Trip to Konkan & Kerela- Day 3

Kudal-Malvan-Tarkarli-Kudal

i found vada paav at a small tea shop for breakfast. I make a point to not miss them whenever Im in Maharashtra.Nothing cant beat vada paav for me. So we had a lovely breakfast.
Bamboo Meeting-
We then spent a few hours seeing the workshop of Konbac. We were basically accompanying Sanjeev, the director of Konbac, George the person who designs all the artifacts and Himnashu Karve who had come from Pune. Himanshu was some kind of an expert from Pune who was here for some expert advice Konbac needed. Himanshu also happened to know Kanwarjit. We mostly listened quietly to their conversation. Based on that i figured that Konbac is facing mainly four problems with bamboo
1.I a bamboo wall (say a row of 100 bamboos) a few of them (3 out of 100) would get the fungal infection randomly. Konbac had no idea why that was happening and what is to be done for that.
2.To align bamboo pillars (which were to be the building blocks of a structure) was a difficult task.
3.Puncturing bamboo to put of bolt can often cause cracks to develop.
4. I dont rememer the fourth problem. Just slipped out of my mind.

This meeting cum touring happened till 11am when George suddenly suggested us to visit a resort in the village Tarkarli. There a bamboo boat house was being constructed, which we could have a look at. I dont know why, but some how I had assumed that we would be taken to all these constructions sites. But this was a reminder to us that we are now grownups and we need to travel alone. George drew a rough map for us to reach Tarkarli and they dropped us at the Kudal bus station. We were to take a bus from here to Malvan.
The good thing in Maharashtra is the you get state owned buses for every remote village. In fact I m told there is a system of Makaam gadi (makaam means destination and gadi would be bus), where the last bus in the evening would leave for the remotest village in the region, stay there over night and then return the next morning. So we took another of those red ST bus to another town called Malvan. As usual it was another rickety bus, ready to fall apart. Ive started loving them now.
The route from Kudal to Malvan was beeeeuatiful. We were traveling up and down the meadows, plenty of turns and curves and the bus would stop at every village on the way. The villages in this part are beautiful. Right in the middle of forest, one would find some huts and some plane agriculture area. The houses are made in traditional style. They have a slanting roof, where mud tiles are placed on top of another. The slope is such that it is just enough to stops the mud tiles from slipping. The force of friction allows them to hold onto each other. As a result no cement is used in the roof. I was told by an architect that the roof consumes the maximum cement in a house and so this arrangement is not only cheap but a lot more environment friendly. The walls of the houses though was mostly of concrete. That saddened me a bit. Im still looking for a village in India where they have traditional houses,dresses,food etc. I guess i need to go off the road to find one now. The road seemed to have 'modernized' (and concretized) our society.
On the way to Malvan we crossed a river. When i tried to locate it on the map, it showed no river in that region. The water body was definetly too big to be a nullah. Im sure it is a river. We reached Malvan bus stand in about 40 min. From there we took another bus to Tarkarli village, our destination or makaam. Just before reaching Tarkarli the bus with an almost head on collision with a motor cycle. Thankfully there were no major injuries, just a few bruises. We all got down the bus, the two riders were taken to a house next to the road, where an old woman gave something to them to eat. I think it must be something in the kitchen with would prevent infection. As a child my mom used to give me haldi-milk each time I would fall on the road. It is suppose to prevent tetanus. Thankfully in India most of our medicines come from our kitchen and we dont have to depend much on the market for our health. But the sad part is, we dont seem to value this. This knowledge can easily die out with one generation and there may come a time where we would have to rush to a chemist for as small a problem like a cut in the hand. I believe the kitchen has cure for all minor injuries and illness and also for some major illnesses.
Our bus moved forward only when everyone was convinced that the two motor cycle riders are now fine and back in normal senses. In rural India people are still not in too much of hurry and that basic concern for the other is still there.
2 min after that we got down at the MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) resort in the Tarkarli village. This resort is at the beach where a boat house made of bamboo is being constructed. We had come here to see the construction. At the entrance of the resort there was a sign board saying "entry for only those who are staying". We would not even have been allowed to enter if Konbac had not sent us. I thought its a life time opportunity for me to enjoy a beach resort for free. I dont think I will ever be able to afford a vacation at one ever. And so we made full used of the opportunity. We saw the construction, ate food and then sat on the beach, watching the sea. It was a rough sea as this is the monsoon season. Just as we were sitting there, a woman came and sat next to us. I just turned and said hi to her, to which she also responded with a smile. I guess she must be one of those elites who can afford to stay at a resort like this.

On our way back, we got down half way in a village. We still had time in our hand and so thought to have a closer look at a village. We spent I think an hour, just moving in the village, drinking water from a well, peeping into a school classroom. We then caught another bus back to Kudal.