Travel is more than just setting an itinerary or booking tickets to a new location. It’s the process of rejuvenation and seeking oneself in newer experiences. For some it’s the only way to connect with your soul. Within the Indian subcontinent, one finds a diverse range of destination, from snowy mountains to sunny beaches. Each experience unique, each location, different. One such location that has been a part of many adventure-seekers bucket list is the Konkan belt in India. Taking you to the lunch green and picturesque scenery, the Konkan belt is a must-visit experiential trip everyone one should take.

The Konkan coast has picturesque beaches that are perfect to liven up the globetrotter in you. A lot of marine life, amazing ancient architecture, traditional crafts, and delicious cuisines, the area lives you with rich memories and experiences. Konkan Diaries, a brand-new television series from Zee Zest, provides viewers with thrilling opportunities to learn about the traditions, culture, and stories of the Konkan region in Maharashtra. Through Zee Zest’s Konkan Diaries, host Addinath Kothare, a well-known Marathi actor and director take you on a journey of the area and yourself. He makes a great host because of his upbeat personality and contagious energy, which makes him ideal for leading us on an exciting, thrilling, and adventurous journey across Konkan belt.

Addinath Kothare, who is driven by the desire for adventure, participates in novel experiences and challenges, such as mango picking in Ratnagiri, performing in a traditional folk theatre with local artists, attempting to catch and sell fresh fish with the Kolis of Mumbai, and beach camping at Devgad. He will be seen living in Konkan and experiencing its vibrant culture as well as its stunning architecture. We catch up with him to find out more about his experiences and what should the audience expect from the new show. Excerpts…

‘Kan Kan Mein Konkan’ in Addinath Kothare’s element!

Addinath Kothare

Have you always loved to travel or did you develop it eventually? Which was the most memorable trip for you? 

I am a traveler. I love to travel. I love to travel. I’m an explorer. I love to explore new things, try out new things, and maybe come to food places. I love to interact with people love to meet new people. So yes, I’m always curious. I’m a curious soul. So hence traveling is a very natural thing that comes to me. And I love traveling alone. And I’m so blessed. That I got to show Konkan with Konkan Diaries on Zee Zest because here it is my video diaries is like a vlog of me traveling through Konkan and the cameras are just covering me and literally, the director made sure that Nishant Sabka the director who is so beautiful, and amazing with his work that he made sure the candidness of my experiences, he made sure that they were just observing with the cameras and did not interrupt my emotions and all when I was experiencing things. And I love this show. And I think the show that you get to see you’re very honest, candid, real, unscripted. Experience of the Konkan through my eyes.

The Konkan region has huge mountains as well as a long stretch of coastline. Which of these appealed to you the most?

Both!  I think the entire nature in Konkan is so beautiful. It is mesmerizing. The coastal road is so beautiful to drive on. It is so distressing. Then the forest, the nature, the biodiversity in the forest and the sea is so amazing. The coral scuba diving. We went for a nature trail. It was beautiful. It was amazing! 

As a traveler, one must grab a bit of the local cuisines of the region. What did you like the best in Konkan?

I’m a big foodie by the way, I don’t eat to live I live to eat. And I had this amazing dish of course the fish and it was insane. It was beautiful. the experience was fun. But I’ll tell you my experience while I went deep sea fishing. We got big fish I threw a big net in the sea with the fisherman was and all we caught Halwa and Surmai and everything. While coming back we got stuck in the low tide because of the low tide, we were stuck there for an hour because we had to wait for the tide to rise so we were hungry so we had and we had Surmai and we had a Hawal in the boat. So the fishermen you know cooked freshly cut Halwa for us they made fish curry and rice for us on that boat it was delicious I had this item Shirwale, in Konkan was something unique. You get in Konkan. So it’s like Idi Upam but the coconut version of it is basically hot, handmade rice noodles with about jaggery-infused coconut milk so delicious. So delicious.

Being a Maharashtrian yourself, you would definitely know the history of the region associated with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. How does it feel to be a medium of conveying these stories to the masses? 

The masses know Shivaji Maharaj’s history. I think every soul in Maharashtra, every soil, every pebble, and every tree in Maharashtra is grateful to what Shivaji had done. And we are proud today that we can stand on our soil and you know, boost our history because of that man, and everybody is aware of it. We just I just took them for a tour of his beautiful fortresses and his lands and certain things that he had certain fortresses that he had, especially the Sindhudurg Fort that we saw, it was it’s a spectacle that Maharaj had kept that Fort invincible in his reign and you know, the most amazing part of that Fort is when you go there. You don’t see the entrance. It was hidden at the entrance. Even when I’m a meter away from the fort. I can’t see the entrance. It is so beautifully constructed inside the fort there are two freshwater lakes. In the middle of the sea. There are two freshwater wells in that fort. I mean, they were architectural geniuses and he was a visionary man.

Any beautiful artifacts or souvenirs you collected?

The memories I collected were the most beautiful. Yeah, I mean shells on the beach and listening to the stones, the red stones that you get the laterite stones Chira picked up a few of me but the memories will stay with me for life. Zee Zest gave me the opportunity to actually make a vlog on my Konkan Diaries

Any useful tips you’d like to give for the ones traveling to Konkan?

If you are traveling to Konkan just let your hair down and just unwind because it is every turn of Konkan its different color, there’s a different culture there’s a different history that’s so rich in art and everything. It’s taste of food there it’s so beautiful. It changes every 50 kilometers. Konkan is the best place to go for a road trip I would say.

Addinath Kothare

What according to you was the best thing you did on your trip?

The most memorable thing on the trip was as an actor and as an artist it was a dream to do Loknatya which is folk art or folk theatre. I did folk theater there and it is one of India’s oldest forms, one of the oldest 1000s of years old.  We went to meet the Dashavatara party there and it was in a village near Sawantwadi at the Upralkar God Devasthan  I got to perform with them onstage. It was memorable. I was overwhelmed by the end of the performance. I was in tears choked with the entire euphoria of the audience, their audience, and everything. I performed the character of Brahma Rakshas and I think that video also went viral on social media because some  locals took the video and they posted it.

Any sea sports activities you got to perpetrate? How was your experience?

Oh I think we did several sport activities there we did Scuba diving The water is so clear there are corals in Konkan there are such beautiful corals and amazing fishes we saw Barracuda as we saw clownfishes so many so many things.I did the most adventurous sport I’ve done in recent times that is flyboarding which is there? I didn’t know it was the skateboarder’s water jets on it, and you fly in the air with those water jets It was scary at  first but I managed to sail through.

What does travel mean to you?

I think travel is everything. Yeah, I think travel is extremely therapeutic. Travel is extremely enriching. Travel is everything I think we need. Life is nothing but travel. We are traveling even in the city when we’re going to work while traveling and meeting the same people were meeting them in a different ways, and experiencing things in a different ways. We’re always traveling and we should keep traveling and getting new experiences because we just have one life and what is use of that life. If you don’t travel and experience this life that you’re gifted with. So travel is means everything to me. 

What made you go on board for this project?

The fact that I’m getting to travel the Konkan coast and I expect to share my experiences with the audience candidly, the honesty of this show, the unscripted of the show. And the way it’s been made. I think I am really blessed to be part of Konkan Diaries with Zee Zest. 

How has been your experience or exploring the region while shooting?

As I said, it’s been the most adventurous, enriching, emotionally breathtaking experience of my life, different experiences. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride. It was hectic because we had a lot to cover in the span of 20 to 25 days, like 10 episodes with three experiences each of these each episode so 30 experiences in total and we had to cover a lot so but very enriching, fulfilling. I’ve gone back with nothing but beautiful memories

Which was your favourite shoot location?

Well in Sawantwadi, Dashavatara  is something memorable and the watersports in Tarkarli and scuba diving and flyboarding. 

Tell us a little about your association with the show…

Well, It’s the first reality show that I’ve done in my life. And it’s the first time hosting a nonfiction show. And I was eagerly waiting to do a show like this because, you know, I’m an avid traveler, and I’m full of energy and I always look for the release of that energy and I’m appreciating to share that with the audience to share with the audience with something I look forward to and I was wanting to do a non-fiction show. And I got this show. I’m really blessed!

What are the 3 best lessons you learnt from this show?

I think I learned that the way Konkan and the people of Konkan have preserved their culture, the history and yet have grown with time. The value system that they have is something I learned. Or rather I got reassured by it and I realized its importance of it. The next best lesson I think I learned about history so closely, I mean, I saw the  Sindhudurg fort for the first time in my life, but Shivaji Maharaj had built it and this was 350 years ago, the kind of architecture and the vision that man had and the what he did for our soil and for our people you know to protect us from the Mughals and everyone it is so it was so  awe inspiring and it was so motivating.I was grateful for the history that we have. So it’s important to visit your history also once closely. and see it firsthand, still understand the value of what your our ancestor. And third of us a lesson is rather silly,assurance that life is full of nothing but gathering such beautiful experiences and I did that in these 25 days, I think we should just keep on traveling can gathering as many excuses as you can. I did a workshop with Neeraj Kabi ones and he told me we have to always go shopping for life. And this, this coupon dies I shopped for life.

Hero and Featured Image: Courtesy Addinath Kothare

Most Popular