Travel With a Couple

A five-light junction. A cow and a calf wandering around. A small bus stop. A public tap. Two or three shops. A slice from the enchanting Malgudi town was coming alive, at Kulgi barely 12 kms away from Dandeli town.

Arun Bandekar’s Hotel Apoorva is an extension of his small, non descript shop selling some snacks for the school children and perhaps a bit of grocery for the locals. Arun, who came from Sawantwadi in Maharasthra to Dandeli some three decades ago, runs his enterprise along with his wife.

The Bandekars’ hospitality and culinary expertise eventually made Hotel Apoorva the base camp for many of the ‘non-touristy’ travelers as well as a chosen destination for ‘khana’ (food – lunch & dinner). There are a few ‘loyal’ families who drive from Mumbai and Bangalore every year, stay at Hornbill or Bison resorts but have their food at Bandekars’.

They have now converted some available place at home to rooms so that a few guests could stay over. There is a large hall, which is under construction. Many trekking groups and backpackers stay at Bandekars’

It is not just the great home cooked food. Bandekars will also help you get everything organized in Dandeli – the safari, local transport, kali river rafting, trekking, hiking and more…

Guhagar, being 320 odd km away from Mumbai means fewer crowds. Or so we thought. We forgot that Pune was probably only 200 km away. We reached Guhagar a little late in the evening, around 7.30. We were a bit overconfident that in these little not so known places, hotels, lodges or home stays would be easily available. But as always Murphy has the last laugh. All (two or three) known hotels were full. People indeed are traveling. We drove a few times up and down through the main street knocking the doors of a few hotels and a few houses where they have put up a couple of extra rooms for guests. No luck. Most people could talk only Marathi. Our friend who could speak Marathi reasonably well was getting highly irritated since the responsibility of talking and finding a place fell on him. His concern was that his Marathi was not so good that he had to think, pause for the right word every time, and talk. But it was better than we staring at people without any words. Finally, an elderly lady checked at the local temple hall, which again to our bad luck was full. She then made a couple of calls to some families and at the end found a place for us.

We spend the night with this traditional marathi family, who gave us some space and mattresses in their living room. They could not make food; so they called up a nearby restaurant and ensured that our dinner was taken care of. The family runs a small shop and a distribution setup for some soft drink brands.

And they are setting up two rooms for guests. Next time, we are sure to stay there.