Zanzari Trip (झांझरी)

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An exhilarating and enjoyable trip to the fabled Zanzari falls of Gujarat.
The people at Networks Division of ISRO, Ahmedabad thought of some means to enjoy the beautiful lush green nature after a bountiful rainfall, many places were thought and finally Zanzari was selected.

The innate meticulous and sagacious nature of planners could not be overlooked and hence whole planning process was totally scientific.
First of all a Principal planner was identified (Praful Sir), it was then decided to survey all possible locations within 200 km round-trip distance of Ahmedabad, especially with a water body. Many locations were considered like, Dholeshawar, Kabirwad, etc. and finally based on past knowledge and the current information received from various sources, Zanzari was selected. A tortuous route through Utkanteshwar and Kedareshwar was finalised. The trip was scheduled for Sunday, August 1st, 2010 @ 0730 hrs.

Responsibilities were given regarding the food arrangements, a total of 5 families were to come, Praful sir would bring Thepala's, Bhansali family would bring Puri's , Yagnesh sir and Kotecha sir would share the responsibility of the  Alu ki suki sabzi,  and I selected to bring sweets. I thought of making Besan ke Laddu. How many laddu's would a party of 19 people with 10 adults and 9 children require??? was a big question for me!!! I thought that maybe 3 pieces per person would suffice and hence began my work; bought supplies for the same. The laborious work finished around mid-night, Put them into boxes and went to sleep.

Besan ke Laddu

Ingredients 1 kg of Besan (Chickpea flour) 1.5 kg of Sugar (finely grounded) 500-600 g Ghee (Clarified butter) Dry-fruits (as per preference) Utensils Kadhai Pan Scrapper

Procedure Put some Ghee into Kadhai and put on simmer. Add the flour and stir constantly to avoid lumps. Remove heat when an appetizing aroma is released from the mixture.   Allow sufficient cooling. Add Sugar and mix well. Add Dry fruits and mix. Form small balls from the mixture.

The day of trip arrived with a bang... Mom woke me hurriedly as I had overslept till 0700 hrs... I hit the showers and got dressed hurriedly, got all the things - disposable plates, Water Jug, and especially the Laddus...., drove like a madman to pickup Praful sir and family from VikramNagar... Did that and reached the Rendezvous (starting point of our journey) at Thaltej Crossroads.

We were soon joined by the rest of the team, Dharmesh Sir with family and Shobhana ji and Sneha, then Kotecha sir and family and finally Yagnesh sir and family... Incidently that day was Friendship Day, Praful sir gave away few candies and we all settled in respective vehicles.

Our first spot was Utkanteshwar Mahadev, and we started towards that, but midway Dharmesh sir took a wrong turn, and went towards Gandhinagar instead of Utkanteshwar... Realizing the missing car, we called him and informed him of the error, in another 1/2 hour we regrouped and continued... rest of the journey was uneventful till Utkanteshwar.

On reaching there, everyone visited the temple and performed other religious rites. We were busy, discussing the action plan, as this didn't seem like the place to have picnic... No open grounds or water body.

Utkanteshwar Mahadev

Praful sir, gathered from the locals that there was a place nearby called "Kedareshwar Mahadev" where we would find water and nice playground. We wrapped up , and started for Kedareshwar...
It was a short drive through dirt roads, and we almost overshot the turning :)

On reaching there we had breakfast of Idli with Chatni prepared by Shobabana Ben... The idlis were awsome and very tasty. It was 10.30 and suddenly everyone felt the urge to have tea (Office Tea-time alarm ;)), nearby a shop was discovered, plates of biscuits and other snacks were brought out and served along with it.

A nice playground was visible from that place and soon after Tea, we all descended to ground on the banks of Vatrak river to enjoy a nice game of Cricket with a foam ball, The games lasted 1 hour with everyone taking turns to bat and ball :) It was an enjoyable experience for me... I had not been on ground since High-school and it was quite exhilarating to be on one :)

Kedareshwar Mahadev

Breakfast and Tea Cricket

After having a blast at Kedareshwar, our party moved on to the fabled  Zanzari falls (Liril 1985 ad was supposed to be shot here, although it is recorded that it was shot at Kodaikanal),
The road we took was a complete disaster, it was a very narrow, pot-holed dirt-road, finally we joined a metaled road around 1.5 km from our destination.

Picnic blankets were spread  and Lunch was served, BUT by men... It quite enjoyable... Finally my laddos were served and well received :) but my calculation had gone awry... people took only one laddo :( , later I found out WHY!!! the laddos were not completely cooked... nways moving on...

Lunch :)

Now began the trip to the Small waterfall... but, alas... the Sun had come out and was shining hot... but the ND team continued with conviction... But, the we finally... we had to take shelter...
Some of us took refuge of the flowing water, others the shade of bushes nearby... soon the water won over shade :)

Finally, I and Praful sir went ahead to see the smaller of the falls, as everyone else was reluctant to leave the watery-abode...

And... the way back was as mesmerizing as the trip itself... It had started to rain... and the whole atmosphere was happy and bubbly... we stopped at a Café in Dehegam and reached home by the night...

All an all the trip was great fun and a bonding experience for me... and First of a Kind as well.

All Photos on Picasa (Zanzari Trip)