There is a thin line between adventure and a nightmare and you should always pray and hope that your adventure does not turn into your worst nightmares.
It was 2nd of July, 2016. Indra Dev was a bit too pleased with us that day. Though most of the talk was absolute nonsense, after about a month of discussion over WhatsApp, 9 of us (as mentioned below) had made a unanimous decision of trekking Rajmachi fort.
Mayura, Chinmayi, Manali, Devyani, Sarang, Vijeet, Pushkar, Chinmay and of course Viraj. Or should I say, the messer and the fixer.
With people cancelling their treks due to excessive rains, none of us showed any sign of reluctance. Anyone except me and Chinmayi. I remember talking to her on call that, 'Are we sure we are going? Because it is raining too much.' But we did go. And the plan was that there was no plan. And it was too late when it hit us.
So on 2nd of July, 2016 we all met at Kalyan station at 11.00 pm and were going by Siddheshwar Express upto Lonavla station. We reached Lonavla at about 1.30 am from where 'The Journey' began. How little did we know that the next 24 hours we will be thanking God for saving our lives and helping us to reach home - safely.
At 1.30 am on 3rd July, 2016, 5 boys and 4 girls started the most adventurous trip they ever had been on. When we got down at Lonavla, it was already raining too heavily. We pulled out our windcheaters, caps, put our valuables safe inside our bag packs and started walking. We had had our dinner the previous day and were quite hungry. We had tea and snacks outside Lonavla station. As no one knew the way to the fort, we asked a couple of people about it. They said that Rajmachi is way too far from there and it would take atleast 5-6 hours walking. They had also said that if girls are going along it would be better if we start walking after a couple of hours, by 4 or 5 am. But we did not wait. I was a bit unsure about it and remenber saying to Viraj, " Tula mahitye na amchi responsibility tumchyavar ahe?" I do not recollect what he had said exactly, but had said yes of course or something like that.
We came out of Lonavla bus stand and there were two ways, one to the left and other to the right. We took the left turn and we were not right. At all. It cost us big time.
The road was dark, deserted and never ending. Rain poured largely without any mercy. Initially, there were hotels on the side of the way with ample traffic. I remember discussing career prospects with Vijeet and Sarang and Devyani and me cursing Sarang over why had he only watched 1 season of GOT yet. And he was justifying saying that you have to be very careful when you watch it at home (And some further explanation which is better if not explained).
We walked for an hour or so, completely soaked in the tremendous rain, till we came upto a road which looked like a highway.We stopped there for a while and Pushkar and Chinmay had went to ask for help, to check whether we were walking in the right direction. And guess what? We were not. We turned around and walked the route back for about 10-15 mins where there was another way going to Della Adventure. I don't know why, we took that way. We went on for about half hour. This road did not have much buildings along the way. When we found one, we stopped and Viraj and Pushkar went to ask the way ahead. Like before, they said the road is straight ahead and they said that it will take 5-6 hours more.
We kept walking (Duh! As if we had any other choice!). After a while we saw some good hotel like buildings and came to discover that it was Della Adventure. Awesome! We were absolutely on the wrong path. The rain kept pouring. As we walked ahead from there, we saw a huge pool of water ahead and no road. The watery street had no lights. Rather none of the roads till here had. It was our good deed that we carried torches. I could literally understand what Dumbledore said, "Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light". So, the water was waist deep. Holding each other's hands, we walked through the muddy mini lake, not knowing and not even wanting to know "on" what or "in" what we were passing through.
The road had no end. It was a really really long way. Maybe a longer one than the one to the heaven.We stopped for a while under a shed. We were completely wet, top to bottom, both insides and outsides. Our shoes had now become a water carrying tub. Even our backpacks were completely soaked in water. The rain had itself cheated the wind cheater.
At around 6 am, we could see the Sun rising. We gave a rest to our torches and were literally enthralled to see the daylight. The rain was a little lighter now, but it was still drizzling. We were now waiting just there and enjoying the nature's beauty. There was a valley on one side of the road and beyond were beautiful mountains and waterfalls. It was like we had been outside after a prolonged period of darkness. Everyone looked very happy suddenly, after a tiring walk. Here's a picture we took at that spot.
Because it was raining too much, yet again, the waterfalls were flowing heavily. We saw a chai tapri and I could not be happier. Chai is not a beverage. It is an emotion. (Though this statement is absolutely irrelevant now, I want to put it because this is my blog and I can write whatever I want to and I love Chai too much). And an icing on the cake, the chaiwala also served Maggi. Garma garam Maggi, Chai and a beautiful scenery surrounding you, what more could one want.
We met a few villagers on the way and when we asked them about the way to Rajmachi, we got the same answer. It will take 4-5 hours to reach Rajmachi Fort. We were doubtful that had we made any progress till now or were we trapped inside something where times moves very slowly. Because even after walking for about 5 hours, the damn Rajmachi fort was nowhere to be seen. The Sun was bright now, and it was photo session time. There was lush green grass on both sides, cows grazing and villagers passing by. We also saw a few trekkers like us. There was a mini accident here, and Pushkar had some problem with his toe. He exchanged shoes with Viraj and blah,blah,blah...
Today, that I am writing this, I do not remember a word we talked on our way then. We were now climbing a mountain, though not much of difficult one. They say 'People who love long walks and talks are the best people'. But what if the the walk is never ending and people are really really tired of walking and hungry and irritated and getting cranky? Yeah, that was happening. Every next step we took seemed heavier than the previous one. For self entertainment, there was a series of random old songs being sung loudly. Manali and me were chanting Hanuman Chalisa and Ramraksha (which we told each other later).
At about 9.45 am, we were finally, finally at the base of Rajmachi fort. There were many people or if we can call them "trekkers' now. Some of them had bikes and I wondered how had they brought it up here. Another 45 minutes walk took us to our destination. So all in all it was a 8 and half an hour walk and we hadn't felt so happy before.It was a typical village home, with trees around, and small shed just outside the house. We threw our bags down, took off our water soaked shoes and socks and just fell into the chairs. We had poha and chai ( I had 2, yayy!) for breakfast which tasted so good to eat because we were extremely hungry. We were also going to have lunch there itself and till the time we start our return journey, at about 3 p.m. (which was the time decided), we were supposed to relax.
I have a super huge water phobia, but I love rains. I like it more than winter season actually, however muddy it may be. No, I am not deviating from the topic. It is true that they say, "Too much of anything kills". I have never disliked rain as much as I did that day. Never. It never stopped. It felt as if it is going to rain forever now and this is what we live like. It felt like windcheaters and umbrellas would soon loose their seasonal importance and become a part of our everyday.
So, going ahead with the story, mind you, the worst part hasn't just yet come. We changed from
wet clothes into wet clothes and Viraj, Pushkar, Chinmay and Vijeet were planning to trek a little further, upto the actual Rajmachi fort and come back.Though it was just about 20-25 min way, the rest of us preferred staying indoors and take a quick nap. Thandi hava aur baarish main chaddar odhke sone ka maja hi kuch aur hai.:-)
These guys returned at about 2 and we had then we had lunch. It was the usual dal, rice, roti, sabzi but it felt so good! There was a mandir about 10 min away from there and I believe it was because we went there, we could come home that day.
It was 3.30 pm when we started our return journey. We were going to take the other route, the Karjat side route this time, which was apparently (I couldn't highlight it better) a 3-4 hour trek. We were mentally prepared already for a 4 hours walk. And another thing, for the rest of this post, unless otherwise specified, it was raining hopelessly.
We had planned (another joke!) to reach the base of the mountain before it gets dark. We were walking at a fast pace and there were people walking by us again. Initially the "road" was not much tough, but just muddy and wet. Then we could actually see that we had to climb down a mountain and we could not see the base. It was not easy. At all. And the rain made it more "pleasurable". Chinmay, Pushkar and me were walking ahead, me, crying out on every step to hold my hand and they in turn, "Cross legs taak, cross legs taak". Chinmayi, Sarang,Vijeet and Devyani behind us, Viraj and Manali after them. There was a patch, I clearly remember, which was almost 90 degree steep and I realized it when I looked back up.
It was almost 7 pm and the Sun had almost set. Then there came a time where there were two ways, and a problem. Having options sucks. Whether they be Derivatives-Call or Put Options(non CA students, probably you won't know them, lucky you!) or be about the road you have to choose when you have lost your way on Rajmachi fort and are completely clueless. We took one of the ways, I don't know whether it was 'Ram bharose' or whose bharose. We knew we had lost our way. It was completely dark, it was raining like hell, it was already around 8 pm and we had no way to go. It was pointless going ahead along the road we don't know whether is right or not. There was like a river there, where we stopped to decide what to do. Images began to flash my mind, 9 of us, sitting there, for the whole night, in the unstoppable rain, without any food, losing all hopes and just praying to be alive and for the next 9 hours and go home safely. But this time too, like always, ladies and gentlemen, God had other plans, but to our fortune. Viraj was trying to call Mr. XYZ, who in turn gave us another phone no. After repeated calls, Viraj was successful in telling him the entire story, that we had crossed Kondana Caves on our way, and we were near a waterfall that then becomes a river. The person on the other side of the call said he is sending two people to rescue us. God bless them!
Everyone started getting calls from parents, sisters, brothers to ask the whereabouts. What was important was not to panic, stay calm and believe. We decided to keep our torches flashing so that they could find us out. In turn, we looked out for signs of any other lights. There were many fireflies around. So at one point, what happened was, we saw some light flashing and thought it to be flash lights and started shouting and waving hands, "Ikde, ikde. Amhi ikde ahot", only to our discover the fireflies. We still laugh heartily when we recollect that incident.
About half and hour after, two people came in our search and I swear I was never happier in my life. Manali and Viraj then led the way, and the rest of us were walking with those two men, or can I say angels! We were in the village after about 20-25 mins. It was 10 p.m. by then. The person who had sent those two "angels" told us then that people often lose their way at Rajmachi and another statement that he made which I will never forget in my life, "Amhi tar dead bodies pan kadhlyat".
We got an auto to Karjat station from there and we had to catch the last train to CST which was at 10.41 p.m. which to our fortune was late.
When you go to a place and come back, you are never the same person again. You come back with memories and experiences which influence you largely and this trek had successfully done that.
P.S - My belief in God strengthened that day! May He bless us all :-)
Mayura Prabhudesai
January 3,2018
It was 2nd of July, 2016. Indra Dev was a bit too pleased with us that day. Though most of the talk was absolute nonsense, after about a month of discussion over WhatsApp, 9 of us (as mentioned below) had made a unanimous decision of trekking Rajmachi fort.
Mayura, Chinmayi, Manali, Devyani, Sarang, Vijeet, Pushkar, Chinmay and of course Viraj. Or should I say, the messer and the fixer.
With people cancelling their treks due to excessive rains, none of us showed any sign of reluctance. Anyone except me and Chinmayi. I remember talking to her on call that, 'Are we sure we are going? Because it is raining too much.' But we did go. And the plan was that there was no plan. And it was too late when it hit us.
So on 2nd of July, 2016 we all met at Kalyan station at 11.00 pm and were going by Siddheshwar Express upto Lonavla station. We reached Lonavla at about 1.30 am from where 'The Journey' began. How little did we know that the next 24 hours we will be thanking God for saving our lives and helping us to reach home - safely.
At 1.30 am on 3rd July, 2016, 5 boys and 4 girls started the most adventurous trip they ever had been on. When we got down at Lonavla, it was already raining too heavily. We pulled out our windcheaters, caps, put our valuables safe inside our bag packs and started walking. We had had our dinner the previous day and were quite hungry. We had tea and snacks outside Lonavla station. As no one knew the way to the fort, we asked a couple of people about it. They said that Rajmachi is way too far from there and it would take atleast 5-6 hours walking. They had also said that if girls are going along it would be better if we start walking after a couple of hours, by 4 or 5 am. But we did not wait. I was a bit unsure about it and remenber saying to Viraj, " Tula mahitye na amchi responsibility tumchyavar ahe?" I do not recollect what he had said exactly, but had said yes of course or something like that.
We came out of Lonavla bus stand and there were two ways, one to the left and other to the right. We took the left turn and we were not right. At all. It cost us big time.
The road was dark, deserted and never ending. Rain poured largely without any mercy. Initially, there were hotels on the side of the way with ample traffic. I remember discussing career prospects with Vijeet and Sarang and Devyani and me cursing Sarang over why had he only watched 1 season of GOT yet. And he was justifying saying that you have to be very careful when you watch it at home (And some further explanation which is better if not explained).
We walked for an hour or so, completely soaked in the tremendous rain, till we came upto a road which looked like a highway.We stopped there for a while and Pushkar and Chinmay had went to ask for help, to check whether we were walking in the right direction. And guess what? We were not. We turned around and walked the route back for about 10-15 mins where there was another way going to Della Adventure. I don't know why, we took that way. We went on for about half hour. This road did not have much buildings along the way. When we found one, we stopped and Viraj and Pushkar went to ask the way ahead. Like before, they said the road is straight ahead and they said that it will take 5-6 hours more.
We kept walking (Duh! As if we had any other choice!). After a while we saw some good hotel like buildings and came to discover that it was Della Adventure. Awesome! We were absolutely on the wrong path. The rain kept pouring. As we walked ahead from there, we saw a huge pool of water ahead and no road. The watery street had no lights. Rather none of the roads till here had. It was our good deed that we carried torches. I could literally understand what Dumbledore said, "Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light". So, the water was waist deep. Holding each other's hands, we walked through the muddy mini lake, not knowing and not even wanting to know "on" what or "in" what we were passing through.
The road had no end. It was a really really long way. Maybe a longer one than the one to the heaven.We stopped for a while under a shed. We were completely wet, top to bottom, both insides and outsides. Our shoes had now become a water carrying tub. Even our backpacks were completely soaked in water. The rain had itself cheated the wind cheater.
At around 6 am, we could see the Sun rising. We gave a rest to our torches and were literally enthralled to see the daylight. The rain was a little lighter now, but it was still drizzling. We were now waiting just there and enjoying the nature's beauty. There was a valley on one side of the road and beyond were beautiful mountains and waterfalls. It was like we had been outside after a prolonged period of darkness. Everyone looked very happy suddenly, after a tiring walk. Here's a picture we took at that spot.
 |
| Do you see the smiling faces? Yeah...that did not last long! |
Because it was raining too much, yet again, the waterfalls were flowing heavily. We saw a chai tapri and I could not be happier. Chai is not a beverage. It is an emotion. (Though this statement is absolutely irrelevant now, I want to put it because this is my blog and I can write whatever I want to and I love Chai too much). And an icing on the cake, the chaiwala also served Maggi. Garma garam Maggi, Chai and a beautiful scenery surrounding you, what more could one want.
We met a few villagers on the way and when we asked them about the way to Rajmachi, we got the same answer. It will take 4-5 hours to reach Rajmachi Fort. We were doubtful that had we made any progress till now or were we trapped inside something where times moves very slowly. Because even after walking for about 5 hours, the damn Rajmachi fort was nowhere to be seen. The Sun was bright now, and it was photo session time. There was lush green grass on both sides, cows grazing and villagers passing by. We also saw a few trekkers like us. There was a mini accident here, and Pushkar had some problem with his toe. He exchanged shoes with Viraj and blah,blah,blah...
Today, that I am writing this, I do not remember a word we talked on our way then. We were now climbing a mountain, though not much of difficult one. They say 'People who love long walks and talks are the best people'. But what if the the walk is never ending and people are really really tired of walking and hungry and irritated and getting cranky? Yeah, that was happening. Every next step we took seemed heavier than the previous one. For self entertainment, there was a series of random old songs being sung loudly. Manali and me were chanting Hanuman Chalisa and Ramraksha (which we told each other later).
At about 9.45 am, we were finally, finally at the base of Rajmachi fort. There were many people or if we can call them "trekkers' now. Some of them had bikes and I wondered how had they brought it up here. Another 45 minutes walk took us to our destination. So all in all it was a 8 and half an hour walk and we hadn't felt so happy before.It was a typical village home, with trees around, and small shed just outside the house. We threw our bags down, took off our water soaked shoes and socks and just fell into the chairs. We had poha and chai ( I had 2, yayy!) for breakfast which tasted so good to eat because we were extremely hungry. We were also going to have lunch there itself and till the time we start our return journey, at about 3 p.m. (which was the time decided), we were supposed to relax.
I have a super huge water phobia, but I love rains. I like it more than winter season actually, however muddy it may be. No, I am not deviating from the topic. It is true that they say, "Too much of anything kills". I have never disliked rain as much as I did that day. Never. It never stopped. It felt as if it is going to rain forever now and this is what we live like. It felt like windcheaters and umbrellas would soon loose their seasonal importance and become a part of our everyday.
So, going ahead with the story, mind you, the worst part hasn't just yet come. We changed from
wet clothes into wet clothes and Viraj, Pushkar, Chinmay and Vijeet were planning to trek a little further, upto the actual Rajmachi fort and come back.Though it was just about 20-25 min way, the rest of us preferred staying indoors and take a quick nap. Thandi hava aur baarish main chaddar odhke sone ka maja hi kuch aur hai.:-)
These guys returned at about 2 and we had then we had lunch. It was the usual dal, rice, roti, sabzi but it felt so good! There was a mandir about 10 min away from there and I believe it was because we went there, we could come home that day.
It was 3.30 pm when we started our return journey. We were going to take the other route, the Karjat side route this time, which was apparently (I couldn't highlight it better) a 3-4 hour trek. We were mentally prepared already for a 4 hours walk. And another thing, for the rest of this post, unless otherwise specified, it was raining hopelessly.
We had planned (another joke!) to reach the base of the mountain before it gets dark. We were walking at a fast pace and there were people walking by us again. Initially the "road" was not much tough, but just muddy and wet. Then we could actually see that we had to climb down a mountain and we could not see the base. It was not easy. At all. And the rain made it more "pleasurable". Chinmay, Pushkar and me were walking ahead, me, crying out on every step to hold my hand and they in turn, "Cross legs taak, cross legs taak". Chinmayi, Sarang,Vijeet and Devyani behind us, Viraj and Manali after them. There was a patch, I clearly remember, which was almost 90 degree steep and I realized it when I looked back up.
It was almost 7 pm and the Sun had almost set. Then there came a time where there were two ways, and a problem. Having options sucks. Whether they be Derivatives-Call or Put Options(non CA students, probably you won't know them, lucky you!) or be about the road you have to choose when you have lost your way on Rajmachi fort and are completely clueless. We took one of the ways, I don't know whether it was 'Ram bharose' or whose bharose. We knew we had lost our way. It was completely dark, it was raining like hell, it was already around 8 pm and we had no way to go. It was pointless going ahead along the road we don't know whether is right or not. There was like a river there, where we stopped to decide what to do. Images began to flash my mind, 9 of us, sitting there, for the whole night, in the unstoppable rain, without any food, losing all hopes and just praying to be alive and for the next 9 hours and go home safely. But this time too, like always, ladies and gentlemen, God had other plans, but to our fortune. Viraj was trying to call Mr. XYZ, who in turn gave us another phone no. After repeated calls, Viraj was successful in telling him the entire story, that we had crossed Kondana Caves on our way, and we were near a waterfall that then becomes a river. The person on the other side of the call said he is sending two people to rescue us. God bless them!
Everyone started getting calls from parents, sisters, brothers to ask the whereabouts. What was important was not to panic, stay calm and believe. We decided to keep our torches flashing so that they could find us out. In turn, we looked out for signs of any other lights. There were many fireflies around. So at one point, what happened was, we saw some light flashing and thought it to be flash lights and started shouting and waving hands, "Ikde, ikde. Amhi ikde ahot", only to our discover the fireflies. We still laugh heartily when we recollect that incident.
About half and hour after, two people came in our search and I swear I was never happier in my life. Manali and Viraj then led the way, and the rest of us were walking with those two men, or can I say angels! We were in the village after about 20-25 mins. It was 10 p.m. by then. The person who had sent those two "angels" told us then that people often lose their way at Rajmachi and another statement that he made which I will never forget in my life, "Amhi tar dead bodies pan kadhlyat".
We got an auto to Karjat station from there and we had to catch the last train to CST which was at 10.41 p.m. which to our fortune was late.
When you go to a place and come back, you are never the same person again. You come back with memories and experiences which influence you largely and this trek had successfully done that.
P.S - My belief in God strengthened that day! May He bless us all :-)
Mayura Prabhudesai
January 3,2018
