Ride to Chickoo Coast

Monsoon is Mumbai's favorite season. Even though it brings with it lots of problems, Mumbaikers really look forward these three months - June July August. Coming from a place where rains are an inseparable part of life, I found this amusing in the beginning. But slowly I also found myself waiting for rains after the scorching summer. As the whole city wears a different look during these monsoon months, people also plan lot of "activities". These "activities", I am talking about, are trekking, rappelling on waterfalls, day outing to water parks! One very important "activity" is weekend outing to nearby places like Lonavala, Khandala and many more.

Taking a cue from all these, last year I and P went for a day drive to Igatpuri and boy!..we had fun! We loved the drive, the greenery, stopping in the middle of nowhere to enjoy the scene, the moment. This year too we went out. But this year we took a slight off the beaten track and went to Bordi. It may be the same old Bordi for some; but for us it was a route completely new.

So we started on a Saturday around 9am. From our place in Borivali which is the Northernmost part of Mumbai, the distance was about 130 kilometer. It was only raining on and off; but there was overcast. Once we were on the NH48 towards Dahanu and were off the city limits the weather changed. The rains became more frequent. There were some bad patches with potholes. After an hour or so we made a pit stop at the Kamat restaurant though there were quite a few restaurants in and around Kamat. We already had breakfast at home. But somethings are done "just like that". So we ate again. Even though the restaurant is known for their Missal Pav; we decided to have Kanda Poha and Sabudana Khichdi. While the Sabudana Khichdi was very nice, the Poha was not "upto the mark".

Sabudana Khichdi

Kanda Poha with Coffee

We continued our journey and took the turn towards Dahanu from Manor. From Manor Bordi is approx 65 kilometer. Dahanu is famous for hundreds of Chickoo farms. These are mostly owned by Zorostrians / Parsis. Udwada a significant place for Indian Parsis is very near to Dahanu. The trees were full of Chickoos.

Dahanu to Bordi

One side of the road has Chickoo farms, private houses, numerous resorts, schools, colleges and hostels.

From Dahanu when the you take the turn towards Bordi finally, the view completely changes. It was a coastal road as you drive by the sea. The road is not smooth but the sea on the other side more than make it up for that. 

Finally we reached Bordi. As soon as we got out our car, it started pouring. There were not too many people around except for few local boys and girls. The beach was hardly visible as the monsoon sea was full and rough also it was high tide. We thoroughly enjoyed the solitude it offered. 

Me

Three school girls came to enjoy a walk by the sea on their way home from school. They walked pass us giggling and talking.

We sat by the beach for sometime. There were no shops or shacks. I am not sure if that is the scene during summer. There are 2 places just on the road when you go to the beach. One restaurant and one place called Chickoo Parlour. They have ice creams, halwa, kulfi, milk shake, all made with Chickoo. 

As we drove back towards Dahanu, we stopped by this school. The old building reminded us of our childhood. It was recess; all the students were out. We went inside, just looked around and came back. 

There were many restaurants and resorts. Many restaurants were closed as it was off season. Finally decided to come till Dahanu beach where we had seen some hotels on our way to Bordi. We had lunch at Crazy Crab. It is the restaurant of the resort called Sea Crest. It seemed many weekend travellers were staying there. If anyone wants to go for a quiet beach gateway not too far from Mumbai, this certainly can be an option. The food was tasty but generic. May be if we go someday to stay there can explore more of the place.

As we still had time in hand, we decided to take a detour and go find the village of Warli artists. However we again took a slightly off the regular track turn and headed towards some other place. That was complete unseen part of Maharashtra. On both sides of the road were paddy fields where the local villagers were still working. It was drizzling continuously. 

We asked people about Warli artists and were guided to a village called Bapugaon. We reached Bapu gaon and the home of Mr. Ramesh Hengadi the artist. He was out of station. We were greeted by this massive tree at the gate of his house. The tree was decorated during last diwali we were told by his nephew.

Warli paintings on tree

As we drove back home it started pouring heavily. The farmers were going to their homes after a tiring day at the fields.
Happily we also returned hoping to go back someday to meet Mr. Hengadi soon. 

Bapu Gaon