Lohgad a.k.a Lohagad trek

Rise and Shine
6 AM - "Get up, Get up ... It your big weekend after many boring weekends! Clear up your head, charge up the cell phone, wash your face, Keep the coffee kettle on the stove, boil the water for noodles, Call others, Pack the bag, Come on - Lots of stuff to do before 7 AM - Come on ! Get up!"

Loaded and ready
ERROR: Bike NOT Started
7 AM - "It is already 7 AM and you are ready to go - Shit, the bike doesn't start! Come on, Come on, Dont keep them waiting, Start up, Wake up from your sleep you lazy horse, Give it one final kick ... " Lo and behold! Bike stirs to life and cruises along to the meeting point at Convergys Office in Aundh.

Meeting point
Everybody's here all geared up! Lets go, Lets go - We have to be out of the city before 8 AM to avoid the rush hour traffic.

Missed it by a hair's breadth
ITI Road: Zooming past, Hey! Why is Chandra slowing down? Something's coming up, Ouch! watch out!! Duck, Swerve, Zoom ... That auto driver has no road sense man! Idiot turns right so fast without even giving a hand-signal!!


Breakfast on Paud road, Asking for directions along the way. "Damn my Marathi skills, Hindi seems to be of no use here! How will I ever reach Lohgad? It been like I have been riding my bike for eternity now! Crossed Jawan village, the farthest point to which you have ventured out till date from Pune in this direction. Hey, Look Tikona fort to the right, Tung fort to the left, Aah! There it is - Pawana dam, a land mark to suggest that I have been on the right track! Congratulations, time for a pit-stop. Discharge!"


"View is breath taking. Ah-Ah! Dont get lost in the scenary! The road has snaky curves and steep inclines. Be careful you fool! Fell down twice on this bike in as many weeks last month on the muddy and slippery Pune roads - This time the casualty could be serious!Huh! Back on plain road, No way Iam going to come this route when going back, the bike can't make it up that incline - Lets go back from Lonavla side"

Wrong detour
"Took the wrong turn - Forced a detour on the team! The guy screams "Lohgad? Seedha varti ahe!" Don't know. I see the fort ramparts on the hill beyond but the road seems to lead nowhere - What to do now? Let me ask this passer-by. Park my vehicle infront of the temple like he said and start climbing up? I don't see a path out there. Still not sure what to do. Its still your call. OK guys, lets park infront of this temple and start climbing"

The lost trek
"Ground is turning slippery here - Actually you are walking across a stream coming from the hills above, what else do you expect? Be careful you might slip"

Many detours later
"Here you are at the foot of the fort - Look at the steep incline of the fort wall - Oh no! Iam going to get a heart attack incase Iam to climb that! No way Iam going to do that. Hey! This villager seems to be a god-send, It is too good to be true! If what he says is correct there should be a road a little further up that leads directly to the fort steps"

Steps atlast
"Piece of cake - Hey! this climb is by far the most easiest compared to other forts" Made it atlast. Here it is - Ganseh Darwaaja, Now what's this next door? Is it Hanuman Darwaaja or Maha darwaaja? Lets go to the next door and check" - A few minutes later - "Yes we have a hanuman idol on this door - this is the Hanuman Darwaaja means the previous one got to be the Maha Darwaaja"

Marvel of engineering
"By Jove! The walls are still intact, This is unbelievable - There are walls, Then there are doors, There are steps that lead to those doors"

Born free
"Trying to catch some fish in the water tank so that they can adorn his fish bowl at home. To catch or not to catch - Either ways I am fine with it - Afterall Iam not going to eat that fish - They will be assured of good care and three square meals a day but in a tank of lesser size." Decided against it finally.

Vinchu kaata
"Scorpion's tail - People keep raving about it but I never thought it would be so magnificient that I would be dumbstruck at it splendor! If I climb down to the end of the tail will I be able to climb up? No you can't make it back besides it raining, If you slip on the rocks you will be in a point of no return"

Telugu, Telugu everywhere
"What happened? Every body seems to speak Telugu here, Kottha oka vintha ani mana vallandaru katta gattukuni vacchi padinattunnaaru! Yem maatlaadithe yevariki artham
ipothundho ani chuttoo choosukovaali!"

Zhunka bhakar and Poha
"This tastes really good! Two rotis are not sufficient - get me one more please"

Whose bikes are these?
People at the temple seem to be wondering who left those bikes there - "Some conspiracy theorist must have thought they were laden with explosives. They must have been real scared!"

Who owns these bungalows?
"Now that we have climbed from the difficult way to ascend to the top frmo Pawana nagar side, Lets find the easy way out to this fort. Proceed straight to Lonavla from the parking place. The way up to Lonavla is marked with lavish sprawling bungalows - Who owns them? Anybody who has money to splurge and land here seems to coming dead cheap"

Full throttle
"You are consistently doing a 90 on the bike - full throttle - Touched 105 momentarily. Bike released from bondage of Pune's bad roads. Racing like a through-bred. Accelerate, dipper, gear-down, accelerate, over take, zoom ..." constant pattern. Lonavla to Pune in 35 minutes flat!

The aftermath
"Body is aching, Yet Iam filled with good memories from the trek. Throw the wet jacket on the clothes line, remove those water filled shoes, switch on the hot water, turn on the shower, relax ..." thirty five minutes later - came out and took a fresh pair of clothes. Slipped into a dreamless peaceful slip early that evening only to be woken intermittently by Sandy's crying - but that's OK, woke up fresh the next morning.