Dec 7, 2007. Friday
In the office, there was chaos about the time to meet everybody @ the VT station, even though everything was clear on “meetup.com”. In the chaos 10.45pm was supposed to be the train departure (according to us). I left for home, Vinay, Kulkarni, Neeraj were supposed to come directly. Sudani and Ashok too went home. I was @ VT around 10.15 pm when I met Vinay, Kulkarni and Neeraj. Rajoba had called that he had just left Andheri with Sudani. But we saw nobody below the Big clock, were we there on the wrong day ? 😛 ? Vinay called Mallik, he said the train departed around 11.20pm, and we were early. So we headed out into VT’s night. Amazingly the shops we banked on to get a torch, all had shut. Just a few remained. We went to Sterling got some snaps of the Deutche Bank and then into McDonalds. Enjoying burger, tea, coffee , Vinays’ phone rang, it was Mallik

किधर हो भाइ?

बस पहुंच रहे हें

We saw a big group standing with a lot of big backpacks lying below. Met the familiar faces. Sanjay Bhutani, the one who never missed any trek, Janki, Bertram, Amey, Anupama, Pali, Mallik and more. Sanjay had got a german friend of his. ‘11.20pm S’ was scheduled, Karjat. Train ride as always after Kalyan was more of monkeys jumping here and there. Vinay even managed to get on the luggage rack!

Travelling Directions

Dec 8, 2007. Saturday
We reached Karjat after 1.00am. We stayed there. Where we met another two members. I was embarrassed when I asked Saurabh

Have I’ve met you before ?
Yes, Kondana caves, rappelling

We head towards the Karjat bus stop, where everybody got their sleeping bags, and other equipment to get comfortable through the night. Me and Vinay headed towards the open land, we wanted to capture the dazzling stars above. Did a lot of experimentation with exposure, etc. and just managed to get one right!!!, Need to have a tripod ! Ofcourse had pictures of everybody lazing on the ground.

At 5.00am we got ready to move, had a Rs. 5 tea (which was only sugar, water and some tea leaves !) and searched for the tum-tums, Got one and loaded it with guys and luggage. Asked them to send another one back. We were almost 22 and needed another tum-tum. The tum-tum finally arrived and in a weired position we headed towards , The base village. A road repair work, forced us to get down and walk some stretch and again cramp into the position. Finally around 7.00am, We reached Khandas. We rested for half an hour for tea, snacks etc. Everybody was doing their own thing, Kulkarni was interested in getting hold of chicks, we even crouched below the bullock carts, etc. The prize was Rs. 10 a chick. As expected, he never even manged to earn a worth of his cigarette cost. Me and Neeraj moved into the fields for the expected. The village was lovely with huge fields with a good backdrop of high mountains of the Bhimashankar range. All headed into the fields for snaps.

By 9.00am we had started moving for the climb, the road initially was a tar road which zig-zaged through the village. We felt it was around 10-15 mins of walk till before the road ended and the stony, irregular mountain climb started. The climb was typical with lot of pictures, snaps. A little more climb and we reached the Ganesh temple, close to 8.00am. We sat there for a while and again headed up into the hills, the slope was getting steeper. Then Mallik, Vinay and some others headed crossing a steep climb on a rock ahead only to find no way ahead. Below, I saw a clear path on the right, we waited till they returned and we proceeded. As we moved higher and higher along the mountain, We came to a flat land, and to our right there was a big mountain. It was already 2.5 hrs since we’d been climbing, I said to Sudani,

मुझे लगता है, कि हमे इसके उस पार जाना है।

प्हक !!! और इतना ?

On to our right we also saw a distinct feature, a big cone protruding out of the mountains. Another hour after we were into dense jungle, shadow everywhere, This was good, as the heat had started to nag us. But it had also become humid. Around 12.00pm came a small make-shit hut with an oldman inside it. We decided to have a break and all had छाछ and tea. Munched on the biscuits, sipped the electral, Glucose, etc. An hour after, we were still climbing, walking, we came across a steep rock climb, and everybody somehow manged to overcome the heat, the hot rock and the fatigue. Amar and Sridhar kept singing melodious hindi songs, with Neeraj like a catalyst suggesting new songs. Kulkarni and Neeraj kept discussing the some Anup Jalota’ song,

मीरा होगी मगन…

नाभिः से आवाज़ आनि चाहिए, नाभिः !
मिराः होगी मगन…

To our left we saw the rock feature, the cone that we had seen from below. It was now almost level to our height, with a lovely ranges in the back. The road ahead was a little on the edge, everybody was moving cautiously. We were all moving along the big mountain that we had seen from below, and were now moving towards the backside of it, It was quarter-past 2pm when we saw another mountain ahead, But with a little relief. We saw some man-made landmarks visible, that meant Bhimashankar was now close by. yet another hour long walk and we were finally there on the top of the Bhimashankar mountain.

It was 3.30 when we moved into the small locality of Bhimashankar and arranged for some lunch in a hotel. We were waiting for a Maharashtrian thali. Everybody was tired and wanted to eat and just sleep. 😀 We finished our food and went to the lodging, it was just 2 rooms. Not even toilets. The next plan was to go to the Hanuman kund and have some bath and then to Nagphani, the tallest peak in Bhimashankar. Everybody around 5.00pm with their clothes etc went back for a walk towards the Hanuman kund, only to be disappointed, that it was a small water cistern which was not very clean. Didn’t give anybody that ‘freshen up’ feeling. So … to Nagphani, and we climbed yet again, like 6hrs of climb wasn’t enough. We reached Nagphani almost quarter to 6.00pm. And the sun was ready with its diving pose. A lot many snaps over there. Me, Neeraj, Sridhar and Pali’s friend stayed there, while others moved even higher to a small climb the Nagphani peak. I was enjoying the sunset. We started to come down in another half hour, and reached back at the lodge, to rest and laze around. The IITians, Mallik and Saurabh were nostalgic when they started playing ’28’, a Card game, with Neeraj joining them. I, Vinay and Anumpana started playing ‘Bluff’ with Sudani as the rookie. Sudani was innocently stupid enough to bluff on the wrong cards which had just been somebody else. At night around 9.00pm we were all hungry and found a hotel just next to our so called ‘lodge’ and ordered lots of Rotis, Paneer sabzi. The hot fresh roti was so tasty after a long, tiring day that me Kulkarni, Neeraj almost ate 5-7 rotis each. Back in the room all gents, without sleeping bags stuffed inside the small room, and ladies in the other one. Sleep was quick and fast.

Dec 9, 2007. Sunday
6.00am, and we all were almost awake. Around 7.00am, all had finished their early morning ‘clean-ups’, and were ready packing. Around 7.30 we head towards the Bhimashankar temple. To get to the temple, one has to climb down around 100 steps or more. At the temple leather bags, wallets, mobile phones, cameras are not allowed and hence Mallik decided to do the ‘चौकिदारी’ and rest went inside. Even within the temple, the main Jyotirling is down, about 6-7 steps down and the dark small room where the jyotirling is placed makes its presence felt. Outside we took pictures. Sudani and Kulkarni kept discussing the verb in hindi describing the re-creation of the temple. A little rest in the early sun and we headed back to the hills, and this time to descend!!, Pali and his friends decided to fork routes, they planned to get by bus. Saurabh and Amar had to leave to Pune, so that was it for them as well. A few hugs and tightening of straps, belts, etc. and MoRoNeRz were ready! It was just past 9.00am.

The descent was fairly comforting as compared the last hour of climb that all had endured. Simple, and comparatively faster motion helped all of us to get into the gear. We moved through the familiar route along the edge of the mountain. Soon we came back to the small hut where we had छाछ, yet again we had it, with few theplas, Glucose, some tea and not the least Water. What we thought as a quick descend was actually more than 2.5hrs, It was 11.30pm. We were all relaxing when I heard a sudden thump, as if some head had hit a rock. Anupama had lost his balance, and tumbled on her back and hit the stone with her head. All were stunned to see her in that position. Janki was quick to get her up and rub her head, if that was not enough, atleast 2 members hit the low wooden ceiling roof.

With the ‘eventful’ break we started back. We kept walking along the big plateau and we reached the Ganesh mandir around 12.15pm. Some more rest and we knew the rocky road leading to the trail was not far away, and we reached the bottom an hour later around 1.30pm. And started the walk, All were tiered, thirsty. Most of the water was over, only thing that helped us kept moving was that we had finished the Bhimashankar trek, and were only walking back to the village. The road was now filled with rocks and fine rocky gravel, was bit easier to walk as compared to the start. The 1.30 scorching sun was taking its toll. I was puffing Electral, Sudani too took the packet and put some powder into his mouth, only to make a big ‘eew noise and spit it away.

कया हे हये ? केसे खाता हे तू?

To that me and Kulkarni started laughing. We kept walking but the heat of the tar road never ended, it had been only half an hour and we felt we’d been walking for years together. We finally sat over a bridge and took some snaps with Bhimashankar in the backdrop. Kulkarni still had enough energy to add to his portfolio. All moved ahead when suddenly Sudani was frustrated with the long, slow walk and he started walking briskly. All we could do was just watch him go past us. A small turn later me and Mallik were laughing watching Sudani tiered and sitting on the ground some cattle. It was 2.15 and we were still walking… And then finally we saw the village, and we went inside. The village too seemed so big and vast that the place where we’d initially stopped for breakfast never came. It did finally, around 2.30 when all threw their bags and rested in the shade. Kulkarni saw Sridhar standing,

कया बात है, बडे चुस्त और fresh लग रहे हो !?

अंदर मेरी क्या हालत है, मैं ही जानता हूं !!!

Bhutani, Rajoba were giving order for bhakaris and pithla, when Neeraj saw a guy water a new built wall with a pipe. We couldn’t resist and Neeraj asked him

भाइसहाब, दीवार को पानी मारकर क्या फयदा, हमपर डालेंगे कुछ?

The guy agreed, and me, Neeraj, Sridhar and Kulkarni refreshed ourselves with cool water when we saw rest of the pack following. We changed and came back to see the food ready. The simple bhaakri and pithla tasted so good after the long trek. Amey and Rajoba discussed the returning mode of transport, And two tum-tums were arranged to take us back to Neral.

Around 4.00pm we reached Neral and were lucky enough to get a fast local to VT. The long wait till Dadar was not bad as all enjoyed the moments. As if the travelling was never to end, we had to change trains to come back on the Western line and get down at the respective stations. I got down at Khar only to realize that I still have to walk for 5 minutes before I can throw my bag.

Travelling Directions

• Get down at Karjat Station, ideally night prior to the climb
• With a tum-tum early morning leave for Khandas village

Not always I’m a part of a picnic, probably people around me are afraid to get me into one. So this one started as a trek, and changed into a picnic/hike by the time we were about to start it :P.

The album is titled as ‘HostwayCartoons’, not just because we work in Hostway but also for the souls that we possess.

7 soldiers, myself, Mukti, Vj, Zuber, Amols(2) and the infamous Sudaani on march to seize Lohagad.

Health Warning: Not everyone reading this content is gonna enjoy it, You probably could be dizzy half the way through.

15 Dec, 07, 3.45AM:
Trring Trring …

Rutu: Hello..
Mukti: Hello Good morning, (I don’t know how can a morning be good if someone is awake @ 3.45 in the morning!)
Rutu: उठी?
Mukti: Ya!
Rutu: Vj को फोन किया ?
Mukti: Ya already did, ur’e late.
Rutu: whatever.. ( 😀 Mukti hates that word ! )

Trring Trring …
No reponse.. some time later again…
Trring Trring …

Kulkarni: हां ऋतुभाई, उठगया…
Rutu: ok..chal

I’m a bloody Alarm!, Alarming isn’t it !?

5.00AM (SHARP!)
I’m at the Dadar Station FOB, as expected nobody is present. I had called Vj when I’d left Khar, he was the Borivali platform (ya right!!!, IST). I called up Amol (the one with the Eating obsession), he was gonna reach Dadar in another 10 mins. or so with Kulkarni and the Jamkaa lad. I called up Vj again for the tickets, he said 6 are confirmed. Wasn’t sure of Zuber. After watching the mad public breezing past me early in the morning as if they’d been kicked from their homes, the Amolgroup had arrived. I headed with them straight for the Ticket counter. Another call later with Vj had confirmed that Zuber had left, and we needed 7 tickets in total for Malavali.

At the counter, no direct ticket was available for Malavali so Lonavala, a stop before, had to satisfy our fare. I had no water with me, and we headed out for the shops, Not surprisingly, 5.20 was not early for most of the Dadar TT public. Traffic, People crossing .. as usual. Got some bottles in the bag and headed straight for the tea. While having it, Vj and Mukti came from the Stairs @ Dadar TT’s mouth. All hi!, hello, Good morning (yet again ! God!! what’s wrong with people !? err.. Mukti)

5.40 Platform 2
1021 Down, Mumbai – Pune Indrayani Express is scheduled, But there is no sign of Zuber, We started to move towards General compartment. And thats when we saw Zuber, with his cap running .. As the movie plans, he was late. IST. The train arrived on time and we got in somehow. Intially we sat in a ‘dispersed’ manner but slowly the iron fillings managed to gather around the magnet, Mukti, our TP.

December, Early morning, tea, water all leads to only one direction. Susu room. Everybody had their rounds, ofcourse me as well, and others with overactive bladders. I came back easing the pressure and everybody was laughing..! I gave them the odd, whats wrong look. To that Zuber wrote a SMS on his phone and made me read it.

Sudani had put a hand on the seat to block it and another man came sat on it, Sudani’s hands right below his ass. The man even twisted, turned, but Sudani for some reason, stuck his hand under his butt, (feeling it probably!)

As if that wasn’t enough, Mukti, Vj and Zuber started with their “___ and all…!” drill. Ya a drill, cause in it, its necessary to grab any verb, noun in the conversation and append “…and all”.

Sudani feeling ass and all ‘huh!?

some random ha ha…

ass and all ‘huh!?

Vj continued and all.. Shit!! i’m influenced by that even now! Zuber, Mukti and Vj.. never stopped.. they continued with their jokes (which they consider could amuse others as well). I was sitting on the side with Kulkarni exactly opposite to me. I could see the face on his look. It was like when some interviewer asks a wrong question and expects a right answer. Kulkarni clearly in the interviewee’s position. Can’t laugh, can’t understand..! but knows something is wrong. I knew that feeling, I knew Vj since long and Mukti obviously no stranger to me.

This all continued with endless snaps and we reached Lonavala around 8:00. Again, I had to drain the extra water. We took a tickets for Malavali and ran to a neighbouring platform where a local was waiting for us. Soon it moved. Sudani sat with an old man near the gate in the shitting position, as if he knew the guy from long. I said to people.

ये सुदानी के बडे चाचा हैं, काफी दिनो बाद मिलें है।

ये गुजराती साला कब सुधरेगा? #$%#$%

8.25 or so and we alighted at the lovely little stop, Malvali. Just a simple 2 platform stop, nice and clean. we could see a small little office on the other side of the tracks. The platform bounded on the far side by the railway crossing. The 8.30 sun was golden and very gentle. There couldn’t be a better place for snaps.

We crossed and started walking along the road taking us away from the station and over the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

yeah!!! yeah!!! yeah!!!

Over the bridge, we sat for almost 15 minutes, taking portraits, Group snaps, watching the cars buzz beneath the bridge. Sudani the self-obsessed, Jamka simpleton couldn’t have enough of his snaps, If I clicked others, he promptly got his phone and snapped himself. And when it comes to photos, I can’t forget Kulkarni who with is devil’s appetite for snaps, couldn’t be away from the lens. Rajoba comparatively a shy guy (according to Mukti, diverts all his energy focusing on eating) too had some snaps. We finally moved towards the village, considering that we weren’t on some Calendar shoot, but a trek.

On the way, we saw a group of buffaloes, one of them white in color !

जो! सफेद भैंस

ya, right !!

as if that wasn’t enough to please Mukti, we had some snaps of a lovely little carcass of a rat. The climb began, more of a stony road climbing up along the hill. Suddenly Vj called,

देख मूछ वाला झाड

and as it turned out to be a Tadi tree, and all were discussing the chemistry of the ‘Neera’ drink turning into ‘tadi’. And we kept moving.

Mukti: God!!!, Ruturaj … stop adjusting your chain.

I couldn’t help it, the mechanics of my shorts’ chain had deserted me at Dadar Station itself, and since then I was regularly monitoring my malfunctioning garment. As the climb progressed, we took some shortcuts (meant to be harder) to cut the distance, as the road was a typical zig-zag along the mountain. And ofcourse, at the scenic moments (well for a Mumbaite anything without concrete is scenic) we had our shutters open. Zuber and Rajoba kept posing weirdly and Sudani snapping self portraits.

By 10 we came to a place, intersecting the two hills of Visapur (Visagad 😉 ) and Lohagad. This place is truely amazing, as the winds from back side, converge due to these two mountains and passes through this area. Hence extremely windy. Even @ 10 it was cool. We saw a small hut, and there it is. Another photo session!! Well this one was really good. We snapped atleast 30 over here and then ventured to the right side towards Lohagad. Sudani spotted small vendors in their huts selling ‘nimbu sharbat’, etc.

मुजे छाछ पिना हे

पछी हुदानी, पछी

By this time Sudani was talking a lot, He has a distinct Gujrati tone to his talk. And as if that is not enough to distinguish him, he talks fast and most of the times missing some ‘Anuswaars’.

मुक्ति चिगम खाएगी?

And we all were imitating him, talking fast and wrong. Soon we were at the steps of the fort. People enjoyed some ‘kheera’, while Vj snapped the fort from the base. Its amazing how this 2000 year old fort still retains its solid structure and walls. The steps were big, making all of us pant.

मे पानि पिउगा

Sudani continued. While we kept teasing Rajoba about his room mate, Sudani always.. interrupted.

मुन्ना को कुछ नहि बोलनेका, मुन्ना तु बुरा मत मान

The camera continued to do its work, and we were soon more than half way up where we were clicking ourselves on the wall of the fort when a monkey came from the top of the wall towards the wall, jumped down and tried grabbing Zuber’s bag. Sudani’s village instincts came up and he shooed the monkey away trying to pull his bag. The monkey had scared the shit out of Mukti and Zuber both. Ya Zuber too, the biggest fellow. He stayed away from his bag, not fearing the loss of his bag.

मैं सोच रहा हूं वो बंदर बॅग तो ले जाएगा लेकिन उसे खोलेगा कैसे?

To that statement of Zuber’s, Kulkarni for the first time laughed out loud. Kulkarni and made sure he enacted the incident and statement time and time again. Kulkarni a typical MPite is good at imitating and getting his ‘kissas’ right. Mukti never stopped laughing till we were the topmost part. Always giggling, no wonder she is always ‘wanted’ in any of the treks or meets.

On the way up, we came across a small rectangular entrance to a carved room, and people couldn’t stop trying to get the perfect moment for their Orkut profile. Vj even managed to stay upside down. To that Mukti laughed out again.

अगर फोटो को उल्टा करके दिखाया तो लोग बोलेंगे.., इसमे क्या हे

and the khee khee continued.. At the top, we had to see the Vinchu kaata, I and Vj had missed it last time we were here. I had missed it twice. So we ventured straight towards its direction, and we saw it ahead, peeking from below. Had some more snaps with that view. I had less than 170 snaps on my 2 day long Bhimashankar trek, and I’d already crossed 100 by this time. We moved along passing by water cisterns, which were full with water, till we came to a halt, there was about 7-8 foot drop, and we had to descend on the flat रोक. So we went back a little, and descended with a neat looking route along the left edge of the mountain which we had disapproved.

मौत के घाट उतारना है क्या

Kulkarni had stated, when we had initially seen that route, but that had to be it. And we reached the edge, ‘Vinchuu kaata’. Its called by its name, ’cause the whole narrow hill that continues from the fort, till it ends with a drop resembles a tail of a Scorpion. Enjoying more clicking moments on the tail we finally made a point to move back. Mukti got hurt by a thorn and the finger started bleeding. Kulkarni offered for Dettol in his bag.

Sudani: मुक्ति तमेरे पास थेपला हे ना? मुझे दे.

Sudani was cribbing since a while back for food. Kulkarni too had checked his watch. Back to the fort. On the way, as if we had absolutely no agenda, we stopped yet again at a small water reservoir where everyone snapped, dipped their heads like an ostrich.

Sudani: मेरेको खाना हे, छाछ पिना हे

Ok Ashko!!, lets eat when we get down. We then quickly descended the fort and came back to the intersecting place, where we went inside an empty ‘Hotel’ (Hut), and opened our bags. Mukti with her ‘potli baba ki’ got out a huge box full with theplas (should have seen Sudani’s face then) and bread. Zuber too got parathas.. and we started munching.. We finished with our food and yet again lazily just sat there. Sudani taking full advantage of the shade, dozed off. Almost an hour later we finally moved. Sudani still needing ‘Chaas’. But we couldn’t find it anywhere. So we decided to have ‘kokam sharbat’, and we started descending.

We found another small make-shift shade, where a vendor was selling ‘kokam sharbat’, it was close to 3.30. We sat there where everybody ordered ‘Kokam sharbat’ except Zuber who had limbu sharbat. The guy came gave us the glasses, When suddenly Mukti bursted out laughing so did Kulkarni. We were all ‘What!!?!’. To that Kulkarni narrated..

Vj ने अशोक को पूछा, पिएगा ?
नही।
पी ना…
नही चाहिए
लेकिन जब ग्लास मूं को लगाने वाला था, तब… सुदानी को रहा नही गया…
अच्छा देदे, टेस्ट

अबे साले पेहले क्युं नही पिया? गुजराती साला… khee khee

No awards for guessing whose statement it was !
We waited again for 10-15 minutes, to which Mukti again started laughing..

क्या हुआ हे, तमेरे लोग को जाना नही हे क्या?

But nobody was here for any mission, any timepass sufficed, so what if it was under a small shade somewhere near lonavala on some hill. करो TP.

Mukti: Kulkarni I don’t know if u’ve realized its more than an hour, and I’m yet to get Dettol.

Vj, Kulkarni, Rajoba had gone ahead, tired of waiting 🙂 while Mukti and Zuber trailed. Me and Sudani were clueless between the two extreme groups. Finally Sudani decided he had to move fast and went ahead. I followed. I came across 2-3 bulls grazing, and they seemed not very friendly, somehow I managed to go past them. I looked back, Mukti was scared and followed the road along a trench, trying to be as far from the bull she could be. But I saw her giggling.. And it continued till she reached where I was. She kept giggling.

तूने सुदानी को देखा? वो बैल से डरकर, भागके नीचे उस काटो से उतरा। बॅंड बजीथी उसकी !!!

She never stopped, Zuber too couldn’t control himself.

dude, सुदानी को देखना चाहिए था, फटी पडी थी, फुल ऑन

We came down, only for Mukti and Zuber’s horror, that we were gonna see the Bhaje caves. The path to cave was a steep winding ramp leading to the caves. Both were not gonna come. But I somehow persuaded Mukti, and Zuber eventually followed. At the top, there was a big group(best to be quiet about 😉 isn’t it Mukti? ). Click !! click!! and more till we finally after 5 we started to move back towards the Malavai station.

At the station we got tickets for ‘express train’ for Dadar, and waited for a Local for lonavala, which would connect us to Indrayani express. Along almost an hr long wait we enjoyed all the snaps and the photos. Its really the most enjoyable experience remembering the moments. The local came on time and we reached lonavala in 15 minutes where we again had to wait for 1/2 hr for the train to come. Our legs tired, no seat on the platform

Sudani: मे इधरहि बेठूगा

Finally the train came in and we managed to get seats after some adjustments and negotiations. As if the train ride is never complete without munching, we had to get out something to eat yet again…

We reached Dadar around 10, where everybody had to change their mindset of the Picnic/trek/hike back the troubled, crowded life of Mumbai. We got into an Borivali local, crowded as usual but empty enough so that we could stand. We were staring at eachother’s faces when.

Mukti: Kulkarni, its been more than two and a half hours and I’m yet to get Dettol.

The day ending in giggling and laughing!

I had a long break from Trekking, thanks to some mosquito that seemed to have better of me at Malshej Ghat. I was yearning for a great outing, and Tringalwadi proved to be one. It began with Vj’s buzz about the hiking group, MoRonz AdEventUrz. Although being a programmer in India, I’m generally off from Orkut, and other social meetup groups, donno why, perhaps I’m shy ! Vj had spread the word in the office about the trek to Tringalwadi on 17th and 18th Nov 2007. Few other chaps, Amol[s] and Vinay were interested, so was I. The group as always was buzzing with meetups, with one just 2-3 days prior to the trek, as always I missed that one.

The time was set 8:00 PM IST, CST. The plan was to get on a N 8:47 PM local (Kasara) and there on towards the trek. I reached VT around 8.15, I had forgotten to take a Kasara return @ Khar and so hurried towards the booking counter to see long tails. I called Vj just to let him know where I was. He came back with Vinay, my office colleage and Kulkarni, one of the Amols that had managed to make it successfully. Soon I saw the AC Milan player MallikaArjun with a huge backpack, seemed like he was planning for a full month long weekend. A check on the no. of guys needing a ticket made us change our plan to get a Debit Card (for Western and Central Railways). A quick print of around 4-5 tickets and I was lucky to get off the long line.

Travelling Directions

Below the huge dial of the terminus I saw our group, with Mallik, Vj and some others (always there are new additions). There were around 10-14 of us over there, of them I new few. Bongaali babu and his other half, Janki (actually just remembered her face), Bertram. Suddenly there was a haste to move along, reason being it was already 8:40 and the N 8:47 was already rearing to go. I had few attempts to get the N 8:47 in the frame in the relatively dark enviornment for the camera. Our plans of getting an empty train from the starting Grid was all invain, as the seats were already occupied, but to a Mumbaite there is always a cutting seat. The ladies moved in their compartment, while some of us managed to get a seat in a corner.

There were few more to join in Hemant our leader for the trek and Amey. It was around Dombivali or so when the suspensions must’ve started to ease a little, and I met Hemant and Amey. Amey reminded me of Michael Schumacher. At Kalyan or later the girl group joined us deserting the already lonesome ladies compartment. There I was astonished to see the identical twins. I’m one of a twin myself, but I’ve never seen twins so similar in terms of their looks, clothes, etc. Janki was eager to do pullups with others. Her energy reminded me of toddlers buzzing… It was getting cooler with every kilometer that we moved, Vinay already had his pullover on him, deep blue colored.

Around 11.15 or so we reached Kasara. A lonely station, all that we could see were some old tankers and freight vans lazing around. Amey was quick to get to the booking office asking about transportation to Igatpuri. The fellow at the window suggested a through train from Bombay that would stop at Igatpuri, With the usual chaos, we booked the tickets and ran across the FOB to the other side, just see a through train leaving. The next train was Howrah mail in about half’n hrs time. We all were hungry and got out banana chips, and all other snacks. Mallikarjun was feasting on a cold Khichdi. We had a few snaps over there. The general-dibba of Howrah mail was full. We managed to stand wherever we could find a place. Me and Vinay were still hungry we purchased “Vada” we had thought of Vada from the Vada pav, but turned out to be ठंडा मूंगवडा. We somehow managed to gulp down the oily and hard vada. Igatpuri station wasn’t far off then.

At Igatpuri we ventured towards the Westside of the platform and enquired about Tringalwadi to the local rickshaw drivers. From the discussion, fare, etc. we were moving towards the ST Stand not to so far away. At the stand me, Hemant and Vj moved into a sleeping bus depot and managed to ask a man about the directions for Tringalwadi. There were few options, 1) to move from the left side of the bus stand into the adjoining village in pitch black darkness with a difficult road. The guy also warned us about the local Villagers. 2) To walk straight till the highway and move ahead till the टाके village. Where a left would lead us to Tringalwadi village, the base village.

We chose the 2’nd option. Along the road, we came across many future F1 rickshaw prototypes. All the budding photographers were trying to get the objects through the darkness. half an hr later we were on the highway, with big trucks booming past us. We kept a narrow file and kept walking along, we had to walk till a petrol pump, after which there was an immediate left, the “Take” village. Half an hr later we were there at the village. We had approximately walked around 4-5 kms. We took some rest at Hanuman temple with a big open space in the front. I, Amol and Vinay sat in the veranda of a small hut near the temple. Astonishingly it was warm. Vinay took a sip of water…

अबे, पानी ठंडा हो गया है, दांत अकड गए।

Amol and I laughed a lot at that funny statement,

दांत कबसे अकडने लगे ? हाथ पैर सुने थे…दांत….?

I heard some debate/hot discussion goin amongst some of our members regarding a stay in the temple till the morning or move towards the base village. I don’t know the debaters, But the outcome was that we were soon walking again on a black road, which from its feel seemed to be a tar road. As we moved into the darkness away from the lights of the highway.. It started to get colder, and with that the sky which was sepia toned around the horizon, started turning pitch black, with the stars jumping out of the darkness. We kept walking for long.. I was with Vinay and Kulkarni with Vj joining along.. Sometimes we were ahead sometimes at the back when we had to shower the nature. Along the cold walk everybody had their warm clothes, wind cheaters out. We walked for around 2 hrs or so, when finally saw a bulb beaming its bleak light through the darkness. As the bulb was getting closer we kept losing our focus on walking with our minds just focusing on how we could sleep till the dawn. At last the road ended. with huts, etc. We saw a प्राथमिक शाला hut which was locked, a little ahead we saw another structure with a big veranda, quickly everybody was pulling their sheets, etc and arranging for their sleep. It was around 3 when there was silence and only snoring and some distant dog barks.

Around 6.30 or 7 I couldn’t pretend any longer to be sleeping cosily, Whole night I was in and off the sleep. I woke up to see Ashish, Vinay warming along the same road that had led us. Vinay was literally trying to jog to raise his body temperature. The horizon was already turning orange, with the sun just around the final chicane. Yet again all the cameras were focusing on the Sun. With the fresh rays of light came some warmth. Vj got some snaps of the typical village that it was. with bullock carts, haystacks, etc. We got Bertram off from his cosy sleeping bag. He was walking like a penguin with it. Hemant was quick to get everybody ready for another move, this time the trek.

A minute later we spotted a straight long hill, the dam. A climbed a top and saw the lovely scene. Just ahead us was the lake/water reservoir spaning almost a kilometer ahead of us. And then there were the mountains, one of which we were going to scale. The reflection of the mountains was unique, with far end of the lake had ripples and didn’t reflect anything straight to us, while the central part was calm and reflected a wonderful image of the mountains. It looked like a mirage !!! Cameras were bound to be put to use over here. 15 minutes later we walked along the dam to the left into the base of the mountains and finally started off with the climb.

An hour later or so, we took a halt (“We” representing the later half of the group who was trailing to few others in the front). All were hungry and back were the chips and the snacks. The famous white bread – jam combination was being gutted. Snaps, juices, water and the group was moving… I trailed back for a “Vartak” memorial so did Vj for his own 😉 We were trailing a lot, but we did catch the others on the plateau area, it was full with the dried grass after the rains. All of us kept steadily moving ahead along the plateau and then to the right into a terrace farm. What a lovely place ! There was a small hut at the edge of the farm. Just above was another hill, me and Vj quickly climbed for about 5 minutes and reached another plateau like region where we saw Hemant and group resting and waiting for others. A little ahead was a small cave like cut into the mountains where all went in to get a snap, and MallikaArjun coming down from the rocky terrain with Vj, Amey screaming directions for the descent. Ahead Hemant had crossed the flat walk on the right and up into the final strech of the mountain with the twins following him. We too got into gear and reached the top. Over there I’d expected to see a fort, but there was nothing but a mountain top with drying grass. Nearby we stopped to fill our water resources a water cistern.

Atop we rested under a tree and were back feeding our guts. Chocolates, bread (yet again!), Glucon-D, chips, Electral etc. was on the menu. It was close to 12, when we deceived to descent. The descent was quicker than expected. Everybody was hoping for a dip in the huge water reservoir below. and as always, the nature never disappoints we found a shaded spot along the coast of the reservoir. We were initially hesitant to get into the water as the feet feet muscles had already contracted in the cold water. Eventually most of us got in. With Mallik, Anupama and Bertram blowing their lungs into the water tubes. Anupama had a bright pink flat bed on which she lazed. We were into the water for almost an hour, Hemant moved ahead into the village arranging for transportation back to the Igatpuri station.

At the village, we were munching again. The calm village in the morning was now buzzing with activity with the shops, bullock carts, people working in the farms in the distance. All had their electronics adjusting the shutters. Amey had managed to arrange for पोहा and we feasted on it with a warm tea later. However while we enjoyed that, there was a bad news.

No transportation back to Igapturi

However, Hemant and Amey manged to get a freight rickshaw “Ape” to help us to the highway where the driver promised to get us a transportation to Igatpuri. We climbed into the vehicle. With me, Bertram, Janki and Mallik at end standing on the edge with our hands clutching the top frame of the vehicle the ride back to the highway was exciting and bumpy. At the highway we could find rickshaws to Igatpuri but the driver wanted 5 plus himself per ride, and that was out of question with tall fellows like Amey in the group. The freight rick driver promised that he’ll get a jeep directly for Kasara and wheeled away on the highway, later a M&M jeep came with a capacity of around 8-10 fellows. But we were to fit all 17 plus the driver. We put all the bags on the top and somehow managed to fit ourselves in the jeep. I was at the back end. The mid row was filled with ladies and Vj at the corner and ahead the driver and few more guys.

The highway thankfully was not bumpy, perhaps I didn’t notice, I was asleep most of the time. At Kasara it was dark almost 7:00 and there was no electricity at the station. We managed to get few remaining tickets back to Mumbai and waited on the platform. 7:31 CST came and the people jumped into it before it could halt. Amidst the din we all moved luckily in the same compartment but had scattered seats. In the journey back we chatted watching the snaps. I got down at Sion station with Bertram and got a rick for Khar. The long journey inclusive of more than 10 km of walk had come to an end when I got into my house and straight for a shower and then …

ऊठ आज Monday आहे, ऑफिस मधे नाही जायचं का ?

Travelling Directions

• Alight at Igatpuri Station
• Either walk or get a rickshaw for Taake village
• Walk another 3-4 kms to the base Tringalwadi village