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 :)
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 :)
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