This is the trek which one would love to do again and again. I really loved it. This trek is physically demanding and it's worth completing this trek :-). I have already heard about this trek from Nilesh and he told that it is one of his favorite, as soon as the information about this trek was posted, I had confirmed my seat. The plan was to catch the second slow Karjat and to meet at Vangani station. I have learnt a lot from my earlier mistakes and this time also I was on time. I think this trek is a big time favorite of everyone. I got a chance to meet many old trek buddies in this trek. We started as usual with intro round, which I guess needs some more spices. After that we had bada paos and by auto we were dropped till Chincwadi diversion. The road till chincwadi was good which surprised me why auto did not come till the village. The reason may be the ascend while moving towards the village.
As we were passing a private land we came across a nice water stream which changed the mood of the group. Group enjoyed it a lot and we all had a lot of fun. I am really jealous to the owner of this land, his farm house or should I say a big bungalow was also visible seems perfect to me. This is one of the thing which I would like to own someday :D.
After nice swimming in the stream and completely getting wet we all started the real trek. The first phase of the trek involved normal walking, but as we reach the base of range it was clear that we had a steep climb in front of us. But climb proved to be fun. The reasons were frequent drizzling and awesome waterfalls while climbing. I used to think I was the only guy “crazy” for waterfalls, but in this trek I met many :D. We were enjoying every single waterfall coming in our way and getting drenched in almost all of them. The climb was really good, after we crossed the last waterfall, the difficult patch starts. For me it was cool as I never had problem in climbing. (descending is always tough :-( )The peak of this range was fully covered with fog and it was giving a amazing view from the routes in between. After reaching to the ridge of range we discovered that the other side of range was equally beautiful. Moreover it was foggy and wind blowing was simply AWESOME. Then we climbed the last part of climb i.e. from ridge to the caves.
After reaching to the caves we waited for the rest of the group to join us. As soon as we all got together we all had our lunch. One thing about youngeterz group in general is all are of nearly same age and they mix up very easily. While lunch we were snatching, playing pranks, hiding food …just like old college treats ;-).
We didn’t rested for long after lunch which was a very good decision. As it was a big group and considering the inclination, descend was supposed to be difficult and time consuming. I was ahead to enjoy the waterfalls again (I know I was being selfish…but kya kare control nahi hota ;-) ). Myself and group of 4-5 other people was so engaged in enjoying waterfalls that others went ahead of us and we were still in the water :D. But everything ends somewhere I have to agree that I was kind of saturated and wanted to return early. Moreover the stream was waiting for us :-). Group was really good and leaders were better. No one had any problem in descending and everyone reached the base of chanderi range with ample time to spare.
When we reached the stream sun was shining and water of stream was no more cold. I was already satisfied and tired too so I enjoyed in watching other enjoy :D. As I said there were even more crazier guys than me in the group. They were trying all king of stupid diving style in water. I was simply jealous by one of the coordinator of youngsterz, his name is Ananda, aka Andy. God has given him such an athletic body that he can do anything. He showed us one of the best dives I have seen live. One crazy guy namely Kartik, (*aka takloo because of his hairstyle :P) he also jumped in well following Ananda. He was a good swimmer but he was able to come out by pulling himself out with the help of rope. And guess what who saved him….none other than Andy. He jumped back and tied a rope to him. It was funny when others were pulling karthik out. He was shouting with pain, as rope was hurting him. Finally somehow he came out. Everyone was laughing and it was the funniest moment of whole trek. People were not coming out of water, somehow leaders made them come out and our journey towards diversion again started.
As we reached back to Chincwadi diversion we found few autos which saved our walking of few kms. We started getting in and soon reached the same spot where we were standing in the morning. We all had our refreshment in the same hotel. It was good and our leaders have organized it well. We were supposed to share our experience but train was scheduled at 7:05 pm, so we all left in hurry for the train.
This was the first local train travelling which I enjoyed the most. It was very crowded and we group 40 odd people started shouting slogans and making noises. It was hilarious shouting our national movement slogans like – “Angrejo Bharat Chodo”, “Karo ya Maro” etc etc. Instead of crowd disliking our halla-gulaa we kept on enjoying. It was really fun. Overall Chanderi was fun and it is one of the treks which should be done as a ritual every year :-)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Trek with URJA @ Sudhagad @ 13th July 08
This was my first trek with URJA whose coordinator is Yatin. I guess he is the only “Karta-Dharta” of this team. One thing good about his organizing trek is comfort he offers. We went to the destination via bus from Thane. But of course nothing comes free, I guess charges were really high and we were not even provided evening snacks (because of time scarcity, we were already late so how 20-30 minutes would have made a difference…. I don’t know….). This time I was on time and I know no one will believe me but I was the first person to reach the destination :-). We started our journey at around 7:30 am which was late considering we gathered at 6 am. We boarded the same bus which carries Patni employees during weekdays. Some of the Patni employees were disappointed to see that :P.
Bus journey was good, as weather was cool and it was drizzling since early morning. I tried to keep my eyes open but I was really tired, slept for almost half of the distance. In the short span in which I was awake I noticed that we were going in Mumbai-Goa highway (Karnala route) and we took a right turn after we were 60 kms from Panvel. The destination was Pali and from Pali we were supposed to go to Thakurwadi (I was confused with “Thakurwadi” as this was the name of village in Sarkar Raj, but this was not the same village. This proves that lots of Maharashtra village have same name :-) ). As soon we finished group introduction and started for trek, it started raining heavily. (another warm welcome :D.)
This trek falls under easy grade so it was a leisure walk for me. My eyes were constantly searching for some waterfall. I can see one from the base village itself but it was not in the route to the top. I was ahead of the whole group, so I decided stray a bit and look for the route. I almost found it but it was far away and would have taken another 10 minutes. So I decided to return and join the group. I guess I was not energetic enough that day. We reached the top very easily. The top of sudhagad is a “big” plateau with some water cisterns. These are big in size and were causing formation of waterfalls. One of the fall was in our route and as usual I was below it to take some rest. I thoroughly enjoyed it and soon other group also joined me.
We waited for others to reach on top and then we went to see other spots of this trek. MahaDarwaja, Temple, 1-2 more points. But frankly speaking I was not very impressed by any :-(. The one reason I was enjoying fully was my shoe. The frictional sole of my shoe was completely gone and I was walking on slippery surface. I fall once while walking on slippery rock. I hurt my knee and was seriously disappointed and low that day. We all descended pretty soon, as there was nothing else to do there. I even slept for 45-50 minutes. I was not taking any chances while descending and walked very slowly. The whole group was really slow and we were late by the time all came down.
While returning we went to Pali temple which was one of the best part of this trek . After that we were supposes to have “heavy refreshments” but what we got was like “jeera in my mouth” :D. After Pali our bus journey started again, we reached Thane at around 11 pm. Overall it was trek for begineers and needed good planning which was completely missing.
Bus journey was good, as weather was cool and it was drizzling since early morning. I tried to keep my eyes open but I was really tired, slept for almost half of the distance. In the short span in which I was awake I noticed that we were going in Mumbai-Goa highway (Karnala route) and we took a right turn after we were 60 kms from Panvel. The destination was Pali and from Pali we were supposed to go to Thakurwadi (I was confused with “Thakurwadi” as this was the name of village in Sarkar Raj, but this was not the same village. This proves that lots of Maharashtra village have same name :-) ). As soon we finished group introduction and started for trek, it started raining heavily. (another warm welcome :D.)
This trek falls under easy grade so it was a leisure walk for me. My eyes were constantly searching for some waterfall. I can see one from the base village itself but it was not in the route to the top. I was ahead of the whole group, so I decided stray a bit and look for the route. I almost found it but it was far away and would have taken another 10 minutes. So I decided to return and join the group. I guess I was not energetic enough that day. We reached the top very easily. The top of sudhagad is a “big” plateau with some water cisterns. These are big in size and were causing formation of waterfalls. One of the fall was in our route and as usual I was below it to take some rest. I thoroughly enjoyed it and soon other group also joined me.
We waited for others to reach on top and then we went to see other spots of this trek. MahaDarwaja, Temple, 1-2 more points. But frankly speaking I was not very impressed by any :-(. The one reason I was enjoying fully was my shoe. The frictional sole of my shoe was completely gone and I was walking on slippery surface. I fall once while walking on slippery rock. I hurt my knee and was seriously disappointed and low that day. We all descended pretty soon, as there was nothing else to do there. I even slept for 45-50 minutes. I was not taking any chances while descending and walked very slowly. The whole group was really slow and we were late by the time all came down.
While returning we went to Pali temple which was one of the best part of this trek . After that we were supposes to have “heavy refreshments” but what we got was like “jeera in my mouth” :D. After Pali our bus journey started again, we reached Thane at around 11 pm. Overall it was trek for begineers and needed good planning which was completely missing.
Blogging after a long time…Peb completed
I am really sorry about this but I don’t know why writing my experience got delayed. I will try to summarize them form here onwards....
After unsuccessful trek to Peb, I took rest because of my own reasons. It felt very dull the whole week after that. That means trek are exhaustive but w/o them life is “still as rock”, not solid though :D. This week was I guess 28th-29th June 08. The week after that (5th-6th July 08) no good trek was organized. So I decided to complete the unfinish trek to Peb. I had planned to start early but it got delayed (as usual ;-) ). I started very late, I caught a train at 8:50 am in the morning. After getting down in Neral, I bought some stuff and started the trek at 10:45 am. This was late but as I was alone and half of the trek was known to me so I pace it up. The good part was the rains, they were welcoming me and I kept moving w/o any halt. I reached the point from where we backed off in 1hour 30 minutes.
Those guys were really enthusiastic, they agreed to come (one of the other reason was that they did not want to go down through that rock again :P ). So we started again our journey. As always w/o a guide it was confusing, but I was trying to use my experience and was leading the others. After reaching a diversion, we were really confused to which way we should go. I asked one guy to go in one and I went to other. The route towards my side was flat and looked as if it was crossing the whole mountain range. The other was going to the top of that range. I wanted to follow the flat one but I was not trying to dominate either. I listened to the other fellow and we started climbing the range. To our surprise, this route has ropes tied to tree at top so that trekkers can use them for climbing. We reached to the top safely and from here view was simply breathtaking.
From here we started walking in the ridge towards downside. After a while we saw a hut which we discovered was a small temple. The guy offered us the tea but his partner forgot to prepare the same (ho gayi googly :D ), so we avoided wasting more time and went ahead. I observed that the flat route was also meeting the hut from other direction. But the views made it worth to climb the range :-). After getting some idea about the direction we went ahead. In the way we descended a ladder, which was very safe as compare to described in the internet. After walking for 15 more minutes we reached the railway trek. Here we had our lunch and then we moved forward. While walking on this path, we found many waterfalls, which certainly I enjoyed the most :D. The railway route pass through the road many times while moving towards Neral. So decided to get into the road from the very 1st intersection.
Luckily we found a empty cab going downwards which agreed to take us down. While returning I was looking for one waterfall which many people have told me about. To my surprise it was huge and seems really very good. I wanted to stop but others were exhausted and leaving the cab would have caused more walking. I did not want to hurt them and feel selfish, so I also didn’t insisted. We reached station in time and caught the train at 5:30 pm. Overall it was a good trek and I felt relieved after completing it :-).
Saturday, June 28, 2008
PEB Trek….A terrible experience
I was searching for a trek with waterfall.....hard to find though. But with the help of a friend I found one – Peb Trek. This place is near Matheran, I read a description of this place in some site and got very excited. This time 3 more guys agreed to join me for this trek. We was supposed to join a group form Neral. As always I was late to catch the early morning train from Dadar, we had to wait for 40 minutes for another train to come. As we were about to reach Neral, I got call from my friend, she told me that she has fractured her hand and is returning back. I was half asleep but this news took everything away. I asked about the Neral hospital address and we 4 guys started searching for same. When we reached hospital, everyone was in light mood, it was a relief to me that things were not serious. I am not comfortable with such situations, so throughout the route I was thinking how to react :D, but those guys made it easy. The weather was really soothing that day, other 3 guys were getting very impatient. I bid farewell to group and hospital and proceeded ahead for PEB. It was a pretty bad start but the worse was about to come…..
After reaching the base village we enquired about the way to trek but I guess villagers thought that we were looking for waterfall, instead of main path they showed us the route of a waterfall near the base. I believe this place is not known to lots of people. That day many other groups visited that trek but we found none in that place. It was a small waterfall, but this was my first waterfall for this season . We all had a nice bath and enjoyed the 'mercy' of god to the fullest. As monsoon has not reached its peak, I believe this place is worth visiting at the time of monsoon.
After around 1.5 hours!! we came out and started our journey towards the fort. One local guy offered his help as guide but god knows why we denied it :-(. Start for the trek was fine and we clicked lots of photographs while going up. We reached a plateau with a dry waterfall. After this route was really confusing, following other group suggestion we took a route from dry water way (first mistake - dry fall can never be a route). After walking for 10 min we reached a dead end, some guys climbed the rock patch but I was not pretty sure of climbing this patch. Luckily we found an alternative route. After this I don’t know what happened but we all turned towards a wrong direction. No rocks, only mud at a good inclination. For most of us, it was not a big problem, but one big problem was lurking at us. As we climbed the tough patch, one guy (let us call him “X”) started panicking.
I have never seen anyone so afraid as he was. He was literally shivering and his legs were trembling. Somehow I and one of my friends took X to the safe place. There was no way we would have go back so we decided to reach to the top and then to find a alternate way. X was so afraid that he was not even trying to cover small muddy patched. He was comfortable in climbing rocks but I guess he got terrified with muddy patches. I would not like to write more on this but, it was really horrible experience for him (include me too :D). Anyhow we reached the top. I was in the mood to go to the top of PEB trek, I even asked X to stay there itself but others were not in that mood and suggested to return. We were already very tired, I would have completed it alone but no one expect such things from a team member.
On mutual decision we started to go back. After walking for some time I got the feeling that we were again following some wrong route. Other guys were not agreeing with me. I suggested one idea which I always implement in such situation. We asked X and one guy to wait, I asked the guy left to go ahead for 10 minutes and walk back for next 10 minutes. I did the same thing but in the opposite direction. I returned early as I found no route. The guy who went ahead also came back disappointed. Then we decided to wait for one group who was descending from Peb fort, and were visible from the point where we started descending. I again went to the same place and to my surprise found that the route to descend was other than what we have seen (that means this was the third path for us, one which we used to come up, second which we were using for descending and third which other group used for descending). I came back and asked my group to come back. After resting for such long time X has restored his energy. I asked him to hurry up while descending. As rains were about to start and we wanted to reach to base village before sunset we required to increase our speed.
I was literally dragging X to follow me. (It was not exact dragging but I was holding his hand this time :-)). I was shouting constantly and was trying to boost him up. This route was very easy and we descended most of the part is a very short time. After reaching base village I had a nice bath in the water stream which removed all my tiredness. As always this water was refreshing and I was again ready to climb the peak :D.
We reached on time, had some heavy snacks, reached Neral station and were ready to leave for Mumbai. Train was scheduled at 6:35 pm and it was so overly crowded, which as always surprised me more. As it was Sunday, station was fill with “love birds” and college going guys n girls. This trek was unique and remembrable because of many reasons. The things which make it unique were presence of waterfalls and the experience I had with X. I think I am never gonna take such risk in future, even if I have to trek alone ;-)
After reaching the base village we enquired about the way to trek but I guess villagers thought that we were looking for waterfall, instead of main path they showed us the route of a waterfall near the base. I believe this place is not known to lots of people. That day many other groups visited that trek but we found none in that place. It was a small waterfall, but this was my first waterfall for this season . We all had a nice bath and enjoyed the 'mercy' of god to the fullest. As monsoon has not reached its peak, I believe this place is worth visiting at the time of monsoon.
After around 1.5 hours!! we came out and started our journey towards the fort. One local guy offered his help as guide but god knows why we denied it :-(. Start for the trek was fine and we clicked lots of photographs while going up. We reached a plateau with a dry waterfall. After this route was really confusing, following other group suggestion we took a route from dry water way (first mistake - dry fall can never be a route). After walking for 10 min we reached a dead end, some guys climbed the rock patch but I was not pretty sure of climbing this patch. Luckily we found an alternative route. After this I don’t know what happened but we all turned towards a wrong direction. No rocks, only mud at a good inclination. For most of us, it was not a big problem, but one big problem was lurking at us. As we climbed the tough patch, one guy (let us call him “X”) started panicking.
I have never seen anyone so afraid as he was. He was literally shivering and his legs were trembling. Somehow I and one of my friends took X to the safe place. There was no way we would have go back so we decided to reach to the top and then to find a alternate way. X was so afraid that he was not even trying to cover small muddy patched. He was comfortable in climbing rocks but I guess he got terrified with muddy patches. I would not like to write more on this but, it was really horrible experience for him (include me too :D). Anyhow we reached the top. I was in the mood to go to the top of PEB trek, I even asked X to stay there itself but others were not in that mood and suggested to return. We were already very tired, I would have completed it alone but no one expect such things from a team member.
On mutual decision we started to go back. After walking for some time I got the feeling that we were again following some wrong route. Other guys were not agreeing with me. I suggested one idea which I always implement in such situation. We asked X and one guy to wait, I asked the guy left to go ahead for 10 minutes and walk back for next 10 minutes. I did the same thing but in the opposite direction. I returned early as I found no route. The guy who went ahead also came back disappointed. Then we decided to wait for one group who was descending from Peb fort, and were visible from the point where we started descending. I again went to the same place and to my surprise found that the route to descend was other than what we have seen (that means this was the third path for us, one which we used to come up, second which we were using for descending and third which other group used for descending). I came back and asked my group to come back. After resting for such long time X has restored his energy. I asked him to hurry up while descending. As rains were about to start and we wanted to reach to base village before sunset we required to increase our speed.
I was literally dragging X to follow me. (It was not exact dragging but I was holding his hand this time :-)). I was shouting constantly and was trying to boost him up. This route was very easy and we descended most of the part is a very short time. After reaching base village I had a nice bath in the water stream which removed all my tiredness. As always this water was refreshing and I was again ready to climb the peak :D.
We reached on time, had some heavy snacks, reached Neral station and were ready to leave for Mumbai. Train was scheduled at 6:35 pm and it was so overly crowded, which as always surprised me more. As it was Sunday, station was fill with “love birds” and college going guys n girls. This trek was unique and remembrable because of many reasons. The things which make it unique were presence of waterfalls and the experience I had with X. I think I am never gonna take such risk in future, even if I have to trek alone ;-)
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Mahuli @ 15th July 08......ALONE with group :D
During my last trek to Rajmachi with Youngsterz, I heard about the other members of gang. Each of them sounds unique in their own way. I thought to meet each of them and to learn more about trekking. Youngsterz was planning to go to Mahuli and leader was Nilesh Patil, he is the main coordinator of this group. Hoping to meet him and to explore new place I decided to join them.
Planning was to leave early in the morning by train and to reach Asangaon. I was thinking to sleep early but it kept getting late and I slept around at 1 am. I had to wake up at 4 am to reach Dadar by 5 am. My train was scheduled at 5:20 am from there. I was so tired that day after gym that I couldn’t even sense the alarm. It was nice of my roommate who woke me up at 4:30 am to ask whether I was going or not. I really wanted to go but to leave bed at that point of time was almost impossible. I was trying so hard to leave it but just like a magnet it was not allowing me to go :-). My situation was just like Uma Thurman of Kill Bill-I movie. In this movie, she tries to wake up her paralyzed leg by concentrating on it. After hours of concentration she succeeds, it didn’t took me hours though but it must have taken few minutes. I stood up and started getting ready for trek. I left at 5:30 am, which means I was 1 hour behind. After reaching Dadar I came to know that next fast local to asangaon is at 7:30 am, I was really disappointed. Suddenly I saw a slow local leaving from platform opposite to me. To catch it I had only one option, to cross the railway line. I checked both the side, and there was no sign of any train. It was safe but I don’t know why I didn’t jump instantly. Suddenly a guy from behind jumped on the track to catch the train, my leg followed him w/o any delay and I was inside the train. I confirmed with fellow travelers about the destination, luckily got a seat. It was 6:30 am when my journey started. I was behind the group but was determined to catch them.
I reached Asangaon at 8:20 am, had some breakfast and inquired about the route. (This was my fault; I should have enquired it earlier). The guy told me the rite route but that route was not for trekker. From Asangaon a shortcut goes to Mahuli village. Instead of that I took an auto and went to “Shahpur”. (Please don’t do that). If I would have walked, it would not have taken me more than 1 hour to reach the base village, but by Shahpur route it took me 1.5-2 hours. At last I reached base village at 10:15 am, now I was approximately 2 hours behind the group. While walking towards Mahuli Village I got lift too which saved my time, otherwise I would have been very late. After reaching there I realized that Mahuli is a popular destination and around 5-6 four wheelers were parked in the village. I joined 3 guys in the way to have proper company. But these guys were really slow (one was a fatty, who was trying to hide his low stemmna by clicking photos here and there :P). I was determined to catch the group so I left them and went ahead. I have to say I am really fast when I am alone :-)
(Let me summarize the route – Go to Asangaon East and ask for walking route to Mumbai-Nasik Highway. Also ask the shortest route for Manas temple. After 15 min of walking you will reach highway, the entrance has a big banner for Manas temple, you can wait for bus here or can keep walking. After few minutes you reach a diversion. From here manas temple is clearly visible, also on the adjacent side banner of Mahuli fort is also present. From here Mahuli village is 3-3.5 kms. Just reach the base village and start the climb. Arrows indicating the right direction is in abundance so following the right route will not be a problem.)
After completing the first inclined patch I reached a small plateau, with a clear view of the destination. A ridge needs to be crossed to reach the top. I could see that the destination was far away and I was already feeling as if I have walked too much. But I could also see series of people climbing above; this motivated me and filled me with more energy. I started targeting one series at a time. Each time I took over one group of people I targeted next. In the whole climb, there was only one patch in which I loosed my balance, I know it’s early to say this but I am getting better as a trekker. :D.
I reached on top, climbed the iron ladder and it seems as if I have reached my destination. Some families (having mix of all ages) was also sitting on top, waiting for water. I offered them my water and we had some light talks. They knew about youngsterz group and told me that they just went ahead. I thanked them and again started following the group. Beyond my expectation the group was really large and unfortunately I was not able to recognize anyone. They were sitting near a water cistern. As per net I had to take a left turn from this place. Leaving them behind I went ahead. The arrows were prompting that I was on rite track. Moving ahead that track I came in a difficult position, the arrows vanished. An arrow on a tree was pointing towards a path going downwards!! My mind was not accepting it and I decided for youngsterz group to come.
To my surprise, the arrow was showing a rite path!! After meeting the group I met some of my old trek mates. It was delighted to meet those guys….we went ahead and reached the ruins of the fort. On the way we had “jamuns” (blackberry) which refreshed us for remaining trek. Here I met Nilesh, he was looking completely different from his orkut profile. He was very nice to me and we had a good talk. He told that many groups return from this place thinking this as the end point, but he had something to show us which was better than this place. We came back and took a right turn for our next destination. I was behind Nilesh who was leading us and talking about his experience as a trekker. He told that we need to do some rock climbing to reach the final destination. All the first timers (including me, though I am not one of them :-)) were very excited. But to my disappointment it was just a small rock patch. With the help of experience guys all of us climbed it safely and reached the destination. The view from this place was awesome, it really felt heaven like. A soothing and chilling wind was blowing at a constant rate. I sat there for 20-25 minutes just doing nothing but throwing stones against the wind :-). After this we went to Kalyan Darwaja and form there we returned back. (I wonder how many Kalyan Darwaja”S” are there in Maharashtra :D)
After Kalyan Darwaja we started to come back, the same rock patch took most of our time. I was in the mood to remain with the group, but sometimes big group also sucks :P. As we climbed down the iron ladder, group’s co leader Ananda told some of us about 5:30 bus. It was 4:25 pm on clock, he said if someone can reach early, he can stop the bus for others. I and two more guys agreed for this and started our journey hurriedly. For some time we all were together, but after few difficult patches one guy slowed down. Me and the guy left remain together for some more time, but then he also slowed down. He was under the impression that he will reach down in 45 minutes and will catch the bus. I had some other idea in my mind, I wanted to stop by the stream at the base and to take a nice bath in it. I don’t know how many of you will believe it but I completed the descending in “HALF AN HOUR”. I reached the stream and without wasting anytime jumped in it. I remain inside for 10-15 minutes, I wanted more but that would have meant missing the bus. I left that place and was literally running for the bus. And this time too I got a lift till bus stop. I would not call it a coincidence but now I believe there is something with me who helps me through this treks. What can I say, I am not blessed in other things so may be this is the thing (travelling/trekking) which I am blessed with. :D
Anyhow I reached bus stop on time , ate some chana-falli to get some energy. I was sure the group will not reach here before 45-60 minutes. As many of them were first timers and yups they were enjoying in their own way(in others words delaying themselves :P). Bus arrived, I talked to conductor, he was in a hurry and told me that there will be next trip at 6:30 pm. I tried calling Nilesh to tell him the situation, but was not connecting. So I send him a SMS telling about the situation. I reached the station at 6 pm. The train was scheduled at 6:17 pm, I stole some time to buy some fruits and have some refreshments. In this a great day was about to end and I was really happy I did it. I was travelling alone most of the time but believe my friends it was worth doing it :-)
To summarize Mahuli was better than my expectation and weather added more excitement in the trip. This was my 3rd trek this season and I have to say it is getting better every time. Firstly it was Karnala in scorching heat. Then it was Rajmachi, though in heat as well, but with a good group and lots of fruits ;). Now Mahuli, a great weather, with a better health condition and yups chilled stream of water too :-). Though, I missed rains and waterfall this time. During next trek I will try for some trek with some waterfalls and I hope that time Indra Dev will not disappoint me further :-)Friday, June 6, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Rajmachi with YOUNGSTERZ...
Let me first tell you what is youngsterz, it is group of passionate trekkers which organize treks for other and help them to enjoy it without any problem. You must have realized by now that I am in a "habit" to follow the wrong track and then getting exhausted in searching for right route :-). So this time I decided to go with some group and to save my energy.
(@ 28th May) To my bad luck rains in Mumbai has still not started and I really wanted to go for some trek. On orkut community “youngsterz” (all in capital :P), planning was going on for Rajmachi trek. This was a one day trek and I saw lots of people showing interest. I was willing to meet some enthusiastic bunch of guys, so I decided to go with this group. They were charging 200 bucks for this trip, which I thought was on the higher side. I hated this idea, but I had no other option!!!
(@ 30th May) Planning was very strange….they had planned to leave on Saturday late night (to board the last local to Karjat) and wait in Karjat Station till morning. This means no sleep on Saturday!!!! But I was ready to experience this. Start was very disappointing for me...as per trip leader Prasad, 4-5 guys were about to board from Kanjurmarg, I waited for about 40-45 minutes but no one showed up. At last when train arrived, in contrast to my thoughts it was full packed. I couldn’t believe how such large no. of people were travelling at 1 am in the late night. Somehow I entered the train, after few stations found a place to sit and was trying very hard to take a nap, but my experience says when you need it the most it will never come on time :)
One group was travelling in the same compartment, they were headed to Matheran. One of the guy from this group was very funny and was imitating a blind begger with a old song. Everyone from this group was enjoying it to the fullest. He was so funny that even I could not stop myself from laughing loudly, he repeated it many times but he was making all of laugh everytime. My trek group was in same comp. but was away from me. One thing I noticed was most of them was looking localities, talking in Marathi and were having fun. They were playing “Hide n Seek” in the train :D, can you imagine doing that…but it was very emotional (and funny ofcourse)watching them act childlike.
At last train reached Karjat, we all got down and gathered at one point. It was dark and all were new faces, so everyone was confused. I had to say first impression of the trip leader was not good. Who is the leader of the group was not even clear to me for a long time. Anyways this group had 5-6 experienced persons (let’s call them group X) , they were the people who was taking the decision. All new guys were following them quietly. The way of passing 2-3 hours in station was very unique, we all went to ticket counter and laid down between the grills (a good choice of location as all fans in that place were running). I also found a place and again started trying to get some sleep. I guess I must have slept for 1 hour but suddenly loud noises and stupid mosquitoes waked me up. The group X was all awake and talking very loudly (basically disturbing others…).
According to the plan, we were supposed to take breakfast and leave early. Shops were still not opened, so we all were waiting. One guy found out a shop which was open and was ready to serve breakfast. We reached their and again it was a disappointment. We ate “kanda poha” which was like “OOT ke muh mein ‘aadha’ jeera :D “. Shopkeeper clearly made us fool, but no one was protesting so I also kept mum. After breakfast we left for auto stand, which is located near Ram pul (I think so it was Ram pul only) By autos we reached the base village Kondivade. Before leaving leader asked all of us to gather in a circle and to introduce ourselves. I was waiting for this long, as this is the rite way to start a trek. But leader didn't describe about the trek and the precaution needs to be taken. (Which should be always done)
It was a very young group and everyone had different level of experience. We started our trek rite on time. Everyone was very excited and cameras started clicking all over the place. I guess we must have walked for half an hour and to our left we found a dry waterfall rocks. No water but still beautiful!!! Out of group of 19, 5 of us decided to climb the steep rock. It was fun, I was leading others. After this climb we reached old Buddhist caves. I thought we were ahead of other group but to my surprise they were ahead of us. They must have missed the caves and went ahead. We started following the trail and caught them very soon.
One thing which was very irritating was HEAT and the SUN. I was drained in sweat all over, it was itching badly and getting uncomfortable. Some of the guys of our group took out their shirt like sallu bhai, I was not comfortable to do that so I keep bearing the heat. Luckily we got a chance to take a rest for half an hour (waiting for slow guys...Group X remember.... behind us) under big shade and cool breeze.
I think we were only 15 minutes of walk away from Rajmachi village and we found mango trees and one more famous “maharashtrian” fruit. (I am really sorry that I forgot the name :( ) We all ate a lot of both, believe me it felt like heaven…
After crossing this mini “fruit” jungle we reached Rajmachi village. I thought that we will be served lunch before climbing the forts, but our leader was in the mood to finish the trekking part first. Leaving our bags in a house we all climbed one of the fort (either it was Manoranjan or Shrivardhan….see I still don’t remember which of the fort we climbed :D...seriously what has happened to me :O). I think group X joined the trek not for usual stuff of challenging mountains, but they were there just to enjoy. They were really very slow and because of them only we got late and we had to drop the idea climbing the second fort :( .
I believe if one subgroup is not willing to do sth that doesn’t mean that you should make others pay for it. Leader should take decision and not the team. If someone is slow (intentionally) then the group should be divided into two and then they can follow different routes.
Anyways the climb was good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While climbing I was in conversation with our trek leader Prasad. It was really fascinating, he told me about his earlier treks and about other guys of youngsterz group. He also showed me the best point of Rajmachi trek. It was really beautiful; the view was of a dry waterfall from a post just opposite to it. It was huge and made me curious to know the way to reach at the bottom of the fall. I have kind of decided to go back to this place in monsoon and to get wet in this waterfall ;-).
After returning from fort we all had a nice lunch, I had “chawal ki roti” after a long time and overall it was a good vegetarian food. After lunch most of us was looking for a nap, some of “over enthusiastic” guys went to the lake….I wanted to but I thought to leave it for next trip :D.
After taking rest for 1.5-2 hours we started descending. We were late again because of “experienced” group X. Some of them wanted to go through Lonavala route and our leader was not commanding enough to ask them to follow his commands. We left in parts and out of 19, 13 were on their way, 6 guys were behind. While descending, one patch of the trek was little risky and a difficult one for the first timers. But everyone reached safely and we reached the base village before 7 pm. While returning we saw villagers collecting “jamuns”, tempted we started doing the same :). Just to give a courtesy gift to those villagers I bought jamun worth Rs. 10 from them. At the end of the trek no one can imagine a better ending than this.
We walked little further and caught autos till Karjat. Train was scheduled at 8:40 pm. Before leaving we all had bada pavs and burji pav. I couldn’t believe I am returning so early, I want to spent more time in mountain……but this is the way it always end :(. I reached Kurla and boarded a bus till my home.
It was a good trek in terms of mixture of terrains it provided. The trail had plains, plateaus, climbs, rocky patched, forests and everything you want in a trek. Anyone can go for this trek in a group. Just be patient and looks for arrows. You can even hire some villager from base village as a guide. The best thing is that you can stay there in night as it is a residential village, so everything is available at the top. A must visit in winters and in full moon nights(According to a gentleman whom I met in village..... he is a regular visitor of this place)
I am eagerly waiting for monsoon to come and it seems in the nest week after this I will not be disappointed :)
Raj Kapoor Special ....
"Old is gold" saying is very correct for old hindi movies songs. I have a special liking for such songs. Today when I was coming to office I struck gold on radio :D. At a frequency of 100.7, they were playing old songs of Raj Kapoor. The beginning of this 1 hour program was so amazing that I did not dare to change the channel for the whole hour. The program started with - "Kisi ki muskurato pe ho nisar, kisi ka dard mil sake to le udhar, kisi ke baaste ho tere dil mein pyar jeena isi ka naam hai". What a great lyrics. what a great song and Mukesh the synonym to Raj Kapoor in singing has done a great job.
As such Raj Kapoor is not my favorite actor, and I have not seen many of it's movie. But he did a brilliant job in Anari and Jish desh mein ganga behti hai. There may be more but I am not able to recall others. He really had a good sense of music and gave chance to many newcomers in field on music.
Some other songs which radio played were -
1) Jaha mein jaati hoon wahi chale aate ho..
2) Laga Chunari mein daag chupo kaise...
3) ruk ja o jaane wali ruk jaa..
4) pyaar hua ikraar hua hai pyar se phir kyu darta hai dil...
5) dil ki nazar se ......koi hame bataye...
Really a great start for the day. I hope they will repeat it again. FM 100.7 please keep on this tradition, this will increase your viewers for sure :-)
As such Raj Kapoor is not my favorite actor, and I have not seen many of it's movie. But he did a brilliant job in Anari and Jish desh mein ganga behti hai. There may be more but I am not able to recall others. He really had a good sense of music and gave chance to many newcomers in field on music.
Some other songs which radio played were -
1) Jaha mein jaati hoon wahi chale aate ho..
2) Laga Chunari mein daag chupo kaise...
3) ruk ja o jaane wali ruk jaa..
4) pyaar hua ikraar hua hai pyar se phir kyu darta hai dil...
5) dil ki nazar se ......koi hame bataye...
Really a great start for the day. I hope they will repeat it again. FM 100.7 please keep on this tradition, this will increase your viewers for sure :-)
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
KARNALA accomplished @ 24th May 08.
As promised last week I have completed the unconquered peak(for me atleast….) of Karnala. I completed the task on 24th May 08, as usual alone…but ya again enjoyed it and think to go again there in monsoon.
Start for the trek was not good, I thought to start it early in the morning. Planning was to leave home at around 5:30 am, but was very tired. So finally left at 8:30 am!!!!(Ashish is lazy boy!! Ashish is a lazy boy!! ae ae ae :P :P :D ) Reaching to Kurla took more time than I expected. Andheri Kurla road was heavily jammed and I was stuck there for more than 30 minutes. But because of my companion “radio” I was kind of enjoying it. I have to agree it was really hot, sun was at it’s peak, I was feeling uncomfortable, instead of sitting in space for two :D.
I reached Kurla in about 1.5 hours, much more than I expected, from there I took a train to Panvel. I have read on internet that private auto rickshaw will charge 50-70 rs. till karnala. But I was not in a hurry and also not in a mood to spend that much. As bus station was very near, so I decided to take a bus to Karnala. Bus was not ready, but was about to arrive. Utilizing this time I had some refreshments, also bought some eatable stuffs for journey. (This I should have done one day in advance…..but my laziness….Ashish is lazy boy :D)
Bus arrived, it was a local bus till Alibaug. Till Karnala I was charged only 8 bucks. Reached Karnala at about 11:30 am, as soon I reached their I took photograbh of the map, so that in case on confusion I can refer it (though I never referred it because the route to fort from main path was very clear and straight). I started at around 11:40 am, on map it was written that the main trail till fort is 3 kms only, distance wise it should have not taken more than 40 minutes. I started to climb, there was no sign of anybody else around. As I said sun was really harsh that day, so I didn’t expect anyone else to be a part of such stupidity (but I proved to be wrong…does that means there are lots of “stupid” people like me in this earth ;-) )
Climb was steep without any plain patches. I have to agree that just after 15-20 minutes my body started demanding some rest. But I was in a hurry to reach the peak, so I kept walking. Suddenly I saw a person climbing upwards, it was a sign of delight for me….instead of taking rest I decided to catch him. But to my disappointment, the guy was aged person (carrying a stick, but hats off to him for walking alone just like me :D). I wanted to start conversation, but he was slow…talking to him would have made me slow. So instead of talking to him I overtook him and went ahead. On the way up, I was feeling very weak and thirsty, moreover heat was making it worse.
I reached the base of the port in around 50 minutes, which was more than estimated. But considering the heat and steep climb it was OK. Wind was blowing once in a while, but was really very soothing. The path was on the edge of mountains, so it was lacking shade and I had to walk continuously in scorching sun. As I reached the base, I met two guys, they were not in a position to climb till the fort. Their two other friends were already in the way to fort. They were thirsty so I offered them my water. (A word of caution, if you ever trek in summers you must carry at least 2 liters of water per person. Especially if you are going there for the first time) I asked them to come with me but they were not in the position to follow me. I started climbing the final steps and finally reached the fort. In total the time taken was more than 1 hours!!! Being my first “formal” trek for this season I was comfortable with the speed.
I must tell you that Karnala fort lacks in caves and hence proper shade. The space present below the Karnala “thumb” was filled with water. (I really don’t have any clue from where the water came) I was madly searching for such place but there was no good place to lay down. I met other two guys (of the same group whom I met at base) they were also looking for such place. They told me that some local villagers are in the back of fort. I was really eager to know on how to climb on the "thumb", so I went to ask the local person. It was a beautiful piece of rock, but horrifying too!!! Villager showed me the path which professional climbers take during their expedition. For the first time I felt the absence of a group with me, I really missed my friends who are more enthusiastic than me in such activities. (Bhuts, reddy, thapa…. I will try to bring you all here someday, then we will plan how to climb on this mighty rock)
Anyhow I explored the fort and took some photographs. Time was around 1 pm, and it was no point in sitting there, and most importantly I wanted to search for the route no. 2 (according to map – “Steep route”). I started descending, with my eyes open for alternative route. Suddenly I found a route going to left of main trail into the forest. I still had 1 litre of water with me and time was only 1:15 pm, I decided to take the risk and to follow this path. This path was really steep and full of slippery mud, I covered most of part sliding down in the mud. It didn’t took me more than 15 minutes to reach down. As per my “calculation” and the map I reached the trail which I followed last week. The place was very near to staff quarters, not more than 10 minutes of walk was left. The signboard near to it says – “Mor Tanka”. So first timers - Keep looking for this signboard if you want to take the steep route.
I reached the staff quarter safely and then sat there for half an hour taking rest. Till that time the group of four has also descended, we sat and shared our experiences. They told me about some place near Virar called as Brajreshwari, according to them it has a good climb with river flowing sideways and few hot springs as well. It sounds to be a interesting place, may plan it sometime :-)
I had some other plans back at home, so I took depart from them and reached Karnala sanctuary gate quickly. Luckily I got lift in a bike, then I quickly caught a local train till Kurla and returned my home by 5:30 pm.
Overall it was a nice journey but would have been better if climate had supported me. I learned few things about sahayadris in this trip and would use this experience in coming treks. I hope by next week monsoon will arrive in Mumbai to make this place more beautiful…
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Mumbai Radio and me......
"Mumbai Traffic" sounds like a horrible term na?? :-). Be it either trains or buses, all are crowded to the extent of maximum it can be. Traffic jams are so common that sometimes people reach their destination earlier while walking rather than taking bus/autos. But it seems that all are enjoying these traffic jams and getting late to office, sounds strange?? what is the reason?? What is all behind this mystery?? It's none other than "music" and this music comes straight from the wide network of RADIO.
Radio network in mumbai is awesome. All the time you will find whole lot of things going on. Approximately their are 6-7 channels (atleast which I am able to catch using my new cell, provided by my new company ofcourse :D). If in one channel there is some "stupid" competition going on, in other you will found them playing cool hip hop songs (but I still prefer old songs )
Radio has become a part of my daily routine. When I left early in the morning for my office, I listen to radio for around 45-50 minutes (including daily news :-) ). And even while returning also I hear it for cool 40 min. Moreover most of the songs they play are super hits and mixture of new-semi new-semi old-old songs. Occasionally I get chance to listen to those songs which were my favorites, but which I have not heard for so long. These songs really make my day, they are really refreshing and soothing.
In Mumbai you will never get bore if you own a cell and it's earphone of course (This is beyond my understanding, why all cell needs earphone to start radio? Does any one know?? ). Radio will always keep on entertaining you.
As such everything about radio is good, but sometimes they use very cheap publicities. In one channel they are distributing money for free. They play 7-8 song in 1 hour and then they select one of the registered person(I don't know how they select one out of may be thousands or more !!!). After every hour they ask the person all the songs in serial order. For each rite song identified the person gets 1 grand :O !!!!! It's just like distributing money for me........ I mean, I have no problem with one poor guy (may be rich though.... ) getting those money. But it sounds very lame to me?? Does it not nullify the important fact of life that without hardwork no one can get comfort. I mean if you really want to distribute it, and make your channel popular, do it in style man !!! Make your program somewhat challenging that after winning it no one will feel it to be just because of luck.
I believe Radio is a very strong means of media, it can bring revolution if used in such spirit. I have just one request to "all radio channels". For just 15-20 minutes please forget all gaana- shana, competitions, paisa-vaisa and lets start spreading awareness and knowledge about issues which are very important but usually neglected. Some of these topics may be on Politics, Corruption, Global Warming, some facts about our past, new technlogy etc etc.......
I know radio do it occasionally, but we always put our deaf ears to such talks and switch the radio channels to other. But its now high time to think about these issues and to come up with a viable solution. If radio guys will do it at the same for few minutes, I think it can really make some difference....what do you think???
Radio network in mumbai is awesome. All the time you will find whole lot of things going on. Approximately their are 6-7 channels (atleast which I am able to catch using my new cell, provided by my new company ofcourse :D). If in one channel there is some "stupid" competition going on, in other you will found them playing cool hip hop songs (but I still prefer old songs )
Radio has become a part of my daily routine. When I left early in the morning for my office, I listen to radio for around 45-50 minutes (including daily news :-) ). And even while returning also I hear it for cool 40 min. Moreover most of the songs they play are super hits and mixture of new-semi new-semi old-old songs. Occasionally I get chance to listen to those songs which were my favorites, but which I have not heard for so long. These songs really make my day, they are really refreshing and soothing.
In Mumbai you will never get bore if you own a cell and it's earphone of course (This is beyond my understanding, why all cell needs earphone to start radio? Does any one know?? ). Radio will always keep on entertaining you.
As such everything about radio is good, but sometimes they use very cheap publicities. In one channel they are distributing money for free. They play 7-8 song in 1 hour and then they select one of the registered person(I don't know how they select one out of may be thousands or more !!!). After every hour they ask the person all the songs in serial order. For each rite song identified the person gets 1 grand :O !!!!! It's just like distributing money for me........ I mean, I have no problem with one poor guy (may be rich though.... ) getting those money. But it sounds very lame to me?? Does it not nullify the important fact of life that without hardwork no one can get comfort. I mean if you really want to distribute it, and make your channel popular, do it in style man !!! Make your program somewhat challenging that after winning it no one will feel it to be just because of luck.
I believe Radio is a very strong means of media, it can bring revolution if used in such spirit. I have just one request to "all radio channels". For just 15-20 minutes please forget all gaana- shana, competitions, paisa-vaisa and lets start spreading awareness and knowledge about issues which are very important but usually neglected. Some of these topics may be on Politics, Corruption, Global Warming, some facts about our past, new technlogy etc etc.......
I know radio do it occasionally, but we always put our deaf ears to such talks and switch the radio channels to other. But its now high time to think about these issues and to come up with a viable solution. If radio guys will do it at the same for few minutes, I think it can really make some difference....what do you think???
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Mumbai ke "mamu" log......
Their is one thing in Mumbai which I am really sacred of. No it is not Raj Thackery guys :D, but it's none other than "mamus" of Mumbai.
"Mamu" sounds like someone whom who loves or a person very lovable, but it's just the opposite (atleast for me). I don't know how it got started, but people in mumbai call "traffic walas" or in general "police walas" as Mamu. I swear to God whenever I see them I feel as if they are calling me and I will be fined for "nothing".
I know it's good to make people follow the rule, but you feel bad if someone follows all the rules and still get fined. Sometimes people get fined for sth which they even don't know is wrong or rite(It's like you have to pay them when ever you are called for)...One of unique things which I have noticed is, the majority of people who are fined are riding two wheelers. Rarely I have seen any four wheeler fined for breaking rules. (Btw which they do more oftenly)
I agree that to maintain law and order situation traffic person need to be harsh. But fining people for some rule which they don't even know is totally wrong!!! If we really want to improve our traffic order conditions in busy towns we need to improve the system of issuing Driving Licenses. RTO should tell all license holder's what is rite, what is wrong, what are the rights of rider and what they can do if they are harassed unnecessarily.
Actually this should be done in every part of system which is full of corruption. This way we citizen of republic of India will understand their rights and what we can do to protect them.
One of my all time favorite song is 'Kallu Mama' from movie 'Satya'. It has one line which is totally apt for such "dil ke kale mamus" -
"Soch voch chod bheja kahe ko kharochna, apna kaam hai maal aaye to dadochna" :D
"Mamu" sounds like someone whom who loves or a person very lovable, but it's just the opposite (atleast for me). I don't know how it got started, but people in mumbai call "traffic walas" or in general "police walas" as Mamu. I swear to God whenever I see them I feel as if they are calling me and I will be fined for "nothing".
I know it's good to make people follow the rule, but you feel bad if someone follows all the rules and still get fined. Sometimes people get fined for sth which they even don't know is wrong or rite(It's like you have to pay them when ever you are called for)...One of unique things which I have noticed is, the majority of people who are fined are riding two wheelers. Rarely I have seen any four wheeler fined for breaking rules. (Btw which they do more oftenly)
I agree that to maintain law and order situation traffic person need to be harsh. But fining people for some rule which they don't even know is totally wrong!!! If we really want to improve our traffic order conditions in busy towns we need to improve the system of issuing Driving Licenses. RTO should tell all license holder's what is rite, what is wrong, what are the rights of rider and what they can do if they are harassed unnecessarily.
Actually this should be done in every part of system which is full of corruption. This way we citizen of republic of India will understand their rights and what we can do to protect them.
One of my all time favorite song is 'Kallu Mama' from movie 'Satya'. It has one line which is totally apt for such "dil ke kale mamus" -
"Soch voch chod bheja kahe ko kharochna, apna kaam hai maal aaye to dadochna" :D
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
First Trek of the Season.(KARNALA)...Unsuccessful :(
I had never expected it. ....but unfortunately it has happened.....
I always thought of Karnala fort as a easy place to climb. I would have completed it before, but kept on postponing it. The reason for postponing was that all internet sites say - it is a easy trek and can be completed in one day. And apart from this, this place is very near to Chitu's home. So I was kind of planning to go for this one while visiting Mumbai with him (In his indica of course ;-) ).
But now as I am in Mumbai (of course after resigning Godrej :) ), I was spending my second weekend here. My roommate left for paragliding, leaving his bike with me(Pulser 200 man :D). Bike was shouting loudly and was asking me for a ride. So hastily I turned the pages of travelling magazine "Mumbai 52 weekends", net surfing for about 2-3 hours and few calls here and there I fixed my "date" with Karnala.
Karnala is about 65 kms from Mumbai. I started around at 6 am, stopped at petrol pump to fill petrol. Considering average of 200 cc to be around 35 km/litre, 4 litres were more than sufficient. I was all set to go, but I had no idea about the road route. I live in Andheri and bus no. 523 and 524, directly go to Vashi from here. Previous night I thought of following one of these buses, coincidently as I started my engine I saw Bus no. 523 just in front of me passing by the road. So this way I started my journey following this bus.
I followed it till Powai but unfortunately lost it from there. Anyhow I decided to reached Vashi with the help of signboards and using my sixth sense :D. From Vashi I went to Panvel and then reached Karna in about 2 hours. As it was early morning, climate was very pleasant and I enjoyed the ride. I was very cautious while driving as I have not drived 200 cc bike before and moreover I didn't want "bund" to fire me :P. The route from Vashi to Panvel was quite confusing and even people having walks beside the street have no idea of the same. But thanks to all Auto walas and Taxi walas that I reached my destination - "Karnala Sanctuary"
As I was alone and I had fear about sth happening to bike, I took it along with me to inside of sanctuary. Some bikes were parked near the staff quarter, it was not looking safe but I had no other choice. So I parked my bike and started the trek. As I told you earlier I was taking this trek as an easy one, I started it without any guidance. It was totally an unplanned move and I didn't expected any problem while trekking. I was not carrying anything with me, no water, no food, nothing. But haan I had Airtel connection with me :D.
I took a trail and started walking, I had no idea where this trail will lead me to. I walked for about 15-20 minutes and noticed that trail was taking me away from the "thumb" of Karnala fort. But as I had no clue, I kept on walking. Trail was very confusing and I was getting very worried my bike as well, so I decided to go from one steep trail. But it ended somewhere in the middle, so I came back and again started moving ahead. After 10-15 minutes I found a much clear side trail moving away from main path. I was kind of sure that this will take me to peak. I started it well, but suddenly I reached place where the climb was full of "muram" (slippery mud, small pebbles). It had no vegetation on it and even no sign of rocks. The inclination of around 60 degree, as I covered such paths earlier I decided to move ahead. But there was lot of difference between what I had done and what I started, the main difference was absence of good "support".
I somehow climbed half of the path, but suddenly my leg slipped. It was the first time when I struck my mind that I was in danger. Problem was I was not able to take a good hold(grip) of anything. Once I even inserted my hand and black ants was all over my hand. I could have climbed up, but it was very clear that I was in the wrong track and may face more problem ahead. And if unfortunately I slipped again, it would had been difficult for me to hold myself. Combining all these fear I also had "bike" in my mind. So I decided to go back very slowly and patiently I moved downwards. Believe it was lot more tougher than climbing up. As I came down via different path, main trail was missing, now I was really scared (hindi mein meri "phat li thi"). Sun was getting harsher and I had not eaten/drink anything for so long.
As Karnala is near to highway, so I decided to keep moving believing that I will reach somewhere. Luckily I found a new trail, following it I reached the main trail after some time. As I was already late and worried about the bike I started moving fast and after 30 minutes!!! of walking reached staff quarters.
After taking some rest, I saw a map on a board. It made me realized mistake I have done. It was very clear that there were two paths to reach Karnala. One was simple and was only 3 km long(that means not more than 30 minutes for me). Other was through steep trail which starts from very near to main trail. I missed it and kept on walking in the wrong direction.
I have already decided to go back for this next week, without bike of course. This time I will do it via both the paths. The easy one and as well as the one which "defeated" me.
--
Ashish
I always thought of Karnala fort as a easy place to climb. I would have completed it before, but kept on postponing it. The reason for postponing was that all internet sites say - it is a easy trek and can be completed in one day. And apart from this, this place is very near to Chitu's home. So I was kind of planning to go for this one while visiting Mumbai with him (In his indica of course ;-) ).
But now as I am in Mumbai (of course after resigning Godrej :) ), I was spending my second weekend here. My roommate left for paragliding, leaving his bike with me(Pulser 200 man :D). Bike was shouting loudly and was asking me for a ride. So hastily I turned the pages of travelling magazine "Mumbai 52 weekends", net surfing for about 2-3 hours and few calls here and there I fixed my "date" with Karnala.
Karnala is about 65 kms from Mumbai. I started around at 6 am, stopped at petrol pump to fill petrol. Considering average of 200 cc to be around 35 km/litre, 4 litres were more than sufficient. I was all set to go, but I had no idea about the road route. I live in Andheri and bus no. 523 and 524, directly go to Vashi from here. Previous night I thought of following one of these buses, coincidently as I started my engine I saw Bus no. 523 just in front of me passing by the road. So this way I started my journey following this bus.
I followed it till Powai but unfortunately lost it from there. Anyhow I decided to reached Vashi with the help of signboards and using my sixth sense :D. From Vashi I went to Panvel and then reached Karna in about 2 hours. As it was early morning, climate was very pleasant and I enjoyed the ride. I was very cautious while driving as I have not drived 200 cc bike before and moreover I didn't want "bund" to fire me :P. The route from Vashi to Panvel was quite confusing and even people having walks beside the street have no idea of the same. But thanks to all Auto walas and Taxi walas that I reached my destination - "Karnala Sanctuary"
As I was alone and I had fear about sth happening to bike, I took it along with me to inside of sanctuary. Some bikes were parked near the staff quarter, it was not looking safe but I had no other choice. So I parked my bike and started the trek. As I told you earlier I was taking this trek as an easy one, I started it without any guidance. It was totally an unplanned move and I didn't expected any problem while trekking. I was not carrying anything with me, no water, no food, nothing. But haan I had Airtel connection with me :D.
I took a trail and started walking, I had no idea where this trail will lead me to. I walked for about 15-20 minutes and noticed that trail was taking me away from the "thumb" of Karnala fort. But as I had no clue, I kept on walking. Trail was very confusing and I was getting very worried my bike as well, so I decided to go from one steep trail. But it ended somewhere in the middle, so I came back and again started moving ahead. After 10-15 minutes I found a much clear side trail moving away from main path. I was kind of sure that this will take me to peak. I started it well, but suddenly I reached place where the climb was full of "muram" (slippery mud, small pebbles). It had no vegetation on it and even no sign of rocks. The inclination of around 60 degree, as I covered such paths earlier I decided to move ahead. But there was lot of difference between what I had done and what I started, the main difference was absence of good "support".
I somehow climbed half of the path, but suddenly my leg slipped. It was the first time when I struck my mind that I was in danger. Problem was I was not able to take a good hold(grip) of anything. Once I even inserted my hand and black ants was all over my hand. I could have climbed up, but it was very clear that I was in the wrong track and may face more problem ahead. And if unfortunately I slipped again, it would had been difficult for me to hold myself. Combining all these fear I also had "bike" in my mind. So I decided to go back very slowly and patiently I moved downwards. Believe it was lot more tougher than climbing up. As I came down via different path, main trail was missing, now I was really scared (hindi mein meri "phat li thi"). Sun was getting harsher and I had not eaten/drink anything for so long.
As Karnala is near to highway, so I decided to keep moving believing that I will reach somewhere. Luckily I found a new trail, following it I reached the main trail after some time. As I was already late and worried about the bike I started moving fast and after 30 minutes!!! of walking reached staff quarters.
After taking some rest, I saw a map on a board. It made me realized mistake I have done. It was very clear that there were two paths to reach Karnala. One was simple and was only 3 km long(that means not more than 30 minutes for me). Other was through steep trail which starts from very near to main trail. I missed it and kept on walking in the wrong direction.
I have already decided to go back for this next week, without bike of course. This time I will do it via both the paths. The easy one and as well as the one which "defeated" me.
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Ashish
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