Start of the Monsoon with Ratangad Trek..

In the celebration of foundation day of the Tekdi Web solution at Amigos we decided to go for 2 days trek to Ratangad fort. The date decided was 9th-10th June for trek. I was damn sure that, this trek was gonna be cancelled. Because it was a week-end and many of my colleagues prefer to stay at home or go to their native place. I was also planning and wanting to go home that weekend. :) Many times before, we started this topic on Skype to get positive response from Parth & Ashwin sir but never succeeded. Finally this time, Parth sir announced that we are going on decided date. We even had a small meeting about the trek planning which assured the confirmation of the trek. At my native place, we are constructing our new house, for which my mom-dad wanted me to be there for selecting and deciding the tiles patterns. So, my mom told me that I have to come home on this week-end. Initially, I said okay to her but I was desperately willing to go to trek. So, I called her back and convinced her for letting me go for the trek.

On Friday, I left office around 6:30pm so that I could come back with my luggage. At home when I was making my preparation for the trek, my aunt asked me," Tell me exactly whom with your are going.. any girl n blah blah blah..". But all her doubts got cleared when I put plate & bowl into my bag. We were already told that we need to carry our own cutlery as we focus on being eco-friendly and were not supposed to use any disposable or any non decomposable stuff in the natural environment.

We all met around 11:00pm at office, kept all the luggage in bus & got seated. Once our bus crossed Bhosari we all started getting bored. Don't know about others, but I wanted to sleep as our trek was gonna start in the dawn and later we would not get time to take any rest. When I looked at back side of bus, I found that the last 2 rows of bus are empty where we all had kept our luggage on those seats. Immediately I thought to take advantage of this and I moved all bags from second last row to last row so that i could sleep on second last row properly. Later Kunal joined me. कभी उसके पैर मेरे ऊपर और कभी मेरे पैर उसके ऊपर. We slept around 3-4 hrs. Once i got up, everyone was sleeping. So i started to wake up everyone, it was KK(Kutta Kamina oops.. Kirti Kumar) who was sleeping on 3 seats wearing shorts. I started waking KK by pulling his short then Pritam & then Kunal. We were just 30 KM far to reach Ratanwadi which is base village of Ratangad Fort. बाहेर मस्त चांदणे पडले होते, खिडकीतून ते निसर्गाचे रूप पाहताना कधी कधी भीती पण वाटत होती. Roads were quite curvy & not in good condition. मनातल्या मनात ड्राईवरला दाद देत होतो आणि अचानक ड्राईवरने बस थांबविली आणि विचारले अजुन किती किलोमीटर आहे. Someone told him its just 2-3 KM now. बिचारा ड्राईवर वैतागला होता मी तर त्याला ड्राईवर नाही पायलटच म्हणेन कारण हाय-वे वर चांगल्याच कटा मारत होता.

Finally!! We reached Ratanwadi at 5:30am. The entire village was still fast asleep. Everybody one by one started getting down from the bus and started searching for water. Everyone wanted to finish their प्रात:विधि in dark, before sunrise :).

After a while of search, we found one sintex tank full of water. We brushed our teeth and went walking in Jungles with bottles in hand to find a place.. :) as there were no toilets so पूर्ण आवार आमचाच होता. Once we got freshed KK, Sangram, Kunal, Rohan n I stared playing cricket on road which leads to Amruteshwar temple. Meanwhile, someone of us announced tea & coffee is ready. Himangi mam & trekdi guys made very nice tea for all of us. First time in my life I had around 3-4 cups of tea.

After having tea we went to the Amruteshwar temple which is around 1000 yrs old. The temple structure was built with fine carvings on the stone blocks. "शिवलिंगाचे दर्शन घेतले आणि मंदिर परिसर पहिला. मंदिर फार छान आहे. समोर सूर्य उगवत होता. आजू-बाजूचे निसर्ग रम्य वातावरणनाने मन अगदी प्रसन्न झाले. असे वाटत होते की कशाला हवे शहरी जीवन जेथे गरजाना अंत नाही आणि इथे जे आहे ते फार आहे. नक्की असे नाही पण असेच काहीतरी वाटले.

I joined Parth sir who was talking to a villager & KK told maggi is ready lets have it. I asked him how we are going to eat maggi without spoon? He showed a spoon in his hand and had made a cunning face which he borrowed from one of our trekdi frnd. He gave me that spoon and he took Mukta's spoon. After having breakfast we took our bags on our back & started walking towards Ratangad fort which was around 4-5 KM from Ratanwadi. Sangram, KK, Kunal, Pritam, Rohan & me decided to stay at last so that we can chat & take snaps without disturbing others. The first fifteen minutes of the trek is pretty much a walk by the stream.

त्या निसर्गरम्य वातावारनात पाऊल वाटावरुण जाताना फार मज्जा येत होती. सूर्य थोडा वर आला होता, पाठीवर जरा जास्तच ओझे होतं कारण गडावर आमचा एक stay होता. गड़ चढताना फार घाम येत होता असे वाटत होते की पावसाच्या सरी याव्यात आणि चिम्ब भिजुन जावे. पण आम्ही इतके lucky नव्हतो. आमच्या मागे पार्थ सर होते. गड़ चढताना पार्थ सर त्यांच्या ट्रेकचे किस्से सांगत होते. ऐकून असे वाटत होते की मीही असे सांगेन कोणाला तरी.

In about a hour we reached the first plateau which gives a glimpse of the Ratangad peak. We took some rest, clicked some snaps & got ready for further trek. From first plateau to hanging ladders distance is quite difficult.

About another one hour of climb from first platue got us to the most renown spot of Ratangad – The hanging ladders. In a fog thoses ladders were looking so amazing. We were in heaven, really it was heaven. "जवळ जवळ १०-१५ पायऱ्याच्या २ आणि एक ५-६ पायऱ्याची लोखंडी शिडी आहे. पार्थ सर सांगत होतो आता शिडया चढणे फार सोपे आहे. जुन्या शिडया चढणे फार कठिन होते. जेव्हा खालच्या शिडया पहिल्या तेव्हा त्याचा प्रत्यय आला. शिडया चढताना फार मज्जा आली. मधुराने पार mega block करून टाकला होता. खालची लोकं ओरडत होती. मेरे पीछे प्रीतमभाई आ रहे थे उसे बोला 'भाई दोनों में थोडा ज्यादा गैप रख नहीं तो शिडी हमें निचे ले जाएगी. These ladders took us at the main entrance of the fort. It was completly foggy. We stayed at one of the big cave, had some rest. We were quite tired so had some snackes. मी तर काका हलवाई च्या बाकरवडीवर चांगलाच हात साफ़ केला. रुचाने आणलेल्या खोबरयाचा वड्या खाल्या.

Now we wanted water for cooking & drinking so we 4-5 guys went with Ashwin sir for searching water. After half an hour Ashwin sir told us go little back & stop those who are coming behind us. So me, Rohan & Sangram returned & stopped Vaibhav, Vishal, Mukta & Bhagyshri. Some one told them that take left after 30 min you will get one of the water tank. I told them its better to wait for either Parth sir or Ashwin sir cause it was very foggy but they went. Me & Rohan decided to stay in middle so that if Ashwin sir comes from left side we could wait for those who went towards right. We waited for approximately 40-50 mins but no one returned. Meanwhile it started raining so I said to rohan its better to seat in caves instead of getting wet here. So we went back to caves while returning some one told, you will get water on the left hand side of caves but its bit risky to get there. We reached at caves where only Himagi mam was there preparing for the lunch. So, Rohan said "lets check for the water tank on the left. I agreed & we left. There were no railing & वाटहि फार बिकट होती, मी आणि रोहन एकमेकांना 'lets not take any risk and go back' म्हणत शेवटी त्या पाण्याच्या टाकीजवळ पोहोचलो. थोडं पाणी प्यायलो आणि परत निघालो. परत येताना एका ठिकाणी माझा पाय घसरला, जाम फाटली माझी तर, कारण पडलो असतो तर डायरेक्ट खालूनवरच..

After some time other guys came with water & stared making lunch. It was उसल की सब्जी with bread, butter & Amrakhand. सब लोग तुड पड़े, cause every one was very hungry. After having lunch we decided to discover some other place on the fort. So Rohan, Vishal, Sangram, KK, Kunal & I took our sleeping mats and left. After walking few steps we found a small hill, we all went running there grabbed places laid our mats and lied on it. From that point we could see 'Katraghat'. The view was amazing!! We had great photo session here and then slept for while gossiping.

By then it started drizzling but no one wanted to go back to the Cave. So we shared our mats and took the mats over us and tried to fight with the rain. But Rain won & forced us to got back to the Cave. We reached the cave and slept for 2-3 hrs. I woke up only when somebody was shouting tea is ready. After having tea we all planned to play cards as Vishnu had carried cards along with him. So me Kunal, Sangram & Vishnu started playing cards. While others started playing 'Dumsheras' game.

It was around 5:30pm & was very foggy. Parth sir told lets all go and bring water for dinner. Vishnu told lets concentrate on cards so that no one will ask us to come along and can escape from going but हम नही जाते तो कोन जाता?. So we collected all the water bottles available with all of us & pots to bring water. Sangram & other guys went in different direction to the water tank. Parth sir, Arjun sir, KK, Vishnu, Pritam & I went by another way. It was very Cloudy and foggy so were unable to see anything clearly and properly. There were no railings or any support on the way. I was quite scared, cause it was was getting dark and we still had to reach the water tank, fill water and return back to the cave. Only Parth sir knew the road to return to the cave, so while returning we followed Parth sir. I took battery from Parth sir & got down in tank. Really!! it was very clean & nice tank. After filling bottles & pot we started to move towards caves. We were around 12-15 guys. It was foggy as well as raining. We were a big group so we could come back safely other wise... If some body asks me what you enjoyed most on trek then i would like to tell this bringing water was most unforgettable & thrilling experience for me. लाइफ में first time पानी लाने के लिए इतनी बड़ी risk ली थी. I even carried pot on my head & walked on the slippy, curvy road in a torch light. We took sigh of relief once we got back to the Cave.

Menu for dinner was Pulav rice!!. Hearing the same I became happy that at the end of the day i will get to eat rice. Till the dinner become ready we started playing musical dare & Truth in between we also had soup as starter. It was very yummy, i had as much as i can cause kk bought soup for me :). After 20-25 minutes we had dinner. I, Kunal n KK had dinner in one plate, now it was my turn to bring rice. कांद्याची चटनी फारच छान झाली होती.

After having dinner we washed utensils. Now it was time to find place to sleep as another group of 20-25 people had come for halt in same cave, but they occupied place inside the cave. We already had arranged sleeping mats, girls from our group acquired the place where we were playing cards. So I, KK, Kunal started to find place to sleep where we can pass this foggy night. As there was no space outside so I found a space where we cooked. Easily we 3-4 guys accommodate there. KK, Kunal, Sangram & me decided to sleep at the entrance of cave. While others slept outside of the cave. Kunal din't find his mat so we 4 guys adjusted on 3 mats. There was heavy-cold wind. We slept comfortably as compared to others. We were quite happy about the place where we slept,compared to other guys as it warm less foggy there. Around 12:30am our mouth was closed.

We got up in morning around 5:30 am due to the talking noise of others group. They were saying, रात्री या लोकांनी भात खाल्ला आणि १२-१ वाजेपर्यंत गप्पा मारत बसले आणि आपल्याला झोपू दिलं नाही. आता आपण यांना झोपू द्यायचे नाही. Finally I got up after their talks then i woke up KK, Kunal & sangram. We had long discussion about 'One night @ the Ratangad forts Cave'. Guys were making tea so we went to brush teeth & come back after finishing 'प्रात:विधि' :). We had tea with some roti & bread. Many of us didn't see 'Nedhe' Which is one of the best spot on fort on last day. So, we decided to got down fort via Kokan Darwaja.

Around 8:30am we started towards 'Nedhe' means the ‘point of the needle’. It’s a big natural hole in the mountain which is caused by wind erosion. Its one of the must see point on the fort. It was very foggy & raining. We reached 'Nedhe' in half an hour.

It was so energetic that once we reached there we started dancing with some photo session After photo session we moved towards to Konkan Darwaja. The steps were 80 degree steep down. It was raining & there is no railing on the sides, the mountain was covered with wet moss and small crabs. We all were moving slowly. We decided to stay last so that we could have snaps. This journey was also amazing.

At one the point we all took some rest & started getting down towards base village. We had to cross from Jungles & suddenly it started raining heavily. गडावरून खाली येताना करवंदाची झाडे खुप होती, आयुष्यात first time इतके करवंद खाल्ले असतील. खुप गोड होती करवंद. After 2-3 hrs we reached Ratanwadi- the base village.