Aad Fort -Rarely Done Trek- 27th August 2017

The promise of a rarely explored Aad Fort and that too grade “easy” was reason enough to opt for this trek

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As is the routine we took the scheduled Kasara local (with the standard warning- IF YOU MISS THE TRAIN, YOU MISS THE TREK) and reach Kasara at 1.20 am. 

Time for the  long vehicle ride with the customary break at Baba Da Dhaba for Tea/coffee /Pulao/Biryani and the surprise Cake Cutting. (The crowd at Baba da Dhaba at 2 am never ceases to amaze me ). 

 The fun quotient of the jeep ride was provided by Arjun , one of our intrepid trekkers, who decided that travelling on the roof top of one of the two Jeeps was  a nice way to get some breeze. A hilarious turn of events , since no one in that Jeep  knew he was doing that and it actually led to speculation about ghosts and what not !!!!




We eventually reach the Base Village and take a much needed break at the local Krishna Temple.

 After the introduction round of the 25 odd trekkers where new friendships were made and existing bonds renewed, the group had a quick warm up round with simple physical exercises

and enthusiastically started the trek.

 The local (absolutely down to earth ) guide Gokul conversationally mentioned somewhere along the way that the (vast) tracts of land from point X to point Y belonged to his family , where they grew vegetables like  French beans and peas.  

Our ever jovial Trek lead Jaal actually suggested we had all the ingredients for pulao available!

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The easy grade trek started off easily enough almost like a stroll through the fields. Special mention of the fertile if gooey soil through which we trekked!!!!

The slight adventure to the day began with the ascent into the Hills beyond the fields. The continuous rains had made the paths slippery and at a few stretches the narrow path was all of 18-24 inches wide with a fairly steep fall on one side.

Special mention has to be made of the absolute majestic view of the enormous windmills which we could see as we gained height and took breaks in between at the plains/plateaus. 

The breaks were well utilized to either click pics 

or explore the surroundings as per inclination J

The food break in between at the temple cave was one of  the highlights of the trek with about twenty plus breakfast packets making their appearance and being exchanged freely among all. Instant sandwiches, cakes,  idli, thepla, kachori, fruits, to mention only a few. 

The dance party that began later has to be seen to be believed. Some absolutely groovy moves and some trick videography has ensured sufficient entertainment for a lifetime each time the videos are revisited.

The feeling of being in the midst of clouds, when enveloped by the fog and then suddenly being treated to the breathtaking landscape below when the fog cleared was fascinating to say the least.

We eventually reach the top, explore around a bit and

 after a good 

session of games 

or 

snoozing 

or blank gazing into the valley or clouds

(as per choice),

and of course the mandatory group pic,

the descent begins. 

We reach base in good time. Enroute get the chance to examine a windmill up close and personal (and click plenty of pics of course)

and then start the journey back. Lunch break with some authentic local cuisine

 and back to Kasara Railway Station. A long wait at the station followed by an even longer trip (duly peppered with a hilarious game of Dumb Charades),

we return home tired but happy after another fantastic trekking experience.

Thank you Tattva Adventures for an awesome experience and a Special mention of the fantastic camaraderie shared amongst the trekkers. I always am thankful for the like minded yet eclectic mix of  trekkers who more often represent many Professions and fields. Our group this time consisted of Finance professionals, graphic designers, Entreprenuers, Pilots and students of course to name only a few.

Visapur - August 2017

Visapur Fort – One Day Monsoon Trek promised the following !!!!
| 50 Shades of Monsoon | Twin Fort of Lohagad | Secret Escape Passage | A Walk Through Waterfall |
With a 6 am planned start , I typically looked forward to a couple of hours of snoozing in the bus (high hopes given the enthusiastic wannabe singers :P ). Another motivation for this trek other than the salient features as mentioned above  was ... traveling to and fro by bus. You have to do a local train travel to Kasara and back for a trek to know what I mean 😀

One of the highlights of the bus trip was the totally creative and hilarious dumb charades game with our juniormost trekker Bhaval (all of 11 years young) keeping us wondering as also in splits with his version of all movies.

 Reached base village  as planned and after a typically Maharashtrian village breakfast of Poha and chaha the trek started. We were promised a rainy trek and we got one. Start to finish, except for the few who preferred to get wet (without rain gear), every one was in their respective rain jackets, caps and what not. Not that it made any difference. By the end of the trek everyone was soaking wet. Either nature had its way or we chose to get drenched under the myriad falls along the way.

Walk through waterfall is something which has to be experienced by all trekkers. For a easy grade trek the thrill quotient was more than made up by trekking uphill in the gushing waterfalls.

The occasional plains  gave us the much needed rest as well as the opportunity to admire the beauty of nature. On a conservative estimate we had about a million hues of green !!!

I do recollect seeing few caves with nice camping space, Assume that must have contained the “secret passage”, if any. Or maybe we missed seeing it because of the continuous downpour.

There were a few big rocks laid in formation and this was all the sign of any fort ever having been there. I have written elsewhere and repeat again, there has to be a certain regular maintenance done of all the historical places in the Sahyadris. There seems to be a lot of lip service happening about the rich culture and history of the Marathas , but precious little done to preserve the same.

Descent from the top happened soon enough and after  change over to dry clothes and a delicious lunch at the extremely hospitable village household , we started our return journey in good time with pleasant memories.

 

Thank you Mischief Managed (Digvijay Rathore and Shalaka Parasher) for a fantastic  time with nature. Looking forward to many more

ANDHARBAN TRAIL – A JUNGLE BOOK – JUNE 2017

When you sign up for an event titled ANDHARBAN TRAIL – A Jungle Book , You do (think you ) know whats in store 

Like they say in Landmark Forum – You know what you know, You know what you don’t  know  , but you don’t know what  you don’t know.….

The  trip's ‘fun’ element starts at the very beginning ,  when I realize I have forgotten my rain jacket for a monsoon trek !!!! This dismay is greatly softened by the fact that there are many who have deliberately chosen not to carry their rainy gear with the intention of getting wet. Blame the delayed Mumbai monsoon for this !!!!

With the  (not so) tiring overnight bus journey , liberally laced up with enthusiastic  Antakshari singing , erratic dozing off (inspite of the music)   and the long wait for breakfast (thanks  to few other groups reaching the lone refreshment spot at the same time)  notwithstanding , our  group of  51 starts the trek with much gusto and enthusiasm. This is after the mandatory introduction round 

Scintillating scenery  , Overcast skies , clouds flitting across the sky , Beautiful greenery (about a zillion shades of them) , the smell of wet earth and the multiple small waterfalls  make the  trail extremely enjoyable. The entire thirteen km trail was peppered liberally with multiple Ascents and Descents /  ups and downs .We get  the first taste of things to come when a light drizzle starts . . . steadily increasing in volume until it becomes a continuous downpour.


 Through this all we gradually get nearer to the best part of the trail . . . . walking across three(major) waterfalls !!!

Now ... exciting as this may sound, the continuous rains had increased the force and volume of the Waterfalls considerably and what was to have been an enjoyable stroll across the water body literally became an adventure. Full credit to the Trek leaders who managed this part beautifully by stringing across support ropes and helping trekkers to navigate the falls regardless of which group they belonged to.

It was not named Jungle trek for nothing  . . . . . . At a height of approximately 3000 ft above sea level and in spite of the rains being only intermittent barring the initial downpour, in many places along the trail, the path was so dense and dark that the sun-rays never reached to ground even at noon time. It made sense as a group to keep each other within vision as it was very easy to get lost  if we deviated from the route. The thirteen km trail ensures that you endlessly keep trudging through the dense  thickets with moss laden paths . creating a colourful collage with the red mud  and the bright flowers. The trek in most places entailed  walking on ridges offering breathtaking  view of the Kundalika Valley, Bhira dam and the mountain ranges of Tamhini ghat.  For  a city slicker (pardon the slang !!! ) the breathtaking beauty of the ghats . . . the forests . . . and the water bodies are elements of  creations which have to be experienced .

Few unforgettable moments like . . . 1-The much looked forward to “Dabba Party” at the local temple and pool, where everyone devoured the contents of their respective Lunch Boxes. The highlight being of course the awesome combinations in which the food was devoured. Puris, Puliyogarai (tamarind rice) , theplas, cakes and  bananas. Plus side dishes like random chutney, pickles and crunchies to keep company and enhance the ‘lunch’ experience.

 2- Of course the extempore jump into the water and dancing  near the base village.

The bonus element to the entire trek was,  being accompanied by professional photographers involving drone photography, go pro equipment et al., since we get to relive the entire trek/trail  again and again.

The fag end of the trip had an awesome comedy moment when I cooly walked away from the Bus with someone else's bag.It's a good thing it was sorted out a bit later at the cost of a late night round trip by good old kaali-peeli taxi (at 1.30 in the night !!!!) 

Thank you Team Tattva Adventures for yet another fantastic experience. Great fun and lot of learning on the You know what you know, You know what you don’t  know  , but you don’t know what  you don’t know.…. aspects of life. 

Night trek to Harishchandragad - May 2017

When the Mischief Managed event invite reads as “Respite From City Heat | Pre-Monsoon Magic | 11th century caves | Kedareshwar Shivalingam | Taramati - Third Highest Peak of Maharashtra | “ the trek to Harishchandragad becomes a must do (all the more so since my previous trek was done in early February 2017. ) 
The journey starts with the mandatory and unavoidable looooooong train journey to Kasara whereby we cover a major portion of the distance. After reaching Kasara and an even longer ride to the base village with the customary dinner break at Baba da Dhaba, we are all set for the night trek. But first; a dose of kadak chai by our friendly host and his family. The long journey is more than amply compensated by the sheer beauty of the ghats (even at night) and the natural coolness in the atmosphere
Within a few minutes of starting the trek we have the good fortune of chancing upon the much heard but hardly seen (for Mumbaikars at least) fireflies . . . . We gleefully take a detour from the trek route and start oohing and aahing about the beauty of the fireflies . The sighting of fireflies as I understand is normally before the onset of monsoon since they cannot survive once the big showers start. So alongwith the beauty that they spread it also brought hopes of early showers . .and respite from the energy sapping heat. The scene of fireflies in the pitch dark reminded me a bit of all the fancy computer graphics used in movies and I was left marveling at the beauty of God’s creation.
After the mandatory selfie (!!!) wid the fireflies :P , we move onward with the trek. A funfilled few hours with lotsa staring at the skies and wondering at the beauty of the stars we reach the 11th century Caves . . . . a sudden cloud burst cover with resultant low visibility ensures that we roam around a bit before eventually reaching the top . While few of us decide to promptly plonk down in the available space others decide to explore the surroundings.
After the blistering Mumbai heat the pleasantly cold peak with strong winds was lovely. Few hours later we are up and looking eagerly forward to the Sunrise. Over those few hours we realize that we are (again) in the midst of clouds. For the technically inclined , it’s a natural phenomena where a vertical cloud burst is seen at the Konkan kada and One gets to experience a thick layer of cloud cover. Not much visibility of the plains below . . .and obviously not of the sunrise either. But the surreal atmosphere , beauty and the feel has to be experienced . The breathtaking hues of the skies with the moving clouds and continuous wind raking up the fine dust into the atmosphere . . . . Can go on and on . . . Lot of photo opportunities . . selfies . . VDOS . . . Slow mo(s) . . . Time lapse . . . .
Onward to Taramati peak is fun but slowly leads few to start huffing and puffing :P and only a handful end up reaching the third highest peak of Maharastra. The breathtaking view is worth the extra effort as we are treated to a single shot view of all the landmark peaks . . be it Ratangadh (Nere-needle point) . . Kalsubai . . . and the Bhandardara dam. The view of the plains and the peaks with sunlight and the shadows of the clouds formed an interesting collage of colours .
Descent to Harishchandra Gadh happens soon enough and after breakfast we start the actual descent to the base village. It takes much lesser time and inspite of the merciless sun, we are treated to some breathtaking landscapes on our way down while gorging on wild berries. 
Special mention of the pathetic state of the temple with the Kedareshwar Shivalingam . 
Reaching the base, lunch, loooong road journey to Kasara station , mandatory scrambling for the train and ensuring a comfortable seating (4th seat hi sahi) and we return back to our respective homes pleasantly tired and cherished memories eagerly looking forward to a shower, dinner and the much needed night’s sleep before gearing up for the working week. Thank you Mischief Managed for an amazing weekend, new friends and promise of many more such memorable trips in future

Help Yourself !!!!

Help Yourself 

Unfortunately these two words tend to describe the generally selfish and materialistic culture in which most of us live. They result not in self-help but in dependency. Our education and our role models do not encourage us to help ourselves to grow, change and expand our capacities as human beings. Real self-help means recognising that no one else is responsible for our thoughts and feelings, and that we are only ever victims because we choose to be. Our destiny is always and only in our own hands - despite all apparent evidence which may indicate otherwise. Learning to help ourselves is also a prerequisite to extending a hand of assistance to others. We all need a leg up from time to time, but once there, we are always on our own.