Drunken Drive- DiveAgar

We got the shocker at office in a flash and we decided to cremate the ashes in style. A trip -night out- to one of the beaches in Konkan. Dive-Agar was decided.

13th Jan was the day to go and 14th was decided the day to return, 2 cars 8 people (after the last minute dropouts) were all armed and furious for the rocker under the drunken moon.

We left office at about 3 in the afternoon and were finally having tea in one of the dhabbas at Mulshi at about 5 in the evening. The roads were great and the food was cool... bhakri pitla and lots of tea.. all at delayed intervals flushed out all hopes on enjoying a view of the sun set behind the waves.

Soon we were off on the drive and post some halts- a long one at the mouth of Plus valley at Tahmini- we were off on the twisted curly road drive till the Mangaon bifurcation. The drive was exhilarating to the fact we were racing against time to get to DiveAgar in time and not to late and also wanted to cross the ghats by nightfall. From Mangaon phata the two cars synced up and took the single stretch road all the way to Mangaon, where we had our next major halt. Time was ticking at about 7:30pm, we knew we had a dark ride ahead.

Here we had some wadapaav’s and tea at a hotel, the helper there helped us with directions to DiveAgar. According to him the immediate right from the Goa Highway was well constructed, as against what we had heard. Here we made some quick calls to the owner of the place where were to stay (AnadYatri resort/lodge). We embarked on the final leg of our drive.

The road was excellent and horrible in patches, but thankfully the latter existed for just a penny of time. Soon after blind ghat turns, we finally arrived at DiveAgar and after quick enquiries we arrived at AnadYatri lodge where we quickly unwrapped and made ourselves cozy at the room for the wild weekend stay. The time was ~9:30pm.

No sooner did we settle in did we get our bats and balls outside to have a quick silly game of idiotic cricket. Soon after quick inspections of the place we closed all doors and let the madira out of its polythyn shell. All gathered around for quick snaps and the first shots on the house! Soon some started feeling dizzy and I had to squeeze in a lot of lime to get off the high- It was dinner time and we had to make way to the table (which was outside in the courtyard) for food.

It was unfortunate for the carnivores since the meat was not pre-ordered so we had to munch on rabbit food (good for us veggies :) ). No sooner was dinner done, we decided on getting to the beach. So we packed in some liquor and with help of a local helper in the lodge we gathered a lot of wood and some kerosene to light up a bonfire at the beach, which was supposedly some 1km from where we were.

The walk was through the dark inner streets and after some chitter chat ( and some gulp gulp ..) we were at the beach. 3 campfires were already lit up and in the pitch black we could make out this was a huge (I mean really huge) beach! Found ourselves a good spot and started to layout the wood, dhickak dhinckak .. dhinchcak dhinchack was already underway even before the fire lit up. Soon the wood was all laid the blue slime of kerosene over it and the fire lit. Had a couple of dancing sessions then a lot of “break your mind free” sessions followed by total mindless sessions then all sorts of sessions one could think of and then things one could not think of… and then finally decided to call it quits for no reason and started taking the hike back to our rooms. By now Mr. DhinChak was in dream land and was talking with 100 +db earphones to his lobes.

At the room nothing went right for a few hours with some eye candy sessions with Dhinchack getting out of water, testing our muscles getting him to bed then finally get off the lights to put him to doze.

I woke up with Piyush snoring the morning raga in my ears and having his assets thrust-ed near Sheetal. Soon everyone followed Sheetal’s routine and we were all awake and ready as finally Sanjay got his farmayish for an amazing start of the day with hot tea served at our beds! Shirish possibly mimicked Ramdev baba a little too much the previous night so he did less of him in the morning. Avik was great guns after a fantabulous download, Shailesh was all bright eyed after a good night sleep and Biraj was all shaky after the aftermath.

Time was around 7:45am. We picked our bat and balls to make a new way to the beach. We walked through the inner yard of the resort as we came out to the main dirt road and finally to the beach. What a beach this was… we soon noticed what we had not the last drunken night. This was a huge expanse, I mean till where the eyes can see. It was beautiful and the breeze was just perfect. The shores were just hard enough for stick stumps and the perfect bounce for the ball and the game of cricket. The environment was just amazing for a morning Jog, which Avik undertook followed by Piyush Shirish and myself. Post this we played a lot of cricket and had a great time doing so, this was followed with some snappy sessions and then some amazing coconut water and bhel and finally retreat back for breakfast.

We had for a great breakfast of Pohe and had a good “learn marathi” session post which we quickly retreated to our rooms, to change for the best session –beach session. Soon everyone changed over to beachwear. As some headed to make calls back home, Piyush and myself headed for the beach. Once at the beach we selected a good spot and quickly got rid of the shirt and made a dash for the waters. The beach was pretty shallow and one could walk deep inside with just hip deep water. Soon others teamed in and then started all the weird water games, no one knew what we were playing until we started playing some weird version of volleyball. After a lot of masti we finally relaxed on the shores and played all sorts of muddy games and post a final wash made our way back to the room.

It was lunch time, we were back at our rooms by 1 in the afternoon. Here we had a quick bath and changed over to dry clothing. Lunch was as usual amazing, but the non-veggies kept cribbing over the meal. We were all packed and ready to leave post an amazing glass full of Kokam sharbat. It was roughly 2:15pm by the time we left.

We decided to drop the Hariareshwar plan due to time constraints and planned on taking the Varandha ghat route back home. Just at the edge of the DiveAgar village is a Ganapati temple which has a golden Ganapati mask. We visited this temple and finally made our way towards Mahad. The roads were excellent and narrow flowing from one hill to another from one highpoint to another and finally we were out on the Goa highway and headed towards Mahad. There were a couple of blunders due to speed racings and so Avik, Biraja, Piyush under my guidance decided to have tea at one amazing picturesque tea shop along side the highway next to the riverfront. Here we had hot fresh tea and learnt that there was a hot water spring on the other side of the river, but since it was getting late and we had already had good ups on getting synced on drive we decided against the temptation. Had a few snaps at this picturesque location, and finally caught up with SSSS car (Sanjay, Sheetal, Shirish under Shailesh’s guidance).

Soon we took a left and headed for Varandha ghat where Biraj decided to take the wheels and open his account to his Ghat driving experience! After numerous twists and turns we came up to a highpoint where we halted for some tea with the monkeys. Yes this place was full of tourists and monkeys. Had the extra sweet tea and finally headed on for a next stop at Bhor village. Time was roughly 6pm.

Finally after about an hour at Bhor we had a halt for some Ghatiya Tea and cakes. From here we decided to split not wait anywhere and meet on the next day. Soon we hit Satara road and finally made our way via the Katraj bypass, dropped Avik off at his place and were finally back at office by around 9:45pm.

It was one amazing trip and was the best way to celebrate in distress!
nJoy a few pics