The Three Beaches

You must have heard of tears of joy, tears of sadness, but have you ever heard tears of winter? Now that’s what I experienced on my way to explore the three hamlets nestled in the coastline of Konkan belt: Diveagar, Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar.
During the early hours of 25th December ‘10, the family of clouds descended upon the surface of Earth, may be to celebrate the birth anniversary of the messenger of peace and love. Although the aura was blissful but as me and Naresh-my friend, tried to move ahead on our bike, the droplets of water suspended in the air found its way to our eyes, thus hitting them gently and releasing tears of winter.

Speeding on that fogged highway was completely out of question. Riding above 30km/h at that time, would’ve landed us in a nearby hospital, as occasionally, out of a sudden, a truck or a car used to emerge at a distance of 5-10 meters (approx.). Luckily, the fog that welcomed us at seven in the morning lasted only till 10.45am near Mangaon on the Mumbai-Goa highway.

Golden Ganesha
If you truly want to experience a roller-coaster ride then drive your wheels on the path that connects Mangaon to Diveagar. The route is full of variations: silky path, narrow stretch, bumpy road, ghat and most importantly serpentine roadway. Enjoying those thrilling stretches, we went on to reach the well-known ‘Suvarna Ganesh’ (Golden Ganesh) temple at Diveagar.
The specialty of the temple is that it doesn’t have a cone-shaped dome. Instead, the temple is just like any another house one can get to see in that region. An elongated square-shaped gallery welcomed us at the entrance. Inside, I saw that a Ganesha idol carved out of stone, which is the main deity, is kept in a cage–like structure. On the left side of the idol, the famous Suvarna Ganesh has being kept in a glass cabinet. Found in the backyards of a lady named Draupadi Dharma Patil, I learned that the idol is made up of 24-carat pure gold and is said to be 1000-years old. To the right of the idol, a copper box in which the Golden Ganesha was found along with some ornaments is preserved in a glass cabinet. Seeking Ganesha’s blessings, I then departed to lookout for a hotel to reside for a day.

Blissful beach

After a short nap at the hotel, we then proceeded to hit the lovely beach of Diveagar. Riding through the village alleys and that too escorted by coconut groves and betel nut palms, simply renewed my energy to explore the neighbourhood.
While on our way to the beach, we came across a beautiful temple of Roopnarayan. Located just a few meters away from the beach, the temple is also known as Sundernarayan, whose idol is believed to be thirteen century old. As of now, the temple is getting a brand new look, which once on completion will remind us of our century old Indian architecture’s talent.

At the beach, as expected, its beauty was breathtaking. The city crowd was having a great time with family and friends. With 4.5km grand seashore the beach exhibited white sand all over with a dash of green in between. The sand beneath gave me a spongy feeling whereas the occasional cool, sea breeze played with my hair.

Heavenly stretch
My next destination was the amazingly popular, picnickers favourite - Shrivardhan beach and the best route to go there is from Diveagar. Carved out of fishermen’s settlements and the hillocks overlooking the vast Arabian Sea, the route offers some of the marvellous views to cherish forever. With every new view in sight, I kept on blaming the unplanned concrete jungle and praised some of the nature’s greatest creations.
Large and small boats harboured, flock of Egrets feeding on dried fish, fishermen’s children playing cricket in a muddy rocky playground, fisherwomen busy in their routine activities, setting sun merging with sea to create that humanly impossible saffron colour; all these scenes en-route to Shrivardhan presented a painter’s imagination rather than a photographer’s delight.
At Shrivardhan, I didn’t felt like leaving Diveagar 19kms behind. The houses, quiet alleys, betel nut palms, banana plantations and coconut groves, all seemed transplanted from Diveagar. Riding bike at a lowest speed through-out the village was the only way to savour the village’s beauty. Revelling that remarkable evening I came back to my dwelling place.

Birders paradise

What could be more rewarding than to amble during the early hours at the beach? Looking at the waves caressing the shore every now and then gave me that perfect soothing experience I was looking for. And to add to that were the songs of the birds. Jungle Babbler, Jungle Myna, Cuckoo, Spotted Dove and a flock of migratory birds, all let me bask in the best of their melodious sounds. Undoubtedly, Diveagar is a great heaven for bird admirers.

Pilgrimer’s beach or Picnickers hotspot
Next on list was the popular pilgrimage centre, which recently became picnickers must visit destination – Hariharehwar, since it is close to Shrivardhan. I think it’s a perfect spiritual hamlet, as it offer rejuvenating environ through its beach and a peaceful ambience through its temple. We didn’t go inside the temple, as lining up in the huge queue would have consumed our limited time that we kept to discover that place.

The view from Hariharehwar Mountain (a.k.a Harihar Mountain) was really mind-blowing. As far as my eyes looked at, I encapsulated the never-ending horizon and an unspoiled and immaculate Harihareswar beach; may be because most of the visitors were busy invoking blessings of Lord Harihareshwara. Whatever the reason could be, I just know that in those two days, I proudly discovered the three diamonds that are tucked in the neckline of Konkan belt.