The birds chirped and broke the morning bliss... the dew on the tender leaves dried up in the early summer morning heat...the never ending pathways lead nowhere but reached somewhere... the fruits and flower abound ...calling you with open arms... the cool Gateway to a weekend Getaway...GARAVA.
But if you are our kind and enjoy simple deliciously cooked homemade food, by the host Poornima tai herself Garava is the place to be. If you love peace and know and respect silence, if you love the music created by nature in form of chirping birds and the rustle of leaves the wind chimes hung just at one corner of the open corridor will actually make you realise how soothing the sound of wind chimes can be. If you love to sing old melodious songs or some very few new melodies or just hear someone in your group sing or just be quite and enjoy the deafening silence Garava is the place to be.
Mr. Naik who by the end of the trip i am sure you shall start admiring is a humble man so very attached to his place. My son asked him, 'Are you rich?' To that he so humbly answered 'Yes i am rich'. He truly is rich not only in the bounty of land he owns but also the knowledge he has, be it of agriculture or the soil or fruits or how much water vegetables need or how to make a medicine concoction out of leaves and is willing to share his knowledge. Being a person from the Technical Field he has his workshop just in the backyard which he would be busy using to repair a broken window pane. He woke up before everyone and broomed the otla and backyard so lovingly his love for the place and his land he owns is palpable in everything he does or speaks.
Commercialization and consumerism has not touched this place and we wish it never does. The man Mr.Naik looks the kind who shall never let it happen. And he surely has ingrained the same values in his near and dear ones who shall never let it happen either.
The long meandering walk through their farm into the nearby village where practically everyone knew Poornima tai and then through small hillocks and through plantations of different varieties it was like reliving my childhood days when i would just take off with my bunch of friends into cactus fenced shrubs and bushes filled vegetation in dahanukarwadi kandivli, where now it's difficult to spot a mango tree. The Emu farm frankly didn't delight me as much as the walk past the thick foliage. So Poornima tai be assured whether the Emu stay or not the breathtaking view and the breath refreshing walk could always find a mention on your website.
Places like these rejuvenate your mind body soul and just make you go back to the grinding and work harder to maybe earn enough to earn a place like that.
The place doesn't have a single board and if you miss the small board which reads 'Panose' you may just get lost. So drive at a slow pace after you have reached Mangaon and after the small bridge over the river which in summer wouldn't be visible, take a right turn which shall lead you into a thankfully tarred road leading to the Farm House gate.
Mr.Naik himself came to greet us and the Kokam sherbet can beat any welcome drink served in any resort. I was given the choice to choose between non-veg and veg food. I chose non-veg and we ate some delicious fish which Mr.Naik had himself bought from Mangaon market. I personally feel I should choose veg fare next time not because the non veg was less tasty but the vegetables were farm fresh and deliciously cooked.
Bananas, pineapples, mogra flowers, papayas, kaju, mangoes, chickoos, rice just to name a few things they grow, all organic. We took back some wonderful memories and a few Papayas a kachha kairi and a few chickoos on our way back home.
This summer of 2012 we did something different we gave our kids an ourselves two days of simple earthy living and a promise to own a place like this one day or maybe just return back to this cool heaven called Garava this Monsoon of 2012.
Some Facts which maybe useful:
Travel distance from Kandivli Mumbai via Ghodbunder road: 180 km
Google Maps and navigation is a boon but still trust locals to get you on the right path.
Travel time from Kandivli Mumbai : 4 hours approx.
(Thanks to the single lane Mumbai Goa NH17)
Thankfully the construction of a four lane road is underway.
Best time to visit: Whenever you want to seek your soul and heal your mind and body.
Rooms are modest and quite airy and there's no option of A.C., neither will you need one.
Monsoons sure are more promising with natural waterfalls and a huge pond which currently in summer were dry.
All in all my ratings for the place: 9 on 10.
I am sure when i visit this place this monsoon it shall be 10 on 10.
Just an Unusual traveler. Nozzer Pardiwalla
Garava in marathi means cool and cool it is. The summer heat could not deter us from venturing out to this little known place which we were suggested by a relative.
We took off for two days. Home stay though known is still not very popular. But we seem to have explored and loved it to try it too often.
We took off for two days. Home stay though known is still not very popular. But we seem to have explored and loved it to try it too often.
If you are looking out for a lavish buffet meal where more food is wasted then eaten, if you are looking for rain dance with jarring loud music, if you are looking for karoake nights, if you are looking for what you generally look for in your so called two day getaway close to Mumbai. You have got to go elsewhere.
But if you are our kind and enjoy simple deliciously cooked homemade food, by the host Poornima tai herself Garava is the place to be. If you love peace and know and respect silence, if you love the music created by nature in form of chirping birds and the rustle of leaves the wind chimes hung just at one corner of the open corridor will actually make you realise how soothing the sound of wind chimes can be. If you love to sing old melodious songs or some very few new melodies or just hear someone in your group sing or just be quite and enjoy the deafening silence Garava is the place to be.
Mr. Naik who by the end of the trip i am sure you shall start admiring is a humble man so very attached to his place. My son asked him, 'Are you rich?' To that he so humbly answered 'Yes i am rich'. He truly is rich not only in the bounty of land he owns but also the knowledge he has, be it of agriculture or the soil or fruits or how much water vegetables need or how to make a medicine concoction out of leaves and is willing to share his knowledge. Being a person from the Technical Field he has his workshop just in the backyard which he would be busy using to repair a broken window pane. He woke up before everyone and broomed the otla and backyard so lovingly his love for the place and his land he owns is palpable in everything he does or speaks.
Commercialization and consumerism has not touched this place and we wish it never does. The man Mr.Naik looks the kind who shall never let it happen. And he surely has ingrained the same values in his near and dear ones who shall never let it happen either.
The long meandering walk through their farm into the nearby village where practically everyone knew Poornima tai and then through small hillocks and through plantations of different varieties it was like reliving my childhood days when i would just take off with my bunch of friends into cactus fenced shrubs and bushes filled vegetation in dahanukarwadi kandivli, where now it's difficult to spot a mango tree. The Emu farm frankly didn't delight me as much as the walk past the thick foliage. So Poornima tai be assured whether the Emu stay or not the breathtaking view and the breath refreshing walk could always find a mention on your website.
Places like these rejuvenate your mind body soul and just make you go back to the grinding and work harder to maybe earn enough to earn a place like that.
The place doesn't have a single board and if you miss the small board which reads 'Panose' you may just get lost. So drive at a slow pace after you have reached Mangaon and after the small bridge over the river which in summer wouldn't be visible, take a right turn which shall lead you into a thankfully tarred road leading to the Farm House gate.
Mr.Naik himself came to greet us and the Kokam sherbet can beat any welcome drink served in any resort. I was given the choice to choose between non-veg and veg food. I chose non-veg and we ate some delicious fish which Mr.Naik had himself bought from Mangaon market. I personally feel I should choose veg fare next time not because the non veg was less tasty but the vegetables were farm fresh and deliciously cooked.
Bananas, pineapples, mogra flowers, papayas, kaju, mangoes, chickoos, rice just to name a few things they grow, all organic. We took back some wonderful memories and a few Papayas a kachha kairi and a few chickoos on our way back home.
This summer of 2012 we did something different we gave our kids an ourselves two days of simple earthy living and a promise to own a place like this one day or maybe just return back to this cool heaven called Garava this Monsoon of 2012.
Some Facts which maybe useful:
Travel distance from Kandivli Mumbai via Ghodbunder road: 180 km
Google Maps and navigation is a boon but still trust locals to get you on the right path.
Travel time from Kandivli Mumbai : 4 hours approx.
(Thanks to the single lane Mumbai Goa NH17)
Thankfully the construction of a four lane road is underway.
Best time to visit: Whenever you want to seek your soul and heal your mind and body.
Rooms are modest and quite airy and there's no option of A.C., neither will you need one.
Monsoons sure are more promising with natural waterfalls and a huge pond which currently in summer were dry.
All in all my ratings for the place: 9 on 10.
I am sure when i visit this place this monsoon it shall be 10 on 10.
 |
| let loose.... |
 |
| beat the heat... |
L
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