Harishchandragad - a trek to remember

"No one enters the bus without a mask and sanitizing himself/herself" announced the Chairman of Shivswapn_trekkers, Rakesh Nandurkar. Following his command, we all entered the bus, sanitizing our hands, did the temperature, and SPOS check too. The values were entered on a sheet of paper, which completed the dual purpose of attendance and understanding the basic health of every trekker.

Shivswapn trekkers' is a group led by this young, dynamic, multi-faceted artist - Rakesh along with his friends to explore 'Shayadri ranges' and not only look forward to trekking as a picnic or an outing but also share the dreams of The Great Maratha Warrior -Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He also has rich knowledge about visions of Maharaj and the entire management team of Shivswapn-trekkers is well-read about the history of various forts (killa/gad).

This trek was special from various aspects - it was the first trek for this trekking group formed on 19th February 2020. The group was vibrant for a long time doing trekking activities for different groups but this lock-down put up an unexpected challenge before them. Their trekking activities were brought to a standstill. Being young at heart, they helped people to fight against corona and even helped our "VKWMA" financially for providing food to the economically weaker sections of society. Once Corona cases were reduced, plans were drawn for this trek on 31st October-1st November.

Planning started in the first week of October and considering the pandemic situation, it was announced that only 20 people would be accommodated. The instruction sheet read out clearly - only 20 healthy people, no sign of cold/cough/fever would be entertained and such people need not even apply for the same. Mission trek + Safety of all was the main goal of the management team.

The first day of the trip started pretty early. The bus left Borivali with few trekkers at sharp 4:00am as decided. Enroute it collected a few more of them and reached Kalyan by 5:15am. At Kalyan, we boarded the bus and left for our destination. Many of the trekkers in the group were new, so it was very peaceful (read lazy, sleepy) start to the trip. A small halt at 7:30am for tea-break and without wasting time, we moved further. At around 10:00am somewhere during the trip, we took a breakfast break.

The place of halt was near the foothills of the famous "Kelsubai". "Misal" was made by Minakshitai from the team and it was delicious. A small photoshoot at that place by members and it was an ice-breaker for the group. The next halt was the base village at Pachnai at around 1:30pm. Announcement of trekking instructions by Rakesh and the group was divided into four smaller groups with an experienced trekker being the trek leader. Our group leader was Mr. Vijay Nikam, an ace photographer, a real fun-loving person, and a happy-go-lucky attitude person. 

The ascend started at 2pm, the average age of the group was 25years, so I expected them to be much faster but the photoshoot and sun on head ensured that they were not too far ahead. In fact, I was in the lead gang, and thanks to my 'running routine' I could ascend at a faster pace with a bag of fellow trekker who was finding difficulty in ascending with the bag. However, knowing the trade of the tricks, I too ensured that I was along with the gang at most places and could be part of the photoshoot. 

Reaching the top at around 5pm, we headed towards the only house at the peak where lunch was arranged. The ascend ensured that everyone was pretty hungry and even the basic food - Pitla-Bhakri and Dal rice tasted well. (Pitla is a dish made of Besan). 

The next task was to keep our bags in the tents arranged nearby and go to watch the beautiful sunset. It was a mesmerizing scenario at the Konkankada where almost 500+ trekkers had joined to witness this moment. Our gang found a separate place and we were there for an hour clicking pictures and having a casual talk. Now, the gang was more known to each other and there was much more fun and a round of introductions, story-telling, and so on. There was a nip in the air and everyone pulled out warm clothes from their bags (Was part of the initial instructions)

I shared my tent with Yogesh Dhale, another Kalyankar. He was a no-nonsense guy and a fitness conscious person. We shared a good rapport since he was seated in my adjacent seat on the bus. Back in the tent, we spoke about general things and many other people joined the discussion. Rakesh too joined, we had a nice general talk on various topics from corona to trekking. Some casual talks in the moonlight are just wonderful. The night was becoming chilly and few volunteers went in search of woods for lighting campfire. In the meantime, we had our dinner and came back to the tent.

Another round of talks started with many singing their favourite songs, some cracking jokes, and laughter all around. The program was to celebrate this special "Full moon day" - Kojagiri Poornima. A simple task of boiling milk involves a lot of smaller activities like collecting wood, setting up a campfire, arranging for Utensils and the best part is many chefs are present to make it tastier with the lovely talks. Even before the milk boiled, many were ready with their cups and glasses (especially carried for this purpose) and trying to nudge each other for their share. The 12 hours of togetherness gave the needed comfort to everyone and now it was a big family that behaved as if they knew each other for years. The entire fun and frolic ended by 12:30 are and everyone retired for the day.

Early morning most of them woke up to see the sunrise and the talk, fun, photography started. It was after almost 2 hours of enjoyment, at around 8am, Rakesh instructed all to get their bags packing as it was time to move after having breakfast. He anticipated that it would be another 2 hours before the actual movement happened. As expected, the entire gang started the move by 10:30am. 

It was not a direct descend, we had to visit the famous "Shiv temple" at Harishchandra gad and a lot of photo shooting was done there too. It was now 12:30 that the actual descending started but as was expected, everyone jelled up together and reached the base within 2 hours flat.

The lunch was arranged at the base village, which was tasty (maybe because of the walk) and luxurious considering the availability at the village. It was 4pm when the return journey to Kalyan started. A mid-way technical glitch to the bus happened, which caused a delay of 1-hour approximately but then it was a great time to have evening tea and some feedbacks from the participants (especially the newer trekkies). Once things were resolved, we reached back home by 10pm.

Every trek teaches some major life lessons. This trek was no exception. The last 48 hours had been more fun-filled and gave a wonderful experience in the lap of mother nature. The fresh air (Oxygen), the open-minded guys (friends), the luxurious lunch, the wonderful discussions under the open sky, the stories of the forts, the vision of Shivaji Maharaj, the stay in a 6x2 tent, the physical and mental fitness test was an eye-opener to many guys including myself. Must say it was one of the best treks and looking forward to many more trips from this newly formed trekking group - Shivswapn.

Jai Shivray!!!