freeDUM

Harishchandragad (1-2 Feb 2004)

(written by Girinath Deshpande)this was the fourth trek of my life…with a bunch of IITians….16 in all..

harishchandragad is among the sahyadri ranges as kaushal told me…the only person i knew in that group of 16..he also told that the peak of harishchandragad called as the taramati peak is 4600 ft above the MSL..by means of ST bus from kalyan to khubiphata we gained a height of abt 1500 ft above MSL..that means we had to climb abt 3100 ft to reach the pinnacle..walking 3-4 kms through the fields didnt take much of the time to reach the base of the harishchandragad…our stomachs were packed with wada pavs & kanda bhajis which we had in kalyan & with pohe which he had at the base of the hill in a so-called ‘hotel’

i got to know a lot of IIT lingo by talking with them…like “kuch chamka nahi” for “kuch samjha nahi”..& they use the word “types” a lot of times in their conversations…the start of the trek is along shady patches of trees…& the blowing wind was amazingly cool…therefore the feeling of fatigue didnt capture my mind too much…we had a small break in the middle on a steep boulder

kaushal collected some water with particulate matter and algae in a glass & drank some..he was of the view that such kind of water from natural spring was nutritious…i was wondering whether such water was nutritious for us or for the algae in it!!!!!!!!!..anyways we proceeded further…..i drank some of that water too….

my new trekking shoes were of a lot of help to me…good cushion for my toes & also had a wonderful grip..on a highly rocky & steepy terrain…there are a lot of arrow marks on stones & boulders showing us the proper direction…but u have to be highly observant of ur ambience to see such arrows guiding us…i had this thought if i had to trek alone…concentration is extremely important..i get a lot of fun if i stop for a coupla moments & see how much distance i have covered & visualize how much more i have to cover……but u trek alone for considerable distances a lot of times…as the group never remains intact continously as in a chain…& u usually get numerous thoughts as u are trekking alone…the objective of reaching the pinnacle, the fear of losing direction & of losing company of the trekking buddies, the enjoyment of altitude when u see how deep the valley is..the group again became intact when we reached a steep & rocky patch…some previous trekkers have cut slices from the stones for ease of climbing & put some fencing to avoid falling in the valley…then the trek wasnt of perfect ascent but a series of ascents & descents with no shades of trees…which led us to a hut where had glasses of cool & salty butter milk

we started off again & in abt an hour more of similar terrain we reached our intermediate destination…the ancient caves…our cave had a large sculpture of ganesha cut on the wall…all luggage offloaded we then had our lunch at around 3 pm…thepla & chunda,roti & jhunka,lots of biscuits,cake,laddoos……there is an ancient shiva temple with a pond in front of it…some locals stay over there in huts who helped us for tea(sweet hot water) & later jhunka bhakar for the dinner…the bottom of one cave has natural spring “nutritious” water in it from which we filled all our empty bottles….

after taking a nap we set off again….now to see the sunset on a range called “konkankada”….the first word i exclaimed when i saw the depth below konkankada was F***!!!!!!!!!!!!!!similar were the words of all my new buddies…i mean the view was just ammmmmazing!!!!worth all the travel….we had lots of photgraphs

the IITians never stop to b unscientific…some of them were discussing parallax error in visualizing heights of mountains,some discussing radial symmetry of the binoculars,some telling equal heighted mountains looking unequal coz earth was spherical & all…junta was even talking abt the inkblot tests of tickle.com by different visualisations from the mountains..there was even a group which had some females…which junta called as “incentives” for all the trouble we had reaching this amazing location…there is also some legend abt a man who jumped from there on his 27th visit…

after u lose the count of kilometres u have walked & if it is freezing like hell…if u get some hot meal…any kind of food will seem tasty..then some unsuccessful attempts of creating camp fire were done thru the wood stuff collected while we returned…but we successfully burnt the newspapers!!!we did some star gazing in the night with our binocs & all…..& had a so called sleep afterward in a chilling night..i slept without removing my shoes…still my feet were numb with cold …

most of us got up very early in the morning to see sunrise from the taramati peak…gogate(5th year dual degree mech…who has got into mckinsey) & i strolled towards the hut to have hot sweet water…i mean tea…..while both of us were having tea…sitting near the choola…we felt a little better bcoz of the heat from the fire & by also listening to adnan sami on 93.5 RED FM….FM udhar bhi aata hai!!!!!!!!!!!!

while climbing uphill i was with a sophy (in IIT lingo a sophy is a 2nd year student,matka is a MTECH student) who had a phobia of heights ..some junta had moved ahead of us…& there i was with him…the sophy he was afraid to climb & even to stay cool at that place…so we went a bit down again and sat on a rock missing the sunset from the pinnacle….by which i got helluva upset…but i was bloody desperate to get on the pinnacle….i wantd to see how it feels from 4600ft above ground…when other junta returned from the top i asked them the way & set off alone…but kaushal said he will accompany me…& there we were….but i didnt exclaim F***!!!! now……the perfect enjoyment of acheiving the destiny comes only when the path is difficult & also when u enjoy the path & when u reach there after u had toughts that reaching was impossible!!! there was a small shiva linga at the pinnacle too…even the konkankada seemed so below….

we got down at our lodging..i mean caves…had food…now bread & amul butter & jam & haldiram namkin in name of a sandwich,rum-cake,thepla & mirchi pickle,cream biscits & i dont remember more..some junta had bath in pond at the giant shiva linga nearby the temple…but i avoided it in fear of catching cold

the path of descent…to home was a fatigue strenght test for my toes & ankles & knees…with legs intermitantly shivering & with company of shetty…a bombayite in IIT we descended fast…my skin was now as red as a tomato now bcoz of the sun…sitting on the floor of the ST bus we returned to kalyan & then to home…