Things were kind of getting weird for me and I needed a break from the routine life and relax all away from the city humdrum. A leave from office on Monday gave me a chance to grab a big weekend and relax. Relaxation was need of the time and any treks were already out of the lists for probable destinations. Our farmhouse near Malshej was a better destination for the much needed relaxation… moreover it would also give me an opportunity to satisfy the shutterbug in me. So the motive was fixed, the destination was finalised… Ohh yes.. company?? Mr. Shirish Thorat is my accomplice almost all the times and this time Rohan joined us for this trip. Our original plan consisted of a days rest and a small visit to Caves at Palu/ Sonawale in this range.

A soothing drive on NH222 after which we were at my farmhouse at Pendhri near Vaishakhare… Its a beutifull place and offers magnificent views of Naneghat and Jivdhan from the backyard along with Amboli (Dharya) Ghat and Durg/Dhakoba.

A nice dinner at Vaishakhare and we were set to rock the night…. Cold weather, Camp fire and Roasted Chicken topped with talks and fun became an excellent combo. Night was not very good because of the cold weather which triggered my ear ache. The next morning I unexpectedly rised up early trying haard to sooth my aching ear. Photography was still on my mind and I was certainly eager about getting my hands on my Sigma 70-300 DG MACRO lens that I had bought recently. The urge within me took over the pain and I started hunting for the butterflies to strike a pose after few clicks a Yellow Brested Flycatcher attracted me.. and I started following it… and to my surprise it came on the drumstick tree right in front of my farmhouse. Waiting there for some more time, I noticed few more different birds chirped around the tree and me trying to capture each of it in my cam.

After all these efforts I took a well deserved nap followed by a drive in the lonely roads in the nearby mountains. Yet another unsuccessful attempt to make it to the Caves at Palu/ Sonawale. More bird photography attempts failed as well as successful and we were off to sleep. Next morning a late start for the return journey back to Mumbai on NH222 and a well deserved retreat for me after a long time. But the counter has incremented for the unattempted plan to make it to the Palu / Sonawale Caves. It has been the 4th time that I have planned for visiting those caves and all in vain!! I hope I make it the next time..

NOTE: The Blog had been written right on the trek…. With few adjustments later… The Each Sub Heading specifies the situation when the excerpt was written.

@Train Journey to Karjat

It has been long that ive not trekked… Exactly this thought keeps running thru my mind every weekend and its become even stronger since monsoons have started showering over the Sahyadris … Today all are gonna go to trek Fort Peth aka Kothligad and I dont wanna miss upon yet another trek…

I am in the Ambarnath slow train to thane and the Karjat fast I was supposed to get has just passed by leaving me querying myself if I would missed yet another trek??

Shirish got down at Thakurli as he had my tickets with him… Waiting at Ambarnath station for Karjat train I meet an old friend of mine. Few memories, plans and how about, and Shirish and Me alight for Karjat by the next train.

Reaching Karjat station I felt really bad to keep all waiting for me… All got into tumtum and move towards the base village… The journey way quite slow thanks to our drivers.

@The Night in the Cave at Karjat

It’s quite late now… Few of us have gone out to enjoy fresh air while others are in their dream lands… oh did I mention while am writing all this, few people from the other group are snoring like hell and I feel to screw the hell out of them…. hmm well the trek so far is as good as always… I am trekking again after a long time (Around 7 months) so its quite a good feeling. Tonight menu for dinner was Cheese Pav Bhaji… I kno i kno.. Its quite a pleasure having a cuisine Cheese Pav Bhaji on treks… We would be seeing the fort tomorrow morning… Did i tell you how much am I missing my cam?? Having no words to explain it though!!!! That bloody jerk from the other group is still snoring to his core and i am loosing it since its screwing me… Not his mistake though…

I had 3 failed attempts to get my self a sound sleep. Finally FOUR of us clicked an intense conversation which unexpectedly extended till 4 am… we knew it was quite late and landed ourselves directly to our beddings for the night… my eyes were just about to close while an alarm ringing continually screwed my sleep yet again…

@In the Karjat-Pune Passenger After the Trek

A pleasant morning, but lazy me! Some early packing and we were off to visit the fort while our loving PD was cooking sheera for breakfast. Some hanging around, then visiting the top of the fort, photo sessions, sightseeing and spotting far of forts like Padargad, Bhimashankar, Siddhagad were seen clearly. Some leg pulling sessions atop with the prime target being our Maharaj (Rohit) was fun. Lovely smiling faces around, fun and enthusiasm gave the day a perfect start. Returning back to the cave while the breakfast was still being cooked, all again assembled near the canon, everyone seemed to like the spot so much that we also had our breakfast right there… Not to forget the love amongst each other that routed out through those sheera feeding sessions. Finally we had to leave back to our abodes and resume grinding ourselves in our routine lives. We started our descend after a short cleanliness drive, which is one of the prime TODO mottos for us… and also the need of time. The quick descend witnessed many picnickers going atop. Reaching the base village, we got into the tumtums and moved to Karjat station. This was an unusual moment for me, splitting ways for going to Pune while others leaving for mumbai. Ive found a nice place on the upper berth and gonna sleep nicely for next couple of hours… This was all from me… hoping to join back at Mruggad or any other event on the charts!!! OAO

Trip to Tarkarli (20,21,22 Feb’09)  was one of the most memorable trips of my life for the obvious beauty that the place offers. The planning for the trip had too many changes regards to the number of people, vehicle, and even the location to some extent. The uncertainity persisted through all the possible factors till the earlier night. Finally the seven of us were off for the journey.

The early start around 4am to ensure we reach as early as possible happened perfectly as planned. Not to talk about the hot climate and the pathatic meal enroute, we reached Tarkarli by 3pm. After checking in the resort and tea, we headed straight to white sanded Tarkarli Beach. Within no time we get to know about our results, which adds to the excitement and ejoyment. Some jumping sessions and fun in water by others while me enjoying photopgraphing them and capturing moments marked the dusk at Tarkarli beach. A walk back to resort, the tired souls decided to have dinner at the resort itself. A surplus meal, few discussions and we were off for the day.

The next day morning, the boat ride was on cards. The experience is just unexplainable…. The boatride takes tourists from the backwaters to the sea, where you get to spot Dolphins. Yes we did see a lot of them…. After seeing dolphins, we moved to hault at the island that was created during Tsunami. This island is more into the backwaters, which I earlier mentioned has crystal clear waters. Back to the resort, and we were all set to leave for Malvan to visit Rajkot, Sidhudurg Fort and not to forget, Snorkling!!!

Visiting Rajkot became mere a formality since all has vanished except few Graves of High Grade officers of British and a Basation towards Sindhudurg Fort. Lunch at Hotel Chaitanya in Malvan Market, was worth and made our afternoon. Yep, we were so carried away that we had to rush for snorkling since it was the last group for the day. We were taken behind Sindhudurg fort where the water is silent and clear. We could see fishes from the boat too… “Spotted Rabit” and “Zebra fish” were all around the boat. Here was a decision to be made!! I fear water!! but I gave it a shot to take over my fear factors!! Around 5 minutes in water and I was up!! I asked the mentor to take me back to the boat! But the 5 minutes were worth!! The experience was awesome and other of my friend who had been far in deep waters too had made their day. They saw the aqua world very closely… Supriya and Akshita got an opportunity to see a group of “Red Tapers” and an “Angel Fish”. While lucky Akshita got to hold a “Sea Cucumber” in her hands… Isnt it awesome??? Yes I know I missed all that. But next time I will make it… am sure!! A quick visit to Sidhudurg Fort which was also their last trip for the day… left me dissapointed since we couldnt see the half of the fort since it was dark. Some shopping by the girls and we were set for dinner, again in Hotel Chaitanya… and we were off to resort after a delicious dinner. Some timepass and we were off to sleep so that we could start the return journey early, the next day!!

A late start, unlike decided, and we rushed to Ganpatipule. After visiting the Ganpati Temple and having lunch, we relaxed for some time at the beach. And now we had to rush back to Mumbai, with all the sweet memories made in last 2 days to cherish for life. We finally made it back home around 12.30 am. With college days just to end…. this trip added jelly to the Icecream.

A long weekend of 24,25 and 26th Jan gave the masses an opportunity to break free from their routines, so did we and covered many places to our liking as mentioned bellow.

PratapGad
Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and KashiVishveshwar Temple
Ajinkyatara Fort
SajjanGad
KalyanGad aka Nandgiri Fort
Kedareshwar Temple
VardhanGad
Jejuri

The Journey…

The day I returned from Goa Trip, I was all ready to go for a long 3 day trek. Though it wasnt a full fledged trek, we had hired a Tavera and targetted Satara region. After unpacking my Goa Bag, I put in few more clothes and the snacks that Tatya had asked me to bring. Around 12.15 am I joined in at the Mankhurd Junction at Ghatkopar. The first destinantion was decided to be PratapGad fort near Mahabaleshwar. The night drive via the Mumbai Goa road with old romantic tracks was relaxing… The Funny part being!! I was going to Mumbai from the same route the earlier night, and the next very night around the same time I was again on the same route!!

PratapGad

We reached Paratapgad around 5am, but the doors of the fort were still closed and had to wait till some1 opened it… It was about to be sunrise and the doors were opened, as soon as this happened we rushed to capture sunrise.  After capturing too many sunrise pics, We rushed to see the fort…. Pratapgadh provided a lot of protographic opportunities. After some sight seeing, a lite breakfast, little planning as of where to go next and dabba session, We started our journey towards Wai where we were supposed to trek up PandavGad, which is now privately owned by Mapro. We could see Pandavgad while driving down the ghat towards Wai… looking at the height and gradient, it didnt not appeared to be a quickie that we were looking for on this journey.

Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and KashiVishveshwar Temple

We reached Wai and started finding a way to reach the base of Pandavgad. While in process we switched the plan and decided to find an accomadation since it was eident that we would have to stay back at Wai for the night if we trekked Pandavgadh. We decided to think over it while having lunch. After enquiring a bit about the accomadation rates, we went in the Temple preemises, the well known Wai cha Dholya Ganpati and the adjoining Kashivishweshwar temple were a beauty. The temple is ancient and beautifully built. But the bhookads that we are, we quickly entered hotel “MahaGanpati” which served really delicious lunch. Rohit was as happy as getting a treasure after having lunch and so were we. Here we switched to another plan, where we could not only save the accomodation funds, but could also see some more places instead of a single Pandavgadh. Here was the new plan, according to which we had to head to Ajinkyatara Fort in Satara and then to SajjanGadh where we could stay for the night.

Ajinkyatara Fort

A nice drive to Satara, enroute which we could see Chandan-Vandan which was on cards for next day; VairatGad, which was named as SujayGad since we didnot knew its name nor were sure if it was a fort unless we learnt about it from a book the next day, took us to Satara city. Ajinkyatara can be very well distinguished with the two doordarshan towers that it has overlooking the city of Satara. A motorale road takes you straight to the main door of Ajinkyatara. Ajinkyatara is wide spread but has very less remenants existing, except the Doors, fortifications, a temple and place where queen Tarabai stayed. We all almost lost in the beutifull sunset and sky colors at the dusk. Now this is what made Ajinkyatara more memorable for us… We unknowingly breeched the security of the Doordarshan premises and darely taking an exit of their main gate, while we were inturupted by the security who were trashing us with words. Initially they were not that harsh but the moment that they realised that the Tavera ( It had Mumbai DoorDarshan banner ) at the gate was ours, they fired us like hell…. By now I had realised what the problem was… They were in a missconception that some officials from Mumbai Doordarshan were on the fort and they had to tighten their belts which went in vain as their assumption was wrong. But the mistake was ours (mine, who was the first one to jump over the wall) so we had to say sorry for what happened. I was feeling like a fool since, few of us were really scared/hurt by what happened and I was feeling nothing about it.A quick exit from the fort and a drive in the dark took us to SajjanGad.

SajjanGad

From the car parking one has to climb up 250 stairs to reach the top, which is developed as Dharmaday of Samartha Ramdas Swami. The Dharmaday serves luch and dinner to the visitors and also provide an acomadation facility. Nice hot water to get fresh and a nice place to stay was provided to all visitors.A tasty Pitla-Bhat and Pickle was the menu of the night. The people who organsie the things there are pretty well organised and strict with the rules; I am sure that its the key to how they manage the large masses without much trouble. Some planning for the next day, enlisted that we could cover KalyanGad (Nandgiri), VardhanGad and MahimanGad while Jarandeshwar was on cards too. Each of these were quickies excpet Jarandeshwar. The next day morning we saw the more of Sajjangad and left for Kalyangad.

KalyanGad

Driving towards KalyanGad, we learnt that people know it more as Nandgiri rather than KalyanGad. Also people arent aware that it is a fort. We reached the base of Nandgiri and we could see steps that lead towards the top, but the steps are only in the begining and end of the hike near the main door. The intermediate way is an easy hike of about 40 minutes. The way is well marked and many people visit the fort for the Parshavnath Temple that it has. Enroute we also come across a small cave. Reaching the main door we realised that the stairs near the main door were built just few days earlier. Entering the door and moving straight, we could see a path/stairs leading downwards near a summit to a cave around 30 meters bellow. After entering the cave one has to walk/crouch for around 70 meters. The floor of the way stays wet and there is water filled on the left side. It is risky to enter this place in monsoons. At the end of the path we see Idols of Parshavnath, Datta and Devi. After praying and some photography we made a exit and returned towards main door. After drinking water provided by Guruji who looks after the temple, we proceeded for exploring rest of fort. Kalyangad can be distinguished fom surounding forts with the single huge Banyan tree it has atop. After resting for some time under the shade, we decided the further plan. Sipping herbal tea ( gavti chaha ) we had some talks with Guruji. We had enough of rest and proceeded to decend the fort. A surplus lunch at KalyanGad dhaba at the base of the fort and we were off towards VardhanGad. Enrotue we also visited Kedareshwar Temple at Koregaon.

VardhanGad

Around 5pm we reached the base of VardhanGad where two cannons welcomed us while entering the village. After some “soch vimash” we decided to hike up with our sacks so that we could stay atop. After a hike of about 20-25 mins we reached the main door of the fort. Proceeding from there, a small climb on the hump takes us to the VardhaniDevi Temple which is the best place to stay. It also has electricity connection, charging points and around 20 peaple can easily accomadate in the temple. Enroute we come across two small temples of Shiv and Hanumant; on the left side is a water cristen of potable water. Later it was all about some attempt to night photography and not to talk about the efforts towards cooking our meal for the night “Maggi Rice Noodles” which followed nice sleep. Early rise from sleep with loud bells rang by 2 villagers… Most of the villagers come daily for prayers to the temple. We immediatly proceeded to explore the fort. The fort still has its fortification in good condition. There are two more water cristens on the other side of the fort, one chor darwaja facing the present day highway and a “kabar” in the interior part of the fort. After Vardhangadh we headed towards Pusegaon to visit SevaMaharaj’s Mandir. Since it was  “Somvaari Amvasya” crowds at all the temples was expected. From here we headed towards Jejuri, enroute we took a hault at Lonand where we visited SK’s home.

Jejuri

Reaching Jejuri we noticed that it was too crowded as it was one of the biggest fest at Jejuri. I was pretty excited to witness the festive mood here, which I had always been hearing about. After relaxing and having delicious Pohe at Sagar’s atyas place. We headed towards “Gad Jejuri”; the walk towards the main door was with the crowd, the whole premises of the temple was crowded with people ofering prayers and blowing turmeric powder and pieces of coconut as part of the tradition. All that could be seen had turned yellow with the the layers of turmeric powder and all that could be heard was, “Yelkot Yelkot Jay Malhar” and “Sadnanadacha Yelkot Yelkot” . The experience that we went through couldnot be explained in words…. It was great to be there and we were not in a hurry to leave from the place and skipped Malhargad which was on cards. Some photographic events and the festive mood made our day. A nice bath to wash off the turmeric over our body and we left for Mumbai.

A lot of unforgettable memories, peace of mind with the “trek cum devdarshan” made the most of the long weekend. Few things better be experienced rather than said or heard; yet just an effort to convey our experiences.

After over 45 days of examination period, we were looking forward for a well deserved break. The destination decided was GOA… Obviously there was a lot of excitement and eagerness regaring the trip. With some bagpacking and absolutely no planning we headed to GOA by JanShatabdi Express from Thane at 5.30 am. We reached thivim by 1 am and headed towards Mhapusa by bus from where we took another bus to Panjim. After some time we hired bikes and headed towards SBI quaters where we had booked room for us for the next 6 days.

The first day, the day we reached GOA, we spent some time settling down and taking the feel of the city and getting acquinted with the places and roads around and riding bikes at top speed till Miramar Beach. Dinner, Few Glasses of Wine and good sleep concluded the day.

The Second Day morning we returned the bikes and hired bikes from ‘Cozy Nook’, from where we got bikes in good condition. After refueling the fuel tanks, we headed straight towards Dodamarg ahead of which was located Pappu’s Native. At the end of the long drive, we were caught by RTO police for crossing GOA border and entering Maharashtra without permit and were fined accordingly. A mouth watering lunch and some rest energised us to move towards Tilari Dam. After roaming around Tilari for sometime, we headed towards a river in vicinity where we had fun playing in water after which we started our return journey to Panjim.

The Third Day was planned for churches and temples of GOA. We headed straight to St. Francis Church in Old Goa. Some intensive Photo Sessions and having some fun…. we headed to the temples of Goa. The first was ShantaDurg Temple, which was later followed by Nageshi, Mahalakshmi and Mangeshi Temples. A quick visit to DaunaPaula after dawn and a heavy delicious meal and again few glasses of wine marked the end of the day.

The Fourth Day was the one everyone was more then eager about… it was the time to head to beaches of Goa. To Start with we headed straight towards Chapora Fort where a famous scene from movie Dil Chahta Hai was shot. Till reaching here few of us were not much happy since they were desperate to head to beach. Others stayed back in a shadowed corner while Pappu, Shirish and Me headed to take a look around the fort. The 100x Digital zoom of my cam played the role and we spotted something that I wont like to mention here. After a bit more exploration of the fort and surrounding beaches, we enquired a local colddrink seller regarding the beaches around and we headed straight to Morjim Beach. Morgim beach gave us a feeling of not being in India, since we were the only Indians to be seen around. Clean water and white sanded beach with firangs around is not all about Morgim. It also known for the Tortoises and the Tortoise Nesting farm. Prior to Morgim our next destination was Arambol Beach. Enroute Arambol Beach our hungry bellys accidently landed us to a beach where we gotta see quite a few eye candies. I wont explain in detail what it was while I wont even mention the name of the Beach…. lol. After a nice walk along the beach and delicious Sizzlers and lunch, we headed towards Arambol beach. Unlike the earlier two beaches, Arambol was quite crowded and gave a feel of being on Juhu/Girgaon Chowpaty of Mumbai… He He. After sunset and having some fun, we headed back to Panjim. Post some shoping in Mhapusa, we had dinner … Which followed taquiela shots at the room.

The Fifth day was marked by a delayed start to Fort Aguada… Fort Aguada is divided into two parts. The lower Aguada is still used as Jail while upper Aguada is open to public. The fort still has a strong fortification and is still in a good condition. From here we heaed to where we got tattoos made. A quick ride to Callanguate Beach where few of us headed for water sports and a couple of us stayed back. A drive back to Panjim and we all got dressed up to head back for a disc, but to our bad luck we were quite late and were not allowed in as they had enough of stag entries for the night! After this what happened was experience of lifetime and not to mention it here…. while others were having fun, I was killing time talking to friends over phone and sipping coffee at the Subway at Callanguate. Here I witnessed the darker shade of GOA’s nightlife too…. A drive back to Panjim at 4am and Morning Breakfast (Actually dinner for us) at Hotel Fidelgo and nice sleep marked the end of our last night in Goa.

The Sixth day, we had our train “Kokankanya Exp.” scheduled at 6pm, but there was a lot of shopping and bagpacking left. After having a bath we headed straight for lunch followed by purchasing cakes and wines… A quick bag packing and we left towards “Cozy Nook” to return the bikes from where we hired a Quallis to drop us at Karmali station. The drive to Karmali through Old Goa, was all about memorizing the fun and floric in last 5 days. Unfortunetely the seats reserved for us were scattered among 1st, 9th and 10th boggie of the train. The adjustments done ran into vain and Shirish and Me still had to go to 9th and 10th boggie to sleep since others had to stay together incase train haulted at signal at Diva Station. Next day morning we parted ways to head to our homes with good memories to cherish. Bad experiences and memories do occur but its on us how do we tackle them at that moment and move forward with the good that has happened with it.

Goa, it has to be there on the cards next time. Now that few of us are more aqcuinted to the place while Tejas still struggling to find the roads, Hope he doesnt head towards Mumbai next time while riding from Callanguate to Panjim … lolzz. Next time its to explore more of Goa and enjoy the beaches to the most with more clusters of great memories to cherish for life.