Janjira (Jaljira) - The Unconquered Fort

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Janjira Fort (Janjira may have originated from the arabic word Jazeera meaning island), also known as Jaljira, for the fact that it is one of the few forts of its kind - surrounded by sea.

The sea fort of Janjira has been unbeatable by any of the kings of the time and still remains unconquered and has thus gained the reputation of being the strongest marine fort of India. The stone walls of the fort are as high as 40ft. This fort, originally made of wood was made by the fishermen of Murud to protect their village from pirates in the late 15th century AD. Buran Khan, the minister of the ruler of Ahmed Nagar, Nizamshah, demolished the fortress later and built an impregnable stone fort in its place. This fort is spread over an area of 22 acres and it took 22 years to build it. The fort once boasted of nearly 500 cannons in its rein but today only a few are left. The largest of the cannons (Kalal Bangadi) is so huge that it was brought in pieces and then joined with the help of molten lead.

Within the walls of the fort are two deep sweet water wells, now, you may wonder how can there be a sweet water well when the fort is surrounded by sea. When the fort was built a large quantity of rocks were taken from the center of the fort, which brought the underground water to the level, and hence made a sweet water well.

Since it is an island fort, one has to get a sail boat (wind boat) from a small village on the coast, Rajapuri. It is a 15min ride from Rajapuri to the fort. The deep well with cold and sweet water - a wonder of nature in the midst of the saline sea, still provides water to quench the thirst of the weary visitors.

The fort of Janjira is an architectural marvel. Parts of the fort are being carroded and washed away after facing the fury of the ocean for centuries but it still stands promoting the history of its time.

Murud-Janjira & Kashid Beach

Monday 3 December 2007

The Hotel you shouldn't go to if you are in Alibaug - Hotel Sunglow

15Th November, 2007. A day which will haunt my memory for a lifetime for the primary reason that i never thought spending a day in that manner would ever be possible.

It took us friends (Tanu, Sonali, Kunal and Me) what seems like a countless failed attempts to make this one successful. After our two day trip to Hedvi got cancelled, we decided to go for a day, considering we had no other option. It was then that we decided to go to Murud-Janjira and Kashid beach. We found out the necessary information about the timings of the ST buses.

After we missed direct bus to Murud from Dadar departing at 06:00 hrs, the day wasn't off to the greatest of starts. We got a bus to Panvel thinking we would get a bus to Murud from there. We got down at Panvel at round 08:00 hrs only to know that we didnt have another direct bus to Murud for long, so we got a bus to Alibaug deciding we would spend some time there and then leave for Murud. We reached Alibaug at 10:00. Stopping at Alibaug was really frustrating simply for the reason that it was a sheer waste of time and the only cup of tea we had was the worst we had in our lives, and it gets worse, the hotel in which we had tea, Sunglow, asked us for Rs.40 for using their restroom (now what the hell is that). Believe me its one hotel you would never want to go. IT SUXX!!!!

Considering the amount of time we lost by going to Alibaug it was now for us to decide to go to Murud-Janjira Fort or not. Kunal, Tanu and I were in for it as we are of the adventerous sort but Sonali was a little reluctant. None of us were able to come to a conclusion about the same so we finally decided to flip a coin.

The coin was in the favour of us going to Murud and Sonali had to agree, though she did it a sulkingly (God!!! she gets frustrated way to soon, lol). We got down at Murud at around 13:00 hrs and from there we went to Janjira Fort in one of the wind boats. An experience of a kind it turned out to be. The history and the architecture of the fort was something really fascinating. The beauty of the fort and the fact that it still stood there unbeaten in its lifetime was remarkable. We spent an hour there clicking pictures and listening to the guide we hired explain the history of the fort.

The way back from Janjira to Kashid was enjoyable purely for the reason that Kunal and I kept waving calling out "Kaise ho" and stuff to completely unknown people on the way, and the fun part being looking at the varied expressions on their faces, some smiling and waving, some puzzled, some frowning, while others with an expressionless face wondering who we were.

We reached Kashid Beach at 16:15 hrs. Relaxing was precisely the reason for us going there. Hunger after the whole day's travelling was killing us, but all we could have was Maggi. We also had to find out from the locals the schedule for the buses back to Mumbai-Dadar.

We got a bus from Kashid at 18:00 hrs for Dadar via Alibaug and reached our respective homes by 00:00 hrs.

To sum it all up in short, i would say, the whole trip was a great experience for the mere fact that we planned and organised it by ourselves and also that we went by the ST buses of whose schedule and route none of us had the slightest clue. And not to forget, the mind blowing wind boat, the miraculous fort, and of course the overwhelming beach.

Lastly, it was highly satisfying to go somewhere out of town after numerous foiled plans.