Hello F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Shriket - Planner 1 |
Namrata - Planner 2 |
Shweta - New comer 3 |
Rahul - New comer 1 |
Yogesh - New comer 2 |
Trupti |
Swapnil |
Yogini - pro photographer |
Dipti - our Sita mayya |
Yours truly |
Although it was not raining continuously but the wind current and the water falls had us fully drenched till the end. The second adventure began when we understood that the place had no lights and thus no water from a long time due to some MSEB repair work going on around the base and the nearby villages. There was no choice but to bathe with the freezing cold rain water, which we collected in the buckets from the flowing roof tops :). The first two pours on our head in such a weather really requires guts. Being the only room available, boy and girl took turns to rule over the room and get ready for a heavenly zundka bhaakar and daal bhaat at around 2 in the afternoon from our housekeepers.
It
was almost 7 am when we started waking up, planning to move out as fast as we
could so that we could finish off the remaining points from the list. We had
our food packets opened up for breakfast with the hot tea from the housekeepers.
But we were so lousy that it took around 10 a.m. for us to get over our laziness, packing our bags and stepping out of our rooms. Me and Swapnil had a bus booked from Mahad to Pune at
around 3:30 pm. So doing the math backwards, we were supposed to start the
downward journey at around 11 am. Even the Mumbaikars had to catch a bus around
4. Thus after a lot of thinking and discussions, we decided to skip the rest of the points as neither
we could have enjoyed the points in rush nor would have reached the base in
time. So we started directly from the quarters to the way down. We thought we
would drench again because of the rain but surprisingly we did not encounter
heavy rains. It was a light dripping all the way. We were obviously faster to reach the destination this time, as we
reached the base at around 12:30 p.m. This time we took a ten seater Mahindra cab
from the base itself. We booked the cab till Mahad bus stop but visited the
Jijau Samadhi on our way. Its just a kilometer away from the paachad stop junction, where
we had halted on our way up. The place is beautiful with a copper made bust of
jijaai (al teast it seems to be copper). We returned to the stall again and changed to dry clothing. From here we could see the Raigad rope way very clearly. There were two dots going up and two coming down over a distant rope way clad with fog. They couldn't be captured in even a DSLR. We decided to have
lunch in Mahad itself so that we won’t get late for our bus. The Mumbai team had to
book their tickets too. So finally most of us entertained our taste buds with
non-veg food at the near by restaurant. We had cautiously decided not to eat non veg on
the fort. It has already been banned in few forts like Sinhagad but yet to be
implemented on Raigad. But we paid our respect in our own ways and that
includes no littering over the fort. We made sure to carriy our plastics and papers
with us till the dustbins. The Mumbai team had got the tickets for the 4:30
return bus, while we two (myself and Swapnil) started our journey at 3:30. For me
the malshej ghat and the greenery on the way back was the only positive thing
to board the return bus. For Swapnil it was his arrears of sleep all the way :P. With heavy hearts we parted ways.
With boards like Garudmachi on the way home, I am waiting when we would start
exchanging mails for the next trek this monsoon itself.
Till then enjoy the pics of the trek from the link below:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114702086921512698045/albums/6040334480582027201
The photographer's link :)
https://picasaweb.google.com/ lh/sredir?uname= 107872696776724158893&target= ALBUM&id=6040219958889105185& authkey=Gv1sRgCOqhlpmrqMmx6AE& feat=email
Regards
Amol Potdar
Till then enjoy the pics of the trek from the link below:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114702086921512698045/albums/6040334480582027201
The photographer's link :)
https://picasaweb.google.com/
Regards
Amol Potdar