My Tours: Maalnath Tour

On 26^th July, 2009, we had a lucky and pleasant journey. I and Ombhai (peon of the I T Experts Academy) were the two only travelers. Before three days we had decided to go to Maalnath Temple which is approx. 15 Km from Bhavnagar. Generally people go to Maalnath on bikes and therefore my bike was chosen for the tour. But on the day before the tour, Saturday night, I changed my decision that we will not go by bike because of the rainy season and bad roads between Kobdi village and Maalnath; so, instead, I decided that we will go to Kobdi by Rickshaw/Chhakada and then if we don't get any vehicle after that, then we will complete the remaining distance by walking. Kobdi is at about 7.5 Km far from Bhavnagar, so we had to walk another 7.5 Km. But here comes our LUCK.

At 12 AM, I was with Akash (one of my close friend) at Kaalanala, and Ombhai called me to come at Bhid-bhanjan temple, where he is living and from where we can get a vehicle. Kaalanala is just near to the temple so, I told Akash to drop me at Bhid-bhanjan. After some minutes of waiting with Akash, Ombhai came and I told Akash that he may go now and we get departed for the time.

From the starting point at the Bhid-bhanjan, Bhavnagar, we easily got a Rickshaw which dropped us up to Kobdi village. It took almost half an hour and 20 Rs. (10 Rs. per person). At Kobdi, Ombhai brought a Maavo and I brought a Pan of Kaatho and Sopari (because of ulcer in my mouth). We had already asked to the Rickshaw driver, who had dropped us up to Kobdi, if he wanted us to take up to Maalnath, but he had refused.

After Kobdi we started walking towards Maalnath which was yet 7.5 Km far. I took some photos of the windmills of Suzlon which were at Maalnath but appearing from the road. After walking for a little more than a kilometer, we got a truck. It took us up to 1.8 Km more and now it had to turn to a different way. So, we were at almost 4.5 Km from Maalnath. We again started walking.

After another approx. 1.2 Km of walk we got another vehicle, a Jeep like Car, I think it was Tata's 207Di. It helped us up to another approx 2.4 Km. The car driver has reached to his destination so he dropped us and again we started walking towards Maalnath. Maalnath was now only approx. a kilometer. Again we started walking and but again after just a walk of a half kilometer we got a Rickshaw and it took us up to Maalnath.

Now here is how our luck was good: We had decided to go from Kobdi to Maalnath by walk but after every few meters of walk we got vehicles!! And none of them accepted any fare from us!!! We asked to the 2^nd rickshaw driver if he could also take us back to the Bhavnagar and he accepted our request. Well, the last sentence seems OK but here is another twist. The rickshaw driver would not accept our request because the rickshaw was taken on rent by the family traveling in it. But the main family member and Ombhai had already met each other very often at Bhid-bhanjan temple and therefore he had told the rickshaw driver to let us come with them!!!!

More luck: At Maalnath, I wasn't aware that all the food stalls behind the temple were of the relatives of Ombhai!!! They provided us the breakfast meal for free!!!! They refused accepting any money from us.

We reached at Maalnath temple just 2:45 PM. Maalnath is beautifully surrounded by hills and the hills were looking very greenish and fresh in the monsoon. After breakfast, we climbed up the hill to go to the Suzlon wind farm. We took some walk and also took many photos of the windmills.

At 4:10 PM, we decided to go back and the rickshaw driver and the family were waiting for us. Now they were also wanting to go to the Trambak a.k.a. Tapovan which was another 6 Km far from Maalnath. 3 Km road for Trambak was the same in-between Maalnath and Kobdi. The road to Trambak was very bad. But we reached to Trambak without any problem. We enjoyed a waterfall at there for 5 minutes; I also took a photograph and then returned back to the rickshaw. We waited there for 10 minutes for the family to come back. On their return we all returned back to Bhavnagar. I left the rickshaw near the Sahkaari Haat and started walking towards my home which was almost 1.5 Km.

All the time of the tour, Ombhai was saying: Look, how many people are coming on bike, we should also have a bike. And I was saying: Look, how bad the roads are. And it is monsoon. We should not bring bike at this time. We will definitely come with bike, but only in winter and summer. Ombhai were very helpful during this tour. The whole journey was very very pleasant and I enjoyed it a lot.

Hear is the table of Traveling

From and To	Travelled By	Distance Travelled	Total Travel	Remaining
Up to Kobdi	Rickshaw	7.5	7.5	7.5
Kobdi to Maalnath	Walk	1.2	7.7	6.2
	Truck	1.8	9.5	4.4
	Walk	1.2	11.7	3.2
	Car	2.4	14.1	0.9
	Walk	0.5	14.6	0.4
	Rickshaw	0.4	15.0	0.0

Photos

A far view of Suzlon windmills

Diving in the Kund at Maalnath

Diving Sequence in 6 photos

Views from the Maalnath

Can you imagine what is the white big thing? Its just a small part of the windmill where the blades are fit. Two big holes to attach the blades can be seen, one is behind the scene.