Harrowed in Hyderabad...

Recruiting was my job and out-station hiring one of the channels. This highly coveted reason took me on a visit to Hyderabad in October 2009. We had a few vendors there and they were supposed to line up some excellent,  hardworking, smart candidates eager to work for 3G in apna Mumbai. To begin with I couldn't digest how will I be able to recruit the 'aheavii Aekcent' wala Hyderabadi's for the customer service openings we had. But then it was my job to search for the diamonds among the coal ;-). My train ticket was booked and was under RAC. It got confirmed only on the day of my departure. I louee my travel department. At this point I didn't focus much on the fact that my return ticket is on waiting list. You may ask how is that a big deal...well it turned out to be one. It lead me into a messy affair..much on that a little later.

Paradise

I was in Hyderabad for a couple of days. I was put up at Lakdi ka Pul (as one word). The vendors whom I had to meet were in Secunderabad, which wasn't very far from where I was staying. The first day - Surprisingly, I was at this vendors office on time and to my surprise there were no candidates. I mean, I felt as if I was called there to drink tea and inspect the old computers and stacks of files in this 19 and a 1/2th century building. I was there for 5 hours and they couldn't line a single candidate. I was mind strained (you know the word that I wanted to use - but avoiding from a larger viewer/reader perspective ;-)). But you know what saved the day - Paradise. Not Heaven. The famous Paradise Hyderabadi Biryani House. It was bang opposite to where this vendor's office was. I had a scrumptious, spoon licking chicken Biryani and dozed off for sometime. That was how my first day in Hyderabad was - Utter waste.

The second day was better. I went for a ride by the necklace road. Its more like apna Marine Lines. Necklace road is by the Hussain Sagar Lake. I had to be at a vendor at Banjara Hills that day. Banjara hills is akin to apna Pali Hill. A posh Area of Hyderabad with good crowd, clubs and a nice locality in totality. Here thankfully I was presented with some work. You know without it I would have been bogged down with the guilt of spending company money for nothing. I hope you feel me here. I had some 7 candidates to interview. 6 of them could only introduce themselves and I ticked the 'Failed' button of my mind. So horrible in communication. The 7th guy was better but huge ego and a mis-fit. He was an engineer, did MBA from UK and now wants to work in a BPO. Another one rejected - dis time on stability grounds.

So the summary is something like this -
2 days stay - 24 hours of train travel - 2 vendors - 7 candidates met - zero selects - But a scrumptious Biryani.
How impressive!!

My train from Hyderabad was on the same day at 7.30 in the evening. I had packed my bags in the morning itself. Another colleague of mine who was with me and whose native was Hyderabad said it would only take 20 mins to reach the station from LakdiKaPul and I can leave by 6.45 pm. My bad, I believed him and later realized that this is how luck plays with you. We left by the rick at 6.45 and got stuck at a circle on the NH 9. There was some kind of a morcha and mera locha. We waited for 10 mins but no sign of the rickshaw moving. I hurriedly got down and started running towards the Nampally station (Hyderabad Deccan railway station). I had 15 minutes and I had to get my train. I was running with my bags and worse still I was wearing my chappals. People I passed were searching for a camera of 'The Amazing Race' unit. It was a run to remember. I stopped twice to ask for the direction. Every sound of the train smoking black led my heart to skip a beat. I ran ran and I reached just as the train was pulling off from the platform. Luckily the train was on the platform adjoining the station entry and I didn't had to cross any bridge. You remember Kareena Kapoor's introduction in 'Jab we Met'. Similar was my entry but there was no one to help me get in. Only girls have all the fun here.
I managed to get into a second class compartment from where I moved to the AC section. Now if you recollect my ticket was in the RAC mode and I hadn't yet checked if it is confirmed. I earnestly thanked the Indian Railway for having an internet based ticket status checking facility and thanked Nokia for developing a GPRS enabled phone as I checked the status. And surprise surprise - it was still RAC.

I went blank for a moment. The train had started, I don't have a confirmed ticket, I have a night to spend - what to do? I knew that there are no tickets available in the bus as my colleague had enquired in the evening. He was to stay back in Hyderabad for a day and leave the next day. I gained composure with the thought that with a little money to the TT, I could manage something - No no Anna Hazare wasnt popular then. I parked my luggage and checked out the 3 AC compartments. I couldn't see even one empty seat. The thermometer of my hope fell down a bit but not completely. I couldn't spot the TT so spoke to these blue shirted guys who provide blankets and towels in the compartment. They asked me wait till the TT comes and he would surely help. The place where these guys keep the blankets is by the toilet and it has kind of a wooden bench which can be unfolded. I was given a  place there to sit by this generous blue shirt guy. The TT came by 10.15 pm and on spotting me had a angry look. 'What want you here' is what I heard and spent a few seconds decoding it. Well but I knew he didn't have much time for me so I told him my story and he was like, get down and get into the unreserved section. I tried to reason out that I have a 2nd AC ticket so something can be done and I can pay extra. But he was like there are no seats available and that he cant help and I should move off immediately. The blue shirt guy asked me to speak to the 2nd class TT and ask him to help. I thanked him and took a voyage in the train to sport TT number 2.

I have traveled a lot in the Indian Railways and I know the nuisance of someone who has an unreserved ticket sitting on my reserved seat and saying 'Pleaje Adjusht no'. I could have done that (not with that accent), but it's awkward and something I can never do. I managed to locate the second TT and spoke to him. This guy was more calm and helpful. But he also didn't have any seat to give me. By now it was11.30 pm or something and the train was reaching Wadi Junction and I was frustrated. I had to get a normal ticket because right now though I had an RAC ticket, I was a ticketless traveler. I had no option but to get off the train. I crossed the bridge, located the ticket counter. To which place should I take the ticket? I cant sit by the bathroom the whole night to reach Bombay for sure. I found out that the next big station is Gulbarga. I have passed by Gulbarga when travelling to my native in Tamil Nadu a countless times and it did look like a decent place. So, I thought and Prayed that may be I will get a bus from there. I took the tickets and boarded the same train which was still waiting at the station - May be it felt pity on me. I stood by the door for another 1.5 hours and at 1 a.m. reached Gulbarga. I walked out of the station expecting a bus stop but could only locate a couple of tea stalls and a pitch dark road starting from there and ending I don't know where. I asked a local about getting a bus to Mumbai and he said, its like 10 kms away and its dangerous to travel alone at night. That was the downfall of another of my hope.

I checked for a confirmed ticket to Bombay that night or early next day but there was no availability. The next plan I could come up was to take a train to Solapur and a bus from there to Bombay. The next train to Solapur - a passenger, was at 4.30 in the morning. I spent the 3 hours of the night in the station platform. I was damn sleepy, but didn't want to lose my belongings, which above all had the files of the important interviews I had taken of the Hyderabadi's. I sat wondering how exciting this trip has turned out to be. I could feel what people without a confirmed ticket would feel. I could feel what a person lost would feel - though not entirely as I knew my geography :-).
The train to Solapur was on time. It was relatively empty and I boarded the train, selected a berth and went of to sleep. I reached Solapur at 7 am or so. Places look better in the day light, I concluded. My enquiry started - this time in my fluent Marathi. The Bus Depot was some distance away. no luxury buses were going to Mumbai in the morning. Luxury eludes you, the more you chase her. What a learning, from what a situation. Well, I then took a rick and reached the ST stand. Kolhapur is like Pune how it was 10 years back. Very laid back and slow. I booked my ticket in the Asiad ST Bus - The only luxury I could lay my hands on that day. The luxury turned a little more luxurious as I got a window seat. I had a vada pav and chai and started my journey among the 'aamchi maathi, aamchi maansa'. Relating it to a movie - it was like Shahrukh Khan in Swades, minus the background score by A.R Rehman :-)
Till 10 am, the journey was pleasant but as the Sun God decided to show his presence and might, the journey became a nightmare. The rays were penetrating the windows and my skin and mixing with my blood and it was boiling now. The rattling sound of the aged ST bus body when running over the impeccably maintained country roads was deafening. There were times when my seat literally flew up in the air and miraculously got back to the original position - defying all laws of physics, I must mention. I bought a Marathi Newspaper. I hid myself from the sun using the news of the previous day - Thank God.
The lunch of Maharashtrian Thali at some village - the name of which I didn't bother to register, was really good. Atleast food didn't let me down.

I expected to reach Bombay by atleast 4 or 5 pm maximum. But in this trip no expectation of mine saw the lights of accomplishment. I reached Bombay at 8.30 pm and the Next day was a serious feedback session with my admin team and a series of escalations in HOPE (the same elusive character again) that others don't go the way I did.

The Bulleteers...

 3 months had passed since our Kolad and Raigad trip and I was craving for another one. I had a feeling that another bike trip is just around the corner and it just needed someone to take the lead and push in an agreeable place to explore. Post the previous trip we had formed a Blackberry chat group called 'Bykers' and all of us were in constant touch. Raj tossed the idea of another trip, Stanley built the hype over it, Krish suggested the place (Guhagar) and I did the required research of the place. And guess what we were all set. Bala as always...hmmm..you know what they call that...' did nothing ' ;-)

28th, 29th and 30th of October were the dates. The plan was to leave on Friday afternoon and return back by Sunday evening. Since it was the Diwali weekend all the places that we could find on the internet, in and around Guhagar were all booked. I suggested Staying at Dapoli and visiting Guhagar on Saturday. This way we will be able to explore two places and add some more miles into our trip. Stanley found a bungalow and we booked it. But luck was such that just a couple of days before our trip the bungalow guy backed out saying he cant rent us the place and he arranged us another place. I will get back to how wonderful and exotic that new place was a little later. For now lets go with the flow. 

The 3 Bulls

I have a Fazer. Raj and Krish have 500 cc Bullet Classic and 350 cc Thunderbird respectively. It was our dream that we should do a 'All Bullet' ride soon. I sensed an opportunity and tried to rope in my friend Sushant who has a 350 cc Electra. But he couldn't come due to family commitments but the sweetheart he is, he gave me his bullet for the trip. A dream was going to be fulfilled and the excitement knew no bounds. Finally a 'All Bullet' trip, so soon - not expected. On the day before the trip my other friend Josie jumped into the plan and thus the group of 3 riders and 3 pillions was established for the trip of a life time called..aahhh..hmm...actually we forgot to name it...No No..wait a second.. I remember from the last time...'Men who wont quiet being Boys'.

Day 1 -

In the morning I took my bike for some oiling and battery testing. I didn't want trouble in between the trip. 

Set to leave from Vashi

It was very hot in the afternoon. I knew it would be a tough ride since we will have a good amount of ride during the night as well. Krish and me left our building by 1.30 and picked up Stanley at Sion station who had tricked his dad to believe he was going in a car to Guhagar (Uncle wish you were reading this). As we picked Bala from Shivaji Nagar, we saw that a lot of crowd had gathered to see off Bala. He is a super star there, Mind It!!.

Josie and Raj met us at Vashi and we were on our way by 2 pm. 

The route was via Panvel - Pen - Vadkal Naka - NH17 - Lonere - Goregaon - Dapoli. 220 kms approximately.

Near Vadkal Naka

We took the JNPT road to bypass the Panvel city and believe me we reached Panvel in like no time. We killed the traffic of the city. Once we hit the road from Vashi we rode for more than 60 kms straight to only halt at Vadkal Naka for chai. Chai didn't come alone. It got numerous vada pav and misal pav along with it. But, believe me, we didn't hog :-D

Once we left from Vadkal, our next halt was after Kolad, a good 50 kms away. We were riding cautiously and trying to stick together. By the time we reached Kolad it was about 5.30 pm. We took our Map out and checked the way ahead, decided on the next stop and left from there. By now the air was cooler, the sun was settling down into its nest beyond the mountains and it was fun to ride. 

Treasure Hunters

We reached Lonere in another half an hour. From here we took a right towards Goregaon. Harihareshwar is 50 kms from here. Thats another beach along with Shrivardhan that I want to visit soon. As soon as we turned right, we could feel the difference. National highway to State highway :-( - so stark. Bumpy roads. Badly maintained. But then we had no choice. The pillions have a tough time in these road conditions. Bum hurts like hell. But this was just the start. We had another 70 - 80 kms to cover over such pain inducing roads and more than that under the moon light amidst the mountains and the far and between spread out villages. We took a halt as soon as we crossed Goregaon, alongside a bridge. Did some photo shoot here before moving ahead.

Andhere main Pose

Reached Dapoli

From here till Dapoli it was a ride of a life time. No street lights, extremely curvy roads, crossing mountain after mountain, not very visible sign boards. All these though sound scary, added that zing to the trip. We took a few breaks on the way, asking for direction at the villages we crossed by. Everyone kept saying its not very far now. But

The whole group at the Garage Hotel :-)

we felt as if our ride was never ending. It was 9 pm by the time we reached Dapoli ST stand. It was such a relief. In between we missed a turn and hence rode an extra 20 kms odd. We almost reached Khed, whereas we had to take a right some 12 KM's before (Men and directions - you know how). We were completely exhausted by the time we reached Dapoli. Not because of the distance but because of our sore bum. We took directions of our place of stay and moved on. The place which as per the directions was above a Maruti Showroom was actually above a Maruti Garage. 4 rooms built above the garage.We had 2 rooms. The rooms had to be shut constantly as there were swarms of insects outside dying to hug us badly. One Room had 4 mattresses and no beds. The other had 2 beds and a western style toilet. Relief!!. Infact there was a terrace too. It was full of the junk and car spares. Well we didn't mind actually, because luxury wasn't what we were after ;-). We freshened up and went to have dinner at some restaurant (MTDC approved). Pathetic service, bad sea food and over priced.

With that we called it a day. In fact I called it a day. I had slept for only 2 hours the previous night (partying at a friends place) and I was almost dead. Stanley, Bala and Josie saw hangover and had wine before they crashed.

Day 2 - 

The Whole Group - Dolphin sighting

The alarm rang at 7 am. We had our appointments with the dolphins in the sea. We quickly got ready and reached Murud, the beach which is like 8 - 10 kms from where we were staying. After driving at night it was such pleasure to ride the curvy country roads in the sunlight. Every human we passed, we attracted admiration (Ahem! if i can call the stares as admiration). The beach was nice, very long, black sand, sand wasn't very loose. So we could take our bikes inside the beach for a stroll. As I said before, all eyes were you know where :-). The beach was crowded with visitors. There were dirt bikes available for paid rides, there were speed boats, banana boats and also the boats on hire for watching the dolphins. After a few clicks, we decided to pay the dolphins a visit. 150 rs. per head and off we went into the sea. Hardly any distance from the shore and we could see these lovely groups of dolphins sun bathing, occasionally coming out to let out their steam (you know those small water fountains). They appeared shy as they used to not surface above the water as the boat used to approach them. It wasn't difficult to spot them. They were everywhere. But yes, it was difficult to capture them on our digicams. I wish I had a SLR. Inspite of this limitation we took a few good clicks of their fins and tails (as you can see in the pictures). The whole trip was for half an hour. Believe me, it was a wonderful experience. I was a little disappointed as I expected the dolphins to jump over our boat and come and shake my hands and smile at me etc - Sigh!! never happened.

Riding the bullet in the beach and through the waves is so thrilling that it cant be expressed. The sand keeps altering the path of the tires but doesn't push you down. Freshly Wet sand gives the tires a better grip. We did have our share of tires getting stuck in the sand and we using our bicep strength to pull it off. 

All of us took our pictures, posing with the bullet's which you all will soon see as profile pictures on Facebook and blackberry and Gchat and Shaadi.com and Sulabh Sauchalay etc.

We so wanted to do the banana boat ride, but we also had to leave for Guhagar which was another 80 to 100 kms odd. We had heard that even Guhagar has water sports, so we decided to do it there. The plan was to take the roadway via Khed, Chiplun to reach Guhagar while going and when coming back we will come via jetty. There is a Jetty available from Guhagar (20 kms form the beach) to Dabhol. From Dabhol, Dapoli is another 25 kms. This is the quickest route between these two places.

Puncture Zaali..

We left from Dapoli by 10.30 am towards Guhagar. We were like 12 kms into our journey that we noticed Raj's back tyre is punctured. Luckily we weren't far from a mechanic. The next 45 minutes was chill out time for us, as Raj supervised the mechanic. We reached Khed and got connected to the NH - 17 again towards Chiplun. We all were carrying only one pouch with our cash and the cameras. Raj and me had left our wallets in the room. And we were stopped on the highway by the police and we thought its going to be another drama waiting to unfold. We got down. Bala showed his licence, Stan and Josie showed their licence instead of Raj and me. The policeman didn't say a word and let us go. Now when I think about it, it sure was his way of saying 'Respect' to the bullet and MUMBAI :-).

Veg Khana :-(

Post this we halted at Chiplun and then took a right towards Guhagar. The roads here were much better and we had an awesome time riding. We took quiet a few breaks along the way. Raj couldn't stop himself from riding below 100 kph in his classic and we used to be left behind. Then he used to wait for us ahead and that would be an excuse for us to take a break as soon as we used to spot him. In the mountains, 20 kms ride feels like 40 kms. It feels like we are riding for so long but have covered very less distance. Wonder if all bikers feel this.

We reached Guhagar by 3.45 pm. We were freaking hungry but couldn't find one non veg restaurant. All the kitchens were closed. We ended up having Veg Thali at a veg restaurant. Imagine we are here by the beach in Konkan and having veg food instead of prawns and crabs. Such was our state.

The other disappointment was the missing water sports facility in Guhagar. So we instead went for a swim in the sea. We had our photographer bhai (Stanley) take some really nice pictures. God bless him!!

The Baywatch Run

Amazing Sunset

ABy 6 we were back on the road, riding towards the jetty. All of us were going to board the jetty with our bikes for the first time and yes we were excited. Here again the ride of 20 kms took a little over an hour and it was completely dark as we reached the Jetty. 5 - 7 mins and we were on the other side. We were tired by now. And knew that the next 25 kms is not really 25 kms but somewhere close to eternity. We were right; the roads kept going, the roads were more of stoned pavements and no lights and no villages in between. It took us a hour and 30 minutes to reach Dapoli. everyone's hands were busy. Yea, busy holding their bum and imagining a warm oil massage in Phuket.

Bala resting his tired Bum

We had our dinner. And for the first time in the trip had prawns and it was yummy. We filled our stomach and went back to our rooms. Being the last night we didn't want to sleep early. We played Uno drinking wine to end the night by 1 am. I wanted to visit Suvarnagadh, the fort in the sea, the next morning as it was not very far from Dapoli, but we as a group decided to leave early and reach Bombay early so that we can rest and be ready for our grind called work and rat race.

Smewhere on the way to guhagar

Jetty main entry

Bad Roads..

Day 3 -

The ride back to Bombay.

From NH-17 we took the Khopoli - Pali road thinking we will reach quicker and overcome the traffic between vadkal Naka and Pen. This was not a wise decision. The road is pathetic. Though there are so many industries along the way, the road is no good. We will surely avoid it in the future.

However once we got connected to the expressway ahead of Khopoli the roads were very good and we just zipped through to reach our homes sweet homes.

The last halt and a look at the 3 bullets

Bum Pain leads to some innovation

A wild pic gone awry

Ek Duje ke Liye

Josie and Me

Spooky Goa...

Go - Goa!!
Doesn't these two simple words ring such high pitched bells in your ears and make your ears stand like a curious pup?? That's what I did to Yusuf (aka Saif). He had just come back from Goa a couple of weeks ago and I was pulling him back. And you know right, no one can resist Goa? He had to agree.

Neeta Volvo - 9 p.m. from Vashi - Booked
Place in Goa - Churi Baba (Hari OM!) did that for us.
Return tickets - Go Air for Monday - Booked
Bags - Packed
Office - go to hell!!

Hussain also joined us at the last minute. He kind of surprised us at Panvel where the bus stopped for a loo break. He had boarded another bus which also managed to reach Panvel by the same time we were there. He woke Saif from sleep who thought he was dreaming. Nice dreamy start.
Neeta is really like a Neetabai. No concern for time. It took us 14 nauseating hours to reach Goa. Bitch! like her. She still survives because people at times don't have a choice than to ride her ;-)

As we stepped out of the bus at Mapusa, we had Kings waiting for us. Kings the beer which makes Goa so much fun. Our Goa trip was loaded with Beer, Crab/Prawns/Fish, clubbing and sleep. We were put up at Baga very close to Tito's. Our day used to start by afternoon and night used to be early mornings.

Okay, now coming to the spooky bit. I cant make my writing scary for nuts, wonder how I am going to narrate the spooky bit without sounding funny. Phew!
It was 2nd October. A Sunday. The third day of our stay in Goa. And yea, we had Gandhiji for company. It was a DRY DAY. So obviously we weren't drunk. So that takes care of any arguments that will lead to say that we were drunk when Hussain was spooked.

We went to fort Aguada at about 5 pm that day. It was an excellent ride on our bikes, watching the sun set into the sea, standing by the light house and having a smoke. We had a nice peaceful time there. We left and on the way saw this 16th century St.Andrews Church. Saif, wanted us to see it as he had been there last time and liked the place. I never feel uncomfortable visiting a church but here I felt. Dont know why. It is a beautiful church, overlooking the sea. Very quaint and uncrowded. The gates were closed. Hussain was hesitant to get inside but came with us. There were these statues of angels on all the pillars and a statue of Jesus Christ (Rio De Janeiro type) facing the church door. The church was closed. Even the gates to enter the compound tightly shut. I just managed a short prayer. I saw Hussain saying 'Lets go' and walking towards the gate. I though since lights fading he wants to leave. We followed. Hussain wasn't himself. He was riding at the speed of say 15 km/hr. We waited a few times on the way to check on him.

We had something to eat on the way. He didn't say anything. We started our beer session in the hotel room (luckily they gave us access to booze here). By 12 am we could see crowd trickling into Baga. We went picked up whiskey and some more beer and drank till about 2 am. We decided to go to the beach. It was pitch dark. There were people in the beach, far and spread. We were like 10 - 15 meters away from the waves when Hussain asks, who is this fourth guy with us. We were 3. Saif and I looked at each other and also around to see who is it. He pointed towards the left saying who is this walking with us. We told him to stop it and thought may be its the booze. He was like I can see him and pointed towards the bush. Its here he recalled that back at the church he heard a voice telling him 'Hussain get out of here, NOW'. He said it has never happened to him all his life. It was kind of very clear right in his ears, he said. This now drained all our booze in an instant. Just then, a wave appeared on nowhere and kind of pulled me by my legs. I just let my slipper go. This left me stunned. I had heard a lot of stories about unnatural happenings in Goa and I really didn't want to be a part of any.We thought, it would be nice to go back to our room. I rushed to my bike and for no apparent reason it refused to start. I was cold but I pushed it all the way, looking around to thwart any attack ;-).

I don't know what to conclude but it was one freaky night.
Check this picture I took at the church, but I never saw this statue of a soldier saluting something looking away from the church. Kind of weird.

Sunset 

The St. Andrew Church

Rajmachi - we lost the way

My Conquest

Push-Kar - The trek lead (struggling behind is me)

Pushkar Vaidya, our Trek Leader and a specialist in extra terrestrial life was the chief planner of our trek to Rajmachi. Rajmachi is a famous and well known trekking point in the Sahyadri's. One can reach the fort via 2 different paths. One is a flat 10 km walk from Lonavla (Tungarli Lake) and the other is a 4 km climb from the village Kondivade near Karjat. The walk from Lonavla is easier and good for beginners. Beginners - that is exactly what we weren't. I love to proclaim that though it was the first major and serious trek for me and my friends Shriram and Jacob. The others in our group including Shradha (the sole lady) were pretty experienced. We chose the toughest route from Kondivade village.

The group except Pushkar and his 2 friends

We had taken a bus from Mumbai till the village - starting point of the trek and back. If not for the bus one can get down at Karjat Station and take a rickshaw to Kondivade village. One Rickshaw can easily accommodate 6 people. I was the last one to meet the group at Thane from where we proceeded directly to Karjat. Everyone was excited as it was the first trek of the rainy season of 2006. It wasn't raining but the climate was pleasant with the air flaunting itself as cool and the sun uninterested to shine for the day. Perfect for trekking without exhaustion due to humidity. I got down at Kondivade and discovered there are no vade. I thought that's the specialty of Kondivade like batatavade - depressed me.
There were a few groups who had come before us and were getting ready to trek. I could feel the energy and was all pepped up to hit the mountain (adapted from - hit the road).

Start of the trek

We picked up 2 bottles of water each, a glucose packet, some biscuits and we were off. Strict instructions - No booze allowed. Before taking off we had a photo session - sorry forgot to mention. The time was like 9 am when we began. Pushkar had estimated about 4 to 5 hours for us to reach the fort on top and say 3 hours to be back. Hence by 6 to 7 pm we had to be back to the base. Sounded so easy.
We started walking cracking jokes, enjoying the greenery around and watching the birds. When walking on a straight path I didn't feel tired but just 15 minutes of upward climb got me catching my breath. But I didn't want to show that - not a novice, you see. I kept walking. I saw Shriram also breathing heavy. This sure made me feel better. I had company.

25 minutes into the climb we took our first break. With 'WE' I mean Shriram and me. This forced others to call it a break too. We stopped by some caves and a very beautiful waterfall near the cave. It was a fantastic spot. The cave had some Buddhist sculptures and I got to know later from Google + Wikipedia that it dated back to 200 BC. Wow! what would we do without GoogWiki (GooWiki didn't sound appropriate). Post the break we started our ascend. The experienced lot of Yash, Gaurav and Pushkar's friends were very considerate and were going very slow to be with us. There were some really steep stretches and they really tested our stamina. Being fit is so so important. I pledged to start jogging from the next day - only to realize that sleep is more attractive.

Breakfast Break

One and a half hours into the trek we took a breakfast break. To lie down on that plateau overlooking the valley and eat bread, butter and eggs was just a scene straight out of a movie. We hurried on the insistence of our leader and were back to the trail in 15 minutes. Its very easy to give up when you are trekking. Usually its the body that gives up. But your mind more often than not takes over and keeps pushing you beyond the limits that you had set for yourself. This was my biggest take away from this experience.

The village of  Udhewadi far away

Pushkar was shrewd. He used to keep showing us a hill top and say that's all we have to climb. I used to get fooled and walk only to realize that there is a bigger mountain behind it. But then setting smaller goals helped in the longer run. For most of the journey, Shri, Jacob and me were trailing. It was like 1.30 pm when we reached the base village of Udhewadi. Its here were we had our lunch at a local village hut. It was a perfect Maharashtrian Thali with bhakri and chatni etc. Most of the trekkers use this village to refuel their body system. There is a very beautiful lake near this village. We could see it but we couldn't go as that wasn't in our agenda and we were getting late to trek the fort which was another 30 mins away from this village of Udhewadi.

The path just across the valley

The final leg of the trek

The next hour or so was absolutely breathtaking. The path was rocky, many a times narrow and slippery. No proper places to hold and almost always you are close to the valley. It was difficult but we managed it easily. The trek from the village looks short and easy but when you are going up you are actually going around the fort quiet a few times at that and it takes like eternity. We took more than an hour to reach the top. The fort of Shrivardhan was conquered and that's exactly how I felt and posed. Ecstatic would be an understatement because I could have so easily given up and would have missed the summit from where you feel as if you are at the top of the world. Every where you turn all you could see is green and blue. The most soothing colors to your eyes.

Shrivardhan seemed to be a watch tower of the Marathas more than a fort. There wasn't much of construction on the top. There were a few water tanks on top and we couldn't stop ourselves from taking a dip. The water was ice cold. Refreshing!!

The Descend begins

The summit

The Fort

By the time we started to climb down, it was 4 or 4.30. We were behind our time schedule. Pushkar pushed us move faster. I could climb down faster and didn't need much support. But we had others in our team for whom getting down was difficult. Hence we had to ensure everybody was together. The path was slippery and hence we did fall a few times. Not
serious though. Shradha was finding it difficult to get down as quick as she was able to climb up. Thats when I realized that for some getting down is the toughest part. When getting down you have to keep your body weight behind you when placing your leg ahead. This gives you proper support. When getting down the whole pressure falls on your ankle and knee and hence you are susceptible to sprains. Speaking of sprains, Shri had sprained his knee at one point and we had to take a break to massage his legs and apply some moov. It gave us a much required break but time was slipping by. We were rushing now to get out before the night falls. When on the way, we saw a couple also trying to get down. However the girl was finding it very difficult. She was literally crawling as she couldn't get down properly standing. The guy was getting frustrated with her speed. We crossed them. I felt bad and spoke about helping them. Pushkar said No! as when in such situations we should take care of ourselves first. Somehow I didn't agree to it. We had torches and it was for sure they would not make it in the day light. We decided to assist them irrespective of what some felt. We slowed ourselves and gave them the company.

One of the water tanks

It was 7 and it was the last stroke before which sun rays would be taken over by the night. We made another decision. We divided ourselves into two groups. One would move ahead and reach the base when the other which included Pushkar will stay back with the couple and help them. I was in the first group and we were just rushing. And naturally we lost our way in the night. All the Ramsay movie scenes started playing in my mind. Poorani Haveli was the first to visit my mind. And guess what we did come across a haveli. We stood outside the gate and shouted if there is anyone. No one I guess. We didn't have the courage to get in and check. We left from there in the best route we thought was visible through the torch light. The light insects kept misguiding us as we used to think there are some bulbs in the distance. We were very close to giving up and screaming for help. Luckily we saw a man returning to his village. God Bless him. He helped us to the village and we were away from the wilderness.

Breathtaking view from the top

Pushkar and group also joined us shortly and our decision to help the couple proved correct as they would have surely felt the heat.

Once in the light we saw were are all in so much muck. Our bodies were stiff like a stick. All we could do was eat a vadapav and just wait to reach home and crash.

The sister fort - Manaranjan

Shiva temple

Sinhagad - 'Gad aala par Sinha Gela'

Sinhagad Fort

Its been about 18 amazing months since I have been working in Pune. The weather here keeps pulling me away from Bombay which still remains my first love. Pune is surrounded by a lot of forts as it is in the midst of the Sahyadri's. Weekend getaway's are easy to plan when you are in Pune. Sinhagad, one of the forts of Shivaji Maharaj and which was under the Maratha Rule for a long time is just 45 kilometres away from Magarpatta (where I stay). It is at a height of 800 metres above sea level and the best part is you can drive all the way till the base of the fort. There is a 2 lane road all the way up till the base of the fort. The road is steep, curvey and in real bad condition. My room mates and I decided to visit Sinhagad one friday afternoon - you guessed it, we bunked work. It didnt require a lot of planning. Just the car to take us to the top and a camera is all we needed. Balvin, Kaushal and me started our short trip to Sinhagad.

Rain al the way (Balvin's creativity)

Google map on my mobile was our guide. Though I dont have GPS in my Blackberry Curve, google maps do the trick most of the times. We reached Katraj from Magarpatta and continued on the NH 4 till Khed - Shivapur Junction from where we had to take a right and go towards Kondanpur. Its very likely that one can miss this junction due to no proper sigboards on the way. If you do miss it - like us, then go straight till the toll naka (a few hundred metres from the junction), take a U -Turn and come back to this junction. If you dont want to drive all the way up, then you can get jeep or vans who ply towards Sinhagad very frequently. But believe me, driving or biking is real fun and you shouldnt miss it. Yes, the roads are bad but thats how these trails should be, isnt it?

Steep narrow road

From the Khed Shivapur junctions its an uphill journey passing through many villages and buffaloes on the way. Buffaloes are like the traffic controllers on these narrow roads - they stop, look at you, give a stare, wag their tail and move away when they want to. Only thing they missed to do was ask for our licences and the PUC - what a sigh of relief. The way has some real sharp turns which can easily test a novice driver to extreme limits. Modestly speaking, since it was me the scenario was different.  We were lucky since we went on a weekday we didnt get many vehicles coming from the opposite direction except a few bikes. It was drizzling all the way and the fog crowned the mountains almost throughout our journey. We halted a few times on the way for pictures and smoke. Balvin did some bharatnatyam steps in excitement as chennai cant even come close to having such natural beauty in its vicinity. He photographed some droplets on the windshield which looked really beautiful (check the pics).

Bharatnatyam in the greens



Ass load ;-)

Once at the top we had a grand welcome by a few asses. I mean, donkeys made way for us. Hard working asses they were (they had load on them) and seemed very disciplined and motivated. We had a good laugh at the asses - for reasons similar to why you may have had a smile reading this.

Continue to do your job even if you are an ass - our takeaway lesson.

Hidden Caves

One of the temples

Sinhagad has a rich history behind it, including the fights between Marathas and the Mughals. Sinhagad is in the centre of 3 other forts Rajgad, Purandar and Toma surrounding it. It is strategically placed. I had read in my school history books that Tanaji (Shivaji's trusted lieutenant) had climbed this fort from a steep valley using monitor lizard (ghorpad as they say) to hold the rope. Tanaji died fighting the Mughals in this same fort and his memorial exists here. Earlier this fort was called Kondana fort, its in the remembrance of Tanaji that it was renamed as Sinhagad (fort of the lion).



 

LionCAT

The fort is quiet big and interesting however it hasnt been managed properly. Another site where we and our goverment  have failed to protect our history. Many of the sites inside the fort including the memorial of one of Shivaji's son Rajaram is in shambles. There are a lot of hawkers in the fort who more than pressurize you to eat at their stalls. Half of our time went in answering them politely that we arent hungry - 'ata nahi ho, nantar yeto' were our words. There are a couple of ponds in the fort. They looked inviting for a swim but we decided otherwise. Actually, we didnt have extra pair of clothes. The view from the fort of the forts and valleys around is breathtaking.

The Madrasis

We saw a domesticated cat trying to hunt down birds and squirrels - ekdum discovery channel ke lion types. It failed in its attempts miserably though. But yes there was no sign of dejection on its face or may be I aint an animal phsychologist.

We spent about a couple of hours on the fort and then made our way back. While coming down we saw the khadakwasla lake and Dam far away. We wished we could have also gone there. May be some other time. Kurt Cobain and Metallica ruled the speakers of the car while we drove back.

Peace!

Paved path along the valley

Alternate view of the fort

The way we came