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The 2013 Surajkund mela started from 2nd Feb and will last till 15th Feb 2013.

This year’s theme state in Karnataka. There are various artisans from Karnataka displaying the rich heritage and handicrafts. The performance of the folk dancers in the open air theatre is enthralling.

This year apart from India other prominent participants are from Thai, Bangladesh. Bhutan etc.

The food courts located in the centre of the   grounds provide various regional cuisine. Only few food stalls are very region specific and one have to be very careful in selecting them. I have found most other stalls serving the delhitised food in the grab of local name. 

There was a Mughalai Biryani stall selling the worst biryani one could ever have. One can get far better pavbhaji outside than that made available there. Overall the food stalls are not that which display the local grandeur. Went to the Madras Cafe thinking that they will be serving the south indian coffee but to my utter dismay they were only serving Nescafe, which tasted something like little sweet hot milk. For  that too one has to jostle among the crowd and wait for your cup for about 10 minutes.

Coming to the best part is the handicrafts stalls displaying the best of the artisans output.

There is a stall from Bagepalli(border of Andhra and Karnataka) displaying the leather decorative items like the lamp shades, wall hangings. One can very easily be mistaken for they look like paper , thin and very light.

The lamp shades look fablous. Also there are wide variety of wall hangings which goes well with any light shades in the room.

The wooden carving of Lord Venkateswara( Tirupati Balaji)  below is an example of the glorious work of the artisan.

The other wooden wall hangings carved out of single piece of wood can be a beautiful procession to have.

Some are painted with exquisite colours which looks awsome. For example the one with Lord Ganesh in various postures and painted where each one is different from the other in one way or other.

The Panchamukha Ganesh made from Wagea wood is priced at Rs.2.95lakhs.

The door below made from jackfruit wood may be one of the most sought after main door for a rustic as well as ancient look.

 

The panchamukha Hanuman and the Ganesh ji holding the Tambura ( a musical instrument) made out of teak wood and polished.

The Saibaba idol made from single piece of Teak wood and polished for shine. The price of this was told as Rs.48000.

There are lot of small idols crafted from teak wood and rose wood.

The beautiful idol of Saraswati made out of wood on display.

 

The artisans at work weaving a colourful Dari.

Below are crafted from a special wood/bark available under water by the artisans from Bengal. The price of the smallest one being Rs.250 and goes upto Rs.10000 for big ones.

 

The flowers ok Karnataka on display.

There is a stall selling fruits and vegetables from Karnataka. Here we can get the Yalakki Bale the Banana variety from Karnataka and vegetables of south  India.

 

The wooden elephant made from plank look like a real one in 3D.

The visit to this Mela is very enjoyable for the art lovers and also have a look at various artefacts at one place. It will be a full day affair to indulge and see the whole mela.

I have many times visited Shirdi(the abode of SaiBaba) by train from Delhi with family. Usually we either on our way from Delhi to Bangalore or in return stop over at Shirdi as this is almost mid way between the two cities. The other advantage is the train Karnataka Express has a stop at Kopergaon which is the nearest railway station to Shirdi.

Last few years It has been a very big problem getting reserved tickets. The waitlisted tickets will not get confirmed especially the ones from Shirdi(reason not known , but my interpretation is that the quota from that station comes into picture.)

Because of this we were waiting for the right time and it came in the form of the IRCTC’s rail tourism package. Just there was this email in my inbox which had caught my attention.

Visited their website and found the details good enough to book and go ahead. The pricing was OK and there were two packages, one is standard and the other one is comfort. The basic difference between the two is only the train travel – in case of the standard one it is through the sleeper class and in comfort it is by the 3tier AC. Also the site has mentioned the accommodation in Hotel Bhagyalaxmi, which we had stayed earlier also.(this is also one of the factors which has influenced the decision).

The itinerary   was also well planned one. This includes the half a day trip to Shani signapur by taxi. Website said all the meals included in the price. The booking is through the IRCTC site only and it is the usual type of process. After booking we will get only confirmation and booking voucher.But the ticket with the birth/seat and coach numbers gets emailed to us only two days ahead of the date of journey. They also mention that the tour manager will get in touch by phone two days ahead of the journey but it did not happen in my case. But yes I have received an SMS from them about the train no and other details.

We have boarded the train and it was as usual a comfortable journey. Reached late by 2 hours to Kopargaon station. Once alighted on the platform we have seen a driver with placard of IRCTC. Just hopped into the taxi and straight off to Shirdi- hotel Bhagyalaxmi.

The hotel is completely renovated inside  and could not make out that this was the same Bhagyalaxmi. The advantage of this hotel is its proximity to the main temple and Dwarakamai. Also there are a lot of eating joints between this hotel and temple in case anyone need to try otherwise this hotel has a restaurant inside.  

The restaurant had served buffet for the IRCTC package tourists and it was a decent meal. All the meals were included in the package and it was good.

Day 1 : Reach Shidri by evening , had darshan and relax.

Day 2: Morning the taxi was provided by IRCTC from Shirdi to Shanisignapur and back, which will take about 5 hours.we have not used this service as we opted to stay back at Shirdi itself. (one can be back to Shirdi by lunch time and relax for some time and may go evening Darshan to the mandir).

Day 3: we had been picked up from the Hotel by 12noon as the train back to Delhi is at about 2PM from Kopergaon station. We had our lunch in the hotel(part of the  package) and left for the station.   

The whole experience of travelling through this package trip is a good and I feel the price is right for the services provided.  Since this was IRCTC operated tour I had my apprehensions about the quality of service but they have done a good job.

 

Located near the Aravali range this has a rock climbing place, off road biking and Bull riding.

Good for a liesure trip with friends. Recently visited this place with office colleagues.

Rock climbing ----------Energy guzzler.

Restaurant --- a make shift sort of arrangement with little variety to order.

Quad biking ---------- About 2Km stretch of off roading with in the premises.

Rock climbing is the most adventurous part of all.

 

 

 

Bull riding is a fun to have.

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The display of some of the most beautifully maintained cars in the recent auto-expo.
These were fabulously maintained by their owners.
Most of the time we think of keeping our cars in immaculate condition but unable to do due to various reasons, reasons better call excuses.

Above cars and bikes show the dedication of the owners in their upkeep.
Because of them we and our children have the opportunity to have a glimpse of these beautifully crafted ones.
Let this clan keep up  the good work.