Missed a trek to Lohgad a week before and to make up for that decided to do it this time. We were 11 people together coming from various different places do fulfill a collective task.
Day began at 4:15am with call from Manali-trekker companion on this trek. She told me that Tej-another trekker buddy on this is not attending his wake up calls. So I was trying to call him till the time I left my home. My first step outside the door frame of my house was at 5 am. I walked all the way to the rickshaw stand and got one which ferried me to Kalwa railway station. Now my woes began !!!!!!!!!!
I was waiting at Kalwa station in the hope of getting a train which could take to the next station-Thane- from which we were to board train to Lonavala. After waiting for twenty minutes at Kalwa station which appeared as a mosquito feeding centre the train arrived. I reached thane station at 5:30am. When I went to the ticket counter there was a huge queue. With just 45 minutes to go I had very less hopes. Prasad-lonavala specialist-arrived soon to give me company. He had his woes. He did not get any rickshaw and had to walk half the way around one and half kilometer. Soon his friend named Yuvraj arrived. We were waiting in the line to get a ticket. But our hopes shattered when the train arrived and we were still no were near to get a ticket.
We left the queue and left the idea of going by a train. We decided to take a ST ride to lonavala. So we went to the nearest ST stand. Out here we were told that the ST bus to Lonavala starts from another ST stand! We were searching for a rickshaw. After around 10 minutes we got one. We went to that bus stand and LUCKILY got a ST quickly. Next two and half hours were all cozy and fine. We had two seats among three of us. We reached lonavala by 8:45am.
Rest of our team was already waiting for us to arrive. They had made an enquiry and told us that the bus would be coming at 9am. We spent some time in enjoying and teasing and cracking joke at one another. But our worries began to mount when there wasn’t any bus till 9:45am. The people at enquiry counter said the bus was caught up in its way. ACCORDING TO THE GOD DAMN TRAIN SCHEDULE ON INTERNET, there was a local train plying between Lonavala and Malavli at 10:15am. So as there was no bus we decided to go by train. On reaching Lonavala train station we came to know that the train is at 10:05am and had just left !!!!!!! uttering as many bad words as we could manage we left the station in hope that the bus had still not left the bus stand. on our arrival there thankfully the bus was still standing but awfully crowded. Some way or the other we entered the bus and could barely stand. There was a foul stench of vomit in the bus. Adding to it the locals were continuously climbing up and down the bus for one reason or the other. After waiting for 45 minutes in this bus the conductor said that there was some problem and this bus will not be leaving any time soon!!!!!! So we got down from this bus and LUCKILY got another bus in which we had place to sit and went comfortably to Karla fata in next 20 minutes. From Karla fata we took rickshaws to Malavli village and then started to trek- FINALLY.
As we had a time crunch we decided to drop Bhaje caves. We were slowly and steadily climbing the road to Gaimukhkhind. This is the area between fort Visapur and Fort Lohgad. I was indulging in some photography. The climate was bright and sunny. When we were half the way there were sudden torrential rains. We ran to a place selling lemon juice for some cover. Half of us had raincoats and umbrellas but half wee without anything. So we were waiting for rains to stop. But as there was no sign of any decrease we damned the rains and started of again. In another half an hour we were in Gaimukhkhind. The rains had stopped but still the dark clouds loomed overhead. There was also some mist and lightning around. We quickly climbed the stairs and were roaming around on the fort. Our aim was vinchu kata. We were soon gunning for it. While on the route there, there is a place called Laxmi kothar. It’s a cave even older than the fort itself. We had planned to visit it but we saw that there were some guys there. The thing which disgusted us that about them was that they were having a hookah session in there. Is this the place where many of our brave men died to save glory? Isn’t this the same place which protected us from invaders? Is this the way we should treat those brave souls which made an example of bravery and courage? Those brave men must be turning around in their graves on such behavior of these people.
By now the dark clouds had began to come together. We were moving quickly so that we could reach the tip of vinchu kata before the rains. But that was not to be. We were halfway through when rains came. They came almost in a downpour. We had nowhere to hide but were still determined enough to reach the tip. There was nobody else there. We could see the tip of vinchu kata now. It was covered by mist half way. It appeared a divine land. When we were up there the huge gusts of wind were threatening to take us away with them. Holding our ground we retraced our footprints and went back. It was 4:00pm by now. We quickly descended had lunch in Lohgadvadi.
Then it was a long walk ahead to Malavli. After reaching Malavli at around 5:30 we were searching for a rickshaw to take us to Lonavala. Over here the rickshaw drivers were quite smart and were looking ahead to make a good lot of money. They said they would charge us 50 bucks per person for a 10minute ride. After bargaining they came down to 35. Amidst all this we came to know that there was a train at 6:53pm. It was past 6:30pm already, so we left the rickshaws to rot and took rail tickets costing us 4 bucks each. Reached Lonavala station in another 5 minutes and boarded a ST heading to Panvel. The ST was not crowded but still there was no place to sit and we were standing again. After travelling in standing position we reached Panvel by 9:00pm.
After reaching the Panvel train station there were again huge queues and no coupons available. So we had to stand in those queues. We boarded a 9:30pm local train and reached Sanpada station by 10:00pm. From here we had to break journey to Thane. Once here we came to know that the train was at 10:38pm. As there was no other option we waited there. Then at 10:40pm there was an announcement that the train would be late by 20-30 minutes. This was a nightmare coming true. The train arrived at 11:05pm and we left for thane. We reached thane by 11:40pm. Then I boarded train to Kalwa by 11:45pm. After reaching Kalwa I stood in another queue for rickshaw. Another 5 minutes and no rickshaw around with considerable people ahead of me I decided to walk my way to home. I was moving as fast as I could. But the usual 10 minutes walk took me 20 minutes. After reaching my house at 12:15am I had almost no energy. Had a nice warm water bath and was tucked away.
A difficult trek came to an end. this trek will be remembered by all 11 of us for a pretty long time.
The trekkers involved in this trek by Girishishya Hikers are :-
1.Prasad Dingankar
2.Vinit Tavate
3.Tej Khadka
4.Manali Patke
5.Natasha Karkhanis
6.Tejaswi Karkhanis
7.Rushabh Dharod
8.Mayur Dorkar
9.Sanket Kale
10.Ajinkya Chavan
11.Yuvraaj
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