Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Alibaug once more

Ever since our  last trip to SSS in Alibaug, the kids have been asking to go back there again. So this time during Ganpati vacation we decided to go back for three days and experience what the place feels like in the monsoons. 
On day 1 we walked to a waterfall close by and spent some time playing in it. Later in the evening we went for a long walk through the village to a Ganpati temple. A lot of time was spent relaxing and playing (cards, badminton, carrom, swings etc). Dinner was in a beautiful lantern-lit location that SSS arranged for us.
Early morning on our second day, we went up the Kankeshwar hill to the temple on top. A lovely surprise awaited us - the Brahma Kund - which was brimming with crystal blue water from the rains. The kund is apparently around 25-30 feet deep and diving into it was most enjoyable! We had no spare clothes, yet the water was too tempting to resist. That evening, we did another short hike up to the hill close to SSS, back to the beautiful secluded lake where we had enjoyed swimming back in January. This time of the year, the lake was much more full and the water was warm and inviting. All of us swam in it till past sunset with only cows and buffaloes to accompany us. 
We had half of day 3 which we spent at SSS playing badminton and practicing Tarzan-swings off the Banyan tree (before Kabir had a bad fall and hurt his knee and elbow...nothing serious fortunately!)
Cashew- Anurag's favourite dog at SSS was no longer around but we befriended Piku and Chiku and spent a lot of time playing with them. The kids have asked to go back to SSS next year for their birthdays and we have identified a few treks close by that we want to try, so hopefully next time won't be too far.




















Monday, September 5, 2016

Goofing off

Boys having fun as we get ready to head to Prithvi for a second time viewing of "Stories in a Song"




Lego temple

  Latest development in our Ganapati temple for Ganesh Chaturthi


Sunday, September 4, 2016

Ganesh chaturthi 2016

We are well prepared this year!
Anurag, as we all know, is a big devotee of Ganpati bappa. This time, he even has a week off from school to celebrate the Ganesh festival. In the past few weeks as multitude of mandaps sprung up with artists working on completing Ganpati idols in various sizes, Anurag managed to convince (arm-twist) us to buy him his own Ganpati idol. This of course, is in addition to the idol(s) he himself made at the annual eco-friendly ganpati-making workshop. He has made his own temple and decorates it everyday. Hopefully his devotion will help Ganpati bappa forgive all our sins!