I like to enjoy the life and every month, I update to all friends about the happenings in my life.
These I sent by e-mails with titles as "life ho to Aisee".
Hope you'll like it..
Mahesh
The Katraj Sinhgad night trek was cancelled. Everybody was asking me why and I told I may not able to make it. So the trek was reduced to only Sinhgad. At that time, I was in different mood and waiting for a call from Kolhapur any time.You 'll get these from my next post.
We decided to gather at Santosh Hall at 10:00 pm, but I was late and joined the group at 10:30 instead. We were total 8 together Milind,TeJa,Nikhil & his wife Revati, Jo, sarika, Sneha and I. This was the first trek for Revati and first trek for Sneha in our group. She always complains to Bob that I never take her to treks. So this time, she was in. We reached the base of Sinhgad at 11:30 pm. We parked our vehicle and started for climb. We took 2 hrs to reach to the top. It was a nice experience to go to Sinhgad in night time. Then we put Nikhil's tent at one place. Everybody except Milind, TeJa & I decided to stay back in the tent and we three went to roam around the Sinhgad fort. TeJa had done lots of treks, but this was his first to Sinhgad. So I showed him all the places. At round 4:00 am, we came back for rest.
After sleeping for 2 hrs in the cold wind, we got up at 6:00 am, freshed up and went to Balu's dhaba for the brunch where we had pithale bhakri, bhaji and dahi. At around 9:30 am, we started back to descent.
Don't be surprised after reading the title. It's still a trek, but fun outing too !!! This time, we are going to Sinhgad in night.
So here is the final plan for it. Date:- 14 March 2009 Meeting place:- Santosh Hall, Sinhgad Road Meeting Time:- 10:00 pm
We'll start from Santosh hall at 10:00 pm. Park our vehicles at the base of Sinhgad fort. Start to climb the fort. It will take around 2 hrs to reach at the top. There are many huts on the top where we can stay/take rest. Next day, get up early, have the break fast (झुणका भाकरी + भजी) and start to descent. We should be back to the parking place by 9 am.
As many of you know that my sister and brother in law in now in Norway. So why not explore the treks there? So I googled and found few interesting places. One of them is Preikestolen.
Near Stavanger in Norway there is a mysterious rock that rises 600 meters above the fjord Lysefjorden and to get there is not a climber's dream! The Preikestolen (literally “Rock Pulpit” is perhaps the most famous attraction in Stravanger. Once you've arrived at the parking lot at an elevation of about 270 meters, you're at the beginning of the trail that leads to the summit of the rock terrace from which in a little less than two hours and another 600 meters you will get to the peak of the fjord. This is really a amazing place. I am planning to go to Norway in next year or the next next year.
I am adding few snaps here so that you can admire its beauty.
Hope you have enjoyed my dream treks. The descriptions are not so elaborate.. why??
Cause I have not yet gome to these treks.. How can I write then?
So plz plz plz wish that I can complete all my dream treks and give you all the information.
Its quite a long time I was inactive on my blogging, but now I am back with a new article of Life ho to Aisee. Did you wonder to see the article name ' The Best Trek Ever'? .. of course you do. You may ask, "Mahesh, you do lots of treks and what’s the best this time?" Wait, wait.. I am going to explain everything very shortly.
During mid January, we planned for a bigger trek this time.. a 3 day trek from Fort Panhala to Fort Vishalgad. But this trek did not materialize as some of the members were not available. Then it was January end, and we were still thinking of a trek and suddenly it struck to me that we can do Rajgad-Torana trek. Then I started to gather the information about this trek and the names of interested people. Nikhil (Jo), Mukesh, Tejas, Prasad (Doc), Anant and I were in the first list, but Anant did not come as his fathers' health was not good. Bharat decided to join us at the last moment. And once everything was done, 6-8 February period was decided for the trek. Refer here for the final plan.
We all met at Swargate stand at 4:45 pm, caught the 5:00 pm "Rajgad chi Raani"(Queen of Rajgad). We got a hotel (Hotel Aranyadham) contact number from bus driver. Jo called to the hotel and asked them to prepare dinner for 6 people. We reached GunjaWane at 7:15 pm. Dinner was ready within half an hour. The food was very good; everybody was so hungry that they forgot we had to climb Rajgad afterwards. After finishing this tasty food, we started for Rajgad at 8:30 pm. This was my second night trek, after the Rajmachi trek, but 3rd trek to Rajgad. Initially, we lost the road, but within 5 minutes, we realized that we need to take the other route. The moonlight was enough to keep our torches off most of the time.The journey was quite easy and ok as we were walking in the night time. With sufficient breaks, we reached at Rajgad at 11:00 pm. This was awesome as I thought it might take 4 hrs because of night time. But we're able to cover up in same time as in daylight. Once we reached on top, cameramen started to show their magic. After a short photography, everybody agreed to move to the Padmawati temple for rest. As it was Friday, we found the temple to be closed. We're only present at that time. Normally people come to Rajgad on Saturday & Sunday.
Day 2:- The Saturday morning was (as usual) very good. Initial plan was to leave early from Rajgad. Few of us (including me) had very good sleep, but some had not. We had break fast at 8:00 am full of biscuits, cakes & chiwada. We also had tea, one & only man from the fort office made it for us. We started towards Sanjivani Machi at 8:15 am. There we needed to exit at Alu Darawaja, but we still kept on going towards the end of the machi only to realize that we had to come back. Once we found the exit, one milestone was achieved, the time was 9:16 am.
The route from Rajgad to Torana was clearly visible through the ridges. At that time, Torana looked very near. We had read that normally it take 6 hrs to reach Torana. Also there was scarcity of the water on the way. So we had enough load of water with everybody. Our final time (to Torana) was calculated as 3:30 pm.
The road was ok, but slippery most of the times because of small stones and sand. Jo & Mukesh were leading us whereas Tejas and Doc were cautious and slow in this patch. It took us little more than an hour to come down from Rajgad. Now the time was 10:30 am, the "red hot sphere" was already started to make us sweat and we came to know that the journey ahead will be more sweaty ( and salty too !!!). We had some water, sweet lemons & Glucon D for the break. After 10 minutes break, we decided where to take our next pit-stop & started again. That was the milestone # 2 in our journey, a road crossing our route. I thought it will take around 2 hrs for the next break, but we reached early (or was the milestone nearer?) at the pit-stop at 11:50 am. Again, the same break menu as earlier was served to all.
Now the next milestone was the base of Torana. Nobody thought we will stop again in short time, but we did। We found two huts on the way. We hoped to get some thirst quencher here and decided to stop for lunch. We were lucky to get good hospitality welcome here and water too. Time 12:30 pm. We are now halfway of the trek, still 3 more hrs to go. You'll not believe, but still everybody slept there for 20 minutes. The hot sphere was acting as expected !! The break was converted into a lunch break. We had wonderful thepale ( ठेपले) from Tejas with muramba ( मुरंबा ) and lemon pickle. We asked for buttermilk & the villager gave us a full can of buttermilk, 2 ltrs. I was in doubt whether we'll finish it or not. Buttermilk finished very quickly. How tired and exhausted these guys (me too) were !! Rock patch # 1 After this short break (only 1 hr), we marched towards Torana. Soon others realized that lunch was as heavy as previous night dinner and it is difficult to walk with full stomach. We reached to the milestone at 2:45 pm. This is the first (rock) patch of the trek. Here again, we took a short break (15 mins) before staring the patch. I changed the order as Mukesh, Doc, Jo, Tejas, Mahesh & Bharat. This patch is ok, but very slippery with small stones & sand. When I was walking, I was about to pick & throw a stick on the way. But I was not able to do so as the stick slithered away quickly. Oops!! I realized that it was not a stick, but a snake instead. The last person finished the first patch at 3:25 pm. Here again, we took a small break to finish the remaining sweet lemons. Rock patch #2 Time was 3:40 pm & this was the best part of the trek. A rock patch with almost 80 degree climb on one side and deep valley the other!! Jo decided to go first and check the path, without carrying the bag. He managed to clear the patch, but was not able to come back. Mukesh told he would carry Jo's bag & come back to carry the others. Once he cleared the patch, no chance to come back. Remember the climb was 80 degree vertical and view from the top is furious. This was the crucial part of the trek. Was this a good time to get a cramp? Absolutely NO, but I had !!! Then I decided to go a little up and check the feasibility. I collected belts from everybody, tied to one another and made a rope. Mukesh then pulled all our bags on top. Now Jo, Mukesh & our bags had cleared the patch. We then climbed the patch in sequence of Doc, Tejas, I & Bharat. Here are the two videos of this climb (captured by Tejas from his Sony cam) Mahesh:-
Bharat:-
Rock Patch #3 Completing the rock patch 2 brought us to Budhala Machi, which was the third milestone. We took little more than 1 hr to complete the rock. From Budhala machi, we can see two forts, Lingana & Raigad. Raigad was the capital of Shivaji Maharaj. Guys decided to take some rest here, but clock said its 5:00 pm. I told that we had one more patch and 1 hr of sunshine. So everybody (with more reluctance) started. Rock patch 3 was ok, not so tough. At last, we reached to our next milestone, Konkan Darawaja at 6:05 pm. After 15 minutes of walk, at last we touched our final destination, Mengai temple. (Total duration - 9 hrs.) This was quite a hectic and tiresome journey on Saturday. Three patches were the best and most enjoyed by everybody. Mukesh, Jo & Tejas immediately went to the water tank to freshen up, followed by Bharat & me. Doc decided to rest in the temple.
We started our khichadi ( खिचडी ) preparation at 7:30 pm. We had the delicious khichadi along with thepale for dinner. As expected. by 9:15 pm, everybody were done and in their bed except Bharat & me, who preferred to do sky watching. Luckily, we received mobile signal to talk to our parents and convey our status. We also went to bed at 10:30 pm.
Day 3:- Sunday morning, I was able to get the sunrise pics with Rajgad as the background. Completing our morning activities, we started to prepare upama ( उपमा). By 8:40 am, upama was ready. We then prepared tea too. As per the plan, we started to descent at 10:00 am. This time we beat our original plan and reached at Velhe at 12:00 pm, nearly 1 hr early !!! After finishing lunch, we proceeded for Swargate.
This trek was really good. Few accomplishments’ of this trek are night trekking, climbing rock patches, 9 hrs of walk and most important, two forts in 1 trek. We 6 thought that this was the best trek to be done.
Thaks for the review. Have a nice day ahead ! ----------------------------- You can download Project Management Prepcast at http://www.premiumcast.com/vp/19/13608/
All, This trek is now finalized. Plz be preapred for the trek. Let me know your availability / unavailability at the earliest.
Trek Dates:- Friday 6 Feb 09 to Sunday 8 Feb 09 Meeting place:- SWARGATE BUS STATION.. Near BHOR platform (# 13) Meeting Time:- 4:45 PM
Final Plan:- Friday 6 Feb 2009 1) Catch bus to Gunjawane at 5:00 PM from Swargate 2) Rest and Dinner at Gunjawane. 3) Start trek for Rajgad at 10:00 PM 4) Reach Rajgad by 2:00 AM and rest at Rajgad Saturday 7 Feb 2009 5) After Tea & little snacks, start towards Torana at 8:00 AM 6) Walk of 5-6 hours towards Torana 7) Light lunch on the way 8) Reach Torana fort at 3:00 PM 9) Rest and sight-seeing of Torana 10) Dinner Sunday 8 Feb 2009 11) Light snacks 12) Sight seeing of Torana 13) Descent from Torana at 10:00 AM 14) Reach Welhe at 1:00 PM 15) Lunch at Welhe and then proceed for Swargate
Individual Items to bring: 1) Good pair of shoe (& enough pairs of socks) 2) Cap 3) Sleeping bag/mat 4) Enough clothing 5) A good Torch 6) Minimum two water bottles
Food & Medicine: I'll send a separate email later to those joining the trek.
Hi All, Surprised with the title of Life ho to aisee !! Any guess why ? No.. OK here it goes. Rainy season is very good for trekking purpose and you all know that the rain this year in Maharashtra was very poor, which resulted in the reduction of trekking . So no trekking and no photos. Hence the title this time. I was eagerly waiting for the rain. You can see this eagerness through my title on the gmail chat. There is a famous song in Marathi from Sandeep and Salil. So I put a sarcastic one as my title. So what happened then in this month.. nothing.. is it possible?? NO. This month, I visited Kolhapur to attend my BIL's engagement. He got engaged with Dr. Manasi Vaidya on 11st. Sunday (13th) I and Anagha went to Jotiba. It was a small trek of around 1 hr. Jotiba is a famous holy place in western Maharashtra. This is the only activity as far as trekking is concerned. Eagerly waiting for your valuable suggestions/comments as usual. It inspired me to write more and more. See you next time. Till then stay tuned. Thanks, Mahesh Masurkar ------- Forthcoming attraction:- HISTORY REPEATED AFTER 12 YRS
Hi everybody,Its long back when I interacted with you.In one of my earlier emails, I mentioned that there should not be long breaksin between the communications. But it was and I do apologize for the same.In the mean time, many of you asked about me and about "Life Ho To Aisee" in particular. Life Ho To Aisee was (and is) going at its own pace, but I was not able to update the readers.Now its a good chance to update. Yes, You guessed it right. Its the season of monsoon and ....And I love trekking. Our planning was started in first week of June and date was finalised as 21st.Location was not fixed, when Jogi sent a good photo and I decided to visit that place.Everybody was agreed and trek was planned to Prabalgad.We have very little idea about the place as the location was new and nobody has gone there.Then google, google earth and wikimapia helped us. Few webpages were very useful in locating the exact place. Coming to the members. I, Anagha, Anant and Tejas were the permanent members.Then at the last moment, Tejas had cancelled owing to his bad health.We never had shortage of people as there are so many interested in John Deere.But as Prabalgad is nearer to Panvel, we planned to go by Tavera which put limit on the final number.We were total 9 altogether as Mahesh, Anagha, Anant, Asit, Milind, Nikhil A, Nikhil J, Sam and Mukund.Last 4 were new to "our trekking club." We started on 21st at 6 AM (in Acchut Maharaj's word 'Early in the morning before sunrise'). Our driver must have seen F1 the night earlier as it was clear from his driving and maneuvering skills. We reached to the base village Thakurwadi at around 10 AM. To go to Thakurwadi, one can take the Shedung exit near to Panvel. Thakurwadi is hardly 10 kms from Shedung exit.We left the car at Thakurwadi and started walking. Our first target was to reach at Prabal machi which is nearly at the half way. We heard that the road is not so clear and one might get lost in the dense forest.We inquired at Thakurwadi and got the info that road is pretty straight and clear till Prabal machi.And so the road was...The atmosphere was dry, sky covered by dark clouds most of the time, but no chance of rain.It made the trek little tiresome. We had several breaks on the way, including the golden break where we had alphonso mangoes. After walking for almost 2 hrs, we reached at machi. Life at machi was very troublesome. Its a small village with may be 10 homes. People have to go to base villages for their weekly markets, doctors and anything you say. Two boys from machi helped us to identify the path till Prabalgad. There were arrow marks on the way which guided us till end. Those boys told us that these arrows will lead us towards water tank, but there was no water on fort. There is nothing much to see on the fort. We went to one end from where one can see the Kalavantin burj and Matheran.
After a short break, we had our lunch mix of parathas, chapatis, bread etc. After taking a couple of photographs of the only view point, we started to descend. On the way back, we dropped Nikhil J. to Panvel as he wanted to go to Mumabi. Then our driver took a wrong side and a policeman caught us. He took Rs. 100/- to free us.On the way back, Anant, Asit and Mukund were on seventh heaven as they sung few beautiful compositions. (Photos:- http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/Prabalgad) Only bad news is I was carrying camera and a water bottle in a bag and after some time I found camera floating in water. So camera is no more. I'll buy a new one and let you know when I do. Presently thinking of canon SX100. If anybody has any opinion on this one, pls let me know asap, Thanks. ------ On 29th June, Anagha and I went to Sinhgad. We asked few of our friends, but nobody was seen interested.Though Sinhgad is a routine now, I have one wish to be with Anagha at Sinhgad in the monsoon. We started at 7 from home and reached on top at 10 am. Weather was very good, no sun only clouds and a little shower. Atmosphere was superb around, everywhere lush green. It was a wonderful time to go to Sinhgad and yes, it was full packed, more than 2 thousand people. After enjoying the bhaji(pakode), dahi (curd) and zunaka bhakar, we came back to home at 2 PM. (http://picasaweb.google.com/mahesh.masurkar/Sinhgad29JUNE08)
