Mumbai: October 1, 2009
Text by - Ajay (K.O.W)
As days were passing by we were constantly missing the pleasure of touring & riding …it all started at a get together at Rachits place when me, rachit & Bob were just sitting an seeing our old ride photos when we actually decided to have a ride of our own beautiful city – Mumbai……So the route plan was to be decided and Bob took the initiative of planning as he is very well aware of greater Bombay routes due to his earlier reside…
We left on our bikes at around 11.30 in the morning heading towards Sanjay Gandhi National park
The route has been specially created amongst a patch of land with dense forest on both the sides; this place supposed to be of high historic & national importance was a secured zone with tight security,
After a short drive we reached this very amazing place called Kanheri Caves which is around 1100 years old as told to us by locals…. we could all reaslise a common emotion of being born in a nation with such breathtaking views and feeling proud to be a part of
Incredible India
Rock cut stair leading to Kanheri
As we headed towards the place we could see dozens & dozens of monkeys jumping all across the place…..there were easily a few hundreds across. The Kanheri Caves are located north of Borivli on the western outskirts of Mumbai, I ndia, deep within the green forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Spartan plinth beds
They were chiseled out of a massive basaltic rock outcropping.
These caves date from 1st century BCE to 9th century CE The earliest are 109 tiny rock-cut cells, carved into the side of a hill.
Each cave has a stone plinth for a bed. A congregation hall with huge stone pillars contains the stupa a Buddhist shrine. Farther up the hill are the remains of an ancient water system, canals and cisterns that collected and channeled the rainwater into huge tanks. Once the caves became permanent monasteries, they began to be carved out of the rock with intricate reliefs of Buddha and the Bodhisattvas carved into the walls.
After visiting the place we stopped for a while for refreshments and moved ahead to our next destination….Nehru Planetarium
It was a 30-40 minute drive from Borivili and around 2.30 in the afternoon. We bought tickets for the 3.00 Pm show and what then followed was an thrilling experience of the
Universe and it’s contain. Although not every thing was easy for us to understand especially for Rachit as he spent half of the show snoring ….
We were all terribly hungry after the exhausting city ride and the photo sessions with our camera which was anything less than happy to function. We also went to the Nehru Science centre and later sped on the road to Walkeshwar & Malabar Hill gazing at the high rises and promising ourselves a shelter someday...
Heading over we planned to visit Tarapore Aquarium which was the most exciting ride as I had jumped a few signals (obviously unknowingly) a few lanes cut (which is one terrible thing to do in Greater Bombay), had to even skip Traffic policemen to avoid being caught and ride all the way to Nariman Point where even the worlds best biker could not have escaped …. As there is no road further
I waited for a few minutes and returned back to the aqaurium where both were waiting… (I could see them grinning)
We visited the aquarium where all types of sea creatures were displayed, sharks, and turtles, also a 40 feet whale remain at the very entrance itself.
It was now time to return back home so after a refreshment break we left from the aquarium passing by KC College/HR college where we were greeted by a mean machine ,,,,,the Yamaha 1000 Cc R1
At the end of it all this ride may not be about destinations or kilometers, but a refreshing moment in our highly stressed lifestyles where we spent a day of our life doing the simplest but rarest things…
Many more pix here
 |
| Killers Go-Around Mumbai |
