Our journey from Kolhapur to Solhapur was through typical Maharastrian roads and scenery. Typical black soil, lots of donkeys around, fairly scenic farm land on both ways welcomed us.
We realized that most of the milk produced in the region is used for tea alone and there're hardly any curd or curd based food items available in hotels. The roads were 2 laned and just drivable, but were still tolled!
We covered the 220 odd kms and reached well ahead of estimated time and retired for the day
Kolhapur, as a city is fairly small in area. The streets are poorly maintained, with no traffic signals in operation. However Kolhapur is a very ancient city, famous for its food, headwear, footwear, jewellery, wrestling and religious connections. According to legend it was settled by Kolha-Asur, a demon who was later killed by Mahalakshmi to relieve the local populace. However, honoring the demon's dying wish, the city was named after him.
As we passed through Kolhapur, we recalled that Kolhapur city also houses several rich businessmen. Apparently, Mercedez Benz had opened its second dealership in Maharastra at Kolhapur, after Mumbai. We were told that long ago, when a rich business man from Kolhapur went to Mumbai to place an order for a Merc, the staff and show room said "Sorry sir, we don't deliver to small towns like Kolhapur" This aggravated the the businessman completely.
(Above: File photos of me with Merc)
Back home, he met his peers in Kolhapur and all of them together, went to Mumbai and placed a bulk order for 110 Mercedes Benz cars. This shocked and surprised Merc officials, including those sitting in its headquarters. Subsequently Merc opened a dedicated showroom in Kolhapur and rest is history. (Read a related Times of India article)
And now, Kolhapur seems to have a competition. It looks like rich people at neighboring Aurangabad have placed a bulk order for 114 Mercs (details), half of them for the E class and rest split across categories...
Unfortunately I couldn't meet any of those super rich people in Kolhapur, but managed to click this poorly clad gentleman counting crisp notes by the road side...His face was intentionally avoided to protect his identity...(Isn't that a great way of covering up my photographic mistake? ;D )
Right now I am dancing to this song from the movie, Mamma Mia...
Money Money Money... its so funny... in a rich man's world!
Statutory disclaimer: All information mentioned in this post are sourced from private and unverified sources and may not be fully accurate. The post is published in the individual capacity of the blogger and written purely as an information pertaining to his city of travel and no other intentions. Readers are advised to cross verify the information before interpreting the same.
As we left Kolhapur and headed to Solhapur, it started raining.
We were driving on a 2 lane road and suddenly became witness to an incident... A bike rider skidded off the road and fell down. Bike fell upon him and he was struggling to get out.
Thankfully there were no other bigger vehicles heading in the same direction. A fellow biker and others rushed to the rescue and the bike was lifted. The man escaped without any serious injuries...
This was the first incident we witnessed during our trip.
Hotel Shalini Palace in Kolhapur is a wonderful building. It was a palace constructed in 1931-34, at a cost of Rs 8 lakhs (relatively, Shaniwar Wada in Pune was built at a cost of just Rs 16000 (full details)
The palace is located on the bank of Rankala lake, has lots of greenery around and is a perfect place to relax. Room rents range from Rs 1500 to 6000 (for the top end Maharaja Suite)
Shalini Palace was also the host for our Customer Meet, nano Carnival in Kolhapur.
However, I find that campus is not so well maintained. Lots of beer bottles, broken metal pieces and other disposable items are found thrown around within the campus...
Shrinidhi Hande is a professional blogger. He has been blogging since May 2006. He has live blogged several conferences, enjoys travel, long drives and writing.
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