New year, the day some get new calendars, some make resolutions, some booze, some burn firecrackers, some watch them. Sushant Chopdekar told me, "Let's do something different this time. Let's see the sky from a mountain top at 12 AM of January 1 2016.". And of course I started hunting and frisking locations from here and there. Had a few places in mind, but then on 30th December, Guru asked me if I would like to join for a trek to Visapur on 31st night. Cool cool. बस इ भी कोई पूछनेकी बात है।. I agreed. Asked Sushant, म्हटला नहीं जमणर. च्यामारी म्हटल, जा नाको येउस . Sonam and Akash were invited too. They agreed.
So office छुटने के बाद, कसा बसा meeting जल्दी आटप्के Sonam, Akash and I, hurried to western express highway from where we had our seats booked in a ST bus up to Lonavala. We reached on time, but, on calling the depot we came to know that the bus had broken down and its gonna take time to come. आई शप्पथ, guru म्हंटला होता , reach Lonavala by 9.30PM at any cost. Bus काही अली नाही guru said, " drop the plan, you guys are gonna be late". He said that he is starting the trek with his friends. We said OK, but then after a discussion, we decided that we will go to Lonavala anyways and spend the night in bus depot and do the Visapur trek the next morning. Bus came by 9PM. Then guru called back and asked me what we are doing. He agreed to wait.
We had reached Khandala ghaat. Traffic was very slow. We could see a beautifully lit city below the ghat from the Mumbai Pune expressway. Yellow lights everywhere, but wait I guess I saw a pink light for a moment amidst yellow there, wait now blue, now red, ohhh! फटाके! New year. Happy new year. “Better than the last one “, I said to myself. I was happy to be there.
We got down from bus at near Malavli station on the western express highway at about 1 AM. There is a overhead bridge that crosses the highway from above. We got on the bridge as instructed by guru and started walking towards bhaje village, he was waiting for us in bhaje caves.
We were walking quietly when we looked above in the sky, what a clear sky, stars and stars everywhere. When we started climbing the bhaje caves stone steps moonlight was so bright that we didn't need any torches.
We reached the Bhaje Caves gate when Guru came to get us. There were 3 more people inside, we had an introduction. There was Prasad, his roommate Sujan and his friend, Shefali, and Shraddha Mehta, I had read Shraddha Mehta's blogs, and trekking with her and Prasad Tandale(my guru) filled me with excitement.
We were thirsty, so Prasad, Sonam, Akash and I went to get the mountain water from the cisterns. A small walk ahead took us to a opening where there were multiple stupas carved out of a rock. we roamed across them round and about round and round. Here I came to know that the plan to go to Visapur fort was dropped as one of the team members was not comfortable with the trek and was sick, but Prasad promised us a जबरदस्त trek the next day. The night was beautiful and we were in the outdoors already.
We came back to the caves, Shraddha, Sujan and Shefali went to the sleep while we sat on the edge of the caves, and chatted a bit, इधर उधर का. Then we gazed the stars, guru taught us about the Orion Constellation, and how to find west direction with the constellation. Lohagad and Visapur forts were shining dark in the nightlight. We could see vehicle lights going up and down the vehicle roadway on Lohagad fort.
Then we went to the caves to sleep, Weather was pleasant, not much cold, not hot. I wasn't able to sleep though. It was 3 AM. I could see the hill in front of me, I stared at it and didn't notice when my eyes closed. Sonam and I woke up before everyone and were sitting outside the cave when a man came running towards the cave gate. He started doing his morning exercise on that hill. Exercise तक सब ठीक था। but then he started music on his phone, चक्क कव्वाली वर exercise करू लागला! च्यमारी new year च पहिल song कव्वाली. ते ऐकून काही उठले, काही तो गेल्या वर उठले. We packed our bags and headed out of there. Caves were looking beautiful in the morning sun and I decided that I would come here again to see them. Plan पक्का !
We walked to Malavali Station. Train was going to come in an hour, so we had snacks and tea at a local ठेला. Sujan and Shefali went to Pune in Pune local while we waited for a Lonavala train. Here we came to know that Shraddha is avid traveler and that she goes on Himalayan expeditions as well as solo treks regularly.
Lonavala Train came at about 9.50 AM, we took a rick from Lonavala station to Kamath Hotel in Khandala. Our Hike started from here and we walked towards Shooting Point, Khandala . I could see the Mumbai Pune highway to the left and Ulhas valley in front of me from this point. So many times I have been on that road yet I don't know that this beautiful location exists here, and that this is the valley, where the Ulhas River originates. We were going to hike down to the valley and then walk along the stream to Kondhane Village in Karjat, which is the base village of Kondhane Caves and Rajmachi from Karjat side.
The descend down was very steep, one needs to use hands to be safe, It was exciting. There came a steep 10 feet fall with good foot holds which was to be descended carefully. आम्हा कच्चा लिम्बुन्ना अर्थात (Sonam , Akash आणी मला ) कमरेवर rope लाउन खली सोडण्यात आल. We reached in the valley at about 12.30 PM. Had lunch. Shraddha was carrying ample food, Boiled eggs, Loaf of bread, Jam, Butter, Sauce, etc. etc. I saw the way she had packed the food. She told us that she has been trekking since 1991. Akash बोला," मै तभी born भी नहीं हुआ था!!". I found myself very fortunate to be trekking with such seasoned trekkers. We sat here for a while, besides the stream. The water looked clear but we the humans have started disposing our sewage water into the river right at its origin(Not judging, we the humans! just saying!).
We started our hike at about 1.15 PM. Basically the route was the water stream, There are huge rocks on which one could stand alone at a time, and there is water flowing beneath them. Sounds fun right! well it was!, but not for all. काही लोकांना बघून वाटले की इकडे दगडां वर जणू दगडच चालत आहेत, असो, with a slow but steady pace we started hiking. Sun was right above us, there was no shade. Sipping water at regular intervals, seeing the flowing water and different rock formations we were treading like the water flow. Shraddha was arranging rocks like a pyramid at certain distances. I thought that she was just passing time while we caught up with her, but it was not just timepass, I came to know about that later.
The valley got a bit narrow at a point where we rested and had Buttermilk. It cooled our radiators and filled us with energy. We started our hike after the break. The terrain had not changed yet. At about 3.30 PM Prasad checked the map and realized that we are waayyyyyy behind schedule and have to cover a lots of distance to reach Kondhane. He estimated that we will reach Kondhane by 8.30 PM. च्यामारी, अंधारात हे दगड गोटे पार करायचे . We kept walking, Sonam was pretty tired. Her face looked red like a cherry. Akash मस्त sunglasses डालके दुपुक्क दुपुक्क चल राहा था. Everyone was walking on their own. No one was listening to anyone. Prasad was like," hurry up! hurry up! keep moving keep moving". आणि आम्ही बैला सारखे. दुपुक्क दुपुक्क. Trying not to get our feet in water and get shoes wet.
A little ahead we found two Buffaloes skinny dipping in water. They were alarmed by us and were looking at us as if we had intruded into their private moments. Here Prasad found a trail going from east side of the stream. We took it, It was a cattle trail Prasad said, Cattle use this trail for skinny dipping in the river I assume. Trail पे एकदम जबरदस्त pace मीला. दुपुक्क दुपुक्क turned into सपसप सपसप. Sonam's face again changed back to her normal color.
Our pace increased so dramatically that now Prasad said that we will reach the village before dark. I must say that this is A beautiful trail. Not steep not sunny, in forest cover, away from civilization, I could keep walking here forever I said to myself. I like these kind of trails भयानक!!. But not today. Everyone was tired. Waking walking and walking we reached where Rajmachi mountain starts. We had to walk along this mountain keeping it to right hand side to reach kondhane village.
Shraddha was still arranging the rocks which then she told me that she is doing it so that if we get lost we would find where we were and that it would help for rescue operation if needed. We reached an open ground like area, where we found few buffaloes grazing in the grass. Wait they were different. Not buffalos. They were larger with horns like an arc, then Prasad said,"गउर आहेत ते".Gaur, commonly known as Indian Bisons are extremely aggressive wild animals. They are larger than bulls and are very protective of their herd. There were about 4-5 with a calf. The Gaur besides the calf looked at us with a suspicious air. They were right in the middle of our trail, about 60 meters away. Prasad walked towards them when the one with the calf came a few steps ahead. Warning us to stay behind.
We took the warning and found another trail which was more prominent and larger. What a beautiful route. I just can't stop admiring it. It was evening. Sun light had gone. And the forest was green and grey. I fell back from the group for a bit, when I caught up with them they were sitting with their bags off. There was water on the ground. Prasad आणि Akash त्यात तोंड टाकून नर्ड्यात खेचत होते! मीही पहिल्यांदा घोडा झालो. लय् बऱ वाटल.
We started walking again, and we came across a cultivated land. The village was near. Shraddha stopped and said,"come here I have something show", that something was light in the village at a distance. We had reached Mundhewadi village. We walked ahead to Kondhane village. To my right there was Rajmachi. To left there was huge Ulhas river. It's water now deeper, filled, flowing with no rounded rocks coming out of it.
We sat on the road while a Rick driver agreed to get his Rick to take us towards Karjat station. I looked up, stars were still there, like they were yesterday, Orion with its sword, flown with us along the river.
