It wasn't about the flowers alone...

It wasn't about the flowers alone...

Though, it did start with the flowers...

We had been talking about a picnic for a long time now. We even planned one. Almost... Then it got cancelled due to the ongoing Ganapati festival. And then it happened real suddenly.

It was a Tuesday. 17th Sept. Evening, past 6:30 pm. Suddenly the idea popped up into Sushant's mind. Lets go to Kaas Pathaar. When? How about this weekend itself? And that's how fast it was decided.

The planning phase had its fair share of glitches... It was short notice for most people, so half the people from our list were "tentative" till the very last minute. Our regular travels guy Ramakant said his usual 11 and 14 seater vehicles were already booked. So we booked the only option we were afforded - a 17 seater bus. Till the very end, we did not know how many, out of the 15 odd people, who had shown interest in the trip, would make it... Finally, 9 guys were in. I don't know how it happened, but I landed up being the reluctant organizer of the trip. It had been an unusually busy week and I could hardly find time to plan, coordinate and make things happen. There was no specific plan, right till the last day. Sushant researched and came up with various places we could visit. Finally a rough plan was in place... Even the schedule had to undergo changes. We had originally planned to leave at 9:00 pm. We has to shift it to 10:30 pm in order to accommodate Ashish, who had UK timings in the new company and could not leave before 11, and Amol, who had an important late call to attend.

19 Sept. TGIF... We left from our office at J B Nagar by 10:00. The bus was late. There were 7 of us - Sushant, Rizwan, Sachin, Satish, Prashant (Satish's friend), Jenil and yours truly. We would be picking up two others on the way. The bus arrived and we finally said "Raam raam" to the office and the week past, at 10:45 pm.

We picked up a formally dressed Ashish just past the Gandhinagar intersection. We had to pick up Amol (Sushant's friend) at Airoli. But thanks to my utter lack of knowledge of the roadways past Mumbai proper, we took a wrong turn towards Chembur. We had to retrace our tracks, to much leg-pulling from everyone and to much consternation of myself...

We turned right from the Eastern express highway towards Airoli and picked up Amol there. Now all were on board. The bus picked up its arduous way through the Friday night traffic of the city towards the Mumbai-Pune expressway. The driver was playing some pretty cool songs. There was excitement in the air. People were chatting, cracking jokes, catching up with old friends. Some were dozing off, some were already fast asleep. Ashish, who had recently moved to another firm, was trying to get me to talk. But I was too busy trying to stay awake and alert. Last time, I had dozed off besides the driver. This time, I was determined to avoid that.

We stopped at a food plaza just before the Mumbai Pune expressway. It was late. Past one o'clock. The group was already experiencing a mild case of travel-fatigue. Some were sleeping. Some had bladder emergencies to attend to. And some were famished. We had some food. I had some cold coffee. Then we started off again, tearing through the dark fabric of the night.

The dark world inside the bus was soon plunged into silence. Heads started nodding off and lolling to the sway of the bus. As the witching hour approached, Sushant pointed something out to me. Satish, who had been snoozing soundly even when we had taken a food break, was now sleeping contentedly, lying down on the aisle between the seats. Yes, night had finally descended on us all. The coffee helped me stay awake.

Sometime past the witching hour, we were passing through the outskirts of Pune. The buildings there look nice and well-planned. Sachin, who had been awake all the time, pointed out a township to our left. It was built around a small water body; natural or man-made, I couldn't make out in the dark. But it looked beautiful, as it reflected the pinpoints of lights from the buildings surrounding it.

Thankfully, Sushant relieved me by 4. I went back and had a blessed wink. When I got up, we were nearing Satara. It was cold outside. Almost all the windows were shut.
We entered Satara after 5 in the morning. Sushant was guiding the driver using the map he had saved on his phone. I dozed off again, and the next time I opened my eyes, everyone was awake. It was cool outside. One could feel the freshness of the air that was seeping in. There was a subdued sense of excitement in the air. We were meandering along the slope of a hill, over a narrow curving road which was quite well-maintained and pot-holes-free. We passed some houses and hotels that were built almost touching the cliff face; so that one would have an unhindered view of the green slope of the surrounding hills and the city far below. Everywhere it was green. The slopes were covered with beautiful green grass. There were trees along the road. It was like entering a hill station.

We stopped at a spot on the way. There was a small temple at the side of the road. Behind the temple was a small clearing that afforded a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. As we stepped out of the bus, the cold hit us. It was shocking to suddenly feel the sharp cold after the comfortable warmth of the cocooned inside of the bus. My hands were shaking. My teeth were chattering. The wind blew hard and that's what made the cold so intense - the wind-chill factor. But the air was fresh - almost like an elixir to a city-dweller like me who is used to breathing in the foul polluted air. It was so invigorating that any sign of sleepiness simply vanished.

The view was beautiful. The hills and the entire landscape were covered with post-monsoon greenery. There was a lake below, with green hills nearby. The sky was cloudy and grey. We captured quite a few pics here, and then moved on.

Not farther down the road, we stopped again. This time near a long clearing covered with lush green grass. There were trees on one side, all growing besides each other, like a platoon standing in formation. The clearing fell off to a spectacular view of the lake below. The hills opposite to this one had their heads thrust into the misty grey clouds. The constantly moving cottony tendrils seems mystical from so nearby.

As we moved on further, the air no longer remained crystal clear. Soon there was a mist around us. Visibility went down. The road was flanked with trees that merged into the grey mist. The black strip of the road itself seemed to disappear into the mist ahead.

After a while, the trees flanking the road became sparse, giving way to flat land covered with short velvety grass. Suddenly, there were wire mesh fences on either side of the road.

We had reached the famous Kaas Pathaar.

Kaas Pathaar is the famous plateau of flowers near Satara. A world heritage site that's frequented by tourists from far and wide, due to the colourful flowers that grow here. Its a plateau at high altitude. So when we reached there, early in the morning at 7 o'clock, it felt like we had literally entered the clouds. Visibility was low, as the road and the fence seemed to dissolve into the grey mist. Behind the fence, on either side of the road, were green plains that seemed to merge effortlessly into the grey mist a few meters behind the fence. 

As we descended down the bus, I spied a feebly lit globe of light hanging low in the sky behind us. Someone pointed at it and said, hey look at the moon. But when the constantly shifting tendrils of grey clouds, parted a bit, the globe grew brighter and intense. It was the Sun, not the Moon.

There was a little shed besides the road. A board nearby gave an introduction to Kaas Pathaar and explained the parking fare. There was no one in the shed, this early in the morning.

We moved off to the left where there was a fenced pathway that led straight into the grass covered green plains. After taking a few steps, we spied the flowers... Little spots of white, red, blue and violet sprinkled on the uniform green for as far as the eyes could see.

The colour-sprinkled green plains faded and disappeared into the mist a few meters away. The mist was ever changing. It just couldn't make up its mind how thin or thick, it wanted to be. One moment, it would grow so thick, that everything beyond a few feet just blurred out and disappeared into its uniform greyness. The next moment, it would thin out to reveal the trees and the hazy contours of the land meters away. The clouds were so low in the sky, it was like the world had suddenly shrunken. The light intensity kept changing every few seconds, intermittently giving a sneak peek of the sun, and then hiding it altogether. At one moment, it felt like dawn, the next, it felt like dusk. It was so unreal, it felt like we had crossed some magical portal and entered a fantasy land in another dimension.

The ever present wind made it very chilly. But by now, the body had gotten used to the chill and it felt nice and fresh, instead of unwelcoming and sharply cold. There was a hell of a lot of humidity in the air. My hair were matted with wetness. The nostrils felt wet and slimy. But instead of being oppressive, the way Mumbai's humidity is, it felt good, invigorating.

After a while, there was no more wire mesh on the fence, just equidistant columns stretching on both sides of the path like mute sentries guarding the sanctity of this nature's bounty. We were free to roam on the plains.

We went in, first carelessly and then gingerly stepping over little young shoots and blossoms. Kaas Pathaar offers a brilliant opportunity for photographing colourful pretty flowers that are rare to come by. But two things are very important - good enough light, and as little wind as possible. But we were not afforded either of these two luxuries. The wind and the clouds were conspiring against us. Hardly was there a moment when the flowers stood still. And the light wasn't bright enough to capture the bright hues of the colourful miracles of nature. We had reached too early. It was frustrating. Finally we had to resort to holding the flowers with our hands in order keep them steady, while the cameras did their work.

As we explored further, we came across a little pond. Right there in the middle of the plains. It must have formed by the collected rain water. It was a nice spot where we took quite a few pics. With people standing on stones jutting out from the middle of the pond. Or sitting down in lotus position at the edge of the pond, like an ancient yogi... It was fun... Cold weather leads to bladder pressure. And so a few of is donated natural minerals to the plants of the famous Kaas Pathaar.

Then we decided to head back. Assuming that the rest of the plateau must be pretty much the same. It was 8 in the morning, and as we retraced our steps, we noticed a lot of people coming in. Suddenly the plains seemed too crowded. We had come in early and lost an opportunity at good photography. But what we had gained was solitude to explore the natural beauty without stumbling upon the crowds of humans that just didn't belong here. It was very sad to note how people unthinkingly, almost ruthlessly, trampled over the beautiful plants and flowers, simply to get themselves photographed. Isn't it sad, that us humans are such an utterly ungrateful and careless race...

We got into the bus and moved on. Instead of retracing our steps, we continued on the Kaas road westwards. Our next stop was Bamnoli, a little village along the banks of the massive water body called the Shivajisagar Lake. While searching for good spots to visit near the Kaas area, he stumbled upon the fact that there were boat rides available here. When we reached there an hour or so later, the booth for boat rides had just opened.

Usually they offer rides to quite a few different points. But during the current season, only 3 options were available. Two points (Triveni Sangam and Datta Mandir) were to the south of Bamnoli. And one point - Tapola, was to the north. We were offered a discount for the package with all 3 options. But time was a constraint. We had to reach Mumbai before midnight (to avoid being charged for the next day as well). Due to which we would have to leave for the way back home by 3 in the afternoon. So we opted for the two points southwards.

They charged us 135 per head. While booking they asked for an ID card of any one person doing the booking. I showed them my PAN card. They duly noted down my PAN number. They also noted down where I had come from and a relative's contact number. When asked, why so much information was required, they claimed it was for both security as well as statistics purpose. All this information went to some local government official.

Each boat can carry up to 12 persons. We were all assigned a single boat. It was a wooden medium sized boat, nearly six feet wide at the center and about twelve feet long. Fore sides, they had rigged it with a little metal ladder, using which we climbed onto it. Aft sides, it sported a rigged engine that looked like it had seen better days. They had put a roof over the boat, supported by metal columns on either side, and a metal framework at the top. The metal framework was covers using a hand- knit mat made up of some tree bark. Over this mat, they had spread tarpaulin sheet. Both at the port and the starboard side, between the columns, they had hung one round life buoy - less as a protection and more as a decoration... There were wooden boards on either side of the boat, and three wooden planks in the middle to seat passengers.

When we all settled down, the guide spun a lever on the engine vigorously. After a few spins, the engine roared to life. For all its ramshackle looks, the engine certainly was well maintained. Then the fellow pulled a gear to set the engine on reverse, went fore, and pushed the boat outward. As the boat picked up momentum, he effortlessly jumped in. He skillfully navigated us away from the bank and into the deep.

The water was pretty clear. The winds made waves on its surface. The opposite bank wasn't very far. It was a gentle slope covered with a carpet of bright green grass. It looked exactly like lawn tennis court or a golf course, except a little tilted, as it rose to form a chain of tree covered hills.

If the rocking bus is a strong sedative, then the swaying boat is a knockout punch. The travel and sleepless night was taking its toll on all of us, making us drowsy. So much so that Sachin almost lay down on the wooden board.

I like boat rides and I was too excited to feel drowsy. I was enjoying the moist breeze caress my face. The gentle swaying of the boat. The rhythmic sloshing sound of the water. The beautiful hills with green slopes and dense trees on either side of the water. It was cloudy, but not too dark. The sun was up, but its heat wasn't oppressive. Rather it was warm and comforting. It was a sensory overload for me.

I noticed that there were trees submerged in the water, not only near the banks, but even in the middle - with their leafy upper torsos jutting out over the water surface, but most of their bark submerged underneath. So I asked the guide whether the water level would recede by five to ten feet after the rainy season? His answer blew me away. He claimed that the water level would recede almost a hundred feet during summer!

After nearly 45 minutes of water travel, we finally reached our first point - the Datta Mandir. The guide expertly maneuvered the boat towards a set of stairs, and then with surprising agility and speed he climbed up the roof, then jumped down the other side, threw a rope with an anchor tied to it, pulled us in, and secured the boat. All of this in a single fast effortlessly fluid motion.

We climbed up the stairs and came up to find a shed selling food stuff. We ordered tea and kanda bhajiya. While the two ladies in the shop prepared this for us, we decide to explore and visit the temples here.

Here they have built a temple of lord Shiva under the ground. A tunnel leads to a chamber under the ground. This chamber contains a huge Shiv Ling. Another tunnel, opposite to the first one, leads you out. The tunnels and the chamber are well lighted. Its all man-made and pretty recent. They claim that there is a Shiv Ling submerged deep under the water at Triveni Sangam - an area where three water tributaries meet. In respect to that, this temple was built. There is also a temple of Lord Ganesh and one of Datta Guru.
After visiting all the temples, me, Sushant, Amol, and Jenil went behind the Shiva Temple where they have a huge statue of Nandi. Here we captured quite a few pics, especially standing near the railing, with the lake right behind us. What we didn't realise was that all the while we were snapping pics, we had company. Nearby, under the railing was a foot long lizard that looked like a miniature komodo dragon. We later came to know that it was what the locals call a Ghorpad.

We came back and had some tea and kanda bhajiya. The guide called us over and showed us a small python. It lay coiled on a rock jutting out of the water down below, near the wall under the railing. It must have eaten something, for its belly looked engorged.

Nearly an hour had elapsed when we finally headed for the boat. The guide, with his unusual agility, pushed off the boat and we were on our way back to Bamnoli. Right in the middle of the journey, the guide stopped the boat and said that this was the Triveni Sangam. Its a point where 3 tributaries meet, one of it being Koyna. Its nearly 500 feet deep in the middle here. There was nothing much spectacular about this point though. I felt it was just a rip off.

As we approached Bamnoli, the guide navigated the boat near the bank, passing it expertly right between the submerged trees. We reached the shore and the boat ride was finally over.

It was 11 o'clock. We decided to have an early lunch at Bamnoli itself. Who knows whether we would get good food on our way to the next destination? There are at least two hotels that boast food cooked on traditional earthen stove called a 'chool'. The first hotel was rejected by the hotel inspector Mr Jenil. We finally went and settled down in the other one.

Here we ordered zhunka bhakar, the traditional dish in Maharashtra. They prepared it fresh, so it took the some time to serve us. But the wait was worth it finally. The zhunka had the taste of home made food. The bhakris were served fresh and hot. It was a very satisfying meal. A meal on the trip, in some remote village always is...

We left around 12:30. It was a long ride back. But the scenery of the surrounding hills and the water bodies down below made it anything but monotonous. As we neared the Kaas Pathaar, we got caught up in traffic. It seems that the backside area of the Pathaar is used for parking. It was full of vehicles large and small, parked and crammed together. As we picked up our arduous way through all the traffic, we passed throngs of people who had left off their vehicles and were making their way towards the Pathaar. There was quite a crowd at the Pathaar itself. I felt sorry for all the flowers and little shoots that were bound to get trampled today.

We traveled down the hills the same way we had come, until we neared Satara city. Then, we took a detour towards Sajjangad. Our next stop was Thoseghar, where there is supposed to be a huge waterfall. Its nearly 13 kms away from the base of the road that climbs upwards towards Sajjangad. You continue up this road, only, don't take the right turn further on, that leads up to Sajjangad. Instead you keep going straight.

The road meandered through the hills until we came across the windmills. A few of them were quite nearby. There were many others on the adjoining hill-tops. I think there must have been more than 30-40 of them, some stationary, others rotating lazily in the wind. We stopped here to take some photographs. Most of us were now travel-weary. So when Sachin went and sat on the lush green grass and Ashish literally lay down, many of us followed suit.

Soft grass below, marching clouds in the sky above. Warmth of the cloud-hidden Sun, cool caress of the breeze. What more could one ask for? Some quantum of solace, a moment of peace... Isn't that what the soul craves most? But all good things come to an end. And so, with reluctant hearts, we got up and made our way back to the bus.

It was past 2:15. Which left us with very little time to explore Thoseghar. We kept going along the road, until we finally stumbled upon the place. Its on the road itself. A big board advertises it. There were quite a few cars parked on either side of the road. Which shows that its quite a famous place.

There's an entry fee of 10 bucks per head. An extra 20 for parking and another extra 10 per camera. There's a set of stairs that descend downwards. It splits up, the left one leads to the big waterfall and the right one leads to the small one. We took the left. The stairs end up on a huge square ledge with a balustrade, a kind of huge balcony so to speak. There was quite a crowd here.

While searching about this place on the net Sushant had shown us the pics of the massive waterfall. And yet nothing could prepare me for the real thing. The balcony affords a bird's eye view of a very narrow valley. The valley ends in a triangular cliff face to the right. And it continues like a deep cut in the earth, towards the left, until it turns rightward. The balcony is on one cliff face of this narrow valley. It affords a clear view of the opposite cliff face. It was nearing the end of rainy season. So both the cliff faces of the valley were covered with lush green vegetation.

Right opposite to the balcony, a little to the left, is one massive waterfall. The water, white and frothy, tumbles down the cliff face at break neck speed. It joins the rivulet that runs the entire length of the valley. This rivulet starts at the base of the valley's dead end located to the right. And this is where there are two more waterfalls. One is quite small, a thin white line that slashes like a scar across the cliff face. And the other one is massive, even bigger than the first one. Its huge column of white frothing water rushes down straight into a big plunge pool at its base, creating misty sprays that can be seen even from high above on the ledge. The water thus deposited by these three monster forces of nature rushes over the rocks at the base of the valley forming the above mentioned frothing, rushing rivulet.

The view was so breathtaking that the feet refused to leave. As it is, it was so crowded that it was difficult to find a position along the balustrade. When finally Sushant hailed us to leave, me, Sachin and Rizwan stopped by to take one final look at the waterfalls. As we looked on, suddenly, we saw dark clouds appear above the nearby horizon formed by the top of the dead end cliff. They were moving in fast upon us, like enemy soldiers marching purposefully to the battleground. As we started back, Sachin took a detour. He wanted to see the closeup view of the smaller waterfall too. I saw determination in his eyes, and enthusiasm too. So I followed suit, and so did Rizwan. As the three of us rushed towards the other unknown view, it suddenly started raining. And by God, how it rained! Within a minute, all our clothes were soaked.

It hadn't rained at all throughout the day, so all our rain gear was back in the bus. Thankfully, I had a polythene bag, into which we deposited all our wallets, mobile phones and money. I suggested we make our way back. But Sachin said he wanted to push on. We were soaked either ways, he argued. I saw the craziness in his eyes, craziness bred by excessive enthusiasm. Such craziness cannot be denied... So we pressed on.

The stairs led down, away from the ledge where we had initially been, first descending, and then rising towards the direction of the dead end cliff face that was located to the right of the ledge. We passed over a little metal bridge. Below the bridge was a nearly dry rock bed which would itself become a waterfall during heavy rains. Past the bridge is a very small local ledge. And beyond this ledge is something we never expected to see.

It was the starting point of the massive waterfall. Water flowed with force from the right hand side of the ledge, and the disappeared down the cliff face on the left. It was a sight so unexpected that Sachin went nuts. He became totally hyper, shouting over the loud roar of the rushing water. Gibbering excitedly above all the commotion. If enthusiasm is contagious, then so is the madness bred by an overdose of it. I found myself guffawing like a fool. So excited were we.

We spotted a group of guys who had somehow found a way to reach the actual flowing water itself. It must be so exciting being out there, I thought, until I remembered the unfortunate incident that took place to this entire family at Patalpani. Fortunately this group was level headed enough to keep away from the rushing water.

Finally we retraced our steps back towards the entrance. As we reached the road, the bus was already out on the road, ready to leave. Apparently we were not the only ones who had had an adventure. The rest of the group had had their share of adventure as well.

The bus had been parked in a muddy patch. When the rain came, it got stuck in the mud. Jenil, the driver, and his aide had to push it out. The red wet mud was all over the floor of the bus, looking like an aftermath of some bloody carnage from a psycho-thriller movie. Sushant had his own adventure as he made his way to the bus protecting all the costly camera gear he carried. Apparently, an old lady had imposed herself upon him under the single umbrella he had carried. Everyone was soaked. Ashish, who had been suffering from cold looked ill. We all badly needed a change of clothes. But there was no place to park. So we left and started back.

A little distance down the road, we stopped besides a little hotel. We ordered tea. And meanwhile, we changed into dry clothes in the bus itself. Then the driver and his aide cleaned up the floor of the bus. 

The greatest tragedy was that of Sachin, who had been wearing both his T-shirts together, to counter the cold. Now both of them were soaked. So he was left with no choice but to wear just the spare vest he had, since no one had any spare shirts. With just a vest and a towel covering his upper torso, he looked like a helper or a servant and everyone pulled his legs by calling him 'chottu'.

Satish had an urgent emergency. So he landed up donating some personal manure to the jungle nearby.

We had some nice tea, and then started off on our way back home. As evening broke out, the clouds had receded. By 5 o'clock, we had moved out of Satara. The green fields on either side of the road were sprinkled with bright little droplets of golden light of the setting Sun.

The trip hack home wasn't without incident. For example, Sachin, the 'chottu' had kept one shirt to dry on the window near his seat. Satish was feeling queasy. So he swapped his seat with Sachin. While seated at Sachin's seat, the wet T-shirt kept flapping into Satish 's face. It irritated him so much, that he voluntarily offered Sachin his spare shirt. And that was how Sachin got to finally wear a shirt.

The driver's mobile phone had discharged. So there was no more music to be played in the bus. Finally I offered to play some from my mobile. After a song or two, the janta got bored. So DJ Jenil stepped forward and replaced me. He started playing all remix songs, much to the consternation of Sachin, who started commenting on Jenil's poor choice. Then Ashish stepped forward to play some nice punjabi songs. After a few songs, everyone grew tired of these too. Finally we stopped the music player and ended up not listening to any songs at all. When the driver was playing his songs, we were all content with it. For we had no choice. But as soon as we got to play the songs of our own choice, everyone wanted to listen to their own favourites. Such is the nature of us Humans...

We stopped outside Pune and had some vadapav at Rohit Vadewale. Then sped down the expressway towards Mumbai.

We finally reached Mumbai after 10 in the night, and most of us were back home by midnight.

A visit to the Mahalaxmi temple

14 July, a Sunday. I must have been either very bored or very much out of my mind. For, the afternoon found this lazy home-happy hobbit asking his sis if she wished to go out. And so we landed up visiting the mumbai-famous Mahalaxmi temple. Her idea not mine. Not that she is very religious or anything - on the contrary, she is the least religious one in our home. But for some personal reason, she wanted to have the goddess's good grace on her...

This is not the first time i will be visiting this famous holy landmark of Mumbai. And it certainly wont be the last. So why did i decide to write a blog about it? Not that the trip had any special highlights. But because i suddenly discovered that i hardly remembered any of the details from my last trip. Alas, the betrayal of memory... How i wish it was as easy as inserting another chip or hard disk... But it isn't. So i decided to record my experiences here, before they leaked out of my weak memory.

Before leaving, I was about to ask my grandpa (our own personal Mumbai wikimapia) the directions to the temple. But my sis claimed she knew the way.

Which was gross overconfidence on her part as i found out outside the Mahalaxmi railway station. When we alighted from the train, exited the station on the west side and stood by the road with the station on one side, the famous race course on the other side, and traffic right in the middle of it, i asked her, now where to? And she says, we have to catch a taxi...

If you plan to go to the temple from the Mahalaxmi railway station, and you don't mind a little stroll, then i recommend you avoid the taxi.

The taxi took us straight along the race course until we reached a big circle. From here one has to go straight ahead, with the heera panna market to your left. But a taxi will have to take a detour left turn, then a u turn and then back to the heera panna market where it will turn left to get back on the straight road to the temple. When asked, the driver claimed the straight way was blocked for some insane reason by the traffic police...

From there you pass the Audi showroom to your left followed by a cadbury chocolates building. Right opposite to this building there is a right turn where another road joins this one in a T-intersection. At this intersection you will notice an arched gateway and an unmistakable dome of a temple. This is the entrance to the Mahalaxmi temple.

As you enter, don't be surprised to discover that the temple whose dome you had spied from outside is not really the Mahalaxmi temple. Its the Tryambakeshwar Mahadev temple. You walk straight ahead with the temple to your left and you will come across a short set of stairs which lead up to another archway. While the outer archway was decorated in the indian religious style, this one looks more british. At the top is written "Prince's Triumphalarch" (whatever that means) with the year of its construction - 1905. For such an old structure it looked pretty new to me. They must have renovated it recently. Right below the name is a giant clock. And to my surprise, it worked, for it showed the correct time... Someone has been busy maintaining this particular part of Mumbai city's glorious but now fast disappearing past.

Beyond the archway, a tiny lane meanders through several temples, stalls, and a few residential buildings, both old and new, crowding both sides of the lane.
The stalls sell all sorts of holy stuff. The lane ends at the foot of a very wide stairway divided in two by metal railings. The left side is the entry.

The biggest problem you will face when entering the temple is where to put your footwear... I could not spy any special footwear deposit kiosks that we usually find near big holy places. So we bought a lotus for 10 bucks and kept our footwear near the lotus seller. At the foot of the stairs, the queue starts. There are separate queues for ladies and gents. There is at least one Maharashtra Security Force guard in their standard light-n-dark brown khaki uniform, who checks your baggage if you have any.

The queue for the ladies was shorter. So my sister got to pay homage to the goddess earlier than i did. At the top of the stairs, we had to pass through a metal detector machine followed by checking done by another team of MSF guards. The guard here was really lazy. He was sitting on a chair. With the metal detector in his hands, all he managed to check was the lower half of my trousers. I was disappointed. How are these guys supposed to protect us with such slack security?

 At such famous holy places, i feel like cattle in a herd. One has to pass through a maze of railings, zigzagging back and forth. Then as you approach the deity, you are surrounded by the crowd of so many devotees. When you do reach the front near the deity, you are quickly herded out. Where is the time to pray? To silently meditate and be one with God? I wonder how people manage to find God in all this pandemonium... At least i don't.
This is what happened to me here. Fortunately it was not so crowded today so i did not have to spend too much time in the queue. The statue of the Goddess is surrounded by silver coated arches and columns. The statue itself looks gold plated, and consists of 3 goddesses - Mahalaxmi, Mahakali and Mahasaraswati (as wikipedia told me later).

The temple is flanked by buildings to the left and the back - owned by the temple committee. To the right are benches along the perimeter wall, which was where my sis sat and waited for me. From there we went along the left side of the temple.

Here, a set of stairs descend down to the rocks and the sea at the back of the temple. As we descended along these stairs, we were treated to the view of the waves and the sea stretching away to meet the horizon. The water was afire with the silver streaks from the setting sun that was partially hidden by a single dark rain cloud. Other than this one rogue cloud, the rest of the sky looked pretty clear... The sun cast its silver rays defiantly into the sky from behind this cloud... Both me and my sister took pictures. But look at the luck. I was spotted by a MSF guard who promptly made me delete all my pics... I am flabbergasted at the ridiculousness of these guys. Their security is slack when frisking people at the entrance. But catch someone taking innocent snapshots and they go over the hill to make him delete them. They probably have a good reason for this, but that good reason eludes a common citizen like me...

The stairs end at the entrance of two temples (one of Lord Hanuman and the other of Ganapati Bappa) and two hotels. Beyond the temples, the stairway opens up in an enclosed opening which affords a glorious view of the sea, albeit through the iron railings. Photography is of course prohibited here. I remember the last time we had visited here, it was just an uneven natural plateau of black rocks which descended beyond the railings into the sea... But now they have built a proper platform up to the railings with place to sit along one sidewall.

The usually salty sea wind was blowing in our faces. The sun was now fully covered by the cloud. For now... There were a lot of birds in the sky. This was either their gym - where they built their muscle by flying against the harsh wind or their extreme sports camp where they enjoyed the thrill sea-wind-gliding rides.

After enjoying the sea wind and the panoramic view, we retraced our steps back out of the temple and onto the road...

This time, we walked back to the station. It takes around 15-20 mins. At the circle near Heera Panna market, we were a bit confused as to which road goes towards the station. For at the circle there are two roads side by side. One to the left, that hugs the sea. This one, we discovered goes to Haji Ali and then on to worli sea link. So we took the other road from where we had come and reached back to the Mahalaxmi station.

As we neared the station, my sister observed with a bit of a disappointment in her voice... "What yaar... The Sunday has come to an end..." And so it had...

Into the Clouds

Leaving Home
14 June 2013...
Its 10:30... A Friday night...
My bag is packed. I have had a bath and have put on a fresh set of clothes. I am about to leave for a long weekend trip.
11:00... At Andheri station. The station is a bit crowded, even at this late hour. Its a bit awkward - people staring at me as I walk around in three-fourths... I quickly catch a bus.
11:30... I am at office. I decided to go there and spend some time with Sushant. He has spent his TGIF evening in office. So I thought might as well give him some company. We have a fun time capturing videos of him dancing and making a total goof of himself.
12:00... The bus isn't here yet. We call Aditya, the Trek-Lead. it seems the bus left late. It will be here in half an hour...
12:45... Aditya calls and tells us "Come down. We are waiting near the night lover". Don't misunderstand. "Night Lover" is a Hotel. ;-) We go down and get into the darkened bus. Finally the Trip has begun...

The Fellowship of the Trek
There are now 10 of us in the bus. Sushant (the organizer of the trek), Aditya (the trek lead), Shafi, Dharav, Selvi, Supriya, Shobith, Rakesh, Jenil and myself.
We head towards Ghatkopar. There we plan to pick up Harshal, the final member of our our fellowship / group of eleven... 
Aditya is betting Harshal will be wearing his Red T-shirt, for that's what he is known to wear on every trek. He is wrong. Harshal is wearing a green T-Shirt.
Finally, we are ready to roll...

Dark Night, Long Road.
Thats how our trip began. On 15th June 2013, a Saturday.
It was past 1:30 in the night, as we headed along the Eastern Express Highway towards Nashik. It was dark inside the bus. The conversation had died away. Except for the sounds from outside, the silence inside the bus was total. It had been a long evening and soon heads were rolling left and right as the bus tore its way through the rains towards our final destination.

I had had a good long siesta (I was on leave that day). So I was wide awake, staring out at the rain-drenched cityscape zipping by. But a swaying bus is a powerful sedative. Soon I felt my eyelids getting heavy...

For a while Harshal, the last one to get in, had been sitting in the front seat, besides the driver, Ramakant. But finally he got up and came back to get some peaceful sleep. I relinquished my seat to him and went and sat in the seat he had vacated.

Someone once told me it is not good to sleep or doze away besides the driver... Bad for the driver's moral, especially at night. So I tried to stay awake. And failed miserably. However much I tried, I kept dozing off...

Finally, we stopped at Kasara Ghat for some tea. Even then, I felt drowsy. Thankfully Sushant took over from me and I went back and had some sleep.

Finally There...
It was past 5:00 am when I woke up for good. We had reached our destination - Trimbakeshwar. We hunted for a suitable place to park. Finally we parked for a while in a square near the famous ancient temple of Lord Shiva. It was 5:20. The temple would open by 5:30. We got down and walked around for a while.

Then we went and paid a visit to the temple. Even at this early hour, there were quite a few devotees in the temple. Its huge and very ancient. Made up of black stone, with lots of nice carvings on it. Pretty impressive stuff, but not so well maintained, which is evident from the broken carved pieces here and there...

We came back to our bus, brushed our teeth and had another round of tea. It had stopped raining in the night itself. But the rain clouds were there darkening the sky and obscuring the mountain tops.

Trimbakeshwar is surrounded by hills and mountains on three sides. So its very wet and windy during the rains. Rain clouds and wind wage a loosing battle against the mighty, almost vertical flank of the mountains. This almost vertical face of the mountains can be seen ascending high up as it disappears within the misty haze of the rain clouds. That's where we were headed today...

We got rid of the excess stuff in our bags, and began our trek towards our final destination - Bramhagiri.

Let the Trek begin...
We kept walking in the general direction of the mountain face, picking up our way through the lanes surrounded by old and new houses. We passed the famous "kund" where people take a holy bath, a lake (where we stopped to capture a few pics) and quite a few large and small temples. One thing to be noted about Trimbak. It has more temples than any other place I have ever previously visited. Almost every street has at least one temple on it!

The morning was a new-born child. The sky was dark and heavy with rain clouds. Much to my consternation and the delight of everyone else it might rain after all...
It was just past 6. This time, on any sane Saturday, I would be deep in the embrace of sweet sweet sleep. It had been a long night. But the damp cool morning breeze was as good as a gallon of tea. I felt neither sleep, nor fatigue.

The street turned and we came across an enclosed lake, with a brick border. A little gate lead to a small temple (even here) by the lake. An ideal place for some group pics. The streets became lanes. Lanes became a footpath. And the footpath soon opened up into a wide open area.

The open area afforded a beautiful view of the mountain face. There was a nice waterfall slicing it in the middle. It was too early in the season for there to be enough water to make the water fall look spectacular enough. As of now, it was a simple white line across the otherwise brown-green mountain-scape. I almost missed it at first. I was too busy looking at the foot of the mountains where there was another lake. A natural one, this time, unadorned by human structures. The top of the mountains was lot in a haze. The haze was thick grey white whiffs of cottony clouds. Clouds that could be seen descending with noticeable speed from atop the mountain. That's where we were headed. It was breathtaking... For a while I went silent, just looking at it. Then I went crazy clicking away at it... We had some good group photography sessions.

Up the holy stairway...
From here, the footpath turned into rough stairs made up of arranged stones. The climb had begun. We passed little shanties where locals probably sold eatables. But most of them had a deserted look. As if they had been vacated on temporary basis. As we went higher through the tree-flanked stairway the view became better and better. Soon we could see the panorama of the entire Trimbak town below us, and the mountain face above us piercing the clouds...

All the while, Sushant was busy taking pics and Aditya was busy posing for him. We teased him, called him Sushant's model. It was fun, everyone was laughing, cracking jokes. For instance...

I stopped to point out a faraway building with interesting architecture. Aditya says "Where? where? show me..."
"See, there..."
"Oh yeah, I see it...", says Dharav, "Look Aditya, its ____"
"Whats ____?" I ask
"___ is the building where Aditya lives"... He was pulling Aditya's leg

Another example: Me and Jenil were ahead of the group. We took a break and sat on 2 benches along the road. We were sitting opposite to each other. So when the others passed between us, they called us the "Dwaar-Haati" (elephant effigies that are known to adorn ancient palace entrances)

There was no pressure, no haste. We were taking our own sweet time reaching to the top. And enjoying every minute of it.

On the way we came across an abandoned "waada". It had nice arched doorways and windows. We stopped here to captured some pretty nice pics. Then some of us opened up the foodstuff we had brought with us, and that's when I realized how famished I was. It must have been past 7 o'clock. But the sky was a uniform grey and there was no way to guess what time of the day it was.

Monkey business...
A local lady had arrived there. She looked at the food stuff we were having and warned us about monkeys. For sure, there was commotion in the surrounding trees. We stuffed up the eatables back in the bags, but the damage had been done, as we would soon realize.

Now the way became steeper. We were walking nearer and nearer to the vertical mountain face. Trees became sparse. The stairway turned into a staircase. The steps were wet. I could feel my feet slip every now and then. I took very careful steps.

I was wearing floaters. While the do have good enough grip on dry ground, they proved utterly useless on the wet hard slimy rock steps. As it is, I have a displaced center of gravity (thanks to the fat I have accumulated at all the wrong places). So I have been known to have "unhappy" feet when climbing. The weight of the 2 water bottles inside the sack on my back did not help. And add the slippery floaters to the equation and there was a very good probability that Humpty Dumpty might have a great fall... So I was being very careful with each step I took.

Then... the monkeys made their appearance... They had been following us along the trees I guess. But now they had descended down on either side of the staircase. The stairs cut right through the rock, with rock-walls on either side of us. As we made progress through this "valley", the monkeys kept following us on the top of the rock-walls. One look at them and you could tell they meant business. Their sights were focused on our bags and our hands, darting this way and that, searching for eatables.

It was a good thing we stuffed the food back into the bags. I had my windcheater pulled over my sack. But some guys had their sacks exposed to the sights of the little devils. I guess the smell of the food we had just had lingered and attracted them. Shobith was bringing up the rare of our human chain. And some monkeys had to be shooed off as they tried getting at his sack.

I was at the front of our group. They have put iron railings right in the middle of the stairs. And these proved a great support as we made our arduous way upwards along the wet slippery steps. A point came where the stairs took a U-turn. At this very point, one monkey which had been tracking us for a long time suddenly jumped over our heads and landed straight in front of me. It stopped right there. I stopped right there too. We all stopped... It stared at me, then at the others behind me. Then it began to descend with a leisurely pace of a tiger that had cornered its prey...

Its not always fun to be visited by our tree-dwelling kin... When we enter their domain, we are at their mercy. You are always outnumbered. You are ill-equipped by years of evolution to match their speed and agility or chase them up the trees. They are fast, you are not. They can climb up trees, you cant. They can bite you, you cant return the favour (yuck). They can't understand you. So no point talking sense to them. It is best to be careful when passing through a monkey-infested region.

Best thing to do in such situations - carry a stick along with you and scare them away whenever you can. Avoid confrontation - you don't want to face an entire "vaanar sena" attacking you. Avoid displaying eatables. And avoid eye contact. Just ignore them as much as possible, and they will do the same to you.

Unfortunately in our case, confrontation was inevitable. As it approached me, I took hold of a stick that Supriya was holding besides me. I did not intend to use it. But if I had to, I would. I thought Supriya would relinquish the stick to me. But she held on. I guess she was scared. No wonder. I was scared too. I held on to the stick for support as the monkey came right up to my feet and caught hold of my pants and began to pull lightly. Now I panicked. The pant had an elastic weight. It it pulled harder, I would have a "wardrobe malfunction". I panicked so much that I began talking to it in Marathi. It looked up at me. It was evident it did not understand a word I said. Instead of listening to me, it pulled itself up and put its hand inside my pant pocket! It did not find anything of interest... Then (thank God), it let me go and turned its attention to others. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and climbed up as quickly as possible. As I moved on, the spell was broken, and the way was no longer blocked. Other followed quickly behind me, shooing away the bold monkey...

On the Roof of the World...
From there on, the stairs led us right through a deep gully carved through the rocks. The rock faces flanking either side of us were very high. It gave a kind of a closed in feeling. Like passing through a narrow but high tunnel having no roof. After navigating our way through this "valley", we finally emerged onto flat ground. We had reached the top.
We were all tired. So we took some rest. We sat in a corner along some old stone fortifications. Beyond the fortifications, the land dropped straight down. We has a beautiful view of the landscape below, albeit, obscured by the hazy wisps of clouds... clouds that were now below us! It was an awesome sight. The breeze was quite strong here. It was cold. It had not yet started raining. There was a small shanty nearby that offered tea and lemonade. But we were too excited, too eager to explore. So we soon set off.

The way was flanked on either side by shanties and huts. Most of them were closed. The air had suddenly gone from being crystal clear to misty. It was clammy, one could feel the moisture on the skin. The visibility became less and less as we progressed. We were walking straight into a fog. Or to be more precise we were walking straight into the clouds...

We progressed along a very gentle slope. The red mud was moist. It felt slippery if your shoes had a mediocre grip. There was a footpath that indicated the way to us. We followed its serpentine route as it led us upwards. The visibility was now hardly 40-50 feet. Beyond that there were just dark-grey shapes against an almost uniform light grey background. The world had suddenly gone very small. Trees looked like monsters lurking just beyond the mist. The footpath ahead led straight into a foggy grey wall. What lay ahead was a mystery every step of the way. It was thrilling. Some of the guys tried a shortcut along the gentle slope. It involved climbing up the rocky surface of an as yet dry water spring. I was very tempted to follow them. But my floaters with zero-grip held me back.

Finally the slope seemed to level-out and the path ended onto a plateau. The first thing I noticed was the wind... It was blowing impossibly fast... It tore past us, howled in our ears, made our wind cheaters fly behind us like they show in the movies... The fog moved past us in the wind, I could see and feel the cottony tendrils of fog rush past my face... It was awesome!

The plateau itself was covered with short green grass. The fog was too thick for us to see how far the plateau stretched. But no further rise in the slope appeared anywhere around. So I guessed we had reached one of the highest points on the mountain top. As we walked ahead, an iron railing appeared out of the thick fog. As we approached the iron railing and stood besides it, the wind speed became even more intense. Beyond the railing, the ground simply dropped off into the thick grey fog - fog that was moving up towards us, lifted up by the winds... The fog parted every now and then and afforded us the view of the land stretching way down below at the foot of the mountain...

I was suddenly very cold. The wind-chill factor must be pretty high. There was some difficulty breathing when I had my face straight at the winds, such was their enormous speed... But then I just let go of my analytical thoughts and simply opened up my senses. It felt awesome. Was this how it must feel when flying? Every one was shouting into the chasm that stretched before us. And the winds simply blew our shouts away. When we talked to each other, the words came out as just hissing sounds. Listening and discerning them was difficult. One had to shout in order to be heard clearly... We were feeling the raw power of nature...

After a while we moved on... The iron railing ended to the right. But they continued for a while to the left. So that's where we headed. We soon found a path that seemed to take us down... After a while it turned 180 degrees and led further down. To one side, the land simply sloped away into the fog. No way of knowing how far it sloped before it simply dropped off into a steep falling cliff... It was a simple mud path. The mud was wet. So I kept slipping. I had my heart in my throat. If I was destined to fall during this trek, I did not wish to fall here... But fortunately I made it ok.

Where a river is born...
The path zig-zagged downwards and the leveled out. It led us past a little settlement. On either side of the path were shanties and huts. The tarpaulin over the roofs stretched right over the path between the huts on either side to form a canopy. And that's where the specter of the stealing monkeys came back to haunt us.

The first sign of their presence was an urgent staccato sound atop the rooftops we passed... Then they appeared at the other end of the canopy right in front of us. Sushant was very concerned for his camera. He passed it on to Shafi and asked him to hide it below his windcheater. I guess the monkeys spied this exchange. For a monkey cut Shafi's path and frisked him the same way I had been frisked by it's kin. The consternation was clear in Shafi's eyes. The monkey simply wont let him go. So finally Shafi held out both his hands out, camera in one, nothing in the other. The monkey looked at the camera for a while, did not think it looked edible enough. So it finally let him go...

The path led to an iron railing, at the end of which was a small temple. The monkeys followed our group along the railings. In order to escape them, we rushed inside the temple. the temple had a statue of a cow's mouth (gomukh) out of which flowed a stream of water. This is where the great river Godavari originates. We spent some time here and then left.

Following the edge of the World's Roof...
The monkeys were waiting for us outside. But we shooed them away. We were a tight-knit group now and they dared not approach us. But Sushant and Aditya were left behind. They were too busy capturing pics. When they did emerge, the monkeys surged ahead. One of the monkeys bared its large teeth at him. He simply withdrew back into the temple. He was more afraid for his camera than for himself as he later confessed to me (I mean here is a guys who, during a trek, as he fell into the water, his first reflex was to throw his Camera Mobile up to save it...) Finally, I went in again, and the 3 of us came out in tight formation. Thus we were finally rid of the monkey menace.

We followed the iron railing into the other direction, opposite to the temple. We were now in search of the other Trekking destination - Bhandardurg - an ancient fort known to be nearby. But its path was an unknown variable. We knew the general direction, had seen it on Google Earth, but surrounded by fog and having no point of reference, there was no way of discerning any specific direction. So we followed the railing to see where it led us.

The railing went on for a while and then it turned at a corner. At this corner we took a break. By now, everyone was famished. So we decided to eat. We were careful, lest the monkeys made an appearance again. But there were no more monkeys and we ate to our content. At this corner, we could see the cliff face very close by. The fog had thinned out. Much of the cliff face was clearly visible. The winds were so fierce, that the little rivulets of water trickling down the cliff face were thrown back upwards in a "reverse waterfall"... it was a rare sight indeed.

The fort from which no man returned...
After a while, we continued following the railing. The ground began to slope up again. And soon  we reached another temple. The railing ended here and beyond this there was a simple unguarded footpath, only a foot or so wide. Some of us asked the Pujari in the temple, "Does this way lead to Bhandardurg?"... The Pujari gave a very ominous reply - "No it doesn't. Dont go there. No one goes to Bhandardurg. No one who goes there ever returns back..."

It was a dialog right out of a Horror novel. In spite of this ominous warning, we decided to give it a try. The little path meandered into the thick fog ahead. No way to know where it led. To our right lay an upward slope covered with green grass. To our left, the ground sloped away for a feet or two and then simply dropped off. We went ahead a few meters, then Sushant and Aditya took a call. They asked us to wait there while they would sortie ahead and see if it was viable to press on. So, Sushant, Aditya and Shobith went ahead while we waited there. I could see them untill they became hazy grey shapes a few feet ahead. Then I saw them halt and discuss something. Then the taller shadow, Shobith, detached itself from the other two and went ahead. With every step he took, he began to loose definition. Soon, he was almost invisible - at one moment, I saw him taking a turn and then he simply disappeared, engulfed by the fog. For a while there was no sign of him. Sushant and Aditya who were halfway between us and him could probably still see him. After a while, I saw him materialize our of the fog -  a hazy shape that soon took definition and was back to join the two shapes that were Sushant and Aditya. The came back and told us to make and about turn.

It seems the path was slippery ahead. And considering the number of first time trekkers with us, it was probably not wise to press on.

So we retraced our steps till the temple with the ominous Pujari. From there, instead of going back the way we had come along the railing, we spied a shortcut path that went up diagonally across the slope. We started going that way. The going was a bit difficult for me. But Shobith brought up the rear of our human chain and I was glad to have him guarding my back. Every time I lagged behind, he would be there waiting by my side. At one point the path cut across a water stream. It was a trickle really, but the accumulated water made the path wet and the stones below our feet slippery. Here Aditya went ahead. Shobith and Harshal took station at one end of the stream and Sushant waited at the other end, forming a barrier with his hand and giving support to some of us non-regulars, as as each one of us passed by him. Finally, the path seemed to level out on to a plateau and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Back to the roof of the world...
As I looked around I realized that we had reached the same place where we started from. The plateau of the winds and the fog. The highest point we had visited so far... If the speed of the winds had been impossible before, now it was ridiculous. It howled and swayed us as we walked. The fog was much thicker too. I looked up and there was the sun, a little bright spot in the uniform greyness. So thick was the fog that one could look at the sun with naked eyes without hurting...

But all this added to the thrill of this unique place. As we enjoyed the wind and the fog and the cool dampness on the skin, one question kept pondering in some of our minds... We had gone to the left along the railing. But what lay to the right beyond the point where the railing ended? Sushant, Aditya and Shobith decided to to explore. Was it possible the way to Bhandardurg lay there? It was the first trek of the season - after a long time - and the guys had tasted the adventure and were looking for more... How I wish I could accompany them into the unknown. But I was not in the best of shape. And I would simply become a burden on them.

They deposited their bags with us and simply disappeared into the fog. What were we to do? The ladies just went and sat down on the ground near the iron railing... One by one, we all took cue from them and sat down on the stones nearby. For a while all were silent. We opened up and began eating some chakli. The wind kept blowing some of the chakli out of our hands.

The damp and the cold was too much for some of us. So Shafi, Dharav and Rakesh picked up their sacks and went back the way we had first come, to find some shelter under the roof of the some nearby house. That left me, Jenil and Harshal. The ladies came back and sat with us. After a while of quiet and silence, Selvi suggested we play Antakshari. The girls versus the guys. I was reluctant at first - I am not so good at remembering songs. But soon we all warmed up and it was fun... We were singing loud above the whine of the winds... The time flew...

After a while the three musketeers suddenly appeared out of the fog. Bad news, the plateau ended in a dead end. The way to Bhandardurga was still a mystery...

Another shot at reaching the mystery Fort...
We picked up our sacks and headed back the way we had come. We stopped at the corner where the stairs start downwards. There, at the stall we had some refreshing tea (a bit bland and a bit too sweet with a hint of some spices) and sat and chatted. It felt nice and refreshing and relaxed. While having tea, we asked the tea-vendor lady the way to Bhandardurga. She indicated the direction right next to the entrance of the stairs. Now we had a decision to make. Back to the pavilion? or go in search of the fort?

Aditya was all excited and enthusiastic about going for the fort. Some were game, most others were neutral. Then the tea-vendor lady said that it was not very safe, since the soil would be wet and slippery, and we would probably not find the correct way in the fog. Then some of us began to have second thoughts. But finally, we all decided to give it a try.

So we set off, once again in search of the elusive Bhandardurga. There was no path really. We were just walking along on a gentle slope. Unlike near the top-most plateau, there was no iron railing here. So we were unprotected in case of a slip and a tumble down. The slope kept going upwards, and we had no way of knowing in which direction lay the fort. We kept pressing on for a while. The slope disappeared into the fog on one side, and dropped off way down on the other. Finally the futility of the endeavour dawned upon us and we retraced our steps back.

On the way back, we saw some big colourful (mostly bright orange) crabs. Aditya was so engrossed in watching one of these that, Supriya had to remind him that we should now head back. He could go to a fish-market the next day and watch the crabs as long as he liked.

What goes up has to come down...
Finally we began our descent back from the roof of the world (as I now like to call it, misnomer though it is). The descent was fortunately uneventful. The fog cleared as we lost altitude and we were trudging our legs back the way we had come.

One of the locals had mentioned that there is a path to the Bhandardurga near a temple down below. As we reached the temple, some of us decided to give it a final try. We set off along this path that cut through the thick of the surrounding tree. Selvi, Supriya and Jenil decided to stay back. They were tired - it was their first trek. But then at the final moment Jenil changed his mind. And that forced Selvi and Supriya to trudge along behind us.

The path passed almost parallel to and very near to the vertical cliffs that can be seen from the Trimbakeshwar temple. The rock face is pockmarked with what looked like caves. I counted atleast 2 or 3 of them. They looked huge even from so far away. How they came to be there is a mystery to me. Probably formed by water erosion? But I could see no water trickling out of them.

Finally we reached a clearing that boasted a mango tree. Some kids were busy aiming stones at the raw mangoes on the tree. Selvi and Supriya again decided to stay right there. After a bit of deliberation, we finally decided to give up and head back. Then someone told Harshal to ask a local if the path would lead us back to Trimbakeshwar. The local said it would. So instead of going back, we decided to take this route. That was a mistake as we would later discover that that was a longer route.

The path opened up onto a solid set of steps. If you turn left, the steps go up towards Ganga Dwaar (which can be seen as a white patch right in the middle of the cliff face) Turn right and the steps lead down towards Trimbak. We obviously turned right. 

Humpty Dumpty finally did fall...
The steps were well defined - must have been constructed more recently. At regular intervals we could see the little shanties and huts on either side of the steps; shanties where locals sold "holy" goods. The steps were solid and well defined. But they were much more slippery than the ones we had encountered on our way to Brahmagiri.

As I took careful steps, I mentioned to Jenil: "You know, one should fall atleast once."
Jenil: "Why?"
Me: "Because you can always point to your backside and claim... See that sore patch over here? That's where I fell at Brahmagiri... It becomes a kind of a memento for you..."

I was just kidding. But no sooner had I said that, than there was this high pitched shriek up ahead. We looked and saw the source of the shriek down on her backside. It was Supriya - she had slipped and fallen. We had a good laugh. Sushant told us how one should step sideways. That reduces the chances of slipping and falling. He told us how he was once similarly teaching his wife Smriti to take careful and proper steps during a trek (at that time they did not know each other so well) and the very next step, she fell... We had another good laugh.

So then I was giving this KT to Jenil about how one should step when coming down... "See", I said, mimicking Sushant, "One should step side ways... like this..." The next moment, my leg was up and I was down. I got up quickly for anyone else to notice. But Jenil had yet another laugh - this time at my expense...

Back to the pavilion...
We cursed our decision to follow this route. The steps kept going on for ever and ever. Finally we hit the road and trudged our tired legs and hungry stomachs back to the bus.

As the bus left, we took out our goods and had some pretty tasty food. Hunger is the best pickle - an old Hindi saying... :-) So all the food tasted awesome... 

On our way back we took a different route along the Nashik Ghoti road. We planned to explore the backwaters of the nearby dam. It was a small road with hardly any traffic and adorned with beautiful greenery.

Swaying bus and tired bodies - a deadly combination for blissful sleep. Most of us took a short nap... After much asking around, we finally met a biker who direct us on how to reach the backwaters of the dam.

There we guys had a good dip, while Sushant and the ladies took photographs. It was more refreshing than all the energy drinks in the world combined. By the time we changed our muddy wet clothes, I was refreshed and fully awake.

The trip back to Mumbai involved passing through the fog covered Kasara Ghat, and then a long wait in the traffic near Kalyan.

By the time darkness had descended on the world, we were back in Mumbai and one by one the fellowship broke up. I got down at Goregaon around 9:00 in the night and made my way back home. I hit the bed and was asleep before I knew it...

So ended the first trek of the rainy season 2013. Most of the prerequisites of the Trek were met:
We trekked up a mountain - Check
We explored the unknown -  in the fog - Check
There were no rains, yet we enjoyed the cool damp bliss of the rains in the clouds on Brahmagiri - Check
We got to take a dip in the back waters - Check
And at least one of us had a great fall... :-P - Check

So the trek was a success. And worth writing a blog about :)

My very first visit to the Kala Ghoda Art Festival

Originally Posted on: Friday, February 8, 2013

One week back... 

2nd Feb 2013, Saturday...
Its 1:30 in the afternoon...

I have just had lunch. My friend Tish calls. Asks me when I will be leaving. I tell him, I will be leaving in a while. Will call him when I leave. I am supposed to meet him at Dadar. But I am facing the Saturday afternoon crisis. My stomach feels so heavy, and my mind feel so light... I curse myself for agreeing to go out with my friends on such a nice drowsy Saturday afternoon... That's the last thing I remember...
I suddenly wake up to the urgent ringing of my phone. Its my friend Tish. Have I left yet? I say, am about to leave. I look at the clock. Its 2:15. Shit! I was supposed to meet him at Dadar by this time. I kick myself out of the bed and into the clothes.

And soon am on my way to Dadar on the train.

I don't mind going out on weekends. Its the get-up-and-get-going part thats the most difficult... Once I am ready and out of the house - you bring it on, baby, I am game!

I am supposed to get down at Dadar, meet Tish, and then continue with him to Churchgate. But midway, Tish calls me that he wont be able to make the rendezvous at Dadar. He will directly meet us at the Final Destination. So I continue an unbroken journey to Churchgate.

Even after being so late, I am the first one to arrive. The others are still on their way.
Once in Churchgate, I ask for directions to an area named Kala Ghoda (which means "Black Horse"). Its right opposite to the David Sasson Library, besides the Jehangir Art gallery. Today the area is decorated - like a bride dressed up for her Marriage - so full of makeup that you wont even recognize her, unless you are her relative or a very close friend. I pass the security check and enter the hustle bustle of what appears to be a modern day fair.

That's how I found myself in the Kala Ghoda Art Festival.

I am not an artist. Neither am I big connoisseur of arts. Ok. May be I do appreciate art in the written form, and some times in its colourfully painted form. But that's as far as I dare venture into the wonderous Artland..
So although I have been hearing about this annually held art festival in this Kala Ghoda area, I never thought of visiting it. Not until a few days back, when one of my friends Sush, suggested this to me. And so here I was, standing there clueless, gawking around at the carnival, like Alice in wonderland...

Sush and gang would be here soon. Meanwhile, I started to roam around but soon found it very difficult. Every step was an evasive maneuver to avoid walking into someone, while avoiding getting hit by someone else. Everyone was busy staring at something or the other - and NOT looking at where they were going... including me... There was suddenly so much to see! In vain, I tried to take in everything at once, and failed miserably. The sensory input was simply too much. Soon I discovered that the best way to actually make some sense out of everything that was on display, was by concentrating on one thing - taking in one art display at a time...

Right at the entrance, besides the security checkpoint, where there once used to be a triangular traffic island, was a collection of various art structures flanked by display kiosks on left and right. The back side facing the street was blocked off by a temporarily erected wall. And the front had a massive imitation of a projector surrounded by life-size photo-cutouts of famous bollywood film personalities. I tried to look around trying to make some sense of the art-forms around me. But the place was too crowded. People were staring at various displays. And I was staring at them all. This did not seem right. When in Rome, do what the Romans do... So I moved off to a display and tried to look at it appreciatively, trying to imitate an art patron, except not really understanding what it was all about.

The place was crowded. Very crowded. Like a Kumbh ka Mela in Mumbai. I noticed that there were 3 kinds of people present there.
1> Those who really appreciated the arts - the collectors and the art-lovers
2> Those who were there for the fun of it. Better to visit the festival than do the usual weekend stuff (namely go to mall or watch a movie). And it saved the money - free-of-charge entertainment.
3> Those who had no clue what the heck was going on and why they were here in the first place.
I certainly fell in the third category.

I proceeded further to an area which boasted some beautiful looking canopy made from little white and red similar-looking pieces joined together. On closer examination, I found out that it was all made from paper - by folding the paper to make single units, then joining the units together to make a square master unit, and then joining these squares to make the entire canopy! I was blown away! Imagine, the kind of effort that was put into making it! And that's when my true trip down the rabbit hole to Artland began!

Sush and gang arrived soon, and then I was no longer alone. We roamed the display of art structures collected at the entrance. There were a lot of structures made up of waste materials - trying to spread ecological awareness, I guess. The rest of the gang was well armed. Sush and Mole had got cameras. And they were busy shooting away. They had also got some eatables and drinking water. Another great forethought - because roaming around can make you both hungry as well as very thirsty.

Most of the structures here looked very haphazard to me - all jumbled up stuff brought together to form a design. It was impressive, but I personally did not find it much attractive. There were 2 displays I liked most. One was the plastic bottle rain. It was a small 7 feet high and some 5-6 feet wide frame. Inside the frame they had hung lots and lots of plastic bottles. And you had to pass through it. When I walked through the bottles, it felt strange - but nice. It was a very different kind of feeling. The bottles would instantly close around you. Would make you feel slightly claustrophobic, even disoriented. The bottles had a little water at their bottom to give them weight. So it felt cool as they brushed against your skin. And after the closed-in feeling, it felt great once you were out. On the whole it was a great idea. Another display I liked was done using lots of paper birds, and a light inside a closed pitch black canopy. That was impressive too.

From there on, the displays kept getting better. There was a huge fish made up of CD-ROMs. There was a horse made up of cardboard. There was a turtle made up by joining marble slabs - separated from each other by about 1 inch - so the effect of the equidistant slits forming the turtle's body, looked great. There were painted auto-rickshaws and cars. One of the cars was covered fully with coins. There was a very fancily decorated cycle. And a scooter decorated to resemble a bee - complete with wings! There was huge skull constructed only using e-waste. And a huge statue of Dabba-wala along with a huge dabba made by joining together hundreds of cans. Another artwork displayed a coffin with hands jutting out of it and holding a R.I.P. placard. It signified not to use mobile phones when driving.

All these structures were arranged in the middle of the road. And on either side of the road were the kiosks displaying artwork from different vendors. The artwork displayed there was great too - but pretty costly. We all refrained from actually buying anything.

We had roamed the entire display. But there was one thing that I was searching for, but did not find. There was no Black Horse in the Kala Ghoda Art festival. There was a Black Cow. But a cow is not a horse... Truth be told, there was a horse. But it was not black.

Soon it was evening. Darkness had descended on the entire fair. And the lights came on. And some of the displays looked even better in the dazzling display of colourful lights. How the time flew away! I never realized this festival could be so much fun! By this time, we were all tired and decided to call it quits.

From there we went on to the Gateway of India. There we had Vadapav, pani-puri, chana-jor-garam, roasted corn (bhutta) and tea. But not in that order. And Sush took a lot of pics.

Then we all decided to have something to eat. And so we went to the famous Delhi Durbar hotel. There we had a very sumptuous meal. I conveniently forgot it was a Saturday (I usually don't eat non-veg on Saturdays) and enjoyed some nice chicken. Then we had some nice paan and soon we were back on our way home.

My Trek to Rajmachi

Originally Posted on: Sunday, March 4, 2012

Yesterday (3-3-2012), I went on a Trekking trip to Rajmachi. It was a great experience (a statement even I wouldn't expect from a lazy couch-potato like me).

It so happens that one of my friends in office, Sushant, is a regular trekker. He invited guys from my team on this trek. Everyone agreed and there was no reason for me not to. And that's how I got myself involved into this little adventure.

The Auspicious Beginning
On Friday (2-3-2012), me and 4 of my team members (Rahul, Ashish, Sam and Rizwan) left office on time (shamelessly leaving our poor TL to grapple with the bug-infested code). The Thane bus dropped us at Kanjurmarg. From there we caught a train and went to Rahul's home in Ambernath.

It was a nice experience. We got to meet his family, especially his playful cute little daughter. Rahul and his family proved to be very generous hosts. We freshened up, had some nice food, and decided to catch a few winks. The plan was to meet Sushant and the rest of the trekking team at Ambernath station. So we had up to 1:15 am to catch some sleep. But the 5 of us were busy chatting (mostly cribbing about the job in general and the boss in particular :-P) until midnight. Then one by one they all fell asleep - except for me. For some reason, the fact that we had to get up in an hour's time kept nagging at me and 1:15 am found me still awake as alarms went off in more that 1 mobile phones. We brushed, freshened up and left for the Ambernath station.

The ticket window was closed (obviously). We punched some coupons we had, and met Sushant and the rest of the gang at platform number 2. From there we caught the 2:15 am train. It was the last train to Karjat.

Sushant was accompanied by 6 others including Sachin, Amol, Nilesh, Shobith, Aditya and Harshal. All of them are regular trekkers, which showed later as the 5 of us (apart from Rahul and to some extent, Sam) struggled while the rest trekked effortlessly.

Most of us fell asleep in the train, but for some reason I was still wide awake. Same was the case as we spent 2 and a half hours on the Karjat railway platform, waiting impatiently for morning to arrive. It was a long wait indeed. Sam entertained us with his tales from his days when he was studying in Delhi.

It was cold and getting colder as the night progressed. There was no tea available on the station. The first tea-stall opened outside the station after 5:00 am. Most of us had some nice warmth from the tea and the little bonfire lighted besides the tea stall.

On our way to start the Trek
We left the station at around 5:30 am. The first lap of our journey involved traveling to the Kondivade village that resides near the foot of Rajmachi. We were informed that we could get a 6-sitter rickshaw or an ST bus from a nearby bridge. It took us 15-20 minutes of brisk walking to reach this bridge. There was a rest-stand nearby. There was a ledge (bench like, build into the wall) that stretched along all the 3 walls. We went inside and sat down. It had no lights. It was dark and smelled of fish. Most of us tried to catch a few winks. I was still wide awake.

We missed a ST Bus which did not stop long enough for us to run out and hail it. But soon a rickshaw arrived. It was a 6 seater. The driver said, he could accommodate 10 people. All 12 of us crammed into the rick. I was the last one to go in. Already the vehicle was crammed with guys and bags. 3 guys were sitting in the front with the driver (Aditya, the leanest one, was on Sachin's lap). 7 (3 + 4) were sitting on the two 6-seater-seats. One more was sitting on the left hand side rod that blocks the entry-door at that side. Where was I supposed to sit, or even stand? Sushant, who was sitting near the door let me sit on his legs, with my backside jutting out of the door.

It was a rough ride. I could feel every bump in the road in the strained muscles of my body. I was unable to get my bowels cleaned up during the night. I had made the mistake of mentioning it to some of my friends. And there was some teasing about my "doors opening up" at the wrong moment. I took it all in stride. But soon most of them were dozing off. I was too uncomfortable to even think of sleeping.

As we neared the village, Sushant, now quite awake, suddenly said "Hey, look, that Dog". At first I did not get what he was referring to. Street dogs are quite common everywhere and I had no idea what the fuss was all about. So I looked back and there it was. A somewhat dirty furry canine chasing the rick, right below where my butt was hanging out of the door! I was scared. Getting my backside bitten off was the last thing on my agenda for the trek... But fortunately we reached the end point just then. The rick stopped and I jumped out. The dog had stopped a few paces back. It approached us cautiously. At first we all ignored it and started walking our way towards the foot of the Rajmachi forts. But it kept following us. It looked tired from its long chase of the rick. So finally, one of us threw a biscuit at it. We thought it would now leave us, but after gobbling away the biscuit, it kept following us. None of us had imagined that this dog would follow us all the way to the top of the Shrivardhan fort and back! Later we named him Yedu.

Somewhere near the foot of the hills, we stopped for some tea and snacks at one of the houses in the village. The sky was beginning to brighten, but the sun was still hiding behind the hills. We all had Poha and some had Vadapav. Some of us even had double helpings of poha. It was tasty. The tea was especially awesome. The proprietor owned a dog named Khandya. It was a small canine, probably just 4-6 months old. But was it full of spunk! That little dog kept growling and trying to intimidate Yedu! It was curious too. When Aditya suddenly decided to change into his trekking gear, and went inside the house, Khandya followed him in to investigate.

The Trek Finally Begins
Finally, with our stomachs full with (much-more-than-)breakfast, we moved on. The Sun was finally sneak-peeking above the edge of the hills. Further on, we took a left turn and that's when our trek began. We passed an Emu farm. The terrain was flat for a while. But it soon gave way to boulder-strewn rough terrain. Foliage became denser and the trail we were following became narrower. Now we were in business.

Yedu and Pedu, our resourceful canine guides
Somewhere during this time, Yedu was joined by another dog. We named it Pedu. These two canines kept walking with us all the way. It might sound unbelievable, but they were acting like guides to us. One dog would accompany the leading guys, while one of them would wait until the last one of the group had passed it, and then trail us. The trailing one would sometimes get impatient of the slow pace of the laggers and then it would dash forward right past us, sometimes passing between our legs! But both of them acted pretty intelligent. They both had specific tastes. Neither would touch plain bread or sweet laddoo. But they easily ate biscuits and stuff. Every now and then, we would stop and offer them water. We would pour some inside a concavity in some rock, and the two would lap it up thirstily. Both of them guided us and followed us up to the top of the fort. But on our way back, Pedu got enamoured to a tasty looking hen in the Rajmachi village. That's where we parted ways with Pedu. As for Yedu, he faithfully kept us company right till the end of the trek. During the afternoon, as we descended back on our way down, Yedu would follow us for a while. Then he would find some nice shadow, lie down panting, take some rest and then he would come bounding back to our group. He kept us company until we reached back to the Kondivade village. And then he disappeared as suddenly and mysteriously as he had appeared. That was the last we saw of him.

Up, up and (the destination is so far) away...
On our way, we visited the Kondane Caves. One can see some pretty nice stone carvings on the walls of the caves. As we moved on, we passed open plateaus that afforded us a great view of the ever expanding miniature landscape below. We also passed a few dry waterfall beds. Now the stress was beginning to show on some of us, especially Rizwan and Ashish. Even I would have felt tired since I am as out-of-shape as they are. But I like climbing. I was enjoying every moment of it. So was Sam. He was in a great mood. One time, at the mention of Rajmachi, Sam asked "where is the Rajma in Rajmachi?" Yup, only a true foodie like Sam would see the "Rajma" in "Rajma"chi...

In fact, Sam was so excited, that once he mentioned "Its great we came along. This Sushant revived the dead worm of trekking inside me." But following our careers and the soft city life, we all had become out-of-shape. And by the time we reached halfway, it was beginning to tell. Later when I asked Sam about his trekking worm, wiping his sweaty forehead, he said "What trekking worm? Its already dead, man."

But this was not the case with Sushant, Sachin and the rest of the regular trekkers. They were experienced. They moved faster and effortlessly. We lagged behind. Me and Rizwan always managed to be the tail end of the group. By the time we reached a clearing, the rest of them would be waiting, some sitting, some refreshing themselves with precious gulps of water. As a consequence we hardly got much chance to rest.

The Sun was trekking too, as it ascended towards the center of the sky, and we all had discarded our sweaters and jackets. The shivering cold of the yester-night was a distant memory. We all were sweating and puffing and breathing heavily. Each of us had carried at least a couple of 1 liter water bottles. Its back-breaking, yes. But its the most precious thing you will carry on your trek. Apart from water, the 5 of us were carrying some picnic snacks (bread, jam, biscuits, etc) we had bought at Ambernath. Again our inexperience showed. Picnic snacks are not much use on long treks. The experienced ones carried Glucon-D, chocolates, oranges, etc. Glucon-D was especially useful - an instant source of energy. Our Trek Guide (Sushant) and Trek Leader (Sachin) advised us to have it raw, in its powder form, instead of wasting precious water to mix it with.

Sushant, the avid photographer, was always busy clicking away either using his Cam or using his Mobile phone. I tried to click a few snaps, but as the going got rough, carrying the camera in the hand became too cumbersome. So I stowed it away for good. I would have liked to click a lot more pictures. But I had to have both my hands free in order to balance myself at some rough spots.

Sachin, the Trek Leader set our pace. He would advise us where to stop and for how long. He would rush us whenever we were lagging behind schedule. And in a way, it was a good thing. Its important to stick to the schedule when on a trek. If you take up too much time on your way up, you will have to hazard a descent in the fading light of the dusk.

We conquer the Fort...
After what seemed like eternity, with cramps threatening to stop us in our tracks, we finally reached what appeared to be the end of our mountainous trail. it was past 11:30. The Sun was high in the sky. We saw in front of us a flat plateau, and to our left hand side, above a cliff, was the Manaranjan Fort. As we followed the wide well-trodden trail, we came upon the small Rajmachi village. We decided to place an order for food at one of the villager's place. Then we continued on our way to the Shrivardhan Fort. The climb became even more rough as the cliff became steeper and steeper the nearer we approached the fort.

Riz and I take a bold decision...
Somewhere near the entrance of the fort, we were passing a steep cliff-face. Sushant, Shobhit and Aditya had stopped and were debating whether to risk climbing the wall, instead of following the regular easier route. Rizwan was dead tired so I was surprised when he said "Lets climb from here". It was a thrilling prospect for me too. So I encouraged him. Shobhit had already scaled the wall and reached the top. Rizwan started climbing and I followed. Sushant was encouraging us from below. Somewhere in between, Rizwan appeared to get stuck. He could not find a foot-hold to proceed. Then Sachin arrived above us. He guided Rizwan and Rizwan reached the top. All this while I was stalled at one place. Before I began to proceed, Aditya passed me. He is light-weight and very agile. He eats so little, yet where he gets all his energy from, God only knows.

I proceeded further and then I got stuck. My legs had gone wobbly. My foot-hold was weak and so were my hand-holds. I could not seem to find the next strong foot-hold. Neither was there a prominent enough hand-hold in sight. Now I was really scared. Was I gonna let go and fall down? Should I stay where I was, and cry for help? Help from where and from whom? I was right in the middle of nowhere. Where were the guys gonna get help from? Would someone from the village come with ropes to rescue me? How long could I hold on? All these scary thoughts raced through my mind. But the fear pushed me forward. In one of those rare occasions, I took the name of God, and forced myself to move up. I groped with my hands and pushed with my legs and soon I was heaving myself at the top where the others were standing. Sushant followed me. What took me 5-10 minutes to scale, Sushant climbed in less than half a minute. He was that fast!

When I finally reached the top, I was thrilled and scared and fascinated and terrified. It was a great experience. In fact it was so great that I decided then and there I would not repeat such a reckless feat again in my life... Am I a scaredly rat or what?

The Shrivardhan Fort
Finally we had reached the fort. Most of the walls and fortifications are crumbling. But the view from up there was awesome. I could see the valley below, the village we had left behind a few moments back on the mountainous plateau below, a lake on it's left and the Manaranjan Fort on its right.

After a brief photo-session, we began our descent. This time I was really scared. I like climbing. I can do it, with some efforts. But descending down is very difficult for me. I always seem about to loose my balance and pitch forward. So I usually descend slowly and cautiously, making use of my hands wherever I need to. Sometimes I have to squat on my backside and slide myself down from one boulder to the next one. The boulders were hot, their edges were sharp. My hands and my bum were scraped and sore. But apart from the initial difficult patch, our descent to the village was comparatively smooth. But my legs were done for. I was having intermittent cramps and all my leg muscles were aching. Sachin suggested we next proceed to the Manaranjan fort. But we decided to instead have food first. And a good thing too. I don't think I could have managed one more climb.

Lunch-time, at last!
We reached the Rajmachi village and had lunch. Some of us had ordered Lunch plate which consisted of traditional Maharastrian style potato bhaji, bhakri, rice and dal. Others had ordered the traditional Jhunka Bhakar. Me and Rahul had got tiffins. But I tasted the food from others and it was very tasty. Then again, isn't hunger the best appetizer?

After lunch, we visited the lake. There is a small ancient Shiv Temple near the lake. We took some rest in it's cool shade. There I finally fell asleep - the first wink I had in more than 36 hours. I managed to sleep for just 15 minutes but it felt like eternity. When I was jolted awake by Sushant, I had a massive cramp in my leg. I had to rest for a while. Sachin offered me a Relispray (these guys were really well-prepared), but I declined.

Finally I felt a bit better and we started off on our way back.

The hellish Descent
Descent was difficult and not just for me alone. Most thought it would be easy but for some of us it wasn't. Sushant, Sachin, Aditya and some of the others pulled it off pretty effortlessly. But me, Rizwan, Ashish and Amol found it pretty difficult. Even Sam had a massive headache. Fortunately most of us were equipped with caps.

One time, Ashish lost his footing and slided down. Sushant and Nilesh tried to hold him, but he slipped past. Finally Rizwan caught him, with one hand, his other hand holding a nearby tree branch for support. So, Aditya carried Ashish's bag and Sachin carried Amol's.

Our clothes were dirty, our bodies sweaty. Our faces were shining red with the heat and sweat.

I myself was pretty tired. I had to rest every now and then. While climbing, I had managed to ascend most of the part without much rest. But now I had to stop and rest whenever I could. While climbing I had lent a helping hand and encouragement whenever I could. But now I was just concentrating selfishly on myself.
Rizwan on the other hand seemed to have gained his "second wind". He would stop but hardly did he ever sit down - always standing, ready to proceed.

When descending, it is a good idea to hold a strong stick. It helps a lot. Nothing fancy required. Ant strong enough branch would suffice. Rizwan an I did the mistake of not carrying a stick, which we realized much later.

We finally reached the foot of the hill. But the village was pretty far. Now we all were so tired that even this simple straight walk was becoming impossible. We had run out of water. Time was running out. Our plan was to reach Karjat by 6:00 pm. It was already 5:00 and we had not yet reached the Kondivade village.

The Final Countdown
Then came the tractor. We spotted it as it clamoured noisily from behind us. We hailed it. The idea was to ask the driver to give Ashish (who was badly exhausted) a lift. Sachin decided to accompany him. There was seating space for only 2 people on either side of the driver. But is so happened that a wagon was hitched to the back of the tractor. The driver said he could give a lift to all of us if we climbed into the wagon. But the wagon was full of wet earth. And we would have to sit on top of it. As they say, "necessity, thy name is Gandhiji". As I began to climb up, I felt my legs cramp. I just climbed over and flopped down in the middle on the wet earth. I couldn't even move out of the way as others climbed up. Some were squatting, some were sitting, some were standing as the tractor lumbered towards Kondivade village. It was dangerous as there were no hand-hold of any kind. Those who could not find place to sit like I was, had to hold on to each of us as the tractor swayed this way and that.

Finally we reached Kondivade village. There we hailed the first available 6-sitter. Just like morning, we, the dirty dozen, jammed ourselves into the single 6-seater and finally reached Karjat. From Karjat, we caught the 6:15 train headed for Mumbai CST. I got down at Dadar with Sam, Ashish and Rizwan. Then we caught the 8:30 Borivali train and thats how I finally reached home.

Finally, home sweet home...
I was tired, my muscles ached. My clothes were dirty. I "smelled like a wet dog" (to quote my sister, word for word). I had some dinner, popped a painkiller and went to sleep. Right this moment as I am writing this blog, my legs are still aching. Was it worth it? I think it certainly was. If you ask me, will I go for another trek? The couch-potato in me compels me to deny flatly. But the feeble voice of the newborn trekker inside me says "May be"...