Aanganevadichi Jatra 20 Feb 2009

So... it was second year for me. My vacation allowed me to attend the ‘Aanganevadichi Jatra’ even this year. This time around we were not alone. Mahindra group, friends of Mangesh Chavan also joined us. Total three vehicles nearly 20 peoples together. I was so excited as the group was so big. Everybody was present. Nobody had any excuses for not to go. I would have liked Leena with me but new baby put some restrictions. Equipped with full stock – Antiquity blue and beers. Not to mention we had full 2 additional crates of beer free!!
We started on Tuesday evening 10 PM from Mumbai. All friends gathered at my house in Nerul and began the journey. It was pleasant journey. Mangesh had arranged Kaleji for the dinner. Some of us had drinks as well. We reached village next day 10 AM. That included breakfast in Kankavali at Hiru Mavashi’s house. Everybody got fresh quickly and we all went to our Mango farm in Varad. Daji had made nice arrangements like tent and water etc. Few other village guys helped him. We started our party with Mahindra strangers. That is when Mr. Pawar asked for intros of our guys. Later on self-introduction was so hilarious that nobody was stranger anymore. Evening was only for the rest.
We all woke up at 4:30 in the morning and got prepared for the Bharadi devi darshan and jatra. I was so much tense how to get inside the temple with so much crowed. To beat this crowed we decided to go early in the morning but when we went there we could not believe our eyes to see the crowed. Anyway as decided earlier we went in Tula bhar queue. Avi and I decided to do our tula. Later Avi opted for Sanjay. Somehow we managed to get inside and took devi darshan. We were all free by around 7 AM. Then some roaming around in jatra. From there we went to Rameshshwar temple and then to Kunkeshwar. Evening was filled with another party that will be remembered for long time to come. Everybody was singing. I noticed that all were recollecting their younger moments of life. I will never forget this party. I took this opportunity to turn my telescope towards Pleiades cluster, Orion nebula and Saturn as well. It wasn’t that good view of Saturn as the rings came edge on to our line of sight.
Friday we all went to Malvan- Tarkarli beach. I wasn’t impressed with this beach at all. I heard lot about this beach but it was downer to me. Anyway there was something to remember and that was our cricket match with Mahindra group. It was big quarrel game. After all cricket is a religion and nobody want to loose. In the end we defeated them!! Another party in the evening and again with songs.
Mahindra group decided to cut short their trip. They all started their journey back home on Saturday morning. It wasn’t event full day for rest of us. We discussed some family matters. We started our return journey on Sunday evening at 5:25 PM. Again nice travel. Prakash was bit low on spirit to drive during the night. He managed it very well. We all reached home by around 6 AM the next day.
Hope to attend Aanganevadichi Jatra next year again with full spirit and with more and more friends.