The road trip to Velas with V-Rangers

First things first, I wasn’t that excited about this trip initially. There was hardly any trekking involved. I had only confirmed on Wednesday and mainly because of the drive and the idea of meeting a few more cool strangers. The basic premise of watching turtles was never a motivation. Thankfully, I chose to go.

The day began at 4.30 am for me and earlier for some other folks. We met at Panvel at 6 am and had our first round of introductions. Since there were almost 40 people, I hardly caught some 10 odd names. We had the standard breakfast of pohas and set off. There were 16 bikes, 1 qualis (packed with biker’s bags and 5 people) and my Alto carrying self +3. Instructions were clearly laid out to all to maintain contact. I was specifically told to be in the middle of the pack. We started off from Panvel with Kolhad as the first stop. I was having great fun driving on NH17. The 3 other members of my car were girls, which was not bad, except that I had to endure discussions on cosmetics and got zero navigator assistance. Also, none of them liked Dev D songs…that really hurt!! Jokes apart, the drive was brilliant on the 2 lane highway. The road is quite good. We played loud music and sang along. I passed a few bikers and was suddenly under the impression that I was in the lead. Fact of the matter was that some were always ahead and rest had passed me back at the toll naka. However, so sure was I (and my useless navigator) that we were in the lead that I actually slowed done and drove at 40 kmph for a while. Finally when I reached Kolhad, I saw the bikers waiting impatiently. I realized how tough it was going to be in coordinating this large a group. We grouped at Kolhad and moved towards Mangaon. We had to leave the highway at Mangaon and head towards Shrivardhan. One bike had a minor snag and so we waited a bit at Mangaon and bonded some more.

After Mangaon, the road got more awesome. There was a lovely ghat. Here, one biker skid a bit and the medical kit and Doctor (yes there was a doctor in the group) came to the rescue. Again we grouped and headed to Shrivardhan. We reached Shrivardhan town at about 1 pm. It is a tight town with narrow lanes. Our car took a wrong turn and we ended up seeing almost the entire town (which basically was the library, post office, police station and the local masjid). We stopped for lunch at a joint. The food was quite amazing. There was some more bonding and total dhamaal. Again, the way the coordinators managed the show was exemplary. Handling a group of 30-40 youngsters out to have fun is no joke. These guys (V Rangers) are amazing at organizing.

We set off from Shrivardhan at 2.30 and headed to Harihareshwar. Again, it was a brilliant, narrow and twisted road. This time I was able to keep pace with the bikers. Harihareshwar is an amazing place. There are rocks, a beach, a cliff, a mandir all next to each other. The place is called Dakshin Kaashi and is packed with pilgrims. The beach is generally off limits. We had a blast on the rocks which were being slapped with one massive wave after another. I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to carry a towel and change of clothes. So, in the interest of the upholstery of my beloved car, I had to stay out of the water and just watch the others having fun. The group was total dhamaal. There was pure, uninhibited fun. We were at Harihareshwar for a while and then headed off to Velas. We had to catch the 5 pm ferry to cross a narrow stretch of sea. Driving my car into the ferry was quite a unique experience. The ferry ride was quite lovely, but ended a bit too soon.

We were now driving through the narrowest twisty road in Bankot. Suddenly the road opened up parallel to the sea. This 2 odd km stretch is breathtaking. One is almost touching the sea here. I was driving with one hand outside. The bikers were having a total blast. Just as the seas stretch ended, we reached Velas. It was about 5 pm when we reached our halting point and the journey for the day had ended.

Velas village is the birth place (as per Wikipedia, only home town) of Nana Phadnavis, the right hand man of the young Peshwa Madhavrao-2. We had learnt about his exemplary administrative skills in school history. The village itself seemed quite prosperous. Most houses had hand pumps. There was continuous electricity (maybe due to its proximity to the infamous Dhabol) and our host’s neighbour had a Hundai Verna parked in his large mango yard.

The primary objective of our trip was to attend the Velas festival (kasav mahotsav), which is done to celebrate and raise awareness on turtles. They enable us to view the baby turtles hatch out on the beach and walk to the sea. So we quickly headed to Velas beach for the show. When we reached there, we saw 3 baby turtles had crawled out and were walking towards the sea. We all went bonkers and photography and video recording reached its zenith. We started racing the turtles against each other. Our joy at seeing the 3 baby turtles soon turned to delirium when the caretakers of the place came and opened up the nest. Suddenly we realized that there were 25 more baby turtles. We escorted them all to the sea. Watching these tiny creatures instinctively move towards the sea, persisting with their tiny limbs against small obstacles was quite a sight. Even more amazing was watching them start swimming at great speeds when they hit the waves. We all thought that the turtles were following the sun and so tried to ensure that we did not block their paths or cast our shadows on them. Later we learnt that the turtles are actually guided by the earth’s electromagnetic field. Nature never ceases to amaze.

After the turtle exodus, junta hit the water with vengeance. Again there was total dhamaal but again, I could only stand and watch. I was the caretaker of stuff. My cap had 5 goggles on it, my hands full of mobiles, wallets etc. Even my t shirt was sacrificed for the cause. The beach was an amazing sight and the setting sun a great inspiration to gather thoughts. Quite a bit of this blog was formed sitting there. Meanwhile, the operations guy in me was shuddering at the thought of our hosts accommodating 30 odd people full of dirt and sand, but they really know their stuff. The 3 bathrooms were taken up by the girls and the guys all got into the large common bath. There was plenty of soap and water and clothes lines to hang the wet clothes. Within an hour all were washed and clean.

We then saw the documentary on turtles. It told of how the turtle comes to the shore to lay eggs and walks away. However the eggs are plundered by locals and eaten. Even the turtles are caught and sold and also ravaged by wild life. All this was taking a great toll on the turtle populace and so some wildlife agencies got together with the government and the locals and started this concept. Locals work with these agencies and collect and take care of the turtle eggs. They ensure the eggs are hatched and all baby turtles released to sea. The concept has worked wonders. Most people are quite sensitive to turtles now. Our hosts were quite protective to the baby turtles, scolding us if we accidently impeded them on the beach. There is also good tourism as many people come from different places to watch this.

After the documentary, we had dinner. Our Hosts had made some amazing food for us. Eating on banana leaves, which one is then supposed to feed to the cow, was pretty cool. The enormity of the group can be felt by the fact that we were still introducing ourselves to each other. After dinner, 6 of us escaped quietly and went exploring the village with our torches. We climbed up one small cliff and sat for an hour watching the clear starry night sky and singing. When we returned, we saw the rest of the junta and gone to set up a bonfire. We rushed and realized that we didn’t miss much. The mood was clearly towards shady and corny songs and so I was able to exhibit my full repertoire and be one of the souls of the party. Small joys in life! The bonfire again was pure uninhibited fun. Such moments not only make life more enjoyable but also make you forget your sorrows, besides making great memories.

We headed back at midnight. It had been an exhausting and long day and some people just crashed. However, the adrenaline would not let the rest sleep. The group was full of experienced trekkers and a lot of amazing stories were told. I managed to grab some limelight with my Ladakh story. The energy was so high that some guys stayed up till 4 am. The last act was applying toothpaste on sleeping folk’s faces and taking snaps. For some strange reason they kept coming and showing me the snaps (maybe they were checking if I can be pasted too) and consequently I was also awake till 4 am.

Morning came soon and all of us were up at 6 am. Breakfast was Phoas again and we set off to Bankot fort/ Himmatgad at 7. The fort is 15 minutes from Velas village. It was on a cliff overlooking the sea and so the view from the fort is amazing. From here, we began the drive to Mandangad on SH10. This was the best drive of the weekend. The narrow twisty ghats were tight but wide enough and the road good enough to drive at a constant 50kmph plus. There was lot of kairis around and one could just pluck them from trees. We took 2 kairi breaks. We reached Mandangad fort at about 11.30 am. The view was again quite amazing. There is a small pond on top and soon half the junta was frolicking inside as I again sat and watched L.

Leaving from Mandangad we headed towards Mahad. We stopped midway and plan was changed to skip Mahad and head towards Mumbai and stop midway for lunch. This ensured chaos. Some people missed the message and when they hit NH17, they moved in the opposite direction towards Mahad. There was a lot of clutter and thank god for mobile phones and our deeply committed organisers. After an hour of chaos, they managed to get everyone to Mangaon at a lunch joint. Lunch finally happened at 3 pm. Most junta ate fish here. We headed towards Mumbai and decided to meet at Karnala for the final farewell. By now we had run out of music on my car and thankfully FM signal was back. This drive was quite a pain as there was very heavy traffic and lots of passing had to be done. We reached Karnala at 6 pm. The final farewell was important was I still hadn’t caught a few names. Everyone picked their stuff from the Qualis, bid adieu and we dispersed for one final time. Some of us will meet again, some wont. But all of us will remember this trip.

Trip Summary:

Total Kms driven: 450

Total time: 40 hours

Sleeping time: 1.5 hours

Total Cost: ~600 Rs + almost a tank full of petrol

Total Fun: Infinite