https://www.teamgsquare.com/2018/09/a-road-trip-to-kolhapur-and-satara-from.html
We stopped by at a road-side hotel about 45 km before Belagavi for
refreshments and took a bio-break. While we were all set to proceed
further, our vehicle refused to get started. We tried and checked all
possible ways but in vain. Even calling the service advisor from
Mahindra and acting as per his advice did not produce any fruitful
result as the starter motor was not in working condition. We took help
from the hotel staff who kindly obliged and pushed the vehicle up-slope
for some distance. Thankfully our vehicle started and we moved on after
thanking the staff. We informed the service advisor about the same for
which he advised us to drive down our vehicle to the next available
showroom at Belagavi and also told us to call the helpline. We reached
Sutaria motors, the authorized service centre for Mahindra in this
region who were of little help, who even refused to even check our
vehicle for the problem and told us to go to Kolhapur since we were
driving in that direction. We were a little disappointed at their
behavior as it was an emergency and they were of no help. We had taken
care to keep the vehicle on all along and proceeded further as we were
racing against time to reach the next available Mahindra showroom.
Without wasting much time we drove towards to Kolhapur and after a few
rounds of U turns, we finally made it to Trendy Wheels showroom at
Kolhapur. We reached here by 5:45 pm, 15 minutes prior to their closing
time! We were anxious as the next day was a Sunday and most of the
service providers remain closed. The staff here were extremely helpful
and made immediate arrangements for my wife and kids to take the much
needed rest and also arranged for some tea and snacks. Heartfelt thanks
to them for their kind hospitality. Suraj, the service advisor who
attended to us gave us first hand information that their workshop
remains open on Sunday's too. We felt more relaxed now. He also asked
us if it is an emergency so that he could get it rectified the same
evening by requesting his staff to work over time. We were already much
grateful to them and did not want to overload their staff. Meanwhile,
the technicians who were working on the starter motor detected the cause
of the problem and assured us that the vehicle will be ready by the
next day afternoon. We packed the necessary luggage and reached the main
town of Kolhapur as the service centre was located off the Bangalore -
Pune highway. We chose to halt at a lodge close by Sri Mahalakshmi
temple, so that we could move around without any vehicle and much
hassle. It was late evening by the time we refreshed and had dinner. We
were fortunate enough for having a good darshan of the mother goddess
that night. The atmosphere here was electrical. We returned to our hotel
and retired early.
Next day, we started a bit slow and lazed around while we got a call
from Mahindra informing us to collect the vehicle by 2 pm. We walked
around in the temple premises and decided to visit the temple again, but
were taken aback by the huge crowd. We later realised that it was
Krishna Janmasthami that day and during Shravana month, a large number
of people come to offer prayers. We visited a few more places around the
main temple and then reached Mahindra showroom. Our vehicle was ready
and after the necessary checks, we were all ready to continue our
journey ahead with much enthusiasm. They had done a great job in a short
time and their service was impressive. Knowing that we would be their
one time customer and that too for a running repair problem, their
action and efforts were highly commendable. We witnessed the striking
contrast between the customer service provided by two Mahindra
authorised dealers, where one even refused to look at the problem and
the other acknowledged with exceptional service! Trust us! This kind of
quality customer service is rather quite rare in today's world. Thank
you again Trendy Wheels, Mahindra at Kolhapur!
The same evening while returning from Khirdapur, our vehicle had a flat
tyre, this time luckily right in front of a puncture shop at
Ichalkaranji. The mechanic took less than 5 minutes to fix the puncture
and we were back on the road. We continued to explore various places the
next four days until Friday, when we were a bit relaxed and hence
planned to take an adventurous route to Chiplun from Mahabaleshwar. This
route is not advised by the locals as it is not much frequented and
less traveled as it is amidst densely forested area coupled with a few
bad stretches of roads. The route passes through the Koyna Wildlife
Sanctuary and the drive for most of the stretch is alongside the river
Koyna, making it the most beautiful one. We were all excited and started
driving along this scenic route. We traveled about 35 km along this
route and it was heaven! We had another 60 km to finish this stretch.
About 7 km from Chaturbet, in between the villages of Dabhe Mohan and
Dabhe Dabhekar is a small bridge across a stream that connects them. To
our dismay, our vehicle had a flat tyre again! This time around, the
puncture was severe as the short stretch just before the bridge had
eroded due to heavy rains and consisted of sharp aggregates. I had to
change the tyre and made arrangements. At the same time, a ST (state
transport) bus passed us from the opposite direction taking extra
caution as it was a single lane road and our vehicle was parked there.
Post this episode, I managed to change the tyre successfully only to
find out that the back up tyre was not inflated enough to drive. It was
around 4 pm that evening and time was running out. We had to cover that
stretch before the sun went down. Without panicking, we rested for a
while and discussed about our next move.
Meanwhile, a local who was grazing his cattle conversed with us and
witnessed the entire situation. He informed us that there is not a
single tyre puncher shop in about 20 km radius!!!! The next question to
him was about the availability of any public transport to the nearest
town to get the puncture repaired. He replied that the ST bus which
passed by a few minutes back was our only option! The next bus to
Mahabaleshwar would arrive only the next morning at around 8 am. That
apart, no other private transport is available. Upon inquiring further
for any availability of vehicles in the village, he said that there was
only one person in this village who owns a bike. So, we both decided to
meet him and reached his house. Though we saw his vehicle parked
outside, we had to trace him as he was not around. We explained the
situation to him, but he replied that his bike did not have enough fuel.
Nevertheless he came along with us to analyze the situation. He gave up
the idea of taking his bike as it was quite risky amidst forest area
and advised us to inquire if the car was available in the next village
and moved on. While I went with the local to the next village, my wife
inquired with a passer-by who was very kind, and obliged by giving the
phone number of a mechanic he knew who was located about 20 km away. He
was damn sure that the mechanic would come by and resolve our problem.
He tried calling him but the area had no signal. In fact, the passer-by
was himself walking all the way up so he could get signal and told my
wife he would surely call the mechanic and inform. When my wife called
the mechanic and requested to come by, he replied that he was out of
town and would not be able to make it. As the signal was weak, the
conversation could not be continued and the call was lost. The news of
our vehicle breakdown had spread across the village and a few more
villagers gathered near our vehicle. At the neighboring village we found
that no one was around in the house. While people around me went in
search of the car owner (Sanjay), I was waiting in front of his house.
In the meantime, the person (Manish) whom we had approached initially
came hurriedly in search of me to inform that he had stopped a car which
had come to drop someone from Mahabaleshwar and had agreed to take us
to the nearest tyre puncture shop. While I was walking down with him,
the passer-by (teacher) called us and told us to wait as he was on call
conversing with the mechanic as promised and requested (or rather
pleaded) him to come and help. Finally the mechanic was convinced and
agreed to come by. We walked quickly to the car that was stopped and
thanked the driver who was patiently waiting for us. It was really
heartwarming to see each one's kind behavior. As we waited for the
mechanic's arrival (which would probably take an hour or so), Manish
invited us home for some tea and snacks. As we had our two little
partners with us and it was getting dark, it was a safe call. It also
began to rain heavily. The mobile connectivity here was questionable as
there was a lot of struggle in getting any signal. Finally, the call
connected between Manish ji and Shinde ji (the mechanic) and we were
told to come near the vehicle. The mechanic tried all possible ways to
fix the puncture, but as the cut was big, he was unable to repair it
with tools. He gave up at last saying that he will not be able to fix
it. We requested him to check the back up tyre and as he inflated it and
checked for any puncture, he found none. Luckily now we had one tyre
ready. Everyone around advised us to abandon our journey further and
told us to go back and take the highway. We thanked everyone who came to
our rescue. We drove slowly until we reached the highway and halted at
Khed. This was probably the best experience we have had in sometime,
where the entire village came to our rescue. We will always remain
grateful to the kind teacher who literally pleaded with the mechanic for
our sake, Manish ji who was kind and hospitable all along, Shinde ji
who came all the way in the rains, riding through the forest and had to
go back in the dark and all the others who helped us directly or
indirectly.'Maharashtra' is one of the most vibrant states of India and is very rich culturally. Their love for the great Shivaji Maharaja is indispensable and significant, so much so that every place here has an association with the great king. The Western Ghats/Sahyadri Hills in Maharashtra comes to life during the monsoon with innumerable waterfalls taking birth from amidst the hills, and the hills exhibiting splendid colors as the flowers are in full bloom amid lush greenery. Though rains had subsided, most of the places we visited greeted us with rains. The plains were hot, but the mountains remained cold. Overall it was a satisfying trip. Maharashtra, truly a great state turns magical during monsoon!
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| Kolhapur - Satara Road Trip |
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