A visit to Manori beach

If my understanding is correct, Manori is a small island close to Mumbai. It is very close to the suburb Malad west. For those who do not know most of Mumbai is divided in two parts- East and West and getting from one to the other is quite difficult so if someone does try to visit Manori based on this post, please remember that I wrote 'Malad West'

(Here is a link to the map of Mumbai from Google for you to understand the exact location)

I offered it to visiting kids of my sister in law. They chose 'Manori' over a trip to 'Gateway of India' . We did the car to Marve, jetty, bus to the village, through Manori village, beach and back in about six hours. The kids loved it. 

There are two ways of getting there as far as I know. One is to take the land route. Please do your own research on this. Apparently you really have to take a long way and go to Bhayandar etc to reach there directly by road. The other way is to reach Marve jetty and take a ferry from there. Marve is close to Malad station, if you are on a shoestring budget you can take a bus from the Malad or Kandiwili West stations to Marve, you could also take auto rickshaws from the two stations or else you could travel by car or in a cab/auto rickshaw on the new link road reach a place called Mid chowky, take a left, cross the Malvani fire brigade station which falls on your right and then go straight. After some distance is traversed there is a right turn you need to take to reach Marve , if you keep going straight you will reach Aksa beach. Best is to ask local shop keepers for the way. 

From Marve beach you take a ferry which takes 10 Indian rupees as the fee and takes you to Manori in about 10 minutes or less. The ferry is fairly safe and so are the people. Once you get down at Manori there is a bus, auto rickshaw or a horse driven cart that you can take to the Manori village and from there it is about a five minute walk through this 'fishing community' village to the beach.

At Manori Island

The sights it offers are wonderful.

There is not much here to do except for just sit and gape at the visuals nature offers you.

When the clouds split, Sun seemed to be in an orange bloom

Yes, like anywhere else human beings have messed up with this small yet more or less virgin beach. I think the weekend crowd that comes here really dirties the beach. There are no waste baskets to throw any waste in but even so, sure that the place could be kept cleaner.

There are some resorts here where you could stay the night. It is quite calm and peaceful.

I am told there is a resort called Manori bel which is located in a coconut plantation. It looked quite enticing.You can step on to the beach from the resort through a gate. 

Just one disclaimer, unlike JUHU beach there is nothing much to buy to eat at least on  weekdays. So if you do intend to do a day trip on a week day to Manori, please make sure you are carrying your own food.

Juhu Beach, Mumbai

It is great to be out early in the morning in Mumbai. Sometimes I run from Versova to Juhu beach which is about 13 KMs to and fro, but this morning we drove to the beach. When you run and you are tired or want to get back you miss out on the atmosphere, today since we had decided that we will just go there and hang for some time, yeah , early in the morning ! What , who does that? Well, some times we do. Juhu beach is an important landmark in Mumbai, it is also a tourist destination, most outstation tourists do pay a visit to the beach. During the day it is crowded, the eateries are functioning but in the morning, it is lovely with people just walking, running , feeding pigeons, doing some yoga, walking their dogs or just taking some coffee from the cycle wallahs and drinking their morning coffee. The Sun rose at about 7 AM and there were many who would stop and pray to the Sun, I think, for just being there.

Here are some pictures.

Elephanta Caves

Elephanta at best is a one day trip or even half a day. It is not the best tourist destination around Mumbai to visit. The ferry ride which otherwise could be interesting is dull and boring, the sea is dirty, if you travel when the Sun is out , it gets quite warm and the day we went there the wind hardly was a relief. 

The photographs above include one of Gateway of India and the others of the ferries that operate between Elephanta and Mumbai. The photographs are taken from the ferry that we were on

                                                                                          

post 26/11 terrorist attack notice

the toy train

Yes, it is cheap, the two and fro fare on the ferry is insignificant, about 300 per person or even less than that. There are a few small restaurants on the stairs to the cave. There is a toy train that takes you from where you get off the ferry to the base of the stairs which you have to climb to get to the caves. 

At this point there is a restaurant where they also serve beer, so if you are the type you can go up to the caves dedicated to Shiva, intoxicated, even if only with beer. The monkeys are a bit of a bother as they are all over the country in a location like this, so you carry your food carefully, do not mess with the monkeys and you are safe.  All in all , not a hugely exciting trip or location and if you are stuck with a large family sharing the ferry, which has made a tour out of it then you are in for some pain.

Having said that, I must say that the caves are an eye opener, they bring your attention to a part of Ancient History of the subcontinent that we as students of History in schools and colleges gloss over.

Entry point of the caves

Here, at Elephanta, the cave sculptures are dedicated to Shiva who could not be very fashionable at that point of time. All around Mumbai there are Buddhist caves- Kanehri, Mahakali etc.(many others all over the western ghats I am told) Then how is it that here Shiva is depicted in all his moods.

Shiva in different forms

 Obviously the caves are from a later period, it is indicated that they were abandoned by the Buddhist who occupied them first once the royal patronage started receding. It probably signifies a struggle for prominence between Buddhism and various other set of beliefs and religious practices which we now understand as Hinduism. Some research will tell you that it was commissioned by a Chalukya king Pulakesin II, somewhere around the sixth or the seventh century AD when the days of glory of Buddhism were long past. But if you look at the face of Shiva in the cave sculpture you will find great resemblance to the serenity of Buddha, which is something you hardly associate with Shiva otherwise.

Won't you mistake it for an image of Buddha, the difference is that the sculpture has three heads. This is shiva as the creator, preserver and destructor

Due to contemporary inter religion strife; the focus has been on the differences between the followers of a set of religious and spiritual belief broadly named Hinduism and those of Islam. The school and college history focuses on the political; the struggle between various streams of Hinduism and Buddhism is hardly a focus.

Other images

If you are in Mumbai and you have some interest in the Ancient History of the subcontinent, Elephanta visit, despite all the other negatives is a must, you should plan only about four hours for this trip. 

can't judge them, but seriously, you come all the way to play badminton?

View from the top of the cave

If you can't climb, you have assistance for a price

Monkey's?

yeah yeah, murder the language, our response to 200 years of colonisation