Living Life On The Edge

२०११ सालचा पहिला ट्रेक ..... अर्थातच ......पारसिक !

2011-06-10T18:34:00.003+05:30

सालाबाद प्रमाणे यंदाच्या मौसामातला पहिला ट्रेक म्हटला की जे नाव माझ्या आपसूक मनात येत ते म्हणजे पारसिक. या वेळी म्हटलं थोडं काहीतरी वेगळं करू. यंदाचा बेत ठरला पर्सिक्वर असणाऱ्या " nursery rock " वर जाण्याचा. पण मुहूर्त काही मिळेना. मग एकदम अचानक ९ तारखेला रात्री ९ वाजता आमचे प्रिय मित्र श्री प्रसादराजे डिगणकर यांचा फोने आला . आता तुम्ही विचाराल की हे प्रसादराजे कोण ? कधी आले ? कुठून आले ? तर. हे राजे अश्यासाठी की वेळ, काळ, हे असं काही यांना माहीतच नाही. असो. याबद्दल नंतर बोलू. तर प्रसादचा फोने आल्यावर त्याने मला विचारला की " अर्रे उद्या काय करतो आहेस ? nursery ला जायचा का ?". पार्सिकला जायला कारण लागत नाही. आपोआपच उत्तर हो असं आलं माझ्याकडून. मग काही फोने इथे काही फोने तिथे. काही message इथे काही तिथे. हा ट्रेकिंगचा नेहेमीचा सोपास्कार पूर्ण झाला. काही हो आले तर काही नाही आले. मित्र अनेक त्यांची कारणं अनेक. काही तर थेट जाऊन बसले होते दिल्लमध्ये. मग शेवटी उरले फक्त ३. मी, प्रसाद आणि चिन्मय रासकर.
सकाळी ६:३० वाजता १० तारखेला झोपेतून उठलो ते फोनेची रिंग ऐकून. फोनेवर होते प्रसाद्राजे. त्यांनी विचारणा केली की " अरे तिथे पाऊस पडतोय का ? ". अर्ध मिटलेल्या डोळ्यांनी खिडकी बाहेर पाहिला आणि म्हणालो " जरा ही नाही पडत आहे." राजे म्हणाले ठीक आहे मग मी निघतो इकडून. घरातून निघालो की तुला फोने करीन. ठीक आहे म्हणून मी पुन्हा झोपी गेलो! ६:४६ ला परत फोने वाजला. मी हैराण होऊन उठलो की एवढ्या लगेच राजे निघाले कसे ? बघतोय तर फोने चीन्मयचा होता. दचकून उठलो आणि फोने उचलला. चीनमय म्हणतो " मी घरातून निघालो आहे. बस स्टोप वर भेटू." आता माझी धाव पळ सुरु झाली. प्रातःकालीन विधी आटपून मी BAG शोधायला सुरुवात केली ! बघतो तर काय BAG गायब ! अजून वेळ न दवडता कॉलेजची sack घेतली आणि त्यामध्ये कॅमेरा, पाण्याच्या बाटल्या आणि एक नशिबाने हाताला जवळच मिळालेला raincoat भरला आणि धाव घेतली. घरातून निघालो ते मेथीचा लाडू तोंडात कोंबून आणि एका हातात पाण्याची बाटली घेऊन. बस स्टोप वर घड्याळ बघितला तर ते सांगत होता ७:०५.
बस स्टोप वर आल्यावर प्रसादला फोने केला. त्याने सांगितला की तो घरातून निघतोय म्हणून. एवढ्यात बस आली. आम्ही बस मध्ये चढलो आणि काही जुन्या ट्रेकच्या आठवणीत रमलो. ७:२५ च्या आसपास आम्ही मुंब्रा देवीच्या पायथ्याशी होतो. इथे मी सांगतो की मी प्रसाद " राजे " का म्हणतो आहे ते. इथे आल्यावर राज्यांना फोने केल्यावर आम्हास असे आढळून आले की राजे त्यांच्या इमारतीच्या पायऱ्या उतरत आहेत ! राजे आम्हास म्हणतात कसे, " अरे बघ फक्त ७ मिनिटं लागतात तिथपर्यंत यायला". पण ७ मिनिटं लागतात ठाणा स्टेशन वरून मुंब्रा स्टेशन ला आणि हे अजून पायऱ्या उतरत आहेत. IST अर्थात INDIAN STANDARD TIME या गोष्टीचा खरा वापर याचं अजून चांगला उदाहरण नाही देता येणार. मग काहीवेळ तिथे वाट पहिली. मग काही वेळ पायऱ्या चढून गेल्यावर छोटं मंदिर लागतं तिथे वाट पहिली. मग जी जायची वाट होती त्या वाटेच्या तोंडाशी जाऊन राज्यांची वाट पाहिली. पण राजे काही येत नाहीत. इतक्यात पाउस सुरु झाला. ही आली पंचाईत. या पावसात प्रस्तरआरोहण करायचं म्हणजे चांगलीच दमछाक होणार हे ठरलेलं. मग काय फोने करा. पण राजे फोने उचलतील तर शप्पथ. मग कुठे एक आशेचा किरण ऐकू येऊ लागला. राजे फोनेवर म्हणतात की आम्ही मुंब्रा देवीच्या पायऱ्या चढतो आहोत ! आणखी ५ मिनिटांनी एक छोटेखानी आकृती पायऱ्या चढताना दिसू लागली. पाऊस पडत असूनही डोक्यावर न छत्री होती न शरीरावर raincoat. पाठीवर sack अडकवलेली. हे आले आमचे राजे ! राज्यांना शिव्यांची लाखोली वाहिल्यावर आम्ही आमच्या रस्त्याला लागलो.
nursery मध्ये पोहोचलो. sack बाजूला ठेऊन पहिला try केला मग दुसरा मग तिसरा . काही झाले पण हाताला काही ग्रीप मिळत नव्हतं. थोडे कठीण करणे अजिबात शक्य होत नव्हतं. एवढ्यात पावसानेही जोर पकडला. काळे ढग ओसरण्याची काही चिंन्हे दिसत नव्हती. मग एका OVERHANG खाली बसलो आणि पूस जाण्याची वाट पाहू लागलो. इतक्यात राज्यांचा सल्ला आला. पारसिकच्या डोंगर माथ्यावर जाऊ. मी अगोदर तय्यार नव्हतो. चीन्मायही तय्यार नव्हता. ९ वाजून गेले होते. १२:३० पर्यंत खाली उतरायचा होता. हे शक्यच नाही असं वाटत होतं. पण राज्यांना नाही अकायची सवय नाही. मग काय ९:२० ला निघालो आणि परतीची वाट पकडली. रिक्षाने कळव्याला परत आलो आणि झोपडपट्टीतून चादायला सुरुवात केली.
पार्सिक्ची अजून एक खासियत आहे. कुठ्च्याची दिशेने चढलात तरी सुरुवातीला हागणदारी लागायलाच हवी. मग आम्ही कसे वाचू शकू. नेहमीच्या घळीत आलो आणि श्वास घेतला. इतका सुवास सहन होत नव्हता. मग काही वेळात चढायला सुरुवात केली. मी पुढे होतो चीनमय मध्ये आणि राजे शेवटी.पाऊस रिमझिमत होता. माती ओली झाली होती. पाय स्थिरावत नव्हते. पण सोपा असेल तर तो पारसिक कसला. वाट काढत, खाच खळग्यात अडखळत, पडत झडत, हसत आणि हसवत, मध्ये मध्ये शिव्या ओव्या पुटपुटत आम्ही वर पोहोचलो. वरून जे दृश्य दिसतं ते नेहमीच वेगळं असतं. कधी उन्हाचा रख रखीतपणा तर कधी अंगावर येणारे ढग. कधी गार गार वारा तर कधी बोचणारा पाउस. तिथे त्या बोर्डांच्या खाली थोडं स्थिरावलो आणि मग परत चालू लागलो दुसर्या डोंगरांकडे. तो डोंगर काहीसा उतरून ओढ्याच्या दिशेने चालू लागलो. ओढ्याजवळ बरेच खेकडे दिसत होते. पण ओढ्यात पाणी अजिबात नव्हतं. ओढा पार केला आणि त्या बाजूला गेलो. वाट चांगली होती. एक बाजूला दरी दिसत होती तर दुसर्या बाजूला पाउसात न्हाऊन निघालेला कातळ. पाऊसही कमी झाला होता पण अजून पूर्ण पणे गेला नव्हता. आम्ही तिघे गप्पा मारत चालत होतो. पुद्धे गेल्यावर रस्ता चढणीला लागत होता. १०:५२ झाले होते. ११ च्या आता सुळक्या खाली नसतो पोहोचलो तर उशीर झाला असता. पण घाई करण्यात अर्थ नव्हता. माती सुटी होती आणि पाय घसरत होता. SANDAL घालून चढणं जमत नव्हतं. पाय मुरगळण्याची भीती होती. SANDAL हातात घेऊन चालू लागलो.आश्चर्याने सुळक्याच्या पायथ्याला पोहोचलो तेव्हा वेळ झाली होती १०:५९. बरोबर वेळेत पोहोचून आम्ही आमच्या BAGS एका दगडा खाली ठेवल्या. TIGER बिस्कीट खाल्ली आणि वर निघालो. पाऊस थांबला होता. थोडं उन पडू लागलं होतं. आम्ही वर चाढलो तिकडून दृश्य अप्रतिम होता. लांबवर पाउस पडत होता ते दिसत होतं. दुसर्या बाजूला थोडं फार उन होतं. तिथे ११:३० पर्यंत थांबलो आणि परतीची वाट धरली.
घळीतून येणारी वाट ही वर येताना सगळ्यात सोयीस्कर आणि सोपी आहे. पण याच वाटेने मी आज्तागत कधी खाली उतरलो नव्हतो. प्रसादच्या जबरदस्तीने ती वाट उतरू लागलो. पहिले १५-२० फुट हे पूर्ण पणे ओल्या चिकट मातीचे आहेत. त्यामुळे तिथून उतरणं फार अवघड जात होतं. मातीतून बाहेर आलेलं कुठल्यातरी झाडाचं मूळ पकडून आम्ही खाली उतरत होतो. हात मातीने माकले होते. कपड्यांवर चिखल होता. अश्या अवस्थेत आम्ही उतरत होतो. प्रसादने कुठची तरी वेगळीच वाट शोधली होती. आम्ही हा मातीचा भाग उतरलो तरी सुद्धा राजे वेगळाच रस्ता शोधात होते. राजे उतरेपर्यंत मी आणि चीनमय पायला लागलेली माती काढत होतो. मग रजेच पुढे झाले आणि रस्ता काढू लागले. चांगलंच कडकडीत उन पडलं होतं. ४५-५० मिनिटात आम्ही खाली उतरलो. १:३० वाजून गेले होते. कॉलोनिमध्ये येऊन एक बर्फाची पेप्सी प्यायलो ( नेहमीप्रमाणे ) आणि घरी गेलो. तसाच. चेहरा माखलेला पण मन सुखावलेला.

माथेरानचा साक्खा शेजारी - बिकटगड

2011-01-10T17:26:00.016+05:30

माथेरानला बऱ्याचवेळा जाऊन सुद्धा जवळच्या पेबला जायचा काही योग येत नव्हता. बाबा २ वेळा जाऊन आले होते आणि मी काही फोटोही पाहिले होते. त्यावरून गड सर करायला चांगलीच मजा येईल (आणि घामसुद्धा) हे जाणून होतो. मग एका गुरुवारी संध्याकाळी पेबचा "plan" ऐकला आणि डोक्यात नवीन ट्रेकचे वारे वाहू लागले. हळू हळू शनिवार पर्यंत १० भिडू गोळा केले आणि बाबांच्या "community" बरोबर जायचे ठरवले.
दुसर्यादिवशी ट्रेक असला की आदल्या रात्री काही डोळ्याला डोळा लागत नाही. साडे चारचा गजर लाउनही ३ ला एकदा आणि परत ३:३० ला उठलोच. शेवटी झोप काही लागत नाही म्हणून उठलो. सगळी तयारी केली आणि ५:४५ ला घरातून कूच केली.कळव्याला जाऊन सकाळी ६:१८ ची ट्रेन पकडली आणि ट्रेन मध्ये एकाच गोंधळ चालू असल्याचे समजले.ट्रेनमध्ये दरवाज्यात उभं राहून पहाटेच्या गारव्याचा आनद घेतला. तेज, निनाद, राहुल मिळून गप्पा हाकत होतो. नेरळला पोहोचलो आणि कळला की एकूण २१ जण आहोत!
नेरळ वरून चालत पायथ्याला पोहोचलो आणि "introduction" आटपून घेतलं. उन्हं येत होती आणि स्वेंटर,शाली, कानटोप्या अंगावरून निघत होत्या. समोर पेबचा कडा दिसत होता तर दावीकडे माथेरान. समोर रस्त्यात बरीच गाव होती.चालत असताना मी राहुल आणि निनाद थोडं पुढे निघालो. रस्ता चुकलो!! पण जे होतं ते चांग्ल्य्साठी होतं.चालत असताना समोरून एक मध्यम आकाराचा पक्षी उडत गेला.त्याचा मागोसा घेतला तेव्हा कळलं की तो भारद्वाज होतं ! माझा मित्र प्रसाद डिंगणकर जो नेहमी हा पक्षी बघण्यासाठी उत्सुक असतो,कावळ्याचा आवाजही त्याला भारद्वाजचा वाटतो! पण नेमका या वेळी तोः आमच्या सोबत नव्हता.तो होता राजमाचीला.त्याची कमी जाणवली म्हणूनच कदाचित हा भारद्वाज आम्हास भेट देऊन गेला.असो,रस्त्याचा अंदाजे काढत आम्ही गडाच्या उजव्या बाजूला जात राहिलो. गडाला चिकटून असलेला डोंगर चढलो आणि त्याच्या दुसर्या बाजूने उतरून गडावर चढायचे होते.ही चढण चांगलीच दमछाक करणारी होती.

सुकलेलं गावात आणि सुकलेली माती चढणं कठीण करत होती.पडत लोळत सगळे एकदाचे पोहोचले त्या टेकाडावर. समोर एक भलामोठा विद्युतखांब होता. चढल्यावर त्याशेजारी डाव्याबाजूला गर्द झाडी होती. त्या झादीच्या उंबरठ्यावर असलेल्या सावलीत आम्ही विसावलो. चिवडा फरसाण खाल्लं आणि परत वात पकडली. आता ठरवला की थांबायचं ते सरळ गडावर पोहोचूनच.

उन्हं तापू लागली होती पण हवेत गारवा होता न डोक्यावर सावली. वात सुखद होती जास्त चढही नव्हता. गप्पा मारत जंगलाची मजा लुटत आमचं टोळकं चालत होतं. जसजसं जंगल वाढत होतं तसाच पाया खालचा गावातही वाढत होतं. पायाला खूप खाज येत होती. याची सोय तर पुढे होती. काहीवेळाने आम्ही त्या झाडीतून बाहेर आलो आणि गडावर चढणं सुरु झालं.वाटेत एक मोठा झाड दिसला. त्याच्या डोहात ३-४ जण आरामात राहतील इतकी जागा होती.

या गडाला बिकटगड का म्हणतात ते आम्हाला चांगलंच कळत होतं.पहिलाच चढ छातीवर घेऊन आम्ही कुठे थोडा वर पोहोचतोय तोवर एक सुकलेला ओढा खाली आलेला दिसत होतं. त्या ओढ्याबरोबरच वर चढायचे ठरले. हि वात मगासच्या वाटेच्या बरोब्बर उलट होती. चढण होतं आणि डोक्यावर सावलीही नव्हती.ओढ्यातील दगडांवर चालणं फार कठीण जात होतं. पाय सटकला तर मुरगळण्याची शक्यता खूप असते. प्रत्येक पाउल जपून ठेवावा लागत होतं.हे सगळा असा चालू असताना पहिल्यांदा ट्रेकवर आलेल्या रश्मीला एक "चांगलाच" अनुभव आला. नेमकी इथे तिचे दोन्ही बूट फाटायला लागले. जवळ जवळ फाटलेच. मग ते बांधायला सगळे धागे-दोरे शोधात होते. मग ते बूट त्याने बांधले गेले. हे सगळा सावरत सावरत ती चढत होती. आमचा वेग बराच थंडावला होतं. याला पूर्णतः कारणीभूत होते ते सूर्यदेव. घामाच्या धारा वाहत होत्या. पाण्याच्या बाटल्या रिकाम्या होत होत्या. लिमलेटच्या गोळ्या फस्त होत होत्या.वाटेच्या दोन्हीबाजूने काटेरी झुडुपं होती.पोट्रीची सगळी चामडी उर्ख्द्याने निघत होती. पण काही करता येत नव्हता. आता पाय डोक्यावरतर नाही घेऊ शकतना आणि जरी घेतले तरी तीच दशा हातांची होणार हे नक्की.थकून भागून ओरखडे झेलून नाखीण आणि पेबच्या बेचक्यात पोहोचलो.
इथे सोसाट्याचा वारा वाहत होता. वारा खाऊन फोटो काढून आम्ही पुढच्या प्रवासाला लागलो.चढ कमी झाला होता. ही वाट कडेकडेने जात असल्यामुळे सावधतेने आम्ही जात होतो. बाबा एकटेच पुढे जाऊन उंच गवतात दिसेनाशे झाले होते. काही वेळाने एका वळणावर जुनी गाणी ऐकू येत होती. वळून बघितला तर तिथे एक भल्यामोठ्या दगडावर बाबा शांत गाणी ऐकत आमची वाट बघत बसले होते! त्यांनी आम्हाला न थांबता पुढे जायला सांगितला.पुढे लागणार होता एक छोटुसा "rockpatch".
इथपर्यंत पोहोचलो तेव्हा माझ्याबरोबर तेज आणि अभिषेक होते.समोर एक चांगला १५-२० फुटांचा "rockpatch" होता.गळ्यातला camera आत टाकला आणि पाहणी करायला निघालो. पारसिकवर केलेल्या "rockpatch" ची आठवण येत होती.हा भाग सर करून वर पहिली sack ठेवली. पाठोपाट लगेच तेजही आला. त्याला वर बसउन मी परत खाली आलो. मानली, निनाद, राहुल, संकेत, रश्मी, अंकिता, बाबा, बने काका सगळे आले होते. जेवढी लोक होती सगळ्यांच्या bags अगोदर वर पोहोचवल्या. मग हळू हळू एक एक करून सगळे वर पोहोचले. पण अजूनही पाठी बरीच लोक राहिली होती. ते सगळे येईपर्यंत आम्ह्चा photosession चालू होता.त्या लोकांना यायला अजून २० मिनिटे गेली. मग बाकीचेही वर पोहोचले. इथे एक छोटासा problem झाला. इथे दगडांमध्ये एक बारीकशी जागा आहे. इथून वर जावे लागत होते.आमच्यातल्या अनिरुद्धची इथे थोडी पंचाईत झाली झाली. भरभक्कम देहयष्टीचा असल्याकारणे त्याला हा भाग थोडा कठीण जात होता. जागा कमी असल्याने त्याला वर खेचून घेणंही कठीण जात होतं.त्याला भीती होती ती परत खाली येताना कसा येणार याची. अश्यावेळी जेव्हा त्याला सगळ्यांची गरज होती तेव्हा सगळे एका मोठ्या कुटुंबासारखे त्याच्या पाठीशी उभे होते.तेज आणि नितीन बने काका वर बसून त्याला कुठे पकडायचे, कसे पकडायचे ते सांगत होते. खालून मी व त्याचे वडील त्याला दिलासा देत होतो."घाबरू नकोस रे", "अर्रे दोन पावला टाक आणि वर आलास म्हणून समाज", "common dude you can do it" असे आवाज येत होते. हीच खरी जादु असते ट्रेकची. याला मी आणि माझ्यासारखे बरीच लोकं आज पहिल्यांदाच भेटलो होतो.फार काही बोलणही झालं नव्हता. तरी पण त्याच्या पाठीशी सगळे उभे उभे. एका दिवसात जन्मा जम्नाची नाती असल्यासारखे वागणारे लोकं म्हणजे "trekkers". कुल, जात, धार्म, प्रतिष्ठा, मान, नाव, गाव अश्या सगळ्या गोष्टी विसरून एका तटावर जेवायला बसणारे म्हणजे "trekkers". तर असाच सगळा "moral support" देऊन त्यालाही वर घेतलं आणि टाळ्यांच्या कडकडाटात त्याचा वर सावागत झालं. उरलेले एक दोन जनही वर आले आणि आम्ही वर गुहेच्या दिशेने निघालो.
अजून ५-१० मिनिटांमध्ये गुहेत पोहोचलो.

इथून समोर म्हसमाळ डोंगर दिसत होतं.लांब धुक्यात मालान्गड आणि चंदेरी सुद्धा साद घालत होते. हे दृश्य मनोमन पाहून थोडे विसावलो. काही फोटो काढले आणि डबे उघडले. पुलाव, इडली, पोहे, ठेपले, चपात्या, ब्रेंड, मसाले भात,अंडी, लसून चटणी, "garlic rice",आणि विविध प्रकारची लोणची अशी मेजवानी मांडली होती.हे जेवण स्वाहा केलं.गडाची माहितीचे "printouts" तेजने सगळ्यांना वाचून दाखवले.

शांतपणे ऐकलं आणि आम्ही पुढे गड पाहायला निघालो.
वाटेत एक छोटासा भुयार दिसलं.आत जायला गुड्घ्य्वर बसून एकावेळी एकाच माणूस आत जाऊ शकेल इतकी जागा होती. mobile मधला torch घेऊन काही वीर अगोदर आत शिरले.आत काही ण दिसल्याने परत बाहेर आले. आता पर्यंत दुसऱ्यान मध्येही उत्सुकता निर्माण झाली होती आत जायची. या वेल्स दुसरे काही लोक आत गेले. हे सगळा चालू असलेला पाहून मी ही जायचा ठरवला. थोडा आत गेलो. श्वास कोंडल्या सारखा वाटत होतं.म्हणून परत बाहेर आलो. पण अंगातली मस्ती काही कमी होई ना.म्हणून परत गेलो. या वेळेस मी साल्यात पुढे होतो हातात torch घेऊन.माझ्यापाठी मानली व टोच्या पाठी तेज असे ३ जन आत गेलो. १० -१५ फूट रांगत गेल्यावर खाली एक चौकोनी खड्डा आहे. torch नसेल तर आत नाकी पडणार. torch च्या उजेडात खाली उडी मारली. पुढे अजून ४-५ फूट रंगत गेलो आणि पाहिलं तर एक छोटीशी खोली होती. आतून चुना मारल्याचे काळात होते.लोखंडी पिंजर्याला असतो तसा दरवाजा होतां. आत torch मारला काही दिसेना मग पाठी फिरलो. आता मानली आत उतरली होती. ती देखील torch घेऊन पुढे बघून आली. मग तिला अगोदर वर चढायला मदत केली. आणि मग स्वतः "chimney climbing" करत बाहेर आलो.
पुढे शिडी वापरून थोडा वर चढायचा होत.वर चढून गेलो आणि एक कोपर्यात हनुमानाची कोरलेली प्रतिमा होती.त्याला वंदन केले आणि पुढे सरकलो. वात थोडी कठीण होती. सावधपणे चढून डोंगराच्या कडेशी पोहोचलो.इथे रस्ता कुठे जातोय हे काही कळेना.हेमंत काकांनी काही पायर्या दाखवल्या आणि त्यावरून आम्ही वर चढलो. काटेरी झुडुपं अंग सोलून काढत होती. त्यामधून चालत-चालत चढत-चढत वर मंदिरा पर्यंत पोहोचलो. मंदिराचा सुशोभीकरण चालू होता. इथे थोडावेळ विसावलो आणि गडाच्या टोकाच्या दिशेने चालू लागलो. रस्त्यात रानफुलांची रास लागली होती. टोकाला अतिशय वाईट परिस्थितीत असलेली एक भिंत होती. त्यावर चढून बघितला. समोर माथेरान दिसत होते. आश्चर्य असं की आम्हाला माथेरानची "mini train" सुद्धा दिसली. समोर उंच "panorama" पोइन्त्च टोक होता. त्यापाठी प्रबळगडाची आकृती दिसत होती. एक बारीकशी पायवाट आम्ही जिथे बसलो होतो तिथून निघून पुढे माथेरानच्या कड्या पर्यंत जात होती. ती वाट पाहून अंगावर काटा येत होता.इथे काही फोटो काढले आणि माघारी फिरलो. परतीच्या वाटेत अजून काही लोक तिथे जात होते. आम्ही विचार करत होतो की आलेल्या वाटेने परत जाणे कठीण होते. या माथेरानच्या वाटेने गेलो तर ? असे विईचार चालू होते.ही वाट अत्यंत भयानक वाटत होती. एवढा ओझा घेऊन जाण फार फार कठीण झाला असत. शेवटी ठरलं की आलेल्या वाटेने गेलेलं बऱ. वरच्या मंदिरात पाणी प्यायलो आणि गुहेची वाट धरली. गुहे कडे पोहोचलो तेव्हा सगळ्यांची आवर आवर चालू होती. बरीच माकडं आली होती. त्यांचे काही फोटो लढले आणि आलेल्या वाटेने परत फिरलो.
"rockpatch" या वेळेस आरामात उतरलो. इथे तेजला युक्ती सुचली. रश्मी तिच्या तुटलेल्या "woodland" मुळे हैराण झाली होती. तिचे "socks" बाहेर आणि "woodland" आत अशी शक्कल लढून तिला ते बूट घालण्यात आले. बाकीचा ट्रेक तिने "तसाच" पार केला.पायथ्याला पोहोचल्यावर एक छोटे खाणी सत्कार सोहोळा करण्यात आला.

नवे "trekkers" आणि अत्यंत जिद्दीने चढलेल्या सूर्यवंशी परिवारचा सत्कार करण्यात आला.
माझ्या आयुशात्ला १९ वा ट्रेक अश्या रीतीने पार पडला.

शिवभक्तांची वारी शिवतीर्थावर

2010-12-27T19:11:00.010+05:30

काही दिवस अगोदर कळसुबाई व रतनगड करायचा मनसुबा होता. पण काही कारणास्तव तो डाव फिस्कटला. बाहेर चांगल्यापैकी थंडी पडलेली असताना घरी उब खाणं थोडा कठीण जात होतं. अश्या वातावरणात गीरीयारोहाकांना एक निराळच स्फुर्ण चढतं. ते आवरणा फार कठीण. हे सगळा चालू असताना "राजेंद्र सावंत" यांचा "e " लखोटा आला. बेत होता शिवतीर्थ रायगडचा. आता साक्षात महाराजांचं आज्ञापत्र आलं म्हणजे नाही बोलून कसं चालायचं. तर मग बेत आखला काही साह्याप्रेमी जवळ घेतले आणि २४ december ला रात्री १० वाजता घरातून निघालो.
दादरला प्रथम तेज भेटला (ज्याने येण्या अगोदर खूप टांग दिली होती). त्यानंतर मानलीला घरातून घेतलं आणि तिघेहि परेलला पोहोचलो. मयूरला वाडियाजवळ भेटलो. तिथे रायगड संवर्धन प्रतीष्ठांची गाडी तयार होती. राजू दादाला भेटलो आणि गाडीत चढलो. गाडी १२:३० ला निघाली आणि मी लगेच टकमक टोकाची स्वप्ना बघत गुडूप झालो.
पहाटे जाग आली तेव्हा खिडकी बाहेर फक्त धुकं आणि अंधार एवढच दिसत होतं. गाडीत अंधार होता आणि सगळे झोपले होते. ५:३० ला गाडीतून पायउतार झालो ते हिरकणी वाडीत. इथून काही लोक जेवणाचं सामान घेऊन "ropeway" ने गडावर जाणार होते. त्यांना सोडलं आणि आम्ही नानेदरवाज्याच्या वाटेला लागलो. हिरकणी बुरुजाखालून गेलो तेव्हा त्या कड्यावरून ती हिरा गवळण कशी उतरली असेल याचा विचार करूनच अंगावर काटा आला. तिच्या शौर्याला वंदन करून आम्ही पुढे निघालो. डांबरी रस्त्यावरून काही वेळ चालून आड वाटेत शिरलो. वात दाट झाडीतून जात होती. आणखी १५ मिनिटांनी नानेदारवाज्याचे अवशेष दिसू लागले.एक मोठा बुरुज त्या दाट झाडीतून डोकावत होता.आता पहिला टप्पा लांब नाही हे कळले.बघता बघता दरवाजा आमच्यासमोर होता. हा दरवाजा म्हणजे त्याकाळातील गडावर जाण्याचा महामार्ग. टिळकांनी चित्त दरवाजा व पायऱ्या नंतर बांधल्या. या दरवाजाचा इतिहास राजू दादाने सांगितला. संभाजी महाराजांनी इथे कापून काढलेल्या उंटाची गोष्ट ऐकली आणि परत चढायला लागलो. हा रस्ता वापरात नसल्याने फार खराब झाला आहे. आमच्यासारखे काही भट्के सोडले तर या रस्त्याने कोणीएक जात नाही.

"जंगलाची झाडी होती दाट. काढत होतो आम्ही त्या मधून वाट." अशीच वाट काढत काढत जवळ पास ४५ मिनिटं चालून आम्ही मदार मोर्च्यावर पोहोचलो. हा मोर्चा गडाच्या मध्य भागी असल्यामुळे याला "मदार" मोर्चा असे म्हटले जाते. इथेच जन्जीराच्या शिद्दीचादेखील वाडा आहे. त्या काळी तो इथे नमाज पडायचा. काही लोकांचं असं म्हणणं आहे की इथे त्याने एक मशीदही बांधली होती म्हणून. पण त्याचे ना पुरावे मिळतात न अवशेष. त्यामुळे ती फक्त काही लोकांची "creative" कलपना आहे. ही लोक या मुळे या भागाला "मशीद" मोर्चा असेही म्हणतात. पण ही गोष्ट देखील इतिहासकारांनी चुकीची ठरूनदिली आहे. सकाळचं कोवळं ऊन जाऊन आता चांगले चटके लागत होते. जंगलाची वाट सोडून आम्ही पायऱ्या चढत होतो. खालची खोल दरी भयाण वाटत होती. हिवाळ्याची सुरुवात झाल्याने दरीत हिरवळ होती. दूरवर सह्याद्रीची मुख्य रांगेचे कडे उन्हात तलवारीच्या पात्यासारखी तळपत होती. काही फोटो काढून मी पुढे निघालो.

पायवाटेने चालण्यापेक्षा पायऱ्यांनी चढणं फार फार कठीण असतं. मांड्या भरून येतात. हळू हळू वर चढत होतो. या वाटेवर लोकांची वर्दळ खूप असते. रस्त्यातच लिंबू सरबत, पाणी, बोरं आणि अश्याच गोष्टी विकणारी बरीच लोक असतात. हे गावकरी चवथी पाचवीतल्या मुला पासून ऐंशी वर्षांची आजी बाई सुद्धा असुशक्ते. दोन ताक विकणाऱ्या बायका तर पूर्ण वेळ - चढायला सुरुवात केल्या पासून ते गडावर पोहोचे पर्यंत - आमच्या सोबतच होत्या. जवळ पास २ तासांनी उंचावर दोन महाकाय बुरूज दिसायला लागली होती. या बुरुजान्माध्येच दडलेला आहे रायगडाचा महादरवाजा.

महादरवाज्याअगोदर काही १००-२०० पायऱ्या चढताना चांगलीच दमछाक होते. सरळसोट असलेल्या पायऱ्या चढून आम्ही त्या महाकाय महादरवाज्यात पोहोचलो. इथे आमच्या सोबत असणारे काही लोकं अगोदर पासूनच बसलेली होती. दरवाज्यात फार कमी लोक होती त्यामुळे काही चांगले फोटो काढता आले. या गडाचा उंबरठा मराठ्यांच्या चारही छत्रपतींनी ओलांडलेला आहे. तर या पावन उंबरठ्याला पाय न लावता आम्ही गडात शिरलो. गडात टाकलेलं पाहिलं पुलाच वेगळा असतं. या गडाचा इथिहास आपल्या समोर उल्गाद्तोय असा वाटू लागते. त्यामध्ये राजू दादाची वर्णनं ऐकून कधी उंबरठा ओलांडणारे महाराज दिसू लागतात तर कधी शिद्द्याची पावले आत पडण्याची दुखद घटना दिसते. अश्याच घटनांना बघत बघत आम्ही गंगासागराकडे पोहोचलो. काही वेळ थांबलो, सावलीत विसावलो आणि होळीच्या माळाच्या दिशेने चालू लागलो. महाराजांना मुजरा केला आणि बाजारपेठेजवळ पोहोचलो.इथे रमा ताईने गरम गरम उपमा दिला. पोटभरून खाल्ला आणि MTDC च्या dormitory च्या दिशेने निघालो. तिथे sack ठेवल्या आणि फक्त camera आणि पाण्याची बाटली घेऊन गाड्फेरीला निघालो.

सर्व प्रथम गडावरच्या पावन कुशावर्त तलावाच्या दिशेने निघालो. वाडेश्वराच्या मंदिरात बसलो. कुशावर्ताचा आणि विक्रम दळवी याच्या तीरांदागीची गोष्ट ऐकली. वाडेश्वराला वंदन केलं आणि वाघ दरवाजा पाहायला कुशावार्ताबाजून निघालो. राजू दादा म्हणाला होतं की इथे एक गोमुख आहे कुठेतरी. ते गेल्या दोन्ही खेपेला पाहिचे राहून गेले होते. यां वेळेस मात्र ते नक्की शोधायचे आणि हा निश्चय करूनच उतरलो. कुशावर्त पाठी राहिला होता पण गोमुख काही दिसेना. परत वर येताना बघू असे म्हणालो आणि वाघ दरवाज्याच्या दिशेने उतरलो. २० मिनिटं उतरून झाल्यावर काश्याचेतरी अवशेष दिसू लागले होते.

पण थोडा पुढे गेल्यावर ते झाडीत लपून दिसेनाशे झाले. याला रायगडाचा चोर दरवाजा का म्हणतात ते व्यवस्तीत काळात होतं आता. झाडातून लपंडाव खेळत एकदाचे पोहोचलो इथे. राजू दादाने इथून राजाराम महाराज कशे पाळले त्याची गोष्ट सांगितली होती. कसा तो वीर उतरला असेल. कारण इथून खाली उतरणे केवळ अशक्यच आहे. इथे न पायर्या आहेत न पायवाट. इथे आहे तर फक्त खोल दरी. सरळ कडा जो उतरतो खोल दरीमध्ये.

इथूनच राजाराम महाराजांना दोरखंडाने खाली उतरवण्यात आलं होतं. आता इथे थंड गार वाऱ्याची झुळूक येत होती. हा वाराच भिंतो रक्तात आणि तयार होतात तानाजी येसाजी सारखे खंदे वीर गडी. इथेच काही वेळ काढला आणि माघारी फिरलो. वर जात होतो कुशावार्ताच्या दिशेने. तेव्हाच लक्ष थोडा उजव्या बाजूला गेलं. आम्हाला हवी असलेली वाट डाव्याहातला होती. इथेच कसले तरी छोटेशे दगड रचल्या सारखे वाटले.जवळ जाऊन बघितला तर इथेच होतं ते गोमुख.

कुशावार्तने स्वतःहून गोमूखाच दर्शन घडवलं होतं आम्हाला.त्याचे photo काढले आणि पुढे जातना ते आमच्यापैकी कोणी शोधले या गोष्टीवरून भांडत भांडत परत वाडेश्वर मंदिरापर्यंत जाऊन पोहोचलो. इथून आलेली वाट न घेता दुसरी उजवी वाट घेतली.या वाटेने जाताना हंबीरराव मोहिते या मातब्बर सेनापतीचा वाडा बघितला. इथेच सावकाराचा वाडा, मोरोपंत पिंगळे तसाच सोनोपंत डबीर यांचे वाडे आहेत. एवढे वाडे जवळपास असल्याकारणाने या मंदिराला वाडेश्वर असे नाव ठेवण्यात आले आहे.
ऊन चटके देत होतं. परत वर बाजारपेठेपर्यंत येऊन पोहोचलो. जवळच्या एका गाव्काराच्या घरी आमची जेवणाची सोय केली होती. तिथे जाऊन जेवण वगैरे आटपून पुन्हा गडफेरी आरंभली. आता टकमक टोकाच्या दिशेने निघालो. वाटेत लिंबू सरबत प्यायलो.टकमकला जाण्याआधी २ दारू कोठारं बघितली. टकमकवर काही लोक rappeling करत होते. त्यामुळे इथे एक वेगळाच गोंधळ चालू होता. त्यामुळे त्यांना जास्त त्रास न देता आम्ही २-३ फोटो काढून माघारी फिरलो. आता पोहोचलो कोळीम तलावाकडे. हा गडावरचा एक मोठा तलाव आहे. कोळीमच्या काठावर बसून छत्री निजामपुरची गोष्ट ऐकली. साडे पाच वाजले होते.आता जाग्देश्वराच्या दिशेने निघालो. तिथे काही शाळकरी मुलांची सहल आली होती.

त्या गोंधळात काही फोटो काढले आणि मनोमन जाग्देश्वाराला वंदन करून महाराजंच्या समाधी पाशी गेलो.महाराजांच्या पद्स्प्रशाने पावन झालेली पायरी उतरलो आणि चिरनिद्रेत निजलेल्या महाराजांपाशी नतमस्तक झालो.

हिरोजी इंदुल्कारांच्या नावाची पायरी बघितली व तिथलाच शिलालेख ही वाचला. पुढे वाघ्याची समाधी पहिली. समोर असलेलं भवानी टोक साद घालत होता.गेल्या दोन वेळी इतवार येऊन परत फिरव लागलं होत. या वेळेस भवानी टोक बघायचच असं ठरवलं आणि सांगितल तसा राजू दादाला. तो म्हणाला अगोदर बारा टाकी पाहू मग जाऊ भवानी टोकाला. तसेच भराभर बारा टाकी पर्यंत पोहोचलो. या भागात देखील मी अगोदर कधी आलो नव्हतो. इथून दरी थोडी जासतच खोल वाटत होती. दरी मध्ये पूर्ण हिरवळ होती. जवळच एक दारू कोठार होत. या इथे बरीच पाण्याची टाकी आहेत. काही छोटी तर काही मोठी. बारा आहेत की नाही ते मोजले नाहीत. पण असतीलही.
सूर्य मावळतीला झुकत होता आणि नाही म्हटला तरी भवानी टोक कमीत कमी २ किलोमीटर तरी नक्कीच असेल. पण आता नाही गेलो तर अजून बरेच दिवस थांबव लागेल हे ठाऊक होत. त्यामुळे भिडलो त्या दिशेला.वाट सुक्या गवतातून होती. इथवर फार कमी लोक येतात. त्यामुळे इथे पायवाट नाही आहे. आहेत तर फक्त ढोरवाटा. ही वाट काढत काढत कधी कधी तर धावत पळत पोहोचलो एकदाचे त्या टोकाला. आता इथे थोडावेळ बसून परत फिरायचं असं ठरवलं. इतक्यात एक गावकरी लांबून शीळ वाजवत चालला होता. आम्ही त्या शिळेला साद दिली आणि त्याने विचारला " पाहुन , भवानी मंदिरात यता काय ? " मी कोणाकडे न बघता त्याच्या पाठी निघालो. जर दुसर्यांना विचारल असत तर कोणी तयार नसतं झालं. मी पुढे गेल्यावर त्यांना पाठून येण भाग होतं.आता तर खाली उतरायच होतं. बराच वेळ खाली उतरत उतरत गेलो. जवळ पास १५ मिनिटांनी एका छोट्याश्या दगडाच्या खोबणीत ते मंदिर होतं. तिथे नतमस्तक होऊन इथवर यायची सोय केल्या बद्दल आभार मानले व माघारी फिरलो. आता लक्ष्य होतं ते जगदेश्वर मंदिराच आणि ते सुद्धा सूर्यास्त होण्या अगोदर.
वर येणारी वाट एकदम निमुळती होती. एका वेळेस एकच व्यक्ती चालू शकेल अशी ती वाट आहे. तिथून थोड जपून वर आलो आणि नंतर सुटलो जाग्देश्वराच्या दिशेने. डाव्या हाताला सूर्य मावळत होता.भगवा रंग आकाशात चाहु बाजूने पसरला.

दूरवर नागर्खान्याची आकृती त्या भगव्या रंगात दिसत होती. तो भगवा रंग जणू मराठ्यांचा आपला भगवा असल्यासारखा भासत होता. त्या रंगाच्या पार्श्वभूमीत जाग्देश्वाराचा फोटो काढला आणि धावत सुटलो परत. कसे-बसे पोहोचलो जगदेश्वर पर्यंत. तिथून आणखी १५ मिनिटात पोहोचलो आमच्या वसतिगृहाकडे.
हात पाय धुतले आणि थोडा आराम केला. कपडे बदलले आणि चक्क आम्ही पत्ते खेळत बसलो. त्या नंतर थोड्यावेळाने आमचं जेवण आलं. पिठलं भाकरी खाऊन बाहेर अंगणात गेलो. मस्तपैकी चांदण्या चमकत होत्या आकाशात. त्या चांदण्यात गप्पा मारत बसलो. काही वेळाने मला झोप अनावर झाली आणि मी परत जाऊन माझ्या थकलेल्या शरीराला हवा असलेला आराम दिला.
सकाळी ५ वाजता उठलो ते कुठल्याश्या पोवाड्याच्या सुरांनी. उठल्या उठल्या मयूरला उठवल. सर्व प्रातःकालीन विधी पूर्ण केल्या आणि होळीच्या मालावर जायला निघालो. वाड्य्तातून बाहेर पडलो आणि होळीच्या माळावर जाऊन पोहोचलो. महाराजांना सुप्रभात बोलून फोटो काढले आणि परत मेघ्दाम्बारीच्या दिशेने निघालो. सिंहासनाकडे सगळे हजर होते.शिवाप्रर्थाना आटपून आम्ही वाडा पाहायला निघालो. राजू दादा प्रत्येक जागा व त्याच महत्व समजाऊन सांगत होता. मनोरे पहिले, अष्टप्रधान मंडळाचे कार्यालय पहिले, टाकसाळ, राणीवसा आणि अशे बरेच वास्तूंचे अवशेष पाहून बाजारपेठेत पोहोचलो. परत त्या गावकरच्या घरी जेऊन गड उतरू लागलो. वेळ कमी असल्याकारणाने आम्ही नानेदारवाज्याने न जाता पायरया उतरून गेलो.

महादरवाज्याला परत यायचे वचन देऊन बाहेर पडलो. नन्तर परतीच्या वाटेने जाताना पाचाडला जिजाऊसाहेबांचा आशीर्वाद घेतला.तर अशी माझी रायगड वारी समाप्त झाली. गेल्या ३ वर्षात हि माझी ३री वेळ रायगडला यायची. हा गड आपलासा करून सोडतो. परत पावलं या दिशेने वळल्यावाचून राहत नाहीत.

Duke's Nose

2010-11-26T14:55:00.000+05:30

After wrapping up the prelims it was time to take some breather from studies and let our feet do the talking for a change. So we Duke’s nose was decided.
We reached lonavala at 8 o clock in the morning. Soon the rest of the group gathered. When a head count was done it said 25! That was a good score. We were excited about this one. I had heard a lot about this trek. Duke’s nose can be seen easily while travelling on Mumbai-Pune expressway. They are actually two hills side by side. The taller one is called the Dukes Nose and the shorter one Duchess. From lonavala we hired a mini bus to take us to the base village. Songs were sung in the bus and among all this merry making we didn’t know when the time flew by and we reached our destination. We could see the nose from a far away distance. There was a huge plain land full of muck to cross before the beginning of the actual climb (if u could really call it a climb!).
We wrapped up with the introductions right here itself. Once it was done we had the green flag to get the machine running in its top gear. We were rushing towards the peak. The walk was calm hardly some climb and we were at the base of dukes nose. We were pretty much confused as to which one is the Duke’s nose! It appeared very small from here. Nevertheless we started our climb. It was fine one.
The sun was shinning brightly and it was nice for indulging in some photography. As the height didn’t seem much we were walking at a pace comfortable to everyone. While climbing up we met a group who were climbing down. They said that visit the duchess first then proceed to dukes. We agreed. The way going up to there was through dense tall grass rather bushes. They were as high as 5 feet in some places. Making our way through them we reached a small ridge protruding into the valley below us. When we first reached there we could see the Duke’s nose peeping out of clouds. It appeared divine. Everyone had their photos snapped out here. It was a nice scene. There were clouds all over behind and we could hardly make out the depth from here. The dukes standing tall now due to passing of clouds seemed beautiful. After spending a nice half an hour here we proceeded towards the Duke’s.
The climb was very easy. We reached the Duke’s top in next 15 minutes. We could see the duchess from here. There were a couple of our fellow trekkers still on duchess. We clicked their pictures while they clicked ours. In next half an hour we all were huddled together on the top of Duke’s nose for a group photo. We reached there by 10:30 am. Here is a small temple of Lord Shiva. We offered our prayers here and retreated. We had lot of time now. After having a sumptuous lunch in the shade we proceeded towards Khandala. But before that we had a nice entertainment show. We sang songs, danced and cracked jokes. It was just like a bonfire but without a bon fire.
When we got down we saw some small rock walls. As a “trekkerly” instinct we decided to give it a try and have some “adventurous” photos clicked. One by one most of us tried varied routes and various methods on these walls. It was nice fun out here. Fooling around this place for around 45 minutes we moved on. Now we had our sights trained towards Khandala. We were moving through grasslands and huge trees. It was nice and cool. There were small streams flowing. The fields were lush green. We had limited water resources with us. So we decided to give this water a try. The water from the stream was extremely tasty. It had a tinge of sweetness to it. After quenching our thirsts and filling our water bottles we moved on. The route was through nice fields and grasslands. We had ample opportunity to shoot pictures. I clicked pictures till the time I had no battery left in my camera. It paid off as my pictures won the best photograph and also the second runner up photograph in the competition later organized by our group.
On our way to Khandala we met torrential rains. It was raining heavily. Now the place appeared more serene and beautiful. We reached the dam by 5 pm. Out here we had some breakfast from what was left with us. Here we met a dog. He was a young dog and ate nothing but sweets! He ate SONPAPDI but didn’t touch IDLI CHUTNEY. We had a nice time with him. We reached highway in another 20 minutes and then took a ST Ride to Panvel. From here we took a train to Thane and then this was the end of trek!
The trek finished as soon as it had began. It was the shortest and the smallest trek I had ever done. Nevertheless it was a fine trek. Enjoyed to the fullest.

11 FRIENDS 17 HOURS AND AN AWFULL TREK TO LOHGAD

2010-11-22T12:48:00.002+05:30

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

Parsik – Rocking Around

2010-11-06T16:50:00.002+05:30

After a long hiatus from trekking- a month, the Parsik range was teasing me from my window. Every time I sat on my sofa I could see the raw masculine ranges in front of me. So just couldn’t bear to stay away for long and so planned for a trek to Parsik-new route. In the early stages of planning had around 10 people, but as usual with Giri Shishya Hikers the number came down to – 7.
Early morning another Parsik ritual-waiting!!!!! Met Tej, Manali, Mayur, Akshay and Surya at the bus stop. Prasad was yet to come and he came a good hour late. So the trek began at 9am. We walked to the base of the Parsik hills and then cleared the hutment area.
Once we cleared that area the first challenge was to climb through a small patch which was full of loose soil. Tej and Prasad cleared the area without first. I followed them but my first step was recorded with the soil lump giving away! So carefully I climbed up. Akshay also tried but wasn’t successful so he came by another route. Now Manali and Surya were left to clear this area. Due to Manali’s shortcomings she wasn’t able to do it. So yet another route was found. With a bit of helping hand even she was standing with us. Now the route was through thick vegetation. We had to make way through dense tall grass. All the dried leaves were scratching our skins out. It was difficult to move around. We were doing the best to our levels. We were trying to make a proper route for rest of the team to follow. I and Prasad were at the beginning leveling the route. After climbing through this sort of terrain we reached a semi flat region. It was clear of the tall grass but still our ankles were in grass. After resting here for sometime and refreshing ourselves with a water break. Once done with it we moved towards the base of the pinnacle. The route was still grassy and more difficult as we were climbing on a ridge and the thick grass was hampering our ability to guess the edges of the ridge. I had did this route for a couple of times now so was pretty much used to it. In about next 20 minutes we were at the base of the patch that we were supposed to do. Half of the team was at the top and the other half below. This was the first time that we were climbing and recording on a video camera!
I had tried this patch earlier but had returned after doing halfway. This time I was determined to go all the way. So it was mayur, Akshay and Manali at the top of the rock patch and tej, surya and prasad at the base. Gave Tej and surya some instructions on how to record in a camera and I began the climb.
The patch could be divided into three regions. The first region was a proper big crack in the feature. Using it we could easily complete the first region. This was the part I had done earlier. It didn’t pose any problem at all. The second region was a bit tricky. There were quite a bit of grass growing it the small crevices in the feature. Due to it some of the good strong holds had been weakened. In here, there were two routes by which we could approach the third region. The route going by the right side had a few strong holds but we had to traverse to the left side eventually as there was a bit of overhang situation on the right side. So keeping the holds in mind I preferred going by the right side route. There were some undercuts and slobs in this route. After moving through them I reached the overhang. At this point I had to traverse to the left side. I was a bit nervous but was confident enough that I can do it-guts and glory all the way. So steadily I made my move. Making sure that every hold was strong and could take my complete body I slowly started shifting towards the left side. Once I was clear of the overhang using my shoulders I got on top of the rock forming the overhang. This was the end of second region. Out here there was considerable place for me to stand comfortably. I was just one step away from the summit. The problem over here was there was just a very small crack. There was hardly any other hold available. It was just like a plain wall. Over here I jammed my right feet somehow into this crack and jammed left hand in between two rocks overlapping each other. Using my right hand on a slob hold I pulled myself up and here I was! It was done.
I had dreamt of doing this rock patch for quite sometime. I had been here numerous times but this was an altogether different way and route. It was a different kind of high. It was like a “nasha”. I had to do it. The rush of adrenaline was incomparable to anything. For the last 15 minutes I was negotiating a route through rocks and I had finally succeded. I was on top among nature with my friends what else could a guy like me want to have! This was heaven. After spending sometime and looking back at what I had done felt amazing. Soon I was down doing the camera work for Tej, Prasad and Surya who also did the rock patch successfully. Once everyone was together it was celebration! We had some eatables and then retreated.
Thus came to an end one of the most endearing treks of my life.

Parsik ...........Let The Rains Come

2010-08-04T16:13:00.002+05:30

Thanks to my dear younger cousin sister Aasawari. No planning at all was done. Circumstances came together and I got a nice team of 14 people.
Saturday night was a pretty hectic one. I was being bombarded with calls from anyone and everyone. Some where interested in knowing if the trek was on, what was the reporting time and all such questions. The imminent rains were casting a bad shadow on the trek but we were imminent about rocking around.
So in the morning we met at Kalwa station. From there we proceeded towards base of the hills we were going to trek. I was pleased as most of the time the number of members in the team doesn’t exceed 10 so having 14 people with me was a nice experience. We had quite a few amateurs with us. We started the trek at around 9am. I had decided to take the regular route due the presence of amateurs. But I had no idea that this regular route would not be so “regular” anymore. The way was through huge grass and due to it the route was not so visible. We were moving ahead by trial and error method. Once we reached the groove well known to us we moved confidently. The route was nothing as I had expected it to be. It was very slippery and a small stream of water was flowing from here. We had all the muck on our feet. Tej was opening the route for around 30 minutes. But later I had to call him back to support the newcomers. So it was aniket another newcomer opening the route now! He was pretty excited and Prasad was encouraging him and guiding him in the way. I was helping Aasawari climb. She was an amateur and was really having a very hard time. She once pulled Tej down when he was supporting her! The rocks were pretty unstable and getting a grip was very difficult. Our feet were almost buried in the muck at every step. We were climbing the groove for over an hour now and still had done 70% of it. This patch is usually done in around 45 minutes by us. Having a very bad time we were moving up and ahead but at snails pace. Soon Prasad was called back too. He had almost gone the complete distance and came back just to help others. So after struggling through this patch for around an hour and half we reached the top! Once here, everyone was checking the bruises or the damage their body had taken.
Over here the weather was awesome. A strong wind was blowing and a light drizzle had started. We first of all cleaned the muck of our soles for a better grip from here on. Then it was time for photo session. Clicked some nice photographs here. Then we climbed the antenna over here. These are the reflectors atop the hill. Atop them it was still a nice feeling. Soon other guys joined us and then it was howling going up there. After spending some time here we moved towards the main destination- the Parsik Pinnacle. Now for sometime there was no climb at all. We were moving on huge carpets of green. A stroll of around 20 minutes took us to the waterfall which we were going to enjoy later on in the trek. After spending a couple of minutes here we started our move towards the base of the pinnacle. The way over here was a bit difficult. The way was slippery and we had to be extra careful. Slow and steadily we reached the base in another half an hour.
Now the huge pinnacle rock was ahead in front of us. As if it was balanced on the edge. It gave us a nice stiff challenge. The wind was pretty strong now. Half of us didn’t believe that we were going to climb this. Tej was asking us that should we really do it. I was hell bent on doing this. So a small group was formed who would take the pinnacle. It was I, Tej, Prasad, Mayur, AJ, Rohan, Manali, Harshada and Sukhada.
So we nine people kept our bags with others and moved towards the pinnacle. We had small photo session here too. Then we divided ourselves into groups of two and one group of three. Tej wanted to lead with Rohan. I would be covering them with AJ. Once Rohan and AJ are done we would bring the other guys up. So making this rough strategy we made the move. Tej quickly negotiated the first and second patch. From here the going got difficult and Rohan who was backing Tej nicely had some difficulties. I was covering him up and so with some suggestions from he went up fine. Now it was the dreaded patch. There is just one hold in here and it was difficult with the air and rains. Tej made his way steadily up this patch. Once he was up he helped Rohan through that patch. Mean while I helped AJ reach this point and then went back to bring Mayur and Manali. When I reached back to the third patch with Mayur and Manali AJ was already besides Rohan and Tej. Now it was time for Mayur to go. He too crossed over and reached the base of the dreaded patch. Out here the velocity of wind had increased. My t shirt had fluffed up like a hot air balloon. Mayur had some problems and decided to call it a day. After that conditions worsened. Rain gods were attacking us water bullets. In these conditions Mayur, Manali, Harshada and Sukhada decided to go back. So it was me and Prasad who were left. Mayur was round the corner providing moral support. Now it was me who was on the rocks. The raindrops were hitting my face like small pebbles. The wind wasn’t letting me open an eye. It was horrific conditions up there. So I stayed as it for sometime-waiting for the rains to drain a bit and winds to reduce. After some moments I had conditions near about to what I wanted but not exact. So I took my chance and moved. I had two under holds on the rock above and one hold near my feet. This meant my one leg had no hold to hold on to. The hold that Tej and others had used while climbing up was now filled with water due to the rain. So it was out of question. So keeping a strong hold on the three points which I had I pulled up on the upper holds and made some way for the free leg to get in the previous hold and other leg in a higher hold. In this manner I crossed the dreaded patch. Following me Prasad too tired but again the rains lashed him. In next ten minutes he was through and we were on the pinnacle! We were screaming our throats off. Wind was pushing us down the valley. It had great force. We sat down and clicked some pictures. Listened to songs like “Shoor amhi sardar amhala kaay kunachi bhiti” and started our move down. If climbing up was bad then climbing down was worse. This was the ultimate test of what I call “calm and composure”. After carefully and safely making our way back to were everyone was waiting we heaved a sigh of relief. There were mixed reactions coming up. Some were thank full that they were alive while some people who hadn’t been there wanted to have a go. Ad mist all this we started moving towards our next place to visit-the “Shiv mandir”.
The way was through dense forest and it was raining very heavily. We were having fun in this situation. There was no climb just plain walking now. Jokes were being cracked and comments passed on them. During all this we missed the turn we were supposed to take and ended up at a dead end. So now it was time for some customized road making. Tej as usual the expert in this job was opening. The plantation was so thick that we couldn’t see the guy moving in front of us. We were mocking Tej that we were playing hide and seek due to him. This patch lasted for some 15 minutes. Then we were on the right road. From here, we made it to the temple in 15 minutes. It was serene over here. We said our prayers and moved on towards the spot were we were supposed to have our lunch. After reaching this spot and having lunch we moved towards the next spot.
This is the spot everyone was waiting to see as I had an awesome photograph as my display picture in various networking sites. That photo was clicked on this spot. During this part everyone was dead tired. But still we were soldering on-never back down. So when we reached the spot it was photos galore. Everyone was having pictures and Tej was the official photographer. Having done with a huge photo session here we started descending towards the waterfall.
Waterfall was the place which everyone was waiting for. While climbing down the route was pretty steep and slippery due to the rains. Using some “ideas” we safely reached down in about 45 minutes. This was the road we had traveled while going towards the pinnacle. But alas our luck ran out. When we reached this spot there were a huge group already present out there. So it was decided to call it quits as we had some girls in our group. We showed our backs to the waterfall and moved towards our descending route. Still as I said our luck had run out for the day. We again headed into a spot which we thought was a dead end. Out here we faced a small but strong stream surrounded by dense trees. We could not see the path it was going by. The route seemed impossible. But going back to the route by which we had climbed would cost us an extra hour. I wanted to get the group back to ground zero before sunset. And again the route which we had climbed up gave us a hard time while climbing up so climbing down it would have been a nightmare. So I decided to take a chance and try this route. Tej joined me and we checked the route going down for around 200 meters. It seemed feasible. The only problem was the dense trees around. So while coming back we tried leveling out some trees so that the route could be made more “walk able”. I was drawing flak from all sides for taking this route but still with support from Tej I decided to stick to my decision. Soon we were climbing down a damn waterfall. This trek had thrown some awesome surprises and this was one of it. I was helping Aasawari who was having a hard time going through the paces. AJ was leading now with Abhishek and Aniket. He was making way by flattening some grass. This was one of the most exciting feelings I have had during various treks. After moving down steadily through this waterfall we reached ground by 4:30pm. It took us an amazing 1 and half hour to negotiate this part.
Thus our Parsik sojourn came to an end. I had some of the most beautiful experiences during this trek. We faced many difficulties and barriers but still came out stronger than those barriers. The team spirit rocked and was a major factor helping us in successful completion of this trek.

Karnala July 2010

2010-07-22T18:51:00.002+05:30

My official trekking group Giri Shishya Hikers was formed. As the first trek it was decided that we would be doing Manikgad with baba’s Sahyadri Trekkers. Plan was relayed and army was formed. But due to some unforeseen things we decided to change our trek to Karnala! This would be my fourth trek to Karnala. But still any trek with baba is worth a lifetime. I was game and so were my friends. Tej wanted to come but alas due to some problems he couldn’t manage to do it. Ninad was absent coz he was ill. Still trek was on and we were ready to lock and load.
As similar to prior trek to Matheran via Dodhani we left our home early and went to Panvel. Reporting was still on. We reached Panvel ST stand by 6:45am. Prasad was already present there. Soon Mayur, Manali and Ajinkya arrived. The other members also arrived after some time. In no time we had boarded a bus and were moving towards Karnala bird sanctuary. We reached there in next 20 minutes.
Over here we were supposed to meet three members -the Sawant family. We took the tickets and then moved ahead to see the bird enclosure. There was a peacock and a peahen, a parakeet, a rabbit and a hare in here. We took ample pictures of them. While we were doing so baba came along with the Sawant family. We had a quick breakfast of “idlis”. Then it was time for formal introductions. Once we were done with it we moved towards the rugged way.
We could hear the sound of stream nearby. So I moved towards that direction. This was not the way to the summit. I knew this but wanted to feel the cold stream there. We were opening the route and the rest of our team was behind. Now baba moved ahead with the rest of the team and we were left behind. After spending some in the stream we moved ahead. It was hardly matter of time before we were opening the route again. We could see the pinnacle peeking through the dense trees and it was an awesome sight! We were going pretty slow this being our first phase and all team members coming after long time. Last time I did Karnala we were just four young chaps and we made it to summit in and hour flat. So this was pretty slow. I had my regulars like Prasad, Manali and Mayur with me. In addition Ajinkya who was with me during last trek was also present. Rucha who was a new entry was also with us. So we super six were moving fast and then had to stop for rest of the team to arrive. It was tedious to wait for so long but is this time we all bonded together and experiences were exchanged, likes and dislikes were discussed and many such things.
Meanwhile, the senior team was behind and walking as fast as their legs could carry. Photographs were being clicked and jokes cracked. Sounds of jungle were over powered by the loud chatting of friends. Huffing and puffing they completed the first phase. Over here we met the whole team after almost and hour. Having some chocolates and having a look at Manikgad we moved on.
Mr. Sanjay Sawant was at the forefront now. He was having some problems with his knee but was still soldiering on. His daughter Aishwarya “Isha” Sawant was accompanying him. Even she had slipped somewhere and was nursing a sprained ankle. Hats of to the courage and determination showed by father-daughter duo. He used to ask me how much more climb is still remaining. And I kept on saying, “just one more patch then it is flat all the way”. This is what baba tells, “People work on hope and they will give it a try until they have hope. Once it is lost nothing remains”. So I was here providing hope. We were doing one patch after another and still there was no sign of any plains coming up. He was teasing me that there has been some change in the architecture of the fort. Some renovations are made. Ad mist of such jolly time we were climbing ahead. During this phase we had left the seniors to open the route so that we could push them ahead and speed up the proceedings.
After climbing for around an hour at normal speed we could see the thumb shaped pinnacle in front of us. Now it appeared at touching distance. Sighting of this pinnacle pumped new zest in the team. Everyone got charged up and we were moving ahead at express speed. Now everyone could see the hope staring in their faces. From here it was almost plains-ALMOST. We could see the surrounding nature and the valley below. Forts like Malangad, Manikgad and Prabalgad were playing hide and seek ad mist the black rainy clouds. The land was all green as long as we could se. It was a panoramic view. Nice cool wind was blowing. We were filling our lungs with as much oxygen as they could take. In today’s world, during our hectic schedules and polluted city air it is very difficult to breathe such pure air. Briskly walking for another half an hour we reached the Korlai Devi temple. It’s the resident deity of the fort. This the actual base from where we enter the fort. Once here casualties were attended. Mr. Sanjay Sawant decided to sit here and look over the operations. So to reduce our load some of us kept our bags with him.
First thing over here is a small patch. This was the first “so called” difficult patch in the whole trek. After negotiating it easily everybody was in high spirits. The second patch was done in the inertia of the moment. After entering the fort we had a small photo session. Then we moved on towards the stairs. This is where the difficulty came. While climbing the stairs there were a couple of stairs missing and so it created a huge void between two stairs. We guys were able to do it easily. But the problem was with the ladies department. They had a rough time negotiating this patch but soon we all were through. As a celebration we had a group picture here. Rest of the steps were cake walk compared to the previous. So in no time we were in the fort reading the grammatically wrong history of the fort. After this we sat near the huge caves dug in the base of the pinnacle. Some singing was done and I being no connoisseur of old songs moved on towards the edge. Soon we all super six were on the edge and facing the huge bouts of wind. Once singing was done we went to see the whole fort. Every view was awesome and every moment breathtaking. The greenery below was mind blowing. It was an awesome sight. I could have wished for nothing more. Father, friends, and peak of a trek what more do I need. This was heaven. We had some ladoos here and then retreated. When we left the door of the fort we sat for a group picture. I was thinking, this fort has been so nice to me. This is the fourth time I have been a guest here and always the fort has accepted me with open arms. I was wondering when I would have another chance to be here. Thinking of this I exited the door. But the destiny had some other plans.
We retreated to the temple where Sanjay kaka was waiting for us. Everyone wanted to tell their piece of story. I, baba and Mayur were the only people who had been here before. So everyone had their first time treks excitement. It was nice. Soon we had lunch with talks about cool wind and panoramic views. Once we were done with lunch I was roaming around with Mayur. Over here we found an alternative way to bypass the patch due to which Sanjay kaka had not come up! So we returned and convinced him to come with us as long as he could take. He was game for it and we moved on. I was happy that soon everyone from our group could be on the summit. It was easier than I thought it would be. We were on the summit in next half an hour and feeling the small droplets on our faces. After spending a good 15 minutes on the summit it was time to go as the sky was dark and it would rain now at any moment. We hurried down and as we reached the temple were everyone was waiting for us there were cheers among the group. Even the clouds were happy and wept tears of joy. We cuddled up in our windcheaters and retreated from the fort.
During descending we were met with torrential rains. The sounds of the jungle were awe inspiring. It felt like the nature would overpower us when just we six people lost our way. The woods were dark and we missed a turn and headed into the dense woods off road. The rains made finding the way even more difficult. We were wading through muck and low hanging tree branches. But we were able to make our way to the proper road soon. Once on the proper way I heaved a deep sigh of relief. Now we moved more smoothly. The muck and the water were making it difficult for Ajinkya. His shoes were not helping him. He was walking barefoot now. Swiftly we climbed down and reached the stream which we had visited during ascending. It had more water now. We were soon enjoying here. A good twenty minutes later baba joined us. He was alone and the rest of the group was moving a tad too slow. They joined us in next 15 minutes and we made our way out of the forest bidding Karnala an adios.
Sawant family gave me and Parsad a lift till Kalwa. So chatting up with Isha and her mother we reached Kalwa in about an hour. Thus the trek came to an end with plans for a next trek brewing in every body’s minds.

Day 6

2010-07-09T23:02:00.000+05:30

After having a warm and cozy sleep it was very difficult to get up. After some time baba called me and I had to leave the bed. After completing the daily chores I walked up into the lawns around the manor. It was a perfect day for photography. So out came my camera. There were some beautiful flowers around. It was a delight to have these favorable conditions so close to comfort.
Soon breakfast was served. After having boiled eggs for breakfast we chatted with owner of manor. He was telling us about the resort he is developing uphill. He was building an infinity pool there which was going to be the major attraction in that area. So we decided to go to the site. It was a beautiful there. We could see the mighty Bramhaputra River below. It was flowing with an audacity that commanded awe and respect. After spending some time here we moved on to the tea gardens. During this time Mr. Date had catastrophe! He mistakenly deleted all the photos in the memory of his camera. It seemed like we were going to lose some memories. It was a beautiful experience in the tea gardens. The trees were not so big. We also visited a Kamakhya mata mandir in nearby. Over here we even performed aarti in Marathi. There was a guy name Ravi with us. He was acting as our guide and translator. He was telling us various things about tea gardens. We interacted with some of the tea plucking ladies there. They gave us there baskets for snapping some pictures. It was great the way they plucked the leaves and all. We tried it but failed utterly. Soon it was time to head back to the manor.
Once in the manor we spent some time resting in the lounge and on the lawns. After having our lunch we had a small afternoon siesta. In late afternoon we were moving towards Kaziranga national park for jeep safari. On reaching Kaziranga we found two jeeps waiting for us. We soon boarded the jeep and were just into the forest when our jeep stopped. On right side of our jeep around 50feets away was a one horned rhino! We never expected to spot one so easily and so early. In another jeep in front of us there was a foreign tourist family. The amazing thing about them was that the guy in that family was carrying a camera with its lens so big that even a bomb canon would be ashamed of itself! Soon they went the other way. We were spotting rhino is the tall grass around. Even some elephants were present there. But we could not get a close fine look as they were hidden in tall grass. But we kept on moving. After traveling for around an hour and finding nothing specific we decided to retrace our tracks. While going back we had a wireless message saying that one rhino was on the road and to be careful. On hearing this we moved swiftly towards that spot but with caution. We were disappointed to see the rhino just moving into the grass. We were disheartened. But soon fate had something else in store for us. Just a few feet away there was another rhino! He was almost as if posing for the shutterbugs. It was awesome. I think I got almost 20-25 pictures of the rhino. It was breathtaking. For the first time I have seen some wild animal so close in his natural habitat. The animal commanded respect. After about 20 minutes he moved away. We went ahead towards a watch post nearby. From here we could see the banks of Bramhaputra. It was a fine view. We were mind-boggled. There were animals in the swamp on the other side of the river. We could see them move but could not make out as to what they were. They looked like swamp deer. Over here there is a watch post. Just besides it there is a stack of skulls of rhino, wild buffalo, and deer. It was awesome. The teeth in the skull were like just out of a horror film. Even a normal photo of them looked like a macro picture. After spending some time here we moved on. Now the sun was almost setting and it looked as if it would rain any moment now so we hurried back to our waiting car and moved towards the manor. Once in the manor the rain started pouring. I was sitting in a small closed balcony type room. Reading a novel in that dimly lit room and then feeling the actual thrill from the novel in reality. After spending a good hour and half we moved on for dinner.
After the tasty dinner we toured the manor at night! It was like a guided tour. The changes that are carried out in the manor now and many other things were shone to us by the owner. He was an amicable man. So the night ended with a group photograph with him and us sleeping pretty in our warm cozy beds.

Matheran via Dodhani

2010-07-06T22:13:00.000+05:30

After a long hiatus from trekking which seemed forever I finally got an opportunity to regain ground lost during non-trekking season and what could have been a better thing than trekking with baba!
Formerly I asked baba for permission to trek kalsubai on the coming Sunday and I was pleasantly surprised to know that baba himself was organizing a trek to Matheran! Half of my group was already ready to go so it was no big deal in assembling a team. Plans were relayed regular lieutenants like Prasad Dingankar, Tej Khadka were standing by my sides. Mayur Dorkar occasionally accompanied me was game on for this. Sanket Haldankar - Tej’s friend was also coming and so were his couple of friends. Surprise package for this trek was Ankush Pisal- Prachi Tai’s (my sisters) best friend and now my common friend -who is a fine and experienced trekker was also coming. So with this group joining into baba’s group was like a dream come true for me.
Trek began on Sunday morning. We left my place at 4:45am and went to Kalwa junction. From there we took a bus ride to Panvel. During the journey I was getting reports of various people coming by various means and their advancement towards Panvel ST Stand -our meeting spot. We reached Panvel at 6:15am. Over here still some people were still reporting. Over here we met a guy. He was going to Chanderi for a trek with a group called “Trek Mates”. He had traveled from Pune to Panvel for a one day trek. He was waiting for two hours for his group to arrive. That’s the commitment we trekkers show towards our treks. After chatting with him for sometime he met his group and we met ours so we bid him goodbye and wished him luck for his trek.
I met Tej and rest of the people soon. In next half an hour our group had assembled and now we were waiting for our bus to arrive. This bus was going to take us to Dodhani village from where we were going to begin our trek. It took almost another hour for the bus to arrive. Mean while we were chatting and introductions were being done. Match between Germany and Argentina last night was being discussed with fervor. Experiences of previous treks and plans for future treks were being shared. It was bonding time and was well spent. When the bus arrived we eagerly boarded the bus and were on our way. The bus was like a chartered bus as we were the only passengers in it. Soon we were amongst the nature. Mountains on all the sides and slight drizzle were everything we were asking for and we were having it. Ride of half an hour or so took us to our destination.
We didn’t waste any time in getting started. The beginning of the climb was easy. Once we were through with the first base we had our introduction sessions. After this we celebrated 43rd birthday of Mr. Eknath Janardhan Marathe. This was done in proper “marathmoli” style. We had replaced the cake with “sheera”-a Marathi delicacy. After finishing the celebrations we moved on with trek. It was still drizzling and we were wearing our windcheaters and all. Everyone was busy photographing. Most of us had some or the other camera with us. We had a 14MP camera as well as a 1.3 MP camera in our group. The terrain was through fields and flats. We moved through this for another half an hour and rains stopped. Rains were gone but still it was cloudy-perfect for trekking not for photography. Our windcheaters were soon packed in our sacks. By now the difficulty level had increased and the fungal growth on stones did not make our trek any easy. Fine climate was the only plus we had. By now the amateurs in our group were getting a “feel” of trek. Sweat was embedded on our brows. I had Tej, Mayur, Prasad and Ankush with me. We were at the tail to take care that no one was left behind. As the rains had stopped I was busy with my photography. We were posing for photographs and all. It was jolly time. An hour had passed and we had gained some height by now. Soon we encountered a rock patch. It was not very big but considerable enough. The only worrying factor was that it was all wet due to the recent rains and to add to our woes there was some prominent fungal growth in here. But the experienced senior lot took care of the amateurs and when we were here it was clear coast for us to fool around! So some damn fake posses and some real ones too we moved on. By now we could not see anything below us due to the fog. We could not calculate the amount of climb that was still remaining. Some of us were dead tired and were taking frequent halts. This slackened the pace but still it was all fine as we were almost done with the climbing part.
Very soon we reached sunset point of Matheran. It was covered all in fog and we could not see anything here so we moved on to other points worth seeing. We had lunch and a huge photography session on Louisa as well as Malang point. From Louisa point we could see some magnificent waterfall flowing from the rock face in front of us. It was an amazing view. After having a group photograph on lion’s head point we moved on towards other points. After roaming in Matheran for another half an hour we moved towards to sunset point and rested here for around 15 minutes and then started our descend. Descend was much more difficult as the stones were damn slippery and we were hot due to sun. After climbing down for an hour and half we reached the waterfall that we had encountered while climbing up. Soon we shunned our wet T-shirts and were ad mist the cool flowing water. The water was hitting us with a strong force. We were sitting bare back in it and getting massaged by rampaging water! We had another photo session of about 45 minutes in this water. It was a heavenly experience. After spending about an hour we were dressed up again in fresh clothes and were moving down towards village. We were near the fields when baba heard sound of an approaching ST and we were all running towards the village. Once there we had another chartered ST waiting for us! Soon we called it a trek.
As with all treks had some beautiful memories and made great friends. Missed some other friends like my brothers Ninad & Shivendu and friends from college. But all is well that ends well.

Marvelous Matheran

2010-07-06T22:09:00.001+05:30

Maharashtra is one the most gifted states in India. It has diversity in its roots. It has been witness and a gauge to measure the progressive change of India. Along with the financial value, it has abundant nature in it too. Maharashtra is blessed with long coastline as well as tall and wide mountain ranges. One such mountain range is Matheran. As the name suggests “Mathe-ran”- Forest on the hilltop. I have been here more than a couple of times when I was a kid. But still I leapt at a chance to visit it once again with my uncle, aunties and two cousins.
On the previous night I had bid adieu to my sister who was leaving for Bangalore after her marriage. I came home late at night and due to prior commitments was awake till 1am in the morning! After getting some sleep I woke up again at 6 am as I had to leave for Matheran. I was to meet Vijay kaka and his family at Thane station. We were going to board the local to Neral. This is the place at the foot of Matheran. I met them at thane and boarded the local. We previously thought that the local was 12 coach but on its arrival we realized that it was 9 coach and so had to run to get our local and hush! We succeeded in boarding the local. The train was not jam packed but there was no place for us to sit. I was the first one to get a seat. There was a guy sitting just next to where I was standing. I have no clue what happened. He just got up saying that I was standing for long time and gave me the seat. I was not at all in a condition to reject his offer. I hurriedly sat. I took the bag Atharva was carrying and slept on it with my head placed on it. I slept very quickly and woke up only after a nice hour and half’s sleep. When we got down at Neral station it was pretty much crowded and I was damn sleepy. We met Shivendu and aunt Seema over here. Had a vada pav and got into the mini train which was going to take us to Matheran.
The train was anything but comfortable, largely due to the Gujrati family and their baggage lying in a haphazard manner throughout the compartment. After two hours of journey in the train we reached Matheran. The view from the train was awesome. We could see some of the forts in the Karjat region. The deep valleys were breath taking. The job done by the railway people has to be applauded. While in the train, I took loads of pictures. It was really an awesome experience minus the comfort of course.
When we reached Matheran our guest house was a nice and comfortable one. We had “kheema” brought by Aunt Seema. After having lunch I was dying to sleep. Past week of festivities and the prior exhausting night was too much for me to handle. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Very soon I slept and was the last one to get up for breakfast. After eating some junk we left of for sight seeing.
Kaka had given us a small map consisting of various points worth seeing in Matheran. We decided to visit the points which were nearby. First point we saw was Charlotte Lake. This is a dam used for various needs in Matheran. There is a cliff just adjacent to it overlooking deep valley beneath it. In front of us we could see the sun setting and the panoramic view just took away all the tiredness from me. After spending some time here watching the sun disappear behind a hill we started retracing our footsteps towards market. By now it was dark. We could just see outlines of each other. We were chatting and having fun. Sounds coming from the jungle surrounding us were thrilling. We were also playing some soft music from time to time. After walking for an hour or so we reached the market. By now Aunt Seema and Manisha were dead tired. We had lunch at a small place called Suyog. To my benefits the food was spicy and I really loved it. But Shivendu who is not as fond of spicy food was pissed of. After roaming around for some more time in the market we started moving back towards our guest house. The station of the mini train was very much nearby. We sat chatting for sometime in the train itself. It was dark inside the train but it was cool. Light breeze was blowing. After spending a nice cozy half an hour we decided to call it a night. Once we reached home we were in our nightwear and off to the dreamland.
Next day began with me lazily getting up at 8:30am. After having some breakfast in another restaurant today- “Ketkar”- we moved on for sight seeing. Today we were to see echo point, Louisa point and Malang point. Our first stop was the Louisa point. It was the farthest point there. The view from there was awesome. We could see Malangad behind us and some other pinnacle in front of us. The view was simply brilliant. After spending some time here and taking some pictures we moved on towards the echo point. On the way we stopped at a closed shop to catch a breather. The shop owner told us that recently a Panther was seen in the adjacent jungle. He had killed a dog and was eating it for couple of days on a nearby tree. There were even paws signs of it on the tree. After hearing to his story he moved towards the echo point. This was nice but the only spoiler was the raging sun. The heat was too much to bear. Shivendu, me and Atharva wanted a cold drink badly. We had a fine soda at nearby hotel and moved on. We even played a game where we had to hit some glasses with a ball in three chances. All three of us tried but failed to hit all the glasses. The heat was getting unbearable. We came back to market and had lunch out here. After lunch it was time to relax as moving around in summer heat was just impossible.
In the evening we went to Alexandra point. On the way we saw many abandoned villas. In Matheran itself there are many villas which are in ruins. These places must have been some great witness to the imperial lifestyle. The view from here was marvelous. We could see Garbat point and many other points too. But the fog played spoil sport and we were unable to know properly as to what it was that we were seeing. Soon we returned to market and visited a garden there. It was a nice park. We ate some junk their and then came back to market. Had dinner and returned to the train. Again train was a nice place to enjoy. There was privacy, peace, coziness and comfort. After enjoying it all we called it a day. Next morning we decided to wake up early and visit some far off points man to man. Aunts were too tired to walk that much.
We woke up at 6am and started towards one tree hill. This is a nice place to visit. In the dawn the jungles appeared magical. There was a magical calm all over the place. We could hear some horses coming and going. There was a steadiness in our walk now. After walking for around 45 minutes we reached one tree hill. We stayed there for around half an hour. I decided that next time we come here we will do the summit of one tree hill. It was thrilling and was teasing me to give it a climb. But I resisted this time but it would have been irresistible if my trek-o-maniacs been with me. From here we went to belvedere point and prabal point. We could see Prabalgad in front of us. It was huge and daunting. By now Shivendu and Atharva were tired so we called our aunts to come to the restaurant were we would have our breakfast and move on to do shopping.
A walk of around 45 minutes took us to the market. Aunts were already waiting in the restaurant. Soon after having a sumptuous breakfast we moved on the garden nearby. By now sun was in its full glory and we were drenched in sweat. Had a quick photography session in the garden and moved to the same restaurant again. Had a quick lunch and rushed back to our hotel. It was 1 hour to go for our mini train to arrive and bid adieu to Matheran.
Soon bags were packed ad we were sitting by the window awaiting the arrival of our train. When the train came we rushed to get to our seats in spite of having reservations! It was fun and now was the time to give our tired bodies some rest. For sometime I was busy seeing the scenic beauty around and the panoramic views. I was bringing back all the memories that we had for last two days and didn’t know when I went to sleep. I was woken up by Shivendu when jummapatti station came. I was again drenched in sweat due to the sun beating its way down on my window. When we reached Neral station there was a huge hullabaloo by the passengers of the mini train. The trip to Matheran had at last come to an end. It was truly marvelous Matheran!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 5

2010-05-20T00:17:00.001+05:30

After getting up at around 6:30am we had to leave in a jiffy to catch the 8:00am ferry. After going to Nimitighat it was worse than the previous day. The muck was more and driver could not take the vehicle there. So now we had to walk all the way to the jetty through the muck! We removed our shoes and kept them in the vehicle and moved on bare foot! After negotiating our way through all that muck we boarded the ferry. It was drizzling and cool air could be felt inside the ferry. We were in high spirits. Soon we had our breakfast consisting of all dry eatables. After around half an hour our ferry started on its 10 km voyage.

The river Bramhaputra is known for flash floods but it looked quite pleasant now. The water was not clear due to the rain and the turbulence but still it was good. We were enjoying the boat ride. Cracking jokes and chewing chocolates. We encountered a guy from TATA consultancies. He was carrying out a survey on company’s behalf which consisted of various shortcomings and improvements suggested by the tourists and the locals. After chatting with him for around half and hour or so he bid us adieu and went over too other people on board. An hour and half long journey took us to the Majuli Island.

The scene on the island was much worse than the scene at the Nimitighat. The muck was much much more over here. But over here our driver Mr. Nobu- a local, was a skilled one at driving through this terrain. He assured us that he would take us safely and he kept his promise. After driving our way through that hell we were in the main market. Over here as was the ritual we stopped for tea. But wonder oh wonder we had samosas here! It was felt so nice to have it here.

After devouring a couple of samosas we were on our way to “Satra”. Satra is like an ashram where men stay right from the age of 2-3. There is a ritual in people in this area that if a family has more than two boys than at least one has to be donated to the satra. Then the child spends rest of his life in a Satra. The one we went to was the biggest Satra in Asia. This place is enriched by the nature. It was like being one with nature. The ambience and the aura of the place was awe inspiring. Then we saw the museum of the satra. We were overawed by the artifacts in it. There were swords and kayaks used by the ancient people. Scriptures, books, and lots of more stuff were present here. After seeing this we moved on to go to our destination on Majuli island-Tribal village. But as we got out of the satra we saw a small hutment. Over here, there was a “so-called baba“. He was 93 years of age and ate cannabis only! How horrible and disgusting was that. More over he was wearing nothing and his modesty was covered by some dense dirty long hair that he was cuddling on his lap. After seeing this awful place and awful person we moved on.

Tribal village was just a couple of minutes away. Over here we saw those trademark bamboo stilt houses. Saw the lifestyle of the tribal people. But now their condition is improving. They no longer move around naked or in bare essentials. After witnessing all this at close quarters we had to go back now. So we were moving towards the jetty when Mr. Nobu discovered that there were two vehicles stuck in the muck and so after pondering for a couple of minutes he gave us an alternative. He asked if we would be ready travel in a kayak! This was something new and we had not planned this at all, so we all were game for it. So after weaving through all the small lanes and by lanes of Majuli we reached a point where there was a small pond of water and a man with his kayak was helping people cross the pond. The distance was very small. Not even half a minute. So we got in the kayak-3 people at a time and crossed the pond. During this Mr. Waghware slipped while getting out of the kayak but by gods grace didn’t have any injury. So after this incident we boarded the ferry nearby carefully. By the time we got in it very much resembled a local train in Mumbai, Same crowd, same smelling peoples, same chaos and the trademark-being late. Baba, Mr. Date, Mr. Parab and Mr. Tekwani were on the roof of the ferry! They traveled the whole distance sitting in a winger placed on the roof. Even the roof was crowded. I was busy reading a murder mystery that I had got from Baba’s library. We had traveled for one and half hour while coming here, but now it took us two and half hours to travel the same distance. When we got down we came to know the reason for this. The ferry was carrying three times the people it carried in our previous journey!

So again after walking through all that muck we reached our vehicle. Washed our feet in a nearby pond and boarded the winger. Soon we were on our way to our roof of the night- Khaliabor Manor. It was another one hour drive till there-r so we thought. So we had some eatables and were resting. I was dreaming about a palace with a king size bed and a great green lawn. I was woken up by a screech of brakes. Now we were besides the entrance to Kaziranga national park. In our travel brochure, it was said that we would be staying in a 19^th century bungalow in the middle of tea gardens in Kaziranga forest. So we thought that we would have to enter the Kaziranga reserve from here. But when we called up the place they told us that we don’t have to get in the reserve but drive further down. When enquired they told us that it was near Jakhlabanda-the place were our vehicle had its fuse blown off and which was another 60km drive from here! This was too much now. I again decided to get my 40 winks. So in no time is was in dreamland. When I woke up this time with a thud I came to know that the baggage on top of our vehicle had hit a bulb while entering the gate of the manor. When I got out of the car and into the manor it was a great sight. A dimly lit huge corridor was awaiting us. Soon we unloaded the baggage from our vehicle. The owner of the manor Mr. Prashanto greeted us warmly and so did his staff. When he showed us our rooms we were dumb struck. It was as I had dreamed. There was a king size bed and also a vast pasture outside. But the only problem was, we required four rooms and he could provide us with three only and one was made available in a hotel 5km down the way. So we decided to adjust in here. And moreover we were just in love with this place. We had our dinner here and chatted with Mr. Prashanto about our plans for the next day. We were supposed to go for elephant safari, but he advised that rains already getting on it would be risky to go on an elephant safari. He suggested that we rather go for a jeep safari. We took his advice and cancelled our elephant safari plans. After having dinner we toured the manor. It was simply huge and magnificent. There was a huge reading room equipped with chimney and all. It was so very nice. The bathroom was king size and I had a nice wash in the bathtub. In no while after I hit my king size bed I was in dreamland again.

Day 4

2010-05-18T09:01:00.002+05:30

Wake up call at 3:00am. Today we had to go to Majuli Island. It is the biggest river island in the world. To reach there we had to drive 100km. in the morning when we were about to leave it was raining heavily. We surprised to know that our driver did not have any trampoline to save our baggage from getting wet. So in the morning we had to wait till the rains reduced. So we left our hotel at 4:30am. The morning was moist and weather was cool. In the vehicle during our journey everyone was having fun. Songs were being sung and jokes cracked. We were having a whale of a time. And again the calamity struck when we least expected it. At a railway crossing our vehicle stalled. Thank good ness there was a garage just next to it. So we spent a good hour in the garage trying to find what was wrong. Some of us also visited the Jakhlabanda station nearby in the meantime. So after pondering over the vehicles problem it was diagnosed that the fuse was down. So we replaced in seconds and were on our way to Majuli.

During this we drove through the terrains of Kaziranga National Park. It was nice and huge. We even saw a baby elephant! But then horror struck when we read a board saying Nimitighat 30km. This was the place from where we had to catch a ferry to go to Majuli Island. It was almost 4:30pm and last ferry was at around 5:30pm. Our driver then drove like mad and we reached Nimitighat at 5:15pm. But alas there was loads of muck in our way to the jetty. Driver refused to down as he was worried that the vehicle might get stuck. So we missed the ferry. We called our tour manager and he arranged a hotel for us in Jorhat- a horrible small town. Our driver had no idea where this hotel was. We stopped at a petrol pump and asked for directions. Over here we met a guy. He was a musician-guitarist. He told us that he has played for a studio and was the player strumming the chords of guitar for Bollywood flick “De Dana Dan”.

When we reached our hotel it was one of the worst places I have ever lived in. It was simply DISGUSTING. We dumped our bags in the hotel and got out to look for a hotel to have dinner. First place we visited was a small hotel which was not able to fulfill our requirements at all. So we found another hotel named Jay-15. This one was better “looking” than the previous one. So we opted for this. The food was horrendous. Preparations not good and rates over the top! But the high point was when the guy was trying to sell us two extra rice plates which we had cancelled and they hadn’t served. His argument was as the entry was made in the so called bill-having no VAT number-the order had to be paid for. Moreover he was charging us with money for services like no fan or AC, no lights, no ventilation! We told him that if he provides us with a proper bill containing all the details we would readily pay. Coming to know of his blooper and not ready to go of his extra buck that he would have gained he was disgruntled. So he cancelled the services cost but taunted us that we are not worthy of going to any restaurant! This was the boiling point. We just gave it to him in our Mumbai style! We told him that he should close this hotel and start a pav bhaji selling cart. Just imagine 15 Mum-“bhais” getting on a Jorhati hotel manager! It was chaos. After pouring our hearts out to him about the quality of his hotel we left the place. We reached our hotel and went straight to our beds.

Day 3

2010-05-18T08:24:00.001+05:30

Wake up call at 6:30 am. Today we were to visit the Mawsynram caves. But our first place to visit was Elephant falls. It’s a picture postcard waterfall but the chaos created by the public makes it loose its sheen. This fall has three points of view. The first one is ok but not good. The second one is fine but not overwhelming and the third one is not allowed to anyone! So after climbing down a fleet of stairs, we reached the base of phase two of the falls. Clicked some photographs here and turned towards prime location of the day- Mawsynram caves. It was a 44 km journey from Shillong to Mawsynram. The driver being a new to this area we had to stop at intervals to ask for directions. We were driving through hills and valleys. On the way saw pretty tribal villages. They were small but well kept and maintained. A peculiarity of houses here is that every house has a many potted plants and almost every plant has loads of flowers on it. It feels so nice to look at these houses. Many women carrying new born kids on their back made a nice picture. After a drive of about 3 hours we reached Mawsynram caves.

Mawsynram cave is a silent place. It has a claming effect. In spite of being naturally carved it is overwhelming. A “ling” of Lord Shankar is formed out of stalagmites here. The naturally formed “ling” is huge in size. After praying we traced our way back to Shillong. On the way we had a punctured wheel-twice. We got back to Shillong by afternoon. In Shillong our driver was looking for a garage to fix his spare wheel, but it being a Sunday all the garages in the city were shut down. We had to go to Majuli next day which was a 100km drive so our vehicle being ready was our utmost concern. Our tour plan said that today evening we were to visit the Shillong city. So our driver arranged three taxis for us. We first visited the cathedral of shillong. It is the biggest cathedral in the North-East. After spending some 15-20 minutes here we moved on to next destination that was Wurd’s lake. This is a nice place but again marred by the crowds. From here we went to the golf rink of Shillong. It is more of a park than a golf course. After spending some time here and chalking out plan for the next day we moved to the police bazaar of Shillong. Over here we had lunch at a Hotel named Broadway. It was nice and had no wall in side they had mobile partitions which were placed according to the requirements of the customers. Had a nice cozy dinner and returned back to Hotel.

Day 2

2010-05-15T20:16:00.001+05:30

We woke up at 07:00 am and were ready by 08:30 am. Today we were going to visit Cheerapunji and Shillong peak. But our great driver overslept and we were delayed by an hour. Meanwhile we were clicking photographs in the surrounding area. We started of at 09:30 am towards Shillong peak. It was our first destination in Shillong. It had started drizzling now. But by the time we reached peak the rain was gone with the wind but fog stayed on. The view was nice from here. We overlooked complete Shillong city from this point. Photography galore we were capturing every frame worth capturing. But ad mist this all mist played spoilsport. Mr. Date along with his family dressed up in the traditional khasi outfits which were available on rent there. Now we were taking all sorts of photographs of them in different poses. We even clicked some pictures with them sitting on some sport bikes nearby and also as warring with another guy who also was dressed up in khasi outfit. After spending a good hour and half here we moved on towards Cheerapunji.

It was a three hour drive from here. The weather was getting worse. Now it was raining heavily. We were chatting and joking in the vehicle. Mrs. Waghvare and Mayuri were entertaining us with there pleasant vocal chords. The beauty of the nature around us was simply breath taking. There were huge pastures of land and small villages along the width of the road. Then as we proceeded we were among the mountains. There were tall mountains and valleys around us. Nature was at its best. Many stone quarries were along the sides of the road. Mica was abundant in these mountains. Many rivers flowed alongside us. The fog in here was a hindrance in our way. It reduced the visibility to great extents. Sun was playing hide and seek. When sun came out of the clouds we climbed out of the vehicle and took some pictures and continued with the journey. So it was all hunky dory.

Our first point to visit in Cheerapunji was Noakhlakai falls. These are the forth tallest waterfall in the world. The story goes that a widowed lady remarried. She had a daughter from her first wedlock and she loved her very much. But her new husband was jealous of this daughter. So he killed her and cooked her flesh when this lady was not at home. When she returned she didn’t find her daughter at home so she searched everywhere. Later on she found the fingers of her daughter in kitchen. She felt guilty about leaving her daughter alone at house. So she committed suicide by jumping off this waterfall.

The waterfalls are absolutely wonderful. The water falling from the cliff into the small lake at the bottom was just amazing. After spending some time here doing some shopping for spices we moved on.

Our next stop was Mawsmai caves. These caves are an adventurers dream. There is a feeling of mystery in them. The carvings formed by the hand of nature are intriguing and have a beauty of there own. At first one of our groups went there to check if they are worth seeing. But they didn’t seem as fascinating as we expected them to be. It was mainly due to huge crowds creating chaos there. The water dripping from the rocks above made it all the worse. People playing around in that stagnant water only made the situation worse. Due to it the water awfully smelled. Unable to bear this we just took a few snaps and got out. But still our inquisitive self was not sufficed. So we went to the other end of the caves- the place from where we got out- the exit of the cave. And started our journey back inside from the opposite end. It was nice and now we could feel its real untouched beauty. After spending some quality time here we headed back to Shillong.

The rain had lessened. Nature in its complete glory could be witnessed now. Skies were clear. Perfect for photography and sight seeing. Our winger had got wings and gliding on the roads. We were traveling among the hills witnessing the beauty of nature. Just when we were nearing Shillong we saw an air force museum. Having plenty of time in our kitty we decided to have a look.

We enquired the gate. They let us in easily and soon we met a guy who used to be in Thane! After chatting with him for some time we entered the museum. At the entrance there was huge rocket launcher ready to take down its target. On the left hand side there was a life size chopper. Once we entered the museum there were portraits of all the aero planes and helicopters used by the air force through out its history. There was a model of unmanned plane which was used for target practice. There was a sense of glory and achievement about this place. We saw some photographs from archives about the signing of surrender documents by Lt Gen Niazi. The heroic deed of Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon brought tears to our eyes and also made us proud that our country produces such brave sons. Various awards and mementos won by the Eastern air command were show cased here. Uniforms of various ranks in air force were displayed here. Miniature models of airplanes being currently used were very nice. Some bombs used by the planes and also machine guns which are installed in planes were displayed here. After seeing this all we moved on to other side of the road. Here were two huge planes kept for display. We posed in front of it for some pictures. We could also see the cockpit and the various instruments he has at his disposal. By now the sun was on its way to the other side of the world. So we decided to proceed towards our hotel. A ride of 15 minutes took us to our destination.

After having soup we decided to visit the police bazaar. It was dark and night life was blooming on the streets. Various restaurants giving out the smell of their delicacies was alluring. After roaming around for sometime we went to a hotel called City Dhaba.

This was a very pretty hotel. It was huge and the ambience over here was mind blowing. Over here we met a waiter who had been a waiter in Andheri in Mumbai. The place was full by this time and we were munching on the delicacies being served. Once we were done with our dinner we called up our hotel and asked him to pick us up from here. By the time he came there was a power cut and it had started raining like crazy here. So we hoped in to our car and were soon in our soft beds.

Day 1

2010-04-28T20:17:00.004+05:30

Plans for this tour were being drafted from our Elephanta caves trip. After rigorous planning by Baba and Mr. Prakash Date the tour was finalized and bookings carried out. Date was fixed as 16^th of April 2010.

Day 1:

We started of from our place at 04:15 am. We had arranged for a vehicle for journey to airport. It was supposed to arrive at 04:30 am but it arrived a good half an hour late. We picked up Mr. Vishnu Tekwani on the way and later picked up Mr. and Mrs. Waghvare from Mulund.

Journey in the wee hours of Mumbai was pleasant and traffic nil. So we were ruling the roads. In next half an hour we reached the airport. Once we reached the airport we were joined by Date family and Mr. Suresh Parab. Greetings were exchanged and we proceeded towards the check in. After going through the security procedures and the regular airport formalities we reached the gate. From here we were taken to our plane by a bus. Everyone was excited as we had hardly done journey by an airplane.

Once in the airplane, we got to our seats and were waiting for the plane to take off. But it was not to be. We were anticipating at every announcement that it would be the call for take off. Every time we were disappointed. It may be because of our impatience but the wait seemed never ending. Added to it a Bengali couple who claimed to be claustrophobic was creating a lot of chaos. They were just quarreling with the flight attendants to open the hatch of the plane. The plane was a good hour late by now. It was disappointing. They were saying that it is always the planes going to Kolkata that are delayed! Meanwhile the pilot had announced that we would be taking off in 5 minutes. This announcement cooled off the things for sometime but that couple was just not ready to stop it. They were quarelling with attendants even after the flight had taken off.

Once in the sir we could see the slums surrounding the Mumbai airport. There was also sea and buildings that could be seen. The weather was nice. Day was sunny enough. We could see clouds and pieces of land peeking in between them. After watching this for around half an hour we could see nothing more other than the clouds. A journey of two and half hours took us to Netaji Subhash Chandra Basu Airport in Kolkata. Over here we had a halt of 40 minutes. During this halt we roamed around in airport and also took some snaps. We tried to convince the flight attendant to let us have a sneak peek in the cockpit. He agreed but only when we reach Guwahati airport. We were excited about it now. Once the plane took off from Kolkata we celebrated Mayuri Date’s birthday. Had a nice cake and also gave a piece to the flight attendant. He was damn surprised. Later on he even celebrated her birthday again by arranging a cake and making her stand on the seat itself! It was fun. After around 50 minutes in air we landed in Guwahati. Over here we went into the cockpit. The machines instruments and the devices were damn confusing. Every other machine had a LED light and was making some strange noise. There were radar displays and many other machines. We talked to the pilot name Steven. He seemed to be a jolly good guy and had pictures taken with us. We made him feel like celebrity. After finishing with this all we boarded a bus again to take us to the airport. After picking up our baggage we proceeded towards the car park. Over here we met Mr. Jitu. He was our driver cum guide cum tour manager. Actually he was nothing of it. He was the owner of the vehicle i.e. winger. But his driver was on holiday. He was coming for the first time to Shillong with us and hardly knew any roads.

After loading our baggage on the vehicle we moved on towards Guwahati city. Over here we did some shopping in a store called “Silkalay”. We went to the Kamakhya Temple but there was a huge line and the next line was to be started at 03:30 pm so we decided to offer our prayers from a distance and move on. So after praying for a nice and memorable journey we move out. There were lots of goats and pigeons around the temple. There is a ritual of sacrificing the goat to the deity. We even saw a young goat being taken for sacrifice. After witnessing all this we moved on towards our next destination Shillong-Capital of Meghalaya.

The road was not so good but we all were cool with it. There was chatting going on, laughing, joking all in all everyone was having a lot of fun. Once in the afternoon we decided that we won’t wait for lunch any where rather will proceed to Shillong directly. In this part of the world sun rises at around 04:30 in the morning and sets at around 5:30-06:00pm. At 07:00 pm in the evening it becomes pitch dark over here. The weather was pleasant with a light drizzle. We were enjoying the journey along the mountains and valleys. We stopped for tea in the evening at a small store. While everyone else was having tea and coffee I and Mayuri were having roti and chapati. From here Shillong was another hour and half away. Shadows were getting elongated and we were driving through the small villages and tea plantations.

It was around 07:30 pm when we reached Shillong city. Over here it was pitch dark now and most of the shops were shutting down. We decided that we would have our lunch first and then move on to the hotel. So it took us another half an hour to find a nice decent restaurant. After having dinner there we moved on to our hotel. Name of our hotel was Bonnie Guest House.

We reached at the hotel at around 09:00 pm. It took us some time to park our vehicle then we were allotted rooms. Over here our room allotment was such that three rooms were made available in the first wing while the other single room was in the other wing of the building. This was not good as we were in a new unknown city and it would be more secure being together. So we some how persuaded the guy and he gave a luxury apartment in the same wing. Everything was thus settled and we called it a day.

Bhimashankar

2010-02-01T20:31:00.002+05:30

This is my 25^th trek overall. I had been waiting for this trek for a year. At last Baba told me that we are going to Bhimashankar on 24^thof January. But alas due to some problems it was still postponed to 30^th and 31^st of January. From my usual group Ninad and Prasad were going to be a part of this trek. Prior to the evening we were leaving Prasad said he was not coming. Ninad was not sure. But still I was in high spirits. On the night of 29^th I hardly slept in spite of the long day I had on the next day. This was due to the excitement for the trek.

Early in the morning of 30^th I was busy with my morning rituals when my phone rang and Baba picked up. It was Ninad at the other end. He said that he was game for the trek. This was the best possible start for the day. Along with Baba I left my house at 05:30 hours.

The morning was chilly and we were decked up in sweaters and monkey caps. After walking from my house till Kalwa station we had enough heat in our body and removed our sweaters. We were ready with our train tickets to Karjat. We were going to board the 06:14 hours train to Karjat and now we were half an hour early. I was anticipating the route and the fun that we would be having. I had not met Ninad since Visapur trek and was looking forward to meet him now. Ninad called me at 06:10 hours to report that he had boarded the train. This reminded me of some of the previous treks that I had organized. Everyone reporting about their progress energizes us. This time Baba was worrying about it all.

Train reached Kalwa on time. Ninad-as expected was at the door-waving at us. Soon we boarded the train and met rest of our group. It was after a long time that I was meeting them all- Garbat point trek was the last I had done with this group. No formal introductions were required with this group. Once train crossed Kalyan the weather started becoming more and more cool. Soon we again wore sweaters and were ready to face anything. We reached Karjat at around 07:50 hours. A walk of 10 minutes took us to Karjat ST depot. On enquiry we came to know that the bus to Khandas-Our base of the trek- was no longer available. The guy at the enquiry counter was much better than the one’s we had experienced at Lonavala and Panvel. He even gave us a suggestion that we should take bus to Kasheli and from there we could get another vehicle to reach Khandas. The next bus to Kasheli was at 08:30 hrs. That means we had a nice half hour in our hands. We had some breakfast from whatever we had brought along. Soon the bus arrived at 08:30 hrs and left after 15 more minutes.

The journey was long and boring. To compensate for last night’s sleep I slept for that half an hour duration that the bus took to reach Kasheli. From Kasheli we hired a van and a rickshaw ‘tum-tum’. In this rickshaw we met a local school boy named Siddharth Jadhav! We had a nice time chatting with him. He was so open minded that he almost told us his family history, background, academics and also confessed some his mistakes and wrong doings. He did this in just half an hour. It took us half an hour to reach Khandas.

We started our trek from Khandas at 10:30 hours. The group was highly energetic. Walk through the village was on tar road with houses and plantations on both sides. Everyone was having fun. There were two small girls in our group. Sakshi was the elder among them studying in 4^th grade while Shrusthi studied in 2^nd grade. They were at the front and didn’t want anyone to go ahead. They looked nice wearing some cute miniature rucksacks and shoes. They were having fun on their own right. We stopped in our way for a formal introduction. This being just a formality everyone was fooling. We even had a wooden stick which we supposed to be our mike (microphone)! The walk here was very pleasing. There was wind blowing here. It was nice to have it. The strain was very much relieved. We had not entered the woods even after a walk of around 45 minutes. Ladies in our group-we had four ladies with us- seemed to be tired. But this usually happens as we are not used to do this sort of physically taxing work. Getting acclimatized with this takes some time. So we were not worried about this.

Soon we entered the woods. There were tall trees over here. We could see Khandas situated far away now. The climb was smooth and easy. No one had any problem doing this part. This was our first phase which was supposed to end at the Ganapati temple in the forest. The route had a gentle steep. To get such patch so early in the trek was enough to enlighten us about the things we would have to face later on in the trek. It took us an hour to reach here. The sight of the Ganapati temple was relieving. The temple was newly renovated. The idol was orange in color due to the ‘shendur’. After offering our prayers we began the second phase.

This phase was through patches of dense forest and grasslands. Formerly the route was through dense forest very much similar to the route we had faced till now. After some time we entered grassland. Fading winter grass was yellowish-golden in color. The black rock under of feet was hot due to the afternoon sun. To our right we could see the peak of ‘Padargad’. It appeared like the draping of a sari. In front of us we could now see the mountain of Bhimashankar. It was like a huge piece of solid rock fallen from the heavens. The sides of the mountain appeared to be chisel cut. It looked unconquerable. The terrain was certainly not friendly or pleasant over here. Half of the team had emptied their water resources. This was not at all a good sign. Soon it was decided that a group would move ahead towards the summit so that arrangements for the rest of the group could be made. I and Ninad were a part of this group. Soon we reached the end of our second phase. This phase took us an hour and half to complete. There was a small well over here. The water contained some of the dust that falls from the trees above, dried leaves and such other dust. Mr. Nakashe told us that the water in this well was potable and that villagers from the nearby region used this well for their water purposes. The very next moment we were filling of our empty bottles. We decided to wait for the rest of the team. When they reached here everyone was happy to know about the well. The water was cool and had a very different taste. We quenched our thirst here and had some biscuits and small cakes. End of the second phase gave us the gift of water. The group was energized again.

The third phase consisted of dense forest. The route was plain and simple. There was no climb in here. Walking in such conditions was an experience to be cherished for a long time. Again our group was in fore front. The dense forest prevented the sun from reaching us. It was a nice experience. Everyone was in their elements by now. We were able to hear sounds of birds and monkeys over here. We also saw some monkeys. They were white in color but their face was black in color. They seemed to be afraid of us and we were afraid of them. So it was mutual. We reached a place were there was a small roof constructed. This signaled the end of third phase. We waited here for rest of the group to arrive. On their arrival lunch boxes were opened and lunch was served. It took us almost an hour to finish our lunch. There was a guy selling buttermilk out there. Everyone enjoyed the cool drink and even got some in a bottle. From here we started with our fourth stage.

Fourth stage was also through forest, but here was a gentle climb over here. In the further stages the tree cover started becoming lesser. Now I was leading the way with Mr. Naik, Sakshi and Shrusthi. Those two girls wanted to be in front. So they were sticking with me. It was nice to see them take tiny steps. Their small quarrels were a constant time pass for me. This phase was the shortest but due to the afternoon heat and lack of water it took us almost an hour to complete it. But we never knew that fifth phase could be worse.

The tree cover was almost gone. The route was narrow. There were steep rock on one side and deep valleys on the other. I had to be careful and at the same time take care of those two girls too. In spite of these conditions the scenic beauty was fascinating. Below us we could see many villages and farmlands. We could also see the jungle through which we had come up. On glancing in upward direction we could see the huge rock face above us. Storing this beauty in eyes and capturing the same in lens of the camera I moved on. During negotiating difficult patches I took one of the girls ahead first and then again came back to fetch the other. This was tiring but it was very much necessary in such places. After sometime we waited for rest of the group to arrive. The group behind us arrived on this spot. We were short on water and girls were in dire need of it. I had two bottles-one was half filled and the other was in case of emergency. I gave the water to both of them and still carried half of what was formerly present. Other group members had some oranges and some chocolates. These rejuvenated us. This was the only spot in the complete trek where we could catch some shade. When rest of our group arrived we left. By now Ninad had gone ahead of us with Baba and some other members while I was tending to both these girls. Soon we left this spot. After more half an hour we reached end of this phase. It took us an hour and forty five minutes to complete this phase.

The final phase was through dense forest. The sun was on its way down and we were being relieved. But final patch had some decent climb in it. This was very much tiring. Girls were exasperated and I was afraid that they would ask me to carry them. But thank goodness they didn’t ask anything of it. We could hear noises of some monkeys too. The same like the one we had seen before. We could hear the noise of the group ahead of us. The energy in their voices said that they were on the summit. Right from the beginning of the trek I was telling both the girls that we would be reaching in half hour more! This time they didn’t believe me but it was the truth now. Another twenty minutes and we were on the summit. Eagle had landed.

On the top we could see a water tank. We thought that it had water like the one we had found in the well. But this was dirty water. Some one told us that this was the place to bathe livestock. A walk for 5 minutes took us to the spot was rest of the group was waiting for us. Everyone congratulated the Sakshi and Shrusthi for their achievement. We were told to wait here while Baba and someone else were searching for a place to stay tonight. We had some eatables and soon rest of the group arrived. They were next to dead but the happiness on there faces spoke volumes. It was nice that we had completed the half the trek (ascend-descend was remaining) successfully without any casualties.

After around half an hour we had found a nice accommodation for the night. We dumped our bags there had a wash and left to visit the shrine of lord Bhimashankar. Bhimashankar is among the twelve jyotirlingas in India. The temple is huge and ancient. There were quite a few devotees in the temple. After offering our prayers we waited there for the evening ‘aarti’. It was nice experience. We reached our dharmshala-the place where we were staying-at around 20:30 hours. Over here we chatted among ourselves. Experiences of the day were shared. Aching muscles were relived. Advices were given. Planning for the next days descend was going on. We also played some games. In about an hour dinner was served. Plain chapatti, rice, dal, ‘pithla’-an Indian delicacy, vegetable and some pickle was served. Hot steaming dinner after a tiring day was simply amazing. We ate till we burst. We went out at around 22:00. Roaming in the night was a pleasant experience. Ideas about life and how to lead it were being exchanged. The cool night breeze was flowing. After roaming around for about half an hour we came back and decided to call it a night. I was woken up by aarti of Sai Baba. Ninad had set alarm of 06:30 hours and the alarm tone was the aarti itself. To my surprise Ninad was not at all affected by that aarti. He was still in his dreams. This reminded me of ‘Kumbhakaran’ from Ramayan. It took me sometime to find his phone and switch off the alarm. Everyone in our room was awakened due to it but not Ninad. I switched of that alarm and went back to sleep. But now it was hard to come. By now Ninad was awakened from his deep slumber. Still he was wrapped in his shawl and yawning like a tiger. After getting out of our beds and packing our bags we finished our morning rituals. Now was the time to go to ‘Gupt Bhimashankar’-the origin of river Bhima. Only half of us were ready to go there. Mr. Nakashe had been here recently so he was leading us. Similar to yesterday Sakshi was with me and Mr. Bane. Shrusthi was with her dad but returned back as her legs were paining. A walk of half an hour led us to the spot. There were huge boulders smoothened due to the flow of water. The water was very less as onset of summer was near. We took a few snaps here. There is a small temple of lord Ganapati nearby. We went there and saw ‘Shekru’-this animal resembles a squirrel but is larger in size. It is said to be the specialty of Bhimashankar. After trying to take a picture of it we moved on. A walk of another half an hour took us back.

We had a small quick breakfast of ‘kande pohe’ and tea. Soon we were all ready to rock.We started to descend at around 10:15 hours. We climbed down the first phase in half an hour. This was 15 minutes less than the time we had taken to climb this phase. The sun was getting up to its glory now. Heat was being felt. There was a black dog over here. He was climbing down with us. Even during my Koraigad trek there was a dog who had accompanied us throughout the trek. Ninad has a phobia for dogs. Presence of this dog made him very uncomfortable. Adding to his woes, the dog kept on following him wherever he went. Our routine was very much similar to the way we had climbed up. The only difference was that I didn’t have to back again and again. Everyone was taking pictures of the picturesque views from this height.

The speed of descending was much faster than ascending. This was due to fewer barrages from the sun’s forces. Moreover everyone had a rough idea of how long it was going to take and were mentally prepared for it. We had climbed in six and half hours but had climbed down in four hours. Reduction of two and half hours even while descending was a good score.

Once we reached the outskirts of Khandas village, everyone was looking forward to getting back home as soon as possible. We took a van from Khandas to Neral. We boarded the train from Neral which took us to our respective destinations.

Thus my twenty fifth trek came to an end on a happy note. On this trek I had some great memories and experienced moments which I would cherish for the rest of my life. As a matter of coincidence, I did my first trek with Baba and also my twenty fifth trek with Baba. Missed all my trek-o-maniac friends a lot on this trek. As always left nothing but footprints and brought along nothing but sweet memories of the trek.

Koraigad

2010-01-17T22:14:00.001+05:30

After long while at last the dawn arrived when I climbed this fort. I was planning this trek but some things used to come in between and it used to be postponed.

I left my place at 4:30am sharp. 15 minutes walk took me to railway station. Now I called up Prasad Dingankar-our guide for the trek. He said he was up and would be leaving soon. Then I ringed up Siddhesh-he was coming with us for the first time. He was an old friend of mine and Prasad. He was not answering the call, neither mine nor Prasad’s. I thought he was asleep was bound to miss the train. I had almost counted him out when he gave me a ring and said that he was ready and would be leaving from his house soon. Now this news was very good news to me. Train arrived after 15minutes and I proceeded towards Thane station.

I had some Mumbai marathoners with me. Their attire was very much similar to mine. The only difference was that I was carrying a 5kg rucksack on my shoulders and they were not. They seemed to be almost as excited about their marathon as I was about my trek. I reached Thane station and bought tickets for three of us-Me, Prasad and Siddhesh. Soon I met Prasad here and after sometime Siddhesh arrived. We were chatting and reliving our good old times. Manali called to tell us that train was on time and she had boarded it. Natasha also said that she would be leaving from her house soon. Everything seemed to be as per the schedule.

Train arrived at 6:15am sharp and we boarded the train successfully! The train was very much crowded and movement of people from one compartment to another made the matters worse. The train journey was spent in old memories and other life experiences. Other than this, the journey was non-happening. Our train pulled into Lonavala Station at 8:20am. From here we moved towards ST depot. Natasha and Rishabh met us here. Till now we had no idea that Rishabh was also coming. But it was a pleasant surprise.

After regular enquiries about the bus and all we got together and discussed about other things and the route that we were going to take. Once the bus arrived, we moved into it and were shocked to know that the bus had a 45minutes halt before leaving Lonavala. Our fooling continued from where we had left it in our previous trek to Visapur. We were not concerned about the presence of other passengers. We just continued doing our things. Others also seemed to enjoy our masti!

The bus started at 9:15am and we were expecting that it would take us around half an hour or something roundabout. Even after more than 45minutes had passed, there seemed to be no sign of our village. While in the bus we saw some beautiful landscapes. We saw Bushi dam, INS Shivaji and Lion’s point from the bus. The weather was nice-cool and pleasant. After around 50minutes we reached village peth-Shahapur. This is the village that we were supposed to start our trek from.

On getting down from the bus, we first enquired about the returning bus and timetable at around 5pm. They told us that the last bus is at 3:30pm but it is not sure. The jeep services are available which cost Rs.30 till 4:30 pm after that it varies. So keeping in mind that we had get here by 3pm we started. The route was normal-Trees on both sides and ankle tall dry grass. It was good all along. We could see Tikona and Tung fort from here. But still we were not sure of it being them. The climb started with our leader Prasad on the lead. Rest of us just followed him. As usual we retraced our way in search of a better way. At last we found one and then started our climb. It was not very physically tiring during this patch. Then we took one wrong turn!!!!!!!!

The way moved in upward direction. It was covered with loose soil and stones. We had to watch our step while climbing as to avoid dislodging some stone and hurting the person behind us. This was a very difficult task as to get a grip we had to find some firm footing and it was almost impossible over here. Moving up this way for 15minutes or so we reached a point where the route divided into two parts. I decided to take one route while Prasad was taking the other. Others just waited over here for a breather. Most of us were sweating by now. Natasha had a small bruise on her wrist and Rishabh and Manali were attending to it. When I and Prasad returned from our respective routes the answer was negative for both. This meant that now we had to climb down this patch again. It was another daunting task now. This time we made sure that no one was hurt and took our own sweet time to climb down.

From here we took other way and encountered a flight of stairs. These were to lead us to the fort. We again had a quick breather and a photo session. Then again we resumed our trek. In another 10 minutes we reached the temple of lord Ganesh. We prayed here and then continued. On our way we found two caves. One even had a small water tank in it. We again had some quick snaps of the landscape. From here we could see a huge range of mountain from here. The Amby valley project in the village below was a sight to behold. Another 10minutes took us inside the fort through Ganesh Darwaja. We had some pictures her and also the only group picture.

Once inside the fort, we saw two cannons lying near the entrance. Then we saw two huge lakes in the center of the fort. On moving along its border, we called our respective homes to tell them that we had done the summit!!!!!!!!!!!

We saw the huge mountain range in front of us. The row houses of the Amby Valley project below us, Ambavne village, runway for the small airport there and many other things. Then we moved towards the lake had some fun with the frogs in there and moved on to search for some place to have lunch. After searching for sometime we found a cool and cozy place near the temple of goddess “Korai”. She is the main goddess of this fort and hence the fort is named after her. There is a long cannon-118inches long-near this temple. It is the biggest of the 5 cannons present on the fort. We had our lunch here and then moved to see the rest of the fort. We moved towards other entrance to the fort. This route comes from Ambavne village. It is a very treacherous but adventurous route to take.

Over here found two more cannons. There was secret passage way to somewhere but it was blocked. The other similar passageway took us to a new wing of the fort. It was very interesting to go down that way and then emerge from the small opening over there. We moved on to watch other things. I even brushed up some of the rock climbing skills over a small patch here. It was a fine experience. We were again back to the cannon that we had seen.

Clock said it was 2:30pm now and we had to move down now. Soon we bid adieu to the fort and left with our backs towards Ganesh Darawaja.

We had some beautiful incidents in this trek. The memories of them are going to be with us for a long, long time. I badly missed Tej and Ninad on this trek. As usual we left nothing but our footprints and brought nothing but sweet memories of this fort along with us.

Fort Visapur

2009-12-28T22:32:00.002+05:30

This is my 23^rd trek. After planning, scheduling and canceling this trek time and again I decided to give it a try once again. I was waiting for baba to organize a trek somewhere. But as nothing came up I decided to give visapur a try once again. Planning for this trek began on Friday. Prasad and Ninad were all set for a trek anytime anywhere. Manali was the new entry to join us. I tried calling Akshay but the telephone exchange kept on replying in a horrendous fashion. The answers that I got from them were like “This number is out of coverage area”, “This number is switched of”, and “This number is busy on another call”. But the most ridiculous one was “This number does not exist”. I still tried to contact him but to no avail. Natasha- my friend from Raigad trek also replied in affirmative. But the worst news was of Tej not being able to make it.

I still carried on. Plan was relayed to everyone on Saturday evening as to where to meet and what to expect in this trek. In the evening, at around 7:30 – 8:00 Tej called up. I was expecting that he would say that he was coming. My expectations came out to be true and he was game for the trek. This meant that there would be six of us in all for the trek. Mayur also called up but he was unable to make it due to the early train timings in the morning. Tej again called up in night at around 10:30 to say he would not be able to make it. I was disheartened as he is a constant source of ideas and mental stability on a trek.

I met Ninad and Prasad in Thane at around 5:30am. We were to board 6:15am Indrayani Express. It was to take us to Lonavala. Manali reported at around 5:40 in the morning that she was at Dadar station and was going to board the train in around 15 minutes. But the most pleasant news was yet to come. My phone rang at around the same time and wonder-o-wonder it was Tej at the other end! He said that he was at Dadar station and was accompanying us. Prasad and Ninad were also happy on hearing this news. Tej and Manali boarded the train at around 5:50am from Dadar. Natasha called me up to say that she would be reaching Lonavala ST Depot around 8:30am. This meant that till now everything was going as per the plan.

Train arrived in Thane station at 6:14am. We boarded the train. The train was crowded but still it was manageable. We located Tej in the train and joined him. Greetings were exchanged and soon we were chatting and fooling around. The only dampener to our excitement was the huge crowd that entered the train at Kalyan station. We had not seen Manali in the train still now but it was good know from Tej that she had comfortably acquired a seat. The view from the train till we left Kalyan was nothing extra ordinary, but once Kalyan passed the picturesque scenes of mountains and greenery was enchanting. The cool morning breeze was soon freezing us. It was good that I was wearing a sweater and was comfortable with the cold. Ninad was sometimes complaining about the absence of “leg space” in the train but soon got used to it.

We reached Lonavala railway station at around 8:15am. A 10 minutes walk took us to Lonavala ST Depot. On enquiry we came to know that the bus to Karla was at 9:00am. We had to reach Karla fata by this bus. From Karla fata we had walk to Malavali and then to Bhaje village, from where our trek would actually start. Soon Natasha reported that she was stuck in traffic while entering Lonavala but would be there in around 10-15 minutes. Bus to Karla had arrived and was going to halt here for 10 minutes only. There was no sign of a Junnar bus- the bus Natasha was traveling in. Another call to Natasha and she said that she was just entering Lonavala Depot. I and Tej were waiting outside our bus while Prasad, Ninad and Manali were inside. Soon we saw the bus Natasha ad told us about. Natasha was accompanied by her friend Rishab. Once they got down from the bus we met them. Greetings were exchanged and we boarded our bus to Karla. Bus started quickly and we were heading towards our destination. Ride of 10 minutes more took us to Karla fata. Over here we got down and started moving towards Malavali on foot. By now we were comfortable with each other and having fun. Ninad and Prasad who had just watched the movie 3 idiots were telling us stories of it. We were pulling each others leg and ad mist this all had covered 2km walk to Malavali. From here we had to walk another one kilometer to reach Bhaje. We could clearly see Lohagad and Visapur by now. Our experiences about our previous trek to Lohagad were being recited by me, Prasad and Tej. Others seem to enjoy it. In another 10 minutes we were in Bhaje village.

From here the actual trek began. The route was clear and unambiguous. Heat was bearable but there was no wind at all. We were wearing our caps and sunglasses to beat the heat. Such route was fine for us but seemed hard on Manali and Ninad. Ninad seemed exhausted but this naturally happens at the beginning of any trek. Manali seemed to get giddy but considering this as her first trek it would have been a surprise if this had not happened. Natasha whose bag was being carried by Rishab took Manali’s bag and relieved her. But soon Rishab was carrying two bags. We decided to go on slowly considering present status and condition of our group. This strategy not only helped us regain ourselves but also provided the boost that we required.

By now everyone was comfortable and looked fit. Halts were readily reduced and pace increased. The new spirit among the team was endearing. It was 11:30am by now. We had reached the “Gaaymukh Khind”. Till this place the route was common for both Lohagad as well as Visapur .This is the place from were the routes changed. The one going right went to Lohagad while the one going left took us to our destination. Last time we i.e. Tej, I and Prasad were here, we had met and old lady. She told us that there were imprints of a “queen’s foot” and “A horses foot” over here. Now we decided to play on about it with our group mates. We told them the same story and awaited their reactions. Presence of some flowers and incense sticks only cemented our claims. Natasha and Ninad even ended up bowing and doing “Namaskar” to them. Seeing this we three and Rishab who had by now got to know about it, laughed to our hearts content. Having known their folly they were left red faced. Having some fun over her we continued with our trek.

Over here I, Tej and Prasad had a small discussion as to how we should proceed. No one from our group had been to this fort before so planning the route properly was of utmost importance. I had read about the route in a trekking manual. It was decided that we would be going by the book. The route was fine but very dusty. The sun was at its best and sweat was embedded on our brows. Keeping the fort on our left hand side we were moving parallel to it. There was a dried stream of water that came down the fort. Over here there was a 90 degree angle between the broken walls of the fort. It was through this stream that we were going to climb up. But the start of this stream was very much hidden among bushes and we just passed it.

Tej and I were leading with Manali and Ninad just behind us. Then there was Prasad and Natasha with Rishab bringing up the tail. After watching the corner pass behind I sensed something was wrong and told Tej and Prasad about it. They were of the opinion that the route would bend and start ascending soon. We played on but still the route was plain and there were no signs that it would ascend any time soon. Now I held my position strongly while Prasad and Tej went ahead to check as if anything turns up. They returned, but with bad news that we had passed and had to go back a few distance. There was another group who were behind us. We thought of asking them as to if they anything about the route going up, but they ended up asking us the same question. Getting a negative answer we moved behind. Soon we reached the stream. Tej and I went ahead to check it and were relieved to know that this was the right way.

When everyone else arrived we took a small halt here and then moved on. There were huge stone in our way. They were rounded due to the water of the stream. There was dense green vegetation around us. The shade of the trees was endearing. The route was fine but physically taxing as we had to be careful on such route. The stones sometime dislodge and we end up twisting and spraining our ankles. Having Manali and Ninad only made us more careful. Manali perceived that as this route had many stone and rock this was called a rock patch! On letting her know what a rock patch is she thanked god that there was no rock patch to do here. But I was more concerned of Ninad than Manali as he has a knack for breaking his feet and twisting his ankles on trek. We completed half of our way and took a breather. We had no casualties till now, at least. Over here we even saw bones of some animal and fooled around that this was the way of death. Cool shade of the trees was left behind and we were below the blazing sun again. Tej was on the lead with Manali and Ninad behind him. I was the connecting link between those three and Prasad, Natasha and Rishab who where behind. Somehow the other Ninad stopped for something and I moved ahead of him. During this time stopped and said he was feeling giddy. This was a surprise as he had never said anything like this in previous treks. We made him sit down and have some water. After he became normal and was ready to go, we moved on. This time we strictly followed the climbing order and reached the summit in 15 minutes.

From here we had a clear view of forts around us like Lohagad, Tung, Tikona, Korigad etc. The walls of the fort- “tatbandi”- are still in fine condition. There are many caves on the fort. After walking for around 2-3 minutes we came across an ancient water tank. I was very pleased to find water at such height too. The water was crystal clear and we could even see the bottom of the tank. Presence of crabs and fishes in the water indicated that the water was potable. We washed our tired faces here. Natasha and Prasad even got inside the water for photo sessions. Ninad and Manali sat at the edge with their feet in water. Ninad again had a doubt that the tiny fishes in there would eat his legs off. After spending some time here we moved on towards a tree were Tej was waiting for lunch. No one was ready move from this place so I decided to start the proceedings. I along with Manali started off towards Tej. When we reached there, Tej had gone towards the “tatbandi” for photography. Soon others joined us and decided to move towards another tree as we had ants over here. Soon lunch was laid and everyone was enjoying the open air meal. The atmosphere around us was fine. There was cool breeze flowing. I happened to look at the sky and couldn’t help notice the pattern of clouds above us. It was as if someone had painted the sky with a paint brush.

We had our lunch for around an hour and then moved on to see other things in the fort. We seemed to be only people on this fort. It was almost like our private fort. The first thing we saw was the ancient flour mill over there. It was just gigantic. We had snaps around there and moved towards the “tatbandi”. Over here we again had some snaps. We could see the “ekveera mata mandir” from here. We also had a group snap which left everyone pondering over ideas as to how it should be. After successfully having a group snap we moved on. We noticed that there are numerous water tanks on the fort. Many of them have water springs in them too. So the main problem i.e. water shortage during treks was not our concern over here. We saw a huge idol of lord Hanuman, which had its feet immersed in water of the water tank. This appeared to be the cleanest of the water tanks on the fort. Some distance ahead we saw two structures which resembled store rooms. Inside it there was dirt and garbage left behind by some other people. It was so bad to see something like this over here. I took some of the plastic wrappers and other plastic items to dump them outside the fort in some dustbin. Others also took few things but it was just a tiny little part of all the garbage present over there. Leaving it behind us we went ahead. By now it was almost 2:30pm. We decided that it was time to move down. On our way we found a small family who told us that there is another way going down the fort which is nearer to Malavali. So we took that way and moved ahead.

No trek of Ninad would be complete without one ritual-twisting of ankle- and he continued it over here. Just when we were about to start our descend he twisted his ankle owing to a stone nearby. After rubbing it for a while and making him a bit comfortable we continued. The route was nice and easy. The sun was on its way to go. We reached the base village in around an hour and half. Another 45 minutes took us to the Malavali station. Over here we boarded the 5:55 pm local to Lonavala which arrived at 6:05pm. We reached Lonavala station in next 10 minutes. From here we split to go towards our respective homes. Greetings were exchanged with Natasha and Rishab who went to Lonavala ST depot. They were to catch their ST to Panvel from there. We boarded the 6:30pm Koyna express to Mumbai.

Train was crowded and we again had a bad time in the train. Now even Manali was standing with us unlike in the morning. Prasad, I and Tej were fooling around. Ninad and Manali seemed tired. I was tired myself but still the day’s events were enough for me forget all the sufferings.

My trek ended on Thane station at 8:30pm. On this trek I missed some of friends a lot. This trek was so good that I could say that this was next only to Saurkundi in respect to the excitement and the fun we had. Thus my best trek in Sahyadri ended.

Parsik with Shivendu and Ninad

2009-12-15T21:49:00.002+05:30

Going to Parsik for around 6 times that too by a new route every time, I thought it would be comparatively easy to do it now. When I invited my two brothers and my lieutenant –Tej I was very confident that, this would be a nice and smooth trek. But I learnt it the hard way that you can’t take nature for granted-ever.

I had a very hectic previous night and was looking forward to this trek as a stress buster. After getting up at 8:00am in the morning-courtesy Tej- I was informed by him that he won’t be coming-what a magnificent start for the day! Next thing I knew was Ninad who was going to meet me in morning was not answering his phone-what a glorious morning! Shivendu was sleeping like a wooden log and won’t budge-the best morning I ever had- but I don’t blame him as I was the one who kept him awake all night, playing Need For Speed!

Then sun shined on my morning battered soul. Ninad called me to say he would reach the base in 20minutes sharp. So I had 20 minutes now. Sun was shining on me big time. Shivendu got up ready to go in next 15minutes and Ninad also arrived. We left my home at 9:00am sharp.

Base of Parsik in next 15minutes was a cake walk. The way from here was also a cake walk-literally. After making the way through the slums we were below open sky and ad mist tall grass. I had expected nothing like this. There was no soil under our feet. All we could see was that we were stepping on broken grass. Having experience of this route before and knowing in which way to proceed, I was opening the route-obviously. Ninad was in the middle and Shivendu was bringing up the tail. It may seem easy to walk through toe deep green grass, but the real fun is in walking through 6 feet tall dry, grass. We could see nothing in front of us. I had kept the reflector on the summit as point of reference and was moving towards the small ridge between the hills. The route was very difficult and confusing owing to the tall grass.

Finally we reached the ridge through which we were to climb up. I had traveled through this patch for couple of times before and I thought that our troubles would end here. But it was not to be. The trek over here seemed more difficult than ever. We had considered moving over the walls of the ridge before but had never tried it. Right now it seemed to be the most feasible option at this moment so I decided to give it a try. I was still leading and condition of Ninad and Shivendu was getting worse by every moment. Now what we were going through was much more physically taxing compared to what we had done till now. The ground consisted of loose soil and it was very difficult have a grip on such soil. My hunter shoes were proving useless and so floaters of Shivendu and Ninad’s sneakers were in much worse condition. I tried navigating over the edge of ridge but it seemed impossible for my brothers. So we continued with the present way. Over here we encountered a point where there was no space to get any grip nearby. We could not back out from here. The only possible way was to move ahead and that too quickly if we were maintain time that we had lost before. I swiftly negotiated this turn and waited on a small uprooted tree to guide my companions to safety. Shivendu was the one behind me now. He was almost through with this patch when he slipped and lost grip of his legs. He was literally hanging on his hands. I moved towards him and got a grip on him. At the same time Ninad gave away his safe position and moved towards Shivendu who was hanging. During all this I previously had a proper grip on Shivendu but addition of Ninad added only to our woes. It was not possible now for me to pull both of them safety. To add to it my phone started ringing and added to the chaos already present. Somehow I helped Shivendu out, and asked Ninad to hang on while Shivendu took my position. Once Shivendu was on safe ground it was just a matter of time before helping Ninad to safety using the same points that Shivendu had used previously. From here we decided too play safe and wade through the grass. Over here Ninad took the lead and I maintained the balance between both of them. But again during the part just before the summit I took the lead and brought them up with me. Over here we stopped and checked our damage. Shivendu was the worst affected but still he seemed good in morale considered too Ninad. Ninad had a few bruises and was dead tired. Shivendu was more or less the same but the only difference between them was that Shivendu had scrapped both his knees. I was the safest least injured guy. After applying some ointment to our bruises we carried on.

Now our aim was to reach the peak of Parsik 2. On a previous visit here I had taken some very beautiful snaps and Ninad wanted to visit this place. Over here we encountered another rock patch but completed without much fuss. We stopped in a small cove just before the summit for rest. Over here the wind and view was magnificent but minus the sun. We enjoyed the view had some water and chocolates and moved on to the summit.

We reached the spot over there and took some pictures again. It was a mind blowing view from here. A huge rock has emerged out of the plain rock patch and hovers just above the deep valley below. The darks of the valley are astounding. I had a feeling as if giving the jaws of death a dental checkup. Half an hour over here and we decided to start to descend.

We took a route that I had not tried before. Over here we encountered the same tall grass which had troubled us throughout the morning. After wasting a good 45minutes in this area and ending up peering into the valley below we decided to retrace our footsteps to that point and go back the way we had come up. While descending we again took halt in the same cove and had some biscuits. A plan was made and routes decided upon about our route of descend. By now both Shivendu and Ninad wanted to reach ground zero fast and by the safest route. There is an old cement road that is constructed for ease of the workmen in the control center at the top. We took the same route. The route was very much broken and in a pitiable condition. But still we ended our descend in next half hour. From here we took a rickshaw and reached home in next half an hour.

This trek proved to be the most bizarre and unsuccessful trek of all time. Shivendu and Ninad vowed that they would never come to Parsik again.

Lohagad

2009-11-16T23:53:00.000+05:30

Vacations passed but with just one quality trek-Karnala. Then again did my usual home trek i.e. Parsik. First I went with Shivendu and Ninad. Then went again there in the same week with my college gang (would be putting up those two treks on the blog later). So finally the opportunity came my way to do a proper trek-Lohagad

One of my old friends, who is also my partner in crime in my class asked me if I would like to go to Lohagad. Although college had started the same week but this opportunity was too good to let go off. I was still in two minds as this would mean missing my Saturday lectures in class. I asked y parents and after having a very strict warning about missing any further lectures they allowed me. Soon more than a handful of my friends knew about it and were interested in coming for the trek. As it turns out every time many of them backed out with different reasons. My trusted lieutenant Tej and my partner of Raigad trek Akshay agreed to come. Ninad had told me that he was having exams so I didn’t inform him about us going and same with Shivendu.

The day of the trek came and I was pretty much excited. I was to meet Prasad and Akshay at Thane station. Tej ha already informed me that he was ready at Dadar station with his ticket of Indrayani express that we were to take to reach Lonavala. I reached thane station at quarter to six in the morning. Soon Prasad was with me. But I was very much worried about Akshay as I had no information about his whereabouts. I had tried calling him more than a couple of time but with no answers. We were still in the queue for tickets when Akshay called. He said that his train was late and he would reach sharp at quarter past six. So we took his ticket as well.

After taking our tickets we reached the platform where our train was going to arrive. I was already five passed six but with no signs of Akshay. Train arrived at ten passed six and was going to leave at fifteen passed six. I called him again and told him that he was going to miss the train unless he arrived in five minutes. He said that he would make it, but still I wasn’t sure about it. It was quarter passed six and train left, but still there was no sign of Akshay.

I messaged him that the train had left and what was he going to do now. His answer was one of the biggest surprises I would get on this trek. He said that he was coming to Lonavala by a bus! I was very happy to know that he was coming but still I had not seen Tej in our train and I was worried about him now.

I and Prasad were standing in the passage way. We were chatting about our previous trekking experiences. He had been to Lohagad twice before but he was still excited about it as if it was his first time. The weather outside the train was very much calm and cool. Mist was omnipresent and the air was very moist. The day was still to break. Trains halt was now at Kalyan station. Once there, a huge crowd boarded the train. We could hardly stand on our two feet but were comfortable once again after the crowd settled but still it was not like our previous condition. The dawn was just a few moments away. We could hear the chirping of birds around us when the train stopped. Occasionally a tea vendor would come but we were way more excited to settle down with a tea. After having spending around an hour and half in the train we neared Lonavala station. We were now planning our next action. Firstly were going to find Tej, then call our homes and finally take a note about Akshay’s whereabouts

As soon as we got down from the train the first thing I saw was Tej! I was very much relieved to see him there. Then introductions between Prasad and Tej were carried out. We were now moving out of the station towards some jeeps standing outside. We enquired there rates and when we got some out of the world answers we decided to forget the jeeps. So now we asked some Rickshaws about it. Same story was repeated here. By now we had very well understood about these people’s true intentions. So we let go of it all and moved towards good old state transport buses. Once in the bus station Akshay met us and soon we boarded the bus. The bus took us to the village of Malavali. The bus was empty and we were the only people inside it other than the conductor and the driver. 15 minutes later we got down having spent just Rs.4 each. This was in stark contrast to the Rs.150 asked by the Rickshaw.

Once in the village we started walking towards the village of Bhaje. But after asking some locals we came to know that it was quite a long distance, and we were already behind time. As luck would have it, a rickshaw stopped near us and took us to the village. From here our trek started. There were trees on both sides. Photography freak Tej was having a whale of time and I was getting very much impatient to reach the top of the fort.

On our way we passed Bhaje caves. These are some pre historic caves and have beautiful carvings inside them. We had planned to go there but considered it better to pass it of. So now we were on our way to the great fort of Lohagad. We could see the extended wing of the fort in front of us. It is called “vinchu kata”. It resembles the tail of a scorpion and that’s why it is called so. To our left we could see the huge sprawling fort of Visapur. It had some beautiful sights to offer. The morning was very pleasant and the sun was shinning upon us. Till now everything was fine except Tej, he was going mad with his photography and it was really irritating me. I was afraid that if the sun continued to shine so vigorously then we were going to be in for trouble.

I was telling them the history of the fort. I didn’t know much about it but was just reciting what I had read in my research prior to the trek. The fort was build during the reign of Satavahana dynasty. From them it went to the founder of Nizamshahi Malik Amber. Then after the fall of Nizamshahi, it came under the rule of Adilshahi dynasty. It was then captured by the great Maratha king Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja. During his treaty with Mughals he had to give it away, but reinstated it five years later. As with all other forts of Maharashtra, Union Jack was hoisted on it in the dark year for the forts of Maharashtra-1818.

All of my fellow trekkers were astonished with this piece of information. I went ahead and told them about the other intricacies of the fort and now they were sure that I was here before and was just bluffing in front of them that it was my first trek here. Now the sun was hidden among the clouds and it seemed that it would rain any minute. The next thing we knew was that the sun was out again and shinning on us again. These hide and seek continued. By now we were in between Lohagad and Visapur. We could see many mountains in the background. I could even make out some forts among them like Tung, Tikona, and Korigad etc. Here we met an old local lady she told us some fable about a horse and a queen. To prove it she even showed some marks etched in the rocks below us which resembled human footprints and Horse footprint. No one among us believed a word that she said but considering her age and her willingness to make us aware about the fable (that I didn’t understand at all) we acted as if we really believed every word of it. We even thanked her and left. Nearby there were three small kids playing cricket. The bat that they were using amused me very much. It was a piece of wood with a very short handle and a long blade. It barely resembled a proper cricketing bat. Nevertheless those boys seemed pretty happy with what they had. It just proved the point of the cricket fever present in Indians. Even Tej and Prasad had a go with that “willow”. After having a snap of those kids we left them alone.

By now it was passed noon and we could just see the strong walls of the fort towering over us. We could even make out the trademark grey color on them. As we neared the fort it became more and more intimidating. We climbed a few stairs and were inside the fort. Very much unlike the other forts, it appeared well preserved and maintained. I got a very pleasant surprise to see the restoration of the fort being carried out. Very few forts in Maharashtra are being restored today. Mostly the forts lie with the burden of history on them, but they still stand tall and recite the stories of war heroes who created history. It is very saddening to see these witnesses of History in such a sorry state. The fort is simply huge and there is an air of mystery on the fort. The fort appears very much masculine and raw beauty. It exudes a confidence of its own.

After looking around and snapping tones of pictures we moved towards the summit of fort. Over here Prasad was very hungry and sat down for having some fruits. We were busy with our photography when a monkey appeared of nowhere and went straight towards Prasad who was having a banana. He was scared out of his wits and threw all the bananas in front of the monkey. The monkey ate them in no time. The trouble was still far from over. Another monkey appeared and stood in Prasad’s way as if asking for something. Now we were really scared as this one was bigger in size than the previous one. Prasad had a very bright idea and threw a rolled piece of paper from his bag long away. Both monkeys were attracted towards. This time was enough for us to run away from that place.

Admiring the scenic beauty all around us we reached the top of the fort. Fort has mainly 4 gate viz. “ganesh darwaja”, ”narayan darwaja”, “hanuman darwaja”, “maha darwaja” . At the top of the fort there are three mosques and a Shiva Temple. There are huge tanks of water build during the historic times. There is also a lake. After spending some time here we moved on towards the “vinchu kata”. If we look at its structure from its point of beginning it completely resembles the tail of the scorpion. To reach the end of this region we had to climb down a rock patch. It was one of the most exciting rock patches I have ever done. It was short but had lots of exciting points in it.

After completing this we met a guy. He was around 40-45 years of age and was talking to us as if he knew us from a very long time. Prasad being our public relations guy was overawed by him. Me, Tej and Akshay were really pissed of by his overfriendly behavior. The worst came when he chatted away Prasad from us and they were heading back towards the other end of the fort. Now was the time for action. We three called Prasad but he was far away to hear our voices. We had dropped our sack to rest and have lunch over here. We again repacked and started moving towards where Prasad was going. They had the same rock patch to do again. We knew that Prasad was slow on the rocks so it worked as our advantage. We almost ran for them. When we reached there, Prasad was negotiating the rock patch we had counted upon. I asked Tej to go after Prasad had completed as I no more trusted that guy. Tej who is really quick on the rock was besides Prasad in no time. I was very much angry with both Prasad and that guy. But now the time was to help Akshay complete the rock patch. He was a bit shaky as he could not get a grip due to his shoes. After helping him calm down and making him reach the top I followed suite and completed the rock patch. Once with Prasad I gave him a piece of my mind and asked him to do away with that guy. After around 5 minutes that guy was gone and we were having lunch in a hiding that kept us safe from the roving eyes of the monkeys.

Lunch was finished ad mist chatting and joking. Next half hour we were on our way down. The way downhill appeared small and comfortable. We reached the base village and were off to our homes, in no time.

During the trek I missed my brothers Shivendu and Ninad a lot, as they are always game to my idiotic adventures. I equally missed my friends Mayur, Bhavesh, Shaunak and Himanshu who were a part of my previous treks. I also missed my friend Gaurav who never comes with me for a trek, but I am sure that one day I will convince him to come with me. All in all this was one trek in my life that I won’t forget ever.

Trek to Karnala (Third time)

2009-10-04T22:24:00.000+05:30

This is my third trek to Karnala, 19^th overall and the first trek that I had organized on my own. Already experiencing the terrain and tracks of Karnala fort I persuaded my friends to accompany me o this trek. I had started organizing and informing my friends about this trek a week before. I got nice response as well but it was short lived. With varying reasons many of my friends backed out and at last the only 4 of us were still at the wicket. Me (but obvious), Tej (my trusted lieutenant), Ninad (my brother), Mayur (College friend) were the only remaining for the trek.

Ninad met me at Thane station around 6:45am. It was very much unlike him to be on time but surprise he was on time. We moved on to the ST stand. We were chatting and Ninad was really excited as it was his long found dream to do this trek. We enquired at the ST stand as to when our bus would arrive and soon voila! The bus was before us. We boarded the bus and soon started our journey to Panvel. This was the first time that we were both going there together. The weather was really pleasant and we were having a good time in the bus chatting continuously and making plans for future treks. Suddenly my phone rang and Mayur was speaking. He was to meet Tej at Wadala station and then come to Panvel ST stand. He informed me that he had no contact with Tej and he was soon boarding the train without him. I was really disheartened but decided it was wise not to show it. I told Ninad about this and he also felt a bit sad.

By now we were very close to our destination. Our bus was just entering the bus stand when Mayur called again and said that Tej had called him and they both had already boarded the train. I was happy but still we had to do the huge daunting task of WAITING! This was not new to us, even during the Raigad trek we had to wait. So we enquired with the nearby rickshaw about the cost of going to Karnala fort. They told that it would take Rs.150. I was told that it won’t take more than Rs.25 each. We now enquired with the ST stand. The person sitting at the counter looked as if he was answering one word questions. He was least bothered about our questions. Our conversation was as follows :-

Question: Where would we get ST to Karnala fort ?

Answer: Here

Question: Which bus goes there?

Answer: Local.

Question: When would the bus come?

Answer: Very Soon

Completely disgusted by the way we left him and started roaming in the bus stand. Soon we got all the info that we needed from “here and there”. I called Mayur as to know where he was. He said that he was very near and would be meeting us in 15minutes. Soon after they met we boarded a bus which took us to base of Fort Karnala.

In next ten minutes after paying the toll we were on our way to the top. The way that leads to the fort had a huge board displaying the history of the fort. The jungle was lush green. There trees were dense. I had used this route a couple of times before and hence was familiar with it. Mayur was awestruck as this was his first trek. There were spider webs in our way and they were really difficult to handle. They were transparent and could only be seen if they were seen against sunlight. After negotiating this patch we were soon out of that patch but still the forest was present. I just love this feeling. It’s like going back to your origin. We are completely at nature’s mercy. We took some beautiful pictures of the spiders in there webs. They had really nice colors unlike the spiders we see in our house. They were not only beautiful but big too.

On our way we had a group ahead of us. They were very noisy and so we decided to overtake them and be at peace with our self. While doing this we climbed the first patch very quickly-this was the plus point. In doing this Ninad who is very careful climber tired himself. He was climbing really fast and was almost running.

By now we were clear of the group. Tej was leading with Mayur covering him. While was looking after Ninad. We took some snaps of various fascinating things that we encounter only in the forest. One such thing was a black leaf. I don’t know what it was for sure but it looked like it had survived a wild fire. We heard monkey calls at regular intervals. We took our first break after climbing for 30min. We had decided that we were going to do the trek in 1hour flat.

We were on level ground if you could really call it that. It was plain but with deep valley on either side. There was dense vegetation in the valleys below us. We could see some other forts around us. There were small villages in the valley too. After reaching the temple of Karnai Devi we prayed there for sometime and offered a coconut. It was really a nice coincidence that it was navratri. After paying our homage we left for the further climb. This was the only part of Karnala which can be called as difficult. I asked Ninad to be careful. He seemed exhausted by now. The sun was shining and we could feel the heat taking its toll. I had a vomiting sensation due to it. Carefully and slowly we completed this part and were just below the Pinnacle of Karnala.

We were not going to do it as rock climbing equipment and proper training is required to reach to the summit of the pinnacle. Tej was childishly asking us that we should give it a try! There are small water tanks carved in the base of the pinnacle. These tanks belong to the period when Satavahana dynasty’s rule. We roamed around the fort for another hour. The fort is very small and was used as an observation center during those days. We did some photography from here too. We could see Manikgad fort, Malangad fort, Dukes Nose Mountain and also the Matheran mountain range. The scenic beauty was breathtaking.

After wandering around we were soon looking for a cozy place to have dinner. Soon we discovered that it was a very daunting task. The afternoon sun was in its full glory and we could not find a single suitable place. So we settled near a wall of the fort. There were steps leading into the valley below. This was quite a desolate area and we laid our lunch here. After having lunch and chatting for another hour we started to descend.

We had just started and were still inside the fort when Ninad fell. His leg got entangled in something and he fell. Due to it he twisted his ankle. This was not the first time that this has taken place. Even during the Garbate point trek, this same ankle had twisted due to a fall. He was in quite a bit of agony. First we laid him down. Then I gave his ankle a rub and some basic first aid. After some rest he was again ready and raring to go. Again carefully we moved downwards. By now we were used to the sun. Descend was easy but still we had to be careful. When we reached down we were very much tired and had some beautiful memories.

During our trek we had kept nothing behind but our footsteps and brought along nothing but sweet memories.

Karnala

2009-08-20T21:15:00.000+05:30

This is my sixteenth trek. One of the most unexpected treks I have done till date. My cousin sisters from Dubai had arrived in India and were staying in Nerul. I had decided of spending the weekend with them. Shivendu and Atharva had also joined us. It was family get together in Nerul. We were free on Sunday and decided of doing something different. Baba suggested of going for a trek. Everyone agreed. Now the most important part was where to go for the trek? Karnala fort near Panvel was the most suitable location according to us and was finalized.
In the morning of 2nd August 2009, our crew consisting of Baba, Vijay Kaka, Vikram Kaka, myself, Shivendu, Atharva, Pari and Sakhi started off for the trek. We travelled to the Karnala bird sanctuary-which lies in the foothills of the Karnala fort –by a car. Over there we were joined by another relative of ours Mr. Pramod Saple along with his two daughters.
We started the trek at around 11:15 am. I had done this trek before. This was the first trek that Shivendu had done and I and Baba were his accomplices in this trek. So these were nostalgic moments for us. We took the way leading towards the fort just before the entry to the bird sanctuary. The route was well formed and we had no difficulty in finding the route throughout. Initially, I was leading the group and escorting Sakhi and Atharva along with me. We were followed by Pari, Ruchi and Shruti. They were being taken care of by Baba and Shivendu. The way was through dense forest. We could hear many animals and birds around us. A light breeze was flowing through the woods. It was pleasant to trek alone in these conditions but to do the same with two amateurs was a different ball game. Sakhi still being the kid was very difficult to handle and so was Atharva. Their excitement to reach the top was oozing out with every step they took. Sakhi was walking splendidly for someone of her age. She had good footing and balance on rock surface too. Atharva was the road runner waiting for no one and most of the times leading to huge gaps within the groups. Vikram Kaka, Vijay Kaka and Pramod Kaka were bringing up the tail of the group very slowly. They were almost different from our group.
We took our first halt after an hour. The place was a small plain area just after a boulder road. By now Pari and Shivendu was a bit tired but not still raring to go. Over here we decided of changing some things. Baba decided to lead with me assisting Shivendu. Shivendu usually climbs very fast in the beginning and then slows down considerably. During his all the three previous treks I was with him and know this very well. I was encouraging him and chatting with him. We were sharing some of the experiences of our previous treks and reliving them again. He needs a lot of motivation while trekking. I was trying to provide that to him now. We were moving ahead slowly and steadily. There was a cool breeze flowing. The sun was playing hide and seek with clouds. After another half an hour of trek we reached a small flat surface. Over here, there was a way leading to the fort and valley on both the sides. From here we could see greenery in the valley below us. In spite of the lack of rain, the greenery was endearing. Soon we reached an open flat surface from here we could see the main door of the fort. But to reach there we had to complete the small difficult portion. Baba along with Pari, Sakhi, Atharva, Ruchi and Shruti had already reached this point. They were waiting for me and Shivendu. Once there we took a breather and started off again. I was again leading and taking Sakhi with me. Shivendu was in close quarters behind me and was helping Pari and Atharva. Baba was bringing up Ruchi and Shruti. He was constantly asking me to wait after a few steps. He was also guiding us when we were on the move. Soon we completed this portion and I thought that now we would reach the foot of the pinnacle but it was not to be. There was one more ladder in between. This was also very much risky. The ladder was weather worn and broken. But we completed it in no time.
Now we had entered the fort through the main gate. From here we could see Vijay kaka, Vikram kaka and Pramod kaka reaching the flat open surface below us. They were asking us to come back. We told them that we would come back in about an hour and we continued towards the foot of the pinnacle. One side of pinnacle is flat and ends up in the valley below and the other three sides form the base on the fort. We saw a secret entrance of the fort and also the armory. There are cave dug in the foot of the fort to store food and water. There was stagnant water in there now. Many people were shouting there and hearing the echo over here. We also saw the place of execution over here. It was breathtaking. From here we could see other forts like Manikgad, Malangad. We could also see the Duke’s nose mountain from here. The view was awesome. The clouds had descended over here. The weather was sunny but still it was cool. After some time we started off again towards the open flat surface where others were waiting for us. Again while descending I was leading with Baba covering me and Shivendu bringing down the tail with Atharva. It took us another 15minutes to reach the spot where others were sitting. Once we reached there it was a huge celebration as Pari and Sakhi had just conquered their first trek and were the youngest in the group today. Everyone congratulated them. We had some food and water and bid adieu to the fort. Now descend was very peaceful and also fast. Shivendu and Atharva were leading again and I was bringing along Pari and Sakhi with me. At first halt Baba was on the lead along with Sakhi, Ruchi and Shruti. I, Shivendu, Pari and Atharva were in middle. All the kakas were in the last. Over here we found a very small stream flowing along our way. We were very tired and thirsty as we had no water with us. We decided to splash some water on our face to refresh. So we reached the stream. We removed our footwear and washed our feet. Washed our sweated faces in the water and were enjoying the cool stream when the kaka company reached this spot. So we had to regretfully leave the stream and move down.
In another 15 minutes we reached the place where we had parked our cars. Thus came to an end a nice journey through the wilds and conquest of Karnala fort.

Garbat Point

2009-08-02T22:43:00.000+05:30

This is my fifteenth trek. I attained the trek details from Baba on Thursday and didn’t waste any time in informing all my friends about it. Ninad-my younger cousin- was ready and came over at my place on Saturday. In the morning of Sunday 2^nd August we left for the trek. Starting from my house at 5:30am sharp we reached Mumbra railway station around 6:00. We had to board our train to Bhivpuri at 6:20am. The train was on time and we soon joined our fellow trekkers who had already boarded train at previous stations. A journey of an hour and half took us to Bhivpuri. Over here we met our remaining team. Had a cup of tea at a nearby stall and soon started our trek.

The present route was through the large green plains. It was more of a stroll and less of trek. Soon we had a small introduction session and moved on for the rest of the trek. After walking for around half an hour we were in the foothills of our destination. Now the real trek had begun and with it our dose of adventure.

Soon after the climb had started we were experiencing mucky roads on which it was very difficult to get a foothold. Someone or the other was slipping on the routes. The climb was mainly on the slopes of the mountains. The lush green grass was providing the desired pleasure of trekking which we were looking for. The route through this grass was pleasant but only if you were not lying in the muck around due to slipping feet. We could see many waterfalls emerging through most of the mountains around. The lush green carpet laid by nature was very alluring. Feeling the beauty of the nature around us we were climbing to the best of our capacities. Till now we had not experienced heavy rain on this trek and were eagerly waiting for that to happen. We had experienced small drizzles but it was not at all sufficient for our rain thirsty minds and body which were craving for some heavy rains. And as if the some was hearing us the heavens opened up and started pouring heavily. This was just the experience we wanted to experience and were having that now. The rain continued for some time and we carried on with our trek.

By now the route had taken a serious change of terrain and had started to give us a hard time. This was especially taxing on some of the amateur members we had. The slopes had begun to steep a little but still it was walk able. Ninad who is an amateur was not having a fine time owing to the bad grip of his shoes and wet soil. He had slipped a couple of times but didn’t have any serious or major injuries. I was covering him up and looking for the easiest route to take. I had Mr. Date, Mrs. Deepa and Mrs. Suvarna with me during this patch along with Ninad and Baba. Baba was acting as the connecting link between our group that had gone a bit ahead and Mr. Date was keeping an eye on the group that was left behind.

Baba was also leading our small group and also guiding us as to what should we do and what to avoid. By now the road was not bigger than the space required to place one foot at a time. Ninad and the two ladies were having a real hard time. I and Mr. Date were helping them and providing them support when and were needed by them.

But our problems in the route was about to begin now. We could see some mean rocks in our way now. There were some members of the group that had opened the route on that rock patch. It was very disheartening to know that they were good 15minutes ahead us and were still negotiating with the rocks. The wind was blowing hard and fast. My raincoat was blowing badly in the wind and was appearing as if it would take me along with it. The wind only added to our woes. Baba clicked some nice photos of me and Ninad on this spot. By now there was some traffic just below the rocks. Ninad and Mrs. Deepa were ahead of me. Baba was covering us all by now. He asked me go ahead and help Ninad and others to ‘safety’ if you could really call it. So I went ahead and gave them support to get to the position I was at. The rocks had a steep valley on one side and a high cliff on the other. But this was only half work done as there was quite some distance of rocks to cover. Again there was some condition as the one we had encountered at the base of rocks. The route opener group stuck over here too and adds to it the traffic that occurred due to our arrival at that position. Soon someone suggested us an alternative route which no one was using. Soon I took it and reached almost the end of rocks. The same procedures again, bring the others up and move ahead. The only change this time around was that we had successfully completed this patch.

From this position Garbat point was touching distance away. We took a halt here and had breakfast at 11:30am. After halting here we moved towards our destination. By now rain and wind had started again and we were facing quite bad time. A walk of another hour through forest took us to our destination i.e. Garbat Point. Once here our victory reached sky high and the rain stopped. There were celebrations galore. Once our remaining group arrived we had a group photo session and then opened our lunch boxes. After filling our empty stomach we decided to move towards Matheran market which was very close. From there we were to go Charlotte Lake.

So we moved in that direction. After a walk of an hour and half among tall forest trees and amidst songs sung by us we reached a point which had three ways leading to different points in Matheran. We stopped here and everyone was of the opinion that we should descend now as it was almost time and it would take us around an hour to reach the market. So we started our treks descend along the rails of mini train. Had tea at a stall and moved down by using a taxi which took us to the Neral station.

With our arrival at Neral train station our trek had officially ended. This was one of the best treks of my life as I experienced all the things like rain, rock patch, natural beauty, fresh air and company of friends on this trek. This could be said as the one of the most successful treks.

Parsik Waterfall

2009-08-01T20:58:00.000+05:30

This is my fourth trek to Parsik in almost three months. By now most of my friends and my parents are of the opinion that I am truly obsessed by the trek. For this trek the heavy rains and the view of waterfall from Shaunak’s place proved to be the catalyst. I was insisting Tej to come for the trek and with a little persuasion form Shaunak he agreed. This was his fourth trek too. We asked Akshay and Rajas too who had accompanied us for the previous treks, but making excuses they didn’t come. Even Ninad, who was with me during Raigad, had some other work. So the triad of trek maniacs left for the trek on 19^th of July at 9:00 am.

First of all we started the climb from a bit different route than the one we had used the previous time. But after that we ended up at the same spot. But now the same route was misguiding us. Last time we came, there was no grass only some trees shedding their leaves. This time round it appeared that there was green carpet laid all over the ground. It was treading into unknown territory. Making some wild guesses we made our way to the rift between the mountains that we had climbed the last time to reach the top of the mountain. Once at the foot of the rift we were in two minds again as to climb the rift which was filled with dense grass or to go by the edge of the rift which had comparatively less grass. I tried it but instead of tall grass there was heavy fungus every growth. So it was decided that we would be sticking to our old route now. By now we had tried to do things differently but ended with the same things. Traversing the rift was way much difficult than we had assumed it to be. The wet soil was making life hell. To add to it there were small insects in the grass like flies. These flies were different from the regular ones but seemed more notorious. But fighting all odds we made to the top in 45minutes.

Once on the top, we were rewarded with scenic beauty. Lush green lands around us seemed like velvet. The breeze felt like a force coming to greet us to the top. The winds through my hair, the light drizzle, enchanting greenery were the pleasures I wished to have and I had them right now. These are the wishes a trekker makes at the beginning of every trek and very few have their wishes fulfilled. I was a one such lucky trekker today. After spending a good half an hour we moved on.

By now the drizzle was transformed into light rain. But still it was pleasant. We moved on the hill that we had skipped last time due to some different objectives and short of time. But this there was no hindrance in our way up. Soon we were on the top and snapping pictures. At one end there were some boulders peeping out into the valley that lay below. So we decided to provide them company. In no time we were on the rock and peeping into the valley below. We realized that the rocks were protruding out of the hill and forming a overhang just below where we were standing. So without wasting anytime, we had our cameras out of their bags. After our fingers were tired of clicking, we sat for lunch. Shaunak had brought the very traditional and healthy “jhunka-bhakri”. After devouring it we moved into the woods nearby. They seemed like just a border to the grassland ahead. Over hear there was a small pond. This was very much like the ones we see in the movies. It was fairly big and numerous stones in to. Numbers of dragon flies were watching us over here. There was a tree at one end. Standing on the stones Tej and Shaunak snapped a couple of pictures. Over here there was a small way leading out of this place. We followed it and were soon in dense forest.

Over here we had no idea as to which way to go. Shaunak by now had started voicing his wishes to go the waterfall. I had never been to this place before even with my dad. So my guess to the road was as good as anyone. But ad mist this we could hear a small stream of water flowing. We reached the place where we could see the rivulet. Now we had an address as to where the waterfall was. Following it we found many fascinating insects, birds, stones etc. By now a number of other streams had joined our stream and a rivulet was formed. There was ankle deep water by now. It was very much safe and assuring to have the rivulet guide us. When I was a kid and used to accompany my father to Parsik hill he always took us to a spot which was very much near the big waterfall but very much safer. Now I was looking for the same spot and soon reached there. The nostalgic moments of 1999 which was the last time I had come here were being re lived by me. Shaunak was feeling as if he was in heaven on seeing this place. He likes water to a great extent and knowing this me and Tej kept him on a tight reign.

After spending about an hour in the water and another half in the greenery around we started to descend. After having had a bath in the water and with clean clothes on us we had no intentions of getting dirty again. I suggested the same route that my dad preferred. So we were on a nostalgic journey again. Even Shaunak was part of the group my dad had brought along once. This route was comparatively much easier and cleaner than the route we had taken to climb up. All three of us were very much pleased by this route. Tej was playing some soft music on his cell phone. The journey until now was very much pleasing. But this was short lived.

I heard something move in the forest on the slopes below us. I figured it out that it was a monkey. Soon there was another movement and Shaunak saw it too. It was some 100 feet below us. I asked Tej to stop the music. The music could be disturbing the monkeys. In this region-which is a natural habitat of these animals- disturbing them could be a huge mistake. So I instructed both of them to move quickly and make least noise possible. We found a small waterfall like formation in the rocks nearby and decided to climb down through it. Moving swiftly and cautiously through the waterfall we reached the hutments at the foothills. These hutments were the signal of completion of the trek.

Ajoba Parvat

2009-07-14T23:21:00.000+05:30

This is my fourteenth overall trek. Baba had informed me about the trek a week in advance. I had informed my friends who were interested to come, but alas everyone was busy with some or the other reasons. I was a bit disappointed but it was short lived as I relieved myself by thinking that there were very few friends in my previous treks too and every trek gave me a couple of good friends to cherish. So I started the preparations for the trek.

As usual the trek was a one day affair. Full fledge preparations started on Saturday. It included packing of bag packs, which type of clothes to wear, what should be the breakfast and so on. Such Saturdays are usually very exciting for me, as I eagerly look forward to the trek on the next day. This trek with my father’s group was taking place after quite a while. The last trek with this group was Malangad. To add to the excitement Baba told me that there was a group of around 30 people accompanying us. More the Merrier. The night was just not passing. I was waking up almost after every couple of hours to check if it was time. We had to leave our place at around 4:30am. It was decided that everyone would be gathering at Kalyan ST stand. It was convenient to most of people to gather here. I and Baba left our place at quarter to five in the morning. We boarded a bus to Mumbra railway station. From here we boarded an Ambernath local and reached Kalyan. After reaching Kalyan we waited for some time in Kalyan railway station. After refreshing we moved on to the ST stand. On reaching there, we enquired for the bus which would take us to Murbad. We were told that there were buses to Murbad after every fifteen minutes. So we waited for other group members to come. We soon started getting calls from them saying that they are on the way. At 6:45am first member arrive were Mr. Shyam Kulkarni. Soon others followed in. At around quarter past seven most people of the group were present with a few exceptions. So it was decided that those who had arrived would be leaving for Murbad. Baba and Mr. Suresh Santanam would wait for the rest of the people to come. So we boarded the ST. In ST the head count was 29. After buying tickets for everyone most of the people went asleep or were seen chatting with each others. Most of them being from MBPT they had much in common to talk about. Whole of the Sawant family had come. They consisted of three ladies namely Ms. Aishwarya Sawant, Ms. Manali Sawant and Mrs. Sneha Sawant. They were headed by Mr. Sanjay Sawant an old group member and our family friend. It took us forty minutes to reach Murbad. Once we reached Murbad we waited for our accomplices who were coming a bit late. Once the late latifs arrived we all boarded another ST to Shenve village. In the bus the headcount had increased to 35 owing to the latecomers. From here we reached Shenve village in another 30minutes. The bus ride was galore with songs ranging from Devotional songs to flirtatious songs. That was a very enjoyable ride. In Shenve village we had breakfast and tea. From here we boarded a jeep to reach to Dehne which was a village at the foot of Ajoba parvat. To carry 35 people we required three jeeps. The jeep ride was hell of a ride as 15 people were cramped up in the 9 seated jeep. In the jeep, we had Mr. Suresh Santanam entertaining us with his songs. It was a live in concert for on demand songs. Meanwhile at Dolkhamb village we were joined by some more accomplices. After reaching Dehne village in 45minutes we heaved a sigh of relief as this was the last ride which was t take us to our trekking destination for the day.

Once at Dehne, we made a headcount again and this time the number had swelled up to 39. Rounding it to 40, this was the largest group we had ever been with for a trek in Shyadris. After a formal introduction we started our trek. The age trek members varied from 16 year olds to 60 year olds. For onlookers it was like a huge rally up the hills. The weather was a bit misty. The rain clouds were eyeing us. The peak of Ajoba was chatting with the clouds. The nature was at its glorious best. We could see huge landscapes colored in every shade of green. There were dew drops on the leaves and the cool morning breeze was very much pleasing. After walking for around 45 minutes on a huge plateau like land we were greeted by rains. Heavy rains were all we were wishing for and that wish was fulfilled. We at once wore our raincoats. But still they could not help us from getting us wet all over. After tormenting us for some time it was reduced to a mere drizzle. But this was more pleasing than before. The clouds had landed on us and were playing hide and seek. Now we had entered the jungle region. There was muck all around. Those wearing floaters or sandals were having a hard time maintaining their balance and keeping their feet on the ground. While on the other hand those with shoes had to bear with wet sock and toes. This nature trail was providing us with magnificent views of the sprawling mountain ranges surrounding us. It was fabulous experience to witness the nature in these ornaments.

After trekking for around two and half hours we reached the ashram of sage Valmiki. It is said that the tomb of the great sage is on this mountain and here is the place where he taught lord Rama’s sons Luv and Kush. There are caves at the pinnacle were it is said that there are foot prints of Luv and Kush and also the cradle of Lord Rama’s wife Goddess Sita. From here we moved ahead to the waterfall nearby. The waterfall was a sight to behold. The cool water was what our tired bodies needed. A couple of minutes under the water fall were enough to reenergize us all. Soon everyone was looking for a place under the waterfall. I too secured a small place and enjoyed the cool water. But within ten minutes I was out of it as the ice cool water was making my toes numb. I didn’t want to risk contracting hypothermia so moved away. Everyone went back to the ashram from where we had come from. It was a perfect place to have lunch on a happening day like this. Soon we changed into dry clothes and kept my hunters to dry. Once everyone had changed we sat for lunch. Everyone had mice squeaking in their tummies. Soon the lunch was laid out and delicacies were shared. Everyone had brought something of their own. There were a few cows and a calf at the place where we were having lunch. They were so very interested in our food that every now and then they would inspect as to what we were eating then. After having lunch we cleaned up the whole place and sat for some cultural activities. Here again Mr. Suresh Santanam accompanied by Mr. Shirsekar enthralled us with a wide range of songs. The songs accompanied with the magical music of the drizzle were more than what one could ask for. After songs were sung we had a small photo session. We hung on the aerial roots of a nearby banyan tree. We also visited the shrine of sage Valmiki. There are a couple of scriptures over there carved on flat vertical stones. They are said to depict a story. But it is very tough to decipher the story. After trying to decipher the script we gave in started to descend.

Now the rain was not at all there. The wind was blowing and soothing us. The muck that we had encountered during ascend was comparatively very less. We reached the plateau region in around and hour and had a halt here. We decided to play football here. After playing for a good half an hour we were dead tired and had no energy left to climb down. So we had a group photo session so as to provide with some breathing time for us players. After taking another 15minutes snapping pictures we continued with descend.

While climbing down we discussed about next trek as to where it should be. Many options were coming up and many were being rejected as to being risky to complete in rainy season. It is very difficult to climb rock patches in monsoon as there is lot of fungus on the rock owing to the continuous contact with water. Such treks have to be done in winter season. While we were discussing all this we never knew when we reached Dehne. Soon we boarded a jeep to Dolkhamb. From there we reached Asangaon. Train from Asangaon took us to Mumbra were me and Baba disembarked. Bidding farewell to everyone and hoping to meet them all again on the next trek we parted our ways.

With this trek I recorded my fourteenth trek and another marvelous experience.

Parsik Conquered

2009-06-24T23:04:00.000+05:30

This was my second attempt to attain peak of Parsik-4 with my group. Last time we had tried in month of April and we had failed miserably owing to very bad planning and resource management. This time round I had decided to do the trek with those friends who were seriously passionate about this trek. Tej was the first buddy to say yes to the trek. Then was Shaunak who confirmed in affirmative and Rajas was a surprise entry. We started off from my house at 9am. Shaunak’s dad had come to drop him. After giving us advice to be cautious he left.

We had decided to climb by a known way that was from behind the hill following the stream that comes down the hill. So we started moving towards the backside of the hill. While moving through the low lying slums finding the route towards it was very difficult. So we decided to take the route that would take us to the very foot of the mountain but above the reaches of the slum. We got a small way between two houses we moved up towards the hill. While moving through the space between the houses we came upon a stray dog. On seeing us visitors he got aggressive and started barking on us. He didn’t stop at that he started moving towards us. He was really very scary. But once we were out of his territory, he left us.

We were right at the foot of mountain now. We could see almost the whole slum from here. Mountain now appeared huge and boisterous. It took us fifteen minutes to reach up to here. We waited to catch our breath before starting the climb. Having decided the way climb we started off. The way was good. The climb was easy. We had expected the ground to be mucky after the rains on previous night. But it was drier than our expectations. Now it appeared that we were moving through the gap between two mountains. Now the route had started to show its real colors. The ground became slippery due to lose soil. Rocks were few and scattered. We were having a hard time maintaining the grip. The trees in our way were of huge help to hold on to. Now it was visible that we had taken the shorter route that would be taking us straight to the top of the mountains without any bends or turns. But as it is known, the shorter routes are always the most difficult ones. So we were witnessing the fury of the route now. Shaunak and Rajas were having a very difficult time doing this patch. The patch was not dangerous but it was very difficult to stand on two feet here. This patch was taking us more time than we expected. I was helping Rajas while Tej was handling a restless and over-zealous Shaunak. After negotiating this patch successfully we reached the top of mountain. We were below a huge reflector placed on top of the mountain. There was another reflector some 200m away. From here we could see complete Kalwa, Thane, Mulund and Mumbra. The view was enchanting.

Reaching this peak brought nostalgic moments with it. I had come to this top after a gap of 6 long years. Before that this was a regular monsoon trek for us. This was second trek that I had done as a kid. My dad was always the organizer for this trek. My other friends and neighbors would accompany me on this trek. There were many other passed moments associated with this trek. Now I was the organizer. It was like stepping into my dad’s shoes. I could feel the responsibility I was carrying with me. My fellow trekker’s belief that we are secured with guy could be felt by me.

I called my granny who stays nearby. I told her that we had reached the peak and could see our building. My friends too called their respective homes. The view was breath taking. We see long distances of sky scrapers on one side, while on the other hand we could see the huge mountain range, the tall trees and dangerous heights we had reached. After adoring this scene and bring back those forgotten days we started our journey again.

Now our aim was capturing the peak of Parsik-4. It seemed impossible from the way we had tried before, but from here it seemed as if it could be conquered. So we went for it. There were again two routes to move there. The first one was very obvious that went through the peaks of Parsik-2 and Parsik-3. The other way was like a bit off road but seemed challenging and virgin. Young blood running in our veins didn’t allow us to take the obvious route. So we opted for the second one. This route was easier than we deemed it to be. There were tall trees thought. We could feel the depth of the valley below. Soon we struck a rock patch. It was the most comfortable part of the whole trek. After completing this part we were around 50 feet below the summit of Parsik-4.

We could see a rock structure above us. We decided that we would do it until it could be manageable and much risk is not needed. So we set off with me in lead followed by Shaunak and Tej bringing up the tail. I was moving steadily making sure that all the holds were strong and would bear weight of four people. While moving I was also telling Shaunak what to do and where he should be careful. Shaunak too followed me quickly. But the task was to bring Rajas up. He was an amateur trekker on his very first trek. To negotiate with such rock patches on very first trek is nothing someone would like. I left Shaunak behind and decided to check the remaining route. I was moving on steadily and slowly. Shaunak was asking me every now and then whether I had reached the top. I was telling about the progress. This communication was by medium of screaming to each other. Meanwhile, Shaunak and Tej helped Rajas to reach above. Once Rajas was up, it was just a matter time before Tej was up.

At around the same time, I reached the peak and my joy knew no bounds. I screamed aloud to tell them that we had done it. Soon everyone was there besides me. We were sitting close to each other on those 10 x 15 feet of space. There was nothing around us to brace our fall. We were cautious about our every moment on that place. Tej was playing blues and Bryan Adams on his cell phone. These are some of the moments that a trekker remembers for the rest of his life. After enjoying the view we decided to climb down.

Climbing down was a much more difficult task than climbing down. At first it was decided that we would be moving in the same formation as we climbed up, but on later thoughts it was not sensible to keep two amateurs like Shaunak and Rajas together. So I sent Shaunak ahead and asked Rajas and Tej to wait. Once I escorted Shaunak through the rock patch I came back to take Rajas and Tej. On reaching the spot we had climbed down through I realized that Shaunak was still there and had not went clear of the rock patch. On enquiring he told that he was feeling a bit dizzy! This was the last thing one needed on this rock patch. So again asking Tej and Rajas to wait I helped Shaunak down and then started to take Rajas through with the rock patch. He was very much in state of panic and under confidence. So I and Tej first brought up his confidence by telling him again and again about how easy it was to climb down and asking him not to look at the valley below. After he was a bit fine we decided to take him through one step at a time. Tej was guiding him from behind and me from the front. I was guiding him as to where the holds were and how he could get grip from it. After guiding him through and making sure that Tej was through, I checked on with Shaunak. He was feeling better now. We decided to move down as quickly as we could risk too. Soon found a cozy place under a small overhang in the very rock patch.

Now we were very safe and it was just a matter of time before we could get down. So we had some eatables that Shaunak and Tej had brought with them. By now we could feel our water reducing. We were facing a crunch in quantity of water we needed. So making smart use of water by using very less and keeping more for future need we moved on. While moving down we reached a point from where we could capture Parsik-3 in a matter of minutes. So it was decided that we would do it too. Once there we took snaps in all angles possible and moved on towards Parsik-2 which was also very much near. On top of Parsik-2 there was a huge plain surface. It was very much flat than we could find on some mountain top. After taking a small break over here we decided to stop our adventure and retreat.

But our adventure ceased to end. Shaunak was again and again bugging us to climb down through a different route. So we gave in and started moving towards that direction. But after covering some distance it dawned to us that there was no way and the only way which appeared to go down had much more risk than we would bargain for. So I, Tej and Rajas were of the opinion to find some other route. But Shaunak was adamant and so was I. He moved towards the route while I held my ground that we won’t be going that way. But I am also known to out stubborn anyone. After a few shouts from Shaunak that there was a small place to go down, I held my ground. But still Shaunak stood stubborn. So as an ace in negotiating I told him that I was calling his place. This was a thing that he was most afraid of as this would mean that this would be his last trek. I would never have done that as it would only spread panic at his household. But the trick worked and my old friend was back. After scolding him to no end we walked back. Tej had found a dried rivulet through which we climbed down the mountains. In another half an hour, we were at Shaunak’s place viewing the photos in his TV that we had snapped this morning and reliving the experience once again.

This was my 5^th trek to Parsik-1 and first to Parsik-2, 3 and 4. I enjoyed it a lot as there were some things we had not expected before the trek that we had done in this trek.

Raigad

2009-06-21T20:55:00.000+05:30

This was my second trek to Raigad. The first time I went to raigad was last year for the anniversary of coronation ceremony of the great Maratha emperor Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja. This time too I went there for the same occasion.

This time I was being accompanied by my two brothers Ninad and Shivendu. My college friend Akshay was also with me. We were to reach Dadar at 9am. This was a sponsered tour. We were to meet our organizers at 'Krishna Kunj'-residence of the politico who was sponsoring us. We left our house at 6:15am sharp. After boarding our trains me, Shivendu and Ninad spent our time chatting. Soon we reached Dadar. Once we reached Dadar I called my friend Tej-who was going to escort us to Krishna Kunj. We were to meet him and Akshay at the Plaza Theatre bus stop. We met Akshay over there. He was well before time. We waited there for a couple of minutes and Tej came over too. After exchanging hi's and hello's and introduction with Shivendu and Ninad. We started off for Krishna Kunj. Once we reached there we were surprised to see no one over there. We called our organizer Raju dada (Mr. Rajendra Sawant). He told us that they would be arriving in an hour or half. So we decide to spend the time in some garden nearby. In the garden we had some snacks that we carried with us. Viewed sea front and the Bandra Worli sea link. After spending and hour in the garden we headed back to Krishna Kunj. But again the same scenario awaited us. The place was completely empty. We again called Raju dada. He told us that the meeting point would be 'Rajgad'-office of the same politico. So went there. There was a small temple of Swami Samartha in the vicinity. Tej and Ninad went there. Some time had passed and there was no sign of anyone there. Clock said it was passed ten now. We had started to get bored. Shivendu was exasperated to wait for so long. Now everyone was getting irritated and had started voicing their discontent. Soon we got a call from Raju Dada that they had started off from wadala. Now we got excited that they would be reaching in 15-20 minutes, Maximum half an hour. Now everyone was looking for two red Qualis vehicles which were to take us to raigad. But when an hour passed and no one arrived we again called Raju dada as to know what had kept them busy for so long. He told us that a procession was organized by the political party and they were a part of it. As it was moving very slowly they were late. We were confused as to what was going on. Everyone had a opinion of their own. Amidst this we saw a truck coming. It carried a bronze statue of Shivaji Maharaja and some people dressed in old fashioned way surrounding a man dressed as Shivaji Maharaja. Soon arrived the Qualis vehicles which were to take us to raigad. In half an hour we were in the vehicles and on our way but at snail’s pace. Our vehicles were following the truck that had come. Now we were headed to Wadala. It took us almost an hour and half to reach Wadala which is normally a 20minutes journey.

Once in Wadala, the procession stopped and all the members of the procession went to have tea at a nearby stall. Time was passing and we were getting bored and irritated. We had the packed lunch that we were carrying with us. Now Shivendu and Akshay went to search if they could find some cold drinks. When they returned Shivendu was irritated and decided to leave. I tried to reason with him but to no avail. Ninad had gone to get some chocolates when Shivendu left. When he returned he was shocked to see Shivendu gone. He called him and tried to persuade him. But by now Shivendu had already boarded the train. I was missing him and could not help it. But he was gone and was not to return for the trek. My oldest ally for trekking was lost.

In about 15minutes we left Wadala for Raigad. We galloped our way throughout. I was wishing that if Shivendu would have waited for another 15minutes he would not have missed this opportunity. But he was gone and it was no good crying over spilled milk. In an hour we reached Pen. In Pen, we had our lunch. As it was afternoon and we had to travel a long distance we decided to have less food. After having lunch we waited for others to return. Meanwhile we clicked some pictures and adored the pinnacle of Karnala fort that was visible to us from here. In another 10minutes everyone was back and we left Pen.

The driver of our vehicle seemed to be an experienced guy and the way he was driving was just magnificent. He was driving at almost a constant speed of 90km/hr. It was breathtaking. Soon the other Qualis carrying half of our group also joined the party. Overtaking at its horrific best and sharp turning had us oohing and ahhing. It was very much like a roller coaster ride. To add to it, some good music was being played on the music system in the vehicle. We chatted for some time and then fell asleep. When we woke up we were around 10km away from Raigad. We cloud see the huge fort at the horizon to which we were fast approaching. In another half an hour through village roads we were at the foot of Raigad. The clocked showed us 7pm. The sun had set just a few minutes before. The daylight was still good and we three were all set to take the fort at this time through a rough patch and not by the usual steps. At first we had had some resistance from other group members but our zeal was not to be dampened. We stayed adamant and they gave in. At quarter past seven we started our climb.

The dark of night was growing upon us. Me and Akshay were leading the group and opening the route. Ninad and Raju dada were behind us. They were making sure that people behind were being on track. A mistake at this time of night would be the last thing we could ask for. If we would lose our way it was sure that we would not get to the top anyways. Raigad is a giant fort and there are many ways we could get lost. But we held our nerve. Soon the darkness descended on us. The only light we had with us was moonlight. By now we had climbed half of the fort. But still the other half was remaining. We could see the lights in the villages at the foothills.The sight was beautiful. This trek unknowingly became my second night trek. The speed of the group was now slackened a bit. But no one was ready to give in. We still fought on. Amidst this Ninad’s phone rang. It was Shivendu on line. I talked to him and told him what he was missing. I was missing his company too. Till date I had done a couple of treks with him and he was always the one who stood with me. In this trek I was missing him very badly now. I asked him give my parents a call that I was fine and my phone battery was nearing end and I had switched it off. I felt bad for him missing the trek. But it was of no use now. I continued my trek. Soon at some distance we could see the railings of the steps. Everyone in my group was of the opinion that this much was enough. Considering the fact that there were small kids and ladies in our group we gave in this time.

Soon we were on steps and I was feeling content. Again me, Akshay and Ninad were leading the group. We were singing Marathi songs on our way. We were pulling each other’s leg meanwhile. Ninad is very much afraid of dogs and we could see a couple of dogs in our way up. He also agreed and quoted that he won’t fear a tiger but would surely fear a dog ! After about half an hour we reached the main entrance called ‘Maha Darwaja’. It’s a magnificent work of architecture. The door is huge and boisterous. Even after 350 years of its construction it still stands tall. We halted there and waited for our complete group to assemble. When they returned most of them were completely exhausted. So they decided to sit there and Raju dada went ahead to make sure of the dinner arrangements on the fort.

After another fifteen minutes, we headed towards our residency for the night. On the way we were caught up in rain. It was not in full force but the drizzle too could make us quite uncomfortable. We waited under a small makeshift roof. When the rain receded we continued again. In about ten minutes we reached the top of the fort. This part is called ‘Holicha Mal’. On the left side there was ‘bajarpeth’. This was the market place in historic times. We met Raju dada in ‘bajarpeth’. He had a small girl with him. That girl took us all to her house. We were to rest for the night in this house.

The house was very small. We kept our bags in the house and sat in the courtyard facing the house. After chatting for some time we were called for dinner. Dinner was at its modest best. We were served a couple of ‘bhakris’ and ‘dal bhath’ (rice). We had it quickly. After all of group assembled in the courtyard. Akshay sang a couple of songs for us. Then we decided to retire for the night. Soon everyone was in the house in their beds. I, Akshay, Ninad and Vijay dada decided that we would sleep in the courtyard itself. We arranged all our bedding and we were about to sleep when rain started. We hurriedly removed our beds and headed inside the house. In the house there was no space remaining for us. The woman in the house suggested that we could sleep in cowshed! It was the most ridiculous idea ever. But at that time it seemed to be the only feasible solution. We inspected the cowshed. It was clean and cozy. They sweeped the floor for us and soon we arranged our bedding there. But still the fun continued. The jester again was Ninad. He feared that the calves tied nearby would eat his toes ! On hearing this everyone was in splits. Throughout the night he kept complaining that some insects were crawling on his body. He would awaken Akshay-who was sleeping besides him-and ask him to see if anything was on his mattress. I slept cozily and enjoyed it a lot.

The day began at 4:30 in the morning. After completing our morning chores we had our breakfast. ‘Poha’ was served for breakfast. It was very dry and won’t go down our throats. Somehow we managed it and left for the coronation ceremony. The coronation ceremony takes place in the ‘Raj Darbar’ king’s court. Some rituals were going on when we arrived. So we decided to tour the fort meanwhile. We saw the remains of King’s room, Queen’s palace, jail, goldsmiths place, ministers places etc. We had able guidance of Raju dada in our tour. He told us about the history of fort and many other things. After spending an hour we returned to the ‘Raj Darbar’. The rituals had ended and we went near the throne to pay our homage. We stood there for some time and then returned.

Till now only half the fort was seen. We now proceded towards ‘Wagh Darwaja’. Its a hidden door leading out of the fort but it is very dangerous to climb out of. It was the door through which Rajaram Maharaja-grandchild of Shivaji Maharaja escaped when the fort was given away to the mughal emperor Aurangzeb. It was like a picture frame. A hill stands in front of the door as a huge boulder. After spending few minutes there we went to see the temple of ‘jagdeshwar’. It is the deity Shivaji Maharaja prayed to. The tomb of Shivaji Maharaja also resides nearby. We paid our homage there and decided to go back down.

While climbing down, me and Ninad held the lead. Raju dada and Akshay backed us and brought along the remaining group. This time we decided to climb down the difficult way. The way was adventurous enough but safe too. Slowly and steadily we were climbing down. The way was nice and the scenic beauty of the Sahyadri range was marvelous. It appeared as a wave after wave of mountains. We could also see numerous hill forts. We halted for some time to have dry food. After halting for about half an hour we continued again. Soon we could see the ‘Nane Darwaja’. This was the door we were supposed to climb out of. When we thought that we were heading in right direction but we were not. We came to know that we had moved on and the door was behind. We decided to take the immediate route climbing down to the door. Soon we were near the door. Stopping for breath near the door we proceeded again towards our vehicles to head back home.

On the way, we stopped by at a village called Pachad were tomb of Jijamata-Mother of Shivaji Maharaja-is situated. We had our lunch there and returned home. We could see the fort still but it was soon passing the horizon and we were nurturing the dreams of coming back again next year.

PS:- The earlier post had a lot of mistakes in it and I appologize for that.

Parsik Trek

2009-04-10T13:00:00.000+05:30

Parsik was the first ever trek that I had done in my life and to be their after nearly seven years I had many nostalgic moments. I had done this trek a couple of times before. So I had decided to it the other way round. I had my college friends Tej and Akshay who were amateur trekkers. Shaunak and Harish were also there and they had accompanied me on the previous treks here. After some discussion we decided to try climbing by an unconventional route. We asked a few locals if there is a way to the top from the other side. The reply that we got was affirmative. So we went ahead.

The day of trek dawned. 1st April 2009. I went to thane where I was going to receive Akshay and Tej as they had never been to Kalwa alone. We met at Thane station at 7:30 am. From there we came to Kalwa. Once in Kalwa we could see our destination very clearly in front of our eyes. We met Harish and Shaunak near Shaunak’s place. The route that we were going to follow was very near from Shaunak’s place. We started our climb at around 8:00am.

The trek was a very small one and I was the route opener. After climbing for half an hour we reached a point from where there were two ways going to the top. So we decided to take the easier way. Tej and Akshay were going great guns, but the problem was with Harish and Shaunak. They got tired very quickly. So it was decided that Tej would open the route and would be the tail so as to keep the spirits and energy. We had to take care of Harish and Shaunak. Both were like two sides of a coin. Harish was bit afraid of the heights and was a bit more careful than required while Shaunak was like a madman left open. Even though he was tired he was very much excited. In that mode of excitement he stumbled quite a few times and had scolding from all of us. Scolding was of no effect to him and we had to control his excitement.

We reached a point from were it was apparent that rock climbing was the only way. So I and Tej decided to check whether we could proceed by this way. As I said it was apparent the way was very much easy. So we decided to proceed. We made a formation of ourselves. Tej was to be in the middle of this patch and me at the bottom. First of all Akshay was sent through. We asked him to be ready at the top to help the other two coming up as they would need help. Shaunak was next and he climbed very quickly in spite of some gruesome mistakes he handled himself well. Now was Harish’s turn to do it. First of all his sack was sent above by Tej. Now started to guide him of were to hold and place footing. I was backing him up. After reaching the middle area Tej took over. He too led him well and with some of Akshay’s support he was through. I and Tej soon reached the top of this patch.

From here the scenic beauty was at its optimum. We could see the towns of Kalwa and Mumbra very clearly. The Mumbra creek shinning in the morning sun was a sight to behold. We took a few snaps from our cell cams and started to figure out the way which we had to take now.

Over here after climbing here from here for around 15 minutes we again reached a dead end. We decided to use the same strategy that we had used earlier. I and Tej went ahead to open the route. But this time it was not going to be cake walk. The way was very difficult. The rock formation was like “L”. There was a way from which we had come and the other way led to the top. This was the last climb in this trek. But this was also the most difficult climb of the whole trek. The rocks had nothing to offer us to which we could cling to and move up. Our only hope was a thin ridge that went through. So I decided to give it a shot. With the help of that ridge I climbed a few feet and helped Tej come over. Then Again used the same ridge to climb some more. In the way I took support of a strong tree which had miraculously grown out of that ridge. The ridge had heaps of dried leaves in it and I was unable to guess the depth of that ridge. Soon we reached a point from where only a small way went up and it was very difficult to climb down through it. Meanwhile Tej too reached here. He recommended that we both could do it but it Harish and Shaunak would not be able to do this. Akshay too had started to wear out a bit. So decided to get down and call it quits.

But it was not that easy. We had to face a herculean task of getting down the same ridge that we had climbed some time before. I again led the way. Akshay was at the bottom to help us climb down but he said that he won’t ne able to climb through the ridge. To help us get down someone had to climb till the place were I had waited for some time and it was no way easy for an amateur. We called this place “Monkey’s Point”. As they said that I resembled a monkey while climbing there. So now we were on our own. We could see the gaping valley below us. If we went down that way then it would game over for us. I took a few steps down and then I was stuck. I was at the end of a boulder and the only hold that I had was of the ridge. With only two strong holds to use and nothing more it was gamble. Akshay was telling me were I could have a footing but it was out of my reach. The tension was building up and by now Akshay was accompanied by Harish and Shaunak in giving us suggestions. I was comfortable on my position now. So to reduce some tension in the air Tej called a friend of us on his mobile. We talked on the loudspeaker and were soon fooling around as if we were in enjoying a cup of tea in our living room. Some jokes were cracked and then slowly and steadily I made a move. I came down on my knees and stretched my leg down. Akshay told me that there was a footing I could rely on. So I searched for it and soon found it. In similar manner I reached the Monkey’s point. Now it was Tej’s turn to climb down. I took over from Akshay and guided him as I had been through the same ordeal as the one he was going through now. After taking Tej on the Monkey’s point I started my journey to safety. Using the tree and ridge I reached were Akshay was standing. Soon Tej too climbed down and we raised a cry as if we had conquered the peak.

After resting and recharging our batteries we started to decline. Now it was decided that we would do the hill besides the one we were climbing. So the way towards it was different than the way we had climbed. This way was a bit difficult. There was no firm footing and we had to keep on moving so as to maintain some grip. After struggling here for around 45minutes we reached the mid section of the hill. Now we had to move on plain surface so as to reach the base of the hill that we had decided to climb now. A brisk walk for half an hour took us to the base of our supposed climb. We halted there for some time. Had some light snacks and started the climb again.

The ways to the top were numerous and it was very confusing as to which way should we take. We found a dried brook and decided to follow it. The way was very dirty owing to the slum dwellers in nearby areas. More twenty minutes and we were with nature alone. Dense forest covered the way by which we had come. It was well passed 12 and the afternoon sun was burning us. Our water had depleted to some amount during climb to the previous mountain. So our reserves were low and we had to climb more than half the mountain. We continued our climb. Shaunak and Harish were in very bad state. Shaunak was suffering from back ache. His lower back muscles had started to trouble him a lot and he also had some cramps in his legs. Harish’s case was similar but it was not that serious. By the time we had climbed half the mountain our water was almost finished and we were not sure if there was any source of water at the top in midst of summer. So it was decided that we abandon the trek from here.

We rested there for some time and soon started our climb back. Tej was very much disappointed as his first ever trek was unsuccessful. I was disheartened too but the health of my companions was more important to me than reaching the top of mountain.

Dhak (Second Night and final trek)

2009-02-01T19:32:00.000+05:30

Over here the house was very small. It was almost a hut. The thought of spending this chilling night in here was almost a nightmare. First objective was to find a place to sleep which would be clean and won’t be directly exposed to the fury of the winter. We found a suitable corner which satisfied our needs. In no time we laid our beds for the night and had gained forty winks when there was some chaos and we got up to find that there was some snake like insect in our bedding. We some how got rid of it and then were ready to sleep again when dinner was served. So we quickly took our plates and went to the place where dinner was served. We were surprised to see only rice out there. There was nothing to have with rice. So we decided to continue with rice only. We took that steaming hot rice and soon started devouring it. This was the best rice I have had in my life or at least it seemed to be so. The hot rice filled our stomach which was empty for last eight hours as the only thing we had were caramel chocolates. After some time we got some liquid dal along with rice. It vanished in no time and we were soon dreaming.
Next day we were woken up at 7:00am. It was a very cold morning. In about half an hour we had completed our morning chores. We had fried rice for breakfast. After devouring it we started of for our final trek-Dhak summit.
The way went through outskirts of village for sometime. Then it moved on to the forest area. Now jungle was thick. We had to save our faces from low lying branches of trees. The climb was very comfortable. The slope of the mountain was very gentle. The cool morning breeze and the sun peeking out from the clouds made the atmosphere serene and there was an aesthetic feeling about it. We trekked for a couple of hours. On the way we could see various hill forts around us. We saw Rajmachi fort from various views. This fort was very much visible throughout our trek. It was as if trailing us. At the top we found a couple of ancient water tanks carved out in the rock. They still had water in them. We refreshed over here. Meanwhile we faced a small calamity. We had a couple of walkie talkies. The guy who was having it was stooping over the water tanks and accidentally it landed up in the water. So some one dived in that tank to retrieve it but was unable to find it the depths of water. He was about to give up when he felt something beneath his feet and wonder oh wonder it was the walkie talkie! My friend Rohit had his birthday. So we celebrated it over here. After spending some time over here we started to descend.
On our way back we engaged ourselves in joking and riddling each other. In all these activities we never realized how the time went by. Soon we were back in the village. Over here lunch was ready. We had our lunch rested for a while soon bid a bye to Dhak behind.
Thus my trek came to an end with very nice memories and a couple of good friends.

Malangad

2009-01-23T00:51:00.000+05:30

This was my 10th trek. As usual, dad told me about the trek a day before and I just could not say no to such an alluring offer. Next day I came to know that my brothers Shivendu and Atharva were also coming for the trek and so was my uncle Vijay
Me and dad set of from my house at 5:30 in the morning. Vijay kaka and Atharva had stayed at granny’s place for the night and met us on the way. Together we went to Kalwa station. Shivendu was meeting us over here and so were dad’s friends. Soon Shivendu came and we boarded the train. We met Mr. Anand Sawant in the train accompanied by his son Neil. He was an old friend of my uncle and my dad. Soon I and Shivendu were chatting and just didn’t realize when kalyan came. Soon we were joined by our fellow trekkers and dad’s friends Mr. Bhushan Meher who was accompanied by his brother Prajyot and some other new friends. We moved towards kalyan S.T. stand. Here we were joined by Mr. Eknath Marathe an old acquaintance of mine who was with me during my Himalayan expedition. We boarded the bus to Malangad and after traveling for around 45min we arrived at the foot of the fort.
This fort has a “mosque” which is supposed to be of a Sufi saint named haji Malang. This place is still a point for historian’s discussions as according to the scriptures the grave is a princess and a Hindu saint. The story goes as; in ancient days when the fort was under a raja’s jurisdiction a Hindu saint had come to the fort seeking for a place to reside for some days. The princess was very much impressed by this noble saint and proposed him for marriage which the holy man refused. But she still continued to serve the saint. After some days both of them died and their grave was build on this fort. After many years, a Sufi saint named haji Malang arrived at the fort and resided there for some days. Due his presence many Islamic devotees started visiting this holy man for his blessings. And after the saint died they declared the graves of the princess and the Hindu saint as the grave of haji Malang. Till date this is a place of Muslim pilgrimage.
After gathering here we all started ascending. In primary stages the road was through villages at the base of the fort. But soon, we were facing staircase as at many pilgrimages. This was not the trek we had come for. This was not adventurous at all. It was lacking the instinct or the vibes we get during any trek. In midway we encountered some Langoors who were used to see devotees coming there and now they expected us to feed them something. After walking for around two hours we reached the mosque.
Now on our real trek was to begin. First it was a casual trek. After sometime the difficulty rating grew on. Now we had reached a point where we could see some old broken stairs carved into a huge rock. They were in real pathetic condition which increased our hardships. But while on a trek we do bargain for it. But the thing which none of us had expected was presence of monkeys! They were in groups and attacked fellow travelers at will. They were really horrific. Due to them our group was split into two parts. Me dad and Marathe uncle were opening the route and the rest were following and so it happened that we quickly climbed the broken stairs and reached the plain at the top. We were waiting for the others to come up. But it was decided that it would be risky to bring small kids up here from those rickety stairs. On a trek one always has to remember that where ever one climbs he has to get down and looking at the risk that we would be facing while descending it was a right decision to hold the kids back.
Soon the seniors also came up. Meanwhile we were enjoying the scenery from the eye of a bird. We could see number of forts in the surrounding area. Some pinnacles were also visible. At the top I found a dug out with steps leading inside it. Marathe uncle and I decided to explore what was inside as it appeared as some secret passage or something mysterious. Marathe uncle led the way and asked me take his snap and follow him inside. Till now my dad too came to that spot and asked what was happening. We told them about our discovery. He asked to be careful and watch our step as it could be a death pit. Death pits were used in ancient kingdoms for delivering capital punishments. The person found guilty was thrown down these pits with their hands and legs tied and blindfolded. These death pits opened up in the valley and the person would fall down and have an instant death. And so right my dad was. It really happened to be one of the death pits. Marathe uncle peeked and realized that no more stairs and he could see the deep valley with its jaws open.
So after this horrifying experience we moved forward to another. This time there was a rock patch with a space of just around 3feets to walk on. To its one side was deep valley and to the other side, stonewall. The view from here was breathtaking. We took some snaps here and moved on. We had to really careful as these 3feets were standing in between our life and death. But we had come here do the same thing challenge death!
From here on there was a way leading to the top which was much more dangerous. And with out proper equipments it would be foolish to try it out. Some of our members still decided to take on their fate and walk this horrific way. Over here, two steel pipes were laid connecting two cliffs. We had to walk on these pipes to reach the other end of cliff. We had a rope tied above to catch hold of. A snap link was attached to it and the rope connected to the snap link was tied around the persons waits. Below the pipes lied the land of dead!
So we decided to turn our back from here on. We again reached near that death pit. To the other side of it was a plain area. This area was most suitable for photography. We could see some remains of a house or something similar to it. There was water tank too. After spending some time here and taking some beautiful snaps we decided to return back.
Our way back was much more difficult than we had thought before as we had some uninvited guests-Monkeys. On those horrible stairs one mistake could prove very costly and distraction like this could spell the end for us. But soon we proved it that why we were humans and they were monkeys. Marathe uncle had a novel idea. He removed the leather belt he was wearing and started rotating it in the air. Monkeys might have thought that it was some weapon and stayed away from us for a while. This much time was enough for us to get down to safety.
Soon we joined our other companions who didn’t accompany us to the summit. We were busy telling them our adventures at the top while they were telling us about their encounter with our ancestors. Soon we had lunch and moved forward. Our other mates who had moved on further were to wait for us here. But due to some communication problem they descended down the other way while we retraced our way by which we had came up.
After a long trek we at last regrouped at the S.T. stand and went home cherishing some adventurous moments and new friends.

Dhak Bhairi ( night walk)

2009-01-22T00:27:00.000+05:30

Sunset was not at all a good omen for the trek as we were in dense forest full of wild insects and animals and to add to it we would have to travel with the aid of only our torch beams. In such conditions the chances of getting lost in the forest increases. We neither had enough water nor food to last for the whole night. The only option was to reach our next halt as soon as possible. We were already worn out by the day’s hard work and now we had to walk our way in these horrific conditions. We didn’t know how along the village was. We had to watch every step and be careful all the way. The relief was that we didn’t have to face the scorching heat now but that to was short lived as soon we were facing bitter cold. Even our sweaters betrayed us as they proved to be of very little help. Meanwhile we saw something glittering in the bushes some distance away from us. It appeared as eyes of some animal. We were not sure of what they were and we could only guess about what they were. But they neither blinked nor moved. We hoped that it was not some animal out for a “torch-lit” dinner.
It was almost 9:00 in the night. Still we had no clue to where we were or where we were heading to. We took small halts to recharge our batteries but with lack of water and food it was of little help. Until now me Rohit and Pratik were joking about how we would be sitting in our cozy houses enjoying all the luxuries of life if we hadn’t come to this trek. But it was truly in sense of humor as it was our own decision and we were to stand by it. It was Rohit’s first trek ever. I and Pratik were enjoying at Rohit’s expense and pulling some fast ones on him. I had some chocolates on which we relied for energy.
At around 9:30pm we heard barking of dogs. I cannot explain how reliving it was as it signaled us of some village nearby. We were pumped up by it and it boosted our energy to some level. Our speed of walking increased and soon we were standing in front of two-three hutments. But alas! Our joy was short lived as we came to know that this was not the place we were to halt. Our halt for night was still a good 20mins away. We had some water, ate some biscuits and marched forward.
At around 10:00pm, we again heard dogs barking and this time we were very sure that this was going to be the place we were going to halt at. And yes, this was the place we were to spend the night at. Our fellow trekkers who had not stopped at the Bhairi caves and moved ahead were here waiting for us. There was a small bonfire made to get some heat from. As soon as we reached near the hutment we kept away our bags and sat besides the bonfire to heat our aching body.

Dhak Bhairi & Kondeshwar

2009-01-20T18:51:00.000+05:30

This is my ninth trek of my short trekking life. This was a very instinctive trek as had no idea of this group or any person related to this group. I came to know about this trek from an advertisement in the newspaper. This trek gave a new dimension to my hobby of trekking and I experienced many things that I had never done before. This was going to be my first independent trek. In all the previous treks that I had done my father was my constant companion and my guiding light. This was my very first night trek as we were going to complete almost half of the trek during the night.
Onset for the trek began on Friday night. I met up with the leader of our organisation Mr. Shriram Kohli. Slowly the other group members also gathered and we set off for Karjat from Thane. We boarded the local which was very much crowded and we had a very bad time getting into the train. We along with our big heavy rucksacks looked like the terrorists from Taj! Our fellow passengers were very much interested in what we had in our big bags and why we were carrying them. The local being a fast one halted only and dombivli and kalyan. After these two stations we ruled the train as there was no one except us on the train. We got down at karjat and had a head count. We were 19 people at the station and some more were to join us at various points.
From karjat we boarded a passenger which was to take us to Lonavla. The same story continued in this train too. But this time the climax was changed as we had to stand all the way to Lonavla which was by no means a short distance. We reached Lonavla at around 1:30am in the morning. Till now we had made quite a good number of friends. I was almost acquainted with most of the guys in our group. At Lonavla there were two jeeps waiting for us. In one train we all guys got in while in the other jeep there were all girls. In the jeeps we were cramped up owing to our big sacks and the number of people we were. We were chatting and joking all the way. After sometime we played music in our phones and tried to entertain ourselves. Even though it was past midnight no one showed any signs of sleepiness or fatigue. After a ride for an hour and half we reached a point from were it was impossible for the jeep to go. So now our trek had officially started. This was my first night walk. In the dead of night, we couldn’t see a thing. We had only our torches to guide us in that night. The sky had a beautiful sight to show. The stars shone like diamonds layed out for sale. It was sight to behold and to have it in your first night walk itself was I believe it was my good luck that I had an opportunity to have it for my company. Till now my friends list on this trek included Pradeep, Saket (socket), Pratik and Rohit. In the midst of night we all were joking and enjoying our trek. The onset of winter had begun recently and it was taking a toll on us. I was wearing a halfsleave T-Shirt over which I had a thick fullsleave T-shirt. To top it all I had thick woolen jacket and a woolen cap too. But still I would have liked to have something more on to keep the chill away. We walked through dense forests with only darkness and the cold breeze as our companion. Now we were accustomed to the road and were chatting about lives when not trekking. After walking for about two hours we reached our destination for the night. At 4:00 am in the morning we reached a temple. We had to stay there till morning. We had only two hours to rest. Soon we layed down tired bodies on a mat and soon we were dreaming.
We had our wake up call at 6:15 in the morning. In the morning we realized that we were in outskirts of a village. We got some water from villagers and we filled our bottles with it. Soon we were off. We marched our way into the jungle. After walking for sometime we halted at a place and soon preparations for the breakfast began. We had sandwich for our breakfast. After spending close too an hour there we had our formal introduction. After it we proceeded towards our destination for the day Kondeshwar. The climb was not very difficult and it went along the edges of the mountains. We could see the huge mountains of the sahyadri ranges sprawling till the horizons. We could also many hill forts. On this way we had our first glance of our final destination of our trek-The Dhak fort. It stood as a stalwart of the region and appeared like a shepherd looking over the entire region around. We could also see the pinnacle of Kalakrai. This pinnacle was camouflaged among the rock walls of the fort behind. We could also see the Bhairi caves which were our numero uno destination on that day. As we proceeded now the way was through forest and owing to the winter season the greenery of the mountains had been transformed to the wilderness of dried grass. The way was descending and the soil was almost next to none. Our path was from huge rock boulders arranged by the Mother Nature in those formations. The boulders are very difficult to traverse through as you don not get a firm grip on the ground. Slowly and steadily we climbed down that hill and landed up in front of the Kondeshwar temple
The temple looked very old and had very typical style of architecture. We were to have our lunch here. Meanwhile till the lunch was being prepared we decided to do rappelling on the nearby rock face. So everything was set for rappelling. Those who were interested did it one by one. This was my second time that I was doing rappelling. There were many who were doing it for the first time. It was very difficult for some of them to do it. But all in all it was fun and there were no injuries other than minor scratches. We had our lunch and rested for sometime. Then we again started our march towards the Bhairi caves.
It was around 2:30 in the afternoon and the sun was in its complete fury. Add to that the rough terrain that we had to maneuver through and it becomes a hell of a combination. During such conditions the risk of sunstroke increases. There were not many trees now as we were on the top of the hill that overlooked the Dhak fort. We had to climb down in the valley between the hill we were on and the Dhak fort. Descend was comparatively easy as the way was through dense forest and owing to the lush greenery around the walk was very pleasant. At around 4:00 in the evening we reached the base of the Bhairi caves. From here onwards only those who were interested in going to the caves were going forward. This was a precautionary measure as the way to the Bhairi caves goes through a rock patch of 70degrees inclination overlooking the valley. Those people less on confidence were advised against going there. Those who were not coming proceeded towards our stop for the night.
For reaching the Bhairi caves, the path was very difficult. First obstacle was a tube like formation at the descending path leading to the cliff of the Bhairi caves. There was no room for error at this point as one mistake would end up in a fall of around 200-300 ft in the valley below. Slowly and steadily being fully focused on every hold and ground grip we managed our way through this region. But till now the job was only half done. We now reached at a point from were the path was plain but it was very narrow. We were told to wait for sometime as our group seniors were making some safety arrangements.
The wait didn’t seem to end at all. We could see them doing something on the rock face but we could not see it very clearly as it was quite a distance away from us. Over here we were very impatient to go to there. The place we were sitting on was only 3 ft wide and overlooked the deep valley below. Even though it was daytime we were unable to see the base of the valley. At this point I could feel my existence in this world. I could feel being alive. Death stood just inches away from me. At this point of time the rush of adrenaline that runs through your veins is the rush we trekkers do these crazy things for.
Soon we were signaled to come near the rock face. Over here one of our senior briefed us on how to be on the rock face and what one should avoid there. A piton was fixed in the middle of the rock face with two snap links at each ends and an anchor rope was passed through these pitons and snap links. Only one person was supposed to cross it at a time. So we eagerly awaited our turn as one by one people were crossing that region. This wait seemed as if it would never end. Now we realized that in about an hour the sun would set. This was a very bad thing as light was of utmost importance on such rock patches. So we had to speed up.
Now it was my turn. I was a bit nervous certainly not afraid. I had utilized the waiting time for strategizing my way on the rock patch. I had also revised through the dos and don’ts that I had read and learned during my previous treks. I was fully focused on the path ahead as one mistake would spell doom. Taking one step at a time I moved ahead. Made sure that every foot hold and hand hold was strong enough to take my body weight in case of a fall. At places I spent quite sometime in deciding which step was the best at that point of time. I even stopped for sometime to relax and relieve the excitement that was taking over me. In the same manner I traversed the rock patch and reached the other end.
From this point the view was amazing. The sprawling sahyadri range below us seemed terrifyingly beautiful. The sun was beginning to turn orange which indicated that we should move away from this region at the earliest or we would be trapped in this place for the night. So again slowly and steadily we crossed back. Till we reached the point from where we had started the sun had already set

Tour de Dubai ( Sharjah and Dubai Land)

2008-11-16T11:38:00.000+05:30

Our tour to Dubai was now nearing its end. We had visited most of the places. Now some of the few places to visit are Sharjah and Dubai Land. So we had decided to visit them both at the same time.
We set of in the morning to go to Sharjah. It being a Friday morning in UAE, the traffic was very less. Our tour till outskirts of Sharjah was very beautiful. There were tree plantations on both the sides of the road. We also saw the Dubai airport in broad daylight. We had every time seen it at night. Then we entered Sharjah. It was a horrific surprise for us. We could not believe our eyes. The Sharjah about which we had heard so much and it turned out to be a shabby place. There were cars parked all over the road. This was due to absence of car parking space in or around the huge towers. This was quite an antithesis to the glorious histories which had take place in this city. But the main shock was to come later.
Sharjah cricket stadium which was one of the best stadiums in the world and the one with some magnificent history was the main attraction on our trip to Sharjah. We reached the stadium after navigating our way through narrow city roads. The logo of the Sharjah Cricket Stadium was clearly visible now. We entered the parking lot of the stadium with the hopes of witnessing the stadium but it was not to be. When we reached the gate we were told that the stadium was closed for the day due to some program organised for the Bangladeshi cine stars! This was completely ridiculous as we had come from such long place to see the Sharjah stadium and we were not allowed to see it. We tried to persuade the guard that we would not take any pictures and would come out within five minutes but in vain. He was as stubborn as a mule. At last, we gave up.
Now we decided to visit some other places in Sharjah like the Gold Souk and the corniche walk created over their. It being a Friday morning the gold souk was almost closed. So we proceeded to the corniche walk. This is a beautiful place created along the creek. There is an artificial island situated in the creek. It was very beautiful covered with greenery all over it. This place can be called the only saving grace of Sharjah. After taking some pictures here, we were retracing our way to Dubai. In the way we happened to see a beautiful mosque. It was inspired by the Turkish style of architecture. It had a huge dome and two tall minarets. There seemed to be more than one entrance to the mosque. We went near it, captured this master piece in our camera lens and moved on.
Our next destination was Dubai land. This is place created to present its visitors with the future of Dubai. There are miniature maps and models depicting various changes that would be taking place in Dubai down the timeline. There were life size statutes of elephants, giraffes, dolphins and Pandas. They were so accurately depicted in those statues that they created an illusion of being really present there. Every minutest detail was taken care of in them. The disappointment caused earlier in the day in Sharjah was completely wiped out now. They created a very refreshing atmosphere. There was desert all around it and this really proved to be an Oasis in the desert. We were just roaming around in the area and adoring its natural beauty when we came up with the second shock of the day- Tigers. Live.
There was a glass enclosure near a building. Inside it an artificial habitat resembling the natural one was created. In it were the two tigers. The magnificent and the royal animal commanded awe and respect from the viewers. It was a sight to behold. An 8ft tiger roaming just few feet’s away from us and still we were safe and sound. Those two captives also seemed to like the interest showered on them by the viewers and the fear it created in the minds of its onlooker. There was a gleam in the beautiful beast’s eye which was roaring at us that even when I am the captive the fear is within your heart and not mine.
After spending some time there we were again on our way back to house. There we encountered the global village festival taking place there. It is huge places were commodities which are special in that parts of the world are traded. Various miniature artifacts which are specialty of a particular country are displayed. After taking a quick ride in this area we went back to the place we call home.

Tour de Dubai ( Dubai Mall)

2008-11-12T11:20:00.000+05:30

After our trip to creek park we moved on to the Dubai Mall. It is the largest mall on the planet and had created a huge traffic jam in Dubai on its day of opening. It is not completely ready but the parts of it which are ready are open to the public. There are various specialities of the mall. Some among them are olympic size ice rink, large aquarium etc.
On our entry in the mall the first thing we saw was a huge line of cars waiting for a parking space. Atlast we foun one. The mall was a beauty in sorts. Ice rink was the first that we saw in the mall. There were many people skating in there. Some were novice while some were much more experienced. Altogether they were a great sight. Now we moved on to the gold souk. It was a very beautiful place. On the ceilings there were many chandelieres. There was a different chandeliere on every turn. The design and the patterns on them were really beautiful. They were a sight to behold. There was a huge emperors throne at one place. It was so big that more than two average sized people would fit in it while one can easily sleep in it! From here we moved on to the aquarium.
Now the sight that was present in front of us was breathtaking. There were fishes of different kinds in it. The glass enclousure in which they were kept was magnificant. They were fishes of size ranging from a two inches to a bull shark weighing 80kg. An artificial coral reef was made there. There were joker fishes bobing up every now and then. They were string rays, hammerheads, bull sharks, tiger sharks, sucker fishes and some fishes which we saw for the first time in our life. They made a great sight. We took many pictures and shot videos. There was a huge crowd surronding the enclosure. We then moved on to the tunnel. Tunnel was a place build under the water of glass. It felt as if we were among the fishes. I saw a shark with his razor sharp teeth glide past me inches away from me. We were seeing deadly fishes like the sting rays glide away inches away from us. The came the main attraction-the feeding. Two divers went in that tank full of deadly fishes without any protection. The only protection for them was that one of them had a rod his hand while the other had dead fishes to be fed. Many small fishes were staying around the divers in hope that they would get something but it was only to feed the sting rays it seemed. The diver with the fishes would wait for sting ray to come his way and then he would put a dead fish in his mouth. It was so very risky that if the tail of sting ray would touch him he would reach where Steve Irwin is. When a fish was given to the sting ray some of the small fishes would run behind that sting ray in hpe of getting something from him. In this way the feeding was going on. We later moved from the tunnel.
At this movement our clocked showed 09:30pm. We decided it was time to go home. So we turned our way to the car park. This was the time when the mall again showed us its hugeness. We got lost in the mall. That is were unable to go the way we had come from. The mall cmprises of many floors and it is very difficult to find a particular place. We were asking the staff, the security people our way but they proved of very less help. After wandering around in search of our way out of the mall for around half an hour we found our way and reached our home dead tired.

Tour de Dubai ( Creek Park)

2008-11-11T13:41:00.001+05:30

Tody we decided to go to Creek Park. This park is seen whenever we cross the floating bridge. Dad likes gardens very much so we decided to go to the park today.
In the afternoon we reached there. At the entry we saw a huge board indicating the direction towards children’s city-a place where kids can interact with the scientific models. Opposite to it some distance away was the Dolphinarium. It is place were dolphin shows are conducted. The park was not at all crowded. We had our solitary presence over there. It looked as if we were on some private park. The park is named as the creek park as creek flows besides it. At the other bank of the creek there was a golf course. The skyline of Dubai was very intimidating. The huge towers and there glass walls shined in the afternoon sun. We could not miss the presence of various birds which were present in the park. The lawns were maintained to highest standard. The greenery was very beautiful. It was unbelievable that such a place could be build in midst of a desert. There efforts in growing and maintaining such a place has to be applauded.
Then we moved on to the farther end of the garden. The garden is divided in many parts namely Desert garden, tropical gardens etc. The desert garden was full of beautiful cactuses. The cactuses are arranged in a very beautiful manner.
After wandering around for sometime we decided to lie-down on the grass. Then we rested our feet on the huge layers of greenery. Now the sun had begun to set. The different shades of red and orange were coloring the evening sky. The birds were returning to their babies. We were at the sea face looking at the changes at the time of dusk. We were sitting at the tables on the jetty in the creek. The dull evening waves crashing against the posts of the jetty were making a soft music.
We had to leave the park at 7:00pm and it was already
6:30pm. We moved on to the main gate of the park. Refreshed ourselves near the exit and moved out. After sometime kaka came and picked us up from there. Thus ended our trip to the Creek Park. The experience taught me that if one wishes anything can be done even in unfavorable conditions.

Tour de Dubai ( Mercato Mall)

2008-11-10T13:29:00.000+05:30

In the evening all of a sudden we decided to go somewhere. It was decide that we go to Mercato Mall. This mall is designed after traditional Spain culture and architecture. It being friday there lot of crowd in the mall. This is the smallest mall I have visited in Duabi but it is one of the most beautifull malls that i have visited. The huge painting of a spanish city created a huge aura around it. The typical spanish arches which were build took us to Spain from Dubai. There was a huge clock at one end of the mall. The clock was rust bronze in colour and had roman numerals on it. There was a feeling of being an antique that it created. That clock was really a peice of art. There was a live pianist displying his skill. He was vry much engrossed in playing his piano but the lack of interest from the people would have made him feel really bad I thought. It really is an insult for an artist to play for such an disintrested artist. I really pity him.
There were people enjoying there visit and soaking in the spanish atmosphere specially created. This was an altogethere different visit to a mall where we also visited the traditional Spain in midst of buzzing Dubai.

Tour de Dubai ( Hatta)

2008-11-09T11:42:00.000+05:30

This is place like nothing I had ever visited before. The desert around has a very different beauty of its own. The golden sand with various shades attracts the sight of the beholder. We started for this place in the morning. The cars outdoor surronding display was indicating the temperature around 35 degrees but inside the the car with the luxury of an air conditioner we were very comfortable at 19 degrees. As we approached the dessert region the humidity vanished. The sand beneath our feet was burning hot. I could feel it through the soles of my shoes.
For reaching hatta we had enter Oman. Hatta is a place in the desserts of UAE. There are huge mountains of sandstone here. This place is said to be a coral reef in the pre historic times which came up above the earth surface due to clshing of the gographical plates under the surface of sea. These mountains also resemble the dryed up coral reef. The road through the dessert is beautiful and only the car indicator tells you that the car is speeding above 120km/hr. The ride till here is smooth and steady. But ones we enter the hilly region the road is not a tar road. This road is at the mercy of the nature and the vehicles which drive through it. The road climbs up and again dips down suddenly. At some place you cannot even see the end of the road and it takes all the skill of the driver to navigate through this road.
After going through these rough patches we at last found a spot to camp in at. There we quickly unloaded all our belongings from our car and settled in there. The menu for lunch was chicken barbecue, prawn rice and sausages. Till now the evening breeze was flowing. We had adjusted with the temperature long before. We decided to do some hiking in the nearby ranges after climbing on few hillocks of sandstone we made our way back through the rough terrains of Hatta.
Our second destination for the day was the dessert safari place. We had to reach there before the sunset as the sunset from there is one of the most beautiful in Dubai. There were many people riding dirt bikes, off terrian vehicles and many such dessert adventure sports. Thier stunts and the speed at which they performed said a lot about thier skill and carefree nature making me envy them. The sand over here was of the different shade than the one in Hatta. It is said that in UAE the colour of sand differs in every state. The sunset had already taken and now we could see the orange and dark pink shades of the setting sun. After lingering there for some time we retraced our footprints and made our way back to our house.
This hatta expereince was one of the best I had experienced till now.

Tour De Dubai (Souk Al Bahar and Dubai Fish Market)

2008-11-05T14:23:00.000+05:30

Souk Al Bahar was our next destination where we went all together. We started in the evening on 1st of November. Its is a mall cum residential hotel. It is designed around the theme of the ancient heritage in midst of modern wonders. Its construction is not finished still now but the major part of it is done. Its an open air mall. There are various articles which reminds us of the past Arabic culture. It is build along the back drop of Burj Dubai-the worlds tallest tower to be. The anceint theme of the mall is very much evident in evry small thing of the mall from its walls to its lamps and the lamp posts. Everything is a state of art thing here. The lighted shining towers around the mall makes the scene larger than life. At the dusk, the whole mall was lit up. The new gliterring look of the mall was a sight to behold. The projection of light in the water, the wooden arches, ancient styled lamps and many such things made the scene wonderful. After holding this sight in our vision we left the mall.
We now moved on to the fish mart. Yes this is an unusual place to visit by a tourist but still it proved to be a nice one. We moved on to the main fish mart in Deira Dubai. The scene was very different from the fish markets i had earlier visited. The fishes were gigantic and of the best quality. It was a name it and they have it kind of situation.There were fishes from varrying from small prawns to big lobsters, gigantic crabs, star fishes etc. There was different area reserved for dry fishes. The cleanliness was maintained to the maximum. After having expereinced this fish mart our touring for the day ended.

Abu Dhabi

2008-11-05T13:30:00.000+05:30

Our next destination in Dubai was Abu Dhabi. The trip to Abu Dhabi was going to be one of the most interesting and amazing trip in our tour.
Abu Dhabi is a state in UAE and also its capital. It is around 150km away from Dubai. We travelled there by car. I, dad, mom and kaka went there. We travelled through the Sheikh Zayed road. It is one of the best roads in Dubai and is named after the late Sheikh of Dubai. We stopped there for sometime took some photographs of the beautiful skyline of Dubai. The skyscrapers, towers, fountains and the gardens in midst of it all were worth a deco. This was our first trip outdoors during the daytime. All our other trips were in the evening or in the late afternoons. The climate was very hot and humid and it was very difficult to be away from the AC of the car. After spending some time there we moved on.
The road to Abu Dhabi was very smooth unlike that of the roads in India. Along the way we saw many industries coming up in middle of desert. We also saw some metro trains which will soon be starting in Dubai. The road was very smooth and even at speed upwards of 100km/hr the ride was smooth and steady. The desert along the roadside was now showing signs of improvement. It could be seen that the progress of the country was out of nothing. The climatic conditions are so unfavorable and in spite of it all this huge beautiful empire was made by the Sheikh and this effort deserved hats off.
After entering the Abu Dhabi jurisdiction we encountered the green zone. Green zone are the gardens created along the side of road in middle of the arid desert. The trees on both sides of the road made a beautiful scene to watch. There were many beautiful mosques along the road.
These mosques were of different sizes but all were equally beautiful. They had very similar structure and color. They consisted of domes and minarets. There was one especially different mosque. It was white in color and consisted of huge dome and numerous minarets. It looked to be inspired by the Taj Mahal in India. It was very beautiful and magnificent. The size of it was just enormous.
Once we were in the main city of Abu Dhabi, we could see the beautiful gardens and the skyscrapers. The emirates palace could be seen just in front of us. It is the royal residence of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi. There was a beautiful beach along the road. The water was turquoise blue in color. The color was very enthralling and made us look at it I astonishment. I had never seen such clean water ever in my life. There were many water sports going on in the sea. We could see many people fishing and sun bathing. The atmosphere was very humid. We were not able to be out of the car more time. It felt as if the skin was burning. After taking some pictures we moved on to the nearby marina mall. There we had some light snacks and started our journey back to Dubai.
All in all this was a very amazing experience for me. The beach, fountains, the emirates palace, and the water sports everything was just astonishing. Thus ended our tour in Abu Dhabi.

Tour De Dubai( Al Fahidi fort i.e. Dubai Museum)

2008-11-04T11:40:00.000+05:30

Our plan for 30^th of October, in the evening was to visit the Al Fahidi fort in Bur-Dubai better known as the Dubai Museum. My sis Pari accompanied me to the museum. She has a liking for History and the museum was a “must watch” for her in spite of having visited it many a times.

We started from our house at around 17:00hrs. We walked our way to the museum. It was walk of around 15mins from our house. The first we noticed there was a gigantic ‘Dhow’. Dhow is a traditional ship used by the Arabs. The Dhow was magnificent. Lights of various colors were projected on the dhow lending it a historic look. There was a small description of the history of the Al Fahidi fort and the Dubai wall. The gate was a door of around 10ft in height. It embedded numerous small sharp nails. There were a few cannons on the entrance.

Once inside the fort there were old dhows, hutments, a well and some other historic artifacts which symbolize the ancient lifestyle of the Arabs.

These artifacts were under the open sky in midst of walls on all four sides. There were two entrances marked on both the walls opposite each other. The enclosed small display rooms. In the first room old maps of Dubai, model of the old forts and such other things were displayed. In the other room, there were old weapons like daggers, swords, guns, armour etc were displayed.

Then we moved on to the next floor below us. The main part of the museum is situated in the basement. There are two floors below the ground. In this part there were models of artisans in the ancient time like the potters, goldsmiths, traders, cobblers etc. There figures made were lifelike and made us feel as if they all have life inducted in them. There were models of ancient houses and the arrangement of the rooms, the basic necessities in the house and the clothes used by the ancient Arabs. There were displays of the various games played by the children in those days. The sound accompanied the models displayed and thus gave a new life to them. The tourists were taken to the pre-historic times by these models. Then there was displayed the jewellery used by the women in those days. The sport of bird hunting in which falcons are taught to catch small preys like the bustards and small rabbits also had a place in the museum. There videos of the sport being played. There was separate area were it displayed the old profession of pearl diving. This was a beautiful display of the ancient dhows, the clothes wore by the pearl divers, there instruments etc. The displayed artifacts told the story of the peal divers in those days and the risks involved in this profession.

Then we moved on to the next area which was about the excavations carried out by the historians in various parts of the country and the findings in those excavation sites. There was hologram of a tomb of some emperor in the ancient days. It gave us a sneak peek in the style of architecture in those days. There were many earthen pots vases and the jewelry excavated from the sites.

With this part ended our visit to the Dubai museum. We were left astonished at the knowledge it had given us about the past of the Dubai.

Tour de Dubai (Medinat Jumeriah)

2008-10-30T13:52:00.000+05:30

The third outing of Dubai was Medinat Jumeirah. This is a mall that is made to resemble an old Arabic market. The wooden ceiling consists of mughal architectural arches. The traditional style of shops almost takes any person to that era. The dim but sufficient lighting added to the aura of being in the historic Arabia. This is mall cum hotel. In here the sea water is brought into the midst of the hotel area. There are facilities like the shikara boat to traverse through the waters. The blue water in the historic brown architecture makes an amazing feeling. There were lamps of various shapes, colors and formats. The palm trees could be seen everywhere. The ambience in the area was very fascinating. The narrow lanes of the market gave a feeling of the bygone period. The wind towers and the tall minarets resembled scenes from Arabian nights. There were traditional Hookahs to be seen. Restaurants from all over the world offered there own cuisines and specialties. There was something or the other of that specific region that symbolized the specialty of that part of the world. There were many antiques like the steering wheels of the old ships, bronze camels, ancient kayaks, miniature cannons and many more things.
After the visit to the Medinat Jumeirah I experienced the practical lifestyle and the geographic conditions of the ancient Arabic conditions.

Tour De Dubai ( Ibn Batuta Mall)

2008-10-30T12:21:00.000+05:30

In the second tour of sight seeing in Dubai we visited Ibn Batuta Mall. This mall was constructed as a tribute to a globe trotter named Ibn Batuta. He had travelled extensively all over the world. His travelling scaled from Russia to SriLanka and South America to Japan.This mall has been divide into various courts namely Moroccan court, Indian court,Persian court, Chinese court and Egyptian court. Every court displays the specialities of that specific region.
We first visited the Moroccan Court. In this part there were beautifully carved wind towers. The ceiling of the mall was made to look like open sky. The Moroccan style of architecture was evidently visible i this court. There were date palms all over. The sand brown colour was extensively used in the construction. The artificial sky created almost resembled the real open sky.
Now we moved on to the Persian Court. In the Persian court the domes were dominantly present. The Arabic style of architecture could be seen all over the place. The minarets were constructed spoke out about the lifestyle and the geographical conditions of the Persia. The coloured glass was used in the wind towers.
Next came the Indian court. The architecture was Mughal styled. The dome resembled that of the Taj Mahal. The inner side of the dome was beautifully carved and painted. There was an elephant on display. The elephant carried an "Ambari" on its back. Ibn Batuta was seated in the Ambari. The ambari had sculptures of a dragon and a n Eagle head.
Now it was the time to be in China. The highlight of this court was a huge Chinese ship. The trapezoidal sails of the ship were omnipresent on the ship. The Chinese court was mainly coloured in the dark shade of red. There were designs depicting dragons and pagodas. The red coloured walls gave a feeling of being a part of ancient china. Every minutest detail was shown and paid attention to.
Last but not the least it was the Egyptian court. In here Pharaohs and Egyptian pyramids were the center of atraction. There were wall paintings of Pheonix, pharaohs, and other characters of the egyptian mythology. The pillars constituted of colourfull paintings. Here too the sand brown colour was largely used.
Thus after visiting five regions of the world our tour to Ibn Batuta Mall came to a halt.

Tour de Dubai (Mall Of Emirates,IKEA & Festival City)

2008-10-27T12:26:00.000+05:30

Till now i had traveled a lot, but never been outside of the country.So being outside India was very different experience for me.This tour was to give me many first time experiences as well.
We travelled to Dubai. I had my uncle staying with his family in Dubai. We travelled to Dubai by an aeroplane. I had never been in an aeroplane before. So this was an experience of a life time. In Dubai, our first experience was not different from what we face in Mumbai everyday-long queues. We had to stand in a long queue for immigration checks. In the queue we could see people of various creeds,nationalities and religions. Some were fair while some were dark. Everyone had a different identity. This was very much like in Bombay were we have different people following different relogions speaking different languages coming together. After going through the immigration checks we moved out of the airport. I met my uncleand sisters there. They ferried us to home. On the way i had another experience which was very much like what i have witnessed in Mumbai-traffic. We could see lines of cars in front of us. But the only difference in Dubai and Mumbai was the driving was very much disciplined and thank goodness no honking of loud horns. After succefuly negotiating the traffic we reached home. After having a wash we had dinner. In it i had an arabian delicay-Khapus. Khapus was like a pizza base but only smaller in size and better in taste. After having dinner I retired my tired soul to the bed.
My first morning in Dubai was very pleasent. I finished my morning routines had breakfast and then we started our first sightseeing in Dubai. We were to visit The Mall Of Emirates. It is a very huge magnificent mall. The main point of attraction in it was Ski Dubai. It is a fake snow world reated in the mall. There are various facilities like skiing,snow boarding in it. After roaming around in that area for sometime we moved on to the play area. There we played various games. After enjoying the games we moved on to the food court to saavour the delicacies served in there. We had chinesse food. I savoured some new delicacies like spring rolls etc. But there my staple diet was french fries. just loved the taste and the aroma that lingers in mouth even after sometime. After having the lunch we left the mall of emirates and moved on to our next desti nation.
Our next destination was IKEA mall. It is a very beautifull mall. Here we did some shopping. My uncle gifted me a new cell phone as it was my birthday. Then after roaming around in the mall for sometime we had some tea and moved on to the festival city besides it. The festival city was just besides the marina. I saw many yatches docked in the port. The spic and span yatches presented a brilliant sight. We took some pictures in the area and witnessed a fabulous sunset. The sight of the sun setting behind the yatches was a sight to behold. On the other side of the creek there was huge shipyard. We could see many huge ships being consructed there. After this we moved on to the area were some cultural activities were being carried out. We enjoyed an acrobatic show and then returned to our home.

Saurkundi Pass.

2008-10-26T21:27:00.000+05:30

I was a 15 year old lad about to appear for my 10th standard board exams in few months. My dad knowing about the pressure experienced by me and also the love for adventurous treks in me asked me “Shall we go to a trek in Himalayas after your board exams?” I was very much surprised by this but I immediately agreed. In a few days our plans for trek were finalized.
We were to report to the base camp on 1st of May. We were accompanied by two of dad’s colleagues in office. We boarded the train in the evening from Kalyan on 25th of April. In the train we me and my dad were joined by those two friends. They were Eknath Marathe and Ganesh Pol. Among four of us I was the fellow who was doing his first ever trek in Himalayas. The journey by train in the night was very pleasant in evening and night. The morning too passed of without much problems. The problem started in the afternoon. We were to go through the very hot and humid region of North India. The weather was very humid and the temperatures were soaring to something around 37-38 degrees Celsius. The heat was taking its toll. I was feeling drowned. The thirst was unwilling to die down. We were emptying bottle after bottle of mineral water. The heat was just unbearable. We had tied wet towels around our heads to cool of. It brought us some relief but it was short lived we had to wet the towels time and again as they dried off very quickly. At last we reached Delhi in late afternoon. We booked our rooms in Guest houses provided by dad’s office. We rested for sometime and left our hotels for sight seeing in Delhi. We traveled quiet a bit, had our dinner in a local “dhaba”. Let me tell you the people in Delhi are not the ones to be trusted. They all try to fool you to get some money. It is one of the dangerous cities in India even after being the capital of the country. The people are not at all hospitable. We returned to our beds and rested our tired soul carriers. We were up in the morning, had our breakfast and left for booking our seats to reach the base camp of our trek.
Our bus was late in the evening. We packed our bags and went to the bus station after having lunch in the guest house. The bus ride was a bit rough but hailing from Mumbai I was very much used to it. We had a halt in Chandigarh at night. There we had dinner and continued our travel.
We reached our base camp-a small village in Himachal Pradesh-named Babeli. We filled all our required documents and were allotted tents for our stay. We were supposed to stay at the base camp for two days. First day was a free day and we were allowed to do whatever we felt like. We were allowed to leave the base camp but had to return back before 9:30pm. We chose to stay at the base camp and see how the things are being done. First batch of trekkers was about to leave on the same day. We had an army man as our leader. He gave a very motivational speech to them and sent them off. The people at the base camp were very helpful and hospitable and this was a very pleasant surprise after visiting Delhi. On the second day we were taken to an acclimatization walk on some nearby hill. We had our campfire which was an eco friendly one as we just used some tree which had electrical bulbs lighting over it. On the second day we were given lessons in rappelling and rock climbing.
At last the dawn occurred, when we were to start our trek. We had 50 people in our group. 49 men and one 1 girl. Our fellow trekkers who were to start in few days gave us their best wishes. We left our base camp. The trek started. I had to carry my backpack which was something 6kgs. I was not at all used to carry such heavy bags for treks. So I was having a bit rough time but this is a part of the game I was playing at that time. We were to reach our first camp on that day were we would be staying for a night. Its name was Segli. It was my first trek after around 4-5 years and I was having really a hard time. But the scenic beauties of the Himalayan forests cheered me on encouraged me go on. Slowly and steadily I was getting used to the heavy bag and rough terrain.
Everything was going as per the plan but as said by many –expect the unexpected when everything is normal-and unexpected occurred. On our way we encountered a small house. It had beautiful flowers around it. Some of our fellow trekkers stopped to snap some pictures and our group got separated. Thank this all to some nonsensical trekkers from Chhattisgarh. They had some tiff with our route guide and to revenge this misled other trekkers to some other route. We were waiting for other trekkers to proceed further but there was no sign of them for around an hour. Then we guessed something was wrong. Then we started hearing some familiar noises some way above us. We started calling them by their names and they responded. Then our guide took us by some other route which was very tiring and we huffed and puffed to the place where our other group members were. After that everything went as expected and we had no further problems.
We reached our first camp in early evening. It was a beautiful village and one of the only two villages we had our base camps in. Our camp leader was a Guajarati from Mumbai and we connected very well. He was an astronomer. He had also brought along one of his telescopes along with him and we had planned to do some stargazing at night but thanks to heavy showers of rain it was not to be. We even had our dinner turn by turn going into the kitchen and having dinner under a small roof. It was also an experience worth it. Then we retired to our sleeping bags and were dreaming in no timing.
The next day we woke up to a beautiful dawn. The climate was very pleasant. The sun’s rays were making the snow clad mountains look as if they were bearing gold on their tops. A chill mountain breeze was flowing. We had our breakfast and left the camp. We proceeded to our next camp. The way was fine. It was not very difficult but was not easy too. We were witnessing the beauty of nature. It was transforming within minutes. We could feel the freezing snow bearing wind at a moment the very next moment we were wiping sweat from our brows. We were having chocolates at regular intervals. Someone or the other would always have something to eat. We would share it. At regular intervals we were taking breaks to relive our aching legs and gaze at the nature at its best around us.
In this manner the day had almost past. Now it was almost late in the afternoon. We were told by our guide that we would be reaching our next camp in about an hour but for that we had to overcome the last part of our days trek. It didn’t seem to be difficult but soon we realized that it was not to be one. The climb was quite steep and we had to climb literally on our toes. The slope was very steep. It was difficult to keep up with the climb and the slippery muck below our shoe soles. It was taking me all my energy to overcome this stage. It was not very high. We were able to see our new camp leader on top of the ascent. He was waving at us and cheering us to buck up.
At last we reached our second camp. We were huffing and puffing by the climb. It had almost taken away my breath. The name of the camp was Hora thatch. We were served with lemon juice as our welcome drink. We savored it and retired to our tents to change. We changed i.e. put on more clothing. It was very much necessary as the temperature was decreasing very fast. We had been served with tea. We had our lunch in the evening. We were served with hot soup and steaming rice and rotis. After climbing so much our tired souls required some energy. We all ate to the fullest and retired for the night. In the night rain started pouring. It was raining very heavily. We were able to hear the rain drops on our tent tops. I was afraid that the rain water would enter our tents as it was just canvas and permanent housing. But thank goodness we were spared by the rain as our tents were built on some mud platform.
The morning was very beautiful. The rain clouds had drowned away. The climate was now freezing us. When we would rinse our mouth after brushing it felt as if we had no mouth at all. The water available was from the glaciers coming higher up from the mountains. It was freezing cold all around us. I was wearing hand gloves and three shirts above one another in spite of this I was feeling no less cold. Some of my group members were joking that they would give away 1 million bucks to anyone who bathed over here. They knew it very well that no one would do it. When we asked our cook-who was also from the same mountainous region-how they manage to take a bath in such conditions. He told us that they take bath only thrice in their lifetime, first time at birth second at the time of marriage and third after they die. We were shocked to hear this. But it was the truth of the mountains. We now moved on to our third camp.
On our way we were surrounded by the scenic beauty. On this path we first time witnessed snow in our touching distance. We frolicked in the snow and I enjoyed such snow for the first time in my life. We saw snow many times from then on.
This camp was not very far away. We reached there in the afternoon and our camp leader was very much astonished to see us arrive at the camp so early. The campsite was very beautiful. It was on top of a hillock with a glacier flowing besides it. We were able to see a number of birds around us. It was plane surface were our camp was situated. We were able to enjoy open sky above us for the first time as both our former camps were in forests. We enjoyed in the evening and went to sleep. Our day was uneventful but it was not so for our camp leader.
On the same night, a camp leader from our next time came over to our camp. He was running very high temperatures. On the night before he had faced a storm which we had faced on the camp before. We escaped because we were at a lower camp and he was at the topmost camp very the fury of storm blew away some tents even. He somehow stayed on the camp for a day but then his subordinates sent him to our camp as condition was deteriorating by every hour spent on the mountains. He being a camp leader was an experienced climber. In spite of this he had been a victim to the conditions on the mountains. In the night when I was asleep our camp leader and two doctors who were our group members were providing him with first aid. They had decided to send him to the base camp at the dawn as there were no medicines available. But it was not to be. In the morning we received the news that he was no more. He was a veteran trekker of 30 yrs of experience. Our camp was grieved and also shocked at the unavailability of the required medicines at such a higher camp. Some of our group members were known to him as he was a very active person in the youth hostel circuit.
In the morning we observed silence for him and started for the camp were this incident had occurred. We were extra careful as we had recently witnessed the fury of mountains and its climate. Now were to walk through the glaciers and snow laden slopes of the mountains. We were using sticks for support. We used strike the snow with the pointed end of our sticks. The stick would go a bit inside the snow and it would act as a snow pick for us. Thus slowly but steadily we were proceeding to our next camp-Dowra. I was walking on the snow for the first time in my life. It was very difficult. We had to dig our heels in the snow and would only take one step at a time. We were able to see deep valley below us. One single step wrong and we would be traveling down1000mts into the jaws of death. It made chill go down my spine. Due to the digging of heels they were badly aching. My calf muscles had already started to hurt me. In spite of it all we all kept on moving towards our next objective. At last we had left the snowy patch behind us and were walking through scarce forest now. We had lunch in our way and were resting. My dad kept his bag on the ground. We all were having fun. In mid of it his bag got disturbed from its place and started rolling down the slope of the mountain. He had all his clothes in the bag and some other life essentials in it. We all didn’t know what to do? Our guide being an experienced person and a resident of these mountains dared and went down the slope to fetch the bag. At first he was unable to find it. But he spotted it in some bushes. Thanks to him dad got his bag back. As a manner of thanks and gratitude towards his act of courage dad offered him some money but that person didn’t accept it. We forced him to take it by telling him how much of help it had been to him but he was rock stubborn.
Here too we reached our topmost camp Dowra in the afternoon. But no one was in mood to celebrate as we were the people who had witnessed the demise of the camp leader who was to attend us today. The substitute camp leader told us the whole account in detail. On the night day before yesterday, the camp witnessed a heavy storm. There was heavy rain and powerful gusts of wind. The wind blew two tents. They had to be mended within the night as they were home to 16 trekkers and there was no way to know when the storm and rain would pass away. So the camp leader and the people in the camps set the tent alright in midst of that horrifying night. The camp leader provided extra dry sleeping bags to the trekkers and but didn’t have any left for him. So he slept with just a blanket to save him from the cold. To add to it our camp was situated on a glacier which made the cold unbearable. Due to these bad conditions he was struck by fever and mountain sickness. In spite of this all he stayed at the camp for one day and was unwilling to leave the camp. At last his subordinates forced him to leave the camp and go to our previous camp. And rest was as told before.
We had a quite dinner and slept in the night. We were to get up early in the morning. We got up and were rolling our sleeping bags when the sleeping bags of Arun-our partner in our tent-started rolling down the slope of the mountain. We could do nothing but just stare at the bag rolling down. Then we started to figure out were the bag had reached. Then slowly and steadily Arun started climbing down the slope of the mountain we were guiding him from the top as were to look for. Then at last he told us that he had found the bag and was coming up. We were relived and so was Arun. Then the morning passed without any more interesting incidents. We had our breakfast and started climbing towards our final destination” Saurkundi pass”.
We had our new camp leader as our guide. He was taking us safely to the Pass through the glaciers. In our final high climbing trek we had to cross just one part of it now but it was not as easy as it seemed to be. After all the hard work and huffing and puffing we reached the summit. The beauty was overwhelming. At such a breath taking height we had an ascetic feeling. The feeling of being on top of the world was too good and I was not able to believe that we had at last reached the summit that we were pursuing for from few days. After snapping few pictures to keep some memories. Then we started to descend. Now we were to face one of the most exciting part of the trek-snow sliding. In it we were to sit on snow and slide down the even layer of snow slope. Our guide showed us how to slide on it. Then one after another we started to do it. At first, I was very afraid to do it. It required us to slide down some 50m-70m below without any security measures. Then afraid seeing some people do it I gained courage and did it. And whoa! What fun it was! Whizzing through the snow was an experience I would never forget. The adrenaline rush acquired by this means could not be duplicated by anything I went through before. After this slide of we did two more slides. After every slide our all clothes would become wet and cold due to the direct contact with ice but it did not matter as the excitement obtained by the slide outran the inconvienience. After the slide we went through a rock patch. It was full of huge sharp rocks. Below it was a deep valley. There seemed no end to the valley. We climbed down this patch very carefully. After going through the slides and the rocky patch we at last reached our camp for that evening-Longa thatch. This camp was on the edge of a mountain slope. The scenic beauty from this camp was one of the best in our whole trek. We could see green mountain slopes and snow cladden mountain tops both at the same time. That evening there was a feeling of sataisfaction in us. For me this was a very different feeling,the kind of feeling I had never had before as this was my first treking expedition in the Himalyas. The night came early and we all rested our tired souls.
The morning was all the more beautiful. The sun rays seemed very different. There was a new excitement and new encouragement in them. From today we were to start descending. The ascend was finished long before. It is very well known that in any trek descend is way much difficult than the ascend. We started our descend a bit late morning. The next camp was not very far so all treked calmly. The camaradiere among the group was at its best. Everyone was a good time at someones expense. Everyonr was chiled out. The descend was not as difficult as it seemed to be. But being careless can cost us dear when we are at nature's mercy. We stopped for lunch under a big deodar tree. After having our lunch we rested for some tme and then resumed our trek. But this time the difficulty level of the trek had increased it seemed. Now the slope was bit more steep and the way went through dense forest. There were dense shrubs which came upto our chests. We had to cover our faces with hands to avoid getting hurt by the low lying bushes. After this hard patch we were again on plain grounds. Now it was very easy to walk. After going through all this we atlast reached our camp-Lekhni. This was our last camp. This camp was in a village admist of Apple plantations. We were provided with apple juice as the welcome drink. We had a very beautiful bunglow besides our tent. We had the first camp fire at this camp. In every camp before we had some or the obstacle which kept us away from doing it. In the first and the second camp it was rain. In the third camp it was the targedy of the camp leader. In the fourth camp it was the freezing winds and in the fifth camp it was the tired out feeling of everyone. In this camp which we knew was going to be our last camp we enjoyed a lot and everyone was wide awake late in the night enjoying themselves to the fullest. At last the camp leader had to force everyone to go to bed.
In the morning, we all went for bird watching. Our camp leader gave information about various birds found in the area and the lifestyle of the birds. After this we started our descend for the last time in this trek. Now our next destination was going back to the base camp. Today the trek was very less. We completed our trek for the day in around 2hrs. Then we boarded a local bus which took us to our base camp. In the bus, we all were having the goodtime. We were singing songs, shouting like madmen. The feeling of completion in us could not be contained by anything.
After reaching the base camp everything went haywire. There was shouting, screaming, it seemed to be some place in Mumbai. The quite feeling of mountains drowned away in our excitement. We shared our experience with our base camp leader. He also comgrtulated us on our completion of the trek. He also told everyone not to disclose anythings about the tragedy of the camp leader as it would dishearten the trekkers who were to start treking soon. That day went in telling our fellow trekers who were still to start their part of trkking our experienes and the hardships we faced on the treks. It was a bit disheartning for me when some of them didn't belive that I had completed my trek succesfully but when they believed it they asked me for tips and many other things. In the evening after our dinner we had our last campfire. This was going to be the last evening together for our group as we all would be proceeding back home in the morning the day after.
In the morning, we were awarded our certificates for succesfully completing the trek. After bidding our byes and see yous we left our camp with an himalayan expedition under our belts and more than that the satisfaction that we obtained from this trek.