Hey F.R.I.E.N.D.S
It’s been a really lloonnggg time I sat down to write a bit about
my travel experience. Not that I have been to a lot of places lately or I
have
written a lot over any other things. But after a very long time, had a
really great
time and a really different experience, than just visiting a picnic spot.
I had to spare some time and jot down the fun, which we all had together.
Couldn’t wait
sharing it with you all.
About the trek:
 |
| Dipti |
It was a trek to the Kohoj fort, almost 100 kms off the
Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. Somewhere
close to the Manor-Wada road (Vaghote village). Basically our driver would know
better as he was the one finding our route through the cross roads :P. You can see the fort
right from the main road. It has a beautiful lake called ‘Pazhar’ at its base.
Standing 3200 feet above the ground, the fort was given to the Mughals under
the Purandar treaty. It is said to have belonged to Raja Bhoj (ya the Gangu teli
one. Now I understand why, when u say Raja bhoj, you look up into the sky ;)
:P)
We were a group of 11 + 1 raju guide, named Sanjay :P. It was Dipti
(Aniket’s wife) and her group. Had met most of them on
their last
trek halt at Aniket’s place in Pune. So the ice breaking was already
done and
I was already a part of the group, hence comfortable from the start :)
Day 1 – 27th
july (Saturday): Kohoj fort
 |
| Shriket |
 |
| Namrata |
I had already reached Dipti’s place at Bharat Mata, Curry
Road on Friday night so that, as emailed with ‘strict instructions’, we could
start sharp at 5:30 am :P. Well the sharpness turned out contrast, when Shriket
came up with our 14 seater cab almost past 6:15. I could see a lot of surprised
faces in the morning, as I had turned up for the trek on the last moment. I had
almost communicated to all about canceling the same. So finally picking up few
at Thane station, lavishly avoiding all the tolls (thanks to Namrata’s State govt ID Card) and our super healthy breakfast, our cab reached Vaghote, the
base, at around 10:15. Had read that the trek is through a small jungle
(bushes really :P) and because of the rains, it was very easy to get lost on
our way up. As the usual path would have been already covered up with growing
grass, we thought, better to hire a local guide to save us time and energy
to rewalk the same paths :).
It was difficult to find one, as the locals have already moved on to their
fields for harvesting. So a local teenager agreed to come up with us, after a
lot of pushing from his uncle (who by the way, had a unique strategy of
motivating me by telling stories about how people come back exhausted and how a
person died falling off the cliff a few days ago on that trek
:P). Good that this ghost did not haunt me for more than a minute. We were
already under the spell of the climate and the greenery around.
 |
| Yogini |
 |
| Jitu |
 |
| Sonal |
Almost around 2 pm, we finally made to the top. Even though
not much of the fort left, it was just a piece of 2 floored rock, with a base
enough to carry not more than 20 -25 people. Beyond it was a straight down hill
deep valley. With wind currents strong enough to push us on edges, the trek had
already tested our vertical limits. But the feeling of achievement you get when
you reach the top, makes you forget all the abuses your body is giving you at
that point of time. Even the professional lenses could not capture what we felt at that
time. Hungry as monsters, we just pounced on the Ambolis and the chutney, one of our troopers
had got. We were supposed to make sandwiches up there but we were already
sandwiched between our painful body
parts and an equally beautiful picture
of nature around us. We did not know if our legs are more painful or the top view
is more beautiful. Even in that condition, Sonal had the table manners to get
the chutney out of its box with a spoon and all. I could not resist. I just
took away the spoon and simply poured the chutney in each one’s amboli, which
they had been desperately holding in their hands. All shivering and wet,
trenched their hunger with what seemed to be the best lunch enjoyed by all of
us so far and may be in years to come.
We could not wait more. We left by around 3 pm as we wanted
to reach the base before it gets dark. We did not know that the pain was yet to
come. What we felt so far was just the trailer. The slippery slope was much
harder to climb down. Rocks and pebbles leaving its place now and then, the
vertices playing mind games with you. I felt what if we had a helicopter, which
would bring us straight to our quarters. Such luxurious thoughts could relax my
mind for just a fraction of seconds. My
battery was almost down when we were half way down. The lake at the base of the
mountain, seemed far far away and no matter how much we climbed down, it seemed
to remain at the same distance. My legs were numb and it was just following a
mechanical process of climbing down. Groups were re-formed. This time many
floaters had shown their true colors. Finally at around 6:15, we reached the
lake again. We just gave ourselves up to the waters and submerged into it. Fully passing
away all our pains and complaints to the flowing stream, we breathed one sigh of relief. The lake was
kind enough to take away our desperation, our discomforts and our lost energy
levels. We all were playing into the water as if it was our first introduction
to H2O.
Few members still needed some persuasion, but Shirket, Sarvesh and Jitu were
kind enough to do the honors.
 |
| Sarvesh |
You may think. Hush.. its done.. But like any Bollywood
movie, our story too takes a twist at the end. As we were playing off in
the
water, our two guides were already bored as we took almost 8-9 hours for
the
see-saw we were playing with fort. Usually as they mentioned, it takes
them not more
than 2-3 hours to do a round trip and at times, they do upto 3 trips a
day. So we paid them and let them move ahead as we enjoyed the
mischievous lake. What
else, we lost our way back from the lake to the main road where our car
was
waiting for us. Already with our shaky legs, we were finding our way
from the
moist soil and the edgy farm borders. One of us even had to loose her
sandals to one of knee deep, quick sand like mud cluster. So after
igniting our
sense of directions and keeping the mountain’s position as our guide, we
found
out the way to reach our much awaited car. We still had to travel an
hour or so
to Jawhar, where we had rented our service quarters. Finally we reached
our place of stay. Even though tired
and exhausted, I could not understand how our official photographers
(yogini
and namrata) had the will and the energy to click so many pictures of
the
nature, the flowers, the minute details of each moments and the things
around
us. Hats off to their love of photography and their will to get it the
way they
want. It just made them forget their pains. Have shared a link to
their hard work, creativity and efficiency below :) Also feeling proud to mention
that during the whole travel, none of our members littered over any of
the places. however tired, all made sure that the plastic bags or the
wrappers or bottles are not thrown away hastily. We maintained them in
our bags till we reached our rooms :).
Picking up from the recap, where we had a rigorous
one day military training, here we were in our cabs, checking if we have
returned with all our body parts in one piece and pack. That day I understood
the anatomy of my body, legs especially. I could feel ever bone, muscle and
ligament from them. The Rafis, the
Kishors, the Ashas and the Latas, who were actively Antaaksharing in the
morning commute, were now playing mute. May be they were rehearsing the songs
from “KHAMOSHI” :)..
We were simply awaiting the site of our guest house. Felt when we would reach,
have a hot shower and retire in our warm beds. But what’s comfort got to do
with you, when you are out on a trekking trip ;).
At around 9:30 we reached our guest house. Here too, the
quarters were almost empty and we were the only occupants haunting the house.
So even though two rooms were booked, thanks to Namrata’s persuasion, they made
two more rooms available for us to get fresh. We simply took the cold showers.
Unfortunately, being a loyal government employee, the heater in the boy’s room
was on strike :)
:P . Namrata I know you are gonna kill me for this ;) :P :D. We were finally ready to hunt
for our dinner. Namrata’s colleague, our main contact person at the guest house
suggested a nearby Dhabba. We headed towards our chicken soup, some delicious
starters, handi chicken and fried rice. (Shirish if you are reading this, we also
had a koolfi, sitafphal basundi, ice-cream with toppings and chocolate chips
too.. ha ha.. just kidding shirya. This is enough for you to drool. Tond
pooss..) :P :D .. Some veggies had
their share of ghas phus too. I wont know their menu off course :) :).
 |
| Yours truly - Amol |
Pics for day 1
Day 2 – 28th
July (Sunday): Jawhar and Dabhosa waterfall
 |
| Gaurish |
 |
| Trupti |
with no space elsewhere
A little bit of tick & a little bit of tock,
clicking each other over the wet rock
Enjoying the dripping drops, posing in front of the beauty so tall
Staring at us from the other wall, was our Dabhosa water fall” :) :)
Here we were again back in the cab, after clicking the fall, some cute
dog, smiling kid and his Santoor mom ;). Wow. I can’t stop.. Even this rhymed?
:P :D We were hungry again and decided to take a pit stop at a dhaba. As soon
as we filled our tummies, some of us decided to see the Jai Vilas Palace, which
was at a walking distance from our dhaba. So we all decided to walk again,
except Sarvesh, Gaurish and Kinjal. Rest of us walked to the palace, which
unfortunately is taken over by some ‘private property’ and so couldn’t see from
inside. We just had a round around the palace and we returned to our car. Don’t
know much about its history. Those who stayed in the car did not leave a chance
to be creative. They came up with some creative call center like description of
our cab :).
Yes. We had a beautiful cab, all dressed up in slogans and pictures. It had
some other features too which can go as follows:
Press 1 for English, Hindi ke liye 2 dabaye, Marathi saathi 3 dabaa
 |
| Kinjal |
For information on Driver seat, press 1, for passenger and other seats
information, press 2, for enquiry on exit doors press 3, for information on
other accessories press 4, to talk to our customer care executive press 9. To
go back to the main menu, press #
1 – the driver can roll down his glass, put a hand out and then open
his door or even start the wiper ;)
#
2 – the middle seat which semi folds for passengers to go at the back seat, does
not hold itself. It can move faster than the car
#
3- The doors to other passengers could be opened from outside only. Do
not attempt to open from inside.
#
4 – The glass on the right side goes up and down manually. It can be pulled
or pushed using only your bare hands. Please do not waste time searching the
glass roller. Do not attempt to touch the music player. It will come out in
your hands. Only melodious passengers are allowed to board the car :)
#
9 – your call is very important to us. All our executives are currently
busy. Please hold or call again later. :P :D
So in short, had a wonderful car and an even exciting driver with
outstanding driving skills. The main rear view and the right window mirror were
conspicuous by its absence. GOD had given him his left window mirror, but he
was pretty upset at it and kept it closed. The rear glass was painted with some
logos and art work and so was completely opaque. We now know GOD exists. We are
safe in our houses reading this mail (me writing). Reached back Borivali by around
10 pm and stayed at Aniket’s place on Sunday night. Few guys further risked
their lives with the cab to get dropped to their destinations. Of course most
of us had taken a leave on Monday to rest and revive the memories. Can’t really
understand how few of us were reporting to their jobs the next day morning.
Over all, had a beautiful trek, enjoying each and every moment. A big thanks
to the organizers. It was so perfectly arranged and efficiently managed, right from
starting the mail trails for dos and donts till reaching back home. It was a
smooth experience. More than that, it was a pleasant experience we would never
forget. All the guys and gals just rocked. Feeling awesome to be a part of such
an enthusiastic, fantabulous, cool, etc etc group
Pics for day 2
Regards
Amol Potdar
