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The Independence Day!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Part of a Travel Series of my Phaltan-Khatav-Maan-Karad Trek – 10 Forts in 4 Days

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“We have to reach Pune by today evening!”, Anup Bokil’s (Bokya) familiar chat window popped up on my screen. I had just reached my office and it was 1100 Hrs in the morning.I was definitely not ready for this! I immediately called him up!

“What the…!!??”, was my obvious stunned reply to his surprise attack on my Pearl Harbor!

A typical Bokil laugh followed through the speaker of the phone before Bokil told me, “ Can we leave at 4 pm? Ajay says if we can reach tonight we can leave early morning tomorrow morning and cover one extra fort!”

“How is possible, Bokil? I have just reached office!”

——

We were scheduled to begin our road trip/trek of 4 days at dawn on 15th August from Mumbai,reach Pune, pickup Ajay and Amit and proceed. From there we would travel over a thousand kilometres and cover 10 forts, some temples and a museum in a span of only 4 days!

Today was 14th August, 11 am, I had just entered my office and had not even reached the ‘p’ of packing when Bokil sprung the surprise attack! He was suggesting we leave at 4 pm for Pune!

“No way! Lets leave late at night around 10pm!”,I negotiated.

“Arre try to understand, if we reach Pune tonight and leave early tomorrow and maybe cover one extra fort. Plus, the ‘pilot’ can get a good night’s sleep before the long drive the next day.And yes, all the people in Ajay’s house sleep early!”, Bokil put forth his terms.

Valid points!

Bokil 1 Wagh 0

“Ok Bokya, but I can make it 6pm, not a bit earlier!”, I said in the style of a typical negotiating shopkeeper making it sound like, “ This is my final offer! Take it or leave it!”

Luckily,Bokil agreed and we shot off in my Indica (रणगाडा- Tank) towards Ajay Kakade’s “Kakade Vishwa” in Pune.

Our route from Mumbai to Ajay;s house in Pune

Our ride was pretty smooth, the only exception being the malfunctioning windshield wiper blades which reduced visibility to zero when the heavens opened up in a foggy Khandala Ghat! Thanks to Pune’s traffic we reached, Ajay’s house at around 1130pm where he welcomed me with a traditional “Namaskar Saheb!” and my mouth just fell open seeing his awesome collection of books and knives!

“ We will pick up Amit in the morning and then leave for Phaltan via Saswad!”, is what I thought Ajay said as my attention was diverted by a Gerber Bear Gryll’s Knife complete with a sharpener and a Magnesium fire starter! This was really great stuff! I would love to shoplift here!

After a hearty dinner and some talks about the route we were going to take, we finally decided to sleep around 1 am. I don’t remember when I dozed off, but the first sound of Bokil’s alarm opened my eyes at 04:45 am. I saw Bokil rise like The Undertaker through my groggy eyes in the dark and automatically looked at Ajay to see if he was awake.

A negative on that! I felt like I received a bonus when the company was about to be liquidated! I smiled to myself sleepily. It meant 15 more minutes of sleep till 5 am when we had to actually get up. Only sleep lovers like me will understand, the importance of those ‘2 minutes’ extra time in the morning!

We finally woke up after a ‘good’ sleep of 4 hours! Ajay brought us a really delicious and absolutely necessary cup of tea which I gulped down like a parched dog! With the Tea shaking awake our brains,we loaded up our vehicle with our bags and most importantly –Cameras! We also ensured we took the right road maps and books for reference (Courtesy: Ajay Kakade ) and were, finally,ready to go but there was one more thing to do – Clean the car windshields! In this operation, Bokil’s natural altitude above sea level was of a great use as it provided that extra reach to clean the windshields!

We set off for Warje, Amit’s House and after having another cup of tea, set off towards Phaltan via Kondhwa and Saswad. On the way, we would stop at Saswad to have a look at Sardar Purandare Wada, Godaji Jagtap Samadhi and Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Samadhi and from there we would move forward to Santoshgad via Phaltan and then onward to Varugad. Thereafter at the end of the day, we would reach Loni, Ajay’s village and would reside at his house, more popularly known as Kakade palace!

To speak frankly, while these guys were rattling of names of villages and places which we would pass on our way like priests recite mantras during poojas, most of them were greek and latin to me! As I turned on the ignition key and my रणगाडा growled to life, I made a mental note to study all the maps whenever time permitted and get up to speed with the others!

As I put the car into gear and put the foot to the accelerator, I realized that today was 15th August, India’s independence day. In a way, we too were getting freedom today, that it was only for 4 days did not matter. The chance of being in the outdoors to us trekking fanatics, even for a day is enough. We love to be away from the civilized life, be away from the buzz of the cities, deep in the forests,valley! We love to get lost inside the beautiful, thrilling and terrifying arms of Nature. For we believe, that getting lost in such a way will help us find ourselves in the depths of the mountains, find our lost ancestors who fought here making these very mountains their armor, who made the people rise like a glorious phoenix, fight for their rights, break the chains of slavery and achieve Freedom!

Sometimes, finding more about your country’s glorious past is, indeed, attaining Freedom!!

- Pranjal Wagh

01 Sep 2012

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Tags: Bastion, Chhatrapati, Forts, History, Indica, Journal, Karad, Khatav, Maan, Maharaj, Maharashtra, Phaltan, Sahyadri, Shivaji, Tips, Travel, Travelogue, Trek
Posted in 10 Forts in 4 Days, The Wanderer | 12 Comments »

The Prologue to the Travelogue

Sunday, August 26, 2012

“The Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”

I remember reading this thought a few years ago in a Johnny Walker print ad in the newspaper. I always thought Johnny Walker Scotch Whiskey was the maker of this thought until I googled it before putting it on this blog.

Turns out, it was Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher, who penned it!

Anyways, our journey of a thousand kilometers – 1182 km to be precise – began not with a single step but with a chain of countless emails flying back and forth between us. Most of the times these emails had little to do with the planning of this trek/journey and more to do with making plans that would capsize like paper boats in a rain-water stream. We set out to plan something else and in the end, we ended up doing a totally different trek! (But atleast, we got something done! Move over, Montek Singh Ahluwalia!)

Our planning phase was like riding a roller coaster. Ups and downs made up the very soul of the plan. A team member quitting to go on another trek, an injury to someone, family issues and a thousand other problems made sure the days before our expedition were like an cricket match with India in it. Nail biting to the finish – no matter who the opponent is! We made sure the trek almost never happened before it finally happened!

So after many discussions and debates, we decided that we would set out to explore,experience and endure the shorter range of Sahyadris which spread out through Satara District.

We decided to visit the following 10 forts:

Santoshgad
Varugad
Vardhangad
Mahimangad
Bhushangad
Macchindragad
Sadashivgad
Morgiri – Gunvantgad
Dategad
Vasantgad

Here is a primary sketch of our route drawn by Ajay:

Hand drawn route of our trek

These forts are spread out from Phaltan which is south-east of Pune and then onwards move through Khatav-Maan regions and the chain ends at Karad.

To give a geographical description, the mountain range in this region known as Mahadevache Dongar – Shiva’s Mountains – is not high nor is it continuous. The mountains are scattered, some have plains on all sides as far as the eye can see. Since they are situated on the Deccan plateau they are already at MSL of about 1500-2000 feet and they do not rise much high in the sky nor do they have tall cliffs. Now due to this geographical characteristic of the mountains, the forts on them are heavily fortified. Almost all forts have a continuous wall along the perimeter and huge bastions, a feature which is absent in forts in the main Sahyadri range as the mountains there offer natural fortification in the form of vertical rock cliffs. Many of these forts have an history ranging back to 1500-2000 years.

Finally, 4 of us were ready to set out. The team included Ajay Kakade, Anup Bokil, Amit Kulkarni and last but not the least, Me!

Our Team @ Vasantgad on the last day!

(L2R : Ajay Kakade, Anup Bokil, Amit S. Kulkarni)

My posts in this series will share with you our experiences and enjoyment while exploring a whole new region in Maharashtra.

Do watch out for updates soon!

- Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

पेशवा सरकार!

Friday, January 13, 2012

थोरले बाजीराव पेशवे (१७०० -१७४०)

नर्मदेच्या भयाण वाळवंटात फिरून फिरून अगदी वैतागून गेलो होतो आम्ही… रणरणत ऊन भाजून काढत होतं…उष्ण हवा तर सतत वाहत होती…कुठे निवाऱ्याला सावली सापडत नव्हती…आमच्या गाडीचा ड्रायव्हर मूळचा इंदोरचा पण त्याने देखील कधी गाडी इतक्या आत आणली नव्हती…
शोध होतं तो एकच गोष्टीचा…पण ती देखील कुठे आहे कोणालाच माहित नव्हती…
आणि ही अशी परिस्थिती फक्त ‘हिंदुस्तानातच’ आपल्यावर येऊ शकते..

१५ मे २००९ च्या लोकमत मधील एका लेखाने खाड्कन डोळे उघडले आमचे…
शिवाजी शिवाजी करत बसणारे आम्ही ….मराठ्यांच्या पूर्ण इतिहासाला शिवाजी पुरताच मर्यादित करून बसलो होतो!
हा लेख होता श्रीमंत बाजीराव पेशव्यांवर, त्या लढवय्या पेशव्याच्या समाधीच्या अस्तित्वाचा!

बाजीराव पेशव्यांचा अकाली मृत्यू आम्हाला माहित होतं…पण त्यांची समाधी कुठे असेल हा साधा विचारच आम्ही केला नाही! कसा करणार? आपलं सरकार तरी कुठे मान्यता देतं? शिवाजी महाराजांचे समुद्रात पुतळे उभारतील, पण त्यांचे गड किल्ले भाग्नावास्तेत पडू देतील, असलं हे विचित्र सरकार! शाळेतील इतिहासाच्या पुस्तकात दोन पानात संपवलेला बाजीराव खरोखर किती मोठा होता हे आम्हाला कोण सांगणार? ‘लढवय्या पेशवा’ पेक्षा
‘बाजीराव – मस्तानी’ ह्या प्रकरणाला जास्त महत्व देऊन महाराष्ट्रातील जनतेनेच ह्या पेशव्याच्या कर्तृत्वाला दाबून टाकले!

ह्या मर्द गड्याचा पराक्रम सांगावा तो तरी किती!

"जो गती भयी गजेंद्र की, वही गती हमरी आज
बाजी जात बुंदेल की , बाजी रखियो लाज!"

बुन्देलखंडचा राजा छत्रसाल ह्याने मोहम्मद बंगश ह्या मोगल सरदाराखिलाफ बाजीरावाची मदत मागितली. संदेश पोहोचला तेव्हा बाजीराव जेवत होते. असे म्हणतात की हातातला घास तसाच ठेवून बाजीराव उठले आणि थेट घोड्यावरून मोजक्या स्वारानिशी निघाले. बाकीचे सैन्य त्यांना नंतर येऊन मिळाले.

“ उशीर केल्यामुळे छत्रसाल पराजित झाले तर इतिहास हेच म्हणेल की बाजीराव जेवत होते म्हणून उशीर झाला!"

ह्याला म्हणतात मराठी बाणा! मैत्रीचं राजकारण खेळावं तर ते असं! पोकळ दंडावर फुकटचे षड्डू थोपटत बसणाऱ्या राजकारण्यांनी आणि सरकारी यंत्रणेने काहीतरी शिकावे ह्यातून!! ह्या कृत्यानंतर बाजीरावाने बंगाशाला पराभूत तर केलेच, पण छात्रासालाच्या राज्याचा १/३ हिस्सा जहागीर म्हणून मिळवला…आणि मराठी तितुका बुन्देल्खंडी फडकला!!

अशा ह्या पराक्रमी पेशव्याची समाधी रावेरखेडी नावाच्या एका गावात आहे असे आम्हाला कळते काय आणि ती लवकरच नर्मदेच्या पाण्याखाली जाणार असल्याचे कळते आणि तिचा शेवटचा दर्शन घ्यावा म्हणून आम्ही लगेच निघतो काय…सगळं अगदी घाईघाईत घडलं…

इंदोरहून गाडी घेऊन आम्ही निघालो ते थेट सनावादला नर्मदा ओलांडली…मनात एक विचार येऊन गेला.. जेव्हा मराठ्यांनी नर्मदा ओलांडली तेव्हा नावांचा पूल बांधून ओलांडली होती…आज आम्ही सिमेंटच्या पुलावरून ती ओलांडली…घोड्यांच्या टापांनी हादरून उठणारा हा परिसर आज रेल्वे आणि गाड्यांच्या आवाजाने भरून गेला होता!

बडवाह! मध्य प्रदेशातील एक छोटासा जिल्हा! ह्या जिल्ह्यात कुठेतरी लपल होत रावेरखेड़ी! सुमारे पंधरा मिनिटे एक खडबडीत रस्त्यावरून आमच्या इंडिका आम्ही बलजबरी नेली तेव्हा एक कच्चा रास्ता लागला….आणि नंतर लागल ते एक छोट गाव! हेच रावेरखेड़ी असणार असा आम्ही एक अंदाज़ बांधून घेतला! अगदी कोणीही न सांगता चुकीचे अंदाज़ बांधणे व ते बरोबर आहेत अशी स्वतःची समजूत घालण्यात आम्ही पटाईत! गावात आम्ही आमच्या अस्खलीत हिंदी मध्ये विचारल,

"इधर कोई समाधी है क्या?"

" सचिन तेंडुलकर १००वी सेंच्युरी कधी मारणार?" असा प्रश्न विचारल्यावर समोरचा कसा क्लीन बोल्ड होतो अगदी तशीच अवस्था तिथल्या ग्रामस्थांची झाली! कोणालाच माहित नहीं! मग मूळ मुद्द्यावर आलो,

"ये रावेरखेड़ी किधर है? ये नहीं है क्या?"

रावेरखेड़ी हे गाव समोरचा नाला ओलांडून पलिकडे आहे असे कळले व आम्ही पुढे निघालो…पण पुढच्या गावी देखील हेच चित्र…समाधी कुठे आहे कुणालाच ठाऊक नहीं…आता करायचे काय… मग विचारले की बाबा नदी किधर है? आणि त्या दिशेने आम्ही कूच केली…

ह्या गावातून जाताना एक गोष्ट मात्र ध्यानी आली… गावातील घरांचे दरवाजे एकदम जुन्या पद्धतीचे…भक्कम लाकडाची बांधणी आणि सुन्दर नक्षीकाम…जणू बाजीराव पेशव्यांच्या काळी बांधलेली घर असावीत! सुमारे ३०० वर्षांपूर्वी ते देखिल ह्याच रस्त्याने घोड़दौड़ करीत नर्मदा तीरी आपल्या छावणीत गेले असतील! अचानक अवतीभवती सेना सागर उभा राहिला, सरदारांचे डेरे, सैनिकांची चाललेली धावपळ आणि आपल्या डेरयात मसलती करीत बसलेला एक दिमाखदार मराठी तरुण! महाराष्ट्राला महाराष्ट्राबाहेर नेणारा हाच तो!

बाजीराव!

गरुडाची भेदक नजर, पिळदार मिश्या, तोंडावर किंचित स्मित, कमावलेल मजबूत शरीर आणि तितकीच मजबूत विचारशक्ती!

कुशल व्यवस्थापक, अजिंक्य योद्धा आणि आकर्षक व्यक्तिमत्व असा हा सर्वगुणसम्पन्न मराठ्यांचा पंतप्रधान! (नाहीतर आजकालचे पंतप्रधान!)

असो!

तर आम्ही समाधी शोध चालू ठेवला..असे करता करता गाव संपल! पुढे नुसता सपाट जमीन! डोक्यावर अंड फोडल असता तर त्याचा हाफ-फ्राय तयार होइल इतकी भाजून काढणार ऊन!! आता काय करायच ह्या विचारत असताना एक उजवीकडे शेड दिसली! शेतीच्या कामासाठी वापरली जात होती बहुदा! म्हट्ल पहु इथे विचारून! भात्यातील शेवटचा बाण उरले तो मारून पाहू! असे म्हटले आणि मी गाडीतुन उतरलो!

पुढे लिहिण्या अगोदर एक वस्तुस्थिति सांगतो! ह्याची जाणीव त्या दिवशी झाली!

आपल्या मध्ये का कोण जाणे आपल्याच इतिहासाबद्दल एक कमालीचा न्यूनगंड असतो! आणि त्याच्या जोडीला असते ती कमालीची उदासीनता!

आपल्यालाच आपला इतिहास माहित नसतो आणि आपण तो जाणूनदेखील घेत नहीं! भारताबाहेर कोणाला इथले पराक्रमी माहित असेल आपण अपेक्षा ठेवत नहीं! तीच गोष्ट आमच्याबाबतीत खरी ठरली!

महाराष्ट्राबाहेर मराठ्याला ओळखत कोण? म्हणून आम्ही कधीच, "पेशवा बाजीराव की समाधी कहा है? " असे विचारले नाही! का कोण जाणे! अगदी नकळत ही गोष्ट घडली खरी!

असो!

मग मी त्या शेड पाशी गेलो आणि एक माणसाला विचारल, "इधर कोई समाधी है क्या?"

"मुझे पता नाही साहब, दादासाहब से पूछो!", असे म्हणताच एक माणूस आतून बाहेर आला! हा माणूस म्हणजे दादासाहब!
नाव दादासाहब पण त्याच दिसण अगदी उलट! एकदम बारीक, दाढ़ीची खुंट वाढलेली आणि साधारण उंचीचा हा माणूस ‘दादासाहब’ ह्या खिताबाला साजेसा बिलकुल नव्हता!

मी म्हट्ल, " दादासाहब, इधर कोई समाधी है क्या?"

आपल्या लुंगीला हाथ पुसत त्याने उत्तर दिले, "समाधी? पेशवा सरकार की समाधी? वो….."

पुढचे शब्द मी ऐकलेच नाहीत जणू!!

पेशवा सरकार!

पेशवा सरकार!!!

इतका मान! इतका आदर!! ते देखील पुण्याहून शेकडो मैल दूर ह्या उजाड़ रावेरखेड़ी मध्ये!!

आश्चर्य!

मी अक्षरशः बावरुन गेलो आणि नकळत डोळ्याच्या कडा पाणवल्या!

ज्या महाराष्ट्र देशासाठी हा बाजीराव लढ़ला तिथे देखील त्याला इतका मान नाही!

महाराष्ट्रात बाजीराव कोण आहे हे देखील माहित नसलेली लोक राहतात आणि माहीत असला तरी "अरे तो का बाजीराव – मस्तानी वाला?" असे प्रश्न विचारणारे महारथी देखील आहेत!

आपल्या इतिहासाची काय किम्मत करतो आपण हे निर्लज्जपणे सांगणारे आपण कुठे आणी ह्या नर्मदेच्या वाळवंटात उभा असलेला हा गावठी ‘दादासाहब’ कुठे !

मन विषण्ण झालं! आपल्या मराठीपणाची थोडी का असेना लाज वाटली! जणू ह्या ‘दादासाहब’ ने नकळत आमच्या अस्मितेचा पोकळ फुगा त्याच्या दोन शब्दांनी फोडला होता. एक सणसणीत चपराकच गालावर पडली होती!

कोण कुठली इंग्लंडची राणी पण तिला आपली लोकं, क्वीन एलीझबेथ म्हणतात. अमेरिकेसारखा स्वार्थी देश, पण त्याच्या राष्ट्रपतीला आपण प्रेसिडेंट ओबामा म्हणतो! जसं कि हा भारताचाच प्रेसिडेंट आहे! पण जेव्हा आपल्याच देशातील वीरांना आदर देण्याची पाळी येते तेव्हा आपली जीभ जड होते! शिवाजी, संभाजी, बाजीराव अशी राजरोस पाने आपण नवे घेतो! तेव्हा कुठे जातो हा मराठीचा अभिमान? कुठे जाते आपली मराठी अस्मिता? आणि हा कोण कुठला ‘दादासाहब’! त्याला काय घेणं देणं नसताना इतका आदर करतो!

पेशवा सरकार!!

ह्या नंतर आम्हाला समाधी सापडली देखील आणि आम्ही ती पाहून देखील आलो! महाराष्ट्राच्या पुत्राला वंदन केले आणि नर्मदेच्या पात्रातील जुन्या घाटावर जाऊन स्नान करून आलो!

तिथे काही अवशेष आहेत ते पाहिले, ३०० वर्षे मागे जाण्याचा एक छोटासा प्रयत्न केला आणि परत निघालो!

परत येताना मी विचारांच्या अधीन झालो होतो! ते नर्मदेच निळ पात्र, एका सच्च्या पण विस्मरणात गेलेल्या योद्ध्याची, त्याच्या नावाला न साजेशी अशी दुर्लक्षित समाधी आणि त्या वाळवंटात उभा असलेला तो ‘दादासाहब’!

बाहेर वाऱ्यामुळे मातीचे लोळ उठले होते, आकाशात धुरळा उडाला होता. माझ्या मनात देखील असाच कल्लोळ मजला होता. दोनच शब्द मनात परत परत ऐकू येत होते!

पेशवा सरकार!!

- प्रांजल वाघ

१३/०१/२०१२

थोरले बाजीराव पेशवे समाधी स्थळ

For more photos click here

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Tags: Bajirao, Hindu, India, Indore, Maharashtra, Marathas, Peshwa, Pune, Samadhi, Shivaji
Posted in General, Just Thoughts, Marathi articles, The Wanderer | 76 Comments »

The Climb to Bahiri Caves…and the descent down!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

A long time pending dream fulfilled!

It all started when I got a week long vacation before the second term of my MBA course could start. I had been planning the awesome Rajgad – Torna 3 day trek for a quiet a long time and yet again my plans were foiled, mainly due to last minute problems popping up! Then I settled for a 2 day trek to Torna fort but even that managed to get cancelled due to some more problems landing up uninvited on my doorstep!

So it was decided that we would visit Bahiri Caves which are carved inside the steep and treacherous cliff of the Dhak fort. Not many people visit Dhak fort because they do not know about it and also because the Bahiri Caves are more famous due to the challenging climb it offers! But we had decided to climb to the top of the fort as well as visit the cave temple of Lord Bhairoba.

The twin peaks of Rajmachi!

Well, we started out, Jay, Salil and I, and of us Jay had done this trek and that too in the rainy season. Our plan was to set out from the base village of Sandshi and reach reasonable heights before we could be bombarded by the burning sunlight.

The Kalakrai Pinnacle & the Dhak fort adjacent to it A beautiful water body near Sandshi village

We met two very good dogs with whom we played for a while. One dog was particularly very untrusting and nervous while the other was very playful. When we offered the dog food to eat the bold on ate quickly while the nervous dog did this…

But never did he touch the food!!

We started out before time and made haste to find the route up the mountain.

But fate had different plans for us.

We took a wrong path initially when we came out of the village and lost our way in the jungle at the base of the fort. We kept coming on the same path after roaming about in the jungle. Thoroughly frustrated we made our way back to village to find some help. Luckily we found a villager who was hurrying after his cattle. He pointed out the way and we soon came back on track. But the sun had risen up and was smugly grinning at us. What we had tried to avoid had happened! Now we would have to climb up in the sun. But still, undeterred and more determined than before we started climbing.

Progress was rapid as the air around us was still cool and we reached a considerable height before we stopped for a drink and an orange. We set out after 10 mins and set the pace for the next half an hour till we reached a plateau and it was here that we broke the golden rule of trekking!

You never stop more than 15 mins when you take a break and take a break if only necessary!!

Bewitched and mesmerized by the cool breeze and the greenery on the plateau we stopped. We wasted 1 hour of our time on this beautiful plateau and had long discussions on topics that ranged from women to marijuana to gadgets to women…. At the end of 1 hour when we finally got up I felt that rather than wasting our time we invested the time! (Right, Salil? )

All this time while we were climbing, the pinnacle and the Dhak fort was hidden from us by the plateau. But once we started out again after our ‘rest’, we soon came to a plateau with butterflies and that is when we saw how far the fort was really!

The Striped Tiger Butterfly The Blue Tiger Butterfly

The view of Dhak fort & Kalakrai Pinnacle from the plateau

The way to the ‘valley’ or ‘Ghal’ between the Kalakrai Pinnacle and Dhak fort involved traversing the mountain and approaching the pinnacle from the side opposite to where we were standing right now. Realising the importance of reaching the pinnacle as far as possible we set out fast and covered a lot of ground. A lot of arrows which marked the way helped us find the way.

Soon we came to this signpost.

Very close to this signpost is a ‘Shrine’.

The arrow on the shrine shows the way!

The villagers believe that offering leaves here and praying ensures a safe passage to the Lord Bahiri cave and back! We obliged and offered a few leaves and prayed before finally climbing till the base of the pinnacle.

From here two ways branch out. One leads the way in the form of a rocky cliff which leads to the Dhak fort top. And the other descends between the pinnacle and the mountain which leads to the famous Bahiri caves!

The V shaped gully between Kalakrai Pinnacle and Dhak Fort!

We made a mental note to come back this way so that we could also visit Dhak fort on the same day and set out for Bahiri Caves. But before I could start my descent into the ‘Ghal’, as I tried to get a grip on the rock but moved my hand backwards as if I had burnt it! Why? Just look what I was going to catch for a hold on the rock!

Bees!!

A stitch in time saves a life of mine!

As we proceeded to descend the gully, the drop straight down stared us in eyes! It was really thrilling!

Kalakrai Pinnacle and the gully that we descended! The parapet that leads to the cliff

We reached the plateau (if you could call it that, it was more of a parapet actually!) that led to the cilff that needed to be negotiated and then the carved out steps that formed the best part of this trek!

I asked Jay, “Abbe Yaar, ye kya hai? straight flat road to hai, why are people in such an awe about this place?”.

“Just wait and watch”, was his reply!

And I waited and, oh boy, did I watch!

As one proceeds along the parapet, you come to a cliff….along which you have to walk…facing or literally leaning against the cliff and carefully finding your foot and hand holds. At times you can use the odd pit-ons that have been hammered into the rock by some ‘visionary’ climbers, but most of the times its just lean-against-the-rock and walk.

You walk till the horizontal movement stops and suddenly you get carved out stairs in the cliff.These stairs lead you to another horizontal narrow parapet which leads you to a ladder.

One slip and you get a free ticket – all expenses paid trip- to heaven or hell, wherever you belong!

Here are some pictures that will show you how one has to tackle the cliff.

This is the initial climb. You can see steps which lead to a shortcut descent into Sandshi village. The next photo shows the vertical climb which you take to reach the horizontal parapet with the rope that leads to a unique ladder (Bichki) which has been fixed in the rock. This ladder leads you finally into the cave! Special thanks to Mr. Suniel Patil for the last picture. It was taken at a later date and he had gone with another group. But I liked the pic and the drop that can be seen!

I was not able to get more detailed pictures as there were a lot of people climbing and creating a traffic jam in such a place is not advisable

About the bichki. The Bichki is not a ladder per se. It is but the trunk of mid-sized tree with its branches chopped off. Only the stumps of the branches are kept and these form the rungs of the ladder. And they never break! Never! There are 2 bichkis in the crack which one has to climb to reach the climb and they have been there for the past several years. Apart from that ropes are hanging which can be used to pull your body upwards and at times to just hang on!

Now, about the incident that I have been waiting to write. Amongst us three, I was taking photographs and was left behind while the other two were climbing up. When the others were climbing there was one villager in the cave who was giving instructions and also the occasional helping hand to pull a person into the cave.

But when my chance came , suddenly I was alone. The man went inside the cave.

But still I started climbing. At one point when I tried to pull myself up using the ladder, the ladder literally came out of the crack. My heart was in my mouth! Just imagine.

A drop of 2500ft + behind your back with no support and all you can hang on to is a ladder which too is coming out of the crack that it has been fit into!

In that brief, micro-second my brain had worked out all possible events that could unfold had the ladder had come loose completely. And it also had worked out how I could prevent that from happening. Just imagine the amazing speed that the Human brain works at! Truly a natural wonder!

I just applied my weight towards the cliff face and the ladder fit into the crack again and I climbed up and into the cave.

The cave was dirty. No comments about that.

We clicked some photographs from the cave and admired the sheer drop to death from the cave’s edge.

The sky and the cloud streaks! From L2R; Manjar Sumba and the Twin peaks of Rajmachi

Nagphani (a.k.a Duke’s Nose) seen at 12x zoom The Kalakrai Pinnacle and the rocket

The base village: Sandshi

While climbing we had noticed some rock cut steps which led down the cliff. A localite informed us that this was a short cut to Sandshi and proceeded down that way. We watched his progress from the cave and noted the path.

When we started our descent we followed these steps and soon made our way through the trash at that littered the cliff base. We Indians know how to pray to our gods but we do not know how to keep our land clean!

The steps led to a very steep descent littered with litter and loose rocks. But soon (within 20 mins) we reached a temple which the villager had told us.

The temple, The view of the Cliff from where we descended and the skull like wooden formation in the tree trunk fallen behind the temple in the first picture

The three rocks that mark the road to be followed from the temple

It is now that our real adventure would start. We followed the road seen in the picture above. It was a nice road and our progress was fast. However, we came to a clearing where there were to roads leading to different directions and surprisingly both had arrows as markers!

So after much debate we took the one straight ahead and moved fast.

But we got lost.

We searched and searched and searched some more.But we kept moving on paths that came under our feet.

We also tried to descend using the flow of water but the rock there was slippery and the fall was legendary.

At last we followed a path and once again met with a dead end. We just sat there for a moment. It was nearly 1630 hrs. We were in the forest. We had little water. We had one or two oranges to eat. We did not have any sleeping material. Nor any tent to provide shelter. We just rested, ate an orange,drank some water with Electral.

We knew if we could not find the way within the hour we would have to stay in the forest. Torches we had, but would not help in finding the way through the dense forest.

So we got up, and for one final try followed a path which ended at a tree stump. I just went beyond that tree stump and there was still no sign of the path. But I went a few steps ahead and lo and behold, there was a nice regularly used path that descended!

We felt so happy that all our tiredness disappeared and with renewed energy we set out. Soon we came to our normal path. Within 20 mins we were on the plateau we had seen in the morning and saw some buffalos heading home! We felt so happy.

We took a last break where I took some snaps of the setting sun before we went to the village. In the village we drank an awesome imitation of Mirinda called Gina.

Friendship! The setting sun!

Maybe it tasted awesome because we were so damn thirsty but I wanted to buy one more bottle! But the ST bus came (which was the last bus of the day!) and we caught it and left for Karjat!

From Karjat we caught the train and reached home!

So that was the end of one more fruitful and enriching trek in my beloved Sahyadris!

The Dhak fort with Bahiri Caves in its cliff-side and the Kalakrai pinnacle!

Cheers,

Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Posted in General, The Wanderer | 11 Comments »

सर्जेकोटाचा राजा!

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

सर्जेकोट

*****
सर्जेकोट हा अलिबागच्या कुलाबा किल्ल्याचा शेजारी. खरे तर हा कोट नव्हे एक मोठा बुरूजच आहे. कित्येकदा सर्जेकोटाला कुलाब्याचा अठरावा बुरूज म्हटले जाते!
हा सर्जेकोट बांधला गेला तो संभाजी महाराजांच्या कारकिर्दीत. त्याला कुलाब्यचा अंगरक्षक म्हटल तरी चालेल. तर असा हा सर्जेकोट, ह्याच्या भक्कम भिंती आजही शाबूत आहेत. दरवाजा तेवढा नाही आहे.
*****

महाराष्ट्र दिना निमित्त मी एकटाच निघालो फिरायला. मी ट्रेकिंग करतो ते मज्जा मारण्यासाठी नव्हे. मी गड पाहायला जातो. त्यामुळेच मला लोकांना सांभाळत बसायला आवडत नाही. मी काहीसा एकटा असण्यात आणि ह्या किल्ल्यांच्या सहवासात हरवून जाण्यात आनंद मानतो. मला इथला इतिहास मग जाणून घेता येतो आणि मुख्य म्हणजे प्रत्येक गड बारकाईने पाहता येतो. त्याचा अभ्यास करता येतो!

कुलाबा किल्ला, अलीबाग वरून.

जेव्हा मे अलिबागच्या किनार्‍याला पोहोचलो तेव्हा ओहोटी लागलेली होती. त्यामुळे कुलाबा हा भुईकोट झाला होता. कुलाब्यचा अगदी बाजूलाच उभा आहे तो सर्जेकोट. आपल्या मोठ्या भावाला सार श्रेय देऊन निवांत उभा.

लोकांचा ओघ होता तो कुलाब्याच्या दिशेने. सर्जेकोटाकडे कुणी ढुन्कून देखील पाहत नव्हत! आणि ही मंडळी कुलाब्यावर करत काय होती? एकमेकांचे फोटो काढणे, गप्पा मारणे ह्यात रममाण. करा ना गंमत, काढा ना फोटो, मी कुठे नाही म्हणतोय? पण इतिहासाची काही जाण? का सत्य माहीत नसेल तर खुशाल काहीच्या काही फेकायच? आणि सगळ्या थापा मारुन पुढे एक शिवाजीच नाव लावला की ते सत्य होत?

असो.

मे जेव्हा तिथल्या एका माणसाला विचारल, की बाबा, सर्जेकोटवर जाता येत का? तिकडे कुणी जात की नाही? तर तो म्हणाला की तिथे जाता येत पण तिथे फक्त एक विहीर असल्यामुळे तिथे कोणीच जात नाहीत! ही तर माझ्या साठी एक मेजवानीच होती जणू! संपूर्ण सर्जेकोट माझीच जणू वाट पाहत उभा होता!

सर्जेकोट, कुलब्याहून!

माझा कुलाबा पाहून झाल्यावर जणू कुणी हाक मारुन बोलवल्यासारखी पावल आपोआप सर्जेकोटाच्या वाटेवर पडली. कुलाबा आणि सर्जेकोट, ह्या मध्ये एक दगडी सेतू आहे. तो सेतू ओलांडून मे सर्जेकोटाच्या द्वाराकडे निघालो.

सरेजोकोटाच पडलेल दार.

सर्जेकोटाच द्वार कधीच पडून गेल आहे. त्याचे भक्कम बुरूज मात्र तसेच उभे आहेत. असंख्य लाटांचा मारा थोप्वित! सर्जेकोटमध्ये प्रवेश केल्यावर सर्वात प्रथम नजरेस पाडते ती एक विहीर आणि त्यावर उगवलेल एक सुंदर फुलांनी सजेलल चाफ्याच झाड.

झाडावर सुंदर चाफा आणि विहिरीत गाळ!

झाडाला फुला खूप आहेत न सुंदर आहेत पण विहिरीत पाणी कमी आणि गाळ जास्त आहे. शेजारीच तटावर जाण्यासाठी पायर्‍या आहेत. पायर्‍या मात्र अगदी सुस्थितीत!

अत्यन्त सुंदर आशा पाय्र्या!

मी तटावर चढलो आणि सार पाहून घेतल. उत्तरेस खान्देरि-उन्देरी ही जोडी पहिली.सार झाल्यावर मी आलो आणि तटावर बसलो. त्या उष्ण वातावरणात देखील एक थंड हवेची झुळुक आली आणि मन सुखावून गेली.

सर्जेकोटाचा तट

लहानपणी एक गोष्ट वाचलेली, ती आठवली. गोष्ट अशी होती की एका रिकाम्या गढीचा ताबा घ्यायला एका शिपायाला पाठवल जात. त्याला एकट्याला पाठवतात कारण शत्रू त्या गढीवर चालून येईल अशी मुळीच अपेक्षा नसते, तो शिपाई तेथे पोहोचतो खरा पण शत्रू चालून येत असल्याचे त्याला कळते.

जराही विलंब न करता तो लगेच गढीचा दरवाजा लावून घेतो आणि शत्रू जवळ येताच त्यावर बंदुकींचा मारा करतो. एका बंदुकीचा बार उडवून लगेच धावत जौन दुसरी बंदुक उडवण अस तो करतो आणि शत्रूला अस भासवतो गढीवर भरपूर सैनिक आहेत. शेवटी तो थकतो आणि गढी शत्रूच्या स्वाधीन करतो तेव्हा कुठे शत्रूच्या ध्यानात खरी गोष्ट येते.

माझ अगदी तसच झाल! गडावर मी एकटाच. बसल्या बसल्या मनाला एक विचार चाटून गेला. कधी ना कधी कान्होजी आंग्रे स्वतः ह्या तटावर आले असतील.ह्याच मातीमध्ये त्यांची पावले पडली असतील! इथली धूळ पवित्र झाली असेल! तटावरून आपली जाणती नजर त्यांनी फेकली असेल. सभोवतलीचा परिसर न्याहळला असेल. गडातील अधिकार्‍यांना सूचना केल्या असतील….अंगावर कसा रोमांच उभा राहिला!

आज इथे फक्त मीच होतो. कुलाब्याला येणार्‍या एकाही व्यक्तीला इथे यावेसे वाटत नव्हते. इथे गडकरी मी, शिपाई मी, गोलंदाज मी, सार सार काही मीच! जणू काही सर्जेकोटाचा राजाच झालो मी! आज जर सर्जेकोटावर कोण चाल करून आल तर तो दरवाजा लढवण्याची शर्थ मीच छातीचा कोट करून केली असती! आणखी कोण होत तिकडे?

म्हटल, “अरे सर्जा, तू एकटा. तुला सार जग विसरून गेल, कोणाच्या ध्यानात देखील तू नाहीस. मी देखील एकटाच आलो आहे तुला भेटायला. तू एकटा आणि मी देखील एकटाच! सार जग आपल्याला विसरून गेलय. तुझ्या ह्या दगडी अस्तित्वात काय रहस्य दड्ली आहेत कुणास ठाऊक? कधी ते कुणाला कळणार देखील नाही! माझ्यासारखा एखादाच वेडा असेल जो तुला भेट देईल! आजतू माझा गड न मे तुझा गडकरी! राजाच जणू एका दिवसाचा!”

-प्रांजल वाघ

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Posted in Marathi articles, Shivaji Maharaj, The Wanderer | 4 Comments »

Vasota…a stairway to heaven!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

A trek to nature’s wonderland and back!

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**DISCLAIMER**

This is no travelogue and does not provide accurate directions to visit Vasota. It is just a web weaved with words by a lover of nature and history. It is the ranting and raving of a mad poetic heart. Technically, it is the output of a machine whose input is the haunting Vasota. This is what I feel it is. For pro-accuracy people, this is my interpretation, go take a hike (literally and that too, to Vasota!).
Even after this, you consider this a travelogue, its your loss or gain, as you see fit!

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” If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task”

This legend left on a metal sign by Giribhraman Sanstha tells you the importance of trekking to the lofty heights on Vasota. Although not a difficult trek, it is one of the most thrilling and enchanting treks in all of Maharashtra.

Vasota Fort

Vasota….

The first glimpse you catch of Vasota is when you are approaching Bamnoli by S.T. Bus. Its spell binds you. As the bus twists and turns on the road down to Bamnoli, Vasota makes you twist and turn in your seat just to continue getting that one glimpse of it.

Vasota stands tall amidst the evergreen forests of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and mesmerizes you with its beauty. Each contour and fold of the Vasota mountain enhances its beauty many times over. It looks like it has broken free of the shackles of the earth and it is intent on kissing the blue sky.

Beside Vasota you can see the grand old fort of Old Vasota. Now rendered inaccessible by dense forests and vegetation and also due to presence of carnivores Old Vasota is much taller than New Vasota fort and is even more mysterious to a curious cat like me. The standing fortifications can be clearly seen from Vasota and they call out to you to come and explore them. Old Vasota is like an old man who is never visited by relatives and friends and never taken care of! Well, all forts in Maharashtra are like that, courtesty our great leaders who love Shivaji Maharaj so much that they have no time to look after his forts! Anyways…

The boat ride to Vasota is engaging and bewitching.

Shivsagar Reservoir of the Koyna backwaters

The blue-green expanse of the Koyna backwaters makes me want to jump off the boat to swim and splash in its cool depths. But I know that if I jump in the others will want to jump in and then I have to keep my appointment with Ms.Time too!The water is covered in ripples at times while at other moments it is glass-smooth and makes you marvel at the wonder called wind.

At times the water is glass smooth and again it has ripples the next instance!

You are greeted by scores of butterflies when you reach the banks of Met Indavali. I have never seen so many butterflies at one place before. All sizes and all colours in one place!

Walking up a small path you come to a camp set up by the Forest Dept. It is complete with tents for tourists and trekkers like us. Some of the tents do resemble those that were shown in the movie Border and have taken on the red colour of the earth but we got a huge Shamiana at our disposal which reminded me of a military camp right out of any periodic TV serial.

One of the attractions at Vasota is the Shiv Mandir in a cave inside the Nageshwar Pinnacle. Water drips on to the Shivlinga here from a crack in the ceiling throughout the year. No source of water at the top of the pinnacle but its just the rain water which is rationed by nature to drip all year long!

We opted to visit Nageshwar before Vasota contrary to others who normally proceed to Vasota first. On the way we first came across a Hanuman & Ganesh temple which is recognizable only because of the two carved idols and the plinth on which they stand.

Hanuman & Ganesh Idols together. The only other place I have seen this phenomenon is Kalavantin Pinnacle near Panvel.

No walls and no roof remain. Once you enter this area it is like you have come into an air-conditioned room! It becomes cold and shields you from the searing heat of the Sahyadri sun!

To the right of the idols is a dried-up stream. Although it is dried up now the stream must be a roaring-monster during the monsoons. All the greenery in and around the stream makes this evident!

There are some pools in this stream which offer you naturally refrigerated water.

Pool for Cool water

When you fill your bottle you get condensed water droplets on the bottle! Buy any of the most modern refrigerators you won’t get this chill and thirst-quenching property in that water.Such clean and pure water that your filters at home are useless here. They are better-off at your house cleaning contaminated city water!This water is like the ad-slogan, just modified “No one can drink just once!”

Follow this rocky stream and you feel like you are walking through nature’s own wildlife exhibiton!

Just one of the thousands you will see on the trail

I even saw an Asian Paradise Flycatcher, which ofcourse disappeared before I could shoot it (through my camera, ofcourse! ). I did catch a fleeting glimpse of its flowing tail thought and it still is fresh in my mind’s camera! We also found a skull of a Barking deer (Bhekar)
and lots of other funnily shaped rocks and boulders! (Ofcourse they were eroded by the water in the rainy season!)

As we proceeded through the path of the dry stream we came to one point where (you are not going to believe this!) we found butterflies in thousands and lakhs! They were like 100 butterflies per 1 cubic metre (to be technical). I found a dried up branch on which so many butterflies were sitting that I mistook them for leaves of the tree! And beyond the stream, in the jungle the air was thick with even more butterflies! That is a vision to be treasured and I have treasured it in my mind! No matter how many words I write I will not be able to describe the beauty that I saw that day!! That vision, I guess, will die with me! (Unless, ofcourse any of you also has seen it!)

After much walking we reached the base of Nageshwar pinnacle and from there we get a breathtaking view of Vasota and Old Vasota.

Vasota from Nageshwar base

The folds and contours on the mountain of Vasota coupled with its sheer cliffs give it the look of a muscular warrior!!

Vasota from Nageshwar, Nageshwar Pinnacle ,The Konkan region seen from Nageshwar

The view of Konkan from the point was also awesome! After climbing a few steps we reached the Nageshwar Cave temple. Cool breeze greeted us as we reached the temple. It is a hot favourite spot for pilgrims during MahaShivratri and one can clearly see the incessant drop by drop dripping of water over the Shivlinga.

Vasota from Nageshwar,Moving towards Vasota

The path from Nageshwar to Vasota is a flat path and one can enjoy the sight of the straight drop to the right into the Konkan region. This is real fun, walking on a narrow path where one wrong step spells instant death! I particularly love such paths more than any climb in the world! They have the ability to thrill the walker without making him use any of his energy and all the while he can just enjoy the relaxing cool breeze!!

It was getting dark and we had to use torches for the last kilometer or so but the more thrilling part of that last mile (or kilometer i must say!) was when we switched off our torches and stumbled and found our way out of the jungle!!

Our night-time was pretty much occupied by the regular food-making operations and other such things.

Enjoying by the fire , Ambience of our tent

But the highlight of the night was the camp fire where we had our dinner, told dirty jokes aloud, laughed raucously like wild, bearded stone-age men and then dozed off to snoring equally fast!

Next day we had scheduled a lightning fast climb to Vasota and an equally rapid descent from the fort, the reason being time again! The climb was once again awesome and never ever tired us because the entire path has forest cover over it! There are some patches where the vegetation over-head is so thick that the sun-rays refuse to touch the forest floor!!

The dense vegetation in Vasota forests

Once we reach the top of Vasota we come across a Bhagwa Flag fluttering in the wind.It fills you with energy!! It makes you even more enthusiastic to climb the remainder of the fort and explore it!

The Bhagwa Flag

As you climb the steps of Vasota’s main entrance you cannot help but feel sad for the bad condition of the fort neglected by people and the government in general. The bastions and gates destroyed by the Britishers when they captured the fort still take you back to those days.

The Hanuman Temple on Vasota with no roof left

We come across a roof-less Hanuman Temple as soon as we enter the fort where one finds this legend:

” If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task”

It spurs you on! Makes you feel you are the King of the world! Makes you proud of yourself and gives you the satisfaction of having achieved something!

The forests on top of Vasota are thick and have grown over the ruins of the fort rendering access to the interiors of the fort almost impossible. But one can still see the foundations of many mansions on the fort.

The only entirely standing structure on Vasota & Nageshwar pinnacle from the Temple

The only completely standing structure on the fort is a Mahadev Temple. It has a photo of my god, Shivaji Maharaj, inside it. From here a splendid panoramic view of the Konkan region can be seen along with the Nageshwar pinnacle!!

The other end of the fort joins Vasota to Old Vasota via a narrow ridge and of course, the famous Babu Kadaa! Babu Kadaa( unlike its baby-ish name!) is a steep and tall cliff which reminds you of a very strong stone wall, only that it is natural! Babu Kadaa is the second steepest cliff in the Sahyadris, the first being Konkan Kadaa! The view from Babu Kadaa makes you speechless!! Just speechless!!

Old Vasota fort on top of Babu Kadaa, The view from Babu Kadaa point

Old Vasota sits like a king on top of Babu Kadaa. It has been stated as being out of bounds by the Forest Dept. We are like grown-up children. Denying anything makes us want it even more!

Old Vasota laughs at you. It taunts you! In your face pathetic human!! You cannot conquer me! The way to me is lost! You cannot walk on my sacred ground and defame me with your pathetic name writing and plastic garbage!!

I stare at its old fortifications covered in vegetation. I feel helpless, frustrated. I’ll be back old man! With more time and more people! And I will find the way through to you because I know it exists! And whats more I will bring you to your knees by walking on your sacred grounds! I will unveil your mysteries!! You cannot deny me entry, I am born of these great old mountains. I will come to you!

We finally descend Vasota and return to base camp.

As we bid adieu to this grand old fort duo we find it difficult to move our eyes away from them until the boat turns and the forts disappear behind a hill.

The last time you see Old and New Vasota

They do make a re-appeareance when you are travelling to Satara but that is for only a brief period of time, just to say a final good-bye! Until next time my old friends! We shall meet again, I say!

-Pranjal Wagh

PS: Please click on the photographs for an enlarged view. Trust me, its worth clicking on them!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

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Posted in Shivaji Maharaj, The Wanderer | 11 Comments »

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Archive for the ‘The Wanderer’ Category

The Independence Day!

The Prologue to the Travelogue

पेशवा सरकार!

The Climb to Bahiri Caves…and the descent down!

सर्जेकोटाचा राजा!

Vasota…a stairway to heaven!

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