A pre-rain road trip from Pune to Mumbai
I have had days in my life when I could not think of travel as a form of end to end commute to desired places but an essential ingredient in everyone’s lives who wish to seek answers beyond the typical hearsays. One of the popular forms of travel is taking a road trip, either solo or as a group, to find answers to the most intriguing questions of life. Embarking on a short road trip has always been at the back of my head, especially when you are within reach of Mumbai and Pune that has an assortment of lovely and breathtaking places to visit along the way.
The prospect of a road trip skipped a beat, and with that, I asked a couple of my friends to join me on this promising adventure. Planning an itinerary should never be a trouble for intercity trips from Pune to Mumbai. Our preferred option was to book a licensed Pune to Mumbai taxi with our trusted rental service provider, Savaari.
On a fine Sunday morning before daybreak, where the cold monsoon winds forced us to wrap our arms around us for warmth, we set out to explore the stunning visuals of the ride hoping for an eye-catching treat. The cool winds and the deafening silence of the morning was a strikingly unmatchable experience with the audio system crooning playlists of Atif Aslam and Shreya Ghoshal back to back. We had an early stopover to witness the sunrise along the far horizon sipping Garam Chai with tearful smiles off our faces.
We got back into the car and zoomed past the pleasant sunrise heading towards the Expressway. Being tranced by what we experienced, our chauffeur, being an expert in his craft, told us there was a place called Bedse caves, located a few miles towards the west from our entrance into Mumbai-Pune highway. A relatively small cave, with the simplicity and grandeur of the then Buddhist monks, this cave is what you call an abode for self-excavation and mindful exploration. A valley of green cover on the inside that can be reached only through a 400-step climb into the main center of the cave, not one would miss the opulence and tranquility this place has to offer.
After our first adventure, we could sense our tummies groan in hunger which signaled its feeding with something very filling until afternoon. I will definitely recommend anyone to relish the delicacies of the roadside dhabas for they serve hot. If possible, one could get a peek into how they bake their lip-smacking Laccha Parathas and Paneer Kebabs. With the taste unwilling to slip off our tongues, our next pitstop was the Rajmachi Fort in Lonavla. With doubts lingering in our heads about trekking, we decided to give it a shot for our spiking adrenaline levels. Surrounded by green cover on all sides with misty skies above, I was tranced and lured by the stunning beauty of the Western Ghats. It was an enchanting experience to witness the vast wilderness of the Sahyadri mountains facilitating two-way roads for its entire stretch giving the travelers an unforgettable experience of sinking into mother nature.
We continued our road trip for another hour to find the Expressway converge into the main center of Navi Mumbai. We stopped at a decent restaurant along the way for a light luncheon, late in the afternoon, to fill our appetites and also to laugh over the classic jokes of our chauffeur. I had to excuse myself for a short while to meet an old friend of mine in East Mumbai, and my friends decided to visit the local areas in the meantime.
Post that, we visited Sri Thiruchembur Murugan Temple in Chembur West. Unlike the architecture of any temple, this is a three-storeyed with a 108-step ascent to the main Prahar to worship the deity of Lord Murugan. We felt a strange burden lifted off our shoulders for the five minutes of divinity we immersed ourselves to.
As the dusk hailed, all of my companions, as well as I, were dead exhausted even without shaking a leg. After a while, we had our dinner, and all of us decided to go back to Bombay. So without wasting our time, we booked a cab from Mumbai to Pune from the trusted Savaari rentals just not to face any issues and crisis in between our returning journey. And the next day itself we took off with wrapping up all our zest and zeal to move on forward to go back home.
We were already half-asleep in the cab when the driver dropped us off at our homes. Losing myself into sleep after a long while was never this pleasant, and I will be forever grateful for the exhilarating trip that brought back our sanity.
