Friday, July 17, 2015

Fireflies Festival

The next stop on our Great Indian Sojourn was Purushwadi. Google Maps may tell you that this tiny village is close to Akole, but really it is close to nowhere! It's in the middle of mighty mountains and under the open blue sky, but pretty darn far from any other town (let alone city). The reason for our visit was to watch the fireflies extravaganza in its natural setting. You see, fireflies mate in late summer (just before monsoon begins) & it's a miraculous sight watching them glow all around you...it's like Christmas lights surrounding you; except that it's all nature. It's an experience K & I will remember all our lives! 

The other fun part of this trip was that this was our first go at "rural tourism".  And I don't mean the kind where a village-like experience is recreated for the pleasure of tourists...Purushwadi was very real & very basic! Cow-dung floors, village huts, bulls ploughing fields & bathing in gushing rivers. 
You've got to love the spirit of the young entrepreneurs of Grass Routes (www.grassroutes.co.in)...what a well-executed concept promoting rural tourism and such a great social cause bringing city folk & village folk of India together! Our host was this young village guy from Purushwadi, living with his financially-independent tractor-driving farmer-mum, pursuing his BSc in Agriculture, aspiring to do an MBA & showing us proudly the beauties of his village.

The long Indian sojourn

So little K finished his kindergarten end of May and he & I took off to India for a two-months long break. It's been our longest holiday ever and the longest we've been in India since we moved out of India (such are the perks of not being a corporate slave). 

The first leg of our trip was in Pune. We went trekking on Sinhagadh, ate dosa at Vaishali, petted rabbits at Japalouppe, spent time on J & S's horse farm, had lunch at Jadhavgadh, spent quality time with M, N & little A. It was a perfect break...much needed. 

From Pune, we went to Mahabaleshwar for a couple of days. It had rained in Mahabaleshwar just the night before we arrived & the weather was just perfect when we got there; a welcome respite from Pune's summer.

Even though I grew up in Mumbai, this was my very first visit to Mahabaleshwar. Ever. Isn't that crazy? Should go there every monsoon!