Monday, December 29, 2008

Dive Agar

On the vast coastline of Maharashtra there lies this little gem – Dive Agar. A tiny hamlet that is on the verge of a tourist boom due to the saturation of neighbouring ‘awesome’ tourist spots like Alibag and Janjira Murud. From Mumbai it will take you about five hours of leisurely driving with stopovers. The distance is just 195kms and the roads are also lovely. You have to travel on the NH17 – the Mumbai Goa highway upto Mangaon and then take a diversion to Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar. On this road you will come across a village called Mhasla from where this spot of heaven is just 16kms. There are two decent restaurants with clean washrooms between Mumbai and Mangaon. In Karnala that is 10kms from Panvel, is the ‘Vittal Kamaths’ multi cuisine restaurant and in Kolad 2okms before Mangaon is ‘Mai Bhavani’ an ethnic Maharashtrian restaurant which has a ‘Tulzapur Bhavani’ temple too! Dive Agar has become famous for its ‘Suvarna Ganesha’. On 17thNov97, Draupadi Dharma Patil, while digging in her betel nut farm, found a copper box which contained a Gold mask of Ganesha. On discovery of this treasure, she went and told her neighbours and the police about the same. Then as per law a ‘panchanama’ was carried out and the Gold Ganesha mask was taken over by the local governing council. It was then decided to place it in the existing Ganesha temple in the village for worship and display. Unfortunately, the ‘finder’ is not the ‘keeper’ in this case and all that she has received until now are just vacuous promises from the governing and the temple authorities. Who said honesty pays?! However, she has set up a small temple at the place where she had found it and people who visit there do donate towards her effort. Then there is another temple being built called the ‘Rupnarayan mandir’. It is still under construction behind which there is an old temple called the ‘Sundernarayan Mandir’ of 1962 vintage from where the idol is removed and placed in the new ‘Rupnarayan Mandir’. Now that one has taken care of ones spiritual needs, one can indulge. The beach is virginal, clean and beautiful. The sunset is awesome. There are tiny cottages all along the street and most if not all will offer you a hearty meal at very reasonable prices. However one has to inform them in advance or be prepared to wait for a while as the food is cooked on order. Did not see any liquor shop around and when we asked for beer, were told that it has to be procured from ‘Borli’ another village about 10kms away, so go stocked with your wines if you so wish. The sea food, especially ‘Surmai’ is delicious and you will get an option of either a Chicken Thali or a Fish Thali in the restaurants apart from the vegetarian Thali. For dessert, you can indulge in the ‘Ukdiche Modak’ – the steamed dumpling stuffed with grated coconut and jaggery. The use of oil is minimal but the coconut is used generously in all preparations. As far as accommodation is concerned, one can stay in any of the homestay cottages or in regular hotels of which there are just about three in all of Dive Agar. One is the MTDC leased ‘Exotica’ and then there is the popular mid range ‘Prathamesh’ where we stayed or ’Pinakin’ also a mid range hotel. Exotica is the only one that is bang on the beach while the other two are about a 10min walk away. Like all the villages in Maharashtra there is the ‘Shivaji Chowk’ which is the focal point of the village.
If you are the type who wants to relax and enjoy a bit of solitude while taking long walks on the beach, this is the place to go. But please go soon before it is trashed by noisy tourists.

31 comments:

  1. It was as if I was there as well! The mention of the yummy food made my mouth water...slurrp :)

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  2. I really enjoyed this. What a beautiful sunset. I'm grateful to you for sharing your travels.

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  3. What a lovely place! and what a lovely getaway for you! Thank you for sharing. I love photos, and beach and sunset are priceless. I do so hope you had a great time, it sounds like it. Happy New Year -- almost! I think you got it off to a good start!

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  4. It looks like you had a lovely stay and I enjoyed my tour...

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  5. What a lovely place to take a rest. So glad you had a nice trip. The pictures are great.

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  6. looks and sounds so idyllic..very interesting story abt the finder and keeper..true, honesty doesnt pay

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  7. ME: Thus would have been great to use for your My World post. I enjoyed your visit to this part of your world.

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  8. What a wonderful trip! I have also travelled through your text and photos! Never heard of the place before... The closest I've been was in Goa, which I suppose is pretty far from Dive Agar.

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  9. What a great travel find. You are going to be my travel partner when I visit India.

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  10. Honesty may not pay, but honesty is the best policy.

    Dive Agar sounds like a fascinating place. The sunset picture at the beach is awesome!

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  11. I like this kind of place.
    Great post and pics!

    Happy, Healthy and Prosperious New Year!

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  12. Gosh, India is a treasure-trove! Thanks for sharing this.
    I didn't have access to the net lately, so I have a bit of catching up to do!
    I wish you a wonderful 2009!

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  13. Excellent post. Thanks for letting us know about this hidden gem. I am new to Maharashtra and am glad I am discovering these places through blogs.
    That surmai and modak sound delicious.

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  14. Haven't even heard of this place before, but sure looks worth a visit, at least for Mumbaikars. I've had my fair share of non-descrepit place visits - Murudeshwar, Gokarna, Ramanagaram and Chikmaglur in Karnataka and several others in Uttaranchal. They sure were lovely.

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  15. visiting India is one of my dreams !!!! thank you for showing us bits of it !

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  16. Beautiful photographs and very good information. Thanks for sharing.

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  17. I love the second photo, and the sunset over the ocean. Both are so tranquil, something I am craving just now. But I also enjoyed your descriptions of the people and the area. Thanks for sharing both!

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  18. I really like the first picture. You captured it well.

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  19. Hi...
    I really enjoyed this. What a beautiful sunset. I enjoyed your descriptions of the people and the area.

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  20. This was an excellent tour of a very beautiful place. Your photos were fantastic, brought everything alive along with your descriptions. Thank you!

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  21. Looks like a really fascinating place.

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  22. Konkan is one of the most unique locations on the planet, and I am a great fan of it.

    My Spirit in Bedse
    Birdhouses, Birds

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  23. Beautiful sunset photo. I like the first one too. I have never see that image of ox? pulling a cart. I love it.

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  24. Wonderful tour. Thank you so much! I'm willing to bet that those two restaurants you mention serve delicious food. I adore Indian cuisine.

    Beautiful photos, as always.

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  25. Excellent description of the place, food and awesome pics. One really feels that he/she has visited the place because of the minute details shared by you.I'll definitely visit the places mentioned by you. Thanks for sharing this information.

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  26. Miraculous! We were quite frankly writing a piece of writing on the same exact subject last night. Then this one early morning, I found your post of which is much more effective of article than We published.

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  27. Hi

    We host a Maharashtra Travel website puneritraveller.com in which we have a page for Diveagar

    We also have a section for blogs in there..

    Would you like us to feature your blog there..
    Please visit the website and let us know..please write to puneritraveller@gmail.com

    cheers

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