Tag: Pune

  • Pune to Palakkad

    We had dropped my wife’s parents at Pune railway station the previous night and it was a little past midnight when we slept. We set the alarm for 4:30 in the morning for our road trip to Palakkad.

    Two weeks earlier, my parents had taken both of our kids to Palakkad for their summer vacation. This meant that it was only the two of us on this journey.

    Routes

    We usually take the Pune – Kolhapur – Davanagere – Chitradurga – Hosur – Salem – Erode – Coimbatore – Palakkad route. On our last road trip, we tried the Sathyamangalam route after Chitradurga, turning at Tumkur. This time, we wanted to try driving down NH 66 (what was the Panvel – Ernakulam Highway and then NH 17).

    I remembered a road trip that I went with my family from Mumbai and this was a scenic sea-side route along the Arabian Sea. That road had gone beside beaches, through towns and cities, and on coastal and ghat roads. I wanted to experience that again.

    I took Google Gemini’s help to decide where to stop on the route we were planning to take. It suggested that we stop somewhere between Murdeshwar and Udupi.

    Rakesh ettan shared notes on the Pune – Sawantwadi – Goa leg of the trip. It was a route they had taken for their vacation in Goa.After taking this route to hop from NH 48 to NH 66, we would follow NH 66 to Palakkad.

    Day 1

    We woke up at 4:30 am and left from home around 5:30 AM. Google Maps guided us through Sinhagad Road to meet NH48.

    We made good time in this early morning leg and stopped at what has become our usual Vithal Kamat stop just before riding up Khambatki Ghat.

    Good progress has been made on the bridge cutting out the Ghat from NH48. It looks like we may not have to traverse the ghat on our next road trip.

    We crossed Satara and around Kolhapur began a series of diversions for construction work on-going on the NH. It was sad to see many of the trees getting cut down for expansion work. Why can’t we move these trees like Singapore does?

    We crossed into Karnataka and after one more diversion at Nipani, we made the turn towards Goa at Hotel Goa Ves. We joined NH 548H at Uttur Phata after going back into Maharashtra at Bahirewadi. We realised a little late that we had taken an earlier turn than intended.

    We returned to the route we had intended towards Amboli Ghat on NH 548H. By the time I had crossed Amboli Ghat, I had already crossed a few smaller ghat roads, and was now beginning to tire.

    Dhanya and I at Amboli Ghat. Image: Pradeep Mohandas

    We really loved the scenes at Amboli Ghat. The trees were different at different heights. The smells were different. The soil seemed different.

    At the exit of Amboli Ghat we got tempted to follow a short cut route into Goa. But, we had to return after a few kilometers as work on the highway had created a traffic snarl. We returned back to NH 548H.

    We then set our sights on Sawantwadi and headed there on the main highway. Sawantwadi town had a Mall Road like the north and still had some colonial vestiges. My wife’s neck pain got severe at this point and she could not turn to look towards my side (which was the side that looked towards the sea).

    NH 548H reached NH 66 at the Insuli RTO checkpost. We crossed the Terekhol river and had a Goan fish based meal at Hotel Anandi at Banda.

    We then took a series of bridges in Goa that took us through but never let us be in Goa. It by-passed the whole state except parts of Madgaon. The bridge had high side-walls which meant that we didn’t even get to see Goa.

    I later realised that they had changed the alignment of the road.

    We got the first sight of the sea at Goa Velha at the New Zuari Bridge. Then, we passed through Karwar Ghat and into the new naval port area. We also saw a lot of signboards for beaches but the disappointment that was the Goa by-pass meant that we just wanted to get to Udupi.

    We entered Karwar around 3:30 PM. Udupi looked unreachable and so we wanted to at least target Murdeshwar to sleep at. At this point, Murdeshwar also felt unreachable.

    It was getting dark by the time we passed Ankola. A bit of a downpour made driving slower. We went past Gokarna, Kumta, and Honnavar after sunset. We pulled into our night stay at the RNS Highway Hotel at Murdeshwar.

    The RNS Highway Hotel has an attached restaurant which is not under the same management as the Hotel. When we went there, the restaurant was busy serving a party of 20 and had only two chefs. We had to wait 30 minutes to be served and the food was not great.

    After a long and tiring first day, we decided to leave at 6 AM on the next day.

    Day 2

    We started at 6 AM as planned. We decided to have breakfast at 8 AM at Udipi. On the way we saw the bit of a beach by the road at Maravanthe and decided to get down on the beach. This strip of road and beach has the Kolluru River on one side and the Arabian Sea on the other side.

    Dhanya had been disappointed that we didn’t get to go down on a beach in Goa. We might have to plan a trip just for that.

    Selfie at Maravanthe Beach.

    She enjoyed her time at this beach and was much more positive start to the drive that day.

    We then went into Udipi to have our breakfast at MTR 1924. We then drove out and made good time before we entered Kerala. The roads in Kerala were also good with elevated highways.

    We were driving at a nice clip in Kerala when the diversions began. There were several diversions which went into the towns as well. We took a diversion into Kannur just before lunch. It was a bit early for lunch and we enjoyed the drive by the beach. But, most of the diversions were onto the service roads with no or closed restaurants.

    We decided to have Thalassery Biriyani at Thalassery for lunch. Dhanya searched online and found Paris Restaurant in Thalassery to have the best Thalassery Biriyani.

    We went off the Highway into Thalassery to have biriyani. After a short drive where we missed the car parking place for Paris Restaurant, we parked. We were diverted to the newer AC restaurant. Another look at Google Maps pointed us to the traditional place.

    The traditional place was a house with a bunch of rooms serving as place to eat. With an efficient seating arrangement consisting of desks and benches with enough room for people to sit and move around. We got a corner seat and had a sumptuous lunch.

    Selfie in front of Paris Restaurant at Thalassery. Image: Pradeep Mohandas

    We then went back to the Highway on the same road that we came to the Restaurant. The roads got much better after we crossed Kozhikode. Dhanya had wanted to try Paragon Biriyani as well but we decided to go there on another trip.

    We turned towards Palakkad at Valanchery. On the road to Palakkad we stopped at a cafe in Cherpulassery for a coffee and snacks.

    We reached our home in Palakkad at 8 PM. It was great to be reunited with the kids after a long gap of 15 days.

  • Chintamani Temple, Theur

    After the trip to Ballaleshwar and Varadavinayak, we went to the Chintamani Temple in Theur on 11 April 2026. We had gone to Chintamani earlier before we realised the importance of visiting these places in a particular order.

    This temple had lovely woodwork and a Portuguese bell kept here after the Maratha conquest of the fort where it was initially hung. There were many sparrows in the temple courtyard. Some parts of the temple was undergoing renovation. I have found the temples managed by the Chinchwad Trust to be better maintained and cleaner than other temples.

    This is relatively closer to Pune and hence, the drive to and from the temple was more leisurely for us. We drove without stops.

  • Katraj Zoo

    My daughter was bugging me to go somewhere, anywhere. I told her that we would meet her brother and her relatives on Saturday (10 January 2026) after her Parent Teacher Meeting.

    My son likes to play with animal toys and seem to enjoy watching birds.

    We had driven through Katraj (via the ghat) when returning from Kerala in September and it got me curious what it was like inside.

    These were three data points I used to decide that we should visit the zoo.

    Collage of photos of my family and me at the zoo during one of our breaks.
    Collage of photos of my family and me at the zoo during one of our breaks. Image Credit: Pradeep Mohandas, Collage created with Collage on Google Photos.

    For the drive to Katraj, Google Maps took us right past Shaniwar wada and Dagadhushet Ganapati Temple. It took us past Swargate and on the road to Katraj. There was public parking available outside the zoo. We parked there and walked to the zoo through the dilipated platform of the bus stand.

    The road outside is full of hawkers selling fast food, finger foods, and fruits.

    Once inside we took a ticket to enter the zoo and entered at half past twelve in the afternoon. My daughter was still expecting her relatives to join us. We went past a sea of school kids who were either having lunch or running to the bathrooms to go to the bathrooms ourselves.

    After our bathroom break, we wanted to take the tour of the zoo in one of the four battery operated vehicles but after the fourth vehicle left their bay, we were informed that the vehicle that just left was the last one over the next hour. Instead of cooling our heals while waiting for the bus, we decided to walk it.

    We went through the snake park with my daughter finding the turtles cute. Most animals were on their afternoon siesta here, a pattern that would repeat throughout the visit.

    We then went on a long trek with boards pointing to animals but no signs of the animal themselves. My 3 year old son walked the distance. We walked past dears, antelopes, etc. but that did not seem to enthuse my son. A bear walking across its enclosure to probably eat food or drink water got my son’s attention. We were back to walking again.

    We saw the elephants and then took a snack break. We used the opportunity to fill our water bottles as well. It was well-advised that we carry our own snacks. We carried makhana and broken-idli-pieces (this is specifically for our son).

    I tried to tell my daughter that when we told her that we are going to visit her relatives, we meant the animals in the zoo. She did not believe me and still expected human relatives to meet us here. As we walked back and she realized that what I said was true, she expressed her anger and did not talk to me for a while.

    The session after this was more interesting with a white tiger, tigers, cheetah, etc. Most animals were enjoying an afternoon siesta after their lunch (probably). Many of the visitors were joking that Indian animals would anyway be lazy like the rest of us.

    We tried various methods to keep the children enthused on the return. We pushed and walked more than on the way back with fewer rests.

    Much of the zoo was in various stages of repair. They are probably getting ready for their summer peak.

    We ate pav bhaji and misal pav from one of the hawkers from the pavement outside. There was also a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a softie machine.

    The family all fell asleep on the way back. I drove in silence with only my playlist playing providing ambient music. The way back was through Camp and Bund Garden. Although, we have been in Pune for almost 7 years now, we haven’t explored many of the places around Pune.

    I was happy that I had taken my daughter somewhere. But, she meant going to the mall and wasn’t happy that we wandered in the zoo under the afternoon Sun.

  • Pune to Palakkad – 27 August 2025

    We drove down from Pune to Palakkad for Onam. The route we took was Kolhapur – Chitradurga – Tumkur – Sathyamangalam – Coimbatore – Palakkad.

    My main concern before the start of the journey was repair work on the Pune – Bangalore Highway (old NH4, new AH47 or NH48). Multiple people warned me about it. So, we were actively considering the Solapur – Vijayapura – Chitradurga stretch to avoid the repairs on the Kolhapur stretch.

    Two days before the drive, Rakesh had consulted multiple people himself and suggested that we take the Kolhapur, as a known bad road was better than an unknown road. I was concerned by the lack of mobile connectivity in case of any issues with our vehicle. Google Maps showed instances of roads being drowned in one or two stretches of the Solapur alternative.

    Colleagues at work I asked said that the stretch towards Bangalore was good but had no food stops nor mobile phone coverage for nearly an hour and a half as the roads went through wildlife sanctuaries.

    Following Rakesh’s advice we chose the Kolhapur alternative. 

    It was Ganesh Chaturthi that day and we started off with some Ganesh aartis. We had mentally prepared for multiple road blocks which appeared on Google Maps but did not exist on the road. Multiple times in Maharashtra, Google Aunty would ask us to take a diversion where none existed and seemed flummoxed when the car went straight ahead.

    The diversions on the Maharashtra stretch were much better built. There were potholes in some places but that was expected given the incessant rains in the past two to three weeks.

    Google Aunty did much better with the diversions on the Karnataka stretch of NH4. Here, the roads were much worse than the Maharashtra stretch with unnecessary speed bumpers, non tarred roads, and numerous potholes. 

    We made our first stop at the Kamat’s in Satara just before going up the ghats. The meals were good. We carried some snacks from here for what we expected to be a bad Kolhapur stretch.

    The Kolhapur stretch wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. We went through but at slower speeds. 

    We crossed the border into Karnataka and stopped at a McDonalds (called Viraj Junction) just past the RTO check post for bathroom breaks and some coffee. 

    There are not too many food places on this stretch upto Chitradurga. So, we stopped at a familiar place for lunch when we saw it. It just says Restaurant but Google calls it Itagi Cross.

    We met a foreigner here who was going the other way on his Honda Goldwing. My 2 yo son waved hi to him. He waved back and asked him how he was. My 2 yo said, I’m fine. We had rice and dal here and it was really good.

    We had planned to reach Tumkur by evening that day but the Dharwad- Hubli stretch had other plans. This stretch was the worst stretch on our way to Palakkad. But, I’m happy they are expanding it now. When we reached Chitradurga, it was half past five. We stopped for tea and decided to push to Tumkur.

    We called ahead and booked Hotel Sadananda. We then had the first spell of rain on the road. This slowed us down a little. We then stopped for the night at Hotel Sadananda and had dinner from there. We had a simple meal at the hotel which was fine but not great.

    We had a hot water bath and had a good night’s sleep. We decided to leave around six the next night.

  • Pen Festival 2025 + Ramsar Bakery

    I went to the Pen Festival yesterday with my daughter. I had written about the last time here.

    The Festival had graphologists, pen doctor, leather covers and bags, lots of fountain pens, some paper stationary, and inks. We met Vishwesh and Vipul.

    Image: V’sign Neo (maroon) for my wife. V’sign Cute (green) for my daughter, her first fountain pen. Daughter and me, on the right. Image credit: Pradeep Mohandas.

    We got two pens – one for my wife and another for my daughter.

    We were heading back from the venue back home when the pleasant aroma of the bakery caught me.

    I drank the cola flavour after a really long time. I opened the crimped down glass bottle cap with an old style bottle opener tied with a twine around the refrigerator handle.

    The refrigerator had various flavours. My wife drank the lemon flavour a day before when we passed through here. I tried a sip.

    We got this at Ramsar Bakery in Pune. It was on the way home on a route Google Maps had suggested we take.

    Image: Crimped Down bottle cap (left) from a brand from Pune called Ardy’s. Nankhatai (right).

    We bought nankhatai. The man sitting at the counter offered our son one. When his eyes lit up at the taste of the nankhatai, the man offered him one more. We bought a pav kilo (250 gm) of it. My daughter liked it too. My wife was crazy about it too. We finished the pack that evening.

    My wife said we should buy these every time we pass through that road on the corner of a busy street where the scooters park adjacent to the side walk, sometimes causing a traffic commotion – a cacophony of horns from scooters behind them who now have to change their paths.

  • The Dhuradhurapatradi Scale

    This morning was strangely cold. My upper body felt warm while my lower body felt chilly. I thought about why that might be but could eliminate several reasons. Then I remembered my bottle of Dhuradhurapatradi.

    The bottle of Dhuradhurapatradi tells me how seriously I should take the cold I feel in my bones.

    My Dhuradhurapatradi Scale
    State of oilHow I should feel?
    FluidNot Cold
    Semi-solidSomewhat Cold
    Frozen OverVery cold

    The above table illustrates how I use the scale. Dhuradhurapatradi is a brand of coconut oil manufactured by Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala in Kerala.

    I have used the oil since my childhood. I developed the scale when I felt that people’s (ahem, my wife’s) experience of temperature was different than my own. I needed a neutral way to tell me how I experienced temperature.

    The weird weather this morning was a good example of my use of this scale. Today morning, the oil was semi-solid. So, I knew it was somewhat cold. This allowed me to fearlessly express my opinion about the weather to people who asked me about it.

    I thought of expressing this opinion on social media – where this post would not have been this long. However, reading Jatan’s post yesterday made me yearn for those days of the long blog posts. Hence, I wrote a long blog post instead of a short social media post.

    Also, a look at my Dhuradhurapatradi scale this winter, also makes me confident to opine that the number of days we experienced cold weather in Pune this winter were lesser than the number of days we experienced cold weather last winter.

  • Weekly Notes 29/2023

    I missed posting the weekly notes for the twenty eighth week. This update is also a good two to three days old.

    OTT

    • Ntikkakkakkoru Premondarnn (Malayalam)
    • Janaki Jaane (Malayalam)

    I was sorry to see the series, The Blacklist (English) end on Netflix.

    Writing

    I did no writing other than work-related writing over the last two weeks.

    Reading

    I was reading/listening to:

    • The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Audible, English)

  • Tree Walk

    My daughter and I went for a Tree Walk in Camp, Pune on 26 March 2023. This follows the star party that we went together for.

    We travelled to Camp by car and parked opposite Bishop’s school in Camp. We met with the group of about 10 people who had also come there. After a brief round of introductions, we started the walk.

    The main thrust of the walk was not to make us overnight experts on all things trees. It was to get us to look at the trees in our surroundings with more curiosity. Learn how they transform through the seasons. How to identify them using the Internet and thereafter, by yourself. Observe how they flower and grow.

    I tried to get my daughter to climb one of the trees but she was afraid to go more than a couple of feet off the ground. She collected a lot of fallen flowers, fruits, berries, etc. Being the youngest in the group, she got the attention of many others in the group, who helped her collect these things.

    I did not follow all the tree related guidance too closely.

    I have been enjoying the tree-related articles on The Marginalian. I also enjoyed the theme of trees when listening to Richard Powers’ The Overstory.

  • Conjunction of Venus and Jupiter

    Zoomed in and edited using Snapseed. Image taken using Realme GT Master. Image Credit: Pradeep Mohandas

    The question my wife had was how do the planets that are on either side of the Earth are seen together in the night sky.

    A drawing to explain how Venus and Jupiter whose orbit is on either side of Earth can be seen together in the night sky. Drawing: Pradeep Mohandas

    When we see from Earth, Jupiter must be on the other side of the Sun. Whereas, Venus could be between the Sun and Earth or between the Sun and Jupiter.

    This is the first time that I tried to capture a celestial event with a mobile phone camera and edited it.

  • Pacha Pana

    I’ve always wanted to have a bicycle of my own, as an adult. Bicyclists are some of the out-of-the-box and contrarian thinkers that I have met. Other people with a similar mindset are amateur astronomers and open source enthusiasts. There is no sensible reason to follow these hobbies in this age of instant gratification.

    Since 2023 had begun I had already hung out with a few amateur astronomers and so I was thinking about which of the other two I wanted to do. I could not find any meeting of the Pune Linux Users Group (PLUG) to attend and hence decided that perhaps it was time to look at cyclists.

    The minimum requirement before one meets cyclists is to have a bicycle of one’s own and if nothing else to at least be able to ride it for a few kilometers. It was at this time that I came across this blog post on choosing a bike in India by Priyanka.

    After reading the blog post I went through the websites of the bicycles that I had used as a child – Hero and Hercules. I also went through the websites of Montra. It was while discussing the distance of some of these cycle shops in and around home with Rakesh that he told me about a bike store above the Maruti showroom at Viman Nagar.

    I went there a day before with my scooter and told them frankly that it had been years since I pedaled and asked for their bicycle suggestions. I also told them I did not intend to spend a lot of money. They showed me a few Firefox and Ninety One bikes. They explained the different types of the bicycles to me and finally suggested a Ninety One Viper X-101.

    I decided to get the bicycle the next day. They thought I was probably not coming back again and tried to get me to book the bicycle on the same day. I managed to escape from their clutches and headed home.

    I went on the next day a little after 11 am. I paid for the cycle and the accessories and then got instructions on how to use the gear system on the cycle as well as a few pro-tips on cycle maintenance and checks to perform before taking it out for a ride. I got a pic clicked just like I would get when I might have bought a car.

    I then drove the cycle for 11.7 km on the journey back home slowly in the mid-day heat. I was happy it was February and not May. The gear system made sure that I did not sweat the couple of up-hills on the way home. I reached home in time for lunch.

    The cycle did not fit into the lift in our building on its stand. It had to be lifted on the back wheel to fit in the lift.

    I decided to name her Pacha Pana (green palmyra palm) and to call her Pachu for short. Pachu from Pune.