This write-up of our Lohagad Visapur trek by my ever so de#$% friend Kapil Naik.

History tells Columbus wanted to discover India. In the process he landed in Caribbean islands. First he thought it was India. It was only when he realised that it wasn’t India, but a group of islands in the continent of America itself, islands were named as west Indies.

Why am I telling this story, we all suppose to know? Soon you will get the answer.

Everything was roughly planned for a trek to LOHGHAD, a fort near the malawali station, which is some kilometers away from lonavala and the same was conveyed to sanjay, mangesh, rutu, arvind, sid and hrishti by me and irfan. But little did everyone know that one of the person who planned it was in a mess, just a few hours before we were supposed to leave on Saturday night

I was given some (actually many) ssc papers for correction by one class in borivali. It was on urgent basis so I couldn’t dare say no. At 1.30 p.m. on Saturday (day we leave for trek) I started to realise that job was out of control and possibly I will not be able to join my friends for the trek. I let this knew to irfan and guess what I came across one of the most surprising gesture I could ever come across. “Any help? Shall I come down to your place to assist you?” was the reply.

Just imagine a fellow was coming to my place only to assist me in my job after travelling more than 2 hrs so that I myself do not miss the trek. Thanks a lot irfan. Without thinking for a second I said yes. I requested (actually ordered) sanjay to join us. So there you are, three of us struggling to finish the job so that we could leave in time. Others were asked not to leave their residence unless we call them up after finishing the job. I will tell you for 3-4 hrs, it was so neck to neck that many times I asked the 2 visitors to leave for trek without me. But I was not destined to miss the upcoming drama.

Thanks to a brilliant irfan-idea that we were able to some how finish the job before 9 p.m. We couldn’t finish late than that, as the last train to pune was at 11.40 p.m. from VT As I packed my bag, irfan and sanjay called up everyone to meet at bandra station so that we could at least catch the last train. I tell you from my past experiences of trek that, engineers really can think fast in a crunch situation. We plnned, conveyed it and executed all at one time.

Arvind decided not to join us as he thought he would be deprived of some sleep by leaving so late. Yaar, arvind I do respect your thought that you need a bit of rests as Monday is working day. But I will tell you no matter how early you leave some nuts in our group will not let anyone sleep. (Rutu and I can promise you that.) Any way we all duly respect your decision and hope for your presence for the next outing. We did miss you.

And yes how on earth I forget this? Sanjay and irfan had a cup of tea each at my house. Bastardos didn’t pay for it. They thought it was fukat (free of cost). I suppose, ye sub mangesh ki sangat ka asar hai.

So finally we left my residence with a great satisfaction that trek was on. Smartly sanjay did not forget to take camera from his house as we halted the rickshaw for a few minutes at his residence. Money, camera, eatables, personal gearing against winter season, did we forget anything? Yes we certainly did. And we would realise it later on how important was the thing we forgot to take with us.

I myself, irfan, sanjay, mangesh, rutu arrived in time at bandra station. Only one fellow was missing as Sid decided not to come at 11th hour. Mr. Hrishikesh brid, the person who is believed to some how evade our plans many times in the past. After a few anxious moments finally he arrived. I will tell you hrishi on a trek is a thing to be kept in museum. He wears apparels as if he is going to Everest. He always has a dadaji’s cap on and a huge bag as well. That magical bag, I promise contains food and other necessary things for everyone. Very nice of him.

Now after me it was irfan’s turn to add some spice to our trek. He told us that one of his classmate in MBA college named ***** (I forgot her name) was about to leave for south by some other train around that time. So I suppose as all of us were at dadar station waiting for a train bound to v.t, this fellow was talking to *****. Knowingly or unknowingly he kind of got lost on dadar station only to force us leave a few VT bound trains. We were getting late. Already irritated sanju baba recommended that we take the next upcoming train to VT and wait for irfan at VT terminus. We thought we would keep in touch with irfan on his mobile.

We waited, waited and waited at VT terminus. Irfan did not arise nor he stopped speaking to ***** on mobile. It was engaged. We were caught in odd situation as neither we could take tickets for malawali nor the last train at 11.40 p.m. was going to delay its departure for a few engineers. I could see our plan collapsing.

But I have already told you that engineers work best under pressure. Rutu sanjay and I myself came up with a cracker of idea. We set fielding like sourav ganguly sets on a cricket ground. Sanjay stood at the local train terminus, rutu stood at the terminus of through trains and I stood near the ticket window with 150 rupees (for 6 persons) ready in my hand. Idea was that the moment sanjay spots irfan getting down from local train, he would signal to rutu who in turn would signal to me at the window to take the tickets. Again we waited, waited and waited. There was no signal to me from rutu, which obviously meant sanjay had not spotted irfan. Finally it happened what we feared. The siren of the train went on. It was 11.40 p.m. sharp. The train started to leave before our eyes.

But I told you I was not destined to miss the trek from the beginning. He was spotted by sanjay. Came the signal to me via rutu.

“Six malawali station” I shouted. It didn’t matter much to man behind the glass. “Are train to nikal gayi, abhi konsa ticket” was the reply from him. “ are aap dedo bus, hamari chinta chodo” I yelled. Very slowly, showing no signs of panic he typed details and gave me the ticket (he was probably an engineer, you see he did not panic). I ran with all my heart with tickets firmly in my hand. Others also started to run towards train as they probably spotted me coming in. And guess what, 5 Bastardos got inside one compartment without giving me prior indication. I got perplexed thinking in which bogie they must be in. I was running along with very slowly moving train. “ Abe idher” one of them shouted from the door of the next bogie (which was last but one). I could easily catch the bogie, as the train was yet to catch the speed. Finally all six of us were in a train bound to malawali safe and sound. Hushhhh the trek was on.

Irfan and I myself once again agreed that, in every trek, some how we are able to come through situations which were hopeless.

We settled down on an upper birth. Sanjay and mangesh got a seat on lower birth. It was a passenger train. No reservations. Everything on first come basis. Luckily all of us got a seat. Sanjay got a nice company also. A bewada. I fail to understand why on earth these bewadas catch sanjay first in any safar. Sanjay do reply to this. I guess in our 1st trek also a bewada sat besides you. (Remember dev babu). Any way stars were not that bad for sanjay, a cute village girl replaced bewada very soon. Now sanjay could afford to smile a little.

Now you must be thinking what Mr. Vertak has been doing all so long. How come his name is not cropped up so far. I will tell you, a supposedly called couple was doing a little bit unparliamentary activities before our upper birth. And rutu was getting a little annoyed. You see, he is having same problematic stars like me. Come may what we will never be able to have a girlfriend, before marriage. So both of us were a little upset with our stars.

No one could sleep as seats were not at all comfortable (what else you will get in Rs 25). We got down at malawali station. It was a well-maintained station but was absolutely lonely. Probably we were the first ones to get down since its existence. A funny thing happened on the station. Rutu and I myself decided to use ladies toilet just to see how different it is from male toilets. As we were about to enter it, lights went off and we had a laugh saying there is some bhutataki or a system, which identifies male intruders.

It was 3.30 in the moring. Mangesh, sanjay and irfan decided to have a nap. Others were uneasy, as they wanted to create some pressure inside stomach for early morning call. I have mentioned earlier that we forgot something important. It was bottles of water. Most important part of any trek. We did miss it during both types of uses of water. We had to manage with a small bottle of water throughout the trek.

At about 5.30 a.m. in the morning we decided to formally begin the trek which was already full of unexpected things. After some time walking towards the fort we came across the steps of visapur caves (visapur is another fort near our supposed destination of lohghad). As it was too dark we all had consent that it is not advisable to start a trek because we will not be able to come across the beauty of the nature. Finally arvind, we got it, a nice sound sleep on the wide steps of caves. It was small but sufficient enough to make us energetic again. It was a lovely experience to sleep in a pin drop silence, in cold, under the clear blue sky with constellation of stars blinking at us. I will cherish these moments and times I spent with my friends for all my life. Who knows we all may not get such time again in our life as we friends become focussed on our duties and family in the future?

After a short nap we decided to head to the village at the base for a cup of tea. The people in the village were nice to us. (Villagers are usually very nice to visitors) One of them showed us the right direction to the base, which is common to LOHGHAD fort and VISAPUR fort.

It was a lovely morning with decently low temperature and light. We kept heading towards the common base through dried fields. A few poses for photos would halt our proceedings. We did notice one exceptional thing happening around us. Mr. Brid was leading the pack. Usually he is supposedly a bit slow climber. But this time he was all determined and was heading the pack, showing us the shortcuts like a professional raju guide would do.

As we started to climb towards the base which is common to the 2 forts, light started to enhance and so the temperature. Early morning rays of the sun god kissing the cliffs were worth taking the photographs. We reached the common base. We ourselves decided which one is visapur and which one is the other one. Sometimes you know, engineers do stupid things. Remember I started of with a story of Columbus reaching some unknowing destination supposing it was India. We did the same thing by starting to climb visapur thinking it was lohghad. Believe it or not even after walking for more than one hour we did not realise it was visapur. We simply kept walking along a dusty road, which was going parallel to the fort. We were seeing no end. I shouted in frustration,” koi hai”. Came the reply” koi hai, koi hai”. An echo. Wow, everyone started screaming. What they shouted is again unparliamentary, I can not mention here. Rutu was at his best (you see he will never become an MP). Some joy on an aimless walk. After a while we came across a shortcut.” Often shortcuts turn out to be long cuts” wise words came from one of us (don’t remember the person). And how true it was. We continued only to realise that we are descending, so a wrong way. We had to leg the same path but in reverse direction.

As mentioned above each time we are in hopeless situation we manage to get through. We came across a villager (god must have sent him, remember the band of drunkards at mahuli) who informed us that this is visapur and not lohghad. We were annoyed at our mistake. We had no option but to continue. We decided to climb lohghad after we complete visapur trek in the afternoon. Interestingly the same villager showed us one path (which did not look like a path) and said this way you can go to visapur. It will take 45 minutes.

Let me explain this, it was a pawoolvat (Marathi, path created by trespassers), which was narrower than narrow. And to our disbelief grass as tall as 1.5 times of human being was to the both sides of the pawoolvat. We all really first doubted the villager as it was impossible to look beyond one meter due to tall grass. We all had to kind of brush it aside with both hands to move forward. A photo was mandatory here.

This was exciting. A real manly job, you know. Having a glass of wine close to beautiful lake can be cool but isn’t quite manly. Now do not open a debate, opinion is personal without having disrespect against anyone.

We kept heading. After a while tall grass started to disappear. Have you seen the film ek duje ke liye starring kamala hasan? In the film hasan sits on a coconut tree which almost horizontally had grown by nature. We came across similar kind of a branch of a tree, which was horizontal. We all did a kamal hasan. Now everyone was having a stick in their hands. We would use it as if we were shivaji maharaja.

As soon as the tall grass ended we came across thick vegetation, almost a jungle. We did not know which way to go. Again it was hrishi who suggested the direction saying that a path going upward has to be the one. The path led us to a dry riverbed, which would take us to the top of the mountain, visapur fort. Rivers in kokan region run out of water after rainy season as they exist only because of rain. Like rivers of north (which are brimful water throughout the year) rivers in kokan area do not get flooded with water because of melting of snow. These dried and arid beds of rivers are nothing but big rocks which turn round and smooth due to water flowing over them for ages. Climbing through such type of bed of river was a nice experience.

The end of the riverbed led us to the top of the mountain. Just before the entrance we came across a small cave. With impending fear of bats we entered the cave. Apart from an old reservoir of water (pretty dirty) there was nothing interesting. Now finally we were at the top of mountain, the visapur fort, possibly more than 3500 feet.

Now it was time to move around the fort. First we moved towards eastern outer wall of the fort. A nasty looking deep valley just beyond the outer wall of the castle trying to swallow everything that falls into it gave us the sense of achievement. After all this is what we strive for. This is where we want to reach. Height, height and more height. The moment you reach there, I mean the top, all pain and cramps in muscles take a back seat and we end up doing nothing but punching the air in excitement. Mission accomplished.

We kept on moving along the outer wall of the castle. These outer walls would have opening for canons to fire those bombshells. As we moved towards the western outer wall of the castle, we came across a Plato. It was really a massive Plato. Looking at the mountain cliffs from the base one would fail to imagine the kind of flat surface that exists at the top. This Plato must be a mute witness to the past 300 years of history including rise and fall of Marartha Empire. Old reservoir of water, old days manually operated grinder of wheat, and an old days kolu ka bail (if any one knows the right word, let us know, in Marathi we call it telacha Ghana) took us back to days we couldn’t witness. The water in the reservoir was so ugly looking that we people living in urban areas wouldn’t even wash our hands with it let alone drinking. But you know we have a character who would do a thing which normally other boys in the group wouldn’t do, mangesh. He did drink that water. He is different. Remember he was the only one who had a bath in the well in previous trek (mahuli.)

The view from the Western Wall of the castle was something I truly fail to describe in words. In the outer wall of this side there are three medium sized openings at two different places. The wind was very much strong at this place. With the sinking view of a hostile valley and Mumbai-pune express highway, which looked like a pawoolvat from that height, we decided to have lunch. Lunch consisting of parathas, parathas and parathas. Probably hrishi had some puris with him in his magical bag. But heavens curse us, we had forgot to take any water. And I do not know about others but I was certainly running out of water. My mouth was drying out quickly and I could feel pain to the left of my stomach. I wouldn’t be concerned if another trek of lohghad was not impending. I really started to doubt my ability to have a go at lohghad after descending visapur. After the lunch we started to descend. It was least difficult with some really good advice from rutu about how we should tackle descending. As I was literally dragging myself to the common base from where we could go to lohghad after a little break. I was desperate for water and I could see irfan and hrishi also feeling the same. Hrishi was back to his old days. Now he was last in the pack. Sanjay and rutu had the will to go onto lohghad even if in case we fail to get some water at the common base. Mangesh, well he is different. He can go for a week without water I guess.

At the common base we had two options.1) to drink water available (had frogs in it) or 2) start climbing lohghad without any water. Irfan, hrishi and I myself were not ready for both. We chose to descend completely from common base to where we started in the morning. We had a difference of opinion with sanjay and mangesh. Sanjay was of the opinion that the amount of energy we spent in coming down from the common base to the village was same as that would take to climb the lohghad from the common base. Three of us disagreed. I do not understand how going up from the common base and coming down to village could be same as to going down from common base to village. Purely going by the distance to be travelled there is no similarity, whatsoever. Any way the crux of the matter is that we should have carried water with us. And yes we all those who did not want to go to lohghad do apologize to sanjay for not backing his ambition. But you know it is better not to mix you abilities with your ambitions.

So finally amidst all arguments we reached the base village. A few more parathas with shrikhand was truly delicious. A little bit of rest and we started to climb the steps of bhaje caves. These were the same steps, which we turned them into our beds early in the morning. Bhaje caves are the ancient caves belonging to the era of samrat ashok. Allas there was some greenery. A family had arrived to visit the caves. I must say the daughter was really and extremely good looking. Guess what? Rutu felt the same (you know our stars). I guess hrishi was the most impressed. We were not too much interested in caves, as we did not understand the purpose behind it. They were simply caves with no murtis. Any way the visit was made fruitful by the presence of someone really as good as a murti.

So there ended the journey of modern day Columbus. We came back to mumbai via lonavala. Many people would wrongly call it a failed attempt to lohghad. But let me mention the reaction of a rickshaw-wala (base village to lonavala) when we told him that we have been to visapur fort just now.

“ Are sab visapur, to koi jyada jata nahi. Poora Jungle hai. Sub trekkers lohghad jate hai. Wo easy hai”

Kaps. (Kapil)

This is a write-up by my friend Irfulal (Irfan) of our experience at the trek of Mauli.

Adventure unlimited. Never ending excitement. The ultimate trekking experience. I feel sorry for those who could not make it, at the same time I feel happy that I live to tell the tale.

Saturday, July 26. As decided I was waiting under the indicator at 8:30 pm at CST station. As I took a bite from the chicken roll in my hand, the phone rang. It was Kapil. He said he was at Dadar station. He said he would take the train from there. Then I called Arvind. He too was at Dadar with the others & would not be able to come to CST on time & would take the train from there. I told him to look for Kapil. I had to take the 8:42 local from CST. It was the last fast train for Kasara. We had to take it. I told them where exactly I would board the train. The train was moving past Parel station when Arvind called again asking me to get down at Dadar since Mangesh had not arrived. I was hanging out so that they could see me. I was looking for them as the train pulled into the crowded Dadar station. I heard cries of,”Irfan… Irfan.” I saw them & waved. Somebody standing behind me said,”bhaisahab shayad aapko koi bula raha hai.” I said,”malum hai.”

I jumped down on the platform. The whole group ran towards me & said,” get in…get in”. All of us pushed ourselves into the compartment that was now packed. Presumably Mangesh must have arrived. We were seven in all. Myself, Sanjay, Kapil, Arvind, Vartak, Sid & Mangesh. We had got into one of those karaoke compartments. There was a group singing Gujarati bhajans at the top of their voices banging the bogie walls hard for percussion. We were all packed tight in the crowd, could not move one bit, clutching on to the handles for balance. Finally at Dombivli the crowd loosened up. Even the bhajan group got off. We went inside & kept our bags on the rack.

Just then we saw people on the platform running helter-skelter & shouting. It was a bomb scare or maybe someone had noticed a fire in the train. People in our compartment pounced on their bags & scampered out. We did the same. On the platform it was like a stampede. I had never seen the public so petrified & running for their life. We tried to see if there was a fire but could not spot anything. Just then the train horn blared & it started moving. We realized the bomb scare was a hoax. We got back in the train & secured our places. There was another group of 16 boys in the compartment playing antakshri in a loud & wild manner. We were irritated. But little did we know how useful this group would be for us.

We reached Asangaon station at 10:30 pm. The question now was, how to reach Mahuli. Let me tell you what made us come here. In the previous week I had read an article in the Times on trekking spots around Mumbai in which Mahuli was mentioned. That was all we knew about this place. We crossed the tracks & came to a hanuman temple where all of us changed to our shorts. We asked a local for directions. He asked us to go straight through the village onto the highway beyond which is the road to Mahuli. A walk of around one hour would take us to a Shiva temple, which is the base of the trek.

We kept walking straight on the narrow village road with houses on both sides. Then we came to a dead end. The highway was in front of us but it was very high above the ground level. We would have to climb up to it. It was dark. Kapil showed the way with his torch & we climbed up onto a dark long highway.

Huge roaring trucks whizzed past with their bright lights beaming on the wet tar strip. Now we had to look for the road to the Shiva temple. A little distance ahead we saw the group of 16 boys getting down from the opposite side of the highway. We followed them.

We climbed down on to a narrow road. Their group moved ahead & we walked some distance behind them. Probably this was the road to the Shiva temple. The group ahead was a bunch of taporees. Some of them were drunk & were shouting like crazy. But one of them was a decent guy. More importantly he had been to Mahuli a few years back so we thought we’d stay behind this group. We kept walking and left the highway far behind.

Slowly the shouting & singing subsided. It was dark & silent all around. This was a very haphazardly made road just wide enough for a bus to pass, without any streetlights, infected with potholes. There were no houses there. It was pitch dark. No light in sight. There was no civilization for miles on either side of the road. We had to use our torch to see our way on the road. Suddenly the torch went off. Now all we could see were frequent flashes of light from the torch of the group ahead. Imagine you are blindfolded, walking in a forest, not knowing where you are going. Occasionally the silence would be hampered by the shrill noise of crickets in the grass, or the croaking sound of toads. There would be brief showers of rain every few minutes & in the dark we would trip in the water filled potholes. This was getting creepy every moment. We kept wondering whether we were on the right path. We would not have dared come so far if the other group was not ahead of us. Occasionally we would spot tiny yellow sparks flying around. These were fireflies. The vegetation grew denser & huge trees surrounded us. We could hear the sound of water flowing. Probably we were walking beside a stream. Sometimes the sound of water grew louder & we could make out white patches of foam in the distance created by water flowing over the rocks. Sometimes the streams flowed across the road. We would wait for the group ahead to cross the water just to make sure the depth of the water. Then we would wade through the flow. We had already walked for one & a half hour now.

The group ahead stopped. There was a diversion ahead. The road split into two. Now where do we go? Left or right? Both of them looked the same – dark. All of us stayed there while two guys from the other group went ahead on the right hand side road. They returned after ten minutes & said there was nothing beyond that road. So we would now resume moving on the left hand side road. We were moving with the other group since they had a torch. In the torchlight we saw a huge toad lying in the middle of the road. One of the guys kicked it off track. Are we going on the right way? What if we come to a dead end? What if we have to go back? These questions kept hounding us. The trek had not started yet. But the adventure certainly had. It was well past midnight.

We saw a hut. At last some proof of human existence. One of the guys went up to the hut to see if there was someone. There was no light there. He came back without any news. There was nobody there. We would have to keep moving on like ignorant nomads. After having prodded for another twenty minutes we came up to a board with a picture of a monkey on it. It was put up by the forest conservation authorities to spread awareness about protection of wildlife. A little beyond the board was a house. Adjacent to it was another structure that looked like a temple. Was this the Shiva temple? Someone from the other group went to check. He shouted back, calling us & confirming that we had finally reached our destination.

It was 1:30 am. We had been walking for almost three hours. We went off the road, stepping on the wet grass, wading through a flowing stream, towards the Shiva temple. A simple box type structure with a pyramidal dome. At the entrance stood an idol of the nandi bull about two feet high facing the shivling exactly opposite at the rear end of the temple. A few bells hung in the center. There were no windows, but there were openings with grills on all sides of the temple. The group of 16 guys settled near the left hand side of the shivling & we secured our place on the left hand side closer to the entrance. Opposite us there was a Punjabi family already in deep sleep. We squatted on the temple floor & had some snacks. Mangesh had brought a sheet of cloth. We lay it on the floor & lied on it using our bags as pillows. The temple light was switched off. I tried to sleep. But could not. The other group was creating a lot of noise. Some nuts in our group as well were not too keen on sleeping & were disturbing those who were trying to. Also it was very cold since there were no windows to shield us from the chilly winds at night. But Sid slept. He did not give a damn to what was happening around him. Even an earthquake would not wake him up.

All of us did catch a small nap. I opened my eyes at the crack of dawn & watched the morning unfurl gradually & reveal the beauty of the surroundings. The previous night everything was black. Now everything was green. There was a house adjacent to the temple where the temple caretaker stayed. Between the temple & the house was a little stream flowing. In front of the temple was a well. But where was the entity we had come all the way for. Where was the mountain? Almost everyone was up & awake (except Sid of course). We came out of the temple & went up to the well for a wash. As I turned back to go back in the temple I saw a huge dark green mass encompass the horizon. I could only see the lower half of it since most of it was covered with fog. I said to myself, “Wow! We’ve got to conquer that!”

Sid woke up. We had hot soothing tea at the caretaker’s place. There was a notice board inside the temple giving details about the trek & the Mahuli fort that was perched atop the mountain. The only thing I was interested in was the height of the mountain. 2815 feet. Not much. But what matters is the nature of the trek. The difficulty level. We had already scaled Kalsubhai peak, which was 5350 feet so this should be a piece of cake. I was wrong.

One smart move was to leave all the bags with the caretaker & carry just one bag containing the food & money. So all of us had our hands free & no load to carry. Vartak carried that one bag all the way during the ascent. Thanks to him. He is very agile. Fresh, excited & full of anticipation we tread on the path towards the mountain that started from behind the temple. It was 7:45 am. It was a flat route. Not much of an ascent. We had not actually started the climb. We were chatting, laughing & admiring the flora & fauna around. I could hear the sound of water flowing but was unable to spot the source of that sound because of the thick vegetation. The sound became louder & suddenly we were stopped in our track by a river. This was the Barangi River. If we had to move on, we had to cross it. The group of 16 guys were already there making an attempt to cross it. It was not deep. Just above the knees. But it was fast, as if in a hurry, unstoppable by the huge rocks, creating white foam as it pushed its way through them. Both the groups formed a human chain clasping each other’s hands. I stepped into the water one person holding my right hand moving ahead of me & another person holding my left hand moving after me. The water was cold & trying to sweep you off your feet. Slowly we crossed the river & came out on the other side. It was great fun. I felt like playing in the water. With water in our shoes, we moved on. The ascent had started. We spotted different kinds of crabs & other crawling insects creeping under the rocks & hiding amongst the plants. The trail was now in the form of steps carved into the rocks. I personally do not like trekking routes to have such steps. It becomes monotonous & unchallenging. Mangesh & I moved much ahead of the others. We could still not gauge how high we had climbed because we were still in the midst of trees. It was like walking through an equatorial rainforest. We thought we’d wait for the others & then move on together. It was then that I realized that the moment you stop moving you will be attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. More irritating were these blood-sucking insects. I had never seen anything like that. They were like huge flying ants. They stick to your body & administer a sting that feels like an injection & start sucking your blood like leeches. You have to actually pluck them off your skin. All of us had scores of these stings on our bodies that kept on itching for days after the trek. No wind was blowing. There was a strange silence in the forest, which gave you a feeling as if you were somewhere you were not supposed to be. The entire group was terrified of snakes that are found on such spots especially during the rains. That was another reason why the dense vegetation seemed to be so unpredictable. We could hear Kapil & Sanjay discussing the species of a particular bird they might have spotted. They were getting close. The whole group got together & we started climbing again.

As we moved further on, the steps diminished. Now it was a natural path. More challenging. Then it happened. What I was waiting for. Rain. Now the equatorial rain forest setting was complete. We did not have any protection at all. We were drenched in an instant. This rain did not stop the whole day. As we kept climbing over the rocks, catching hold of trees & small plants, we noticed water flowing down the trekking route. As the rain continued the volume of water flowing down kept on increasing. We were almost climbing in a stream against the current. We had to take breaks after every few minutes of climbing for everyone to catch up. We were especially concerned for Sid, wondering if the trek was too taxing for him. But he was trying his best. At no point during the trek did he give a feeling that he was a liability on this trip. Hats off to his sporting spirit. Not only did he enjoy himself but also is keen on going for another trek. At every steep rock the stream would turn into small waterfalls & it was thrilling climbing such rocks with all the water pouring on you. The ground vegetation was now very thick and above our head level. We had to move the plants with our hands to move ahead not knowing where we were taking our next step.

The track became narrower & the mountain began revealing itself. Every now & then we would see a glimpse of the huge mountain. We have seen the most breathtaking views on this trip. A huge mountain range covered in dark green velvet cut at various places by white streaks of waterfalls pouring down from the top to the base & transforming into rivers that flowed out of the valley. The entire green valley was being lashed with heavy wind & rain. Then a veil of white fog would come & blanket the whole valley like a shy woman hiding herself behind a curtain.

Then came the most difficult stretch of the trek. There was a sheer drop on the left hand side & we could see the deep valley waiting to swallow us. The track was playing tricks with us. Sometimes the valley would be on our left & then suddenly it would emerge on to our right. I would walk ahead & then shout back at the others warning them, which side the drop would be & what lay ahead. It was more dangerous because we were walking on barren, slippery, moss infected rocks with water flowing over them. At one point of time there was a steep drop on both sides with only two feet of ground width for us to walk without any support. Then Sid tripped & fell flat on his chest. His face hit a rock & was bruised. We went to help him but he just lay there for a while gathering his senses. Everyone was dumbstruck. He got up on his own & we moved on. After this incident everyone was very serious. The talking stopped. Anyone who opened his mouth was asked to shut up. The amount of ground for foothold became narrower. At a particular stretch we had to walk sideways with our back towards the rock & looking down at the valley holding the plants for support. At that point any distraction could be disastrous. Everyone was quiet & focussed.

The rain gods were busy doing their job. We came up to a vertical rock face. There was an iron ladder attached to it about ten feet high. It was not as simple as climbing the ladder & reaching up. The vertical face continued well beyond the ladder. We had to climb to the end of the ladder & then move on a narrow shelf of rock on the huge vertical face. This was absurd. People could easily die at this place. Whoever constructed it ought to have made it safer. I approached the ladder & began climbing it clasping the rusted iron firmly. I thought I wouldn’t, but I looked down to see the sheer drop hundreds of feet below into a dense forest. If the ladder gave away I would be gone for good. At that moment it seemed so silly to rely on a pipsqueak rusted piece of iron for your life. I came to the end of the ladder. Now I had to secure my grip in a crevice on the rock face & haul myself on the narrow shelf on my left hand side. One by one everybody crossed this obstacle. Now it was just climbing on & on for long following the water streaming down around sharp bends & between thick undergrowth. Every few minutes flat stretches of land were emerging which gave an indication that we were close to our target. There would not be any peak at the end as the mountaintop was in the form of a rugged plateau. At one point beside the track was a ledge of rock protruding out as if it were a diving board to serve as a suicide point. I moved on to it & lied down flat on my stomach at the edge so that I could look down. I was flabbergasted by the view. As if I were flying over heaven. I took a deep breadth wishing to take in the entire view inside me.

It was all flat land now. The rain had intensified & it was lashing hard because of the strong winds. We were engulfed by fog. I was sort of acupunctured all over by the pricks of the lashing raindrops. We saw a huge water reservoir. Such reservoirs are dug deep into the mountain. One of the remnants of Mahuli fort. We had reached the top. We walked ahead till we reached steps formed by huge blocks of stone going down to small caves carved in the mountain. We cleaned ourselves in the rainwater dripping at the entrance of the cave. The group of 16 guys were already there. It was 10:30 am. The ascent had taken almost three hours. We waited for them to leave after which we sat down to eat. We removed our wet t-shirts. It was very cold. The rain was still pouring. We did not feel like stepping out of the cave. But we had to. We came out at around 11:45 am to commence the descent.

As I moved up the steps of stone I heard the sound of water. I went in the direction of the sound & what did I discover. A huge waterfall. I yelled in excitement calling the others. About one floor high it was crashing down making a deafening roar. The water was light brown because of all the silt it carried with it. There was a small shivling kept near it. Vartak, Sid & I stepped into the water moving cautiously towards the fall. I thrust my hand into it to check the pressure of water. It was enormous. This was mind blowing. All three of us formed a chain & thrust ourselves under the torrent. The entire cascade was hammering down on us. The water was ice cold & the pressure of the water was hitting us hard. This experience made the entire ascent worth wile.

The descent gave some warmth to our cold shivering bodies. Soon the group split. Sanjay, Kapil, Mangesh & I went much ahead of the others. As we were going down we came across many people moving up. Groups of girls & boys, families with kids & elders. We wondered how they would manage to complete this trek. Descent is as taxing for the legs as ascent. Especially for your toes & knees.

The four of us reached Barangi river & were about to cross it when we were stopped by the group of 16 guys. They warned us not to even step into the water. We saw two of the guys sitting with their legs bleeding. We asked what happened. Because of the incessant rain the volume of the Barangi river had swollen which they did not realise. When they tried to cross the river two guys were swept by the force of the water & hurt their feet on the rocks in the water. Luckily they held onto some plants & were pulled out with the help of ropes. So now what. How would we cross the river? The only way would be to wait for the rains to stop & the water to calm down. We saw people gathering on the opposite bank of the river. We shouted & told them what the situation was. They had long ropes with them. They would tie the rope across the river & then we could cross. This was thrilling. Almost a rescue operation. We walked along the bank to a point in the river where there were fewer rocks & the water was less turbulent & shallow. Few guys from the opposite bank threw one end of the rope to us & tied the other end to a tree. We secured the rope firmly at our end. Then one by one the guys stepped into the torrent & crossed the river holding the rope. People on the opposite bank pulled them out. Quite a crowd had gathered there by now. My turn to go. I held the rope & stepped into the water. Immediately I felt a jerk putting me off balance. It was not as easy as I thought. The rope was swaying & the current was trying to take you along with it. There was remarkable force in the flow. In addition to that the riverbed was full of loose rocks so there was no firm foothold. I was now in the centre of the river. Just then a huge boulder moved with the force of the water, hit my shin & I almost fell. People at the opposite end shouted, ”whatever happens, don’t leave the rope”. I finally reached them & they pulled me out of the water. Slowly the others followed, everybody crossed the river & they detached the rope. But where were Sid, Vartak & Arvind.

The people are gone; the ropes are gone, now how would the three of them cross. We had to wait for them at the bank so that we could warn them against getting into the water. After about fifteen minutes they arrived on the opposite bank. We shouted & told them what had happened. They looked tense. One of the locals was there. We explained the problem to him. He went looking for help & got with him a group of around ten local boys who were used to the river & its ways. They decided they would form a compact human chain to prevent being swept away. They entered the river forming a chain from our end to the opposite end. Vartak crossed the river holding the chain. This bunch of guys was excited about this rescue & was creating a pandemonium. For them it was fun.

As Sid was wading through the surge he lost his balance and crashed into the water taking the entire human chain with him. I bet the river could not sweep him away. We pulled him out. Finally even Arvind came safely on our side. We thanked the locals for their help. Now it was just a short walk to the temple. We were discussing what an eventful trip this had been. The trek had taken its toll on us. Sid, Arvind, Vartak & Sanjay had torn shoes. The entire sole had come out. Arvind had fallen on the steps while coming down. Even Sid was hurt. My shin was now bruised & swollen. The entire group was battered to extreme. But it was all worthwhile.

We pulled buckets of water from the temple well & took a bath. Collected our bags & bid farewell to the temple. We now had to walk back three hours to Asangaon station on the road we had taken the previous night. Damn. We were already fatigued. But we nudged on. The road, which was dark & ghastly the previous night, now looked beautiful wriggling through bright green stretches of rice fields & little streams. After one hour of walking & singing we saw an empty rickshaw & all seven of us cramped ourselves into it. It dropped us on the highway from where we walked up to the station. We changed our clothes in the station masters cabin. It felt very nice to wear dry clothes. I had seen so much water in one day that I felt like taking the next trip to the deserts of Rajasthan. We took the 4:20 local going towards CST. Just the right time for sabooites. The last twenty-four hours would remain etched in our memories forever as the ultimate wet & wild experience.

Irfan.