Kusur, a remote village of 40 houses, is nestled among the Western Ghats at a height of 2200 ft. Looking east, you see Thokarwadi Lake which extends to the Deccan Plateau. A short walk westward through fields and forests takes you to the escarpment of the Sahyadris, with a shear drop down to the coastal plains of the Konkan. During the monsoons, you can stand at the continental divide of peninsular India and see the exact point where the rainwater diverges – westwards towards the Arabian Sea and eastwards to the Bay of Bengal. This confluence of ecosystems gives Kusur a charm of its own, whether in the monsoons, or in the drier months.

 

The area is dominated by the lake. A vast expanse of water from July through December, the lake level recedes dramatically thereafter, and the lake bed is then used for farming of wheat, French beans, and guvar. From December through March, the mixed deciduous forests show splashes of red and orange from the flame of the forest, the silk cottons and the corals, while the “amba mor” cover the mango tree in pale yellow or white during late spring.