed inside. We walked in & then the big border gates to be crossed inside in few batches each time....I was so-o excited, that's the PAK-soil, so-o near but still far off..... we were allowed to walk up to the knee height bobbed wire limit...another 50 mts there a bar(like railway phatak) & then the Pakistani post. There's a Banyan tree ,which seems to be a common property of both the countries.... I felt, so much pride to be standing there & salute my motherland INDIA & the brave soldiers who had been guiding there Day & Night to give each of the citizens a good night sleep. Maybe ,I cannot express my feeling in words ,while I stood there ....except only can say, I WAS SO-O Proud to be an INDIAN standing there & offcourse, lucky to get a chance to be there.....

 Suchetgarh post..................the line of divide between two beautiful country.

 Myself, at Suchetgarh post ,in RS pura in J&K.

 The Banyan tree...... a common property of both India & Pakistan.

 The Sialkot road ..........................................From Jammu city to RS pura.

 The Basmati fields of RS pura......................J&K.

While on our return back, we stopped at a mills to carry along a big bag of 10kg basmati rice...its also available in larger quantity,but since we just wanted to get a taste of it...Its quite less priced & too good variety....

Just had a lovely experience of RS pura.... & hope to get there once the migratory birds flies in;Definitely ,I'll recommend SUCHETGARH visit, to all ,who might be visiting JAMMU city to make their way to Vaishnodevi temple.... Pls. dear friends ,Do come down to RSpura-Suchetgarh to experience the pride to be an INDIAN at heart & salute ur respect to all those soldiers guarding our motherland at such hostile condition...... Roads are just safe & nothing to fear about...... Just enjoy the thrill of going round Jammu & Kashmir.

MYJOURNEY ACROSS THE RUSTIC PUNJAB REGION.

Many of us had been to the Punjab state ,might be as a tourist/ resident/ or just passing by...But surely most of u might not be that lucky to experience the beauty of rustic Punjab region. It so happened that my husband had to attend some meeting at Bhatinda Oil Refinery & he planned to take the journey by road from Jammu City to Bhatinda City in Punjab -almost some 400+kms distance & 8 long hours of journey. I just didn't wish to miss this opportunity to see the rustic Punjab state.,though ,earlier I had been to Jalander,Amritsar,Ludiana ,Ambala, But ,this time we were to take on a wrong route through the countryside of Punjab to Bhatinda City.
     We started a bit early in the morning around 9:30am from Jammu city ,were we presently reside.... took the national highway drive to KATHUA city in the Jammu region of J&K state & then off to LAKHANPUR Border...after all check at the state checkpost we proceeded in to Punjab region.

At LAKHANPUR BORDER.

 

At MADHOPUR 

 

After Lakhanpur Checkpost ,we were crossing across over R. Ravi at Madhopur.......The whole landscape changed drastically now......No more ,highmountains across the landscape....its only 2 hrs that we had passed so-o far.....................still a long way to go;

PATHANKOT is almost 93kms from Lakhanpur border & after pathankot ,we were to take towards Dinanagar....I just kept watching carefully ,how the crops/vegetation kept changing from one place to the next......Every place in Punjab have a particular yield.....But its harvesting time everywhere ,either crop cutting was on or some places ,people were preparing their land for the next sowing season....

 

 

 

 

After DINANAGER, Its was GURDASPUR---- Followed by DHARIWAL & BATALA ...we kept drive across the country side on to MEHTA CHOWK.Saw a lot of cultivation around as we drove across towards Jalander- Amritsar highway...................... It was getting quite late & we were in search of a quality Dhaba for lunch.... after a long drive on JALANDER- AMRITSAR HIGHWAY ,we came across a proper place to have our lunch.Saw lot of pea cultivation in this region...We were to bypass AMRITSAR CITY instead ...

 

 

 

After bypassing AMRITSAR CITY, we headed towards the Holy City of TARAN TARAN......Now ,we were driving almost parallel to the border...

 

 

 

 

 

As we drove off from Taran taran towards ZIRA ...its just awesome to see those lovely CANAL SYSTEM that Irrigates the land of Punjab....Driving over the Dam at Zira with the sun going down over its ,was a fabulous experience.    Now we were to drive off towards FARIDKOT..... really felt quite exhausted by now & without a cup of tea ,we just could n't move ahead.The Dhan Mandi at Zira ,was a great experience to see the amount of FOOD GRAINS grown in our country ,but the sad side of it is ,still in INDIA ,so-o many goes off to sleep without food...

 

 

After FARIDKOT ,we were to reach BHATINDA CITY within an hour & half but the road turned out to be bad & over crowded.................. until we reached National Fertiliser Complex at Bhatinda City. My idea was ,Bhatinda city might be a little village But ,MITTAL'S have changed its total look ................... Just got so-o impressed ,that I can simply compare the place with PUNE CITY, with lot of flyovers, good roads, Big malls............ Just impressive!!!!