Dainty little village - VELAS

Hello!!!!

Here am I, back with my travelogue about my latest trip to VELAS… Though I had gone there to attend a workshop, I also managed to explore the place and nearby places.…  Am sure a lot of people reading this travelogue would not have heard about this place, nor did I before I got a mail… Didn’t get it??? Well, read ahead to know what am I talking about ;)

Few months back I had heard about an organization known as Sahayadri Mitra Mandal, whom I had approached for volunteering. Though that time they didn’t offer me a place, but on 22^nd December 2011, I got a mail from them, informing me about a workshop they were organizing at Velas… The 2 day workshop was on Marine Turtle Conservation and was scheduled on 15^th and 16^th October 2011. I grabbed the opportunity immediately knowing that I would start working soon and won’t get a chance to attend such workshops often. I informed Atul and even he agreed to come with me. Ok, enough of flashback let me get back to the main topic – my trip and my travelogue.

To explore the nearby places, I and Atul decided to go to Velas a day early i.e. on 14^th October 2011. We decided to take a bus from Panvel to Mandangadh not knowing how to go ahead to Velas. That’s the fun of traveling to new place J.

We left early morning for Panvel by 7.05 am train from Thane. It takes a little less than an hour to reach Panvel. From there we went to Panvel ST bus depot to take a bus to Mandangadh. We got an 8:30 am bus (` 120/- per person) to Dabhol which would go via Mandangadh. It takes about 4 hours to reach Mandangadh; we reached around 12:40 pm. After getting down we enquired about the buses to Velas, but none suited us as we would had to wait at the bus depot for another hour.

If anyone has a query regarding the bus timing and mode of transportation, they can contact me. 

After enquiring further we were told that Trax goes to Velas very often, so we opted for it. One should opt for trax only if he/she is ok with sharing the vehicle with around 12-15 people. Below is the diagram showing how to reach the place from where you can get a trax for transportation to Velas:

Trax normally charge around ` 40/- per person and takes about an hour to reach Velas. The roads are very bumpy but the beautiful surroundings make you forget the discomfort. The roads are covered by dense vegetation on both the sides slowly enfolding its arms to make a way for the serene ocean view. The view makes you fall in love with the place without actually entering the village of Velas. We reached Velas around 2:30 pm and we went to the house where we were to stay. We stayed at Omkar Upadhye’s which was basically a home-stay. Omkar’s house is just 2 minutes away from the bus stop next to Nana Phadnis statue. It’s the only bungalow in Velas, having dormitory which was offered to us where we shared the room with others attending the workshop. It also had separate rooms which are offered to family only.  The charges were ` 250/- per person excluding food. The food was arranged for us at a nearby home, so went for lunch and we rested for a while.

If anyone needs the contact number of Omkar or any other home-stay in the village, feel free to contact me. 

In the evening we decided to explore the village but unfortunately, it started raining. So we stayed back and had a nice informative chat with Omkar who would be our age. He told us about the crops that grow, how people spend their time, about their festivals and also about the monsoon. Let me share it with you; hope I can do the justice J

Let me start by saying that one should really venture the Konkan coast. I really wish to explore the konkan coast and that to by road.  The konkan coastline spreads along the Southwest side of our country solely in the state of Maharashtra. The coast is dotted with pristine, immaculate, sandy white beaches; most of them being virgin beaches are a heaven for travellers like me and probably you too. Some of the beaches are so secluded and breathtaking that one would never want to say goodbye.

Velas is one such place, which is unspoiled and undisturbed by tourists. It’s a tiny village, situated around 210 kms from Mumbai and 36kms from Mandangadh.  The beach is a tiny one stretching only 2 kms in length.  This quiet, virgin beach is abounding with white, grainy sands, dead corals lining its shore, marine turtles and plenty of crabs loitering around forming coconut tree formations. If you are a wildlife enthusiast, this is the place to be. Will come to that a little later. Let me start with the village first.   

Velas is a tiny village with a population of not more than 1000 people; around 200 families. The village is divided into different sections (Aali), where the houses are built on either side of the road/aali. Velas is the birth place of Nana Phadnis, one of the great prominent personalities in Maratha history. Due to the sea-shore Velas is an existing place and is situated near Bankot Bay. There is an old temple of Shri Bhairi- Rameshwar and in this temple all twelve months water is made available taking the benefit of favourable geographical conditions. The village also has a  Mahalakshmi temple just next to the bus stop. 

The main occupation of the people of Velas is agriculture, and the main crops grown here are rice and of course AAMRAI (mango trees). The people working in farms get up around 5 am, finish their work by 3 pm or something and lazy out the rest of the day. The roads become empty by 5 pm in the evening. The electricity supply is not regular, so some of the people who have given their home for home-stays have to rely on generators. The monsoon here is quite heavy, raining continuously 7 days in a row, what the villagers call the ‘Satari’.  One of the important festivals celebrated in Velas is Golkulashtami. The celebration goes on for 5 days, where they arrange the dance competitions between different ‘Aali’, procession of the god (Rath-yatra), people from other village come to Velas for lunch/dinner and vice-versa. The festival sounded very tempting to attend. Hope a ever get a chance to be there for the festival.

As stated before, that if you are into wildlife conservation or an enthusiast, then Velas is the place where you would want to head. Velas is also one of the popular breeding sites of Olive Ridley, which is an endangered species of turtle. The hatchlings are heading towards the sea from the shore now-a-days. And we have at least 80% chances to see the emergence of these little new born turtles as I have a talk with organizers. Also the village is known for another kind of festival being celebrated here - The unique Marine Turtle Conservation Festival.  The festival is aimed at conservation of marine turtles, mainly Oliver Ridley Turtles.

After a brief chat with Omkar, we headed for dinner post which all 3 of us (Me, Atul and Omkar) went for a night walk. Omkar took us to a rocky shore near the road heading towards Bankot. Though it was only 9 pm, it was pitch dark and it was so quite that I could almost hear my own breathing. It was very soothing to hear the sound of waves.  We sat there for almost an hour soaking the serenity and calmness the place offered before we headed back.

The next morning, i.e. 15^th October, we decided to explore Harihareshwar and Srivardhan. Though I had been to these places before, but it was fun trying to figure out how to reach these places, travelling by bus and most important I had a good company (Atul) who loves to venture placesJ.  We started early morning to catch 7 am bus (`14 /- per person) from Velas to Hanuman Tekdi. This is the place where you have to get down to catch a ferry to Bagmandala. Once you get down at Bagmandala, one can see steps on left side to get to the jetty. The steps slowly and beautifully passes through dense vegetation in an serpentine way. The surrounding is breathtaking. The ferries (` 10 /- per person)take about 5 – 10 minutes to reach Bagmandala and is available every 30 minutes. 

Bagmandala is a lovely small village 4 kilometers from Harihareshwar. We got into a shared auto (` 20 /- per seat) which takes approximately 20 minutes to reach Harihareshwar.  Harihareshwar is known for its tranquil and picturesque beach and is also famous for the temple of Harihareshwar. After getting down from the auto, we took a small kachha rasta on the left side of the road to go to Harihareshwar temple.

This 16^th century temple is also known as ‘Dakshin Kashi’ has an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Temple complex has deities of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh along with the temples of Kalbhairav (lord of all manthrasastras) and Yogeshwari. It is said that the temple was constructed in Shivaji’s reign, but was reconstructed by 1^st Bajirao Peshwa in 1723.

What I enjoyed about the temple is the cool breeze from the adjoining beach which makes the temple premises a nice place to relax. We then went on to the beach, which is just stone throw’s away distance from the temple. Though the beach is dangerously notorious as it lures the people into the water and most of the time kills them, still the gentle winds, soft sand and the inviting waters make the beach irresistible. I was really tempted to get in the waters but knowing how dangerous is can be I couldn’t go ahead. I just sat there enjoying the view of the Harihar hill enclosing the natural beauty in its full glow.

From Harihareshwar we started for Shriwardhan which is about 20 kms and takes approximately an hour to reach by shared auto (` 40 /- per seat). We got down at the ST bus depot to enquire about the buses to Mumbai.  Once that was taken care of we went on to the beach. It’s a commercialized yet secluded beach with sun kissed sand and abstract designs on the sand made by crabs. We strolled on the beach soaking in the beauty of the pristine starch of the beach and appreciating the creativity of the crabsJ. After spending some time on the beach, we walked through the rustic town to find a place for lunch. Hotel Prasad is a good place to have food. After lunch we went to Shivajinagar from where we got into an auto (` 40 /- per seat) to bagmandla to catch a jungle ferry. Jungle ferry (` 20 /- per seat) is the fastest way to reach the other side, taking just 5 – 7 min.

Once back in velas we rested for a while before joining Omkar to tell us more about the village.  On this day, to be precise at 9:00 pm we (Me, Atul and other members of Workshop) gathered in the Grampanchayat office to start out 1^st day of the workshop. The workshop was organized by Bhau Katdare, the founder of SNM (Sahayadri Nisarg Mitra Mandal) and Kasav Mitra Mandal. 

SNM is the first organization to take an initiative towards the protection and conservation of Marine Turtles. In 2002, SNM started a conservation programme for marine turtles in Velas. In its first year, SNM undertook protection of nests in one village and successfully protected 50 nests. Within a short period, SNM has spread its protection activities to the entire coast of Maharashtra: about 720 km. In the last five years, SNM has protected 214 nests and released more than 9000 hatchlings.

Bhau was to show us a documentary on the conservation projects, but unfortunately due to power cut we couldn’t see it. But we had a general discussion about the initiatives of SNM in the conservation of Marine Turtles. Then we were introduced to the forest department personnels, members of grampanchayat and some of the key people were felicitated as well.  This was followed by the introduction of all the members of the workshop. I was really surprised to see so many people of different age groups, different fields and from different places gathered here in a small village because of one common interest – conservation of marine turtles. Introduction was followed by brief information about Oliver Ridley Turtle, how and why and when they come on the shore, factors affecting the decline in number and also how to conserve them. We were informed that we were to meet the next day at Velas beach at 7 am sharp and then the meeting was adjourned.

Again in the night, me and atul joined Omkar for a walk to the rocky shore near the road heading towards Bankot. 

On 16^th October, early morning the workshop was to be held at Velas beach. It is one of the serene beaches I have visited. I would have loved to leave the hectic world behind to laze around on golden sands listening to the music of the waves. The beach is extremely remote and isolated from the village. To reach the beach, one has to take the only road from the village, walk till you reach bridge and take a small opening on the right at the end of the bridge. After getting down, jump over a wooden barricade on left and take a narrow footpath following a narrow stream on your right. You will come across one more barricade, jump over and walk till you see Ipomea forest. Walk through the forest to reach the shore. It takes about 20 – 30 min to reach the shore.  The view is breath-taking. It’s a virgin beach untouched by the flocks of people and ideal place for turtle nesting site.    

As per the schedule we reached the beach at 7:00 am. Our workshop started with information on how to spot the turtle nesting site, once spotted what is to be done, how to dig the site to collect eggs and transfer them to hatchery site. This was followed by demonstration of the same. Later the forest rangers and the people from grampanchayat addressed us regarding what they expect from us and also about schedule 1 (wildlife rule). After breakfast, we gathered at grampanchyat office to resume the session with views and ideas from the workshop members and how can we help the conservation of turtles. I was really very happy to learn that SNM is seeking volunteers to help in beach patrolling and monitoring of nesting sites in between Vasai and Dahanu. Immediately mumbaikars volunteered to help the cause.

All in all it was a good learning experience and learned a lot from the workshop. In the evening me and atul went back to beach for a walk.

Sad to think that we will have to return back to Mumbai L.