Experiencing Purushwadi with GrassRoutes Journeys
Purushwadi in Rajur district is one of the best places to watch the lights of fireflies after the first rain of the season. In collaboration with Grassroots Journeys, we had a great experiential learning about the village life and the wonders of nature over there.
Grassroutes Journeys is trying to promote the life of the villagers through an increase of awareness among tourists, travelers, experience seekers about Responsible tourism and by making the villagers part of the process. In this way, the tourism is also generating income for the people over there.
How to Reach:
We went there by our own car, Purushwadi (Campsite) is around 190 km from Mumbai through Igatpuri road. The village is around 15km from the Rajur Petrol Pump.
We reached there by 2 pm after starting at 9 a.m. from Mumbai and taking a break for some refreshments in between.
The Experience – Day 1:
Once we reached we were welcomed generously by the people over there and we were allotted to our tents. We had booked a Canvas Tent for ourselves. The other details of tents are there in their website (http://www.grassroutes.co.in/)
We were introduced to our guide (provided by GrassRoutes, a villager from Purushwadi). He took us to the nearby village house where we were provided authenticate local food. The food is cooked for the visitors by the local ladies and the raw materials are procured from the local farms. Food is cooked in a purely traditional way using old style ‘chulha’. We ate what they have made for themselves and that was really yummy and had the essence of home-cooked food.
After having lunch, we reached the campsite, and after some evening nap and tea, we left for the river side and a farm visit. We had experience of mixed farming of Chauli and Groundnut harvesting. To the riverside, the road was full of fruits and our guide was really happy to usher information about each of them on us.
The riverside was quiet and silent. Our guide also showed local crabs around the river. We started walking through the village towards sunset point. Though due to cloudy weather we were not able to see the sunset, the mauve sky of the dusk with the cloudy breeze made the time perfect for us . That day we realized the real happiness of spending some time without the coverage of the network, away from the urban hula-bulla. The people we met on the roads, the children we saw running here and there – all had a smile of satisfaction on their face, that made our expedition too experience worthy.
The local dam of the village was enormous and worth viewing. Our guide explained many of the nitty-gritties of the place to us in between our walks.
After returning to camp, around 8, we had our dinner again at a village house, prepared by the lady of the house.
The Firefly Show
The night stroll through the village was another experience that made me remember of the Diwali festival or the Christmas Eve. The trees were getting illuminated and decorated each moment with the green beauties under the dark sky. We were amazed to the sheer beauty of nature. Frankly, the photographs could not capture the real beauty of the place.
After roaming around few different locations where fireflies could be seen at their best, we finished our day and went back to the camp.
Day 2:
Next day we woke up and had our breakfast at the village house after which we had a village tour. We went to see different agricultural practices in the village – like how they use tools to crush and make flour and masalas, how they prepare the wood for using in the oven. We also visited a nearby government school and spent some time with them. The kids were really excited to see us and we returned from there with lots of happiness imbibed within us.
We also trekked down to another river side where it was really calm and cool even under the hot sun. It seemed to spend endless time looking at the ripples of the river and thinking about nothing. We never knew where the time spent by and we had to return to our camp and pack our bags for the return journey.
We left the village after having our lunch with a satiated soul and a peaceful mind.
