Bhimashankar

Dakinnya Bhimashankar  Trek

Height                  : 3296 Feet                                                                                  Date           : 11-12 Jun 2011

Nature of Trek       : Medium to Tough                                                                        Duration     : 2 days

by Anand :

नमस्कार मंडळी..

साधारण प्रत्येक वर्षी  मे  महिन्याच्या अखेरीस किंवा जून महिन्याच्या सुरवातीस  पाऊस आपल्या आगमनाची चाहूल देतो ..आणि ट्रेकर्स ना वेध लागतात ते प्री मोन्सून ट्रेक चे ..!!! 2-3 महिन्यांच्या सक्तीच्या विश्रांती  नंतर  अशेच  वेध  DH  च्या   ट्रेकर्स ना लागले  होते  ..आणि अशात  मेल बौक्स मधला  अमोल  चा  एक  ई- मेल आम्हा  सर्वामध्ये   एक  उत्साह  घेऊन  आला ..“भीमाशंकर च्या  जटात आणि  नाणेघाटाच्या ओठात ” अशी  कॅपशन लाईन  असलेल्या  डेक्कन हायकर्स चा हा  ट्रेक भीमाशंकर ला ठरला होता . .ज्यांनी  आधी  च   हा  ट्रेक  केलाय  अशा   ट्रेकर्स  कढून   भीमाशंकर  बद्दल  खूप  ऐकलं होतं.. वाचलं  होतं …शिडीची  वाट  …गणेश  घाट …खांडस ..कर्जत  इत्यादी ..त्यामूळे  आधी  पासून  च  या  ट्रेक  बद्दल  खूप  उत्सूकता  होती ..

नेहमीपेक्षा  मिडियम- हाय  डीफीकल्टी असलेला  ट्रेक  जाताना  शिडीची वाट  आणि  येताना  गणेश  घाटातून  होणार  होता….वेळेवर  हजेरी  लावलेल्या  पावसाने  आधीच  सगळा  वातावरण  उल्हासित  होतं .

त्यात  ट्रेक  ला  न  जाऊन  नंतर  विद्या ,अमोल ,राहूल ,अल्पना ,अमृता  यांनी  काढलेले  फोटो  पाहून  “श्या ..मी  का  नाही  गेलो  ट्रेक  ला  ”असा  म्हणत  स्वताला   गाढव  म्हण्यापेक्षा  .ट्रेक  च्या  दिवशी  असलेली  इतर  कामं दुसऱ्यांवर  सोपवून (ढकलून) ,टाळून ,पोस्टपोन करून .. ..ट्रेक  ला  जाऊयात  असा  नक्की  केलं…!!!

साधारण  जेव्हा  10-12 जणांचा  ग्रुप   ट्रेक  ला  जातो ..तेव्हा  त्यातली   2-3  जणांना यायला  उशीर  होतो ..त्यामूळे   मग  प्ल्यान नावाच्या  टेबल ला  अल्टर कमांड लावावी  लागते ..(प्ल्यान  चेंज   करावा  लागतो )पण   कौतुक  करावा  का  आश्चर्य व्यक्त  करावा  असा   ..का  अजून  कशा  भावना  व्यक्त  कराव्यात ..हेच  समजत  नाही  आहे ..बरोबर  सकाळी  5-10 वाजता  सगळे  ठरलेल्या  ठिकाणी  ठाण्याला    हजर होते ..आणि  ते  सुधा  भर   पावसात  .!!विशेष  म्हणजे  तुषार   जो  मुळात  च  हुशार  आहे …तो  हि  अंधेरी  हून  ठाण्याला  वेळेत  पोहचला ..!! ठरल्याप्रमाणे आम्ही  कर्जत  ट्रेन  पकडली ..आणि  नेरळ  ला  उतरलो …!!नेरळ  ला   राहूल  ,निनाद  आणि  सोनाल  बच्छाव  पनवेल  हून  कर्जत   मार्गे  आम्ही  पोहचल्या  नंतर  10 मिनिटात च  आले ..!!!

पण  तेवढ्या  10 मिनिटात   आम्ही  हौशी  मौडेल आणि  हौशी  फोटोग्राफर  बनून  फोटो  कढून  घेतले  आणि  फोटो  काढले ..!!!आमच्यावर  वरुण  राजा  प्रसन्ना  होताच  …पावसाची  रिपरिप  चालू  च  होती …

नेरळ   हून  मग  आम्ही  खांडस  साठी   टमटम  (टमटम ही  6 सीटर रिक्षा  असते ..पण  त्याच्यात  रिक्षावाला  कमीत  कमी  10 जणांना  बसवतो ..)केली .कशेळी  मार्गे  खांडस  ला  जाता  जाता  आम्ही  वाटेत  आमचा  नाष्टा(वाडे ,सामोसे ,भजी  वगैरे   वगैरे ) पार्सल  घेतला ..!!टमटम वाल्याच्या  मनात  काय  आला  काय  माहित (त्याने   बहुदा  आमचा  धसका  घेतला  असावा  ) पण  त्याने  आम्हला  दुसरया  गाडीत   बसवलं(मारुती -ओम्नी ).आणि  काही  वेळातच  आम्ही  काठेवाडी  ला  पोहचलो  …!!!!

काठेवाडी  ला  मारुती  च्या  मंदिरात  आम्ही  आमच्या  ब्याग्स  वगैरे  ठेवल्या ..आणि   आम्ही  सोबत  आणलेल्या  नाष्टा खायला  सुरवात  केली …!!बटाटे  वडे -सामोसे  खरच  खूप  चविष्ट  होते …!!रिप  रिप  पावसात  गरमागरम  बटाटे  वडे  खायची  मजाच  काही  वेगळी  असते ..!!आम्ही  मस्त  चहा  ही  प्यायलो ..ताज्या  दुधाचा अमृततुल्य  चहा ..!!त्याच  वेळेस  आमच्या  फोटोग्राफर  मंडळींची  फोटोग्राफी  चालू   होती …!!

नुकत्याच  पडून  गेलेला पाऊस ..सगळीकडे  हिरवी  शाल  पांघरल्यागत   धरती …रस्त्यावर  पडलेला  गुलमोहराचा  सडा !!मोजकीच  कौलारू  घरं .. रुबाबात  चालणारा  कोंबडा ..दुरून  दिसणारी  सह्याद्रीची  रांग …,धुक्यातून  डोकावणारा  पदरगड ..आणि  भीमाशंकर  कडे  जाणारी  पायवाट ..यालाच  निसर्ग  म्हणतात  ..तो  आम्ही   अनुभवला आणि  शिडीच्या  मार्गाने  साधारण  9-9:15 ला  आमचा  ट्रेक  सुरु  झाला ..!!!!

अमोल  ने  आधीच  मेल  मध्ये  सांगितल्याप्रमाणे  फ्लोरा  आणि  फौना आम्ही  पावलोपावली  अनुभवत  होतो ..वेगेवेगळ्या  आकाराचे  खेकडे ,वेल्वेटी किडे ..आम्हाला  दिसत  होते !!कोकीळा ,टिटवी ,घुबड , यांनी  त्यांचे  दर्शन तर  नाही  दिले ..पण  त्यांचे  आवाज  मात्र  ऐकवले …!!माकडं जास्त च खुश झाली होती असा त्यांच्या ओरडण्या वरून वाटत होतं

असंच निसर्गाचा  आनंद  घेत  आम्ही  लौकरच  पहिल्या  शिडी  पाशी  पोहचलो …!!!ती  शिडी  बघून  मला  तर  फारच   आनंद  झाला  ..वाटलं  उगाच  लोक  शिडीच्या  वाटेला   घाबरतात ..कठीण-कठीण  म्हणतात …मस्त  हिरव्या  रंगाची  शिडी  दोन्ही  बाजूने  रेलिंग  असणारी ..यात  काय  कठीण   आहे  असा  वाटलं ..पण  खरा  थ्रील पुढच्या  दोन  शिद्यांमध्ये  होता ..एव्हाना   पावसाने  पण  जोर  वाढवला  होता ..आणि  विशेषत: 2 री  शिडी  –तिथला  रॉकप्याच पावसामुळे  थोडा  कठीण  झाला  होता ..!!as  usual  अशा  स्थितीत  आम्ही  अमोल  वर  डोळे  झाकून  विश्वास  ठेवतो ..यावेळी  पण  आम्ही  तेच  केला  ..आणि   दुसरी  शिडी  पार  पडली ..!!

जेव्हा  आपण  100 ft  पाण्यात व्यवथित पोहतो .तेव्हा आपल्याला 20-30 ft पाण्यात पोहायला काही भीती वाटत नाही .(????)तिसरया शिडीच्या बाबतीत तेच झाला !!2 रया शिडीच्या तुलनेत 3 री शिडी आम्हाला सोपी वाटली आणि इसिली आम्ही ती पार केली !!

शिडी पार केल्यानंतर आम्ही थोडा वेळ ब्रेक  घेतला. energy  ड्रिंक (कैरी पन्ह) प्यायलो.पाऊस पडला नाही तर उपयोगी येईल .म्हणून मी कैरी पन्ह आणलं होतं.आम्ही सर्वांनी आंबट ..गोड थोडंसं पांचट असं कैरी पन्ह प्यायलो..

शिडीच्या वाटे मधल्या ३ शिड्या पार केल्या नंतर मात्र पुढची वाट सोपी होती..दाट जंगलातून नुसतंच चालायचा होतं ..भीमाशंकर पर्यंतचं उरलेला अंतर आम्ही पटापट संपवलं.साधारण दुपारी ३:००-३:१५ तासात आम्ही भीमाशंकर ला पोहचलो..

एव्हाना आम्हांला भूक लागली होती..तंडी वाजत होती ..तसंच रात्री राहण्याची व्यवस्था पण करायची होती.. पण "आधी पोटोबा मग विठोबा" य उक्ती प्रमाणे न जाता आम्ही सर्व प्रथम पूर्ण भारतवर्षातील एक असलेल्या भीमाशंकर ज्योतिर्लिंगाचे दर्शन घ्यायचे ठरवले..आम्ही साव्रणी दर्शन घेऊन येई पर्यंत ४:३० वाजले होते .."हौसे ला मोल नसतं"असं म्हणतात ..तुषार ला रविवारी जळगाव ला जायचा होतं..६ -६:३० तासांचा ट्रेक केल्या नंतर एका तासात तो एस.टी महा मंडळाची पुण्याची बस पकडून पुणा मार्गे जळगाव ला रवाना झाला..

मंदिराजवळ च राहण्यासाठी आम्ही एक रूम बघितली होती ..प्रशस्त आणि स्वच्छ रूम !!पण फक्त एका रात्री राहण्याचे ..त्या रूम च्या मालकिणीने (जी कोण ती होती तिने)अव्वाच्या सव्वा (१००० रु.)भाडं सांगितले,,आम्ही लगेचच दुसरया रूम च्या शोधात बाहेर पडलो..आम्ही  बरयाच ठिकाणी रूम बघितल्या ..धर्मशाळेत चौकशी केली ..या ..न त्या कारणामुळे तिथे कुठे ही न राहता पहिले जठराग्नी शांत करायचा आम्ही ठरवलं.

एका छोट्या हॉटेलात आम्ही संध्याकाळी ६:०० वाजता जेवलो ..गरम गरम पोळ्या भाजी ..वरण भात पापड ..कांदा भजी..मराठमोळ जेवण ."अडला हरी गाढवाचे पाय धरी ..असं म्हणत आम्ही पहिल्यांदा बघितलेल्या रूम मधेच आमच्या ब्यागा टाकल्या..आणि विसावलो..ताजे तवाने झालो चहा प्यायलो वगैरे वगैरे

या नंतर मला कधी झोप लागली हे मला सुद्धा कळलं नाही .रात्री ८ वाजेच्या सुमारास मी झोपलो ते पाहते ६ वाजे पर्यंत ..थोडक्यात सांगायचा तर  आनंद जोशी चा कुंभकर्ण झाला होता..

मी झोपलो असताना अमोल ने सगळ्यांना एक प्रश्न विचारला .. why do we trek ??

हे सगळा मला अमृता ने नंतर सांगितला..प्रत्येकाने या प्रश्नाचं उत्तर दिला ..अमोल ने ही त्याचे अनुभव सांगितले ..मी झोपलो असल्याने मी या प्रश्नाचं उत्तर दिला नाही ..याचा उत्तर मी थोडक्यात सांगतो..!!

"  मी आधी पासूनच खूप ट्रेक वगैरे करायचो अशातली काही गोष्ट नव्हती..पण साधारण १० वी नंतर आम्ही मित्र मित्र छोट्या छोट्या ट्रिप्स करायचो...असंच एकदा फिरायला म्हणून माळशेज घाटात गेलो असताना ..तिथून जवळ म्हणून शिवनेरी ला साखळदंडा च्या वाटेने गेलेलो..त्यालाच माझा पहिला ट्रेक असं म्हणता येईल.तेव्हा खूप आनंद झाला होता ..शिवरायांचा इतिहास शाळेत अभ्यासाला असल्यामुळे माहित होताच ..शिवनेरी ला शिवाजींचा जन्मस्थान बघून खूप आनंद झाला..ऊर भरून आला..आणि तेव्हा ठरवला जशी संधी मिळेल तसा गड किल्ले बघायचे ..मग जमेल तसा मित्रांसोबत कर्नाळ्या ला जा ..लोहगड ला जा..असे लहान सहन ट्रेक व्हायला लागले..

असंच एकदा ट्रेक क्षितीज वर हरिश्चंद्रगडा चा ट्रेक पहिला..आणि एका अनोळखी ग्रुप बरोबर हरिश्चंद्र ला गेलो..या ट्रेक मध्ये निसर्गाची अनेक रूपे बघितली ..दरीत घोंगावणारा वर..त्याचा आवाज ..उंच च उंच कडे..फुलाचे ताटवे..तारामती ..कोंकण कडा ..चुलीवरचा स्वैपाक ..गुहेतला वास्तव्य ....सगळंच अद्भुत..इथूनच ट्रेकिंग मनापासून आवडायला लागलं..नंतर त्याच ग्रुप बरोबर पावसात राजमाची ला गेलो होतो..तिथे ही धमाल केली ..

पावसात निसर्ग चं रूप काहीसा वेगळेच असतं..उंच कड्यावरून खाली पाय सोडून बसणं..एखाद्या घारी ला दरीत गोलाकार उडताना पाहणं..धाब्दाब्याचे तुषार अंगावर घेणं..मुंबई पुणे रेल्वे रूट वर बोगद्यात शिरणारी ट्रेन पाहणं ..शब्दात व्यक्त करता येणार नाहीत असे अनुभव आहेत हे..

नंतर YHA  बरोबर सारपास ला गेलो होतो..रिपरिप पाऊस..लक्ख ऊन.. हेवी स्नो फौल ..मुसळधार पाऊस..हिमालयातला क्षणा-क्षणा त बदलणारं हवामान पहिला..हा ट्रेक म्हणजे जसा काही स्वर्गात ट्रेक होतां असं वाटायचं..इतका सुंदर निसर्ग..

नंतर अमृता मुळे चं DH चा रतनगड चा ट्रेक केला..आणि DH शी जोडला गेलो..

मधल्या वेळात शिवाजी -संभाजी महाराजान बद्दल काही पुस्तके वाचण्यात आली..कर्तव्यदक्ष ..जाणत्या राजाने दूरदृष्टीने बांधलेले ,जिंकलेल्या गड किल्याबाबत उत्सूकता निर्माण झाली..एव्हाना गड..किल्ले डोंगर दऱ्या..निसर्ग यावर प्रेम जडलं..आणि याच प्रेम खातर मी ट्रेक करायला लागलो..."

दुसरया दिवशी सकाळी ६:००-६:३० ला आम्ही उठलो ..आवरला..फ्रेश झालो आणि चहा पिऊन उतरायला निघालो ..सकाळी ७:४५-८:०० वाजता पूर्ण भीमा शंकर गाव धुक्याच्या दुलईत आच्छादलेलं होतं..अगदीच काही दिसत नव्हता अशातला भाग नव्हता ..पण परती ची वाट शोधे पर्यंत आमचा साधारण अर्धा तास गेला ..बरोबर ८:१५ वाजता आम्ही गणेश घाटा मार्गे उतरणं चालू केला ..

आम्ही सगळेच ताजे तवाने आणि फुल्ली चार्जड होतो..आणि पटापट उतरत होतो..साधारण तास-दीड तासात च आम्ही शिडी ची वाट आणि गणेश घाट असे दोन फाटे फुटतात त्या ठिकाणी पोहचलो ...तिथे आम्ही खादाडी केली ..अमृता ने आणलेल्या मेथी खाकरे आणि अमोल ने आणलेल्या खोबर्याच्या वड्या आम्ही संपवल्या ..

थोडी विश्रांती घेतल्यावर आम्ही परत चालायला लागलो ...

अधून मधून लागणारे आणि नुकतेच सुरु होऊ पाहणारे धबधबे ...वेगवेगळ्या  angle  मधून दिसणारा पदरगड ..गणेश घाटा वरून दिसणारी शिडीची वाट ..कोणी जाणून बुजून लावले आहेत कि काय असे वाटणारे सुंदर फुलांचे ताटवे..अशी निसर्गाची विविध रूपे पाहत आम्ही गणेश घाटा च्या गणेश मंदिरा जवळ पोहचलो..लहानच पण पक्कं बांध काम असेलेलं मंदिर पाहून मन खूप प्रसन्न झाला ...

आमचा ट्रेक शेवटच्या टप्प्यात आला होतं ... खांडस (पायथ्याचा गाव ) फक्त अर्ध्या -  एक तासाच्या अंतरावर होतं ..आणि तसा एका तासात साधारण दीड च्या सुमारास  आम्ही खांडस ला पोहचलो ही..

चहा वगैरे घेऊन मारुती ओम्नी ने आम्ही नेरळ गाठलं..वाटेत चविष्ट वाडे खाल्ले ..

आम्ही सगळ्यांनी नेरळ हून कर्जत ला जाणारी ट्रेन पकडली ..राहुल,अल्पना,निनाद,सोनल कर्जत हून रोड मार्गे आपापल्या घरी गेले..आम्ही उरलेले ५ जणांनी त्याच ट्रेन ने मुंबई गाठली ...

एक अविस्मरणीय..आणि adventourous  ट्रेक केल्याचा समाधान घेऊन च ..आम्ही आपापल्या घरी पोहचलो ..

जय हिंद ..जय महाराष्ट्र

-आनंद जोशी

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By : Vidya.

It was almost half a year, that I hadn’t gone for any Trek.. Kalsubai (last dec) was my last Trek. I was really getting tempted to go for a Trek, and we started planning out on something during summer itself.

As always happens with DHs, we firstly planned a date in mid May, which got cancelled due to lot of circumstances, and then, days passed by and June came in..

Unexpectedly, the pre-monsoon showers hit the city just on 1st – 2nd june this year.. and the feeling of trekking started growing more strongly..

I even started making some poetry.. hehehe...

Just a couple of showers, and lovely rain ...

sensing footsteps of monsoon on the way ..

its amazingly turned green all around, in just a day..

nature's giving a lovely hint..... its time to Trek again !!!!!

 And .. the day came when we planned our first trek of the season this year!!! And what a lovely decision this was.. to go for Bhimashankar Trek in the monsoon, rather than in summer(which we had planned earlier and dropped off..) … it was much more interesting and enjoyable being in the monsoons, for sure, as compared to summer..

As soon as the first monsoon trek was announced on the DH mail group.. entries started flowing immediately… and around 7-8 ppl confirmed for the trek within just few hours or so.. wow.. thts again interesting, bcoz this is not a general trend of DHs..hehehe.. after so many email to- and fros, and so many discussions then ppl start confirming.. but this time it was completely opposite.. probably everybody was more than willing to go for a monsoon trek imdtly, hence didn’t even give a second thot!!!

I think more reason for instant replies was the early rains, which hit the city much early against anybody’s expectation and provoked everyone to go out on the trek!!

And couple of more ppl also joined in before the last day, Tushar being the last minute entrant..

The plan was very simple –

• Sat morning start at 5 am local train to karjat

• Get down at Neral, and take a 6-seater auto /bus to Khandas village

• Start trek via Shidi Ghat, reach top by afternoon.

• Take Darshan of Bhimashankar, Lunch, site-seeing some spots on the top , Hire a room and rest in the night

• Sun – early morning wake up and start descend – via Ganesh Ghat

• Reach base by afternoon, back to Neral/Karjat and by local to Mumbai by evening.

WoW!!

The plan sounded very simple.... but executing this plan was sooooo interesting, enjoyable.. challenging, and amazinggg!!! Falling short of adjectives.. :D

Since it was very early morning to start, Alpana and Amruta had stayed at my place last night. And as always, we hardly had any sleep  ohh… don’t take that otherwise.. :P My sack was not at all packed, so I took good amount of time to pack things, then we started looking into photographs in my machine, and tht took another good amount of time. Amruta slept early, and then me and Alpana also slept at around 1 pm. And we all 3 woke up instantly at single ring of Alpana’s alarm! The alarm rang at 3 am, and we woke up, got ready and started from home at 4.45 am. We quickly got an auto, and reached station by 5.05 am, as per planned. Perfectly on time!!

As per Plan, we all met at Thane station at 5 am – we means – Alpana, Amruta, me, Amol, Tushar, Anand joshi, Durwas. We boarded the 5.11 am local and reached Neral at around 6.15 am. Rest of the gang – Rahul, Ninad and Sonal – directly met us at Neral.

We were total 10 of us.. BIG Gang, set to trek after long time!

We met at Neral station at around 6.30 am, did some TP .. actually lot..hehehe.. some photography, some bio-breaks.. heheh (I discovered this new word in this trek and liked it a lot!! ) )

and finally went out of Neral station towards Bus stand to enquire about any available bus/auto. We striked a deal with one of the 6-seater auto, and dumped 10 ppl into a 6 seater!! Alpana sitting on Sonal’s lap for half the time and over mine later.. Rahul sitting over Nandi’s lap.. Durwas, tushar and anand packed with the driver and gear-box..heheh.. it was a very entangled situation for all of us :)

Somehow, we reached Kashele, and halted to pack some snacks.. garma garam bhaji, wada paav and samosa :) .. yumm… it was smelling soo yumm..and mouth-watering… and then we continued ahead. At kashele, we were shifted to a matador types vehicle, which was still smaller than the auto..and we were more jampacked in that! Somehow we covered the remaining 13 kms, and reached the base village “Kathewadi”.

Yes.. I was also wondering, as base village was Khandas, where did this kathewadi come from? Then I discovered that, Khandas was the base village for Ganesh-Ghat route, and Kathewadi was the base village for Shidi-Ghat route. Tht’s y we were at Kathewadi.. :) and Thanks to tht matador wala that he brought us directly to kathewadi, else we would have had to walk from Khandas to kathewadi (approx. 2-3 kms) before starting the trek!

Kathewadi was a beautiful typical village, and looked so lovely in the early morning! There was a hanuman temple, where we sat and had our packed b/fast. It was really tasty, esp the Wada paav was the best. Also we did some good photography there. It was a cool, serene place, water collected at kind-of pond, bullock-carts, cows, hens and cocks, with chickens (not cooked, of couse! Hehehe ) playing around.. fog over the mountains, red gulmohar carpet on the road, and pleasant rainy atmosphere all around. Sounds like heaven right?? Yes, heaven on the earth it was! Everybody clicked some beautiful photographs of tht lovely place, and we started walking towards the mountain that we had to climb.

At around 9.15 am, we finally began our trek (as per Amol’s schedule, almost more than half an hour delayed, even after some time saved as we directly reached Kathewadi by vehicle, not walking :) )

This was the first time, that I hadn’t done any preparations for the Trek – didn’t pack sack before hand, didn’t visit any of the sites to check out any info, details or photographs of the trek, nothing at all. So I was totally blank, and everything was a first time surprise factor for me. I guess, tht was the best part as I could enjoy every moment of the trek so well!

The first patch was quite simple, a simple ascend to reach till the first shidi. Thou, I started gasping for breath in this patch only, probably as it was just the start, but it was a simple walk high on the mountain, between trees and bushes. There were mild rain showers pouring in between. We were so happy that it was raining and temperature was cool and pleasant, that made our ascend much easier.

As we were heading ahead, from between the trees and bushes, I spotted a green colored ladder placed on the mountain rock. Wow! We had reached the first shidi of this route. It was simple, not really anything tough at this moment. We were excited, clicked some pics and climbed up the ladder.

Then there was a simple rock patch above this shidi, which we crossed with some good efforts. And, the weather was so much happy with us, that it actually started raining as soon as we started climbing the tougher rock patches :) There was really no rain till now, and it just started when difficult times came nearer :) Seems God was testing our patience and tolerance!

Then we again walked up on the mountain and reached a next tough rock patch. Amol first started on this patch, by lot of trials and verifications and finally crossed it well. Then started explaining each one of us how to step, where to hold and how to cross. Alpana was the next one to cross, and she also did cross it very well. Next was my turn, and behind me was sonal and rest others. I started, first few steps I moved, climbed the rock and held my position well. I had clearly seen how alpana and amol had crossed that patch and was quite confident I’ll do it. But as soon as I reach a mid spot, where I had to keep my leg on a higher stone and pull myself up, I was actually stuck there!

The problem was,

- if I bend backwards, I would fall off in the valley.

- The rock on which I had to climb was higher and I was unable to put my feet above that rock to pull myself up.

- My shoe was slipping over the rocks – donno y, may be the soul were bad :(

- My legs were shivering, and I had started loosing confidence that I can do it.

Every body was giving me instructions, do this, do that, step like this, etc. but I was really unable to do anything..

I was getting worried and tensed, because, if I would have lost confidence and hopes, I wouldn’t have able to cross that patch and complete the trek, and another big prob was, whole group behind me might as well lose confidence or get stuck just bcoz of me. This was a moment where I had to overcome my fear, regain my confidence and climb.

I took few seconds break, a deep breath, told everybody I’ll do it and simply changed the way of climbing. I somehow managed to sit on the rock on which I was ideally trying to keep my feet and rise. After sitting, I caught hold of some of the rocks above, found a grip and pulled myself up within fraction of seconds.

Uff! I was up!! Wow.. I did it! I had crossed tht difficult patch! Next few steps were very simple, which I could easily cover up and reach the other end. I couldn’t believe myself, that by just by firm decision and courage I could overcome and win!!

Rest of the people actually crossed that patch so very easily, might be they too felt the same as I did, but looking at it as third person, I felt everybody crossed that patch much easily than I did.

Immediately after crossing that rock patch was the 2nd shidi, which was tied by a huge rope to a tree trunk. We had to climb the ladder, catch hold of the tree trunk and cross over it. Then, further it was quite simple till some time, where we crossed simple rocky patch and reached the 3rd and final shidi.

Reaching till this shidi and climbing over it was also quite simple. This shidi was just placed there, with support of the rocks. Nothing was tied up or anything. We climbed it and while crossing over it, there was a rock patch which was having proper grips in the stones to climb up the rock and there was a tree trunk at head’s distance on which quite a few people dashed unknowingly and got hurt. We stayed back later to guide every person not to stand high to avoid hurting by tht tree trunk :)

All the 3 shidi were crossed. We took a break, clicked snaps and celebrated victory over the three shidi but the tough zone was not yet crossed. We didn’t have any idea about it also!

There was yet another rock patch, over which, the stones were so high, that we were really unable to reach to the first step to pull ourselves up. It was little slippery also, and the grips were not that easy. Finally I decided to bend on my knees, put little pressure on my thighs , not knees as tht is dangerous, and with little force over the legs, I tried to pull myself up and somehow managed! The first step was only important and challenging. Rest of the steps started getting easier. Then, there was another big rock over which it was getting very difficult again to pull whole body just with hands. Here, Amol pulled all of

us by holding hands and giving good support. The next step was to cross over the big rock by actually hugging that rock .. hehe :) Amol used the statement – “Dagadala aalingan deun chala” hehehe.. funny!

And then.. we crossed this patch also and finally we had successfully crossed the rock patch of the shidi-ghat.

All credit goes to one and only Trek leader –Amol, who helped each and every member to cross all the tough patches so well. Explaining each and every step, where to place leg, where to hold grips, how to pull ourselves, where to stand.. Wow.. he has so much of patience, tolerance and so much of study as well! Handling such a big group in such a complicated patch was truly brilliant job! Hats off Amol!! And Thanks a ton!

Moving further was just a jungle, which we happily crossed :) there was a long plain route, and then again an ascend and we finally reached above the plateau region which we had climbed using the shidi-ghat.

From within this jungle route itself, there was a diversion route for the Ganesh-ghat, which avoids this direct rock patch climb, and takes us to khandas village via simpler route. This was going to be our descend route.

There were a few huts here and there, and few farms also above the plateau. Imagine people living at such heights daily!!

Then again, crossing over the path, with good amount of downpour, leading to almost zero photography, crossing over small paths with valley at one end and mountain at another, then rocky path again, we finally completed another major section of the ascend.

Now, we just had to climb a final ascend, which would take us to the topmost point of the mountain, which was end of it, as we could only see sky above that.. :)

But this was very steep ascend, and we were very tired. We had climbed almost for 5 hours, and were totally exhausted. We were hungry, and had some biscuits, cakes in between, but tht was definitely not sufficient at tht moment ! we even drank “Aam pana” brought by anand joshi, as a refresher. But that too was so less betn such big group hehe that we hardly got a couple sips  Nandi had the most!! :P

We were totally drained off energy and dehydrated, even water bottles were almost emptied. But we had no other go. With some relaxation and refreshment, we again started climbing. Amruta was last and I second last in this patch :) we were literally walking baby steps. As we looked above at the destination point, it seemed so far that morale started getting down. Then again, I told myself, don’t look up, just keep walking. And this way, I motivated Amruta also. We all kept on moving, slowly and steadily, for some more time, and finally it was just few steps left. I actually didn’t wanted to give up or even take any halt, so started counting my steps, and I counted approx. 20-25 steps and reached the top!

But what?? Only top of the mountain.. where was the village?

Hehe.. noo.. there was no more climbing high.. just a little walk towards the village, and only few steps climb not very steep also, and we finally reached the Bhimashankar village!!!

Wow.. we all were soo excited on finally completing the ascend. But did we notice the time? It was around 2.30 pm tht we had reached the top. Almost 6 hours. Tushar had to rush back, as he had to go to Jalgaon for personal function. So we first decided to take the darshan, then look for lunch and then room.

The temple is located at a lower level, with few steps to climb down. We were feeling as if there is no end to these steps.. as we had already climbed so much, we didn’t even wanted to climb down a single step more.

Finally reached the temple, and decided to go for Darshan in groups with one group taking care of baggages while the other takes Darshan.

At sharp 3 pm, there is a pooja-abhishek that happens in Bhimashankar Temple, for which the darshan line is held up. So we were held up in the line for darshan for more than half an hour, and then we got the darshan. Amol commented that we have definitely done some “paap” for which God Shiv is taking so much of “pariksha” to actually give darshan hehehe :D

But, when we got the darshan, it was so divine feeling! We took the darshan, and let the other group take darshan while Amol and durwas checked for some room availability.

In meanwhile, Tushar was getting late for his 4.30 pm bus, and had to rush even without having lunch. We gave whtever eatables we had, but .. I’m sure that wouldn’t have sufficed. Great spirits of a true trekker!!! Donno when he got to eat his first meal of the day!!

Everybody took darshan and then we started to climb back, asking at each and every hotel for any accommodation. We thot of getting room first, keep luggage and then go for Lunch. But we were not getting any good room with good deal at all. Finally we decided to have lunch first, and then hunt for room. We went to a hotel and had “bhar-pet” lunch.. It was approx. 6 pm when we finished our lunch. Heavily raining outside, total foggy, and lovely hot food inside .. it was heavenly! And so tasty food.. :) as my mom says, if u r hungry u will like any type of food, and if u r not, u’ll find mistakes even in the best quality food. The same experience we had.. we loved the food so much.. hehee.. but it was actually good.. :)

After filling our stomachs with gr8 food, we again started search for a room, and finally settled with a deal with one room just beside the Temple, which had a big hall, good flooring, lights and other facilities, thou being costly ;-)

It was raining heavily outside and we were completely wet and shivering. Also completely foggy outside so we couldn’t even see anything farther. So we simply sidelined our site-seeing program, went into the room and first thing we did was to change, get dried and order for a tea!! Wow.. it was nice hot and sweeeet tea :D We all sat chit-chatting, relaxing and having fun.

Amol asked a very nice question to each one of us, as to – “Why do you trek?” Each one of us gave nice interesting and unique answers. It was fun to listen of everyone’s thinking and perspectives on the same topic. (we’ll publish that in a separate blog, as decided by all :) ) Then the talks went further towards our history, and back to ages and lot of knowledge sharing session happened till late night, when one by one ppl started falling asleep.

We had planned descend for the next day morning, at earliest, at around 7 am. Alpana was supposed to reach back Mumbai by afternoon, to attend a friend’s wedding. But on discussion, we realized that the first bus was at 7 am, which goes via Pune (as there is no direct route from Bhimashankar to Mumbai), and reaches Mumbai at around 1.30 pm. This ways, the wedding would have anyways missed, and reception was in the evening. So on everybody’s persuasion, she finally decided to complete the whole trek, and we had promised that we’ll reach down quickly and make her reach Mumbai at the earliest. (Don’t forget that promises are made to be broken..hehehhehee ;-)) And we all went to sleep, but actually couldn’t.. due to the snoring competition between Anand joshi and Ninad. Anand was giving real tough fight, by even changing his snoring patterns, first slowly, then little high pitch, then highest and then back to normal.. hehehehehe :D

Next day morning, Alarm rang at 5 am, and the Bhimashankar temple “Ghanti” rang at 5.15 am.. yes, it was the “kakad Aarti” started, and was sounding so harmonious and giving such divine feeling, I was just imagining how it would feel If I were actually in the temple. Finally we woke up at 5.30 am, and started packing up. Finally we got ready to start at around 7.30 am.

We climbed up the stairs and reached the top point of the Bhimashankar hills, from where we had to descend. But, it was so very foggy, that we could hardly see anything beyond 10 feet. In that misty atmosphere, we couldn’t locate our starting point of descend and kept on searching for it. Amol and Durwas went to search for the starting point, and in meanwhile, Rahul muley as usual started playing around with his camera.. which has added some astounding silhouettes in the album!!

Finally, at around 8 am we spotted the starting point, and finally started to descend. It was really amazing feeling to walk into the jungle, within the fog, in that early morning. Heavenly experience definitely. We started descending as fast as we could, but didn’t miss out on the photography thou ;-)

We were getting such beautiful view of Padargad all over the way, that we could hardly resist clicking its pics. Also, the plateau above the shidi-Ghat which had small village and fields in it, and a thick forest above it, all these colors were so fascinating to see and capture in the mind as well as camera’s lenses!!

As we walked still downwards, we crossed few simple rocky paths here and there and finally reached the point just above the plateau.

Here we halted for the snacks, as all were feeling very hungry as we just had a cup of tea and biscuits before starting. There were beautiful huts built up by the villagers, where we sat and had our snacks. This must be somewhere around 10 am or so. Then, just after walking few steps down, we reached the diversion point of the Shidi-Ghat and Ganesh-Ghat. We took the left diversion for Ganesh-Ghat route.

Again the route passed through thick forest, and we reached a small water stream. This was 2nd break of the descend, where we filled our bottles, drank plenty of water, did some photography again, applied sunscreen since rain god was replaced by sun god by then.. :) 

As we moved ahead, we reached a point from where we could see the shidi-ghat right in front of us, in the opposite mountain.

  

When Amol showed us that, we all started guessing the location of the shidi, and my very capable 35x optical zoom and upto 140x digital zoom camera was most helpful here, to zoom in and locate the shidi. We clicked so many pics of the shidi by zooming in, and we could actually locate the 3rd shidi of the route, behind the bushes.

Wow!! It was pretty exciting, and unbelievable, because that was a straight rock, over which we had climbed up. Seriously hard to believe we actually climbed that ways, and that gave a great sense of achievement and satisfaction that I did something great, which generally everybody will not even think of doing !!

We spent another 10-15 mins there clicking photographs and admiring our own efforts hehehe.. this was our 3rd break :) and then again headed towards the destination.

Now the path was turned towards complete opposite direction. As we moved forward, we saw a bunch of lilies lying on the ground.. actually, it was a bed of lilies spread over the ground. Yaa, couldn’t believe but such stunning lilies in that mountain, what colours, what fresh flowers they were.. again we couldn’t hold ourselves back and clicked dozens of photographs spending another 10-15 mins over here, making it our 4th long break of the descend.

And finally, we reached the Ganesh temple – which is the main reason of calling this route as “Ganesh-Ghat”, where we again halted, took some photographs..the 5th break of the descend :D

This ways, we actually spent more than a whole hour in just breaks.. not realizing that we were taking more than estimated time to reach base village, since Alpana had to rush to reach Mumbai. She was worried thou, but I’m sure she has enjoyed the whole descend fullest. It was worth it, via the Ganesh-Ghat. Infact, both the routes were so marvelous, none of them were worth a miss.

Now, this time we actually didn’t halt anywhere, as the Khandas village was just in front of our eyes, and we walked very quickly and reached base in just half an hour.

We had started at 8.15 am, and reached base at 1.45 pm, approx 4 and half hours, with more than an hour of break.

We had reached the khandas village, by walking approx 2 kms on the roads after completing the descend. In the village, one of the villager caught us, and tried to deal with us on the matador for taking us till Neral. He didn’t even let us know that there is any other source of commute, not even a PCO, which was definitely there in the village. We realized something is fishy, just finished our tea which he had ordered to tht guy, and Amol went off searching for another transport. He did deal with another guy in good bargain, and we started from Khandas village at around 2.30 pm and reached Neral at approx 3.30 pm.

The next train to Mumbai was at 3.52 pm in Neral. We planned to go back to Karjat and return in same train, so that we could book our seats. Alpana had called up his friend Kedar with his car to pick all of them i.e. Alpana, Sonal, Rahul and Ninad who all stayed in harbor line.

So we all went back to Karjat, Alpana got tickets for Amruta, Durwas and Amol. We captured window seats and I was almost asleep on the way back home!!

I couldn’t miss on giving it a thought, that DHs had shown great spirits and Trek Leader Amol had shown great tolerance and support, and it was amazing team efforts to have made this trek such a grand success. And we all showed another team spirit also, by one person clicking photographs which were missed by other person, thus covering entire trek on the whole!! Many thanks to everyone for making this trek soo memorable and enjoyable !!

My train reached Thane station at around 6 pm, and I was back home before 6.30 pm!

Alpana had rushed home, got ready hurriedly and went for her friend’s reception in the evening.

Tushar had previous day left for his family function.

And rest of the DHs had reached home and were relaxing!!

End of a splendid, extravagant and mesmerizing Trekking Experience!!!!

BHIMASHANKAR TREK via SHIDI GHAT

- By Alpana A Satam

Last weekend i.e on 11th and 12th Jun'2011, I had been to Bhimashankar Trek with my very own group - Deccan Hikers.

We started early morning on Satuday 11th Jun'2011. As per our schedule (made by our one and only leader - Amol Chaudhary) we were to board the 1st train to to Karjat. This train reached Thane Station @5.11am. To catch this train in time, I  and Amruta had stayed back @ Vidya's house in Thane. So we 3 gals reached Thane stn right in time by 5.05am or so. As soon as we reached we met Durwas. Vidya and Amruta proceeded to take their ticket while I had railway pass [as my mom is ex w.rly EE, I have train pass, so I was travelling free :) ] They took a return ticket to Karjat. 

Amol, Anand and Tushar arrived at Thane station platform.no 1 in the same train. This train was the one just before the one which we were to catch. Amol didnt know that I was coming to trek. Why? That is a different story. I will include it later. Amol had come from Kurla, Anand from Mulund/Bhandup and Mr.Tushar the great all the way from Andheri. Other DHs were Sonal, Nandi and Rahul. They stay in navi mumbai, so they had changed the plan and decided to meet us directly @ Karjat. [hehehe few days back I had only sowed the seed in Rahul's mind of coming directly to Thane from Belapur. He thought beyond it and decided to come directly to Karjat :P ]

So now we were 10 trekkers ready on our way to Bhimashankar.

1.       Amol (Trek Leader) 
2.       Amruta 
3.       Rahul 
4.       Nandi 
5.       Vidya
 6.       Sonal 
7.       Anand 
8.       Alpana (I was glad that my entry was 8^th as its my lucky number) 
9.       Durwas (A new entrant) 
10.    Tushar (the husharrr the last entry)


So, there came the train. We boarded in. It was empty and ppl (who must be the daily travelers) were lying down completely on the seats like it was a nice soft bed at their home. All of them started staring at us, as if "hey kon aliens chadlet". But we are use to such looks :) We managed to get an empty bay on one side of the compartment.

In the train compartment

Now, the train was moving, this train which started @ 5.11am from Thane was going to reach Neral by 6.30am. So we  had full 1hr 15mins time to spend. In between Vidya and I got our cameras out. Clicked a few pics in the train. And then discussions started on DH Katha, which Amruta had ended skillfully just a day before on Friday. [Now I dont want to get in details of the DH Katha.] I was actually feeling a bit sleepy and was not full of enthu yet. I was also worried about how I was going to manage treking with the bulky SLR bag I had got along with macro filter and telephoto lens in it. Anyways, in the train, as I had not followed on DHKatha, and also many others, Amol, Vidya and Amruta told us about how the story got built, how it was taken left and right at authors discretion and how finally it was brought to an end :) It was nice fun. And after that went along all jokes and PJs by Tushar and others.  


In between we got a call from Rahul and Co. who were following a different route and mode of transport to reach Karjat. We informed them that we have to meet at Neral instead of Karjat now. [yes, because Kasheli, Neral and Karjat form a triangle, with Kasheli at the vertex and Neral and Karjat at this base ends. Ho ki nahi re Amol ? hehehe] Ok, so we told these guys to come to Neral instead of Karjat. And they were like, on our way Karjat comes 1st, so we will get down at Karjat... !!! hahaha that was funny. What logic was that. :) But that's OK. On a trek with Deccan Hikers, every one is allowed to behave and be as stupid as they cannot be elsewhere :) really... I enjoy this type of freedom with DH. Never mind. Amol or Amruta someone who attended their call explained them on the phone and asked them to get down at Karjat by the ST in which they were, and then catch a train and come to Neral. Confusion resolved!
As we were traveling, Amol removed a printout and handed over to Tushar. Oh! was that? A map to the treasure @ Bhimashankar? :) I wish it was. But it was boring ST time table. Then we got to know that Tushar was going to trek up with us, and leave immediately by 4pm ST from Bhimashankar to Pune!!!! Yo Yo Yo!! boss.. Tushar tar kharach hushar nighala. ekdam Trek Veda :) 


Similar was my story, I had to attend a wedding next morning on Sunday. My very close colleague's wedding. So I was not going to come for the trek. But, Bhimashankar was a long awaited trek. That too via SHIDI GHAT!!! I was already feeling severely bad about missing it. But then, suddenly, just a few days before trek, for a change, and for once, Nandi's brain worked out. He called up when he saw my name missing in the trekkers list to ask why I was not there. When I told him the reason, he asked me what time is the wedding, and what time is the reception. And may be it would be possible for me to go for the reception in the evening. O man!!!! Dhantadhannnnnnn...... bajj gayee ghanti!!! khul gayee darwajeeee.... Thank you Nandi!!! (aata written madhe blog var publicly aabhar pradarshan kartey bara ka!!!) I saw the schedule closely, and saw that Amol had mentioned in the schedule that we will be reaching back mumbai by 3.30pm on Sunday. So if that was the schedule, then I could still attend the reception in the evening. Would become hectic for me, but still worth it. So, I immediately called up Amol, and told him the same thing. To add to my relief, Amol said that I could also take a direct ST to Mumbai, after reaching Bhimashankar, and could reach earlier than 3.30pm to Mumbai on Sunday. WOW!!! this was an icing on the Cake.. Superb.. 
But after this also, one obstacle had come up, My mom started feeling ill on Thursday nite, and so I had again canceled my trek plan. I had SMSed Amol and Vidya that night that I wont be coming for the trek. May be its not in my fortune :( But again next morning, she started feeling better, and again I was IN for the trek. Friday morning I informed Vidya but not Amol, that I was coming for the trek, and this is the reason why Amol was surprised when he saw me on Thane Station this morning :)


Aise mera plan bann gaya.. and I was in the train now, on my way to trek Bhimashankar :)
OK now lets end the flash back and come back in the train where the story was...


The train reached Neral on time. And we were now waiting for Rahul, Nandi and Sonal, In the mean time, we clicked few pics and went to search for Loo. When we crossed the railway bridge and went on platform no. 2, beyond which there is a loo, we saw the TOY train for Matheran was standing. I saw it for the 1st time. I waited out and did some blunt clicks there. There when I was busy with my cam, I heard a SHUK SHUK... dekha toh Rahul and Nandi were there. So they had arrived. Cool. Now all the members were here and Deccan Hikers group was ready to begin its further journey to Khandas via Kasheli.

The Toy Train to Matheran

Few of the Deccan Hikers

We walked outside Neral station on its west side (Not the Matheran side, oppo side). There were tum tums and auto ricshaws standing. It was raining nicely. Amol went ahead to check the deals these autowala's offered. And after some time, we managed to get one entire tum tum for us (I dont know how much it costed us. that is Amol's dept) We 10 trekkers, along with our sacks and mats somehow managed to fit into that tum tum. Me and Rahul had to manage on others Laps. I was sitting on Sonal's  and Rahul on Nandi's lap. It was not so comfortable journey of close to 1hr from Neral to Khandas. In between we stopped at Kasheli. There everyone got to relax their jammed legs. At Kasheli we packed some batata wadas, Samosas and Bhajis. Again DHs packed themselves into the tum tum and journey started ahead. From here I choose to sit on Vidya's laps for remaining journey, as I am use to that and she being tall, her legs are long, giving me enuf space to sit :)



 
It was Khandas that was planned to go, but on the way autowala asked, and took us to Kathewadi on Amol's consent. So we reached Kathewadi by 8.00-8.30am. O man.. each one unpacked themselves out of that luxurious tum tum :), and stretched their legs as they were getting out. As we got out to see where we had reached, we saw a small rural village-Kathewadi, just stretching its arms out of the cold dark blanket of clouds, on that wetty early morning. As we turned we saw a temple. As it was raining, we all rushed to the temple shade, leaving Amol alone with that handsome autowala. Everyone is least bothered of any statistics and calculation when Amol is there. Sorry for this Amol... but it just means that we trust you so much :)

 
Under the shade, everyone started their photography, clicking snaps of the village. It was pretty cloudy, and on the side in front of the temple someone spotted a peak. Wow, it was hardly visible in between clouds. After this I noticed that I was a Hanuman Temple in which we were standing. 

Photo Courtesy: Vidya

 So, there we took a break. Everyone was hungry. Amruta and Vids had some oats with Milk when we has started from Vids house early morning. But as I dont like milk and its smell, I did not had it. So considering this I would say I was hungrier :) Someone opened the polythene and trekkers bounced on the wada pav, samosa and bhajjis. Ppl started missing tea. And Amol arranged that too from a villager :)

Padargad view from Kathewadi

In between suddenly the clouds cleared, to give us beautiful view of the peak that we had spotted earlier. Rahul Vidya and I ran for taking photographs. 
So like this we passed (or rather wasted) close to an hour at the base village Kathewadi and began with our trek at around 9.30am.


The route to Shidi Ghat begins via fields of Kathewadi, passing besides a well from where many women were fetching water. It has started raining, and I didnt wanted to risk my SLR. So I had put it inside my backpack, with which my bag had gained more weight :( 

The route to Shidi Ghat

As we were walking, yet to reach any hill ahead, Vidya and Rahul had already started taking breaks for macros on the ways :( I was ahead as I had stuffed my weapon inside my backpack. This time for our surprise, Anand had got cam, and he was waiting and clicking pics :) Sahi... I was like, welcome to the club Anand. It was his fiance Gayatri's cam. [Gayatri is also a Deccan Hiker, but had not come for this trek]

Vidya & Rahul busy clicking

This is what they aimed at

While we were talking of Anand clicking snaps this time, Nandi said that he has got his cam. Cool. I took the chance. I asked him to hand it over to me with legal "PLEASE" :) yes ha I didn't do any dadagiri, and pleaded him officially to give me the cam. Like u know, if we dont use any organ of our body it become useless and stops functioning, similarly I thought, before Nandi's cam stops functioning let me use it in this trek, and give it a chance to perform and breathe the air outside of that camera pouch. So it was like ek teer se do nishane... 1-use of that never used cam 2-my khujli for photography is fullfilled. As Nandi's cam was really small and handy, it easily fitted in the inner pocket of my windcheater. So jab chaha bahar nikala and otherwise ander. 

On the way that peak which we spotted from the Base village Kathewadi was visible everytime. It was introduced to us by Amol as "Padargad". He had mentioned that its not just a peak, it has a proper form and space from other side.On As we trekked higher and higher, we discovered different facets of Padargad. We saw it taking form from a 1D peak to a 2D triangle, to a 3D  cone to a 4D fort :) as we saw it from different angles.

Trekking Full ON

We trekked, we trekked and we trekked... for an hr and more, yet we had not reached the plateau, which was suppose to be the 1st milestone. On  the way Vidya and Rahul exercised their photography, unlike me this time.

At one point we actually went the wrong way. Amol n Durwas went ahead to research, while rest of us waited chit chatting and PJing at one place. At this point we heard a villagers voice. He was saying some thing. we didnt really get the words. So we moved in the direction of the voice, as we were moving close by we heard him say that "Dont go that way, come back". There Amol and Vidya actually were skeptical, if that guy was really helping us or was misguiding us for his fun. But fortunately, it was the earlier case. He was actually helping us, and he called us back to lead us to the right way. He instructed us to move straight in that direction, n not take any turns. He said that the way straight will lead us to the top.  

Point where we lost our way and were waiting

It was raining ok types not much. We were into the Bhimashankar Jungles now. With all types of flies and mosquitoes in air, and different types of crawling insects and crabs on the ground. The way is very stony and less muddy. It looked as if covered with a lovely colourful carpet with green, light green and yellow colors added by shredded leaves, brown color added by the soil and black by the stones. The terrain is very steep. One has to put high steps to climb. We feel the pressure on our thighs. As we folks don't exercise at all, the palpitations became high and I had to take breaks in between at regular intervals. [Yet I had started using the staircase to 6th floor of my office, just 2 weeks prior to this trek as a small exercise to regain my stamina]. 

Photo Courtesy - Vidya

I had heard a lot about this jungle. It being dense and house of many really wild animals. Amol had also instructed the preventive and corrective measures in case we confront any such wild animal. yes the Jungle is very dense. All covered with really old and strong trees. We did see many insects and heard different types of sounds of animals. But those sounds were of Monkeys (wanar) and owls only. Nothing more than that we heard. At one point we also saw one monkey. not the usual brown monkey, this one was white with black face. He had noticed us, and was howling at us. From far away he parallely followed us till one point just before we reached the 1st shidi. Thankfully he didn't gather his other friends to add to our adventure :)

Spot 1st Shidi in center and Nandi in Red on the right

 So then, after that patch, we reached the 1st shidi. Nandi reached there 1st, followed by me, Durwas and Amol. Tushar, Amruta, Rahul and Vidya came slowly clicking snaps as it was not raining at all. We waited near the shidi for them to reach. I think it was a 2hrs trek till the 1st shidi from the base village.

Now begins the real thrill.....
1st shidi is green in color and good proper shidi. I was like, ok.. iss main kya hai.. chadd lenge. I compared it with the shidi at Kalsubaie or Ratangad in my subconscious. Amol was as usual cautious and was instructing to climb only 2 ppl at a time on that shidi. Rahul was like-proper shidi aahe tar mag kashala ghabaraycha. 

1st Shidi

 

The patch to cross after 1st shidi

Me and Amol were the 1st ones to climb over that Shidi (Ladder). After reaching that top when I looked on the other side my eyeballs were close to bulging out of my eyelids :) Dhusssssh.... karun Kalsubaie and Ratangad shidis' vanished from the back of my mind :) The people behind me had not started. They were all in their own world of photography and posing, unknown of the terrain ahead, which me and Amol were seeing in front of us. I was like - "O..... MY..... GOD.....". After we climb the 1st shidi, there is very little space for one person to stand. And immediately a tough stony steep inclined patch is there. It has hardly any good clifs to hold or step on. I was looking at Amol, who was was engrossed in figuring out some cliffs of which we can get grip to cross that patch. Behind me I could hear noise and fun. These ppl were still in their own worlds. TO add to our thrill, it started raining heavily. I shouted at them to keep quite and gave them idea that patch ahead is not easy, so please be calm, so that Amol could concentrate on his task of figuring out the way. I had shouted many times at them, and am also sure, that they wont even remember that I did, because they were totally in their own fun. Amol asked me to stay where I was. By now he has reached at the middle of that stony patch. I looked at Amol's feet and then followed straight down, to see how deep would he or anyone from us fall if they slip from tat point :) I just prayed that all of us cross this patch with no accidents. Amol crossed 3/4th of that patch, and then the last 1/4th was real tricky. At one point actually a thought came to my mind that isske aagae toh nahi ho sakta.... beyond the point where Amol had reached its impossible to go. It was almost done, but this last few steps needed to be really long. When Amol was at this point, I started and reached the middle point, and Vidya climbed up the ladder and stood on that small place where I was standing earlier. I was standing at a point where I had thought of someone falling :) But I was Ok at that point. Standing there, stepping on little cliffs and leaning completely on the stony wall on my stomach, with backpack on the back, and matt tied horizontally on the top of the sack. Soon, Amol succeeded in crossing that last stone. I don't know how he did, as at that point in time I was only concerntrating on holding my position safe on tat midpoint. But I saw that he had crossed, and was asking me to move ahead. So I stepped ahead. I was very cautious. I reached that last point where Amol was stuck. Vidya had not started and was still standing on the same place watching me. Here now again i was stuck, not able to put as long step as Amol had put to cross that patch. Yaha waha I tried to put by feet, but couldn't get the grip anywhere. But karna toh tha. I was only holding the stones there, meaning cliffs (khache) nhavte for a strong grip. Then Amol showed me a good Khacha. I holded there. That small patch was to be taken totally on arms strength, as there was no place to keep ur feet. Its like when ppl must be doing pull ups, all body weight come on arms. Same way. Waise mere arm muscles toh strong hai hi ;) so I was able to successfully cross that patch as well. Now on this side also, there was not much space for more than 3-4 ppl to wait and stand. Also, I could see 2nd ladder on this side. Now I watched Vidya crossing that patch. I was really worried. I wanted each and everyone to cross this patch safely. Any incident would have put a fullstop to my trekking forever... and I didn't wanted that to happen. Standing there, actually I was of litlle help giving instructions to Vidya along with Amol. Vidya also crossed that patch safely. In between standing there, in the back of my mind I went into thoughts of methods of saving some one if he slips from that patch. I knew Amol had long Dori (wire/string). So I was like then we will have to open that Dhori, put it down, till where that person has stuck in trees, then tie it somewere on one of stones etc etc.... O god.. mere dimag toh contingency main lag gaya tha.....anways, that time when I was back to the real world I saw Sonal is now crossing the patch. She was the powerpuff gal. O man... she crossed such that made is look really simple. Like butterfly she put her steps rightly where Amol instructed. And she was also done. Now we were 4 ppl already on this side of the 1st patch. And now it was time for someone to move ahead to make space for others who were coming. So, I started to climb the 2nd shidi. 

View I got after 2nd Shidi

2nd shidi is very small, and najuk [Like it would break anytime]. Its not at all difficult. Simply 1st me, then Vidya, followed by Sonal, Durwas and Amruta climber up 2nd Shidi. But only care to be taken was only 1 at a time, as that shidi is not very strong. Again it was raining heavily, still I took out Nandi's cam managed to click few pics of this tough patch.  After crossing 2nd Shidi, I could see rest of them over 1st shidi, and some crossing the 1st patch and Amol continuing to instruct them. I saw Nandi was standing calm waiting for his turn, even below the 1st shidi. Actually he was the 1st one to reach that 1st shidi, and he must have kept posing to the photographers :)

Left corner Vidya on 2nd Shidi

Now, after crossing the 2nd shidi, Again there was not more space to wait until everyone comes up. So, Sonal and I moved ahead. That patch was also pretty rocky and water streams were flowing over it.  I only touched the rocks over which rain water was flowing so as to get them cleaned. Sonal went up and rested on a rock. I followed her. We could see one cave up there. Sonal was thinking ab yaha se kaha jana hai. I walked a little ahead, and spotted the 3rd shidi to the left of the cave. came back and sat down. Slowly in some time, everyone managed both the 1st and 2nd shidi, and came up where me and sonal were sitting. I clicked one grp at this spot. After some time we started for the 3rd shidi. As usual Amol leaded and was 1st one. Rahul and Nandi took other way, and went up in that cave. They went and stood there, while we followed Amol to climb the 3rd and last shidi.

Views of the 3rd shidi
3rd Shidi is strong in itself, but is only kept leaned on the rocks. O man.... jara sarakli tar -  Haadsaaa Haadsaaa Haadsaaa Haadsaaa ..... heheh. ok...So on this shidi, we went 3 ppl at one time. Climbed up with no issues. Here when you complete the shidi, you land on one rock. From there you have to do more rock climbing and come reach other rocks :) This trek is truely ROCKING in its meaning !!! So, after we crossed the 3rd and last shidi of shidi ghat, There is a there is a series of rock climbing patches. And the worst part was that on this patch, don't know who had shitted on the important khache which could have been otherwise useful to take grips. Hehehee ya really. I really wonder that skillfull man/animal, who could manage to sit and shit so well on that rocky patch :P I remeber at one point, Amol was intructing me to put my feet on one Khacha, which I said that has dirty shit and I will not put my shoes in there :) eeeeeee and Amol said, forget all that, you need to cross the patch. hehehee sheeeee meaning wat, tya var pay deun yeu? Ani majhya adhi Amol and Vidya had gone up, and since this cake is still uncut, means they have gone up w/o stepping on it. So, I aslo managed to cross that patch, w/o using that dirty khaach ;-)  

After crossing that one, while Amol was helping others to come, Rahul, Sonal and I went ahead and found that there was no way. It was a dead end. So again we waited for Amol. After everyone came up, Amol went ahead to figure out the way. There was no way, and we could see that. There were only huge rocks and from no where could we see any way going anywhere. Amol started climbing the rocks. He reached the topmost visible rock on our side.

Embracing Rock

Till that it was fine. But uske aagae kya? Kaha jana hai? Are we on the right path? When these thoughts were hovering over my mind, Amol embraced a rock point that was coming out and went on other side of the rock. Uffff!!!! is that the way???  Aisa jana hai? Kuch bhiiii... but then... there was no other way, and should be correct. Sonal and Rahul followed Amol. Climbing to that point from where we need to embrace the rock was also tricky and not easy. Sonal went the way Amol went, but Rahul found some clifs on other side to reach there. I followed Rahul, as that one seemed better after watching Sonal stuck in between on the 1st path ;-) Rahul and Amol managed to get Sonal out of that patch. After which everyone else followed the way Rahul went, then we crossed that portion by embracing the rock. 


Once that is done, and we were on the other side of the rock from where again started a series of rock climbing patches. Very narrow space to stand, and very difficult rock patch to cross. Again our leader Amol, crossed it 1st, then Sonal and then Vidya. When we were watching these gals climbing up, boys behind me were like come one etna kya time le rahe ho, on which I did say that "Jyachi jalte tyalach kalte" ... and thats the fact. In the mean time I had decided where all I was going to keep my feet and how I will climb that patch. But after I started climbing that rock patch, I realised my planning didn't work. 

The cliffs where I thought I could fix my shoe and arms were not realistic. I didn't wanted to move up on my knees. Slowly taking some time and putting some more thoughts I managed to get the grip and pulled myself up using my arms so that I dont have to bend on my knees. And it wrked. I crossed the patch smoothly and went up. After me was Amruta. She was a little skeptical and fearful. Amol was holding himself in middle so as to instruct ppl after him. Sonal, Vidya and Myself crossed Amol and went ahead to complete the patch. After reaching top, I started clicking pics to get the moment capture. This was the last rocky and rocking patch.....

After this when all of them came up, we took a break. Anand had got Aam panha. We rejoiced and celebrated our success with Aaam Panha. 


After this we were over the 2nd pathar. HUshhhhhhhh yeh... we were like we are done!!! It was already 4+hrs of trekking. As we proceeded ahead on that pathar everyone was asking Amol how much more time !!!! We saw our way heading towards another hill approaching us. WAT!!! Do we have to still climb up this hill???? No No aisa nahi ho sakta.. there should be some other way. Each one was asking every other person - "Hey yeh hill chadna hai kya?" Each one innocently expecting the answer "NO" from someone. :) hehehe but the answer was YES... yes we had to climb up yet another hill. 


On this pathar, while starting to climb up this hopefully last hill, we saw another group coming from the left from somewhere. We got to know later that they had come up from Ganesh Ghat and then lost their way, and now they had finally found the right way as they coincided with us at this point. This pathar was the point of junction of ways coming from Shidi Ghat and Ganesh Ghat. Amol had decided that our descend will be from Ganesh Ghat. [I really wonder how would it be descending over those rocky and touch patches that we just triumphed from Shidi Ghat].


So, we all had surrendered the hope and thought and curiosity of when will we be reaching and asking the question again. With this we all put our steps ahead over that hill and continued to ascend over it. Still Someone asked Amol that it will be more than an hour now. Amol said - No No it will be over in some time. Amol was only trying to give us some hope and keep us motivated, but I guess all of us had left it already on Pathaar 2 :-)


Again chading chading and chading... bass chadte ja rahe hai... and then suddenly, there was along patch of straight long patch passing thru the dense jungle. All of us speeded on that part. I was like, wat kind of patch is this? Its wasting our time. We need to complete this ascend ASAP, we had already lost our patience and this parallel straight patch is not taking us up. that was patch was atleast for 30mins. And soon steep ascend started. 
So actually this parallel straight walk took us on the other side of this hill, and from there when we trekked up over a little we came out of the jungle, where sky was there above us [because until then it was only trees above us, sky was not visible]. From here we saw a hill in front of us, at almost the same height where we were. On which we saw signs of civilization like some constructions  and huts. Bingo! there is it... we could see the Bhimashankar Hill finally.... there we have to go... though it was just in front of our eyes, the route was not that direct.


After treking for another 30mins or so, we finally made it to our destination - "BHIMASHANKAR" This last patch was actually no big deal, but because we were already drained, we were very slow. We meaning - Amruta, Vidya and myself. And for us, Rahul kept himself behind us always. While we last comers arrived, Amol had triggered a question - "Why do you trek?" question was interesting. But we decided to take it up later in the nite. But as Tushar wont be there in the nite with us, we got his answer then and there. [I don't want to disclose his ans now here.]


It was actually 2.30pm when we reached the top of Bhimashankar. We had treked for total 6hrs begining from 9.30am in the morning. We all were immediately thinking of Tushar. He had to catch 4pm bus to go back to Pune. From where he had to take another bus to Jalgaon. I rested in peace on the ground, when all others were standing and discussing what to do next. They decided to take Shiv Mandir darshan 1st, then Lunch and then room. Accordingly we proceeded ahead.


As we moved ahead, we saw a small white temple we were like... yeh temple hai? na na.. it was just another temple. As we were moving towards main Bhimashankar Temple, my memory stated retrieving data. I remembered that I have been here long long ago when I was in college with my family. Yaad aaya. 


Bhimashankar is one of the 12 Jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. Its a Holy place for all Hindus. To reach the temple one has to descend many stony steps. On the way there are many shops on both sides. The temple is made up of large black stones. There are nice carvings of stones forming edges and borders. The Temple kalash is made up of gold and there is a glidable metal flag with it, which swings in the direction of air. This complete place located on the top of a mountain @ 3250ft was dipped completely in fog and rainy clouds. We could hardly see till a few feet ahead and it was continuously pouring. 

We all had sacks on our back, drenched from top to bottom and inside out. As usual, rest of the visitors there were staring at us. One of them even asked Ninad [pls note I addressed him with his name here :)], if we came trekking and hows and whats about it. We reached the temple and decided that one of them will stay back with the bags and go later for the darshan. 

Stadium Type Structure

At the Mandir there is a stadium like construction on the right. We went there. Put down our bags, oops let me call it sacks, else its insult of our backpacks :). Shoulders were aching like evil. Dried our selves a bit and started for the Darshan. It was already 3.15 and Tushar had to catch 4pm bus. We got divided into 2 batches. Nandi, Amol, Vidya, Tushar and Durwas went ahead for darshan and myself, Rahul, Anand and Amruta stayed back with the sacks.In the mean time I decided to take out my SLR finally. So that now it could breathe some fresh air outside my backpack. 


In a little while Aarti started. Amruta and I decided to go ahead and attend the aarti. This is a fun part. We entered the temple from a side which took us direct into the temple courtyard. Aarti was going on and all the queues were on stand by. We saw our ppl standing in queue and we both were nicely in the temple courtyard attending the aarti :) Beyond this, after the aarti ended, the pujari came out with the aarti flame, standing just outside the main gabhara entrance. Other ppl who were standing with us, rushed for the aarti, and so did we. After taking aarti we saw were rushing inside the temple for darshan. It was trespassing. But I felt like doing it. I called Amruta and asked her to follow me. She doubted first but I said let it be just come. We smoothly went inside the gabhara for darshan and no one shouted or fought. One person who had allowed us inside the temple for aarti did notice us trespassing, but he also didnt utter a word :) that was cool. Our darshan was done. But still we had the feeling of guilt for trespassing, and also I had to take thali and prasad home. So I decided to go again with Anand and Rahul in queue. Also u know what.. I had SLR camera around my neck, with it I went inside. No one stopped me even with it. I was really shocked. But then, it was our fortune I would say. Our other ppl were still in queue awaiting for darshan. In the mean time, I moved around and clicked pics. Then I saw even Rahul is out with cam, so I thought Anand must be alone with the sacks so I went upstairs. I told him that I will be coming back again in the queue. He was fine then, because he thought that it was he alone now to take darshan, as Rahul was not interested in Darshan. Then I thought Anand can go ahead and stand in the queue, so that Amruta and me would join him once the 1st batch is back to look after the sacks. So, Anand and Rahul went ahead and stood in the queue. Soon in sometime, Tushar came up. It was 3.45pm and he has to take the bus @ 4pm. He asked us to move ahead with darshan. We went ahead. This time in proper queue with Thali and prasad we complete the darshan. 


When we returned back it was past 4pm. Tushar was nowhere. I asked Amol what did he do. Got to know that he somehow he managed to change his clothes and ran for the bus. They gave him all that eatables that we had with us, as he was going to miss the lunch. Later we came to know that Tushar managed to catch the bus as it was a little late, and then took another bus from Pune and reached Jalgaon safely to attend someone's engagement. 


So now, darshan was done, and we started hearing the bells from our tummy. Before that we had to see for shelter. We literary spent more than an hour behind searching rooms to spend one night. All the rates were right. They were saying Rs.800-1500. Finally at around 5.45pm we decided to cease with our search and fill our stomach. At 6pm in the evening we were having our lunch. On one of the hotels there we all had THALI except for Vidya who ordered Chole and Roti. Lovely satisfying food when appetite is at its height. 


Weather outside was awesome. It never stopped pouring. Cold winds,rains and white clouds filled the space. We settled down on Rs900 for a room which is just behind the stadium like construction to the right of the main temple. It was nice big room with good toilets and bathroom. The owner family stayed upstairs. We managed to negotiate for 5 blankets and 2 big mats with her. She was a tough women. 


All of us changed to dry clothes and got a litter warmer. Relaxing with talks and discussions begun the post ascend session. Dinner was not in our agenda. So we ordered tea from the owner from upstairs and munched on whatever snacks items we had late in the evening. We put songs on our mobile and spend our time. Soon we came to Amol's question - "Why do you trek?" Each one of us had our own reasons and ways to look at trekking and justify our madness. One by one all 9 of us answered this question. Then the topic went on Shivaji Maharaj. Amol started and we all went in listening mode. Soon one by one wickets were down, and ppl started falling asleep. 1st wicket was Anand. He even started snoring badly in different patterns, 


Now, at the back of my mind started emerging thoughts of my return journey. I had the news from Amol that my ST was at 7am next morning, reaching Mumbai at 1.30pm. I was pretty disappointed. I had expected an ST earlier to reach Mumbai such tat I get to attend the morning wedding as well. But reaching at 1.30pm after a long journey of 6hrs in ST alone, could allow me to attend only the reception in the evening :( I was feeling sad for missing Ranjit's morning wedding ceremony. Talks began on this topic. Nandi, Rahul, Vidya and Amol started working out their brain. After a loooooooongggg discussion, Rahul and Vidya convinced me to trek down instead of going via ST. Anyways I was going to miss the morning wedding via ST, and trek down would complete and reach base by 12.30pm. After that taking 2-3hrs of further travel, I could reach home(Govandi) by 3.30pm. I could still attend the evening reception all the way in Borivli, then why not complete the trek? The thought was correct and convincing, and my favour of completing the trek :) So I agreed, though Nandi and Amol still said that I must go by ST. Anyways, I decided to trek down. I was SOOOO Happyyyy. Nahi Nahi mhanta me trek la aale, mag return trek miss karnar hote, te pan aata kartey... WOW, I will not me missing Ganesh Ghat. Yu Huuuuu..... [But I hope we meet our estimated schedule]

Later Sonal, Amruta, Nandi and Rahul fell asleep. When Amruta was attempting to sleep, suddenly she woke up with dusting something over her head. She felt as if something crawled, but there was nothing. So again she lied down. I was sitting next to her. and our Amol stood up to change his lens, when saw and shouted - "Khekda! Khekda!" I jumped from my place, so did Amruta and the rest. 
All those who were asleep stoop up at once. With all that hush and bush... Nandi picked that crab in his hand and thew it out of the window. O man... from where did he come. He was one of those types we saw while ascending up in the jungles. So our guess is that, he must have entered someone's mat or sack and made his way till here :) After this Khekda episode again everyone fell asleep.


Next morning, we all woke up by 6am and started our descend by 7.30am instead of 6.30am as planned prior night. I was behind everyone, to gear up and get ready as I had to attend the reception in the evening. We clicked some good by snaps with the temple and started our Descend. We reached the ground, from where we had ascended, but couldn't figure out the actual way down because it was completely foggy and nothing was visible. Taking advantage of the fog, we could only see ppl playing khokho :) We wasted our 45mins there, untill then Rahul and Vidya enjoyed their photography. I had no mood of photography, my mind was totally occupied with thoughts of being able to attend the reception in the evening. Soon Amol and Durwas came back with a good news of having found the way down, and we started descend at 8.15am.

Return Journey

Actually the journey down was beautiful. As we started early it was fully foggy and cold. But I was only physically there. My mind was in Mumbai and was awaiting this descend to get over. Only satisfaction was that I did not miss Ganesh Ghat and completed the trek. In between at one patch I did got my camera out and clicked few pics of the valley, but then soon stuffed it inside again as it started drizzling. At one patch, we saw the terrain was fully covered with White Lillies. We spend lot of time here. I clicked a few flop pics there. I realized that photography needs involvement of Mind and Heart as well along with Body. And my Mind and heart were not trekking, only my body was... 
When we reach the last pathar via Ganesh Ghat, we saw Shidi Ghat in front of us. We started spotting the Shidi and Rahul succeeded in it. Using Vidya's cam with 35x zoom, he spotted the 3rd shidi. Everyon was excited and couldnt believe that we ascended that way. There we again spent a lot of time.  

I tracked that we were behind schedule and reached Ganesh Mandir of Ganesh Ghat at 12.30pm. When actually we were suppose to be down at this time. I got serious. Now the question was whether I will be able to make to the reception even???? From Ganesh Mandir I put 5th gear and didn't stop for anyone. So that at least rest of them follow the suit. From there remaining distance we covered in unbelievably 20mins. Within 20mins we were down on the road.Ganesh Ghat is not as tough as Shidi ghat, but its not easy as well. The terrain again is steep and inclined. Anways, after reaching the base we walked more than 1.5kms, still didnt reach Khandas village. My BP was getting higher. Kya main time pe ghar pe pahunch paungi? Kya main wedding reception attend kar paungi??? Kya Ranjit mujhe zinda chodega??? So many questions .....

While on this long walk, Rahul came up with a really good idea. He said we could call Kedar to Karjat in his car  (Belapur to Karjat was reachable and not long distance), and then they could drop me to my house in Govandi. Otherwise public transport would take more time and make it difficult for me to attend the reception. Idea was mindblowing, but network coverage in our cells was zero. Soon we reached Khandas, and there a villager escorted us to his house from where he said he will give us car till Karjat. But everyone settled in his courtyard and to my suprise and agony THEY ORDERED TEA! Anyways it was already late and I stayed calm. From that villager's house we tried calling Kedar. We made 2 calls and they went flop. Finally 3rd call was successful and we managed to pass the message to Kedar. Thankfully Kedar wasn't busy and agreed to come to Karjat. I was so glad. 


To cut the story short from here,  we took a tum tum for Rs400 from Khandas to Neral, then train from Neral to karjat. Karjat where Kedar, Raju, Raju's wife and son and Kiran had come with 2 cars. THANK YOU SO MUCH KEDAR!!! [well I know he didn't know the story behind all this, he so innocently came without asking any further questions] So Kedar and Kiran came in Rahul's car and Raju and his family in Kedar's car. After this, we who completed the trek (Rahul, Nandi, Sonal and myself) took Rahul's car and proceeded ahead to Mumbai, while Kedar, Kiran, Raju n family went ahead to Matheran. Others viz. Amruta, Amol, Vidya, Anand and Durwas went via train from Karjat. Rahul drived well, and dropped me in an hour to Govandi at my residence. I reached home at 5.30pm. Immediately I took bath, got ready and by 6.45pm I was out on my way to Borivli for Ranjit's reception. Finally I made it. I reached the hall at 8.30pm. I had gone directly by auto. Getting auto was also not easy. I changed 2 autos to reach there. When I entered the hall I saw Ranjit on stage and he also saw me from there. I saw the smile on his face, which in turn cleared all the backlog in my mind and I was feeling lighter now. SOLACE this is!!!


Like this I completed the trek and made to the reception as well. Memorable experience.