Chettinad - Heritage and Temples

Trip Plan

Trip members: Karthik and family

Trip date:  08-09 Oct 2022

Trip Plan : Chennai - Karaikudi - Aavudayaar Koil - Thiruppunavayil - Thiruvadanai - Kalayarkoil - Kanadukathan - Thirumeyyam - Pillayapati - Thirukostyur - Thirupattur - Piranmalai - Karaikudi- Chennai

The plan was to visit temples of Pandyan kingdom regions and Chettinad palaces around Karaikudi. A relaxed load for a weekend trip.

Day-1

We reached Karaikudi by train around 4:30 AM by Rameshwaram express. Since we needed a very early check-in and late checkout by 7 PM on Sunday for the return train, I had booked a Hotel - Hotel Ess Pee Inn at Karaikudi for 2 days by phone. Often, all online portals allow mid-day check-in and check-out. Hence, direct booking was required for odd time of check-in and check-out, which is mostly ok when booked directly. The rooms were very clean and spacious. The place does not have a restaurant. I had also booked a Ertiga for 5 of us for 2 days at a nominal rate at per/km tariff.

We planned 4 halves of the 2 days as circuits to see.

• Circuit-1 - Avudaiyarkoil - Thiruppunavayil - Thiruvadanai - Kalayarkoil - (Nattarasan Kottai) 
• Circuit-2 - Athangudi Palace - Kanadukathan - Thirumeyyam
• Circuit-3 - Koviloor - Kundrakudi - Pillayarpatti - Vairavan Koil - Pattamangalam - Thirukkoshtiyur - Tirupattur - Piranmalai
• Circuit-4 - Local temples and shopping at Karaikudi

Avudaiyar Koil

Avudaiyar Koil is around 43 kms from Karaikudi, little more than 1 hour drive. Avudaiyar Koil is famous for the amazing sculptures of the Shri Athamanathaswamy Temple. The temple is not a Padal Petra Sthalam, but the temple itself was built by Shri Manickavasagar. The temple has amazing sculptures depicting events in the various mythological happenings. The temple also displays amazing architectural artefacts like iron screws in construction, stone rings, musical pillars, 27 stars, 9 sculptures of the Navagrahas on pillars, Nattiya mudras and much more. The temple is where Lord Shiva himself came as Guru for Manickavasagar. 

Another significance of the temple is that the aarti deepam is not let outside of the main sanctum with Lord Shiva representing himself as Jyoti. The temple also depicts Lord Shiva on a horse representing the mythological event of foxes turned to horses (Nari Pari aana kathai).

After visiting the temple, we had breakfast at a small mess - Lena mess - quite good tiffen items - pongal, vadai, idli and dosai.

Thiruppunavayil 

Deity: Shri Virudhapureeswarar, Shri Palampathinathar (Lord Shiva), Goddess Periya Nayaki

About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This is 7th Shiva Sthalam in Pandiya Nadu.

Timing : 6:00 AM to 11:30 AM, 4 PM to 7:30 PM.

Parking: Available near the temple

Route: Thiruppunavayil is around 28 kms from Avudaiyar Koil - almost 1 hour drive. The roads are quite good. Can be located easily in Google maps.

Google Maps Code - PNT007

History: The temple deity - Lord Shiva is worshipped by Lord Brahma for him to continue his role of creation. The temple also has the biggest Avudayar of Lord Shiva - of 30 yards. The temple also hosts all 14 Shivalingas representing 14 Pandiya Nadu Padal Petra sthalams.

Thiruvadanai

Deity: Shri Adhi Ratneswarar (Lord Shiva), Goddess Snehavalli

About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This is 9th Shiva Sthalam in Pandiya Nadu.

Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

Parking: Available near the temple

Route: Thiruvadanai is around 28 kms from Thiruppunavayail - 45 mins hour drive. The roads are quite good. Can be located easily in Google maps.

Google Maps Code - PNT009

History: Muni Agasthyar, Markandeya and Kamadhenu are said have visited this temple and worshipped. Vaaruni, son of Varuna bhagavan, was cursed for being disrespectful to Sages and took the form for a weird animal - head like aadu and body of elephant - Aadu and Aanai. Post his worship to Lord Shiva at this place to be healed, the places is called as Thiru aadu aanai - Thiruvadanai.

Kalayar Koil

Deity: Shri Sorna Kaleeswarar (Lord Shiva), Goddess Snehavalli

About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This is 10th Shiva Sthalam in Pandiya Nadu.

Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

Parking: Available near the temple

Route: Kalayar Koil is around 35 kms from Thiruvadanai - 45 mins hour drive. The roads are quite good. Can be located easily in Google maps.

Google Maps Code - PNT010

History: There are three sanctums for Lord Shiva in this temple - Sorna Kaleeswarar (with Sornambikai), Sundreswarar (depicting Madurai) with Meenakshi and Someswarar (with Soundara Nayaki.

One can also visit Shri Kannathal Temple at Nattarasan Kottai, near to Kalayar Koil. We were too tired after the very early start for the day, with train reaching around 4:30 AM and planned to reach back the hotel for lunch and a mid day rest before we start the evening circuit. We had lunch at Hotel Jainika - the meals was just ok.

Day-1 evening

We started around 3:30 PM. The plan was to visit Chettinad palace in Athangudi, Kanadukathan palace and then Thirumeyyam fort along with a Divya Desam temple in Thirumeyyam.

Athangudi Palace

Athangudi palace allows visitors from 10 AM to 5 PM. We reached there by around 4 PM and entered for Rs.50. The palace is quite humongous; however, we were allowed to see only 3 big halls - one the main hall, one with mutram and one being used for dining hall. All three had stunning art work, coloured glasses and beautiful architecture with high roofs. The main hall had great paintings and tiles depicting the interest shown in the region to build grand palaces.

Kanadukathan

Next halt was Kanadukathan, where it is known not to allow visitors in. Kanadukathan is around 10 kms from Athangudi via Soorakudi. We saw the Chettiyar palace from outside - the grand White palace with big towers and walls around. We spent around 10-15 minutes to see this palace from outside and left. This palace was constructed by Dr.Annamalai Chettiyar. Felt bad that few visitors are allowed and few are not. On enquiry, we were told that permission letters were required; however, a batch of tourists, whom we met in the previous place had no idea of the place and where let in on whatever could be the bargain!

Next, the driver took us to another nearby Chettinad house to go around and see the architecture - mainly from the terrace too. There are few other Chettinad houses who collect Rs.50 per person and allow tourists in. We went around and reached the terrace to see some views, which we can relate to few Tamil films that have been shot.

Thirumeyyam Fort and Divya Desam temple

Thirumeyyam is open till 5:00 PM and we were the luckiest most to be allowed in exactly at 4:59 PM. The fort is quite small, but one has to climb massive rocks to reach the top and get a good view. The fort was built of Raja of Ramnad in 17th centuty, primarily to safeguard from regional threats. The fort was also known as Oomayan Kottai in line with Oomai Thurai who was also a local chieftain in that period.

Divya Desam Temple

Deity: Shri Sathyagiri Natha Perumal (Lord Vishnu), Ujeevana Thayar

About: This is one of the 108 Divya Desam Temples

Timing : 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Parking: Available in narrow streets near the temple

Route: The temple is a cave temple by the Thirumeyyam fort, The roads are narrow and dead end. Can be located in Google maps.

History: Lord Vishnu is in Anatha Sayanam stature and is beautiful. One cannot go around the sanctum as the temple is a cave temple. We had very good dharshan and also prasadham as it was Saturday evening. It is said that the temple was built by Mahendra Pallava whereas few references quote Pandya king.

We finished the day and relished a super dinner at Hotel Malli - had servings of local delicacies - valai elai parotta, appam, idiyappam, kuzhi paniyaram with cups of sambhar, kurma and chutneys. It was very very good and we decided to come again next day too to the same place!

Day-2

Day-2 started with heavy rain! The plan was to visit the circuit that had most number of temples - on the rainy day!

Koviloor - Kundrakudi - Pillayarpatti - Vairavan Koil - Pattamangalam - Thirukkoshtiyur - Tirupattur - Piranmalai

Koviloor Shivan Temple

The driver stopped at the first temple, which we never knew, The Shiva temple is by the outskirts of  Karaikudi and filled with massive and beautiful sculptures all along. Unfortunately, the temple was not well lit by the time we started so early by 6 AM. The main deity of Lord Shiva is worshipped as Kotravaleeswarar. This is a nice temple to visit when you are around in this area.

Pillayarpati Temple

Kundrakudi Murugan temple was the next in our plan, but, with rains lashing, we would not be able to climb the hillock. We moved on to the next stop - Pillayarpatti temple. Pillayarpatti is around 16 kms from Karaikudi. This place hosts the very ancient and popular rock cut cave shrine of Lord Vinayaga - known as Lord Karpaga Vinayagar. This temple was built by Pandyas and the cave is believed to be carved out in 4th century  AD. Other sanctums in the temple include Lingams Thiruveesar, Marudheesar and Senchadeswarar and respective Goddesses, Kathyayini, Laxmi, Saraswathi and Durga. We had a very good dharshan as there was no crowd then. The temple timings are 6 AM  to 1 PM and 4 PM to 8.30 PM.

Vairavan Kovil

The driver then took us to another nearby temple - 2 kms from Pillayapatti - Vairavan Kovil. The temple is dedicated to Lord Bhairava. This temple is one of the nine reverent temples for the Chettinad Nagarathars. The temple has beautiful depiction of mythological events as paintings all along the roof. The temple is very well maintained.

Pattamangalam 

Next, we were planning to visit Thirukostiyur - one of the popular Divya Desam temples. The driver made a de-tour to take us to Pattamangalam Guru temple and then to Thirukostiyur. Pattamangalam temple is around 9 kms from Vairavan Kovil. The temple is open from 6 AM to 12 PM and 4 PM to 8 PM. This Dhakshinamoorthy temple is a very special one and popular for special poojas and parikarams.

Thirukostiyur

Thirukoshtiyur is one of the 108 Divya Desams and the presiding deity is Sri Sowmya Narayana Perumal. The temple timings are from 7 am – 12.30pm and 4.30pm-8.30pm. History is that the place where Brahma, Shiva, all devas, Saptha Rishis assembled to plan the death of Asura Hiranyakashipu. As they came as a group and hence Thirukoshtiyur, koshti meaning a group.

The temple is of 3 tiers and Lord Vishnu poses as Nindran (standing posture), Kidanthan (sleeping posture), Aadinan (dancing posture). One has to climb narrow steep steps to reach the top tier on the gopuram to see all 3 levels. Elders and physically challenged people might find it difficult to reach to the top.

This is the place where, Ramanuja was advised by Thirukachi Nambigal about the manthra "Om Namo Narayana" and asked to keep it secret. But Ramanuja felt that sharing this mantra with the public as it should be useful to all of them. He went straight to the temple of Sowmya Narayana perumal and stood on the top of Gopuram and loudly shouted the Mantram. Then, Thirukachi Nambigal understands that it is nature for everyone to benefit and changes. We could not visit the gopuram top because of heavy rains.

We then had breakfast around 9 AM near Thirupathur Shivan temple - Sri Durga Bhavan. The food was quite good - idlies, vadai and dosas. 

Thirupathur Shivan Temple

Deity: Shri Thiruthalinathar (Lord Shiva), Goddess Snehavalli

About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This is 6th Shiva Sthalam in Pandiya Nadu.

Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

Parking: Available near the temple

Route: Easily locatable in the heart of the town of Thirupathur.

Google Maps Code - PNT006

History: This is the temple where Saint Valmiki performed his penance and a Putru was formed around him. Lord Shiva gave him blessings and hence the place is called so. The place is also where Lord Shiva performed his Thandav called Gowri Thandavam.

Piranmalai Shivan Temple

Deity: Shri Kodunkundranathar (Lord Shiva), Goddess Kuyilamudha Nayaki

About: This is one of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams. This is 5th Shiva Sthalam in Pandiya Nadu.

Timing : 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM, 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Parking: Available near the temple

Route: Easily locatable in the heart of the town of Piranmalai.

Google Maps Code - PNT005

History: This is the temple is on a small hillock - Piranmalai - which is said to be a part of Mount Meru. The temple between the hills is so beautiful to see and a divine feel. The temple was built by the famous king Paari, who gave his chariot for the climber - flower Mullai. One can see the story being depicted there. The temple is also known for worshipping Lord Bhairava.

After visiting the Piranmalai temple, it was almost 11 AM and we had completed the temples on our list. We decided to go back to the hotel - a good 1:30 hour drive. We had lunch at Hotel Malli - some biryani, sambhar and curd rice plates and shared.

Day-2 Evening

We also did some local shopping of antique vessels, Chettinad snacks at the very famous Sundaram outlet and visited couple of local temples before going to the railway station.

We visited the very famous Arulmigu Koppudaiamman Temple in the heart of the town, Ariyakudi Thiruvengadamudayan Swamy Temple and then the famous Mathur Shivan temple - Ainootreeswarar Temple. The Ariyakudi Perumal temple is also known as Then Tirupathi.

The trip was very satisfactory having covered the complete Chettinad area and their heritage places, popular temples and local food.

Lonavala in Monsoon and Temples around Pune

The trip was planned for visiting our family deity at Jejuri and covering monsoon blessed Lonavala for couple of days.

Trip Plan

Trip members: Karthik and family

Trip date:  21-24 Sept 2022

Trip Plan : Chennai - Pune - Lonavala - Khandala - Magad - Shirgaon - Ranjangaon - Theur - Pune - Jejuri - Moregaon - Pune- Chennai

Day-1

We started by 9 AM flight to Pune. We had our regular Pune based driver Mr.Somnath pick us up at 10:45 AM and what else first - Vada pav, Batata vada and some chai enroute to Lonavala.

We reached Lonavala at 1:30 PM through the beautiful drizzling weather and checked in at Hotel Girivihar. We had booked hotel Girivihar for 2 nights. The hotel had spacious rooms with balconies and an pure-veg inhouse restaurant serving Gujarathi, Rajasthani and Jain food. We had sumptuous lunch and started the trip around. The hotel had enough parking space, play area and relaxing area for spending time with family.

The plan was to visit view points around Khandala - first being the Khandala view point. The Khandala view point was beautiful with the lush green hill all around and Kune waterfalls at a distance. We could enjoy the richness of the monsoon through the green cover, clouds, innumerable monsoon fed waterfalls and the drizzle! We spend about 20-25 minutes enjoying the weather - the first feel of the trip.

We, then, walked down a little to the Rajmachi garden. The garden provides a mesmerizing walk providing beautiful views of the Pune-Mumbai highway plus the green cover we saw from the Khandala view point, but at different angles. A great place to click some photographs and enjoy the weather. We walked all along the walkway and spent about 30 minutes - just chilling and being there.

Next stop was the famous bridge called Amrutanjan point. This is a bridge on the interiors Khandala roads connecting to the Mumbai highway, providing another great view of the green carpeted hills around and most importantly the hilly railway line - we had a chance to see few trains pass through as well.

We enjoyed the weather as we munched some roasted corn and some chai.

We returned back to the hotel room, and had dinner at Hotel Shanshrusti - had dosas in the dinner. The food was little costly and good at Hotel Shanshrusti. The place has parking space too.

Day-2

Breakfast was part of our room booking and we were served with idlies, sambhar, chutney, hot piping upma and some breads. The food was quite good and were served in portions based on our need.

The plan was to go through the various view point of Lonavala like Lion's point and then Bushi dam; and in second half visited the Baja and Karla caves.

Enroute to Lonavala sight seeing

It was almost 9:30 AM, but, the visibility was as low as 4-5 feet and difficult to drive through. Though we enjoyed every bit of the cold foggy weather, the thought of not able to see the beautiful views was always on our mind.

We reached the Lion's view point, parked the vehicle and walked down the view point with no idea of what is in store. We spent close to 30 mins walking around in the thick fog and clicking few shots.

Lion's View point

Meanwhile, we fog started to rise and in few minutes, the magnanimous Shivling like view point, the Lonavala lake spawning into multiple water falls and many such waterfalls all across the hills and the valley.

It was doubly worth to wait so long and end up seeing heavenly views.

Bushi Dam

Then. we stopped at Bushi dam. Bushi dam is a small dam, however, during monsoons, the water overflows into a small waterfall across man made steps. This makes it an interesting place and for people to spend time on the waters. The catch here is - one needs to walk across knee level water and should be prepared for it. There are traders who charge for keeping shoes/slippers and renting rubber slippers. We rented the rubber slippers and walked through the waters - one can even carry the shoes with you- not a big deal in walking across small segments of waters.

The monsoon-ic view is definitely attractive and makes the dam a happening place for all types of people. We spent around 15-20 minutes on the waters. There are so many tourists who plan to spend lot of time, taking bath and playing in water. There are several small eateries in Bushi dam. We had some pakoras and chai at Bushi dam.

Lonavala Lake

The clouds started gathering and heavy rain was looming around. We stopped by the Lonavala Lake briefly for some beautiful views and snaps.

It was almost noon and we headed for lunch enroute to rest of the segment towards Bhaja and Karla caves. We stopped at Hotel Vrindavan. The lunch was prepared post order and the food was quite good - we had rotis, paneer mix veg sabji, dal, papad and jeera rice. It rained almost like a cloud burst and we were so fortunate to start the days in cloud earlier, still see everything and escape for lunch during heavy rain.

Bhaja Caves

Around 2:30 PM, we reached Bhaja caves. Bhaja caves is a 230 steps climb, not easy for elders, but comfortable for adults and children.

Bhaja caves, dated back to 2nd century, is a set of 22 caves - but, not all are accessible. The most important one is the Buddhist stupa - resembling the one in Ellora. This is Cave 12.

Because of continuous rain, it was difficult for us to walk and see every cave in detail. Another cave has a cluster of Stupas of different sizes. It was interesting to see such a cave.

The Cave towards the end had amazing sculptures of Lord Surya on a chariot driven by horses and Indra on his elephant.

We spent close to 20 minutes here and returned back to parking area. There was a beautiful monsoon special waterfall at Bhaja.

Karla Caves

Next, we drove to Karla caves. The caves is more popular than Bhaja caves for the fact that it hosts a temple - Ekvira Devi Temple. Karla caves has 300+ steep steps laden path with many shops all the way from the parking to the temple area. It is comparatively crowded too as local pilgrims visit the Ekvira Devi temple.

Like Bhaja, the Karla caves are also Buddhist caves. Karla caves are 15 in number and the most impressive and the biggest is Cave 8. This biggest cave hosts a big Buddhist stupa along with the prayer space called "Chaitya". This is the largest rock-cut chaitya in India, measuring 45m (148 ft) long and up to 14m (46 ft) high. Definitely massive! The sides of entrance hall are ultimately sculpted with massive elephant figures and artistic arches all along the height of the cave.

We could not visit the temple inside as it was raining and we could not let our shoes open in rain. There was no closed enclosure anywhere around as well.

We then entered cave 6 and 7, which were multi-tiered and hole structures were made along with carved steps to reach one level. Wow, what an amazing architecture thousands of years back!

Post Karla caves visit, we stopped by the highway side shop and had piping hot vada pavs, pakoras and chai as the clouds were getting intense for a massive rain. We reached back rooms, spent time at the game space at the stay.

This day, we had dinner at Hotel Annapurna - we had some Dosas, Veg Keema and rotis. All were delicious. The place has parking too.

Day-3

We had breakfast - Kanda poha, besan cheela, chai and started the day. The plan was to visit 2 or three Ashtavinayak Temples and then reach Pune.

Mahad Ashtavinayak - Varada Vinayak

We first reached Mahad Ashtavinayak Temple. Mahad is around 20 kms from Lonavala - and 3 kms from Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune highway. Lord Ganesh is worshipped as Varada Vinayaka, the giver of bounty and success. The temple has an oil lamp that is burning since 1892. Pilgrims can go closer to Lord Ganesha and offer prayers in this temple. The temple is open across the day.

From Mahad, we set course towards Pune on the highway, with plans to visit Shirgaon (Saibaba temple - recommended by our driver), Ranjangaon and Theur before reaching Pune for overnight stay.

Shirgaon - Saibaba Temple

Shirgaon is around 37 kms before Pune. Shirgoan is the second home of Saibaba after Shirdi. The temple is replica of the Shirdi temple and called Prati Shirdi. The temple was not crowded as it was a weekday and we had a very good dharshan at leisure. We visited the temple around 11:30 AM.

Next, the plan was to visit Ranjangaon. Post very good dharshans at Mahad and Shirgaon, we stopped for lunch at Hotel Stonewood just closer to Ranjangaon after crossing the Shikrapur junction. The food was really very good and well served - great service. Highly recommended! We had rotis, dhall, sabji and jeera rice - all were very good with fine quality and ample quantity.

Ranjangaon Ashtavinayak - Maha Ganapati

Ranjangaon is 50 kms from Pune and the temple is a vary famous one. Lord Shiva is believed to have worshipped Lord Ganesha before fighting the demon Tripurasura here;  the temple was built by Lord Shiva. The temple is quite big when compared with other Ashtavinayak temples and has facility for long queues around the temple. God Ganapati seated on the lotus blesses the pilgrims along with Siddhi and Ridhi. The temple is open across the day and we visited around 2:30 PM. Almost, we were the only one to be inside the temple at this time.

The last temple to visit before entering Pune was Theur.

Theur Ashtavinayak - Chintamani

We reached the Theur temple around 3:30 PM. The road from Lonikand (highway from Shikrapur to Pune) to Theur was terrible and it was a bad stretch of road (no road). The temple is called Chintamani Temple and the temple is open across the day. This is the closest Ashtavinayak temple from Pune.

Lord Ganesha recovered the precious stone - Chintamani jewel for Kapila muni. However, Kapila Muni gave it to Lord Ganesha and hence the temple is called Chintamani.

Post visiting these temples, we reached Pune by 6 PM. We had booked our rooms at Hotel Shreyas at Deccan Gymkhana. 

Maharashtrian Thali at Hotel Shreyas

The hotel is quite old styled and is in the heart of the city. The rooms were spacious, clean and most importantly, their restaurant served perfect Maharashtrian Thali for dinner for Rs.300 per thali. The Thali was quite big for us for dinner, so, we had the option of choosing few items from the thali in small portions to share and eat. We had poori, sabji, rice, pakoras, kadi and curd. Though they are typical portions of Thali, we had one bowl of each and shared between us - which itself was sumptuous and very satisfactory.

Day-4

The plan was simple - visit 2 places - Jejuri Marthand temple - our family good and Moregaon Ashtavinayak temple. 

We had breakfast at Hotel Shreyas - Upma, Puri and Sabji. The food was too good again and then started the day towards Jejuri at 8:30 AM. We had our flight back to Chennai by 5:30 and planned to be at the airport around 3:30 PM.

Jejuri Temple

The road to Jejuri was quite bad all along from Pune to Saswad - 75% of the journey. It took almost 2:30 hours for us to reach Jejuri because of bad roads. Jejuri is the place of Lord Kandhoba, also called Malhar Marthand - our family God; a form of Lord Shiva. The temple is present inside a fort over the Jejuri hill. The temple is also known for using Turmeric and one can see the hill walkway and the temple in yellow colour - courtesy Turmeric.

We have to climb around 350 steep steps to reach the temple. The steps are laid of stones and is well-laid. For elders and people requiring assistance, there are dolis on payment basis - starting from the foothill. One can walk through multiple entrance arches and in 20 minutes, you can feel home reaching the top. 

There is free and special dharshan. The time we went in, it was almost free of any crowd and we just walked in to the temple had a very pleasant dharshan. We took turmeric with us and offered the same to Lord Khandoba through the priests. We spent some time visiting all sanctums and also made one more dharshan again as there was no crowd.

With utmost satisfaction, we climbed down leisurely, buying some mementos and local fruits - guava and fig - fresh ones.

The last pitstop for the trip was the Moregaon Ashtavinayak temple.

Moregaon Ashtavinayak - Moreshwar

The temple is close 80 kms from Pune, around 24 kms from Jejuri. The temple has four minarets, unlike other temples. Lord Ganesha is seen in the form of riding a peacock and hence the name Mayureshwar. Another unique thing is that the temple also hosts a Nandhi and Tortoise in from of the main sanctum. Like other temples, again, we had amazing dharshan with almost no crowd here too.

We started back towards Pune and had lunch at Jai Mata Di dhaba - the food was just ok - unlike many other restaurants we had in the trip. We reached Pune around 3 PM and for one last time in the trip, we stopped at Joshi wadewale at Viman Nagar, packed few Vada pavs and reached the airport.

It was great mix of amazing colours of nature of monsoon blessed Lonavala and spiritual blessings of Ashtavinayaks, Saibaba and Lord Khandoba.