The village Kashig is located on the southern slopes of the fort Tikona. The hill Mandvi borders the village on eastern side. Over the southern edge , lies the Lake Hadshi. Many of the wadis of the village are particularly located on the break points over hill slopes. It reminds one of the hill villages in Himachal pradesh and other Himalayan regions. The village is located at about 50 kms from Pune. The nearest large settlement is Paud in southern direction and kale colony on the Mumbai-Pune Highway. It can be reached by road from Pune via Kamshet . One may travel by rail from Pune to Kamshet and further by road , too.There is presently a shuttle bus service between Kamshet and Kale colony(Pavana nagar). Also, one may travel by lacally available conveyance like jeeps, etc.Presently, any one coming from Pune has first to get down at Kamshet and then take a bus or other local coveyance upto Pavana nagar.Again, one has to change conveyance at Pavana nagar for further onward journey till Javan trijunction where roads from Lonavala ,Paud and Shilim meet. Here, on the left handside, there is a big arc type entrance gate announcing the name of the local Khandoba temple.Following the kuccha track down from this magnificent entrance gate for roughly a kilometre , one may reach the village Kashig.One has to park one’s vehicle in the Khandoba temple area, because the steep slope further down is non motorable.On the way down , one may have a glimpse of the Khandoba temple.The village is easily approachable by vehicles from the southern side .Here, one may get down on the Lonavala-Paud road and travel on foot to different wadis constituting the village.Else, one may use a two wheeler to reach by this route. The village is reachable by helicopter , too, because the relatively level topography of agricultural field makes an ideal landing. According to Koppen classification , the area falls under “Aw” type of climate ,i.e.,hot with dry winters. The area receives around 70 to 80 cms of rainfall annually in sharp contrast to 600 cm. annual rainfall received by locations in the western ghats such as mahabaleshwar. Drainage pattern The Kashig village is located near Pavna dam and the village slope area is medium in the Kashig gaothan. Lower order streams have steep slope. The Kashig village unirrigated area is 26.19% . The Kashig village has 67.36% area under forest cover.However, the surrounding hills display a barren look devoid of a rich vegetative cover. Soil The soil in the area is mostly brown. The part where the land is very near the lake, the soil shows darker shades, but it generally varies from shades of light to dark brown. Detailed soil survey was not carried out. So, the exact predictions of chemical composition of local soil is not possible. But, in general ,it can be said that the humus content of the soil is very low. Flora & Fauna General vegetation observed in the area is predominantly thorny shrub. On the same slopes ,the afforestation and reforestation programmes have been undertaken. Therefore ,Nilgiri, Subabhul and a few mango trees are seen. On many land pieces , nothing but grass grows in monsoon and it is harvested as cattle feed in winter.

As other small villages of Maharashtra, Kashig too shows customs and cultures peculiar to the village. The village Gaothan has two temples. In Shindewadi, Shelkewadi & Tidkewadi ,there is a temple of Lord Shiva each. Generally, the forms of Lord Shiva are worshiped as the Gram-Daivata. There are various Mandals such as Bhajani Mandals, Tarun Mandals (youth groups), Mahila Mandals (Women’s group), and lazim Mandals, Dhol Pathaks, folk dance groups. In the main village, there is a temple dedicated to Lord Khandoba recently renovated by the efforts of the villagers. The place is pleasantly clean and tranquil. Some of the agricultural fields contain in their corners miniature to relatively very small temples dedicated to various local deities and spirits of ancestors, most probably as a means to please heavenly spirits to protect their crops.The very presence of these little agricultural temples reflect the predominance of agriculture in the rural life of the village.
The festivals like ‘Ganpati’, ‘Devi Navratra’, Bhairavnath Yatra and Dassera are celebrated in unison in the village. In the month of Margasheersh , the festival of Khandoba is celebrated from ‘Pratipada’ to ‘Champa Shashti’.

Its also found that villagers are full of traditional hospitality and simplicity as reflected in their warm
gestures towards strangers.

The principal crop in this region is rice. It is the staple food of the people of this region , also. It is grown as the Kharif crope, i.e., rainy crop.Other crops grown in varying degrees are: Nachani and Wheat.

In the months of December and January , the work of threshing, winnowing and storing for use or selling in the market takes place.
Rice is the main crop and most of the farmers cultivate it in their fields. So ,there is very less or no fallow land at all in the monsoon season. On the other hand , a lot of land is left fallow in the winter or Rabi season. Only the lands, which are more or less level and have a good water holding capacity, are cultivated in this season. Crops such as Beans , wheat , nachani, Gram or Jowar are grown optionally in land holdings.
The villagers mostly own the land they cultivate , but the size of these land holdings is very small and uneconomical to cultivate . They generally cultivate their own land and very little or almost no land is given out for share cropping and tending.

The educational facility available in Kashig is a school up to standard 10th in the Gaothan. A separate building attached to the temple is provided in the village for the same purpose. For higher education , the villagers have to go to the farther off places like Kolvan, Paud, or Pune itself. The village has facilities of education up to 10th standard.

Kashig village is a small village located near the pavna dam. It is a typical Maharashtrian village. It comes under Tahsil Mulshi of pune district.
The main occupation of the village is agriculture though the Balutedars maintain their traditional occupation. The main purpose of such a location is to utilize all the fertile land for cultivation.
The amenities in the village are electricity, road, bus, pipelines for drinking water and well for irrigation . Villager has to carry the patient
either to the next village or to Pune for proper medication. This is very much troublesome and uneconomical to the poor villagers. As far as
literacy is concerned , 30% of the total village is literate. The educational facilities available in the village are not upto the mark. The houses in the village are mainly made up of mud, stone, brick, & cement and roofs of tin, asbestos, tiles, cement sheet, etc. There are few houses constructed purely from cement.
The village has relatively poor accessibility , but some private vehicles are present. It receives very heavy to moderate amount of rainfall
during the monsoon months.
This village is serviced by state transport buses from pune and also by private jeeps.
The villagers have domesticated cows, bullocks, buffaloes, and goats Very few farmers have modern equipments of ploughing like tractor. But , most of them use bullock carts . Most important crop in the region is rice. In rabi season ,they grow wheat. In summer season ,they grow onion etc.

The village has ample natural wealth in terms of sunshine and wind which can very well be harnessed to generate non conventional energy by installing wind mills .Further , promotion of agro based industries can provide suitable employment to villagers , thereby reducing their
centripetal tendency to migrate to other greener pastures like Pune in search of livelihood and better prospects.It has great potential for tourism related tertiary economic activities,since it lies in a area replete with relatively greener surroundings compared to concrete jungles like Pune or Mumbai . In fact, we noticed a foreign lady enjoying herself at a local tea
stall at the Javan Trijunction . Effective rural planning for Kashig entails retention of all good old rural virtues and introduction of benefits of modern civilization in terms of economic and settlement rationalization.
In a nutshell ,Its safe to conclude that village kashig is socio – economically developed,though not to the extent desired.Much
remains to be done.
Finally, one may round off this article by paraphrasing the most famous lines of ROBERT FROST : “Contours of achievements are lovely ,dark and deep, But Kashig has a promise to keep, Miles to go and Miles to go Before the DREAMLAND KASHIG REACH!”

UniquePaths is located in Kashig Village. Book your Stay at UniquePaths via AirBNB.com

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