The Nashik Trip

This weekend i made a shoestring trip to Nashik.. total trip costed be 806 Rs... break up is Travel 340 Rs, Food & Water 166 Rs.. Lodging 150 Rs.. Sula vineyard tour and wine tasting 150 Rs..
now the details.. took the tapovan express at around 6:20 am from Dadar to Nasik.. it was a Chai car, very similar to the local train.. but with less crowd.. my seat was the aisle one and beside me two old aged uncles were sitting.. seat was not very comfortable though easily manageable for that 3 hr ride.. was there in nashik by 9:30 am or so.. got down.. took the bus from there to Panchvati.. asked the people for directions and landed near Ram kund.. the scene there was just too holy.. pujas being perfomed everywhere.. men, women and children, all taking the dip in the water of gangotri... water was just gushing out and was pretty clear.. thought of taking a dip but then told myself that will take it later or on my return journey.. roamed around there for sometime soaking the atomosphere.. then asked people for the directions to famous temples and they directed me towards the Kalaram temple.. visited the shrine.. was peaceful and made of black stones.. then i proceeded to Sita gufa.. it was a nice place.. had to crawl down to reach the insides of the cave.. there was a shivling to which it's said that ram and sita perforemed puja when they were in hiding in Panchvati.. as soon as i came out of the gufa some autowallahs asked me to visit Tapovan.. the first auto wallah told me it will cost 121 rs for thr 11 places to be shown at 4 diff stops.. i refused.. second one approached 2 minutes later as i proceeded to have missal pav and offered the whole ride for Rs. 101.. i refused again.. so he said that i can go on sharing basis and that will cost me 30 Rs. only.. so i approved.. had my missal pav near the sita gufa and waited for other passengers.. while waiting i saw Rekha subraminam (ICICI RBG) alighting from the auto to enter sita gupha.. i decided against to call her as i do not wanted any company at that time and she was also with her husband.. after waiting for a while passengers came and we proceeded for tapovan with autowallah serving as driver cum guide.. tapovan is the place where Lakshman ji did tapasya for 12 years to kill Meghnad (ravana's son).. also included in the trip to Tapovan was laksman rekha.. the only solo temple of Lakshman ji.. the place from where sitaji was kidnapped... swayam bhu (self originated) Hanuman ji ka mandir.. sangam of godavari and kalindi to continue as Godavari ( was a shady sangam as kalindi looked more filled with wastes of city).. etc.. after this trip i trudged back to the panchvati bus stand and asked as to how to reach the Sula vineyards.. i had the address and also called the vineyard for the direction.. the easiest option was to take an auto which would have costed me more than 200 Rs.. so i decided to take a bus which would drop me at a point from where i can again take an auto or walk the 4.5 kms to reach Sula.. i waited for the bus and bus going towards Girnara (Govardhan) started at 1:30 pm.. boarded it and it took only 9 Rs. and 15-20 mins to reach to the point from hwre i had to walk/ take an auto.. i asked an auto... he told 50 Rs for one way.. i decided to walk the 4.5 kms.. i started walking but i would have hardly gone 300 mtrs when i turned and saw a car approaching.. i showed the thumb and it worked :) .. i got a lift from a lawyer from Nasik.. yippee.. my first lift in life which i remember as of now... so i reached the vineyard.. waited for sometime and my tour started at 2:30 pm with Neelkantha as the guide and another lady (din't get her name though she was british and stays near Globus in Bandra.. din't had courage to take her number.. not formy benefit but may be Rupam's ;-) .. so Neelkantha told us the history of the vineyard.. showed us the grapes and how drip irrigation is done.. then we went on to see the process of manufacturing, the steel tanks where wine is prepared, the diff between white and red wine making etc.. then we headed for wine tasting.. we were asked to handle the glass wine from the stem lest the heat of our body touches the wine and make it warmer.. also then we were asked to tilt the glass a little and see the color of it.. then to swirl it and smell the aroma.. we tasted 6 types of wine.. 2 white wine (Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc), 2 Red wine (Red Zinfandel, Dindori Reserve Shiraz), 1 rose wine (Blush Zinfandel) and 1 dessert wine ( Late harvest Chenin Blanc).. my best picks were White wine (Chenin Blanc) and the dessert wine.. there the shooting of movie"Desire" was going to start featuring Shilpa Shetty and some Chinese fellow.. waited for some time and decided against watching the shooting as it was to start after 1-2 hrs.. off i went, and then hitch-hiking in a truck carrying the sugarcanes.. it was a damn nice ride.. my second experience of lift.. :) .. truck was just chugging along.. very very slowly.. the road was very narrow.. and in came from the front another smaller truck.. then the tussle began to cross each in that road.. took 10 mins of back and forth of vehicles to let both them cross each other.. the truck driver was very nice.. he dropped me near CBS.. from there i took bus to traymbakeshwar.. reached there in hardly 45 mins.. then the trouble started.. asked first lodge for a room.. denied saying that i was alone and they don't give to single people.. same thing happened at 3-4 places and was told that there have been some suicides in past and hence denied admission.. i started feeling that i should take a bus back to nasik and go home.. then someone suggested that i should try Hotel Sahyadri.. and thus my savior was a dormitory with beds.. it was nice and clean.. got a bed for 150 Rs.. put my stuff.. took bath in the hotel and headed for the temple visit.. stood in line and visited the temple.. it's also made of black stones and is one of jyotirlinga.. after visiting the temple, roamed about in the streets for some time and went to see the kund in which have to take bath next morning.. after that bought some pedas, ate it and asked the pedawala as to a good place for dining.. he told atithi bhojnalaya.. and off i went for dinner as was feeling hungry.. had a thali which was quite stomachfull.. wandered about a little bit and then went off to sleep as was really tired.. went to hotel, watched movie for some time on the TV and slept off very soon.. had kept the alarm for 5 am but woke up only at 6 am as was feeling very cold.. went to took bath in the kund.. water was not very clear and think it was treated with some kind of chemical.. anyways, took the plunge, managed to tie the yellow cloth which i had borrowed from ashish.. was feeling very skeptical that this cloth will drop anytime and i will be exposed nude.. tugging along the cloth at m waste i hastened towards the temple.. stood in the line but it was a long queue.. was able to get the darshan only by 9 am.. wanted to enter the main griha as was wearing the proper dressing and also had taken bath... but was told that bhog was starting and will have to wait for an hour for the same.. so i decided against waiting and went to hotel to change and check-out.. henceforth i started the trek to brahmagiri.. was a steep climb with stairs also.. was fully drenched in sweat by the time i reached at the top.. visited the main brahmagiri temple, the jatadwar temple and the krishna temple there and the adjacent peak.. then started my descent and got lost but continued my trek.. after sometimes i realised i had reached the place of Gangadwar and had again to climb some steps to reach that.. so again i went huffing and puffing.. visited the second udgam (the second coming of godavari ji), 108 shivlings in a small cave and one more temple.. took total of 4 hrs to go up and come down including both the peaks.. it was quite tiring.. on my way back had some lemon juice and cucumber.. reached back to bus stand and immediately started for nashik.. reached nashik CBS by 2:15 pm.. from there took an auto to nasik road railway station and reached there by 2:40 pm.. took a general ticket and planned to catch Pushpak express coming at 3:30 pm from lucknow to mumbai.. train came at 4pm.. boarded the 3 tier AC with the lad from Nashik (ankit tripatih was the name i think).. met the TTE and asked if he would take me to mumbai without the extra fare ticket and just pocketing some money.. he refused.. so i took a full fare ticket for sleeper class b paying 90 bucks additional fare and got my seat.. off i went.. the journey was nice as the sun was setting, there were hills and fields to be crossed.. nice and cool wind was blowing.. i journeyed throuhg reading the book which i was carrying (Wuthering heights) and listening to my i-pod.. came to mumbai.. went home.. ordered delivery of subway.. watch mission impossible 2 and slept.. ThE eNd