Nashik is a holy city surrounded by 9 hills(nav shikar).
River Godavari originates here and blessed is this city with no traffic jam. Vehicles flow as smooth as the waters of Mama Godavari
Lord Ram laid his fathers King Dashrath ashes here in Ram kund. That gives us reason to pollute the Godavari ghat with holy refuse of flowers, lamp wicks, mud lamps ( a man was drowning his loved one’s plastic spectacle case
Panchavati along Godavari is dotted with temples that devotees are spoiled for choice. And insta lovers for gram worthy pictures. Amol did flex his photography muscles and the clear winter blue skies lent the photos a quality that dirty reality could not betray
Naroshankar and Kapaleshwar were some that we visited
Divine Spouses and children were also covered
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| Pagdi Ganba |
Karthik Swamy temple by the Nattukottai Chettiyars- we happenstanced to visit this temple drawn mainly by the Tamil inscriptions and we lucked out with Lovely Prasadam in the form of masala rice , sundal and panchamrudham
Hanuman in various sizes stood guard along the ghat
KalaRam- Black stone idols of Ramayana trio and their faithful Hanuman in a magnificent black edifice. The loud crowds outside and the peaceful and serene inside is stark and striking.This black temple sucks all the negativity and we left the place reenergised
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| Kala Ram’s Kala Hanuman |
GoraRam- A teakwood marvel that houses the holy quartet in white marble and hence the name
Sita Gupha - crazy queues for an underground tunnel that sheltered Sita from danger while her men went hunting and gathering. she got abducted by Ravan here and Amol refused to let me go shopping alone citing this 7000 years ago saga of wife disregarding husband’s plea. Well I gave in and dragged my feet back to Hotel Express Inn.
Hotel Express Inn is this big hotel with a skywalk and a spirited capsule lift that never reaches the destination floor.
It also has an open air swimming pool with icy waters. When asked the pool attendant why was the pool not temperature controlled, his pan faced answer was to write it in the suggestion book. Also when asked who can swim in this ice bucket challenge like waters , his answer was simple. People who know to swim.
This was enough to egg me on while Amol stretched on the pool deck quoting there is no shame in quitting. I swam if only to prove a point to Mr panfaced potbellied pool attendant because the minute he was adequately impressed with my “swimming” I hoisted myself out of the pool on my hands gracefully with a jump. He was still watching.
What followed after being underwater in single digit degrees Celsius temperatures and next 30 minutes was cyanosis, hypothermia, shivering and a real threat of rhabdomyolysi and hyperkalemic cardiac arrest, Amol’s repeated “I told you so”
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| Sarafa |
To recover from this near death experience I did Sarafa- Old jewellery bazaar of Nashik where I indulged in retail therapy and Amol indulged me and Tibetan market- A Kannada speaking salesman sold me a Chinese puffer jacket in a Tibetan stall. And the Alibaba Chinese food stall served noodles in large portions to resemble the nav shikhars of Nashik. 2 adults and 7 hungry yet sceptical street dogs just about managed to finish 1 special Alibaba noodles.
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Pandavleni caves- Early morning walk up 205 stairs amply rewarded by the cool mountain air and picturesque views of the city. The caves are a treasure and well maintained 
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| Jain mandir- sandstone wonder |
The Jain Mandir - A 5 km walk on the expressway and a sandstone chiseled beauty, ornate, detailed Shwetambar Jain Mandir treat awaits us. They are very prickly about photography so this serene place can only be experienced
Scene 2- Nephrology act 1
Disclaimer- I am a Cardiac Anesthesiologist with special interest in Nephrology and in a Nephrologist
A senior Nephrologist Dr Bharat Shah said meetings are more of family gatherings in the garb of academics. And Nephrology tribe are academic domestics. They mix both well , care for both with equal elan and families of nephrologist are always well turned out. Post Covid there was a lot of catching up to do- nephrology and otherwise.
SRNMCON 2023 was hosted by Dr Chafekar, propelled by the SGPGI show of strength for late Dr Anita Saxena, and the academic brilliance of all the Nephrology biggies. Dr Chafekar had an event of this scale organised to the T just like him, always well turned out in his crisp suits. Ably complemented by lovely Madam Chafekar whose hospitality was larger than her farm house where she hosted 50 delegates impromptu and impeccably. Nashik’s chill, Maharashtra cultural dances, toasty bon fires, delegates dance performances will be fondly remembered in Nephro nutrition circles
Trimbakeshwar visit-
One of the 12 jyotirlings and a must visit. It was supposed to be enabled by the local organisers but miscommunication and unpreparedness for the crazy crowds that our populous country can churn up on Sankranti day had 14 delegates stranded in various degrees of “anger to helplessness” spectrum. With the setting sun our hopes dimmed Dr Shrimati pulled a miracle that night and all of us had Darshan of the Mahadev. A mumma nephrology, a senior citizen touched Dr Shrimati’s feet for her feat. It was magical, divine, humbling all at once- Just like Nashik
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| Trimbakeshwar by the day |
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| The night of a miracle |
