Latest news with #Sahyadris
The Hindu
26-06-2025
- The Hindu
Sky high in Lonavala: Marquee blends craft cocktails with Sahyadri views
It was one of those wet, low-lit Mondays where everything feels like it is wrapped in grey. Driving into Lonavala, the Sahyadris played peekaboo behind a soft curtain of rain. But upstairs at Marquee, the newly opened rooftop bar at Radisson Resort & Spa, the mood lifted like the clouds themselves. Marquee is touted as Lonavala's first sky bar, and for once, the claim holds. It is not flashy, but it knows how to hold a vibe. Think open-air, lots of stone and wood, and panoramic views that change hour by hour — from brooding midday mist to golden-hour drama. The space is split across three zones: a stone-clad Rock Bar, a chilled-out dining area, and a Sunset Garden with front-row seats to the horizon. But it is the drinks that do the talking. I tried three of their signature cocktails and came away pretty impressed. The cocktails Spirit & Stone is a cocktail with weight. Cognac forms the base, tempered by a soft hit of chocolate liqueur and the roundness of sweet vermouth. This one leans dark and velvety, slightly bitter but comforting. It is a solid match for anything umami-rich: the soy-slicked shiitake dumplings on the small plates menu, or a plate of charred lamb skewers. Skip the sweetness here. Twilight is the wildcard. Gin, orange liqueur, lychee and apple juice, brightened with lemon and finished with butterfly pea flower and lavender syrup. Sounds like a lot, and it is, but somehow it works. The flavours unfold in layers: citrus first, then fruit, then the soft floral fade. It is best paired with light, zesty dishes — go for seafood, ideally with chilli oil as an accompaniment, or anything with yuzu or lemongrass. Lady of Fortune is the crowd-pleaser. Vodka, peach schnapps, white peach purée, rose syrup, lemon, and sparkling sake — it is pretty, slightly fizzy, and easy to drink. On a rainy evening, it lands like a tonic: soft, floral, and clean. This one plays well with creamy cheeses, or even burrata. It also holds up surprisingly well next to a thin-crust mushroom pizza. Each drink has a zero-proof twin with the flavours adjusted, not dumbed down. By day, Marquee is all misty introspection; by night, it gets a quiet glow. No big switch-flip energy, just a gradual shift in tempo. You come here not for a scene, but for a slow burn: a good drink, a thoughtful plate, and the rain as your background track. A meal for two is ₹2,500 plus taxes. Address: Plot Nos. 19-21 & 27-29, Gold Valley, Sector-D, Tungarli, Lonavala, 410401
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Time of India
5 monsoon escapes in Maharashtra that turn magical with rain
Monsoon is that time of the year when planning a trip might seem to be a hectic task. Many even try to avoid going on a trip altogether. However, if you are someone who doesn't care about the weather, and love to go out to experience all four seasons, here we have something for you if you are in Maharashtra, or some place nearby. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now During monsoons the Sahyadris come alive, and offer us the best reason to get out of our comfort zone and explore these monsoon getaways that turn downright magical when the skies open up. Malshej Ghat Here, the waterfalls would take your breath away. Malshej Ghat, located just a few hours from Mumbai and Pune, is a mountain pass that turns into a cascading paradise in the monsoon. Mist rolling over the cliffs, waterfalls tumbling off every crevice, and pink flamingos casually chilling in nearby Pimpalgaon Joga Dam. These are some highlights waiting for you during this time. Keep an eye out for roadside bhutta stalls where corn is fire-roasted to crispy perfection, monsoon-style. Read more: Bhandardara Bhandardara is the kind of place, where you would want to stay a bit longer. This sleepy village near Igatpuri transforms into a green dreamland once the rains hit. Arthur Lake, Randha Falls roars, and the surrounding hills get a mossy carpet makeover. Thoseghar Falls Tucked near Satara, Thoseghar Falls isn't just a waterfall—it's a spectacle. A series of cascades drop from heights of up to 500 m, surrounded by dense forest and persistent drizzle. It's loud, it's wild, and it's the kind of place that makes you rethink your city life choices. Tamhini Ghat Tamhini Ghat is that underrated place that turns more dreamy during this time of the year. Situated between Pune and the Konkan coast, this ghat road is a treasure trove of foggy views, random waterfalls, and winding roads that lure you to try a bike ride. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The rain turns the whole stretch into an emerald tunnel. Read more: Amboli Known as the "Cherrapunji of Maharashtra," Amboli in Sindhudurg district is a rain-lover's paradise. With over 7 m of annual rainfall, it's basically a place where monsoon lovers should visit. Gurgling streams, overflowing falls, and a misty stillness of this place are some things that are eerily cinematic. Visit the Amboli Ghat viewpoint early in the morning, and discover the magic with your own eyes. Maharashtra's monsoon is less about checking off destinations and more about soaking in the vibe—literally and metaphorically.
Indian Express
07-06-2025
- General
- Indian Express
How it was done: ‘For 12 years, we ate, lived, breathed the Chenab'
'In the beginning, there were no roads. We would go by foot, on mules and ponies, perch ourselves on a ledge and even camp on cliffs at night as we surveyed how we could build roads to move the equipment to the bridge site. I knew the Sahyadris. I was just a boy from Mysore and here I was, high on the Himalayas, so very different, terrifyingly high and so very alien.' The 'boy from Mysore' is L Prakash who, as Chief Engineer of the Konkan Railways' Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project, was responsible for laying the roads. Now an Executive Director, he recalled the early days when he supervised the 30 km-long road stretch and 350-m long tunnels to reach the bridge site. 'We would break through the rocks and advance by a few metres in a whole day. Finding the light at the other end of the tunnel took months. Frequent landslides meant that we would have to abandon the site and find a new tunnel site. It was a classic case of one step forward and two steps backward.' But Prakash drew inspiration from local residents who rappelled up and down the steep cliffs, tethered to a simple rope, to help survey teams analyse the rocks. 'I learnt a lot from the locals. They opened their homes to us, cooked food because we would be stranded up there for days. The rain would slap us almost every afternoon. And then we would huddle around the campfire. Without the road, it would take a day to come down to Reasi town. The locals walked, used ponies and crossed rope-bridges. They would carry down the sick on charpoys, strapped to their backs,' he said. Once the survey was done, he would travel downstream by boat. 'The river currents are strong. But the upstream currents are stronger.' Prakash was responsible for laying the foundation plinths that would hold up the pylons and girders. 'Each foundation was the size of a football field. And constant rain meant that they would be washed out and seasoned all over again,' he said. The earth was something that Santosh Kumar Jha, CMD of Konkan Railway, thought he could understand given his background in geology. 'The Himalayas are young fold mountains. You are cutting through strata which are maturing and have not become rock yet. And each stratum is different and shifting all the time. The Chenab Valley is a Grade V seismic zone, so any design had to have the swing feature to move with the rocks. There was no template. Everything was on-site innovation,' he said. Beating nature was the biggest challenge. The team tested the rocks with pinhole boring and then filled up the loose gaps in the strata with concrete. Then they inserted the rock bolts, each of them about 30-40 m long to reinforce the holding layer. 'We would just finish one rock face over several hours. Then we pumped in water jets at a pressure of 300 bars so that the bolt rods expanded inside and could pack the layers even closer. We used a polyurethane grout which increases the standing time of the water to avoid flooding in the tunnel,' Jha said. The arch bridge design, he said, was done over one-and-a-half years. 'It is made up of interlocking beams and girders. A suspension bridge would have been lighter but it would not have borne the weight of a 300-tonne railway coach or withstand wind speeds of 266 kmph. So we built hollow girders so that they could be moved up by boats, then filled them up with concrete at the site so that they became weighty and sturdy,' said Jha, who had supervised many such improvisations on the site. So the day the two ends of the arch were joined in the middle, he was a happy and tense man. Happy that the arch bridge was ready, tense because even a millimetre-long misalignment in the joints could destabilise the bridge. 'We had to make thousands of calculations and recalculations at each stage of launching the bridge to get the nuts, bolts and grooves to fit into each other,' he said. Prakash recalled how the team used Mi-26 helicopters of the Army to lift the machinery in the initial days. 'But there was a lot of human or superhuman effort. At the tallest piers, workmen soared across on an open platform, tethered to girder rails to dodge the winds and rain. Once on the girder, they would have to stay there for 12 hours before they could be hauled down. They would carry their tiffin in their suits. We even had a disposable, mobile toilet which we sent up and parked on the girder through the shift. There were days when the cranes malfunctioned and we would send up our men in cage lifts to repair them. It took some acrobatics from the crew,' he said. Prakash rarely left the site. 'All of us were mostly from the southern states, toiling hard to build a megastructure in the Himalayas which we were not familiar with. So there was this pressure of leaving a legacy. Steel expands and contracts easily with temperature and for the most effective interlocking, needs a perfect temperature after sunset. So whenever we would install a portion of the bridge, we did that in the evening. Mornings were about making the girders,' he said. As a result, most engineers would go back to their quarters only to sleep a few hours. 'We ate, lived and breathed the Chenab. There was such spontaneous camaraderie that we would have meals and a game of basketball or chess together. Most of us stayed away from our families for 12 years. Now when they take the first ride, hopefully my children will understand why I had missed their growing-up years,' Prakash said. In terms of technology, Jha remembers that the site units were completely automated. 'We had self-climbing cranes, and had to crunch, flip, twist and extend their antlers to do the job. We talk about 3D printing today but a long time ago our CNC machines cut the steel sheets into various shapes, sizes and designs, according to the drawings fed into the computer attached to it,' he said. Each pre-fabricated part, no matter how tiny, was lab-tested for air leaks and lastability, cleared and then moved to make a bit of the giant curve. Despite difficulties, Jha said, the engineers rarely gave up. 'In fact, over the last few years, many women engineers joined the project too. And we have even increased salaries of staff at the Chenab project,' said Jha, who was taken in by the people who lived along the river banks. 'Just days before the inauguration, some of them came to me saying that they would lose their jobs now that the project was over. They have become family, so we will be redeploying them in other parts of the J&K railways or other Konkan Railway projects. Many of them have acquired skills on the job which have indeed made them valuable manpower for any project,' he said.
