Lovely Lonavla... Day 1 of The Rendezvous!!!

It's been exactly one year we're all together at Aurangabad trip last year on Independence day. I've planned for this a long ago and was eagerly waiting for the day. And finally the day has come.

Let me describe 'WE' first. WE consists of
Jethu - College friend. Actual name is Arnab. He likes to call himself as 'Jethu'. Stays in Bengaluru
Kalyan - A friend from school, stays in Pune itself.
Debmit - Kalyan's college friend. I met him at Aurangabad trip. Recently shifted to home town Kolkata from Mumbai
Mamoni - My sis-my colleague. Mentioned name is given by me though she's very much particular about her name Debisree. Stays in Mumbai
Dip - Debisree's bro.Again the name is given by me but he's not particular unlike his sister. Good name Dibyendu. Stays in Kolkata.
So, you can see that how diversified yet so united WE are. There are few other members too, unfortunately they could not make it for the trip.

Anyways, Mamoni came on 14th Aug night. Jethu, Debmit & Dip were to come on 15th morning. I had already booked a cab and according to plan, we picked up Jethu from Swargate stand and the other two from Pune station and dropped into Kalyan's room so that Jethu, Debmit & Dip got freshed.

Around 10:00am, we started off for Lonavla via old highway. It was always scenic to travel on Mumbai-Pune Highway.

Mamoni, Dip, Debmit, Jethu, Kalyan (from left to right)

Sinhagad Institute, Lonavla

There was huge rush while entering Lonavla as it was 15th Aug. Everyone was enjoying Independence. Anywats, now-a-days there's an entry charge of Rs. 50 for Lonavla like Mahabaleshwar.

So we thought of going to the last point of Lonavla first, and then we'll descend to the other points. But, it was mist, mist and mist. In Welcome Point and Lion's Point, it's hardly visible after 5-6 meters.

So, we descend to Tiger's leap for some activity. It was very difficult to shoot in foggy atmosphere.

We get down beside the spring to have more fun. I've done quite a lot activity...

 
... and a little bit of photography.

We're tired & we're hungry. So thought of having some food at Bhushi Dam, but it was still huge rush there; so we directly go to Lonavla and refueled us at McD.

It was already 4.30pm. So we dropped other plan and directly went to Karla Caves.

Karla Caves are a complex of ancient Indian Buddhist rock-cut cave shrines developed over two periods – from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD, and from the 5th century AD to the 10th century.

The Wooden Umbrella above the Chaitya is unique in the Buddhist caves around the world and has no sign of any corrosion.

Despite being a Buddhist cave, we found the influence of Hindu caves in it. If you carefully look at the architecture of the rock-cut statues, you'll clearly able to understand the influence.

There's a temple of  Goddess Ekveera , which attracts local pilgrims as well as the tourists.

We went to the last point of the caves. There are some nice natural rock-cuts. So lot of photo-session happened there.

Now everyone had to pose on the same place with the same goggles. 

Anyways, it was darken out there. So, we stopped our photo session for the day.

We were on our way to Cab and suddenly, it started raining heavily. Some of us little drenched. But it's ok because it's only the start; MORE was awaiting tomorrow.