A fun weekend

Had a visitor this weekend; a certain young Gary Rudd late of Lincoln City and allegedly Freddy and the Dreamers, freshly arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday, joined us on Friday evening at the ‘Golden Punjab’ in Vashi for a slap-up chilli prawn dinner after an ‘interesting’ and, I suspect ‘educational’ taxi ride up from South Mumbai where he had been enjoying the cream of Mumbai’s Café society for the last couple of days.
Back at the apartment, a late night ensued, fueled by Kingfisher and Golden Virginia and much setting the world to rights.
Saturday morning saw Gary, John, Vivek, Ashok and myself depart Kharghar for all points south and after pausing at the wonderful Sai Krupa for a hearty breakfast of Vada Pav and Chai and also to meet up with the other members of our group, Alix and Caroline from Hong Kong, Ramesh from Bangalore and My mate Parag. We were soon replete with victuals and heading South along the coast moving ever further away from the metropolitan influence of Mumbai and into the lovely Lonkan coastal region with its swaying palm trees and sandy beaches. First Stop Achsi beach for gulls , terms and waders but the tide was halfway to the horizon and the waders and gulls distant specks however, with scopes we were able so scan the distant flocks and were pleased to see one or two Great Knot through the rippling heat haze.
Then it was onwards to Murud for lunch and beers on the beach in the shelter of gracefully sloping coconut palms. Mr Rudd seemed to be impressed! After a long lunch of Paneer Chilli, Prawns Fry, Masala Papad and some ice cold kingfishers, and after persuading Ashok, our driver to have a go at Parascending on the huge white beach the group split up with Ramesh coming with us to investigate reports of some rare pelagics on a beach south of Murud and the others driving up into the mountains to establish base camp at Phansad. The looked for pelagics were absent but it gave Gary a chance to have a paddle in the warm clear waters of the Arabian sea and for us all to get some sand between our toes. After another stop to wander round the ruins of an ancient mosque and mausoleum half hidden in the jungle edge like some Indiana Jones film set we followed the others up the mountain and into the jungle proper…..
It is dusk when we drive along the forest tracks and pretty much dark when we arrive at a clearing to listen for Nightjars and owls. With the vehicle engines switched off and everybody quiet we squat by the track and listen in to the sounds of the jungle at night. It immediately becomes apparent how difficult it is to completely escape anthropophony these days, here, up in the mountains, deep in the jungle, in a sparsely populated area of the world, on a very still evening, one of the most prevalent sounds is the persistent distant drone of jet engines. And indeed the sky even here is rarely free of the winking lights of some aircraft plying its way across the heavens. Jerdons nightjars are calling around us and we locate one in a nearby tree by homing in on the reflections in its eyes with our torches. Mosquitoes also prove to be a constant, only held at bay by a fragrant stream of GV smoke so generously provided by Gary…… Then its back to Murud for a full on , gen-u-ine Malvani veg Thali washed down by beer and wine. Back up on the mountain, half of our party depart for the night to a high watchtower in the forest with the forlorn hope of seeing a leopard, the rest of us settle down on the veranda for discussions on, well, just about everything of importance with Gary providing entertainment with his Euke. Listening to George Formby and David Bowie covers played on a euke in the middle of the jungle is, needless to say, a rather wonderful and unique experience!
Next morning a dawn birding walk in the cool mountain air and then back down to the coast for more Vada Pav, Missal Pav and Chai before heading north back to Mumbai, cold beer and hot showers.