K-Series continues... Last couple of months had been very adventurous and thrilling for me.. Reason is the frequency with which i have been going on treks. 5th trek in 6th week. This time it was the Bhandup group and not Urja. I came to kno about this group coza Tillu, one of my gud frnd. This was my third trek wd them. Kulang, Kalwantin and now Kalsubai. One of the highest peak in Maharashtra Sahyardis, 5500 feet from sea level and 3500 from base village Bari. I was a bit nervous since my colleague Sarika had joined me for this trek and she was a first timer. Still i tried my best to keep my nervousness aside till that moment..
We decided to meet @ Dadar station @ 5.45 pm. I wud have luvd if Tillu had joined, but he had some other commitments, still he confirmed me that he will come to meet me @ Dadar station, coz he was anyways in Dadar area that evening. But his plan somehow tumbled and he decided to join us at the last moment, His friend Satkar and Sachin also quite easily agreed. Since he was running late by 10-15 mins we cud only be a spectator watching Panchavati express leaving Dadar platform 5 and wait for the Vidarbha express which was scheduled @ 730pm @ Dadar. Meanwhile i also informed the Bhandup guys that there are 3 more ppl joining us. Bhandup guys had planned to catch the train from Kalyan station. There were around 10-12 guys waiting for us @ Kalyan. We had to get down @ Igatpuri which is approximately 120 kms from Mumbai and takes around 3 to 3 and 1/2 hrs by rail. The journey was something new for Tillu and Sarika. The general compartment was jam packed. Ppl slept on the floor of the train. Few managed to set their bed under the seats, few in the corridor. Teenagers and desi dudes occupied the gate. After a small fight we managed to get couple of seats on the upper deck. The general compartments in Indian Railways has its own rule. If you step on someone's hand or foot by mistake while passing thro' the corridor then u wl get a immediate reaction.. "Abey oye dikhta nahi kya tujhe??" and if u are standing @ some place and somehow trying to balance your weight in the fast moving express and accidently ur feet touches the head of a lady who is sleeping ryt next to u, you will get a gift on ur foot, .. yea a hit! not only this you will also get couple of complimentary local badwords. "Aandhla aahes ka melya??" And all you can do is jus say sorry, coz its not their fault that they are sleeping in the corridor, but its ur fault that u can't adjust to the situation.
After an entertaining journey, we got down @ Igatpuri station @ 1030pm. It wasnt taht much cold as i had expected to be. The fun part was, Satkar and Sachin were not able to find Bhandup guys(Rakesh and team) @ Kalyan station. So they got in to another compartment. Rakesh and team got into some other compartment. So, we were split into three teams. Finally @ Igatpuri station we all were able to identify everyone's faces. Tillu and I exchanged handshakes with the guys whom we already knew and introductory smiles with the new faces, there were quite a few new faces. The group count was 18 now. After coming outa Igatpuri station we started moving towards Igatpur bus station. Rakesh and Suresh (Rakesh's colleague) went to arrange the dinner. We had missed the last bus to Bari station so we were left with an option of spending our nyt @ Igatpuri bus depo. Meanwhile Sarika had become quite friendly with Prajakta and my worry of, will she be able to adjust wd the ppl? had vanished. Soon after few minutes Rakesh and Suresh returned with our dinner. The dinner menu was mostly non-veg and all of them were non-veggie except Sarika. Luckily Rakesh had brought a veg item as well. After the bus-stand hosted special dinner, we moved out to take a night walk in the Igatpuri village whereas few of them opted to stay back @ the bus-depo and book their beds for the short nap of 3hrs since we had planned to take the first bus to Pune which goes through Bari village scheduled @ 5 am. The sky was a treat to watch since there was no infiltration of light. I started giving gyan to Sarika whatever i knew about the stars and whatever i had heard from the sky-gazing programme which takes place @ Vangni village situtated in the outskirts of Kalyan. If tonite i wudnt have been @ Igatpuri for Kalsubai trek, i wud have been @ Vangni since there was one similar sky-gazing programme organized by Nat-Geo Mumbai team. And few of our trek members had already registered for the same so they dint turn up for the trek. We kept on walking through the otherwise crowded market road till the street light stop guiding us. We were not feeling sleepy at all.
The two-three storied old houses on market raod had their own story. I felt as if those windows and balconies had been watching Igatpuri growing for not less than 100 yrs. They witness the horn of railway engines which keep on moving in and out of the workshop near the Igatpuri station from years when the entire Igatpuri sleeps. None of us slept that nyt. Two hours passed like twenty minutes. All set to go @ 5am. There were few villagers who were going for their routine work. They were surprised when they heard that we spent our entire nyt @ the bus-station. But it was nuthing gr8 for us since we normally spend our nyts either @ station or bus-depots when go for treks. We reached Bari village @ 630 am. The atmos was amazing and was slightly cold out there. We tuk our mrng tea @ a small tapri and started uphill march @ 7 am.
Though Kalsubai is the highest peak in Sahyradris, half of your work is done by the transport system. The only distance which now remains is to climb through the tiny hills next to the bari village. We were told by the villagers to fill our water bottles since there was no water available @ top. Female villagers had come to fill up water with all possible sized vessels available @ their home. We wanted to clear as much height as we cud before the temperature cud increase. After a climb of 10 mins or so, my nervousness creeped back into my mind when i saw Sarika counting her steps. I cud straight away see a feeling of forfeit on her face, but i knew she is a strong girl, she wont give up so easily. Honestly speaking my worry wasnt Sarika not able to climb any more but i wud miss this trek, since if she decides to stay back in the village till others return from top i wud have had to wait with her. I dont feel ashamed being selfish and openly speaking this since i m passionate when it comes to trekking. I nervousness was increasing with Sarika's halts. Till that time, the rest of the group had reached @ a small shed or a refreshment place built by a villager. He offered nibbu-paani @ Rs5/ glass. All of us had one glass each. When we reached that place, everyone clapped for Sarika which was more intented towards pulling her leg. Sarika's problem was she dint had proper dinner the nyt before and all those things she was experiencing for the first time. The train journey, the sleepless night, the early mrng bus ride, and after all this climb the hill and that too for the first time. She was struck with acidity. She threw out everything from her stomach and felt relaxed after that. By that time everyone was familiar with eachother and had started craking jokes on eachother. At that rest point, i told Tillu to stay wd me and told Sarika to go ahead. I dint wanted to be with Sarika, since i knew she wud have given excuses if i wud have accompanied her. We left from that point after 10 mins and i was surprised to see no one till lon long. I was expecting Sarika must have sat somewhere for her mini-break but i was wrong. She somehow was feeling much much relaxed after the puke of hers. I was happy to not to see her sitting. But still a gr8 exprience for her. Though we were the last group to reach the top we enjoyed every bit of it. Along with Sarika, Atish the fatso also takes many halts during all his treks. Our group of 18 got split into three mini groups with uneven headcounts. We were the tailenders and enjoyed the optimum. There were 5-6 metal ladders on the way to the temple. couple of them were very long. The problem with the ladders was they were custom made for the rocky patchs. The legs of the ladder were rested on the rocks and if the weight on the ladder increases then the ladder used to bend. That was actually risky. We reached top by 1130 am. My memories from Kulang trek became fresh as i cud clearly see the fort from the top. It was a gr8 experience to see Kulang from top of Kalsubai and especially when i had seen the later from top of the former and had a wish, someday i l climb Kalsubai and watch Kulan from there. I had neva thought my wish wud come true so early. There was a temple of Kalsubai @ the top. The kiddo pujari told us the story of Kalsubai. There was a young female staying in the village Bari. Her father used to harrass her alot. She used to wash utensils and wash villagers clothes. She was pissed off of her daily routine and fathers harassment. One day she decided to go the the top of the hill and stay there. People saw her on the hill for few days and after a few days she vanished from there. No one saw her after that. Some people say she left the village, some say she did a suicide. But Kalsubai is still an unsolved mystery for all of them and for us too. We did our brunch @ that place. Boiled egg is always a hot selling item on treks. We started out downhill march @ 1pm. Sarika was the first one to reach down along with Rakesh, Sachin and Prajakta. Her acidity was the main culprit in her uphill march. Everyone reached @ the Bari bus stop by 2:45pm. Satkar and Sachin had to reach Mumbai b4 730pm since they wanted to attend a bachelor's party. All our struggle to come early so that we can reach home early was in vain since there were no Public Transport available and all the jeeps and sumo's were jam packed. Satkar and Sachin managed to get place in a Mahindra pickup van which was ready to drop them till Ambewadi phata. The van was vacant, the driver suggested us to join Satkar and Sachin, and he was ready to drop us till Ambewadi phata. Apart from marketing strategy, he was willing to help us explained us that there are more options for us to reach Ghoti. So we joined them. In few minutes we reached Ambewadi phata. Ambewadi phata was the same place from where we had gone to Kulang a month back. I was the most happiest person on the earth and very excited since i knew i had added one more major name to my trek list. We waited for nearly 30 mins not even a single ST bus came which wud take us to Kasara, Igatpuri or even Ghoti. Satkar and Sachin managed to get a pickup van till Ghoti. I explained them the way from Ghoti to Kasara. There were two options open in front of us. One was anyhow reaching Ghoti and take a cab from Ghoti till Kasara which i had done last month and other option was reaching Igatpuri and catch any express/ mail towards Mumbai. Since everyone was tired the first option was most loved. We decided to go till Kasara anyhow and catch the 6.12 Kasara-CST local. Luckily we saw one Igatpuri bus coming from the zigzag Ambewadi ghat. Everyone got inside the bus ASAP. That journey of one hour was chucking crowded. Reached Ghoti @ 5.30pm. Now i was very sure that we gonna miss the 6.12pm Kasara local. Thanks to the ST officials and the local villagers who called up @ Igatpuri station and told the depo manager to stop the 5.30 Ghoti-Kasara ST @ Igatpuri until we reach Igatpuri. That was surprising decision for us, coz most of the time we listen and watch from media about the mismanagement of PTS. Well, there was a fight for a seat in that ST between me and a drunked person. He pushed me down from the seat. When Rakesh and Sarika saw this, everyone came running to fight with that person. Sarika was watching all the drama when the oral battle was between me and the drunked. But when the man pushed me outa the seat Sarika furiously controverted and almost ran over the person. His wife pulled him back and poked her pallu in her saree and showed her willingness to fight. She was bit afraid since by that time Suresh and Rakesh also had started arguing with that man. A lady sitting behind Sarika suggested me to keep quite as he was drunk, she was accompanying that drunked person's family. His daughter was continuously tugging his shirt and started crying. After a lotta hash out finally the fight calmed down. By the time we reach Kasara it was 630pm. Rakesh and Suresh went to get some snacks whereas rest all of us ran to catch the train. We occupied two rows and the extreme end of a compartment. Satkar and Sachin missed the 6.12 local and joined us. There was ample time for the train to depart. 7.25pm train left from Kasara station. Enjoying the batawada and bhaji paav from a mini-hotel outside kasara station, we started out journey back home. What game would have been better than Antakshari. Usually i get pumped up towards the end of any trek. During the onward journey i was mostly quite. Enjoyed the antakshari to the optimum. It continued till Bhandup station until Rakesh and company got down @ Bhandup. A short lil girl Rupali(i actually thought she studies in some school and i did ask Rakesh, in which std. is she studying, on which Rakesh laughed crazily) from Rakesh's office, Amey, Sarika and me got down @ Dadar. By 1130pm i think everyone reached home. Thanks to Sarika, that she dint give up in the beginning, as a result i cud complete my wish. Its always fun trekking with this Bhandup group.
Though we missed David, the perfectionist who usually arrange trek for Bhandup group. This time cudnt join us but glad that he transferred all his GYAN
to Rakesh and we cud complete it in a proper way, rather an organized way. Besides him, thanks to Sachin and Satkar as well, only for them we started our march downhill early.
We decided to meet @ Dadar station @ 5.45 pm. I wud have luvd if Tillu had joined, but he had some other commitments, still he confirmed me that he will come to meet me @ Dadar station, coz he was anyways in Dadar area that evening. But his plan somehow tumbled and he decided to join us at the last moment, His friend Satkar and Sachin also quite easily agreed. Since he was running late by 10-15 mins we cud only be a spectator watching Panchavati express leaving Dadar platform 5 and wait for the Vidarbha express which was scheduled @ 730pm @ Dadar. Meanwhile i also informed the Bhandup guys that there are 3 more ppl joining us. Bhandup guys had planned to catch the train from Kalyan station. There were around 10-12 guys waiting for us @ Kalyan. We had to get down @ Igatpuri which is approximately 120 kms from Mumbai and takes around 3 to 3 and 1/2 hrs by rail. The journey was something new for Tillu and Sarika. The general compartment was jam packed. Ppl slept on the floor of the train. Few managed to set their bed under the seats, few in the corridor. Teenagers and desi dudes occupied the gate. After a small fight we managed to get couple of seats on the upper deck. The general compartments in Indian Railways has its own rule. If you step on someone's hand or foot by mistake while passing thro' the corridor then u wl get a immediate reaction.. "Abey oye dikhta nahi kya tujhe??" and if u are standing @ some place and somehow trying to balance your weight in the fast moving express and accidently ur feet touches the head of a lady who is sleeping ryt next to u, you will get a gift on ur foot, .. yea a hit! not only this you will also get couple of complimentary local badwords. "Aandhla aahes ka melya??" And all you can do is jus say sorry, coz its not their fault that they are sleeping in the corridor, but its ur fault that u can't adjust to the situation.
After an entertaining journey, we got down @ Igatpuri station @ 1030pm. It wasnt taht much cold as i had expected to be. The fun part was, Satkar and Sachin were not able to find Bhandup guys(Rakesh and team) @ Kalyan station. So they got in to another compartment. Rakesh and team got into some other compartment. So, we were split into three teams. Finally @ Igatpuri station we all were able to identify everyone's faces. Tillu and I exchanged handshakes with the guys whom we already knew and introductory smiles with the new faces, there were quite a few new faces. The group count was 18 now. After coming outa Igatpuri station we started moving towards Igatpur bus station. Rakesh and Suresh (Rakesh's colleague) went to arrange the dinner. We had missed the last bus to Bari station so we were left with an option of spending our nyt @ Igatpuri bus depo. Meanwhile Sarika had become quite friendly with Prajakta and my worry of, will she be able to adjust wd the ppl? had vanished. Soon after few minutes Rakesh and Suresh returned with our dinner. The dinner menu was mostly non-veg and all of them were non-veggie except Sarika. Luckily Rakesh had brought a veg item as well. After the bus-stand hosted special dinner, we moved out to take a night walk in the Igatpuri village whereas few of them opted to stay back @ the bus-depo and book their beds for the short nap of 3hrs since we had planned to take the first bus to Pune which goes through Bari village scheduled @ 5 am. The sky was a treat to watch since there was no infiltration of light. I started giving gyan to Sarika whatever i knew about the stars and whatever i had heard from the sky-gazing programme which takes place @ Vangni village situtated in the outskirts of Kalyan. If tonite i wudnt have been @ Igatpuri for Kalsubai trek, i wud have been @ Vangni since there was one similar sky-gazing programme organized by Nat-Geo Mumbai team. And few of our trek members had already registered for the same so they dint turn up for the trek. We kept on walking through the otherwise crowded market road till the street light stop guiding us. We were not feeling sleepy at all.
The two-three storied old houses on market raod had their own story. I felt as if those windows and balconies had been watching Igatpuri growing for not less than 100 yrs. They witness the horn of railway engines which keep on moving in and out of the workshop near the Igatpuri station from years when the entire Igatpuri sleeps. None of us slept that nyt. Two hours passed like twenty minutes. All set to go @ 5am. There were few villagers who were going for their routine work. They were surprised when they heard that we spent our entire nyt @ the bus-station. But it was nuthing gr8 for us since we normally spend our nyts either @ station or bus-depots when go for treks. We reached Bari village @ 630 am. The atmos was amazing and was slightly cold out there. We tuk our mrng tea @ a small tapri and started uphill march @ 7 am.
Though Kalsubai is the highest peak in Sahyradris, half of your work is done by the transport system. The only distance which now remains is to climb through the tiny hills next to the bari village. We were told by the villagers to fill our water bottles since there was no water available @ top. Female villagers had come to fill up water with all possible sized vessels available @ their home. We wanted to clear as much height as we cud before the temperature cud increase. After a climb of 10 mins or so, my nervousness creeped back into my mind when i saw Sarika counting her steps. I cud straight away see a feeling of forfeit on her face, but i knew she is a strong girl, she wont give up so easily. Honestly speaking my worry wasnt Sarika not able to climb any more but i wud miss this trek, since if she decides to stay back in the village till others return from top i wud have had to wait with her. I dont feel ashamed being selfish and openly speaking this since i m passionate when it comes to trekking. I nervousness was increasing with Sarika's halts. Till that time, the rest of the group had reached @ a small shed or a refreshment place built by a villager. He offered nibbu-paani @ Rs5/ glass. All of us had one glass each. When we reached that place, everyone clapped for Sarika which was more intented towards pulling her leg. Sarika's problem was she dint had proper dinner the nyt before and all those things she was experiencing for the first time. The train journey, the sleepless night, the early mrng bus ride, and after all this climb the hill and that too for the first time. She was struck with acidity. She threw out everything from her stomach and felt relaxed after that. By that time everyone was familiar with eachother and had started craking jokes on eachother. At that rest point, i told Tillu to stay wd me and told Sarika to go ahead. I dint wanted to be with Sarika, since i knew she wud have given excuses if i wud have accompanied her. We left from that point after 10 mins and i was surprised to see no one till lon long. I was expecting Sarika must have sat somewhere for her mini-break but i was wrong. She somehow was feeling much much relaxed after the puke of hers. I was happy to not to see her sitting. But still a gr8 exprience for her. Though we were the last group to reach the top we enjoyed every bit of it. Along with Sarika, Atish the fatso also takes many halts during all his treks. Our group of 18 got split into three mini groups with uneven headcounts. We were the tailenders and enjoyed the optimum. There were 5-6 metal ladders on the way to the temple. couple of them were very long. The problem with the ladders was they were custom made for the rocky patchs. The legs of the ladder were rested on the rocks and if the weight on the ladder increases then the ladder used to bend. That was actually risky. We reached top by 1130 am. My memories from Kulang trek became fresh as i cud clearly see the fort from the top. It was a gr8 experience to see Kulang from top of Kalsubai and especially when i had seen the later from top of the former and had a wish, someday i l climb Kalsubai and watch Kulan from there. I had neva thought my wish wud come true so early. There was a temple of Kalsubai @ the top. The kiddo pujari told us the story of Kalsubai. There was a young female staying in the village Bari. Her father used to harrass her alot. She used to wash utensils and wash villagers clothes. She was pissed off of her daily routine and fathers harassment. One day she decided to go the the top of the hill and stay there. People saw her on the hill for few days and after a few days she vanished from there. No one saw her after that. Some people say she left the village, some say she did a suicide. But Kalsubai is still an unsolved mystery for all of them and for us too. We did our brunch @ that place. Boiled egg is always a hot selling item on treks. We started out downhill march @ 1pm. Sarika was the first one to reach down along with Rakesh, Sachin and Prajakta. Her acidity was the main culprit in her uphill march. Everyone reached @ the Bari bus stop by 2:45pm. Satkar and Sachin had to reach Mumbai b4 730pm since they wanted to attend a bachelor's party. All our struggle to come early so that we can reach home early was in vain since there were no Public Transport available and all the jeeps and sumo's were jam packed. Satkar and Sachin managed to get place in a Mahindra pickup van which was ready to drop them till Ambewadi phata. The van was vacant, the driver suggested us to join Satkar and Sachin, and he was ready to drop us till Ambewadi phata. Apart from marketing strategy, he was willing to help us explained us that there are more options for us to reach Ghoti. So we joined them. In few minutes we reached Ambewadi phata. Ambewadi phata was the same place from where we had gone to Kulang a month back. I was the most happiest person on the earth and very excited since i knew i had added one more major name to my trek list. We waited for nearly 30 mins not even a single ST bus came which wud take us to Kasara, Igatpuri or even Ghoti. Satkar and Sachin managed to get a pickup van till Ghoti. I explained them the way from Ghoti to Kasara. There were two options open in front of us. One was anyhow reaching Ghoti and take a cab from Ghoti till Kasara which i had done last month and other option was reaching Igatpuri and catch any express/ mail towards Mumbai. Since everyone was tired the first option was most loved. We decided to go till Kasara anyhow and catch the 6.12 Kasara-CST local. Luckily we saw one Igatpuri bus coming from the zigzag Ambewadi ghat. Everyone got inside the bus ASAP. That journey of one hour was chucking crowded. Reached Ghoti @ 5.30pm. Now i was very sure that we gonna miss the 6.12pm Kasara local. Thanks to the ST officials and the local villagers who called up @ Igatpuri station and told the depo manager to stop the 5.30 Ghoti-Kasara ST @ Igatpuri until we reach Igatpuri. That was surprising decision for us, coz most of the time we listen and watch from media about the mismanagement of PTS. Well, there was a fight for a seat in that ST between me and a drunked person. He pushed me down from the seat. When Rakesh and Sarika saw this, everyone came running to fight with that person. Sarika was watching all the drama when the oral battle was between me and the drunked. But when the man pushed me outa the seat Sarika furiously controverted and almost ran over the person. His wife pulled him back and poked her pallu in her saree and showed her willingness to fight. She was bit afraid since by that time Suresh and Rakesh also had started arguing with that man. A lady sitting behind Sarika suggested me to keep quite as he was drunk, she was accompanying that drunked person's family. His daughter was continuously tugging his shirt and started crying. After a lotta hash out finally the fight calmed down. By the time we reach Kasara it was 630pm. Rakesh and Suresh went to get some snacks whereas rest all of us ran to catch the train. We occupied two rows and the extreme end of a compartment. Satkar and Sachin missed the 6.12 local and joined us. There was ample time for the train to depart. 7.25pm train left from Kasara station. Enjoying the batawada and bhaji paav from a mini-hotel outside kasara station, we started out journey back home. What game would have been better than Antakshari. Usually i get pumped up towards the end of any trek. During the onward journey i was mostly quite. Enjoyed the antakshari to the optimum. It continued till Bhandup station until Rakesh and company got down @ Bhandup. A short lil girl Rupali(i actually thought she studies in some school and i did ask Rakesh, in which std. is she studying, on which Rakesh laughed crazily) from Rakesh's office, Amey, Sarika and me got down @ Dadar. By 1130pm i think everyone reached home. Thanks to Sarika, that she dint give up in the beginning, as a result i cud complete my wish. Its always fun trekking with this Bhandup group.
Though we missed David, the perfectionist who usually arrange trek for Bhandup group. This time cudnt join us but glad that he transferred all his GYAN
to Rakesh and we cud complete it in a proper way, rather an organized way. Besides him, thanks to Sachin and Satkar as well, only for them we started our march downhill early.
