Day 6 - Dec 8 , Wednesday.

The Day of Reckoning.It was 6:0 am and we left Jaitapur. Starting up early morning was something that we tried but never happened. But the early night bivouac in a temple forced us to wake early as the idea of people finding us in our sleeping bags didn’t look too convincing. And Rahul seemed to be happy with our early Headstart following a great Sushine morning on a small fishing creek running to Vijaydurg.   

The Mornings

Sunshine

Cyclogy:  Mornings and Evenings, when the sun is low and temperature is cool remains the best time for cycling . Any another time is an unnecessary battle.

Noon comes with a mandate of dehydration pangs, unbalanced body temperature, unnecessary fatigue and a boredom questioning why exactly are you doing this. And Night is a game of light and shadow and a constant fight against not getting hit and possibly killed by a speeding vehicle. In India on urban roads, walking people commands more respect than a guy with a cycle.The story though is quite different on the Outskirts.

Turning up for breakfast, Near Padel

Through check post

 

The Route: With dawn still looming in the distance we climbed a to-be-road and continued on the road through Niveli and looked for a bridge at Jambhari where we climbed a small hill and entered Sindhudurg district. There is a check post after the climb that separates Ratnagiri from the Sindhudurg district. After a small inquiry about our journey by the officer at check post, we continued our way to Padel from where one road leads to Vijaydurg and other to Malwan.

Dabhole, Water break

Street play

 The road to Malwan from there is a well maintained 
 State highway with pretty big villages and schools and 
 then it enters an inner road from Dabhole. The red 
 blooded laterite soil ,buoyant smell of cashew trees 
 and the sweet Malwani dialect overwhelms our way 
 and me with a sense of being home. On our way ahead
 we left behind few holy spots of Kunkeshwar and 
 Rameshwar near Mithbav and had a rest of about 2 
 hrs and a wholesome lunch of Veg Thali. With few 
 turns and small climbs we reached Achra around 4.30 
 pm and watched a small streetplay by a local body 
 campaigning the Sarva Shikshan Abhyaan.

Improvisation: After an hour ride from Achra under the setting sun, we reached Malwan. We spotted a Kingsfisher bathing in the sunset on a cable wire and enjoying the view. After reaching Malvan Bandar, we were caught in a dilemma, whether to move ahead to Tarkarli which is heard to be very Beautiful or stay in quite populated Malvan, which was our planned destination for our days end. However, we decided to move ahead and reach Tarkarli. The 8 km road to Tarkarli turned out to be a beauty and an unimaginable cycling track with a feel of another extra wheel below you, gliding you effortlessly. 

The Kingfisher

School in Malvan

Malwan

The Rendezvous: Rahul`s two friends , architects by professions came to meet us at our Tarkarli Homestay and told us few fascinating stories .

a)      Gaavpalan. An event held in Achra where all the residing people of the village with all their belongings and herds go and stay together at a some far away place for few days. The ritual is said to resolve disputes and boost family bondings. Not strange though considering the fact that the new found business world employs it in the name of  “Corporate bonding” process.

b)      Jeff, one of the guy, revealed about a courageous man who cycled Bombay Goa inspite of an unequal leg length deformity with a technique called “Scissors”, Kaychi a local word and he being an inspiration for him to cycle Bombay Goa someday.

c)      And talk about how globalization and government policies are making the locals and their villages vulnerable to forget about the cultural and architectural values of their ancestral homes and turning them into bigger concrete boxes and the new face of developing Urban India.

The Giant bringing beer on the Bottle cage

Rewards:  The day ended in a big night-out with splendid Surmai thali loads of beer till 3.0 am and heavy discussion , Bani and me against Rahul and Dibakar. A classic debate between an Engineer and an Architect.

One projecting a Functional and Utilitarian motives and other proposing Aesthetic and Cultural Values of our Villages.