The perfect year I can almost call it except for one small glitch. It was the perfect balance of the ups and downs I went through. I feel blessed with all the new friends I made also feel sorry for the ones I missed out on. I miss all the laughs I laughed and surprisingly also the tears I cried. I gained a lot, lost a few and still yearning for the one that I miss. 2009 has become the most happening year of my life so far, and I am hoping for more years like that one to come.
January:
The year began with the most perfect trek - Harishchandragad. I lead a group of 20, some known some unknown and still had the most fun I have ever had on a trek. Made everlasting friends and even experienced love at first smile.
The end of the month brought about another awesome trip. A trip to Goa, just with the girls. Girl bonding was all that was missing at that time of our lives. The ex-BF bitching special, trip to Goa was totally required after a crappy 2008. Janaki, Pali, Kiran and me had to bitch to let go of the past. And it was here that I realised that my heart was tilting towards the “smile” guy.
February:
February brought in lots of work at office along with regular, phone calls to the smile guy. It also brought in a good friend, Vidya. It gave me a small trek to duke’s nose and also a sailing trip to INS Shivaji. But the best of all, it got me an invitation to Leh from the “good friend”.
March:
The excitement of Leh, made me spend a good 22k on my very own Canon camera. My first possession. Something that I can proudly call my own. I also sealed the deal about Leh, by booking my tickets.
April:
Even though this April got me my very own 1st laptop, I am biased not to be fond of it. Some event which I am still unaware of and still dying to know about, made my “smile” guy move a few gazillion steps away from me. If only I could know, then maybe I could have the answer to my biggest question of 2009.
May:
May brought in lots of excitement. My best friend was getting married. And even though I was really happy for him, I knew that nothing would be the same again. No matter how much we deny it, friendships always change when friends get married.
The Ending of May brought is further joy as I was moving to Leh for a 2 week holiday.
June:
June brought in another very good friend. My holiday continued till around June mid and I was practically dragging myself back home. Office seemed like no fun anymore and I was also actually dragging myself to office everyday. But June end totally changed my life, when I resigned from office without any plan for the future.
July:
July just dragged along with no job and nothing to do. July mid brought with it good news when I got accepted into Management college for my masters degree. The rest of the month was just a blur with all the preparation for my departure to Delhi, where my college was. Shoppings and dinners and farewells dotted my last two weeks in Mumbai.
August:
I arrived at my college with excitement and new dreams in my eyes for an independent hostel life. The month was all about friendships and gossips and longs walks around the campus. I was having fun and yet missing home and my friends back home. And it felt real good when a good friends visited me on his way from Leh to NDA.
September:
September end was my 1st trip back home after 2 months at hostel. Surprisingly I was missing hostel. Met up with friends and ate a lot of home made food, especially sea food. Was longing to get back to hostel, I dunno why. A "good friend" visited me on the last day of my holiday.
October:
It was a month of slogging. Assignments were killing and we were losing sleep. Studied for almost 12hrs a day. Made new friends during the study sessions. And even though it was lots of hard work, it was hugely satisfying. This was the month when I formulated my 1st very own business plan.
November:
Exams, exams… Was dying to get back home. This time didn’t wanna get back to hostel at all. Utilised each and every holiday to do something or go somewhere. Went for a “just two” trek with Janaki to Nakhind. My third trek this year.
The most exciting part of this holiday was Vidya’s parents and Sai visiting Mumbai. Went for a trip to murud with them.
December:
My very close friend got married and I couldn’t stop my tears while leaving her. Remembered all the happy times we spent together, some of which that will never come back. Came back to delhi heavy hearted. 3 weeks here and it was again time to go back. Met Sai at the railway station on his birthday. Met Rags a week later at NDA, pune. My very first trip into the lengendary NDA. And then end of the month met a few other friends at Pathankot and left for my last trek of the year to Dalhousie.
It has been a happening year for me. And I loved every moment of it. Gonna remember this one all my life. Afterall, this was the year when I experienced love at first smile .
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Historic trip of my life – Siachen
“WHEN YOU GO HOME TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW, THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY”.
Landing in Leh by flight took my breath away. And I mean literally. The low oxygen content in the air hits you bad when you are a sea-level creature and you suddenly gain a height of 11500ft. and getting out of the airplane door did just that. The air was cold and crisp and no matter how hard you tried to suck it in, it wasn’t enough.
The first few hours of acclimatization was not too eventful as my body was still trying to figure out what was wrong and how to react. The only symptoms I could feel was the accelerated heart beat which was going up to 110bpm even for the simple task of drinking water. HAS set in later when I had headache, body ache and severe loss of appetite for the next 3 days. Hmm.. 3 days it took me to get acclimatized properly.
The first few days in Leh were heaven, leaving aside the acclimatisation period. The walk through the market, the local sight seeing trips, the beauty of the barren mountains and the snow capped peaks, the high passes, the traffic free roads with the hilarious and innovative road signs, the absolutely blue waters, the kind and cheery ladakhis with their pink cheeked children, the pleasant sight of the greens along the river, the chill, the army, the air force, the soldiers with pink cheeks, the big shaggy dogs, the monasteries, the lamas, it just stays with you.
We left for Siachen on the 6th day of my stay in Leh. Never have I been so excited. The entire journey I was hanging out the front seat window like some dog, who likes to taste the wind with its tongue out. I never stopped clicking, I couldn’t stop clicking. I wanted to take back each and every scene with me. I squealed like a kid at each and every thing that I had never seen before. The water leaking from a pipeline that had turned to ice, the cute and cuddly little marmots, the snow, the breathtaking scenery, the steep drops to one side of the road, the icicles emerging from the rocks, the cold air, the depleting oxygen as we went higher and finally Khardungla Top. My hair stood on ends as I finally came to a realisation that I was on the highest motorable pass in the world, come to think of it, it may have been because of the cold too.
Peeing is another task, the rate of recurrence of which highly increases in cold places. And when the road is as bumpy as it can get, holding it in really tests your bladder controlling skills. After we had attacked the souvenir shop, we looked like we wanted to open a shop of our own. We actually bought everything they had on offer. An hour on K-top and we set off again towards Thoise Air base which would be our stopover for the night.
5mins into the journey and we again had to wait for an hour, this time due to the breakdown of an army truck in a convoy in the middle of the narrow road. This is the 1st instance where I saw people of a totally different race, people who are extremely simple, helpful and kind, who don’t have a single selfish bone in their bodies, people who wave at complete strangers and wish them a safe journey, people who always have a smile on their face and people who are extremely thoughtful of others. Everyone who was stuck on that road had gathered around the broken down truck to offer whatever help they could, finally helping out in pushing it to one side of the road so that the others could pass. Me being from a fast city like Bombay, this is something you rarely get to see. Even though I love Mumbai as much as I do, yet the people of Leh have stayed with me.
2hrs with such low levels of oxygen had taken a toll of us. Severe headache being the 1st signs. Getting down from the other side, the landscapes change drastically from, snow, to barrens mountains, to sand dunes. Sand dunes in the Nubra valley are another spectacle. Bactrian camels on the sand with the snow capped peaks in the backdrop, paint a perfect picture of the cold desert. These camels are the descendants of the camels that originally traversed along the silk route between India and china. The mountains in this area looked like chocolate brownies covered with chocolate ice cream. And the tranquillity in this area was unsurpassable.
We arrived at Thoise Air base at around 5:30pm, which looked liked it has been built in the middle of nowhere. Siachen base camp is about 4hrs away from here which meant that we had to leave early morning at 6am to be able to spend a decent amount of time there. Sleep came easily due to the tiredness of the journey, the 1st uninterrupted sleep in days.
Next day morning we left for Siachen at 6am sharp, through the beautiful landscapes of the Nubra valley and reaching Base camp at 10:40am. It was nothing like I had imagined it to be. Everything was neat, clean and tidy. Everything was well planned, the roads, the bridges, the helipads and the officers’ mess. There were more people around than I had imagined. We watched the aircraft operations in pure awe, and met with all the pilots there. We were taken around a tour of the igloo huts which were a modification of the prefabricated huts. We sat in the conference room and were served hot steaming maggi and fruit juice. Later when I was looking at the maps curiously, one of the officers politely obliged to explain it to me. Having read “Heights of Madness” by Myra MacDonald, before coming to Siachen, everything on those maps seemed familiar. And it felt good that I could even identify few of the places.
When you think of a glacier, you can imagine only ice and that too white. What we were witnessing was the ending point of the glacier which was a mixture of ice, rocks and sediments. But before going to the glacier we first went to take the blessings of O.P. Baba. The O.P. Baba Sarva Dharma Sthal is situated right at the base of the glacier and every soldier and officer alike take his blessing before heading off to the glacier. O.P. Baba is believed to be the guardian spirit of the Siachen Glacier, protecting everyone who seeks his blessing, from coming to any harm. After darshan we walked up to the glacier and tried climbing the lose gravel and rocks. The rocks were sliding down due to the ice melting underneath it. We were finally on the Siachen glacier. It was a historic moment of our lives.
On walking a little more ahead we stood transfixed as we watched the birth of the Nubra River from the ice melting from the glacier. The water was muddy brown and so cold that as I dipped my feet into it, they went numb within seconds. We even built our own prayer stacks along the river bed. On returning back to the camp we were taken on a tour of the Air force living quarters, and their Ante room. We had lunch here and then went back to the helipad to bid goodbye to the officers.
The last place left to visit was the Siachen War Memorial. Our trip to Siachen wouldn’t have been complete without a trip to this place. This structure stands as an acknowledgement towards the bravery of all the soldiers who laid down their lives during the course of the 25yr long Siachen conflict. As you begin to climb the stairs, the gate justifies the lives of these soldiers by reading “HOW CAN A MAN DIE BETTER, THAN FACING FEARFUL ODDS FOR THE ASHES OF HIS FATHERS AND TEMPLE OF HIS GODS” As you move inside there is a modest monument of ‘AMAR JAWAN’ behind which is the memorial wall on which is etched the names of all the martyrs. Tears evidently well up in your eyes as you enter this place, as you read the names and the prayers. And it hits you most when you begin to leave, as written on the back side of the gates are the words “WHEN YOU GO HOME TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW, THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY”.
Landing in Leh by flight took my breath away. And I mean literally. The low oxygen content in the air hits you bad when you are a sea-level creature and you suddenly gain a height of 11500ft. and getting out of the airplane door did just that. The air was cold and crisp and no matter how hard you tried to suck it in, it wasn’t enough.
The first few hours of acclimatization was not too eventful as my body was still trying to figure out what was wrong and how to react. The only symptoms I could feel was the accelerated heart beat which was going up to 110bpm even for the simple task of drinking water. HAS set in later when I had headache, body ache and severe loss of appetite for the next 3 days. Hmm.. 3 days it took me to get acclimatized properly.
The first few days in Leh were heaven, leaving aside the acclimatisation period. The walk through the market, the local sight seeing trips, the beauty of the barren mountains and the snow capped peaks, the high passes, the traffic free roads with the hilarious and innovative road signs, the absolutely blue waters, the kind and cheery ladakhis with their pink cheeked children, the pleasant sight of the greens along the river, the chill, the army, the air force, the soldiers with pink cheeks, the big shaggy dogs, the monasteries, the lamas, it just stays with you.
We left for Siachen on the 6th day of my stay in Leh. Never have I been so excited. The entire journey I was hanging out the front seat window like some dog, who likes to taste the wind with its tongue out. I never stopped clicking, I couldn’t stop clicking. I wanted to take back each and every scene with me. I squealed like a kid at each and every thing that I had never seen before. The water leaking from a pipeline that had turned to ice, the cute and cuddly little marmots, the snow, the breathtaking scenery, the steep drops to one side of the road, the icicles emerging from the rocks, the cold air, the depleting oxygen as we went higher and finally Khardungla Top. My hair stood on ends as I finally came to a realisation that I was on the highest motorable pass in the world, come to think of it, it may have been because of the cold too.
Peeing is another task, the rate of recurrence of which highly increases in cold places. And when the road is as bumpy as it can get, holding it in really tests your bladder controlling skills. After we had attacked the souvenir shop, we looked like we wanted to open a shop of our own. We actually bought everything they had on offer. An hour on K-top and we set off again towards Thoise Air base which would be our stopover for the night.
5mins into the journey and we again had to wait for an hour, this time due to the breakdown of an army truck in a convoy in the middle of the narrow road. This is the 1st instance where I saw people of a totally different race, people who are extremely simple, helpful and kind, who don’t have a single selfish bone in their bodies, people who wave at complete strangers and wish them a safe journey, people who always have a smile on their face and people who are extremely thoughtful of others. Everyone who was stuck on that road had gathered around the broken down truck to offer whatever help they could, finally helping out in pushing it to one side of the road so that the others could pass. Me being from a fast city like Bombay, this is something you rarely get to see. Even though I love Mumbai as much as I do, yet the people of Leh have stayed with me.
2hrs with such low levels of oxygen had taken a toll of us. Severe headache being the 1st signs. Getting down from the other side, the landscapes change drastically from, snow, to barrens mountains, to sand dunes. Sand dunes in the Nubra valley are another spectacle. Bactrian camels on the sand with the snow capped peaks in the backdrop, paint a perfect picture of the cold desert. These camels are the descendants of the camels that originally traversed along the silk route between India and china. The mountains in this area looked like chocolate brownies covered with chocolate ice cream. And the tranquillity in this area was unsurpassable.
We arrived at Thoise Air base at around 5:30pm, which looked liked it has been built in the middle of nowhere. Siachen base camp is about 4hrs away from here which meant that we had to leave early morning at 6am to be able to spend a decent amount of time there. Sleep came easily due to the tiredness of the journey, the 1st uninterrupted sleep in days.
Next day morning we left for Siachen at 6am sharp, through the beautiful landscapes of the Nubra valley and reaching Base camp at 10:40am. It was nothing like I had imagined it to be. Everything was neat, clean and tidy. Everything was well planned, the roads, the bridges, the helipads and the officers’ mess. There were more people around than I had imagined. We watched the aircraft operations in pure awe, and met with all the pilots there. We were taken around a tour of the igloo huts which were a modification of the prefabricated huts. We sat in the conference room and were served hot steaming maggi and fruit juice. Later when I was looking at the maps curiously, one of the officers politely obliged to explain it to me. Having read “Heights of Madness” by Myra MacDonald, before coming to Siachen, everything on those maps seemed familiar. And it felt good that I could even identify few of the places.
When you think of a glacier, you can imagine only ice and that too white. What we were witnessing was the ending point of the glacier which was a mixture of ice, rocks and sediments. But before going to the glacier we first went to take the blessings of O.P. Baba. The O.P. Baba Sarva Dharma Sthal is situated right at the base of the glacier and every soldier and officer alike take his blessing before heading off to the glacier. O.P. Baba is believed to be the guardian spirit of the Siachen Glacier, protecting everyone who seeks his blessing, from coming to any harm. After darshan we walked up to the glacier and tried climbing the lose gravel and rocks. The rocks were sliding down due to the ice melting underneath it. We were finally on the Siachen glacier. It was a historic moment of our lives.
On walking a little more ahead we stood transfixed as we watched the birth of the Nubra River from the ice melting from the glacier. The water was muddy brown and so cold that as I dipped my feet into it, they went numb within seconds. We even built our own prayer stacks along the river bed. On returning back to the camp we were taken on a tour of the Air force living quarters, and their Ante room. We had lunch here and then went back to the helipad to bid goodbye to the officers.
The last place left to visit was the Siachen War Memorial. Our trip to Siachen wouldn’t have been complete without a trip to this place. This structure stands as an acknowledgement towards the bravery of all the soldiers who laid down their lives during the course of the 25yr long Siachen conflict. As you begin to climb the stairs, the gate justifies the lives of these soldiers by reading “HOW CAN A MAN DIE BETTER, THAN FACING FEARFUL ODDS FOR THE ASHES OF HIS FATHERS AND TEMPLE OF HIS GODS” As you move inside there is a modest monument of ‘AMAR JAWAN’ behind which is the memorial wall on which is etched the names of all the martyrs. Tears evidently well up in your eyes as you enter this place, as you read the names and the prayers. And it hits you most when you begin to leave, as written on the back side of the gates are the words “WHEN YOU GO HOME TELL THEM OF US AND SAY, FOR YOUR TOMORROW, THEY GAVE THEIR TODAY”.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half ZZZzzzzzz..........
My very first attempt at a 1st day 1st show and i was almost snoozing... Had to order a bucket of popcorn and a keg of coke to make it through this one
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Never imagined that it was humanly possible to make the 6th installment of the HP series so incredibly boring. And to top it all, there seems to be absolutely no flow in the movie, no visible connection from one scene to the other. So the the pre-requisite to watching this movie is reading the book first. Me for one have read the book in question 3 times and yet i was lost for the connections, imagine the plight of the non-readers.
No mention of Bill n Fleur's wedding, No DA classes wid snape, No crabbe n Goyle, . Total mess up of the climax, no fight happened, something which most would have been waiting for and noo funeral for Dumbledore too.
There are a few instances in te movie that might make you laugh but thats about it. Bah!! Im better off reading.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Never imagined that it was humanly possible to make the 6th installment of the HP series so incredibly boring. And to top it all, there seems to be absolutely no flow in the movie, no visible connection from one scene to the other. So the the pre-requisite to watching this movie is reading the book first. Me for one have read the book in question 3 times and yet i was lost for the connections, imagine the plight of the non-readers.
No mention of Bill n Fleur's wedding, No DA classes wid snape, No crabbe n Goyle, . Total mess up of the climax, no fight happened, something which most would have been waiting for and noo funeral for Dumbledore too.
There are a few instances in te movie that might make you laugh but thats about it. Bah!! Im better off reading.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Harishchandragad 2009... Best Trek ever
Harishchandragad Via sadhle ghat trek
Its not the destination but the journey that makes all the difference. You know your destination but the path you take towards it is what is life all about. So for me after having trekked to Harishchandragad 3 times before, the 4th time novelty was not as much, if not for the new route that was decided upon.
After having to forego Nalichi vaat due to unavoidable circumstances, we decided upon the next best route i.e. Sadhle Ghat. Excitement was high to trek through a lesser known route which was also considered to be a tough one. Preparations were on full swing for me as I dint want to regret later at not having carried a certain important thing. Checking and double checking the check list. “Little did I know that all these preparations were not for me.”
Then on the day of the departure, a few glitches were trying to disrupt the plan. The oil worker’s strike meant that Mumbai was totally out of fuel and so was most of the country. I was frantically making calls to know about the oil status. We had even charted out an alternate plan of going to Matheran by train if at all the petrol run vehicles came to a total standstill. Then Raj messaged me about the confirmation from the bus. All of us were running a little late due to the unavailability of autos and taxis so the 11pm deadline had gotten stretched to 12am.
We then started towards Savarne village. But my tube light glowed a little late when I remembered that there was a motorable road that goes upto Belpada our base village. I had seen it in wikimapia when I was surveying the area for routes. The bus was then instructed to go towards Belpada. Everyone was sleeping due to the lateness of the hour and I was enduring a bus journey from hell. And then guess what the diesel of the bus got over and it was running on reserve fuel and we still didn’t know how far off from the village we were. The bus had come fueled for only a one way journey. “Smart Guy”, I thought. Everyone was relieved when the bus made it to Belpada and all I could think about was how is the bus going to make its journey back. On asking the driver he said that he would buy kerosene from the village and take the bus back to the nearest petrol pump. “Wow I didn’t know vehicles could run on kerosene. The only uses of kerosene known to me are in those lanterns and for bride burnings for dowry, which I get to read about every other day in the news papers. Well anyway good for the bus”
Well there was a different kind of battle I was fighting. My stomach was threatening to throw out everything in it but my tonsils and tongue refused to let anything get out. I was so queasy and nauseas that I needed some sleep desperately. Few of us slept in the verandah of someone’s house and the rest slept in the bus. In the morning at 6am we had tea and then left on the road towards Kelewadi.
Kelewadi is about a 1/2hr walk away on the route towards Sadhle Ghat. At Kelewadi we rested for a while, asked for directions and then started off again. From here we decide to follow the river as It would take us directly to Sadhle Ghat. Even here our pace was slow as everyone was busy clicking pics. As we approached the base of the mountain, the river forked. We decided to take the right fork. Still ahead we found a proper pathway leading somewhere and decided to follow it. A little ahead the pathway also forked. Sanjayji, Raghu and Pravin wanted to take the right fork whereas the rest of us wanted to take the left one as it was running around the mountain towards Sadhle. These three took the right fork to go and check where it lead and were dead sure this was the right route.
Meanwhile a villager had arrived on the route that the rest of us were on and confirmed that we were on the right route. But Sanjayji and Raghu were adamant of following their path so this is where we parted ways. And also this is where my hardships too started, coz Raghu had my bag and he was gone with all my belongings. All I had left with me were the clothes I was wearing, a small hand towel, my fone and camera and the group’s money.
We started moving ahead first in full swing and then rather slowly and the path was getting steeper by the minute. The route was scenic which prompted us to go even slower clicking pics along the way. Here group got divided into smaller portions with Maulik, Dhaval, Thakur, Bhavin, and Uday up front. Next came me, janaki, Praful, Amar and Nikhil and the rest i.e Vidya, Sai, Rags, Raj, Raksha, Kern and Glen far behind. Maulik and group were way ahead and resting just at the base of the “V”. As Janaki and me approached we found a fork in the path ahead. The left looked like leading upto a steel wall and the right leading somewhere. We decided to take the right one and also decided to make a direction arrow for those who were following us. So we made an arrow on a piece of paper and set it in place with the help of small stones. Another 1/2hrs climb got us to a place where the Maulik gang was sitting. As we slowly went to that place we saw a lot of monkeys running around on the rock wall. Maybe they were feeling threatened by the presence of the new monkeys (us) in the vicinity, because a few moments later we found them chucking huge stones at us from a height of approx 50ft, one of which had closely missed maulik. We decided to flee asap. We were no match to our forefathers who have the ability to run on walls.
The rocky “V” looked much easier upclose than how it looked from the base of the mountains – intimidating. This climb was the most interesting part of the entire trek and gave us lots of opportunities to explore. Maulik as usual was monkeying around again clicking pics and getting himself clicked. The rocks here were pretty loose and most of the time we got showered by small stones and pebbles, set loose by the person ahead of us. “hmmm.. A rocky bath… dats interesting”
As we got out to the other side of the ghat, we entered a forest cover and immediately afterwards into a plain field with dry grass and a few bushes. We took shelter at base of the bushes to save ourselves from the sweltering sun and waited for the others to arrive. We were in no mood to eat anything oily due to the heat and I was longing for the pears that I had so carefully packed into my backpack. Then Praful offered us apples which were most welcome. A little while later Janaki and Praful went back to see if the others had come coz this place was a little confusing.
All of us were now on the field and the discussions led towards which route to take next. We were on top of the mountain already and Konkad kada was a few hills to our right. Only issue, we did not know the route and the villager who was accompanying us was in no mood to go dat way and also sdviced us against it. The next options was to get down of the mountain again at pachnai which would take an hour and then again climb up to Harishchandragad which would take around 2hr. Still a long way to go and it was already 12:15pm, better get going. By 1pm everyone was at the Pachnai village except for Kern, Raksha and Glen. We had some snacks to replenish our energy stores taking care not to eat too much. We waited here till about 1:50pm and then decided to move ahead slowly.
We were under the impression that Kern and group were coming up rather slowly, and hence it did not occur to us to go back and check, as the road was pretty straight. But after I had a talk with Raksha later on, she told me that they had gotten lost in the field itself, unable to find their way to the motor able road that we had taken. They were lost for a good 1/2hr before they found their way back. After trekking for almost 6hrs how, all of us were exhausted and we still had about 2hrs more of trekking left before we reached the top. So we set off slowing. The sun was burning on the back of our necks and it was pretty tiring to trek in this hot weather. People took lot more rest at this stretch.
At 4pm we finally reached the top and it was a relief to finally rest. Janaki and I set off to look for the cave in which we had stayed the last time. It was empty as we had expected so took it up. All of us then gathered at the dhaba to finally have a good meal. Zhunka bhakar. It was heavenly. At 5pm we set off again towards konkan kada. This was again a 1/2hr trek. Kern, raksha and glen finally reached the top around 5ish. On the way to konkan kada I met Hemant Pawar and we talked all the way to our destination. The konkan kada as always was magnificient. We walked to the opposite end to view it upfront. The sun was already setting and the weather was getting cooler and there was still no sign of Sanjayji, raghu and pravin. As we sat there in awe of the grandness of the kada we paid witness to another beautiful phenomenon – the sun setting in the west and the huge full moon rising from the east in the horizon. It was just spectacular.
At around 7ish we decided to head back to the dabha for a cup of steaming hot tea and later our dinner. On the way back everyone was scavenging for wood for the bonfire after dinner. As it got darker the moon shone even more brightly flooding us with its light. So bright was the moon light that we did not require torches for our trek back. Everything looked eerie and yet strangely beautiful. I kept scanning the horizon from time to time for any sign of our lost guys. I had thought they would have made it to the top by now. We reached the dhaba and sat down for tea. My feet were terribly aching and I thought of giving them some cold water therapy. So Sai, Uday and Me went down to the water cave to sit there for a while. Uday and me sat with our feet dipped in the water and chatting with Sai who was sitting outside on a rock. We were playing with our torches and watching the dancing reflections from the water on the cave wall. We tried to capture it in our camera but in vain. “Sometimes the simplest of things are just so beautiful”
After dinner, which was delicious and hot bhakri bhaji and dal rice, we headed back to our cave. It was really really cold now and I was totally unprotected towards the cold. Raj had lent me one of his full sleeve t-shirt. We walked back to our cave at peace with the world, due to the delicious dinner. Once inside the cave, all each one could think about was sleep. Everyone spread out their sleeping bags and I borrowed from everyone everybit of spare clothing that they had. Praful lent me a really warm sweatshirt which I was really thankful for. Janaki shared her sleeping bag wid me. We spread everyone’s towels on the ground and used her sleeping as a blanket. I must say it was pretty warm. In all the commotion trying to find a sleeping place, Maulik was trying to clear out an area for him and bhavin as they too didn’t have sleeping bags, as they had not planned to stay back the night. When he kicked aside a rock to make some place, a baby krait sprang from behind it. I must say it was as startled on seeing us as we were on seeing it. We shooed it out of the cave as killing it was totally out of question. As it left the cave everyone settled back again as though nothing had happened at all. As Sai had later told me over the phone, no one was bothered that the mother of the baby krait could have been lingering nearby.
When I discussed this with Janaki later on, we both agreed on the fact that we found the snake event quite normal. It actually did not cross our minds that the mother krait would have been nearby. We just lit a candle on the door step and dropped dead off to sleep. “Everyone was just so dead tired that I guess they would have even let the poor krait sleep in the same cave”
Next day morning, janaki woke me up at 7:30am saying we have to leave at 8:30am as the last bus from Pachnai to Kalyan leaves at 11am. I had doubts about this. As far as I knew, there was no direct bus from Pachnai to Kalyan. We had to changes buses somewhere and it would take longer from here. I confirmed about the buses and then I decided that we should take the Khireshwar route to go down. This gave us options to explore a third route and also the motivation to go and have a dip in the dam below. So now since we had some time to spare, we decided to have a luxury breakfast. Out came all the cup noodles, the Maggie noodles, ready to eat MTR rice, biscuits etc. Janaki and we were handling the kitchen here. Boiling water for all the cup noodles and then also cooking the Maggie and simultaneously also eating the MTR stuff passed around by Raj. I was surprised to see that all the cup noodle and the Maggie got over. So much so that Sai and Rags were actually fighting over the leftovers stuff to the bottom of the pan. “Bukkad” I had called them. Raksha, Kern and Glen meanwhile had talked to some guys to show them around Konkan Kada as they had missed out on it last evening. They said that they would go back to Mumbai with those guys and that we should move ahead without them.
As Raksha, Kern and Glen left us; we then packed up and posed for some groups pics. Maulik and Nikhil were missing here too as they had gone to see taramati. I was still scanning the horizon for any sign of the lost 3. After a few pics we started off towards Khireshwar at 11am, crossing the 7 hills with me and Janaki at the front. “Walking up front is best. You don’t have many worries at this position. Once you start lagging is when you start worrying about how to catch up.” It was fun listening to others cribbing “How much more do we have to climb? I thought we were going down and we have been doing a lot of climbing” or “Are you sure we are going down?” or “Please tell us how many more hills to go.” And me and Janaki would point to a distant mountain ahead and proclaim that we had to reach there. At this many would announce that they would rather stay back and start a new life on the mountains as a lemon aid seller. After about 1.5hrs trek we reach the spot from where we had to go down a steep rock patch and then into the jungles to reach Tolar Khind. This rock patch has always been an interesting route to maneuver. It excites you by showing you the sheer drop. Right after we crossed the rock patch, Maulik and Nikhil caught up with us. From here the path is pure trekking through the jungle. The tree cover was most welcome after 2hrs in the sun. We still heard a lot of “are we there yet?” I’m surprised, the 10hr trek the day before never once got me a “are we there yet?” but this 4hrs trek down was showering me with it.
We finally reached the bottom at around 1:30pm. We just dumped our bags at a dhaba and raced off towards the dam. After 2 days of no bath and in my case, 2 days to being in same clothes, we all wanted to just jump right in. But the dam bed was really rocky and all our feet were in a fragile condition from the 14hrs of total trekking. The funniest part was, no matter how deep anyone went, the water reached only waist level for all (chest level for vidya n me). After an hour in water, we all walked back to the dhaba in wet clothes. As we changed and put our respective clothes to dry and were waiting around for our bus to come and pick us up, we saw “The Lost 3” approaching us. Oh! Lord never been so happy to seem someone as I was then to see them ok. I was happy to see them and yet angry at them for having separated from the group. They had taken on another adventure al together and all of us were interested to know what had happened to them. When their story was out and o was finally at peace, we decided to play dumb charades until our lunch was ready. This was another memorable part where each one gave a spectacular performance. Rags acting to “Abhigyanth Shakuntala”, Sai to “The incredibles” and Raj to “ Zack and Miri try to make a porno” were some of the memorable ones. We continued to play after lunch until our bus arrived.
The bus arrived at 5pm and everyone was all ready to leave. The still waters of the dam and the mountain and clouds reflected in it provided some breathtaking pics. The journey back to Kalyan took about 3.5hs. Every one got down at Kalyan except for Raj, Thakur, Uday n me. We rode the bus till Vashi. I reached back home at 10pm.
To be truthful, this has been my best trek yet. I have always loved Harishchandragad. I had started off with this place as my first trek. This trip with morons was satisfying on many levels. We had covered a total of 29kms with a total trekking time of 14hrs in 2 days. We had managed to find the correct route towards Sadhle Ghat without hiring a guide. We had covered 3 different routes to Harishchandragad in just 2 days. And the best part was everyone got along so well with each other, helping out each other and understanding each other. And to think of, out the 20 people that had attended the trip, I knew just 6-7 of them. All the rest, I was meeting for the first time. And personally for me, I learnt that I can survive without my backpack for 2 days without much fuss. Everyone helped me out and I was truly thankful for that. I had Sai’s hat, Praful’s sweat shirt and Janaki’s sleeping bag. And I feel especially proud that I was the lone organizer and leader on this particular trip and it was a huge success. Janaki helped out with the decision making and it was like 2 females leading a group of 20 which consisted of 16males. As I said….. THE BEST TREK TILL NOW
Its not the destination but the journey that makes all the difference. You know your destination but the path you take towards it is what is life all about. So for me after having trekked to Harishchandragad 3 times before, the 4th time novelty was not as much, if not for the new route that was decided upon.
After having to forego Nalichi vaat due to unavoidable circumstances, we decided upon the next best route i.e. Sadhle Ghat. Excitement was high to trek through a lesser known route which was also considered to be a tough one. Preparations were on full swing for me as I dint want to regret later at not having carried a certain important thing. Checking and double checking the check list. “Little did I know that all these preparations were not for me.”
Then on the day of the departure, a few glitches were trying to disrupt the plan. The oil worker’s strike meant that Mumbai was totally out of fuel and so was most of the country. I was frantically making calls to know about the oil status. We had even charted out an alternate plan of going to Matheran by train if at all the petrol run vehicles came to a total standstill. Then Raj messaged me about the confirmation from the bus. All of us were running a little late due to the unavailability of autos and taxis so the 11pm deadline had gotten stretched to 12am.
We then started towards Savarne village. But my tube light glowed a little late when I remembered that there was a motorable road that goes upto Belpada our base village. I had seen it in wikimapia when I was surveying the area for routes. The bus was then instructed to go towards Belpada. Everyone was sleeping due to the lateness of the hour and I was enduring a bus journey from hell. And then guess what the diesel of the bus got over and it was running on reserve fuel and we still didn’t know how far off from the village we were. The bus had come fueled for only a one way journey. “Smart Guy”, I thought. Everyone was relieved when the bus made it to Belpada and all I could think about was how is the bus going to make its journey back. On asking the driver he said that he would buy kerosene from the village and take the bus back to the nearest petrol pump. “Wow I didn’t know vehicles could run on kerosene. The only uses of kerosene known to me are in those lanterns and for bride burnings for dowry, which I get to read about every other day in the news papers. Well anyway good for the bus”
Well there was a different kind of battle I was fighting. My stomach was threatening to throw out everything in it but my tonsils and tongue refused to let anything get out. I was so queasy and nauseas that I needed some sleep desperately. Few of us slept in the verandah of someone’s house and the rest slept in the bus. In the morning at 6am we had tea and then left on the road towards Kelewadi.
Kelewadi is about a 1/2hr walk away on the route towards Sadhle Ghat. At Kelewadi we rested for a while, asked for directions and then started off again. From here we decide to follow the river as It would take us directly to Sadhle Ghat. Even here our pace was slow as everyone was busy clicking pics. As we approached the base of the mountain, the river forked. We decided to take the right fork. Still ahead we found a proper pathway leading somewhere and decided to follow it. A little ahead the pathway also forked. Sanjayji, Raghu and Pravin wanted to take the right fork whereas the rest of us wanted to take the left one as it was running around the mountain towards Sadhle. These three took the right fork to go and check where it lead and were dead sure this was the right route.
Meanwhile a villager had arrived on the route that the rest of us were on and confirmed that we were on the right route. But Sanjayji and Raghu were adamant of following their path so this is where we parted ways. And also this is where my hardships too started, coz Raghu had my bag and he was gone with all my belongings. All I had left with me were the clothes I was wearing, a small hand towel, my fone and camera and the group’s money.
We started moving ahead first in full swing and then rather slowly and the path was getting steeper by the minute. The route was scenic which prompted us to go even slower clicking pics along the way. Here group got divided into smaller portions with Maulik, Dhaval, Thakur, Bhavin, and Uday up front. Next came me, janaki, Praful, Amar and Nikhil and the rest i.e Vidya, Sai, Rags, Raj, Raksha, Kern and Glen far behind. Maulik and group were way ahead and resting just at the base of the “V”. As Janaki and me approached we found a fork in the path ahead. The left looked like leading upto a steel wall and the right leading somewhere. We decided to take the right one and also decided to make a direction arrow for those who were following us. So we made an arrow on a piece of paper and set it in place with the help of small stones. Another 1/2hrs climb got us to a place where the Maulik gang was sitting. As we slowly went to that place we saw a lot of monkeys running around on the rock wall. Maybe they were feeling threatened by the presence of the new monkeys (us) in the vicinity, because a few moments later we found them chucking huge stones at us from a height of approx 50ft, one of which had closely missed maulik. We decided to flee asap. We were no match to our forefathers who have the ability to run on walls.
The rocky “V” looked much easier upclose than how it looked from the base of the mountains – intimidating. This climb was the most interesting part of the entire trek and gave us lots of opportunities to explore. Maulik as usual was monkeying around again clicking pics and getting himself clicked. The rocks here were pretty loose and most of the time we got showered by small stones and pebbles, set loose by the person ahead of us. “hmmm.. A rocky bath… dats interesting”
As we got out to the other side of the ghat, we entered a forest cover and immediately afterwards into a plain field with dry grass and a few bushes. We took shelter at base of the bushes to save ourselves from the sweltering sun and waited for the others to arrive. We were in no mood to eat anything oily due to the heat and I was longing for the pears that I had so carefully packed into my backpack. Then Praful offered us apples which were most welcome. A little while later Janaki and Praful went back to see if the others had come coz this place was a little confusing.
All of us were now on the field and the discussions led towards which route to take next. We were on top of the mountain already and Konkad kada was a few hills to our right. Only issue, we did not know the route and the villager who was accompanying us was in no mood to go dat way and also sdviced us against it. The next options was to get down of the mountain again at pachnai which would take an hour and then again climb up to Harishchandragad which would take around 2hr. Still a long way to go and it was already 12:15pm, better get going. By 1pm everyone was at the Pachnai village except for Kern, Raksha and Glen. We had some snacks to replenish our energy stores taking care not to eat too much. We waited here till about 1:50pm and then decided to move ahead slowly.
We were under the impression that Kern and group were coming up rather slowly, and hence it did not occur to us to go back and check, as the road was pretty straight. But after I had a talk with Raksha later on, she told me that they had gotten lost in the field itself, unable to find their way to the motor able road that we had taken. They were lost for a good 1/2hr before they found their way back. After trekking for almost 6hrs how, all of us were exhausted and we still had about 2hrs more of trekking left before we reached the top. So we set off slowing. The sun was burning on the back of our necks and it was pretty tiring to trek in this hot weather. People took lot more rest at this stretch.
At 4pm we finally reached the top and it was a relief to finally rest. Janaki and I set off to look for the cave in which we had stayed the last time. It was empty as we had expected so took it up. All of us then gathered at the dhaba to finally have a good meal. Zhunka bhakar. It was heavenly. At 5pm we set off again towards konkan kada. This was again a 1/2hr trek. Kern, raksha and glen finally reached the top around 5ish. On the way to konkan kada I met Hemant Pawar and we talked all the way to our destination. The konkan kada as always was magnificient. We walked to the opposite end to view it upfront. The sun was already setting and the weather was getting cooler and there was still no sign of Sanjayji, raghu and pravin. As we sat there in awe of the grandness of the kada we paid witness to another beautiful phenomenon – the sun setting in the west and the huge full moon rising from the east in the horizon. It was just spectacular.
At around 7ish we decided to head back to the dabha for a cup of steaming hot tea and later our dinner. On the way back everyone was scavenging for wood for the bonfire after dinner. As it got darker the moon shone even more brightly flooding us with its light. So bright was the moon light that we did not require torches for our trek back. Everything looked eerie and yet strangely beautiful. I kept scanning the horizon from time to time for any sign of our lost guys. I had thought they would have made it to the top by now. We reached the dhaba and sat down for tea. My feet were terribly aching and I thought of giving them some cold water therapy. So Sai, Uday and Me went down to the water cave to sit there for a while. Uday and me sat with our feet dipped in the water and chatting with Sai who was sitting outside on a rock. We were playing with our torches and watching the dancing reflections from the water on the cave wall. We tried to capture it in our camera but in vain. “Sometimes the simplest of things are just so beautiful”
After dinner, which was delicious and hot bhakri bhaji and dal rice, we headed back to our cave. It was really really cold now and I was totally unprotected towards the cold. Raj had lent me one of his full sleeve t-shirt. We walked back to our cave at peace with the world, due to the delicious dinner. Once inside the cave, all each one could think about was sleep. Everyone spread out their sleeping bags and I borrowed from everyone everybit of spare clothing that they had. Praful lent me a really warm sweatshirt which I was really thankful for. Janaki shared her sleeping bag wid me. We spread everyone’s towels on the ground and used her sleeping as a blanket. I must say it was pretty warm. In all the commotion trying to find a sleeping place, Maulik was trying to clear out an area for him and bhavin as they too didn’t have sleeping bags, as they had not planned to stay back the night. When he kicked aside a rock to make some place, a baby krait sprang from behind it. I must say it was as startled on seeing us as we were on seeing it. We shooed it out of the cave as killing it was totally out of question. As it left the cave everyone settled back again as though nothing had happened at all. As Sai had later told me over the phone, no one was bothered that the mother of the baby krait could have been lingering nearby.
When I discussed this with Janaki later on, we both agreed on the fact that we found the snake event quite normal. It actually did not cross our minds that the mother krait would have been nearby. We just lit a candle on the door step and dropped dead off to sleep. “Everyone was just so dead tired that I guess they would have even let the poor krait sleep in the same cave”
Next day morning, janaki woke me up at 7:30am saying we have to leave at 8:30am as the last bus from Pachnai to Kalyan leaves at 11am. I had doubts about this. As far as I knew, there was no direct bus from Pachnai to Kalyan. We had to changes buses somewhere and it would take longer from here. I confirmed about the buses and then I decided that we should take the Khireshwar route to go down. This gave us options to explore a third route and also the motivation to go and have a dip in the dam below. So now since we had some time to spare, we decided to have a luxury breakfast. Out came all the cup noodles, the Maggie noodles, ready to eat MTR rice, biscuits etc. Janaki and we were handling the kitchen here. Boiling water for all the cup noodles and then also cooking the Maggie and simultaneously also eating the MTR stuff passed around by Raj. I was surprised to see that all the cup noodle and the Maggie got over. So much so that Sai and Rags were actually fighting over the leftovers stuff to the bottom of the pan. “Bukkad” I had called them. Raksha, Kern and Glen meanwhile had talked to some guys to show them around Konkan Kada as they had missed out on it last evening. They said that they would go back to Mumbai with those guys and that we should move ahead without them.
As Raksha, Kern and Glen left us; we then packed up and posed for some groups pics. Maulik and Nikhil were missing here too as they had gone to see taramati. I was still scanning the horizon for any sign of the lost 3. After a few pics we started off towards Khireshwar at 11am, crossing the 7 hills with me and Janaki at the front. “Walking up front is best. You don’t have many worries at this position. Once you start lagging is when you start worrying about how to catch up.” It was fun listening to others cribbing “How much more do we have to climb? I thought we were going down and we have been doing a lot of climbing” or “Are you sure we are going down?” or “Please tell us how many more hills to go.” And me and Janaki would point to a distant mountain ahead and proclaim that we had to reach there. At this many would announce that they would rather stay back and start a new life on the mountains as a lemon aid seller. After about 1.5hrs trek we reach the spot from where we had to go down a steep rock patch and then into the jungles to reach Tolar Khind. This rock patch has always been an interesting route to maneuver. It excites you by showing you the sheer drop. Right after we crossed the rock patch, Maulik and Nikhil caught up with us. From here the path is pure trekking through the jungle. The tree cover was most welcome after 2hrs in the sun. We still heard a lot of “are we there yet?” I’m surprised, the 10hr trek the day before never once got me a “are we there yet?” but this 4hrs trek down was showering me with it.
We finally reached the bottom at around 1:30pm. We just dumped our bags at a dhaba and raced off towards the dam. After 2 days of no bath and in my case, 2 days to being in same clothes, we all wanted to just jump right in. But the dam bed was really rocky and all our feet were in a fragile condition from the 14hrs of total trekking. The funniest part was, no matter how deep anyone went, the water reached only waist level for all (chest level for vidya n me). After an hour in water, we all walked back to the dhaba in wet clothes. As we changed and put our respective clothes to dry and were waiting around for our bus to come and pick us up, we saw “The Lost 3” approaching us. Oh! Lord never been so happy to seem someone as I was then to see them ok. I was happy to see them and yet angry at them for having separated from the group. They had taken on another adventure al together and all of us were interested to know what had happened to them. When their story was out and o was finally at peace, we decided to play dumb charades until our lunch was ready. This was another memorable part where each one gave a spectacular performance. Rags acting to “Abhigyanth Shakuntala”, Sai to “The incredibles” and Raj to “ Zack and Miri try to make a porno” were some of the memorable ones. We continued to play after lunch until our bus arrived.
The bus arrived at 5pm and everyone was all ready to leave. The still waters of the dam and the mountain and clouds reflected in it provided some breathtaking pics. The journey back to Kalyan took about 3.5hs. Every one got down at Kalyan except for Raj, Thakur, Uday n me. We rode the bus till Vashi. I reached back home at 10pm.
To be truthful, this has been my best trek yet. I have always loved Harishchandragad. I had started off with this place as my first trek. This trip with morons was satisfying on many levels. We had covered a total of 29kms with a total trekking time of 14hrs in 2 days. We had managed to find the correct route towards Sadhle Ghat without hiring a guide. We had covered 3 different routes to Harishchandragad in just 2 days. And the best part was everyone got along so well with each other, helping out each other and understanding each other. And to think of, out the 20 people that had attended the trip, I knew just 6-7 of them. All the rest, I was meeting for the first time. And personally for me, I learnt that I can survive without my backpack for 2 days without much fuss. Everyone helped me out and I was truly thankful for that. I had Sai’s hat, Praful’s sweat shirt and Janaki’s sleeping bag. And I feel especially proud that I was the lone organizer and leader on this particular trip and it was a huge success. Janaki helped out with the decision making and it was like 2 females leading a group of 20 which consisted of 16males. As I said….. THE BEST TREK TILL NOW
Bike Trip Tarkarli March 2008
Even though im a littlen shaken up from my accident... yet Tarkarli had been the most exciting trip i have ever been to... "CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MORONZ FOR A NEW RECORD OF 1300kms BIKE TRIP".
We had all kinds of excitement on this trip... u name it and we had it
... Starting from mumbai at 9pm.. BERTY accompanied us till Kalamboli...Then people getting lost near Wadkhal naka and going almost 20kms in 2 diff directions... then finally after millions of frantic calls(ofcourse all of em were to and from me)
....we finally found each other..YAY!!...then then rush to reach MAHAD with every one touching 90kmph....Suhas's chain breaking in the dead of the night in the middle of no where ...wid just me Raghu and Suhas together... ...Then Raghu trying to drop me with the rest of the gang trying to fight the worst road choke up ever....Then Raghu goin back to Suhas and we continuing to MAHAD... The scene of BROWNIE and MONICA getting almost getting pushed of the road by a bus and then us realising that he had dosed off
..... Reaching Poladpur and dropping dead to sleep that very instant.... Waking up at 8am coz of the sun and just passing time time till Raghu n Suhas arrived....Playing frisbee in a school hall.... then leaving for CHIPLUN at 11:30am without RAGHU n SUHAS coz they said they'd catch up... Then our race against time to cross all ghats before night fall.... From Chiplun--->Sangameshwar and then to Rajapur... Raghu and Suhas catching up wid us at Sangameshwar...Then our race to Rajapur...and then the best / worst thing happened.... the rains caught up with us after Rajapur... so then NIGHT + RAIN RIDING it was for us.... the final run of 32kms from KASAL to MALVAN being the most nerve and ass wrecking... yet the funniest part here was no one wanted to lose sight of the other and all were riding in sort of a huddle formation...hahaha.....reaching MALVAN at 12:30am and looking for accomodation... finding an amazing place to stay rite next to the TARKARLI back waters... the view was breath taking.... then the nite discussion abt how to go to TARKARLI with gurls as the MALVANI holi is supposed to be extreme... Thanx to Mallik for taking the initiative and making sure it was sure to travel before 8am and reaching Tarkarli... TARKARLI the best beach i've been to yet... played in its cristal clear wates till 12noon.... then had amazing malvani lunch and came back to MALVANI encountering some holi players along the way... again geting lost in the maze type streets of MALVAN.... Packing up and leaving for RAJAPUR at 4:30pm.... Again doing Rain Riding but through beautiful scenic routes..... RAGHU-ME and SUHAS-MONICA being the tail gunners, having the time of our lives enjoinG the beautiful sceneries and clicking pics... SPOTTING A DOUBLE RAINBOW.. Playing witness to an unfortunate accident along the way where a sumo hit a bull, which flew off in the air and landed on the other side of the road...which shook my nerves.... Reaching Rajapur and putting up in a lodge... Having a lovely nite session were we listened to and told the most hilarious stories and everybody laffing their hearts out.... then getting the most needed 8hrs of sleep... Morning 8am leaving for Hathkhamba.... then towards CHIPLUN.. one the way making a welcomed detour to GANPATIPULE... the route to Ganpatipule being the most dangerous yet the most beautiful... Spending an hour on the beach playing frisbee and clicking pics... then again a race back to KHED... 3hrs of non stop riding.... Having lunch at 5pm at Khed and then again a rush towards mumbai... Again 2hrs of hardcore riding and a break at Mangaon..... Then again a 1.5hrs dash to Wadkhal naaka.... Dinner at Wadkhal and the final dash to Mumbai.... Bypassed panvel and on the route to Vashi, Raghu and Me met with an accident by running into a huge crevice in the road... skidding an falling in the middle on the highway.... GOD saved us... no injuries... but im still shaken.... "AND FROM THIS DAY ONWARDS NO MORE NIGHT RIDING IS GONNA HAPPEN UNTILL AND UNLESS EXTREMELY EXCEPTIONAL"
We had all kinds of excitement on this trip... u name it and we had it
... Starting from mumbai at 9pm.. BERTY accompanied us till Kalamboli...Then people getting lost near Wadkhal naka and going almost 20kms in 2 diff directions... then finally after millions of frantic calls(ofcourse all of em were to and from me)....we finally found each other..YAY!!...then then rush to reach MAHAD with every one touching 90kmph....Suhas's chain breaking in the dead of the night in the middle of no where ...wid just me Raghu and Suhas together... ...Then Raghu trying to drop me with the rest of the gang trying to fight the worst road choke up ever....Then Raghu goin back to Suhas and we continuing to MAHAD... The scene of BROWNIE and MONICA getting almost getting pushed of the road by a bus and then us realising that he had dosed off..... Reaching Poladpur and dropping dead to sleep that very instant.... Waking up at 8am coz of the sun and just passing time time till Raghu n Suhas arrived....Playing frisbee in a school hall.... then leaving for CHIPLUN at 11:30am without RAGHU n SUHAS coz they said they'd catch up... Then our race against time to cross all ghats before night fall.... From Chiplun--->Sangameshwar and then to Rajapur... Raghu and Suhas catching up wid us at Sangameshwar...Then our race to Rajapur...and then the best / worst thing happened.... the rains caught up with us after Rajapur... so then NIGHT + RAIN RIDING it was for us.... the final run of 32kms from KASAL to MALVAN being the most nerve and ass wrecking... yet the funniest part here was no one wanted to lose sight of the other and all were riding in sort of a huddle formation...hahaha.....reaching MALVAN at 12:30am and looking for accomodation... finding an amazing place to stay rite next to the TARKARLI back waters... the view was breath taking.... then the nite discussion abt how to go to TARKARLI with gurls as the MALVANI holi is supposed to be extreme... Thanx to Mallik for taking the initiative and making sure it was sure to travel before 8am and reaching Tarkarli... TARKARLI the best beach i've been to yet... played in its cristal clear wates till 12noon.... then had amazing malvani lunch and came back to MALVANI encountering some holi players along the way... again geting lost in the maze type streets of MALVAN.... Packing up and leaving for RAJAPUR at 4:30pm.... Again doing Rain Riding but through beautiful scenic routes..... RAGHU-ME and SUHAS-MONICA being the tail gunners, having the time of our lives enjoinG the beautiful sceneries and clicking pics... SPOTTING A DOUBLE RAINBOW.. Playing witness to an unfortunate accident along the way where a sumo hit a bull, which flew off in the air and landed on the other side of the road...which shook my nerves.... Reaching Rajapur and putting up in a lodge... Having a lovely nite session were we listened to and told the most hilarious stories and everybody laffing their hearts out.... then getting the most needed 8hrs of sleep... Morning 8am leaving for Hathkhamba.... then towards CHIPLUN.. one the way making a welcomed detour to GANPATIPULE... the route to Ganpatipule being the most dangerous yet the most beautiful... Spending an hour on the beach playing frisbee and clicking pics... then again a race back to KHED... 3hrs of non stop riding.... Having lunch at 5pm at Khed and then again a rush towards mumbai... Again 2hrs of hardcore riding and a break at Mangaon..... Then again a 1.5hrs dash to Wadkhal naaka.... Dinner at Wadkhal and the final dash to Mumbai.... Bypassed panvel and on the route to Vashi, Raghu and Me met with an accident by running into a huge crevice in the road... skidding an falling in the middle on the highway.... GOD saved us... no injuries... but im still shaken.... "AND FROM THIS DAY ONWARDS NO MORE NIGHT RIDING IS GONNA HAPPEN UNTILL AND UNLESS EXTREMELY EXCEPTIONAL"
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