when we climbed shivneri

After a short nap I woke up.Looking out of the window I took in the sight of mountains standing firm on their ground like soldiers. Between them were gorges which were painted resplendently with green and bathed with golden sunlight. The landscape was dotted with myriad of houses while dense foliage covered the ends of the gorge.

I asked how much time is still left for reaching the destination. Hearing that still there were hours left I drifted into another long sleep.

temple of ozhar

We directly visited the Ganpati of ozhar and waiting in a long queue we glimpsed the god for only 5 seconds before we were out from the other side of the temple. After again a lengthy journey we arrived at the spot where we were staying. Refreshing myself and satisfying my stomach was the first the thing I wanted to do after such an elongated journey.

Clutching my camera I scanned the area for some birds. Sighting a few drongos I approached them gingerly and captured them in my camera.

black drongo

In the evening we paid a visit to the leniadris. We got ourselves ready for the visit by baba saheb purandere. The gates opened at 7:30 to allow baba saheb purandere in.The whole hall cracked with claps as baba saheb waved at us.

The one quality I liked of him was that he did not take the audience for granted and was very punctual.He asked us to clear all the questions we had about shivaji's reign and about shivaji himself.

no need to introduce

Baba saheb purandere answered questions with ease. History danced on his lips as he answered the questions. Speaking about shivaji's ambitions an apparent aura radiated out of him. A pumping entusiasm creeped in him when he spoke. The energy which he possessed made a perfect contrast with his 92 year old body.

We got up early in the morning before the sun woke up. I went out to glimpse the sun climbing out of the mountains and explored the wilderness of the place.

At around 9:00 we reached the spot where the fort was looming over us. I was appalled by the vastness of the fort. The grey expanse stretched for ever. Here and there scattered over the expanse were blooming creepers of bogenvella.

one of the entrances for shivneri

This fort was the fort which shivaji never captured despite great efforts. This was where shivaji was born and his efforts of capturing his birthplace failed,which was very painful.

At the top of the fort baba saheb purandere

He told us about the birth of shivaji. We visited the place where shivaji lived for three years.

This was the short summary of our trip. Still lot is still untold. it pains me to leave you .SO GOOD BYE........................