Our final frontier before wrapping up the India trip was to visit the western coastline of Mahrashtra along the Arabian Sea known as Konkan.
Traditionally a laid back seaside agrarian community from where most Marathi speaking folks could trace their genealogy to, it gained popularity among the Desi yuppies and boomers based in Mumbai and Pune, like Caucasian Jews in NY felt about going to Florida.
While Florida disappointed me on many levels Konkan (20% of the coastal real estate we witnessed) definitely put a damper on the mood and provided stark contrast to beachfronts we have seen in other parts of the planet.
First take the act of getting to Konkan from a place like Pune which technically is mere 100 miles north east of the shoreline.
There are no roads in Konkan. What qualified as road was lack of wild vegetation on strip of land thereby allowing a vehicle to progress without hardware that resembles a Martian rover.
There is not a single decent (air conditioning and hot water 24×7) lodging facility on that piece of coast even if you wanted to rent at any cost.
Food on the other hand once you get used to the climate is beyond delicious. As a fan of seafood it provides ample variety to the gourmand at an attractive price.
People generally were warm and friendly but getting to them seemed like an epic struggle.
Locals also seemed happy in their surroundings in spite of the aforementioned observations.
So net - it's always a matter of perspective - or mind over matter.
Traditionally a laid back seaside agrarian community from where most Marathi speaking folks could trace their genealogy to, it gained popularity among the Desi yuppies and boomers based in Mumbai and Pune, like Caucasian Jews in NY felt about going to Florida.
While Florida disappointed me on many levels Konkan (20% of the coastal real estate we witnessed) definitely put a damper on the mood and provided stark contrast to beachfronts we have seen in other parts of the planet.
First take the act of getting to Konkan from a place like Pune which technically is mere 100 miles north east of the shoreline.
There are no roads in Konkan. What qualified as road was lack of wild vegetation on strip of land thereby allowing a vehicle to progress without hardware that resembles a Martian rover.
There is not a single decent (air conditioning and hot water 24×7) lodging facility on that piece of coast even if you wanted to rent at any cost.
Food on the other hand once you get used to the climate is beyond delicious. As a fan of seafood it provides ample variety to the gourmand at an attractive price.
People generally were warm and friendly but getting to them seemed like an epic struggle.
Locals also seemed happy in their surroundings in spite of the aforementioned observations.
So net - it's always a matter of perspective - or mind over matter.
who said getting to (foodie) heaven was easy?
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