Kalyan indeed holds on to it's name ' Beautiful, lovely and auspicious', it is one of the region which is always on the radar of travellers community. As it paves the way to many alluring spots near Mumbai due to its convenient road connectivity to 'Gorakhgad, Malanggad, Tahuli, Ganpati-Gadad Caves and Naneghat'. I have visited all five of them which has helped me to shape my compelling travel story. On 6th December, 2018 i added another spot which is approximately 11 Km from Kalyan Station.
What's what - Lonad Cave
Lonad cave is located in a region, now what is being called as Bhiwandi, a crucial logistic hub on the outskirt of Mumbai. Cave is established around the 5th century AD, it includes a rock cut sculpture inside the mountain which has been transformed in to temple. During ancient times, Buddhist monks accommodated here for a while on a odyssey from Nala Sopara Port to Junnar.
On foot from Kalyan station to Lonad Cave
I would split my foot journey in to three phase -
- Kalyan city
- Entering the suburb region
- Precious Janwal village
Kalyan city
Early morning i boarded metro from Azad Nagar to Ghatkopar, thereafter local train to Kalyan station. I knew it inside my head that i was in for a long walk, so i plugged in my headphone to bump ambient music. Listening ambient music at right decibel can help a person with his imagination and creativity.
To begin with, the first attractive spot i came across was Kala Talav, previously known as Shenavle Talav. Kala means black as decade ago it was in a awful state, where all the sewer was deposited. Hence, the pond got dark and to tackle this situation, serious efforts were taken to cleanse the pond. Moreover, renovation helped to spin this off in to full-fledged picnic spot. Finally in 2010, the place was inaugurated in front of local residents.
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| Kala Talav |
On the way i happen to notice two abandoned cars, thing about these cars is they get accustomed with their surrounding let it be grass, soil or rocks. These cars i believe holds a deep story, the reason behind their forsaken could be many ranging from accident, default in loan payment, rising oil prices to illegal ownership. I have developed a keen interest in capturing these abandoned cars in my journey and bringing them to life through my photography.
I came across the Gandhari Bridge constructed around the year 2000. It conjoin Kalyan City to suburb area. The view from the bridge of Ulhas River is very striking. However, there is an urgent need to have a serious look after this river due to channelization of Kalyan sewage in to it. As well, the condition of the bridge is in bad shape. Keeping some negative views aside, moving forward hereon, one will start to witness the more greener side of the region.
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| Bridge conjoining Kalyan city to suburb area |
Entering the suburb region
The roads become more narrow as you move forward. And the surrounding gets more remote with shops, building and crowds getting disappear. Every now and then, i would have to watch out for the heavy trucks passing by in full speed to give them enough room.
To be honest, out here there was nothing of interest which could have caught my attention except Bapgaon 220 kv Substation. It is a power grid space where high voltage electricity level is reduced to lower level and segregated for distribution purpose.
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| Bapgaon 220 kv Substation |
Precious Janwal village
Entering this region was more happening for me, as the first thing i came across was the Shiv-Parvati temple. Right after that, i saw a school on the right side, the students were busy in the lectures. And by the time i took out my mobile to snap them, half the class was looking at me like i was Alien to this place.
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| Shiv-Parvati temple |
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| Janwal village school |
According to 2011 census of Janwal village, there are ninety seven households where ~78% of the population are literate. Among-st the total population, ~30% of the population belongs to ST tribe. People of the Janwal village are mostly involved in cultivation, agricultural labour and household industry work.
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| Agricultural labour |
I came across ancient Shiv temple built in 1st century A.D by Shilaharas. They were rulers of the Thane and Southern Konkan region. Temple architecture is of Hemadpanti style, personally i found this style to be very attractive which is built up of blackstone and lime.
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| Shiva ancient Temple |
If you step nearby and take a good look, the temple is in a bad state. However, its looks magnificent from distance. Out here during my temple photography, my main motive was to capture these attraction. In-fact, I turned out to be an alien attraction for villagers, specially being noticed by few school students and locals.
Finally i came across a highway, then i crossed it to hike on a small hill for 5-10 minute. Upon reaching Lonad Cave, one can sight different warehouses. Reason behind the same is that Bhiwandi is the hub for logistic companies, the most preferred spot due to it's close proximity to Mumbai. As well, the land cost here is economical compare to other warehousing hub in metropolitan city. This makes it very friendly for logistic companies to open a warehouse in this friendly policy zone.
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| Warehouse view from hill |
Outside of the cave, there is a Tulsi plant and at the cave entrance there are four pillars, of which one is broken. Once you pass by the pillars, it greets you with inner verandah, where on the right side of the wall there is a carving depicting a Vishwantara Jataka tale.
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| Lonad Cave |
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| Visvantara Jataka tale rock cut art |
Three opening from the Verandah leads to the caves chamber. There were red and blue lights hanging on the caves wall giving it a mystic look. In the middle, there is a place for holy fire, which is used during Hindu praying ceremony and at the little right of the back wall there is a Ganesh idol. On left side of the caves there are two pile of rocks.
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| Main chamber of the caves |
As most of y'all are aware of the fact that Buddhist discourages praying, worship of the idols and following the same could create hinder to their enlightenment. Then it brings me to the point and question that why this concept of holy fire, god idols and photos inside and outside of the Buddhist cave? The main purpose of this cave is to do meditation. However, during the last four years of my travel to different spots of Maharashtra, i have noticed that 'These Buddhist caves have been acquired or invaded by Hindus to convert it in to temple', probably it's done to popularize their belief or maybe they feel insecure and wants to develop some kind of connection to divine being!
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| Ganesh Idol |
While returning to Kalyan station, i walked for 2 km, until a group of local friends playing loud Marathi music travelling in rickshaw gave me a lift. They had seen me previously near Shiva temple. We discussed about mountains near Kalyan, my blog as well as my passion for travel. They dropped me nearby Kalyan station, then i used the same means of transport to return to home as i used while coming here.
