The traveller's twist

Come June and most of the backpackers fasten their waist belt to experience the much-awaited monsoon showers. And to keep that legacy, Naresh and I too, to quench our adventure thirst, head on to a location where nature and sculpture resides.

Last January 2009, we both had an amazing experience of visiting the 4th-century old Kanheri caves. Even during winter, the place had so much to offer: verdant expanse, picturesque locations, bird songs and most importantly, its untold history. We thought a monsoon visit is a must if we want to truly enjoy the beauty of this historic location.

But someone has rightfully said, we plan something and we experience something else. On 4th July, Naresh came to my house at 7am. While stepping down from my building, our idea to visit Kanheri started blurring. Just a day before our trip, we were in a mood to explore the rock-cut caves, but with every step, we became dual-minded. I sat on Naresh’s bike and told him, Kanheri is just a few hours away and we can land there anytime, so let’s march towards NH4, i.e. Mumbai-Pune Highway.

Believe me, the decision turned out to be a fantastic one. Because we did not know what’ll be our final destination. The whole experience was like reading a thriller book wherein your curiosity to know what lays further increases with every chapter.

As we kept on moving our wheels, leaving behind paddy fields and vast green carpet, we came across a huge, white-washed idol of Lord Shiva. Erected next to an under construction Shiva temple, the idol was clearly visible from the highway. It had such a great charm that it made us stop by to capture its grace through our lenses.



Thereafter, we kicked off towards Pune, checking all the milestones that read destinations. And in no time we reached the famous Bhor / Khandala Ghat, where lush greenery and cascading waterfalls gave that ghat an ethereal touch. Tucked in the magnificent Sahyadri mountain range, I saw that the ghat shared a special relationship with the monsoon clouds. The mushy clouds were spread across the mountain as if enjoying a siesta; preparing themselves to revel in the awaiting long journey.

Sipping-in that beautiful view and relishing the occasional rains, we moved on to reach Khandala. Once we thought to explore Khandala but the city’s crowd had dropped by to spoil the beauty of this place. So we left behind the hill station and kept on riding. Suddenly, my eyes popped-out to read Karla Caves, written on one of the milestones. I told Naresh, let’s turn our wheels to the road that ends at Karla.

The road to Karla had an inviting and refreshing image but this experience didn’t last long. As we entered Karli village, I saw that loads of people had already embarked upon to spend their weekend. Their presence was acceptable but their leftovers, loudspeakers, car honks and hue and cry, simply intolerable.

We parked our bike at the foothills of Karla and then took stairs to reach 2000 years old Karla caves. As we started walking I saw that the path to the caves has completely encroached with peddlers selling pooja items, food and Ayurvedic products. Later, on our way, I learned that the place also houses Goddess Ekveera temple (Hindu goddess belongs to the CKP or Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu community and also the Koli community - two sects of the Maharashtrian community). And due to Sunday, (which is considered to be Goddess’s day) flocks of people landed to invoke her blessing.


After a steep climb of 15 mins, we reached the entrance of Karla Caves. From the gate, I saw that an orange and blue coloured temple of Goddess Ekveera Devi is flanked at the entrance of the world famous Hinayana Buddhist Karla caves. We didn’t go inside the temple, as there was a big queue to seek her blessings and we didn’t have that much time to wait.

The whole caves reminded me of a place that we were supposed to visit that day – Kanheri. Just like Kanheri, Karla is also one of the finest examples of the ancient rock-cut caves to be found in India. At the entrance, an exquisitely sculpted Lion placed on a 15m high pillar welcomed us to experience the magnificently carved chaitya or prayer hall. The chaitya had beautiful façade with numerous sculptures like elephants, devotees bowing Buddha, mithun (men and women in pairs), etc. on both sides of the doorway.

Inside, rows of pillars divided the chaitya into three parts - central hall and narrow side aisles, divided by two rows of pillars. All the pillars were beautifully crafted by sculptures of a couple sitting on Elephants, Buddhist symbols and scriptures.

At the far end of chaitya was the stupa – a cylindrical-like structure worshipped by the Buddhist. Although there was less light in the hall, whatever sunlight passed through the large window, added life to that century-year-old structure, plus it added grace to the exquisite sculptures and architecture’s talent. Outside, view from the Karla hill was spectacular. The monsoon colour green dominated the whole landscape. Wherever my eyeballs looked at, I grabbed verdant expanse, which gave me a soothing feeling to take home for a lifetime.


All in all, the destination which we never imagined to be our ultimate one, reminded me of a famous Hindi movie song sung by Kishore Kumar from the movie Chalti ka Naam Gaadi - “Jaate the Japan, pahunch gaye Chin samaj gaye na”!