It had been ages since I last thought of going out on a trek . For obvious reasons….The Migran and Esophegus valve have been troubling me for a long time…Only when I had just got into that RUT did I come across a mail posted by my cousin Siddharth that he was planning a trek on Saturday…In the spur of the moment I decided I wanted to go and I called him and confirmed.. I had a strong will to backoff till the last moment but I did’nt ….. I was destined for this fun!!!
The riot started @ 4:30 in the morning… A quick bath, packed sandwiches, medicines and water in my kitty, I was all set to roll…I was supposed to pick up siddharth and go to one of his friend’s place and proceed further… Thats what I did….I was at siddharth’s place at 5:30 in the morning… when he arrived down, he folded his palms in a namaskar and said “Namaaaaaskarrrrrr” in siddharth sytle.. (Those who of u know him, know which one I am talking about..This guy overflows of style n charisma :)) ). I was introduced to Siddharth’s friend “Vrinda”.. She was in for the fun roll too!!! I will be referring her as the “slient chirp” from now on… This girl is Mute……. Really!!!!! The next stop was at Dhurva and Ashwini’s….We parked my santro at their place and hopped into their Scorpio ..With Dhruva at the wheels, it was one crazy ride all the way… What I loved most of it was the mystic rebel in dhurva popup every now and then on a traffic goof up ( not to mention by others).. Assal matahi style comments made most of our 330 Km long drive fun and enjoyable…..
As per the plan we were supposed to conquer Mahimangad ( The name which I could finally pronounce correct all thanks to the efforts by Ashwini), and Vardhangad… Both nearby to each other and both somewhere near to Phaltan and Satara… That might not be the exact location cause we encountered places like dahivadi,pisegaon,koregaon and numerous other maharashtrian villages…..
At around 9:30 we reached Mahimangad and after a sunscreen makeup and a 15 min climb uphill we reached the main entrance of the fort…The silent winds cooled the otherwise heated atmosphere….I have never experienced anything more refreshing than the these cool winds….After a good stroll around the fort and some good snapshots we settled around the open water storage tank (Taka).. When I dipped my reddened feet into the cool water it instantaneously had a claming effect on me. No pedicure can give u this kind of foot care….A few splashes of water on my face and the cool breeze caressing it almost felt like a mother (mother nature) was comforting her child….Mother nature has been so caring to us in all these smaller and bigger ways, but we as ungrateful wards have forgotten to give it back to mother nature the same care n love that is bestowed upon us….
Dhruva ( the ace photographer) and Ashwini ( the helper AKA assistant) managed to get some groovy pics of kite insects and frogs. I never imagined these insects were such a beauty..Check out some of these cool shots he managed to take during our trek @ “www.flickr.com/photos/dhruva/“. Little lurking and a few sips/bites of real juice and hide n seek biscuits were returned back to our SUV…..Next location was … “Vardhangad” ..It was 12:30 past noon and the sun really shone at his peak. We were hungry, thirsty and unsure about completing the remaining trek. ( P N: Siddharth was never unsure of completing the trek..he always knew he were gonna complete it). On our way to Vardhangad we stopped at a small sleepy town… and manage to get into a shady Udapi joint to hog on our lunch. This joint taught us that food and water are never contaminated….Mostly it is our thoughts that are contaminated…. Ashwini predicted that this joint would not have any south Indian food although it was a ” Udapi ” joint and she could have never been more correct. A lunch full of Yummy Misal, Vada pav , and Batatavada Tari with some of the most soft and luscious Pavs I have ever had, we the mahila mandal, were off to shop for some fresh veggies at the local vegetable market.
At around 2:00 pm were reached the Vardhangad village and another 45 min laborious climb latter we were at the entrance of Vardhangad. I was totally exhausted and after a few sips of glucon-d and some shots of lemon I felt restored. Another 10 min climb and we reached the Fort Temple. The panoramic view of the rustic terrain of maharashtra spoke nothing but about the beauty of nature. In the temple shade the soothing sound of the melodies played by siddharth on his mouth-organ made me feel as if I was experiencing sheer bliss.
The climb down the fort was full of conversations ranging from memoirs of Himalayan trekking ( by Siddharth,Ashwini and Dhruva) to the Japanese culture. At 5:00 pm we started on our way back to Pune. As we approached the “Wai” bypass Dhruva said ” should we vist Menavale?” and all of us unanimously said “YES” . A brief visit to River Ghat and a visit to the “Phadnavis Vada” we were on our way back . A small tea session at a roadside eatery aound the nook was our last stop of the journey. On the way back we played the a small game called” Guess the TV series from the music of the title song” and the silent chirp won the game..Kudos………..
Back at “Zhep” we calculated the trek expenses and bid a Goodbye…. This marked the end of the trek…….. All this while the silent chirp was quite…..
The kind of happiness given by the beautiful Country-side terrain, Silence of nature, Good Company, feeling of achievement no matter how small it is.. can never be bought by any money or diplomacy…..
PS: Dhruva taught us a lot about wild birds and we saw some different types larks, a wire tailed bird and some Dhobi bird too. ( I know dhruva u are dying to correct me.. Please go ahead)… Will the real bird watcher please stand up!!!!
PS Again: A little birdie tells us that Siddharth gets late night Phone-SMSes these days….I wonder what song he would dedicate to the late night calls… “A whole new world” !!!
Last PS: check out some more snaps taken by Siddharth @ http://picasaweb.google.co.in/trekkersid/MahimanGadVardhanGad
I pray everyday to help me let go. Somethings I have let go but most of them still remain with me…They keep pricking me. All of us wear a new happy face everyday to cover the wounded heart. Its sooooo difficult. New bandages for bloody self respect,self esteem, ego make us seem gullible always…… Its becoming hard to believe that under those fancy masks live real people. I wish I could meet people without their masks and not requiring me to put up a mask. Like everyone else I have a elaborate collection of masks… I am tired of maintaining them….. 
The most common model in which the organizations work is to have a dedicated team for a project which again has its own lag and heavy scheduled phases. With a more lateral view, the idea is to save the extra expenditure by rotating the resources off course keeping in mind the (SNR) mentioned above.
And…… 
knock knock ....can i join in??? 