In the vicinity of Karjat, are very beautiful forts which were conquered by Shivaji. These forts were made on various mountains which are a part of Sahyadri range. We decided to climb one such mountain, Gorakhgad.
Our journey started when we all finalized that we will climb this mountain on the night of 4th July. First big challenge for me was to get up at 4.45 in the morning and reach at Nik's place where I can park my car. I had already missed Kamalgad trek last weekend and Junky had no hope that I will be waking up this time too. With lots of excitement filled in me, I was not going to miss this one. I woke at 4.45, got ready and reached Nik's place at 5.30. Nik saw that I was carrying a camera, he quickly asked if I had polybags with me. I hadn't. He rushed inside his home to get me two polybags. I parked the car and accompanied Nik to Shivaji Nagar Rly Station. There I met my fellow trekkers – Ninad, Richa, Kunal and of course…Junky. We boarded the Deccan Exp at 6:05 AM. Inside train, we all came to know about each other. Our talks were like that Antakshari, where one team has to sing a song starting with the word they pick up from the song sung by another team. There was lots of humor around.
We reached Karjat at 8.45 AM. While we all did breakfast, Nik was trying to find out a way to Masah. Nik called us and asked us to rush as the only bus towards Masah was about to leave. We rushed towards the Bus station and got into the bus. We reached Kashede village (around 20 Kms from Karjat) in about 30 mins. From there we got into another bus to Masah (another 22 Kms). In about 40 mins, we were at Masah. From Masah, we got into a Jeep (capacity of 11, carrying 16) that dropped us at Dehri village (around 13 Kms from Masah). Throughout this journey from Masah to Dehri, Gorakhgad and Machindragad were standing tall in front of us. We also saw another fort Siddhgad (our fuftre trek). We reached Dehri at 10.20 AM.
We all 6 stood in front of those two mighty ancient towers. And we were all set to roar with all enthusiasm.
Machindragad and Gorakhgad were two watch towers for the fort Siddhgad. While Siddhgad was conquered by Shivaji, Gorakhgad and Machindragad were never conquered. Later on I came to know that why are they called Gorakh and Machindra. According to Hindu mythology, there was a saint Gorakh Parasad. He was very much determined to his tapasya. To break his tapasya, he was lured by some beautiful angels. At this time, Maya Machindra, one of the biggest followers of Gorakh Baba, came to his Baba's help in completing him his tapsya. So, the towers are named after these two ancient icons. Because Baba was Machindra's teacher, the taller of the two towers is Gorakhgad and smaller one is Machindragad. There is another place in India named after Gorakh Prasad Baba – Gorakhpur.
Nik and Junky were the most experienced of us all in trekking. So, they have this protocol in between them that one of the two will head the trek and another will be at the end. From time to time, the one heading will try to take a glimpse of the one trailing and this ensures that everyone in between is safe. To reach to the top of Gorakhgad, we had to cross 2 small mountains and then climb the last one. First mountain was very tiring for most of us, but a small descend to the base of the second mountain, gave us back our breath. Second mountain was comparatively easier than first one though the terrain appeared more difficult. It took us directly to the base of the Third part. There is a small temple at the start of the third terrain. This terrain is all made up of steps of rock. These steps were not that simple to climb. As we started our ascend to the third part, 'it started raining like dog'(c) (This sentence and its hindi meaning 'Kutta Barish' has been patented by the 6 Gorakhgad trekkers on 5th July 2008 at 11.30 AM. If you want to use this expression or its meaning, please pay a charge of Rs. 120 to Mr. Nik) ;-). We reached to an open door after a lot of struggle. Junky showed us another set of steps and they were huge, and said, that there's still more to come. After climbing those huge steps, we reached to an open area from where we could clearly see Machindragad and Siddhgad fort. This site was so beautiful. It looked as if we are in heaven. We could see all shades of color green. Far away, there was a waterfall falling from Siddhgad fort. Machindragad look awesome as it wore the shawl of greenery. We did some photography there. If I forgot to tell this before, but this was only because of Nik's experience that I could wrap my SLR into polybags, so it didn't get spoiled. Everytime I covered my camera with polybag, I thanked Nik.
As we moved ahead, we came across a big cave. This cave was used by soldiers of ancient times to sleep and to cook. While crossing this patch, first time I realized that I had made a wrong selection of shoes. My woodlands were good for patches where it was muddy or on dry rock. But they were not meant to climb a rock which was wet and slippery. Still I crossed a horizontal patch with the help of Junky. Now we reached a point where there were all rocky steps to the top, almost at 80 degrees inclination. This was going to be no less than a rock climbing. It was raining heavily at this point. Everyone climbed the first part with lots and lots of tries. I was the last one remaining. I started climbing this part but once my shoe slipped and I lost control. I pushed my self from against the rock and jumped down 2ft. On a normal day, 2ft jump might be simple to make, but when you have trekked for 2 continuous hours and all tired and on the top of that you are having those 2 kilos of hard rock sole on your feet, it pains to jump 2ft. I tried once more to climb this part. Junky helped me and I could finally climb it. Then I climbed another 100 ft patch with Junky. I decided at this point, that I should not go ahead on the last patch. I might be very brave, having lots of confidence and not at all afraid of height, but it was not feasible enough to climb slippery rocks with rock hard shoe soles and I wanted to be a part of more treks in future :-). I retreated back. Junky came down to drop me and went back to the top. I waited just below the rock climbing patch for my fellow trekkers to return. During all this time, I zoomed on at Machindragad with my SLR, I clicked whole valley. With rains replaced by beautiful rays of sun, the valley looked very pretty and Machindragad shone like a diamond in this valley. After a while, I saw my friends coming back. And I was happy to see them all. They explained that how beautiful the valley looked from the top, I could imagine what they were telling. It was not raining now; we quickly made our way down to a point from where the rocky part started. We sat there and in front of this beautiful view of Siddhgad and Machindragad, we had our lunch. Ninad and Junky had got Theplay and pickle. We were so hungry that we ate all the Theplay and other junk food we had. Now we started our journey back to Dehri village. Ascending a trek is tiring, descending the trek is more tiring as impact of the full body weight is directly on the toes and fingers. I slipped thrice while coming down (not sure about others), but all the time, I was able to regain my control. We reached the base village in less than an hour's time. We were supposed to board a jeep till Masah. But all the jeeps that came were jam packed. We could not find any place to sit so we lay down on the road itself. After sometime, Nik got us arranged a special jeep which will drop us till Masah. Jeep was there in no time. After reaching Masah, we were waiting for the bus. At that time we saw a Trailer Truck coming. We asked if he could drop us till Karjat. He agreed. Wow!! The adventure was not yet over!! It felt so huge sitting inside a Trailer truck. Though it was tiring and not the best journey, but it was the fastest. Trailer dropped us at Karjat and we walked till Railway station. After hogging on Water gourd and tea, we boarded the train at 7.45 PM. Initially we had to stand for about half an hour but we soon got seats. We reached Pune at about 10 PM. We were back home - safe and sound.
We wish to return to trek Machindragad in future, but its terrain is lot more difficult than Gorakhgad and it cannot be done without equipments (required for rock climbing). Also, I will no more wear woodlands on treks unless it is in snow!!
As I write this log, the image of those mighty towers standing tall and handsome, flashes in front of my eyes. Each and every of God's creation on this planet is very beautiful. We think about heaven and how beautiful it would be, but – 'agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen-ast…hameen asta, o hameen asta, o hameen asta'…
Bis Spater
P.S.: If you want to see the whole lot of snaps, please visit the folloing link - http://picasaweb.google.com/shaz.garg/Gorakhgad?authkey=DJkXaZ44jCc
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment