Thomas and Friends in Pune

The small kids have a clear preference for toys based on gender. While, the girls prefer the dolls, the boys tend to like Cars or any mode of transportation. The Joshi's Museum of Miniature Railways will definitely appeal to boys, and surely give loads of fun to girls and elders alike.

Located in the heart of Kothrud, the Joshi's museum houses India's biggest miniature City, with a Railway Station, Roads, Flyovers, Mountain, Lake, Restaurants, Swimming Pool, Circus, TV Tower, Revolving restaurant, Hot Air Balloon, a Drive-In theatre and a night sky as it appeared when railways was first introduced in India. This is a remarkable effort which has been recognized by the Limca Book of records.

The museum is located in a one storey building which houses a toy store, its workshop where all the models are created and the area which houses the miniature city. The live train show is held every half an hour livening up the whole model city in the backdrop of the story of Bunty and Bubbly who get lost in the city and explore various parts of the city.

As the story progresses, the various types of trains in the city from age old, engine trains to the latest ICE trains come alive and wander through the city. The miniature cars and the bikes travel through the city. A building catches fire and an ambulance arrives to help. Many such situations are created and we are taken through the wonders of the creativity that made this miniature city possible.

The ground floor houses a real life minitaure airport with its main building, control tower, planes and helicopters, cars parked on the buildings and many more models related to an airport. Various train models from ICE train to Jungfrau train. If you happened to buy a Jungfrau miniature model on your trip to Switzerland, it was probably manufactured right here in Pune.

We got a chance to look at their workshop, also located at the ground floor and get a preview to their latest inventions in miniaturization.

The ground floor also houses the toy shop, which sells apart from model trains, cars and planes, an excellent collection of toys for the young people which you will not find in shopping malls.

If you want to take your kid to the real world of "Thomas and Friends", its right here.

Click below to view a small clip of the show.



Useful Travel Information for visiting Joshi's Miniature Railways Museum

Location:

Click here to see the map of the Museum

Ask for Karishma Society if you can't locate the place when you are near this area.

Charges:

For anyone above 3 years of age, the entry fee is Rs. 25. Its free for kids below 3 years.

Timings:

The musuem is open at different times throughout the week. On weekends, it is open from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM. It is best to call and check the timings before visiting.

You easily spend about 1½ hour at the museum including the miniature city show.

Link:

http://www.minirailways.com

Lake near Wanawadi

It is always a pleasure to have guests at our home. We always look for places that can be visited within the city limits. There are the usual places like museums, temples, shopping streets (M.G. road and Laxmi Road in Pune) and the new funky malls. However, these are places that are found in all the cities and probably the guests want something better. We are lucky to have this nice park very close to our home. We have not only taken our guests but also friends who live in Pune but are not aware of this park.



Within a five minutes drive from our home, we reach the park that we have visited many times now and always enjoy going back again. The main attraction is boating. Instead of going all the way to Lonavala or Mahabaleshwar for boating, we can enjoy some nice time boating right next to our home. The park has both peddle boats and row boats.


Another attraction is a hanging bridge over the lake. It gives some anxious moments as one goes over it. The kids enjoy going again and again over it once they get a hang of it. There are quite a number of ducks floating on the lake at any time. There are lots of fishes found in some parts of the lake. Many people come over to feed them early in the morning. There are many different varieties of birds found around the lake. I am not into serious bird watching, else I could have indentified the species of the birds. But, it could be a paradise for any bird watcher. There is an open space where people can just sit around and enjoy the cool environment while the kids play around. There is a play area for kids with some slides and swings, but is not in very good condition.

Overall its a little paradise in the middle of all the hustle bustle of the city.




Useful Information on visiting the park.

Route:

Click here to see the exact location of the lake.

Since this park is within the complex of S R P F, you will need to go through one of the main gates of the complex. The guard at the gate will ask you about where you want to go. You can ask him a permit to visit the lake. If convinced, you will be permitted to enter the complex.

Charges:

Entry for the park is Rs. 5 per person. The boating charges are Rs. 15 per person. There is sufficient parking available for 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers.

Trivia:

Aamir Khan's Mangal Pandey was partly shot here !!

Mesmerizing Morachi Chincholi

In the famous childhood story of the pied piper, the pipe player manages to attract the rats and then the children out of the village. We experienced that feeling when we entered the Morachi Chincholi village. The children in the story were being attracted out of the village by the sound of flute; we were being attracted into the village by the sounds of peacocks. Morachi means Peacock’s and Chincholi means tamarind. This small village is home to over 1000 peacocks and is full of tamarind trees, hence its name. As soon as we entered the village, the beautiful voices of peacocks started driving us. The sound was so clear and loud that one would think that a peacock is nearby. However there was no peacock in sight. Slowly, the sounds started coming from all directions and we were looking all around. The village itself is very beautiful with fields on both sides of the main road. The usual farming activity was going on at its own pace. Beautiful gulmohar trees with its red flowers were hanging down the road on both the sides. The sounds of peacocks continued and finally I spotted a peacock at a far away tree.




The peacock is a very shy bird. If you go close by and aren't familiar, it will run away. We decided against going close by and let the peacock enjoy his rest. By this time the cool atmosphere of the village was getting onto us and we were enjoying the surroundings completely. After spending some time looking at the peacock on the tree from faraway, we moved ahead into the village. I spotted another peacock on a narrow lane and we stopped to have a closer look. A farmer spotted us and called us towards the other side of the road telling us that there is a peacock close by. We went towards him and surely there was another peacock on the ground, enjoying his walk. This time the peacock noticed us and moved away from us quickly and elegantly.



We moved back on the main road and the peacock I had spotted on the lane turned out to be a blue cloth ;-). We went a further ahead to chance upon other peacocks. The time was around 4:00 PM in the evening and we came back to the main entrance of the village from where had started. A new tourist center has come up here which has created facilities for tourists to view peacocks from the close quarters. We had checked that place when we entered and the person there had told us that the peacocks will start coming after 4:30 PM. We checked into the center after making the payments and started exploring the center. The first was a small museum related to astronomy. It is a thoughtfully developed museum with models of planets, space rockets, and astronauts. There are pictures of scientific personnel from old timers to Kalpana Chawla with brief description of each. It also has some 3D pictures which can be seen through special glasses. Kalpak had a good time over there and we decided to move on with promise to him that we will return there. The next was a beautiful rose nursery with rows of rose plants of various colors like red, pink, white, yellow. I had a good time clicking some close-ups of the roses.




The next was a small traditional village type hut. The interiors were painted beautifully in Warli style. We appreciated the true meaning of Warli paintings in this hut. The usual Warli paintings that we see outside can not convey its true meaning as they are usually displayed as stand alone paintings. The location of each painting in relation to the place of the house like kitchen, temple illustrated its true purpose.




We continued exploring the place and found a play area for kids. It has some usual and nice playing stuff like slides, tree swings, and trampoline (which Kalpak enjoyed a lot). It also has a rain dance area (!!!).

It was about time peacocks would come out in the open. While I went to the main office to inquire about the place to watch peacocks, I got a call from Deepal to come fast. They had spotted a peacock very close by. I went and joined them in enjoying the peacock. It was on its way to the platform which has been set up with food grains such that they are away from the main center but at the same time visible from the place. I took some pictures of the peacock and followed its each and every motion without disturbing it. Peacocks are shy as well as very patient birds. This peacock was standing at the same place for close to 15-20 minutes without moving a single bit. We moved into the main area of the center which has been setup for viewing the peacocks. Deepal had a brief chat with two women who were doing farming over there. The peacocks are familiar with the people of the village. While they move away from the tourists, they recognize the village people and do not mind coming close to them or interacting with them. The two women went about doing their job and in some time, the peacock moved past them towards the eating place.



Meanwhile, I spotted another peacock coming from another direction towards the platform. This peacock once did its famous plumage while on its way to the meal. Soon, there were 2 others with a peahen coming to have their meal. In no time, the platform was buzzing with all the peacocks and peahens. We moved towards the terrace of the building to have a bird’s eye view of the birds :). Once the meal was done, the peacocks started moving back to the directions they had come from. It was a treat to look at the peacock walking. It is a slow and beautiful motion. We had another close look at the departing peacock. There were still a lot of peacocks visible and Deepal was not ready to leave. We had to finally bid good bye to the place with satisfaction that we will surely visit this place again in future.

For details on how to reach there and other useful details click here.

Useful travel information to visit Morachi Chincholi

Click here for the detailed travelogue on Morachi Chincholi

Summary:

1. Peacocks, peacocks and lots of peacocks in natural habitat
2. Excellent tourist center with lots of activities for children
3. Friendly village people

Routes:

There are two good routes to reach there.

1. Via Shikrapur on Pune-Ahmednagar Highway (approx. 60 km)
2. Via Rajgurunagar(Khed)/Pabal on Pune-Nashik Highway (approx. 81 km)

Click here for the route map on Google Maps


We took the Route 2 via Pabal to reach and took Route 1 to come back to Pune.
The condition of the roads throughout was excellent except for about 5-10 kms between Rajgurunagar(Khed) and Pabal which wasn’t too bad either.

Place   Km  Time*
Pune    000  9:45
Pabal   068 11:45
Pabal   068 13:45
Morachi Chincholi  081 14:15
Morachi Chincholi  086 18:33
Pune    144 20:30

(*Time includes few breaks and traffic.)

Best time to visit:

It is best to visit between 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM and 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM as that is the time the peacocks would come out in open. Monsoon months from June to August are the best as Peacocks are at their best due to the rains. Their feathers fall during the months of September to November. So, the time after that you will find peacocks but without their feathers. The months of April and May are best to see them at the tourist center, as they get the food and water they need easily over here during these summer months.

Links:

www.morachichincholi.com - The tourist center at Morachi Chincholi
www.chincholimorachi.com - Another tourist center at Morachi Chincholi
An excellent blog entry on Morachi Chincholi.

Request:

Please respect local habitat including the peacocks, the village and the people who live there. Please protect this place as if you will protect your personal treasure.