The Sanjay Gandhi National Park(SGNP),Borivali-The name brings back loads of childhood memories as this was one of the few spots we frequented for our school picnics.This along with the Aarey Milk Colony(Goregaon),Parle Biscuit Factory(Vile Parle) and the Vihar-Powai lake were the staples of our picnic diet.So when Moments Shoot group's Nikhil Gaikwad made a plan to go to Kanheri caves,Borivali I decided to give my childhood memories a flashback and was there at the SGNP gate at sharp 7.30am.The day was cloudy and it had been drizzling a little in the morning.We had breakfast at the nearby Ramdev restaurant and booked our tickets at the entrance.The entrance gate looked really familiar ,as if I had just visited last year,though I had not been there for quite a few years now.Anyway,our small group of eight made our way inside and had a leisurely walking taking in our surroundings with our eyes ,ears and our whole being.What a perfect place for long walks and cycle rides!What a calm and peaceful place it was!It felt so nice to be away from the concrete jungles that we inhabited and be a part of the lush green,cool and inviting natural surroundings.All we heard was the sounds of the birds,the rustling of leaves and the click of the cameras,of course!It was no wonder that the park was and has always been a prime spot for the love-birds(not of the feathered variety) as they can be away from prying eyes in the huge park.Seriously,it is so romantic to walk hand-in hand with your soul-mate and whisper sweet nothings in each others ears.(Yes,I am regressing from the topic now....the die-hard romantic in me always has something to say)
We came to the nearby lake and sat there capturing the reflections of the trees in the water and watched as a cormorant did some amazing under-water swimming ,in the process not allowing my photographer mates get a decent picture of the bird.We walked ahead and saw the famous mini train in which I have had many a ride as a little kid.It began to drizzle and we all silently prayed for it to stop raining as rains meant no photographs.We took shelter and conducted the introduction round.Thankfully it stopped drizzling though it was still a bit cloudy.We walked along a trail that took us to the Gandhi Tekdi which was a spot high on the hill.There were a few people there enjoying the view while some were just relaxing.We took the road leading to Kanheri caves and surprise-surprise....we saw a scorpion bang in the middle of the road!Not ones to leave the opportunity,my friends started clicking away to their hearts content.They took great pains to get the right angles and capture the best shot.So we had them stand,sit,on their knees and sprawled on the road to get the desired pictures.Nothing new as this is how passionate photographers are...anything for that perfect photo.We walked ahead and took a decision to take a ride to the caves as it would have been at least an hours walk and we saw that the weather could play spoilsport at any time now as it had drizzled a bit when we entered the park.We came to the caves which were under the Archaeological Survey of India and booked our tickets.There were many buses and vehicles at the entrance which gave us an idea about the crowd at that place.
Our first view of the caves was that of these huge stone structures carved in hard rock.There were many caves with huge pillars carved in stone.The main cave had a huge Stupa in it and had a huge dome above it.The cave was lined with carved pillars at the sides.Even at the top part of the pillars there were carvings and I noticed that each carving depicted a different tale.All the caves we saw had the main entrance,steps leading to it,pillars,carvings and a water storage alongside.Some caves had stupas in it.The main cave had really huge carvings in it.Amazing piece of art work was at display and it left us all astonished as we wondered how they had managed to build these caves in hard rock without any modern tools and machines to aid them.Really fascinating !!!WE also saw a cave bigger than the rest that had a seating arrangement as if for religious discussions or maybe for their common meals(just assuming)So we explored all the caves and then went to sit and relax at the top most spot from where we could see the whole city below.We could see the tall buildings and the hustling and bustling city while here we were,in the midst of natural beauty and man made wonder.We had a good chat about what we saw and relaxed a bit.As we made our way back we saw a snake and once again the shutter-bugs got clicking.I was not too interested in clicking scorpions or snakes so I wandered off to click some more pictures of the caves.
The crowds were increasing at the caves.There were a few schools which had brought their students there on a picnic and they marred the silence of the place with their cacophony.Many foreign tourists were at the site too.What nearly out-numbered them all were the monkeys.There were so many monkeys all around,right from the entrance of the caves,They were agile and alert,always ready to pounce on anyone who had anything edible in their hands.They were quick to snatch away food from the hands of the people and if any one shared food with one monkey,a dozen came in to have a taste of it.We nearly shot a portfolio of one monkey who kept posing for us.We clicked a few more photographs of the caves on our way out and rode back to the entrance of the park.During our ride back it started pouring and we felt lucky to have ended our photo walk before the rains.Everyone scrambled to get their precious cameras safe and dry inside their plastic bags.The weather was cooler now although earlier too we did not feel the scorching heat of the sun due to the cloudy weather.We all bid our goodbyes,planned our next photo walk and made our way back home.What a wonderfully refreshing and exciting day it had been.I was happy to have clicked some good photographs and was thrilled to the max when my talented photographer cousin appreciated some of my work.I also made a few new pals at the photo walk and hopefully we meet again next time.
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| Don't know whether there were guides to explain this heritage structure. |
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| Green cover....we can see the road we took to come here. |
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| Many tourists on weekends........... |
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| Beautiful and peaceful........ |
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| Wonder what tools they used to tame these hard rocks..... |
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| The longest and most roomy cave......for group discussions or religious talks,or maybe for common bhojan. |
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| Walking higher towards the caves.....at different levels. |
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| Steps,entrance,carvings,water storage...... |
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| Peeping through..... |
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| Here a cave,there a cave!!!! |
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| View from our top perch above the caves...... |
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| Inscriptions on the cave walls....... |
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| The cacophony of students out on a picnic....we did the same,right? |
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| Looking ahead...... |
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| Pillared!!!! |
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| Out on a mission.....to get the best shot!!!! |
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| Nostalgia!!!Childhood....sigh! |
