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".