Our first outing with with our little one to matheran wasnt very memorable. Thanks to militantly heavy rains and overly cranky Vih ,who was all of seven months then we had to bid a premature adieu to matheran. But out second venture with the kiddo wasnt bad at all and hence deserves mention.
We and our 9 month old monster escaped to a farm house called Saguna baug (SB) near Neral, some where between Bombay and Pune
. I happened to see an excellent review of the place on NDTV Good times and decided to nag Raj for a visit.
SB is owned by a gentleman named Mr Chandrashekhar, who is supposed to have resided in US for long and then returned to India to apply his acquired skills on ground. We were keen on meeting him but somehow it did not materialise.
SB offers two kinds of room choices, the pond houses( they have only two of them located within one pond itself) and have several cottages inside the farm.We chose the pond house and were very happy with our decision. When we came to the entrance of the pond hut which is from the rear, to our surprise and vih's delight there was a horde of ducks welcoming us. He was thrilled to see them approaching towards him like some old boys school re union happening after ages.Self and Raj enjoyed the glint in Vih's eyes.
Raj was more keen to savour the desi murgi, on the offer, both of us discussed it at length all along the journey to Neral
. And finally when the chicken and other Maharashtrian dishes ( they have a fixed menu ) were completely worth. Well cooked, clean and of course delicious.
SB offers a number of outdoor activities, which are mostly rural and agricultural in nature, like farming, milking cows, fishing, bullock cart riding, buffalo rides , bathing in a river and also a visit to a kiwi farm which we sadly missed. In the evening we decided to go the river as Raj was very keen on bathing, but to our disappointment, the water in Ulhas river carried plastic waste nd other litter from upstream. We then went to the dairy or gowshala to be more appropriate, but the stink and cow shit was too much for me and i made my perfect urban snob face, while raj tried a direct spray of milk from the udder and was delighted.
As it got dark there wasnt much to do, and we kept talking in the absolute silent environs, sitting on a huge swing right in front of our hut, little v also enjoyed hte evening as much as we did
. I decided to sleep till late next morning but it could be so. The morning so beautiful, chilly and enhancting, that i had to wake up. Fog surrounded our hut from all sides. After Raj came back from his run we sat on the swing facing the beautiful pond sipping hot tea. May such mornings come over and over again.
Rest of the day we occupied ourselves watching drag net fishing and bullock cart ride. Needless to mention a lovely breakfast of Poha Upma and followed by fish curry lunchadded the final touch to our lovely trip.
A lot can be done to improve the place, all information boards currently in Marathi must be made bilingual to cater for non marathis like my hubby. The services provided by the employees is prompt but the owner must attempt to connect to the guests.
All in all it was a wonderful trip. Thanks SB and thanks V for being a good boy.
Pond house at saguna baug
Friday, October 08, 2010
Neral, Mahārāshtra, India
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