the plaYground of my childhood Summers

Well I might call it the summer's of childhood, and truly the statement is true... As a kid, almost until I reached class 9 or (IX) our whole family spent summer vacations and Diwali vacation at our native place (GAON). Those 3 months of the year were the most phenomenal days of my life back then.. Our gaon, not more that 2 km long and about a kilometer wide. It use to be a jam-packed with tons of people during the vacations. Full of kids and we use to have a mini cricket tournament of our own..easily we got 5-6 teams.. Winning price would be as high as 25 rs.. well it was quite big back then.. There is go.. loose track again!!

My gaon is know by the name Nayri. this tiny little village is situated in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, 13km off the NH17 (Bombay-Goa) highway and the nearest small town is Sangameshwar (16km) and more famously Ratnagiri (about 58km). Its a tiny little hamlet in the Western ghats, surrounded by Sayadhris on all four sides. There is a tiny little river that flows besides our village, while its tiny and pretty in off-seasons it roars like a wild tigress when its Monsoons... Flash floods are a common phenomena in these rivers. All it needs are heavy rains up in the hills and there goes up the water levels dramatically..

All said and done, unfortunately I dont have too many pictures of my whole village but I have tried to load as many I could..So lets take a small walk..

the location of my gaon.. circled in blue...the yellow line is the NH17, Bombay Goa highway...

the journey to my village is totally refreshing and a superb drive.. trust me the NH17 is a drivers delight to drive on.. Precisely its about 311km from Mumbai to Nayari... The roads are pretty boring and crowded until you cross Mangaon.. once you cross that tiny town, the highway opens up and hardy one takes his foot off the pedal... our favorite stoppage was the famous Maharastrian joint, which goes by the name Kamat..The batata vada and misal pav use to be really good, off late they have lost their charm..so next time I go to my gaon, I will find a new joint..

after eating at this joint, which is at Mahad, once you hit the roads, the drive just gets spectacular..you straight hit the hills or the so called famous ghats along the Bombay Goa highway.. first one is the Kashedi Ghat the longest and highest of all along the route... the roads are broad, good but curvy.. its a roller-coaster of a ride..as I said earlier.. Drivers Delight..

Follows the town named Khed, then the Parshuram Ghat and then you officially enter into the Ratnagiri district.. after crossing Chiplun, just before Sangameshwar after the Shasthri Pul taking the immediate left will put you on the route to my village..

13km of these roads and the scenery below will bring you to Nayari. along this route my gaon is at the most elevated heights..

Generally when in gaon we stay at my mama's place (mom's brother). Our house is under construction..and should be ready to live in another year..

Thats my Uncles house's courtyard.. and below are some creature shots

the Chameleon..

the very common Hornbil's of the Western Ghats..they are massive and elegant, and a common sight in Western Ghat monsoons..

and this little cutie is my smallest and the cutest cousin...Mahek

On top is the sight of new house to be built over the old structure and below is our house under construction.. as I said, structure is ready...

our backyard.. .and tanzeem patankar posing on his house terrace...

now that's a view in front of our house.. the peak is in picture is known as Prachitgad, actually the great Shivaji Maharaj has one of his forts there.. and its quite a nice trek upto the place.. that's what i have heard.. never managed to trek to that place... :(

both above and below are my backyard views.. Its amazing where the boundary of our backyard ends, begins the river that flows through our village... yeaahh!!!

Some more posses and some more pictures of the scenery of the Sayadhri's around ...

the river gushing during the monsoons... it runs along the back yard of our house..

the State transport bus just adds more colour to the picture...

thats my brother and me in deep thoughts.....

and then time for some fine arts...

Thats our ride these days... one of the pictures above had our old Honda City too...

our Neighbourhood

About 7 km from my gaon, is my uncle's place. He bought a massive land in between two villages, so practically he is surrounded by forest on all sides. But what a wonderful place it is.. . He's now built a house for his family, i.e. my cousins and nephews...

the pictures below will show you the whole scene of my uncles place...

you know whats the best thing about my uncles place? He owns a private stream for himself...Though it dries up during the summers but its all gushing down in monsoons..

the most amazing thing is, during the first rains of monsoons, the river fish climbs up the river upstream, into the paddy fields and meadows around to lay its Eggs..Its an HEAVENLY sight and totally , freakishly UNBELIEVABLE.. You can catch them with your hands..

Whether cooked in gravy or fried to thick gravy they taste absolutely awesome...even better are the eggs..Yummy. I think I gotta stop there, my mouth is watering and I am getting more hungrier...

that's me and my brother playing around..

The backyard of my Uncles place..he's planted a variety of fruit plants there.. guava, chikoo, pineapple, mangoes, cashew nuts, figs, sweet-lime, papaya, mash-melon, kokam, aamla... and a few more I cant remember.. I think I am going to re-live my childhood again, climbing up trees and eating its fruits, maybe occasionally falling off it too :P

the evening shot of my uncle's private stream...

My parents are strong believers of god.. so there's this Dargha about 25km from my gaon and they make a point we visit there every time we go!! The only thing that takes me there is the route.. its BEAUTIFUL.. you know why.. take a look

above is the zoomed shot of one of the million's of waterfalls in Western ghats and below is no zoom shot..

the roads that lead to that place..

now you know where that river is coming from...

Dont be surprised.. that is the Konkan Railway bridge.. that passes through such beautiful scenario..