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

Jerusalem - a collage of old and new

Jerusalem has always held a mystical image in my head. Having read the bible and heard stories of Jerusalem in the church, the picture I had in my head was that of a 1st century BC desert city as one can see in movies like Prince of Persia. And I was all set to encounter the mystery soon. The excitement I had as I booked the tour for Saturday 11th December 2010 is very difficult to put in words. It was akin to the excitement of a school kid going to an amusement park the next morning.



Israel Flag



I got picked up at 7 am sharp from my hotel in Tel Aviv and guess what - I was waiting since 15 minutes. I was so eager to get going. We picked up a few more tourists from other hotels. Post that, we were taken to the Ramat Gan bus station from where we boarded the actual bus which was to leave for Jerusalem. We were about 18 of us in total. It was a multinational group with Americans the most followed by Brits, a few Scandinavians and a single Indian (me) plus a humble Korean who couldn't speak English. I am saying humble because for every question of mine including 'How are you', his response was a bow and a smile.

Tel Aviv Marina

The bus left sharp at 8. Our guide was a lady in her late forties may be. She spoke good English, unlike most of Israeli's who prefer communicating in Hebrew. Jerusalem is about 60 kms from Tel Aviv towards the east. Tel Aviv has a complete European look as the Jewish settlers who founded the city wanted it that way. Tel Aviv is a perfect party place with excellent pubs, numerous coffee shops, excellent local transportation and clean n clear beaches which showcase a lot of activities like kite surfing, beach volleyball and other water sports. As you get out of Tel Aviv you see a lot of small villages with acres and acres of farms. The image I had in my mind that Israel will also be mostly covered by desert, like the other middle eastern countries was proven wrong. I could see a lot of green forests along the highway. My guide explained that Ben Guiron (The first prime minister) of Israel had the vision of a green Israel. So he started a country wide initiative to plant trees, adopt trees, and contribute to a green cause. It’s his effort that today you see Israel different than the other countries around.

Temple Mount (Temple for God built by King Solomon)

Tel Aviv is to play and Jerusalem is to Pray. This is how Israeli's define the two cities as. And that's exactly how the cities are in context to each other in Israel. Jerusalem is one of the oldest continually inhabited city in the whole world. The other city that comes to mind is Benares in India. Jerusalem is the city chosen by God and hence all the 3 Semitic religions (Jewish, Christianity and Islam) hold Jerusalem as their holy place and hence Jerusalem has a bloody history of capture and recapture by various sects and kings in the last 10000 years. As a matter of fact Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times and captured/recaptured 44 times.

One of the Suburbs of Jerusalem in the Hill

Jerusalem is in a hilly terrain and each hill, kind of houses a village or Suburb. It’s a spectacular sight to see the white and off white houses in the hills. The white house’s are new and the off white are old and assume that color due to the sand winds in the region. Jerusalem has grown quiet a lot since the ancient days and now you have a New city of Jerusalem and Old city of Jerusalem. New Jerusalem is modern and looks like a proper city and acts as a business center after Tel Aviv. Its vibrant and young. The Israeli Parliament is here. The Old city of Jerusalem is where you have the ancient walled city of Jerusalem, the temple of god, the biblical locations, the archaeological sites etc. Coming from Tel Aviv, we first crossed the New city. We took a halt at King David Hotel, which had an impressive building - don’t confuse yourselves with King David's construction. I collected a few souvenirs, had my breakfast and was the first to board the bus to go and visit the JERUSALEM I so eagerly wanted to see.

Church on Mount of Olives

As we entered I felt like I am being transported back in time. It’s a very humbling feeling to be in the Gods selected city. The Old city still maintains the ancient construction and charm. The first thing that I noticed and took the picture of is the Wall of Jerusalem. This isn't the wall that was constructed during the biblical times but a far recent one. However it stands around the exact same location where the ancient wall was built. In fact we can see the 3000 year old walls if we go down and visit the archeological sites.

Graves on the mount of Olives opp the Northern Gate

We first went to the Mount of Olives. The place from where Jesus ascended to heaven post he resurrected from the dead and met his disciples. The view that you get of Jerusalem from here is just breath taking. It was windy and cold and I was shivering while taking some pictures from the top. I got a bird’s eye view of all the important sites that I would be visiting soon. The slope of the Mount of Olives has a lot of Jewish graves. Tombs of notable Old Testament prophets like Zechariah and Malachi is located in the Mount of Olives. Exactly opposite to the Mount of Olives is the Northern gate of the Wall of Jerusalem from where the Jews believe that the Messiah will come and the ones buried in these graves will be the first to be brought to life. Interesting! Did I just miss a second chance to life?

Tomb of King David

The City of Old Jerusalem is in 3 quarters The Jewish quarter, Christian quarter and the Muslim quarter. You can imagine how sensitive the situation would be any given day. Though the interaction between all the 3 quarters is minimal, they live and pray as peacefully as possible today. King David's tomb was the first place that we visited as soon as we came down from the Mount of Olives. King David's tomb is on mount Zion and incidentally that is also the place where Jesus had his last supper with his disciples. The authenticity of this site being the place where King David was buried is still challenged by many.

Narrow Alleys of Old Jerusalem

When walking inside the walls of the old city, if you ignore the modern clothing of the people around and the electronics one can easily mistake them to be right there in history. The houses are made of stones. Many still look like caves. The old city is full of narrow alleys and lanes with some cramped up markets on the way. The manner in which they have preserved each and every artifact is really commendable. As the city of Jerusalem was destroyed and rebuilt many times, there are different layers of the city beneath. Where we walk is actually the most recent development. There are at least 2 - 3 layers below which is accessible and archeologists continuously work there.

4th Station on the 'Way of Cross' - Jesus meets Mary

The next on our tour agenda was to go through the 'Way of the Cross' or 'Via Dolorosa'. This is the path through which Jesus Christ was taken before being crucified. The path unfolds as a series of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the scenes as per what we read in the New Testament. The 3 times when Jesus fell while carrying the cross, a place where he held the wall to take support, the place where he met Mary on the way and finally the place where he was crucified and the tomb where he was laid. I was thankful that I could be there and see the place and walk the path that most of us only read about. Absolutely humbling!

The Muslim Quarter

The sight of the place where Jesus was Crucified and the Tomb where one can enter and take a look or pray is divine. The positive energy that you feel in those places is amazing. The Church over Jesus’ Tomb is the 'Church of the Holy Sepulcher'. This Church is split between the Orthodox and Catholic sects of Christianity.

While following the 'Way of the cross' we pass through the Jewish quarter, Christian quarter and the Muslim quarter. The Muslim quarter is very different in terms of the construction of their houses, vibrant colors used and also more hawkers around. It’s more like walking through Mohammad Ali road in Bombay.

The Cave where Jesus was Buried

The Wailing Wall

Not very far from the 14th station of the 'way of cross' is the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall. This is another place of very high historic value and one of the most sacred prayer sites of the Jews. It is situated at the foot of the western side of the 'Temple Mount' (The temple of God). Jews aren’t allowed to enter the Temple Mount (as it is still under the Arab control), the exact place where Solomon had built the Temple for God. Hence this wall assumes a lot of value since it is the closest that they can get to the 'Temple Mount' and pray. I saw a lot of Jews praying by the wall and even more reciting the verses and lost in meditation. Some also write their wishes in papers and leave them at crevices in the wall.

I understood from my guide that only the most pious and religious Jews stay within the Jewish Quarters close to the Wailing Wall and the Temple Mount.

We came out from the walled city onto the Jaffa Road Exit and moved to our next stop, the church of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane is the place where Jesus Christ was praying when Judas came with the soldiers and betrayed Jesus. Today there is a church built near that garden where Jesus was praying. This is the church of all nations, because all the countries had contributed to build this church at this location. The garden still has the rock by which Jesus Prayed (Rock of Agony) and some very old olive trees which some say dates back to 2000 years.

Agony Rock at Gethsemane - Place where Jesus Prayed last

Jerusalem has a lot of churches. Each one of them is distinctly different from the other in terms of Architecture. Some are built by the Greek Orthodox Church, some by Russians, Some by Armenians, some by Roman Catholics and so on. I found a Russian church with the dome in the shape of a mosque dome and a cross. The dome seemed to be made of gold. That’s also one of the most visited places in Jerusalem.

Since it was a Saturday we couldn’t visit Yad Vashem, the site of the Holocaust Museum. I was very tired and content by the end of the whole tour. While going back, we passed through the Syria gate of the wall. Its named since that gate opens up towards Syria.

The 1000 BC jerusalem city walls..there are few more layers of city below

The Northern Gate - Jews believe its from here that Messiah will Arise

 I learnt a lot from this trip and it sure has left me wiser. 

The Tomb of Jesus

 

Pillars as they were 2000 years back

The Old City of Jerusalem

Church Built by Russians

Men who wont quit being BOYS

The Group minus Bala M

It was pending since a while. We had planned it many a times before and it never materialized. Well, not this time. A Bike trip to Kolad and Ratnagiri in the Konkan belt of Maharashtra on the way to Goa. The bike trip was to be complemented by River Rafting in the Kundalika River the next day. The riders were Raj on his 500CC Bullet classic; the beast as we call it, Bala K on his Yamaha R15 and me on my Yamaha Fazer, the humblest and the modest of the lot. The pillions were Bala M and Stanley George. Another friend ditched the plan and US at the last moment.

Kolad is about 140 km's from Bombay. You need to take the Sion - Panvel road and reach McDonald's near the mouth of Pune expressway. Go below the expressway take a right at the circle and continue on the NH 4. Pass through Panvel and join the NH 17. This is a right turn at a heavy junction area where the board shows Pune if you go straight. The right indicator shows JNPT/Uran. I am not sure if NH-17 board is being put there. NH 17 takes you directly to Pen via Karnala from where you take a left at Vadhkal Naka (Pen Market) and connect to the Goa Highway. Kolad is on this highway.

We went in July and the ride was just amazing. It was raining all the way.

Our first destination was Pooja Farms in Kolad. It is a wonderful lake side resort about 12 kms from Kolad Market, at a place called Sutarwadi. I had been there before and love the place for its location,view and the lake where they have a fishery. The location is Serene and beautiful with good Maharashtrian food as a part of the package.

We left from Sion at about 7 in the morning, behind schedule by 1 hour, thanks to our friend Raj. I still cant digest his reason of some tool kit arrangement. Anyways, we reached Shivaji Nagar, a separate country within Mumbai. Luckily they didn't ask for our Visa. Its only later we realized that the president of Shivaji Nagar, Bala Murugan Kathiresan (Bala M here) was our friend and part of the trip. Hail Bala M!

The Man with the third Nipple on his forehead - Stanley

Our first Chai wala stop was at Vashi. Its here we met a gang called 'Bisons - ride hard'. Ride here means their bullets (dirty people). Raj was the only one who was given a look by that group. Simply because only he had a bullet which was like a license to speak to them.

Raj negotiated the joining terms and conditions and also booked an appointment, while we enjoyed our cup of tea with some smoke flying around.

Bala K who was in the John Abraham cum Anil Kapoor Avatar showing his hairy biceps attracted a look of gaze from the people (old and still older). But the sport that he is, he managed to wax through the situation.

Stanley was our official photographer. He tried various stunts while riding as a pillion to take pics of everything around including his third nipple on his forehead (please see the pic for the proof).

The Riders

We took a lot of breaks on the way. I loved posing for pictures. Sometimes with the glares on and later with the helmet close to my hip to look like a real biker. A real biker we were, so to speak, but still - u can understand. While taking one such picture, Bala M almost got taken away by a truck. He went into the middle of the road for that perfect click of our lovely faces.
Rains hitting your body felt like stones hitting us hard. I wore my helmet, now the sound of the rain drops hitting my helmet was like listening to raag malhar mixed with the bike strokes.

We reached Pooja Farms, right at time for lunch. We were dead hungry. We put our luggage's in one of the tents allotted to us - since the lake cottage was still not free to occupy. We were about to change our wet clothes when Raj had an idea flash through his amazing brain. He suggested since we don't have anything to do in Pooja Farms apart from lust lazing around, why not ride to the Raigad fort via Mahad after lunch. Perfect - another 150 km's up and down in the rain and the return journey would sure be under the moonlight. No efforts put in convincing anybody - after all we are BOYS still, right.

When we asked the resort supervisor to shift our bags to the cottage later as we are going to the Raigad fort, he had a surprised look on his face. I thought he thought that our thought was very ambitious. But then the look didn't even come close to convincing us to change our mind. We enjoyed a nice lunch packed with chicken curry and bhindi bhaji, fryams and dal and rice. Just enough fuel we needed till we reach the Raigad fort. We rode towards Goa from Kolad and Mahad was 50km's away. I need not say how beautiful the ride was. If it was a Movie - I am sure the cameraman would have shot us from an helicopter and the audience would have see lush green set up with a Dark Gray line in between where there are like the 3 hunks; I mean the bikes, zipping through.

Bala M - AKA - Mandakini

As we reached Mahad, the tiredness had started to creep in slowly. We were at a junction where we had to take a left towards Raigad Fort. The big banner with Shivaji Maharaj's picture showed the direction to the fort.  We stopped for Chai and started discussing if its a good idea to ride further 25 km's to reach the base of Raigad. The consensus was that as we have come so far, we cant cut short our goal. The next 25 km's was the best that a biker can ask for. Well almost the best; I personally want my Ladakh trip to be the best. We were gaining altitude rapidly and overcoming some steep curves while riding cautiously in the fog. Now that sums up the situation. We stopped at a waterfall on the way. Its here where Bala M enjoyed the waterfall even more than what Mandakini would have done in Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Really! he posed like her too (check the pic for confirmation - I don't lie).

Raigad Fort

We reached the base of the Raigad fort by 5 and we hurriedly took the cable car to go to the fort. This was another highlight of the whole trip. First time I was going to be elevated to a higher altitude by a cable car. While going up, I wanted to take so many pictures but I couldnt take any. It was so foggy that it resembled heaven; the abode of the gods. I almost felt like Ramba and Urvashi may come to dance sometime soon. The journey by the cable car is for about 5 mins, but it feels amazing. If it wasnt the fog you can get amazing clicks of the waterfalls around, the valley below and the fort on the top.

Shivaji's Throne

The Raigad fort is very huge. It is in a better shape than many of the forts that I have visited. Raj was our guide who showed us around with stories like how the queens used the bathrooms, where the prison was, how punishments used to happen etc. I liked the Darbar area of the fort, where they have a huge Shivaji's statue on a throne built exactly where he used to have his original throne. Once you are near the throne you can actually feel how it would have been if you were Shivaji's Fan man with the peacock feather bundle been swayed right and left. On a serious note, that place has natural amplification. Any whisper anywhere in the Darbar can be heard clearly near the throne. So thats when I started to challenge the fact that the amplifier was invented outside India. We had that centuries before it was invented. So what if someone added wires and some chips to it the whole set.

One of the Many waterfalls

Waiting for Rambha and Menaka ;-)

We rushed back to the cable car in 30 minutes as we had to ride back as well. While coming down the fog had cleared and we could take some nice pictures. While we rode back and the light had started to fade, we realized that Raj's headlights weren't functioning and Bala's bike battery was running low. Anxious moments. Raj managed to fix the bulbs. I had no doubt he wouldn't; he is born with electricals and electronics in his mouth, hand, head, mind and what not. As Bala K could face issue on the way, we decided he rides in between the other 2 bikes so that if anything happens one can stop for help. This worked for us and we covered the next 75 kms in about 2 hours. Riding the bike in the ghats at night with the high beams from the opposite side temporarily blinding you is a nightmare which came to reality that day.
Once back in Pooja Farms, we changed into dry clothes for the first time since 6 am. We had food and just crashed on the bed.

The Alarm rang the next day at 6.30. We had asked for a vehicle to take us to the Rafting site at the Kundalika river. We wanted to be on time and kept asking our resort guys and also cursing them for not arranging the car on time. By the time the car came and we reached the spot it was 8. Only after reaching there we realized that the resort guys didn't hurry up because no one reaches on time. Obviously Except Us. What happened for the next half an hour is evident in the pictures. Photo shoot followed by some fun in the river. Though we were the first to reach our raft was ready only by 10.45 because we were 5 and there had to be 4 more people to join us and apparently all other groups were perfect 8 or 9. Point noted for the next time.

Ready to Raft

The rafting experience, I had expected would be more tough than what we actually encountered. We had a few crazy rapids along the way where our raft flew for a few seconds to land perfectly thereafter. But that was all, there was not much excitement after that. We rowed really well. And manoeuvred around without much difficulty. Balam M was all talks and no action. We put him in front to sit and balance the raft. And thus he assumed a central position in the entire operation.
As we reached the last leg, a calm patch of the river we jumped into the river and swam for about half an hour and that was a beautiful experience. Since we had our life jackets, we could float so effortlessly.

The whole rafting experience was great. It left us wanting to try the Ganges soon.






The ride back home was peaceful too. Only that we rode slow and relaxed and enjoyed the heavy rains. But our body was shouting at us saying 'Stop Pretending, and admit you are growing old'. No! we retorted. We will grow old when we want to.