TMI EPISODE 3- BHAIRAVGAD (MOROSHI)

                              What would you call a guy who completely freaks out when he hear a word "TREK" ? A Freak i would say, that is how i describe myself ;) when it comes to trekking. So with this behavior i'm often confused with my trekking destination, and so was i last week too. But i would like to thank one of my trek buddy Madura Kamat who helped me out with this confusion and asked me to join her for Bhairavgad trek, fantastic suggestion it was. Also thanks to Sandesh Chalke who did the registration on my behalf.

The journey started from Nitin Company, Thane with an ice cream treat, followed by the antakshari and with all this things we reached our base camp Moroshi at sharp 02:00 a.m as per our schedule, "Well appreciated".


                   After getting out of our bus we formed our renowned STRAIGHT CIRCLE :P and commenced with the introduction session and a few safety precautions from our trek leader Aniket Thosar. For those who don't know about Bhairavgad, Moroshi. Well let me tell you first that there are multiple mountains who go by the same name the one i'm talking about is in Malshej. Bhairavgad is a rigid pinnacle which can be seen while traveling through Malshej Ghat near Moroshi. There are two ways through which you can climb this giant wall one is from the right, which is quite tough and is recently bolted by safe climbing initiative India and the other is from the left which leads one to the top through a few broken steps and lots of scree  The top of the fort is created by the geological structure known as DYKE. Bhairavgad happens to be only fort built on a dyke, making it a must see wonder for trekkers.

Recently Krait Snake ("manyar", "kanadar" in Marathi and "karait" in Hindi) has been spotted at Bhairavgad, which is considered as one of the dangerous snakes, whose bite can lead you to death or permanent coma or brain death, so i would suggest everyone to carry a torch with you during night trek. Do not depend on others. You may also spot a few Scorpions, so analyse the whole premise before taking a break or before sleeping in your tents.


Soon after gazing the stars for a while and a little chit chat session we all got into motion and the trek was started. It was a walk through dense forest, while watching for snakes with those flashy torches, also you'll find a bit of exposure and the kinda sound which was created by the blowing wind and the leaves was simply "PRECIOUS" i would comment.


With a few breaks and lots of AO-OA calls we reached our base, fantastic it was. Surrounded with trees giving you a feeling as if you're under some hut. Soon everyone chose a place of their choice and in no time i noticed a few people snoring. Aahh deadly it was. 

Carry proper bedding material with you, else you might get your back hurt with those sharp rocks as well carry a warm light weight blanket as the cold during midnight is unbearable. A sleeping bag is the best solution, its light, occupies less space and easy to fold.

Everybody woke up at 05:45 a.m and soon we began with another session of our journey. This time the walk was made difficult by the loose soil, walking over the steep slopes and through the traverse was one of the scariest and challenging stuff to do  but I'm glad that everybody did it without any falls, Great job team. At this point i would specially like to mention our Kaka who at the age of 69 did this whole stuff not at an ease but with a few efforts and with a SMILE on his face, HATS OFF!! KAKA. Now came the most thrilling and my favorite session of the trek, "Climbing" :) i know trekking is not a race where you'll get an award for reaching first on the summit but i have this so called masti/over excitement you can say about rushing ahead but staying behind our trek leads and even this time i did that and made the climb.

 The best part of this climb was getting into this small cave in between your climb with a narrow entry and exit points was more of a fun thing to do. 


                                                       Now with a few broken steps and a deadly walk through the traverse we reached the summit, it was one of the most exciting and thrilling walk. The top was covered with cactus and a few other trees with huge thorns making a walk painful, but don't know why we still kept moving forward and when we reached on the plateau we all realized that the pain was worth just by looking at the view, it was awestruck. It might sound a lil childish but we were also amazed by looking at the shadows of the clouds sweeping ahead. Later we started spotting a few other peaks nearby. 

After having our eyes filled with that pleasant view we started descending this time again just cuz of my masti/over excitement i decided to rappel down first and well i did it quite well. On this trek i got an opportunity to help my team leaders at a few places, was feeling great as i'm always keen to work in a team, and love to follow this simple rule All for one, one for all. And with all this stuff a few new comers misunderstood me as one of the coordinator and soon i got everybody's attention ;) hehe :D .



On our way down we found a cistern where all the thirsty throats relieved themselves with this sweet water and refilled their bottles for the rest of the journey. If the climbing and rappelling part was scary for a few people the descend part became difficult for everybody as there was so much of scree that people were literally sliding downwards, a few amongst us resuscitated their childhood, who sat down and slid down bit by bit just to avoid fatal falls and injuries. 


                           As the day was progressing the walk became very much tiring due to dehydration also the sun was on full and in the mean while we accidentally left 5 members somewhere so we started with the AO calls and when they were not answered we moved forward with a belief that they might be too far coming with the back lead but when we reached our base we didn't found them even there so I and Sandesh ran away backwards in search of our mates and soon we found them coming with a villager. Sigh of relief. I would like to apologize them from the bottom of my heart.

So now everyone was at the base, soon without wasting anytime we first had cold drinks session followed by the lunch; truly truly delicious it was and headed back to the pavilion. One of the most exciting journeys of my life ends here educating me with a few things.


And as it is said every story has a happy ending so did our's had :) 

Brief Description:-

• Event Type:- Hill Fort.
• Height:- 2835 ft/ 864 m.
• Fort Range- Malshej.
• Grade:- Medium
• Trek Leader:- Aniket Thosar.

Image Source:-

• Google
• Bibhas Hazari
• Nayan Kaulaskar 

Tips:- 

1. Do Carry your own torches with extra batteries.
2. Good trekking shoes.
3. Proper bedding material must.
4. Water bottles, at least two liters. 
5. If possible a BSNL sim card, cuz you'll find only one network in most of the remote areas and that is BSNL.
6. Some instant energy bars, chocolates, cakes.

MAJESTY OF HARISHCHANDRAGAD VIA NALICHI VAT

Even though this was one of the awesomest trek of this monsoon and my life too, still i don't understand why it took me so long to pen down this thing? Was it because i was busy? Was it because i was feeling short of words? Or was it because i was a little lazy? Well after giving it a rich thought i found that, i was unwilling to write it because whenever i write something about such nifty memories those memories fade out of my mind and gets down on a paper. But my fingers made little headway towards my keyboard and fetched those thoughts from my mind on a paper.

"Harishchandragad via nalichi vat" the name itself sounds scary for those who are aware of it, but when one gets a chance to do it with the support of a few of Dare-Devils and a strong will power he can execute it without any anxiety. The journey began from Kalyan, thankfully the pick up point this time was from Kalyan because i was not asked to travel the distant pick-up points as my previous treks :). It all started with a minor introduction session with the new people and after a few glasses of delectable "lassi" we finally took our respective positions and gave a head start to our journey. Journey was great as always with a few colorful people and with those songs, a tea break and gupshups we finally reached our base village, "belpada" where in we first had "Hygienic Kachoris" ;) and took some rest.



After a sound sleep we all were delighted with some tasty "pohas" with some tea and soon we packed up all our bags and with an introduction session and with our General-In Chief's whistle and a short coconut breaking ceremony we gave a kick start to our journey towards heaven through hell. As soon as the journey started even though everyone was scared a little still were waiting for the rock patches to arrive and i don't even remember for how many times we might have asked our leads (Miron and Bhaskar) regarding the arrival of the Rock Patch Family?



 And yes guys the wait was finally over there came the youngest member from the rock patch family "Strong And Sturdy" but we the Dare-Devils didn't let him submerge our will and our ebullience and surpassed it with an ease, now came the older brother of the "Rock Patch Family" staring
at us and gave us a shuddery look along with him his wife the "Water Queen" started flowing the water on us heavily which was pushing us down. I guess they didn't wanted us to enter their kingdom and this both were behaving in such a way as if they were going to pin down us but ultimately they failed in doing so and we climbed up with an ease. Thanks a lot to Bhaskar Sir who made the climb so comfortable and there we won the battle against the two brothers and the elder ones wife now it was time to meet the other family members and beat them. The next two were elder amongst their siblings but the victory over them was not at all challenging and the same went with the queen and in the meanwhile we had our lunch.



Now we were stopped by "The King" and were forced to fight with him in order to win the battle, but "A KING IS A KING" how can he allow anybody to enter his territory so promiscuously? But i guess before we could reach him he was already warned about us and so he prepared himself along with his soldiers (The Thunderstorm and The Rain) to shoot down us. Some where he succeeded in his goal when he kicked me off him but our "Khiladi Bhaskar" accepted this gainsay and defeated the King and threw down the rope for all of us yet it was getting difficult for us to climb up. After all it was a battle with the king and his soldiers but by keeping in mind "King ki aisi ki taisi" we defeated "The King" and made our way to his kingdom and reached the summit. Here i would like to applaud for our lead Miron because we managed to reach the summit as per his scheduled time 19:00 hrs which shown up the "Perfection" quality of a good leader, HATS OFF man.



Hurrah and congratulations to all, finally we brought home the bacon not in cash but in a bliss and gallant. And after a 30 min walk we "The Tigers" reached our den. Soon we freshened up and were pleased with some hot tea, what a feeling it was aah haa haa can't even express it in words. Soon the hungry stomachs started shouting for food and with in a matter of few minutes each and everyone took out whatever stuff they got in their bags and all were running in a race to finish it ASAP and win the eating contest ;) soon after the second round of tea commenced it was then followed with the "Antakshari", "chaddar ke niche",  Romila ji ka "Garwali" a garba dance on it by us and self declared and celebrated b'day, cake cutting ceremony :p as soon as it ended garma garam food was served and we finished it up quickly :). Immediately everybody took their respective positions and logged Z's. After a sound and refreshing sleep the tigers woke up and with a few refreshments got out to descend to their respective den (Home Sweet Home).

Finally it was the moment to say goodbye and thank The King for letting us stay in his kingdom :). The descend started by taking the blessings of LORD SHIVA and thanking him for guarding our lives through out the most difficult rock patches. Even taking his blessings was not an easy thing to do, we were supposed to cross the gushing water flow but all in the end we took his blessings successfully. As far as my previous trek experiences I've always mentioned that descend has been my favorite thing from the whole trek but this time it wasn't. I didn't wanted to come back to my pavilion as i was so attached to this kingdom, the rain, the tranquil weather, the cave.... i was going to miss all those things :(. But somehow managed to escape from that place and began with the descending task meanwhile with our discussions on the working of a dam like our previous trek, Mr. Amey made us a promise that he'll take all of us for a visit at one of the most eye pleasing Bhatsa Dam. Which enlightened our curiosity regarding the "DAM THING" :P.



After a few more plans and discussions we reached our base village where in our Bhaskar Dada gave us a tea treat and soon we grabbed our places in our vehicle and moved towards our destination, "Kasara". After a 2 hr journey we halted at Bhandardara for some snacks, i bet Miron might have banged his head against wall for taking us to that hotel :D. He might be asking himself why the hell i brought them here? This people are not humans, just look at them "Pure Bhukkads" what all stuff was prepared in that hotel was served in our table. We were so hungry that we didn't even waited for the waiter to serve the dishes on our table instead Jayant Sir acted as a representative of team B and Prem Bhai as a representative of team A and they literally grabbed the dishes as soon as they arrived out of the kitchen, doesn't matter what was served vada paav or bhajiya. All in the end was a fun and from empty stomach to replete we again began with the descend process, soon we reached Kasara station got tickets to our respective destinations and?????? Again the tigers prowl for some more eatables :P truly truly "Bhukhe Sher" even in train we didn't left a single hawker without making any a contribution to his daily earnings. Soon with some more songs and garwali garba we reached Kalyan where my dandy journey with "The Dare-Devils" finally ended :(. All in the end it was an awesome and thrilling experience and yeah it also helped all of us to raise our trekking skills and our standards and left us with a smug glow of self congratulation :).

Vote Of Thanks:-

1) Miron Benny Joseph.
2) Bhaskar Badad.

Camera Credits:-

1) Amey Nikam.
2) Deepankar Mehta.

Brief Description:-

• Event Type:- Hill Fort.
• Height:- 4510 feet.
• District:- Ahmednagar.
• Grade:- Hard.
• Base Village:- Belpada.
• Minimum Duration:- Two Days.
• Sights To Visit:
• Caves
• 100 Years Old Temple Of Lord Shiva
• Huge Shivlinga.
• Kokan Kada (During Winter and Summers).

"If one possess a strong will power and an ability to fight with the nature even at its worse, can overcome any obstacles and with some more experiences can raise up his standards to fight with it, through each passing day".

TMI EPISODE 2- KALAVANTIN DURG

When one gets into a magnificent and glorious Family, he has to indulge himself into the Family activities and is bound to certain duties. I find it as my fortuity that I’m a member of such Family and my Family activities are so appealing that one would die to perform his tasks, so do I and within a matter of seconds I took my decision and registered myself for its next weekend activity.  

Well talking about my journey it all started with a prank by a devil who turned out in to a GODDESS later on ;) . Thank GOD she didn’t cursed me brutally as I gave a pat on her head for the prank. But I was surprised and glad to see you guys (the prank masters) when I reached Panvel Station J . After a 15KMs ride in “TUM-TUM”  we reached our base village “Thakurwadi” had  a few clicks and then we were asked to form a “STRAIGHT CIRCLE” (Only a TMI member can form it :P ) had scrumptious theplas, a quick introduction and  instruction session from our leads; Aniket Thosar, Sandesh Chalke and Vishal Khond and yes it was then we began with our actual trek.

Unlike my last trek the ascend of this trek began with a feeling of wooziness as the clouds were clear, no rain at all L . But soon we came across this dense forest, walking there gave me a feeling as if I’m “BEAR GRYLLS” and started remembering his episodes and soon the wooziness was gone. Those little conversations with this DABANGG Girl  was really awful and cool. Soon this easy and not so challenging trek brought all of us to this slippery rocks as if Kalavantin was angry upon us and said “bohot easy easy bol raha hai naa, le beta tu ab chadke bata upar” but with a “NEVER BACK DOWN” attitude we positively accepted the challenge and finally reached top. The 25 ft rappelling was fun, spectacular job done by Aniket Thosar who reached the top without a rope and tied it so that we can reach the peak safely. It was the first time I was performing rappelling and it was a damn cool thing to do, the time I reached the peak I was blessed to see our GODDESS Sanjna Devi :D and without any delay I went to her, soon the crowd gathered around the GODDESS and it started raining heavily, along with strong blowing wind (THE EPIC BOLLYWOOD SCENE) only a thing that was missing was the swinging temple bells :D soon everyone started taking her blessings, FROOTI TIRTH and MAHA BHOJAN AS PRASHAAD even the atheists took her blessings and the guy I mean me was punished for my morning pat :o . Photo session in this trek was the coolest one, uncanny pose suggestions by everyone and the bad weather which  tormented all of us through out our posing’s.

               Descending has become my favorite session from the whole trek, heavy rain…. strong winds…. foggy weather… What a moment it is? can’t even express it in words, this time descending was very much cool and very much pleasing and this guy Amit Bhadoria with a wicked sense of humor kept us giggling until we reached our base village. Those little waterfalls, heavily flowing water, and  bhutta was the best thing. One should definitely experience it during monsoons. Soon after we reached our base, had a quick change and moved towards Panvel station. As soon as we reached there we were again blessed by our GODDESS, this time with VADA PAV, BHAJIYA & BADAM SHAKE. And soon we took our trains and we were back to the pavilion “HOME SWEET HOME”.  All in the end one more amazing experience to my newly developed passion, “TREKKING”.

Camera Credits:

• Rohan Gokhale

Vote Of Thanks:

• Aniket Thosar
• Sandesh Chalke
• Vishal Khond 
  

Brief Description:

• Event Type: Hill Fort.
• Height: 2330 Feet Above MSL(Approx).
• Grade: Medium.
• Base Village: Thakurwadi.
• Region: Panvel.

         


"While many people abort their plans when rain surprises them, we at TMI Family take it as an opportunity to create a milestone, peculiar and ambitious experience".

TMI EPISODE 1- HARIHAR FORT

                    I've been taught that "Decisions taken in a haste can be dangerous, you should always remember that slow and steady wins the race". But with the desire of doing many things with the shorter span of life, doing things slowly and steadily will end you up “Living in a van down the river”. I believed in this factor and took a quick decision with-in a matter of few minutes to become a part of a sumptuous team named “TMI(Trek Mates India)”.  Thanks to Dharam Paaji (Dharmesh Vithlani) who introduced me to this “BIG-FAT ” Family.

                    It happened to me on a Saturday afternoon when I was sitting like a dead duck doing nothing, when I suddenly came across a blog written by Dharam Paaji “IN AWE OF SAHYADRIS” reading it fired a bullet in my head and I asked him to take me in to the Family and without any hesitation he summed up me with TMI. And as soon as I came to know about the Harihar Fort trek event I didn’t even think of anything else and did my registration with the help of the Family head “Sir. Rahul Barve” Thanks a lot Sirji for accepting my registration in the 11^th hour. Things happened so briskly that for a moment it forced me to give a second thought on my decision, but I told myself “If it is meant to happen it will happen” and without thinking on my decision not even for a second I gave a kick start to my shopping and packing and at got rid of it in the peak hours. It was then I reached my pick up spot, Nitin Company Junction, Thane still rethinking over my hasty decision as it was my first trek so I was a little nervous as well as very much excited. Soon our DHANNO RANI arrived and added a sudden break to my thoughts and geared up my excitement.

                    As soon as I entered our DHANNO RANI I saw each and every individual so happy, energetic and very much enthusiastic looking at their faces I noticed one thing that I was not a stranger to them neither they were to me, I was seeing those guys for the first time but everything was looking so familiar as if I’m going with my Family. The moment our jockey hit the accelerator we on the rear started exploring our singing talents ;) good or bad didn’t made any difference everything was complimented. But there were a few people with extra ordinary talent, few of them are Mr. Santosh Akre at his best with his bongos, Mr. Rahul Barve who is so precise with the lyrics, Dharam Paaji (Dharmesh Vithlani) singing euphoniously, Sanjna Akre best with her tambourine all were appreciated even me who was singing cacophonously :P . My sympathies to those who were disturbed with our singing and a vote of thanks to those who enjoyed it. Still laughing on that RADIO-VIDEO convo between Dharmesh-Pallavi and Lawrence :D during the mid night tea/coffee session, no more comments on that video hushhhhh.

                    Reached the base village Nirgudpada had a change, early morning breakfast, tea and after a short introduction and important instructions session from our mentors Mr. Rahul Barve & Mr. Manoj Kalwar we quickly grabbed our bag packs and gave a head start to our journey “MISSION HARIHAR FORT”. It was an awe-inspiring sight, wet roads, cool and foggy weather, slow and endless drizzle, mountains all around us with lush green plants and trees along with a few naturally formed waterfalls, and the #1 team with prominent front lead, center lead and back lead. 

                       Walking with the crowd having a short  introduction and conversation sessions with almost everyone, making new friends, randomly posing for the snaps was so much fun. Stomping your feet on a muddy land and a walk over the plateau was an easy thing to do, soon we came to this giant 80 Degree wall with 200 horrifying steps, ascending and descending was a real challenge but all in the end it was a terrible and fantastic experience which one should go for. But we all moved forward with the fear, lots of energy, and enthusiasm and with “LAKSHYA KO HAR HAAL MEIN PAANA HAI” attitude.

                    Finally it was done we conquered the fort and reached the top (3550fts), everyone was so blissful that even the happiness gained by one when he/she gets the most expensive gift would have fainted. Soon we moved forward to the ultimate peak of the fort all covered with fog which gave all of us a feeling as if we were in clouds, we all were just enjoying this moment suddenly “INDRA DEV” blessed us with heavy showers and cool storms J WHAT A MOMENT IT WAS!!!!!  Suddenly all opened up their lunch boxes and sharing the dabbas and finishing them ASAP made me remind my school days, we all are familiar with the “CANDLE LIGHT DINNER” but I can challenge anybody that the feeling which one gets through such a meal on a hill top…. Underneath the open sky….. storm, fog, heavy rain, shivering body was worth than a 5 star meal. With in a matter of few minutes the dabbas were finished and later on lead our team to the group photos, i think with those jumps we must have pushed the fort a few inches down ;) post photo session was followed by “DUMB-SHERAZ” rounds... weird movie names.. weird acting.. weird guesses.. and the fun "PRICELESS". Later on we were asked to descend to the base but those pleads from all of us to our mentors took the kid out of all of us. “SIR PLEASE 5 MORE MINS”, “SIR SIR THIS IS THE LAST ONE” “NAI NAI PAKKA YE LAST VALA HAI” :P

                     

                      Now it was the time to descend back to base, descending was easy for a while but when we came across those steps it took the hell out of us. Heavy rain….. strong wind….. foggy weather it was the most difficult thing to do but the team support and the self motivation in all of us helped us to descend safely. Those few minutes spent in a small lake on our way was amazing, finally it was all done within a matter of few hours we reached the base village Nirgudpada. Everyone was so happy and thankful to GOD for helping all of us reach safely to the base without any accidents. The quote proved true to all of us “ALL’s WELL THAT ENDS WELL”. Finally reached home sweet home with lots of memories and astounding experience. HATS OFF to Mr. Rahul Barve for taking the most difficult responsibility of being a back lead(the most difficult position) and our front lead Mr. Manoj Kalwar.

VOTE OF THANKS:

•      Dharam Paaji (Dharmesh Vithlani)
•      Rahul Barve
•      Manoj Kalwar
•      TEAM TMI.

“TECHNOLOGY MAY HELP US CONNECT WITH THOUSAND’s OF HUMAN BEINGS SITUATED IN HUNDRED DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE WORLD, BUT TREKOLOGY CONNECTS ONE WITH THE NATURE WHICH IS WORTH CONNECTING TO THOUSANDS OF HUMANS”.

Brief Description:

Type : Hill forts

Fort Range : Trimbakeshwar

District : Nashik

Endurance : Easy

Difficulty : Medium

Height : 3500 feet.