The conquest of Shivaji's mountain forts was officially on, when we started planning for this one at 4600 feet - atop Harishchandragad. On everybody's mind was Prachandgad - Torna - Shivaji's first conquest on the way to establishing Swaraj from a tender age of 16.. We are a far cry from 16, physically, but when you stand at the foothills of this imposing hill that seems to climb right into the clouds and has streams of milk dancing down along it's sides.... the clutch of age weakens.. the heart soars and the legs lift you up, as if with a mind of their own ... as if on a song .. Jai Bhavani .. Jai Shivaji... and you just know, that this is different .. there is something mystic and magical..
We reported to Fergusson college, Pune at 6 am.. Familiar friendly faces greeted Pankaj and me - they were were all there - Amrita, Nachiket, Mihir .. Tejas rolled in a few minutes later and Rakesh came in along with another of his friend's - Uday Thackray (long lost distant cousin of the tiger in mumbai you think? anybody's guess!).I'm not usually accustomed to starting up without a hot cuppa chai, but someone how that day, it was different. The excitement alone was adrenalin enough to keep me pepped up! Mihir had got me the sack - proper trekking gear with waist straps, aluminium supports et all .. in royal navy blue. So, there we were, packed up and all ready to go!
We reached Velhe, base village of Torna, at around 9 am. We were famished by the time we reached velhe and helped ourselves to generous helpings of kande pohe and chai. It's always good to start off with a good breakfast. It was already drizzling by the time we started. I was gladdened at the prospect of being completely drenched by the time we reach the top rises and that is thrilling! Of course, I didn't want to give in to temptation of getting drenched right away, so I put my Wind-cheater like most of us did, and set off..
10 minutes into the trek, the rain got heavier. The mountain sides seemed to come alive, with rivers of milk dancing down along it's sides .. the mist in the early morning air easily blew away the blues. As I was enjoying the beautiful creation of mother nature. our official photographers - rakesh and his friend uday got trigger happy with their camera - clicking away in all directions. We never have a dearth of models - of all shapes and sizes - in our gang. Pankaj, Tejas, Amrita, Rakesh & Uday all love taking snaps in all positions- the latest attraction being reclining on a flower bed. Credit to uday, the pics have really came out beautiful. If a casual bystander looks at it, there is every possibility that he'd say it was taken in switzerland or some other place.
As we waded through the muddy streams and the slippery wet mud, we carried the mountain up along with us. As if reaffirming the truth that dog is the man's best friend, we had two dogs following us from Velhe, all the way to the top. As if one of Shivaji's soldiers was coming up along with us to make sure we reach safely and savour a taste of grandeur of the fort. As we climbed, Only Mihir seemed to be listening to his own frequent requests to continue on the climb and click snaps once we were up. Those who wanted to lie about on flower beds, those who wanted to jump over each other, climb on trees, pull out tripods and shoot far into the cloud clad mountain tops... just did.The beauty of the hill had just enveloped us completely
When I said before that when you see these mountains - clothed in clouds and rivers of milk, the clutch of age weakens - this was not just a figment of my imagination. I actually saw it. Several fellow climbers - one of them among us - were easily upward of 50. They were not only climbing at a steady pace, but were also loving it.. Nobody, seemed to be tired and drained out.. They were wet,they were slipping, were muddy - but yet they were climbing with a smile - a happiness that comes from deep within.
The rains grew heavier and the zipper on my wind-cheater went down further and when a good deal of my tee was wet, it was apparent that keeping it on, only meant that my movement would be restricted. The wind cheater was promptly packed into the sack. More than half the crowd had shed their wind-cheaters too. Rightly so! who in their right mind would forego an opportunity like this to getting drenched!As we climbed, the hill sides grew slippery.. the wind blew harder.. and the rain drops, which earlier felt like petals on the face, felt like small darts attacking whichever part of the body that was faced towards it. We came to a patch, which looked like the table top of a small hill. We could see the draft of wind as it blew over the top of the hill - it was like a river of fog that we had to pass through. As we entered that stretch, we knew that the wind was blowing so strong, that it could easily knock us over. We had to sit down or hold hands at times .. so that the lightest one among us - amrita - would not need to find out what it meant to fly without wings. We would have liked to stay there longer and enjoy the wind, but we had much more to go and the top to reach..
At that time, we didn't know of the greater pleasure that held in store for us. As we turned around the bend of the mountain side, we could hear the sound of a water crashing down into the rocks .. now when I see water like that, everything in me says 'go jump'.. with me came tejas, pankaj, rakesh, uday, amrita and the whole gang ... the water was icy cold, crystal clear.. it turned us inside out, washed us and when we emerged from the falls after a good 10 minutes.. the happy faces around me told me that this was one exhiliariating experience & for many, a first ..
The climb from here became steeper, with many rock patches. After a steady climb, we finally reached the grand door of Prachandagad - The Bini darwaja. From there, after a hot cuppa chai which seemed to have more ginger than the actual tea leaves, we went ahead to the temple on the fort. It was lunch time and out came the boxes. One thing - Wherever you go, always make sure you have a gujarati friend with you. They will always come with the best food and will have enough to serve a battalion. The spread of theplas, chapatis, bhakri, sheera & sandwiches could put a 5-star buffet to shame. A few among us always know to park themselves in the best positions - Pankaj & Rakesh made sure that everybody paid them a little 'toll' before they had their lunch. Tejas, I'd say was easily the nicest guy in the crowd, cause he made me feel on the top of the world by saying that the contraption I created and claimed was a sandwich, was really the most amazing one he ever had!
Well ... lunch over, we were back on our feet and off to the budla machi (arm of the mountain having a feature like an overturned vessel).. A nervous moment was when we saw that a landslide had happened and coverd the path we had to take with rocks. Mihir, Nachiket and co expertly navigated the traverse and anchored a rope so we might all go across safely. As we went ahead to the Budhla Machi, we could see the mountain ridge which would take us to Rajgad on our left. The interesting part about Torna and Rajgad is that they are linked by a mountain ridge which would make an interesting trek... that for later.. So, We went upto the farthest point on Budla machi, till we could go no further and then, came back. It was soon time to go back, and the descent was much faster that the climb again dotted with moments of steep descents and frolic under cascading waterfalls..
Once down, we downed several units the staple diet of all trekkers and country farers .. vada pav and chai .. We jumped up into the bus still wet, still shivering and savouring every bit of the trek. As the bus sped towards pune and the folks in the front part of the bus went into slumber .. the night life in the rear part came alive. Rakesh became the item girl, Tejas the possessed Nagin, Nachiket the charmer .. and the silent bylanes of kakade travels came alive with song and dance and raucous singing all the way to pune .. As I drooped off to sleep in the cosy shivneri to mumbai.. I reminisced about how much we had packed into the day.. The shouting, the singing left me with no voice the next day, but when in your mind you know .. prachandagad .. jinkla .. you really don't need a voice .. your eyes and refreshed soul say it all..
We reported to Fergusson college, Pune at 6 am.. Familiar friendly faces greeted Pankaj and me - they were were all there - Amrita, Nachiket, Mihir .. Tejas rolled in a few minutes later and Rakesh came in along with another of his friend's - Uday Thackray (long lost distant cousin of the tiger in mumbai you think? anybody's guess!).I'm not usually accustomed to starting up without a hot cuppa chai, but someone how that day, it was different. The excitement alone was adrenalin enough to keep me pepped up! Mihir had got me the sack - proper trekking gear with waist straps, aluminium supports et all .. in royal navy blue. So, there we were, packed up and all ready to go!
We reached Velhe, base village of Torna, at around 9 am. We were famished by the time we reached velhe and helped ourselves to generous helpings of kande pohe and chai. It's always good to start off with a good breakfast. It was already drizzling by the time we started. I was gladdened at the prospect of being completely drenched by the time we reach the top rises and that is thrilling! Of course, I didn't want to give in to temptation of getting drenched right away, so I put my Wind-cheater like most of us did, and set off..
10 minutes into the trek, the rain got heavier. The mountain sides seemed to come alive, with rivers of milk dancing down along it's sides .. the mist in the early morning air easily blew away the blues. As I was enjoying the beautiful creation of mother nature. our official photographers - rakesh and his friend uday got trigger happy with their camera - clicking away in all directions. We never have a dearth of models - of all shapes and sizes - in our gang. Pankaj, Tejas, Amrita, Rakesh & Uday all love taking snaps in all positions- the latest attraction being reclining on a flower bed. Credit to uday, the pics have really came out beautiful. If a casual bystander looks at it, there is every possibility that he'd say it was taken in switzerland or some other place.
As we waded through the muddy streams and the slippery wet mud, we carried the mountain up along with us. As if reaffirming the truth that dog is the man's best friend, we had two dogs following us from Velhe, all the way to the top. As if one of Shivaji's soldiers was coming up along with us to make sure we reach safely and savour a taste of grandeur of the fort. As we climbed, Only Mihir seemed to be listening to his own frequent requests to continue on the climb and click snaps once we were up. Those who wanted to lie about on flower beds, those who wanted to jump over each other, climb on trees, pull out tripods and shoot far into the cloud clad mountain tops... just did.The beauty of the hill had just enveloped us completely
When I said before that when you see these mountains - clothed in clouds and rivers of milk, the clutch of age weakens - this was not just a figment of my imagination. I actually saw it. Several fellow climbers - one of them among us - were easily upward of 50. They were not only climbing at a steady pace, but were also loving it.. Nobody, seemed to be tired and drained out.. They were wet,they were slipping, were muddy - but yet they were climbing with a smile - a happiness that comes from deep within.
The rains grew heavier and the zipper on my wind-cheater went down further and when a good deal of my tee was wet, it was apparent that keeping it on, only meant that my movement would be restricted. The wind cheater was promptly packed into the sack. More than half the crowd had shed their wind-cheaters too. Rightly so! who in their right mind would forego an opportunity like this to getting drenched!As we climbed, the hill sides grew slippery.. the wind blew harder.. and the rain drops, which earlier felt like petals on the face, felt like small darts attacking whichever part of the body that was faced towards it. We came to a patch, which looked like the table top of a small hill. We could see the draft of wind as it blew over the top of the hill - it was like a river of fog that we had to pass through. As we entered that stretch, we knew that the wind was blowing so strong, that it could easily knock us over. We had to sit down or hold hands at times .. so that the lightest one among us - amrita - would not need to find out what it meant to fly without wings. We would have liked to stay there longer and enjoy the wind, but we had much more to go and the top to reach..
At that time, we didn't know of the greater pleasure that held in store for us. As we turned around the bend of the mountain side, we could hear the sound of a water crashing down into the rocks .. now when I see water like that, everything in me says 'go jump'.. with me came tejas, pankaj, rakesh, uday, amrita and the whole gang ... the water was icy cold, crystal clear.. it turned us inside out, washed us and when we emerged from the falls after a good 10 minutes.. the happy faces around me told me that this was one exhiliariating experience & for many, a first ..
The climb from here became steeper, with many rock patches. After a steady climb, we finally reached the grand door of Prachandagad - The Bini darwaja. From there, after a hot cuppa chai which seemed to have more ginger than the actual tea leaves, we went ahead to the temple on the fort. It was lunch time and out came the boxes. One thing - Wherever you go, always make sure you have a gujarati friend with you. They will always come with the best food and will have enough to serve a battalion. The spread of theplas, chapatis, bhakri, sheera & sandwiches could put a 5-star buffet to shame. A few among us always know to park themselves in the best positions - Pankaj & Rakesh made sure that everybody paid them a little 'toll' before they had their lunch. Tejas, I'd say was easily the nicest guy in the crowd, cause he made me feel on the top of the world by saying that the contraption I created and claimed was a sandwich, was really the most amazing one he ever had!
Well ... lunch over, we were back on our feet and off to the budla machi (arm of the mountain having a feature like an overturned vessel).. A nervous moment was when we saw that a landslide had happened and coverd the path we had to take with rocks. Mihir, Nachiket and co expertly navigated the traverse and anchored a rope so we might all go across safely. As we went ahead to the Budhla Machi, we could see the mountain ridge which would take us to Rajgad on our left. The interesting part about Torna and Rajgad is that they are linked by a mountain ridge which would make an interesting trek... that for later.. So, We went upto the farthest point on Budla machi, till we could go no further and then, came back. It was soon time to go back, and the descent was much faster that the climb again dotted with moments of steep descents and frolic under cascading waterfalls..
Once down, we downed several units the staple diet of all trekkers and country farers .. vada pav and chai .. We jumped up into the bus still wet, still shivering and savouring every bit of the trek. As the bus sped towards pune and the folks in the front part of the bus went into slumber .. the night life in the rear part came alive. Rakesh became the item girl, Tejas the possessed Nagin, Nachiket the charmer .. and the silent bylanes of kakade travels came alive with song and dance and raucous singing all the way to pune .. As I drooped off to sleep in the cosy shivneri to mumbai.. I reminisced about how much we had packed into the day.. The shouting, the singing left me with no voice the next day, but when in your mind you know .. prachandagad .. jinkla .. you really don't need a voice .. your eyes and refreshed soul say it all..
2 comments:
ek no. blog...........ur english vocab is too gud...awesome reading this blog i remmembered d whole event as it is...thanxs
mast re bhau :),bhau hya blog madhe aaplya group cha pic yayla pahije
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