Memoirs: Kanheri Caves on a hot, hot day !!!

The Kanheri Caves

Sanjay Gandhi(Borivali) National Park - Reminded me of Bannerghatta Park in Bangalore, the sad experience I had; still decided to try this one out. Was tough to convince Ritin and get him moving. Off we went, Dk,Ritin, Swappy and me. An hours ride in the crammed local from Vidya Vihar to Borivali. A rickshaw took us to the park. Didnt find anything worthwhile in the park. A boat ride , a sad musuem and on top of it an ill fated safari!!!

Sad plight of the beasts.

Walking in the direction of the caves

The Lion/Tiger safari ride turned out to be worse than Bannerghatta, with Swappy and Ritin feeling the pinch as they realized that the trip had ended as soon as it had begun. Tiger safari, we see this white tiger sleeping in its cage inside the enclosure. Lions, we did see two male lions , feeble and waiting for their time to leave the world, lying across a small road ...slumbering. Coudnt help laughing on seeing the shock on everyones faces after the safari ended.

Dry vegetation

Deer for company along the way

A Loner spreading her charm in the dry jungle

We now headed for the Kanheri Caves, supposedly about 8 kms from the park. It was 1200 noon by now. Steaming hot, arid and dry all over. We never bought the mineral water as they were being sold by the locals at double the prices. Just had a few pieces of chikki; Should have bought something to eat. Everyone thought the caves would be just a kilometre from the park. Walked on.....

Dried River Bed

With Payyans resting in the river bed

Still walking....With no end in sight, Ritin starts to throw a volley of complaints and questions the whole idea of this trip. All the river beds were completely dry. Reached a Jain temple and another small station of the toy train. Another ten minutes and silence once again.

Doubtful stares

Payyans learing a few tricks

Occasionaly, a vehicle moved by. Could see a group of deer amidst the dried up bushes. So dry the whole place was! Walked on till we came upon a settlement; one hut had warli painting on the walls.

Settlement

Warli art all over the walls!!!

There was no water to drink;Tried not to think about it and kept moving. It was like a treasure that we found two old women on the roadside, with cucumbers laid out and earthern pots awaiting us! They were selling a glass of water for a rupee each.

Blessing in Disguise...Ladies selling water

Script on the rocks

Relieved, we moved on and came across another set of empty houses. Rested on the cemented beds at the next river bed. Ritin was refusing to go further, Swapnil was ready to move ahead while Dk was neutral on this. Someone had told Dk that there was another 4 km to walk and we had to be back by 1830. Somehow managed to get everyone moving. By 1540 we could see the hill and the caves in it from below.

Me and Payyans amongst the dry grass

The caves can be seen from here

Tourists were all over the place, though the numbers were less. Majestic caves, we kept trudging uphill since there were so many of them all over. Ritin wanted to go back by Bus and the last bus was at 1700. So we had to finish everything in an hours time.

Water reservoir at the top; there were many like these..

Exhausted...

We reached the hill top and could see the huge apartments in the city from here. Time constraint and so coudnt move further. Will be back once again when there would be more time to peacefully explore the whole area. There was lot of area to cover but no time. Aargh!!!

Wonderful sculptures, many partially destroyed

There were two such sculptures on either sides of the main viharas

The vihara was similar to the one in Karla Caves. The buddha statues were of different sizes, and in once such vihara there were two huge sculptures. Many were destroyed but a few sculptures still intact. These are said to be very ancient back from 1st century BC to 9th century AD.

Few more sculptures

Atop the hill..Missed the chance to venture further uphill

Further uphill were smaller caves , which looked like resting places. Could also see that many of these resting places had area holding water. Am sure the men then had planned a proper water system, there was all proof for it. By 1700, we were at the foot of the hill and were awaiting the bus....