Holy Places to Visit in Nashik

If you are in Nashik, you cant just miss the Trimbakeshwar Temple.
One of the most famous temples dedicated to Lord Shiva.
I am sure majority of people have probably visited Nashik to visit the Trimbakeshwar temple and not vice versa.

But there is one place in Nashik, which very few know about. It is called the Anjaneri Caves.
Anjani was the the name of Lord Hanuman's Mother.
Anjaneri Caves is the birthplace of Lord Hanuman and is situated atop a picturesque hill.
You need to trek for more than two hours to reach this place.
This place is a favourite among trekkers because of the Reverse Waterfalls at Anjaneri.
The force of the wind near these waterfalls is so strong that the waterfall flows against the law of gravity. See below.

Source

Husband and I being ill, decided to skip the trek, but we visited the Anjaneri temple at the foot of the hill.
I was really excited to visit this temple, because I have visited temples dedicated to Lord Hanuman but never heard of anything dedicated to his mom.

Mata Anjani with Baby Hanuman

Didn't I tell you..Sarees are fit for Godesseses?

View from the Temple.

The Eco Friendly Ganeshas Of Mumbai

Now the third and final part of the Ganesha Series. I know I am a month late..but I believe Better late than never. So here we go.

The Eco Friendly Ganpatis Of Mumbai..through the lenses of my friend Paras.

Made from pulses (Jijai Nagar Mitra Mandal, Dombivli)


Made from bananas (Shivneri Mitra Mandal, Gograsswadi, Dombivli)

Made from crushed paper (Gograsswadi Ganeshotsav Mandal, Dombivli)

Made from various oil seeds (Tulsi Building Sarvajanik Shree Ganeshotsav Mandal, Khetwadi)

Made from clay (Kumbharwadyacha Eco Friendly Bappa - 2nd Kumbharwada)

Made from Paper Pulp (Tejookaya Park Mitra Mandal - Matunga E)

Girgaoncha Girijatmaj of Kudaldeshkar Gaud Brahman Nivas Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav is made from fiber.
The idol was made by famous sculptor Mr. Vjay Khatu in 2010. They are the 1st S.G.M. to do away with the visarjan of POP idol and their idol is stored permanently. Every year the idol has a visarjan procession till Girgaon Chowpatty from where it is brought back to the mandal and kept safely in a small pandal for daily worship.

Thank You Paras, for these wonderful posts. Keep Rocking and keep Clicking. :)

Gorgeous Ganpatis in and around Mumbai

In today's post, our guest post contributor - Paras, shares his love and passion for clicking Bappa.

It's simply a passion and my love for the festival + photography . I have been visiting various pandals & photographing Ganesha since 1996, when I got my first camera !

Though during those times it was not on such large scale, I used to visit pandals in my city & only a few ones of Mumbai.

When I bought my bike, I got the much needed mobility & the nunber of pandals increased. This year, I was able to take darshan of over 200 Bappas (household + Sarvajanik) covering over a distance of almost 400kms over my bike.

But the best and fondest part of this year, was my kiddo Siddhesh (6 years) too joined me in this passion & visited almost 100+ pandals with me! The happiness & smile on his face while watching these big Ganeshas was a big time booster for me to go on & on....
Some more pictures that I clicked.

The pooja idol of Shree Kesari Mitra Mandal, Hanuman Chowk - Mulund (East) was a unique one. I was informed that the idol was ordered from Karanataka and therefore the features differs a lot from the other idols.

Renowned Ganpati Mandals of Mumbai

Hello Everyone.

Today I am very excited because So-Saree features its first male guest post contributor.

Paras Masurekar is a friend of mine whose passion for photography shows on his Facebook wall. But this time, the pictures on his Facebook wall caught my attention because they featured pictures of as many as 100 Ganpati Pandals. Phew..can you believe that?

So I asked him if he would like to share his pictures with So-Saree's readers, and he said Yes.

But guess what, along with the pictures, he typed down a few lines about his love for Bappa and photography along with noteworthy peculiarities of some of the Ganpatis.

The Bappa Series will be divided into three parts.

The First One - Renowned Ganpati Mandals of Mumbai
The Second One - The Gorgeous Ganpatis in and around Mumbai

The Second One - Eco Friendly Ganpatis of Mumbai

Hope you enjoy it as much I enjoyed compiling these posts.

Over to you Paras...

The renowned mandals of Mumbai are a must watch during Ganeshtosav.

Both the GSB ganapatis (King Circle & Wadala) are the richest ones in Mumbai. The King Circle idol has gold worth almost 22 crores & had taken a insurance of 260 crores this year for the festival !

The Khetwadicha Raja - Khambata lane Ganesha idol this year was 27 feet tall !

Girgaoncha Maharaja of Akheel Mugbhat S.G.M. had a 21 feet idol made from clay (Shaduchi maati) and therefore is the biggest eco-friendly idol !

The small yet beautiful Ganesha idol of Keshavji Naik Chawl in Girgaon is the 1st sarvajanik ganeshotsav mandal of Mumbai and is in its 122nd year now !

The mandals of Lalbaug & Parel have their own reputations which almost everyone is familiar with.

Other than that...some famous and beautiful Ganeshas.

What I wore at Sula Vineyards

So apart from the halt at Sula Vineyards, another good thing that happened that day was husband willingly agreed to click my pics without any complaints or whining, and I was one happy person.

So let's see how a happy person who also happens to be down with fever look in pictures.
Another advantage of cropping my face from the pictures...No matter what..You guys will never see my dark circles. Now how cool is that!!!

Dress: Limeroad.com, Belt and shoes: Colaba Causeway, Accesories: Here and there