Tag Archives: temple

How our Maghi Ganesh Utsav binds us together

I only have one planned vacation each year – a trip to my native place Murud-Janjira. It is a coastal town in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, about 160km from Mumbai. My grandfather left Murud to attend law school in Mumbai. 3 generations later, there is still one thing that keeps the extended family together and coming back to our native place – our temple.

Janjira Fort, Murud-Janjira
Janjira Fort, Murud-Janjira

A couple of centuries back, one Mr.Joshi had a dream about an idol of Lord Ganesha under a tree. They dug it up and indeed found a stone resembling in shape with a Ganesha idol. It was then handed over to our family to be worshiped. What must’ve started as a small shade in Nandgaon (10 kms short of Murud), is today a popular destination for devotees & tourists alike.

SiddhiVinayak Temple, Nandgaon
SiddhiVinayak Temple, Nandgaon

The Ganesh Chathurthi festival in the month of Bhaadrapada was  popularized by Lokmanya Tilak as a social event. But Ganesh Jayanti, Ganesha’s birthday if you will, is actually celebrated in the lunar month of Maagh Continue reading How our Maghi Ganesh Utsav binds us together

Bali – 4N/5D trip itinerary

Planning a trip there was quite a experience as I’ve already detailed here. But after much research, we finally had a plan for Bali and I want to share the detailed itinerary so you don’t have to go through the drill. We were traveling on budget – not the usual honeymoon splurge – so using the services of an agent was not going to help. I still checked with a couple and on hearing my budget (more on this here), they said I should look at another place as the airfares itself very quite expensive for Bali. But I was determined to work something out.

Day 1:Water sports

  • Marine sport activities at Tanjung Benoa

Day 2: Head North (East route)

Coffee tasting
Coffee tasting
  • Goa Gajah Temple
  • Ubud art village (drive-by)
  • Monkey Forest (skip)
  • Coffee plantation & tasting
  • Tegalalang rice terrace (drive-by)
  • Kintamani: View of Mt.Batur & Batur lake
  • Singaraja beach (sunset)

Day 3: Back to Kuta (West route)