MohanGad, Varandha Ghat & Kavlya Gad - One day package

I heard of the newly found fort called Mohangad near the Varandha ghat discovered by Sachin Joshi who's an assistant researcher at Deccan College. Lots of debate was there whether its a fort or not as there was no any fortification found on the top of the hill. Lets check some history of the MohanGad. Don't worry I'm not gonna bore you as the fort has not much history. When Afzal Khan came to finish Shivaji Maharaj & Swarajya created by him. Before that Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had written a letter to Baji Prabhu Deshpande that keep some people on the fort & make the fort usable. Rename the fort from Jasloadgad to Mohangad. This is the only reference of Mohangad. I have read this in Baji Prabhu a book written by Ranjit Desai & Shivaji the great authored by Shinde & Naik. After reading all stuff I was eagerly waiting to visit this fort since a very long time.

The fort is located in Hirdas Maval area. We were 12 people, leaved Pune around 7AM & reached MohanGad around 11AM at the base of the fort. As we wasted 1 hr to have breakfast. To reach Mohangad drive towards Satara on Mumbai-B'lore Highway. Take right from Kapoorhol to Bhor. Reach the Bhor & drive towards Mahad. The journey from Bhor to Mohangad is simply awesome. You can see the Bhatghar dam which looks awesome while water getting down from the wall mostly in Monsoon. Road from Bhor to Mohangad is not so good but its drivable(in Marathi :-). Distance from Pune to Bhor is around 50-60 KM. Bhor to the Mohangad is about 30 KM but the its completely Ghat road so have to drive slowly. You can see the white water lake at the left side which is covered by dense forest. Natural beauty is just speechless. You must feel to stop at every corner of the road & see the lake sight as much as you want. I must suggest leave Pune as early as you can so that you can spend time for photography. Don't involve in scenic too much that you could miss the left turn towards Mohangad from the main road. Keep your eyes on a road at left side after driving around 20 KM from Bhor & on the side of the road there is a board which doesn't clearly indicate. Mohangad is also called Durgada so you can see the Durgada on the board. Here take left & drive for 2-3 KM you can see a quite large temple of Janani Mata. Just park your vehicle with driver & tight your shoes less. To reach Mohangad, You can catch the Mahad bus via Bhor & get down at Durgada phata.

Exactly opposite of the temple there is small walk path goes into the greenery. This path leads you at the top of the Mohangad. I heard that there is one more way from the Village towards fort but we follow the one from Janani Mata temple as this path is hard to climb as compared to other one. Path is almost straight forward there is no any "bhulbhaliyaa" type path. While traversing to one of the rock you can't see the path clearly but you can get it. It might take 1:30 - 2 hrs to reach the fort depends on how fast you walk. There is just a small temple at the top. The fort has no remains of any fortification & top has a very small space to construct so not sure whether it was a fort. I'm sure there must be some importance to this place that's why it must be Mohangad. The main advantage of this fort is you can keep eye on large nearby area. You can easily see the walls of Pratapgad where Shivaji Maharaj killed Afzal Khan from the top of the fort on backside. You can easily see Rohida, Rajgad & Torna fort as well from Mohangad.

Later we came down at the temple & had the lunch. Around 2PM we started descending the fort & reached at the base in 30-40 min. I took the rest at base temple while waiting for others. Later we moved towards Varandha Ghat which is on the way towards Mahad to visit Kavlya Gad. Varandha Ghat is just around 10-12 KM away from Mohangad. Varandha Ghat is just awesome & must place in Monsoon. Its very scenic place. Just google it, see the images. "चारी बाजूला खोल दरी आणि कड्या कपाऱ्यातून पडणारे धबधबे पाहून तुम्ही जर पुणेकर असाल तर आतून एकच आवाज येईल एकच नंबरर्र्र..!!!". In Monsoon the nature is at its best in this place. Guys plan for the Varandha Ghat if you haven't visited this place. You must visit Varandha Ghat at any cost.

We moved towards Kavlya Gad which is very close to the Varandha Ghat. Its just a small hill. Kavlya gad has no history. Yesubaai wife of Chatrapati Sambhaji Raje helped Rajaraam Maharaj to escape from Auragzeb & Rajaram Maharaj used this way to reach Jinji from Raigad. The path leads to Kavlya is very slippery and sloping downward, but not much dangerous. Initially i thought we will reach the extreme point in an 15-20 min. but one needs to cross some small hills. It took around 1 hr to reach kavlya. The pathwalk was covered by 6-7 feet tall karvi bushes. One can easily identify the Rajgad & Torna fort from Kavlya. You can see the Raigad as well. The ghat road looks just awesome which looks like Kumbarli ghat from Jungli Jaygad. After spending half an hour we came back to Varandha ghat had garam garam Kanda Bhaji with tea while enjoying the beauty of varandha ghat. We leaved from Varandha ghat around 6:30 & reached Pune at 9:30. Tons of thanks to Arvind Patil for the awesome pics from his cam. I have posted some more pics on Facebook. Just Click here.

प्रेम तुझं-माझं आणि आपलं

दुसऱ्या दिवशी मंगळागौर असते. हा सण नवविवाहितेने करण्याचा सण असतो. घरात दोन नवविवाहित दाम्पत्य असल्याने यावर्षीची तयारी जरा जोरातच चालू असते. स्वयंपाक आवरून घरातल्या सर्व स्त्रियांचं साडीवर discussion होतं आणि हा घोळका मेहंदी लावायला हॉल मध्ये जमा होतो. जेवण अजून झालेलं नसतं पुरुष मंडळी थोडं उशिराच येतात त्यामुळे सर्व स्त्रियां आपल्या एकाच हाताला मेहंदी लावतात.
विशाखा मात्र आपल्या ननंदेला म्हणते माझ्या दुसऱ्या हाताला पण मेहंदी लावा. हे ऐकून सासूबाई म्हणतात, "अगं विशाखा तुझ्या नवऱ्याला मी वाढेल जेवायला पण तू कशी जेवणार. तुला भूक नाहीये का? ". तेव्हा विशाखा म्हणते, "आत्या, भूक तर आहे पण एकदा का जेवण झालं की नंतर मला कोणीच मेहंदी लावणार नाही. Don't Worry आत्या हे आहेत ना भरवतील मला." आणि सगळेच हसायला लागतात ती पण लाजते आणि मेहंदी लावण्यासाठी आपला दुसरा हात पुढे करते. इतक्यात सासूबाई आपल्या मुलीला म्हणतात, "लाव ग आशु मेहंदी माझ्या पण दुसऱ्या हाताला." आशु म्हणते, "अगं आई मग जेवायला कोण वाढणार सगळ्यांना आणि तुझा पण उपवास आहे तू कशी ग सोडणार उपवास?" सासूबाई विशाखाकडे बघत म्हणतात, "का आमचे हे आहेत ना भरवतील मला." आणि एकच हश्या पिकतो. सासूबाई म्हणतात, "का ग प्रेम काय फक्त तुम्हा तरूणांचच असतं का? आमचं पण प्रेम बघा मग तुम्ही आज." घरातल्या सगळ्या स्त्रिया आपल्या दोन्ही हाताला मेहंदी लावतात.

थोडयाच वेळात पुरुष मंडळी घरी येतात. प्रत्येकजण आपल्या बायकोने दोन्ही हातावर लावलेल्या मेहंदीची प्रशंसा करतात आणि जेवायला कोणीतरी वाढेल म्हणून हॉलमध्ये जमा होतात. १० मिनिटे, 15 मिनिटे शेवटी आवाज येतो. "अगं आज जेवायला देणार आहात की नाही?" इतक्यात सगळे स्त्रियां हॉलमध्ये येऊन काही न बोलता उभे राहतात. बाबा म्हणतात, "अगं असं घुम्यासारखं का उभ्या आहात जेवायला वाढ आम्हला ९:३० वाजले आहेत, पोटात कावळे ओरडत आहेत." तेव्हा सगळ्या स्त्रियां आपले मेहंदीने भरलेले दोन्ही हात पुढे करतात.

थोड्याच वेळापूर्वी ज्या हातांची तारीफ केली आता तेच मेहंदीने भरलेले हात सगळ्या पुरुष मंडळीना पाहून तळपायाची आग मस्तकाला जाते. मग एक आवाज येतो "स्वयंपाक तरी केला आहे की नाही ते तरी सांगा?" दादा म्हणतो एक मित्राची पार्टी होती गेलो असतो तर बरं झालं असतं. इतक्यात आई म्हणते आरे दादा स्वयंपाक केला आहे, आज तुमचं तुम्हीच सर्व करा. तो उठतो आणि किचन मधून एक-एक जेवायच्या वस्तू आणतो. सगळे पुरुष मंडळी वैतागून आपापलं ताट घेऊन जेवायला सुरवात करत असतात तेवढ्यात बाबा म्हणतात,"अगं तुझा उपवास आहे ना आज? दुपारी पण तू काही नाही खाल्लस." आई म्हणते मी काय आमच्यापैकी कोणीच उपवास सोडला नाही. आई झाला प्रकार सर्वाना सांगते आणि सर्व पुरुष मंडळी तो भरलेला ताट आपल्या बायकोला भरवतात. सगळ्यांना जेवताना विशाखाकडे पाहून हसू मात्र काही केल्या आवरत नाही.

तो तिला घास भरवत असतो आणि अचानक ती त्याला प्रेमाने जोरात चावते. तो आईगंSS करतो आणि म्हणतो बावळट आहेस का तू? ती म्हणते मला रोज असं प्रेमाने भरवत जा ना मग. तो म्हणतो अस्स. आता बेडरूम मध्ये चल मग बघ तुला कुठं-कुठं आणि कसं-कसं चावतो ते. आणि आज तुझ्या हाताला मेहंदी असल्याने तुझी माझ्यापासून सुटका पण करू शकणार नाहीस. ती म्हणते मी आज आत्याजवळ झोपणार आहे. हे ऐकून बाबा म्हणतात. 'खबरदार.. आज आम्हाला कोणी disturb केलं तर' आणि सगळ्यांच्या हश्या पिकतात.

Rohida Fort - Kenjal Gad & फसलेला Raireshwar

As our Yo trek group members Durgesh & Rohan escaped from Rohida-Raireshwar trek. KK & me decided to follow the first rule of trek & that is not to cancel the trek if any member gets cancelled. As the plan was to leave early from Pune, visit Rohida & later Raireshwar. Kenjalgad was also in our mind but we don't wanted to make it in hurry so we decided to visit Kenjalgad only if we get time after visiting Rohida & Raireshwar. It was possible only if we leaved early morning from Pune. There was no worry of travelling as i already borrowed Durgesh's bike on friday night. We decided to meet at Swargate on sharp 5:30. We both were not aware of the route & didn't get time to check detail's at office. I googled the route details, maps n everything. Slept at 1:30AM & got up at 4:30AM. After having bath & cuppa tea, i reached Swargate at 5:30 but as usual KK was not there. KK came after i read all the news about Kedarnath flood. We started moving towards Katraj around 6:20am.

Plan was straight forward, drive on Mumbai-B'lore highway upto Kapoorhol & take right turn for Bhor, reach rohida fort first & then Raireshwar. Rain was stopped & morning was quite pleasant. Clouds were moving above the head. KK & me got indulged in gossip such a way that we forgot to take right turn for Bhor from Shindewadi & we came to know it after moving 10 KM ahead. Later took U turn & moved towards Bhor. As we thought there must be large road for Bhor & some boards which indicates the direction but there was no such board on the highway. So make sure you take right turn from Shindiwadi which is 5-6 KM ahead of Kapoorhol. Bhor is around 12 KM from highway. As you reached in Bhor, the statue of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj catches your eyes which is in the middle of the road. Just take left for Rohida which is around 8-10KM from Bhor or go straight towards Mahad for Raireshwar. Choice is yours. we moved to Rohida fort. Bajarwadi is the base village of rohida.

Parked bike at primary school & we were hungry. We forgot to have breakfast on highway as we missed the road & there was no chau-mau food in our bag. As there was no tea shop at Bajarwadi so it was like dream come true even if we get Parle-G from any small shop. Somebody told the Kiranna store's address, we took Parle-G & i told shopkeeper that it would be great if we get a cuppa tea. He said if u want i'll tell my wife to make it. We were pleased. We said please make it for us but you have to take money for the tea & he refused. Later he told that his family makes lunch for many trekkers. When i heard lunch i became more hungry & asked uncle that can you please tell aunty to make Kande-Poha for us. Uncle packed poha in carry bag & told another uncle to show us his house & tell her wife to make poha n tea for us. We leaved Khopde's house after having poha & tea.

We started climbing Rohida Fort at 8:30 AM. Fort is not so high but climb is straight forward. You can see main door & walls of the forts along with Buruj from the village. We managed to reach at the top of the fort in an hour while having photography as it was quite clear climate. There are 3 main doors which are in quite good condition. If you wanna see the beauty of Buruj then you must visit Rohida. There are 6 buruj & each buruj is unique & very huge. All the buruj are clean & well maintained by fort lovers. You can enjoy speedy wind on the each buruj of Rohida. Due to high speed wind, the Rohida Fort is very popular among the trekkers & Of course it should be as we enjoyed it a lot. Really it was huge speedy wind. There is a temple on the center of the fort. One more thing of the fort mostly impressed me is the fort has managed great rain water harvesting. However this fort is not as large as Rajgad, Sinhagad but there are many water tanks. 'Store water as much as you can' thats the simple solution to overcome drought. We didn't even learn simple things from history or we don't wanna learn. We started descending, after spending 2 hours on the fort.

Later i come to know that you can climb this fort from Ambavde village as well but this route is quite tricky & long. It needs 2-3 hrs to reach the top of the fort from Aambavade village. So next time will visit Rohida from this route.

I have read the history of the Rohida fort in many books. This fort was the property of Banddal who cosider himself King before it comes under Hindavi Swaraj. Shivaji Maharaj asked Krashnaji Banddal to come under Hindavi Swaraj or get ready to fight & Baji Prabhu Deshpande who was Pradhan of Banddal suggested to reply if you wanna fight then come today itself. Shivaji Maharaj was already planted his men in & around the fort. Shivaji Maharaj attacked the fort on same day though it was dark moon & capture the fort. Krashanji Banddal got killed but Baji Prabhu didn't accept the defeat. Baji Prabhu agreed when Shivaji Maharaj personally met him & explained him why he want to build Swarajya.

We came back to bhor around 12:30. Had meals & moved towards Mahad as our next destination was to reach Raireshwar where Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took Hindavi Swarajya oath & my friend KK wanted to take oath of starting development for our mobile app :-). To visit Raireshawar go straight towards Mahad & take left once you reach Aambavade village which is around 8-10KM from Bhor. Follow the road without asking anyone from Aabavade & you will be at Ghera-Kenjal. आंबवडे गावापासून ते घेरा-केंजळ पर्यंतचा परिसर आतिशय नयनरम्य आहे. पावसात न्हाउन निघालेला हिरवागार परिसर अत्यंत मोहक दिसत होता. गाडी चालवताना हात सोडून वाऱ्याचा feel घ्यावासा वाटत होता आणि समोर दिसणारा केंजळगड रागाने म्हणत होता, 'ह्म्म्म रायरेश्वराला जाताय वाटतं वेळ मिळाला तर भेटा आह्माला पण'. केंजळगडाकडे बघताना असे वाटत होते कि हा डोंगर तयार झाल्यावर त्याच्या डोक्यावर निसर्गाने अलगद वरचा दगडी भाग जणू काही शीर-टोप म्हणून घातला आहे. रायरेश्वराला आणि केंजळ गडाला जाणारा एकच रस्ता आहे. फार मोठा घाट आहे आणि घाट रस्ता फार खराब आहे. या घाटाचे नाव घेरा-केंजळ आहे. याच मार्गाने पुढे मांढरदेवी(काळूबाई)ला जाता येते.

As the road was very bad so we parked bike in the middle of ghat & started walking towards Raireshwar fort. You can see the Kenjalgad easily but not Raireshwar. To reach Kenjalgad take left turn & for Raireshwar just continue the path & walk for 1-2 hrs. We were moved towards Raireshwar but a trekker group were moving towards KenjalGad & they thought that we wanted to visit KenjalGad but not Raireshwar so they signalled to follow them from long distance. As we also not aware how far was Raireshwar from there so we followed the group which was lost in dense as we reached near the small village. AS there are many paths towards the fort & there is dense so i asked a small village boy to take us to the fort but KK forced me to follow him & boy was not agree for 50 bucks. It was raining, climb was straight forward & there was no proper path. I was quite tired & told KK i'll kill him he missed the road. Finally in half an hour, we came in-front of KenjalGad.

It was really amazing view of KenjalGad. On the left side you can see the back water of Bhatghar dam & on the other side of the dam you can easily see the Kamal Gad. This view was very scenic. After 10 min's walk there are wide steps which takes you to the top of the fort & same steps gets you back. :). These steps are very wide & one side is closed by a big rock patch. You can see some fortification at the fort. There is small temple. After having very pure water, We rested for a while & went to see explore the fort. उन-पावसाचा खेळ चालू होता. डोंगरातून नागमोडी वळण घेत गेलेला मांढरदेवीचा रस्ता तर खूप छान दिसत होता. जंगली जयगडावरून कुंभार्लीचा घाट जसा दिसतो अगदी तसाच हा घाट दिसत होता. डाव्या बाजूला रायरेश्वर दिसतो. या गडावर दोन चुन्याच्या घाणे आहेत. एकाच गडावर दोन चुन्याचे घाणे पहिल्यांदाच पाहिले. एका ठिकाणी गडावरून खाली पाणी पडत होते आणि तेच पाणी खालून येणाऱ्या वाऱ्यामुळे परत तुषारांच्या रुपात वर येत होते. थोडं अमाझिंग वाटलं. तासाभरात गड फिरून झाला साधारण ३:३० वाजले होते मग रायरेश्वरला जायचं नक्की केलं म्हणून short-cut ने गड उतरायचं ठरवलं. पावसाने वाट निसरडी झाली होती आणि ज्या वाटेने आम्ही उतरायचं ठरवलं मला नाही वाटत त्या वाटेने सहसा कोणी उतरलं असेल. ही वात आता पर्यंतच्या माझ्या ट्रेक मधली सर्वात बिकट आणि आवडलेली वाट. गर्द झाडी मधून आम्ही अक्षरश: घसरत गड उतरत होतो. कारण उठून चालायचं म्हणजे डोक्याला झाडाच्या फांद्या लागायच्या. मग काय खाली shoes वर बसून थोडा झोक दिला की घसरत घसरत खाली जात होतो. मध्ये मध्ये तर इच्छा असूनही थांबता येत नव्हते. मला KK कडे बघून आणि त्याला माझ्याकडे बघून हसू काही केल्या आवरत नव्हते. त्या अर्ध्या तासाच्या त्या patch आम्हाला अगदी बालिश करून सोडले होते. खूप मज्जा आली.

Soon we reached small school at the village our back side & shoes were completely filled by mud. I was trying to clear my shoes & KK told that he lost his cell phone while getting down from the fort. I was shocked as it was dense forest & how are you going to climb the path which was very difficult to get down. It was raining as well. I called on KK's cell phone & it was ringing so KK told me to stay at school & keep calling on his cell. KK is real trekker so he told me don't worry i'll find myself. I was sure he'll find it. KK went to find his cell & my cell's batttery was getting weak. I called Durgesh who was having bath at 4PM. Aniket received call & i told him to tell Durgesh to keep calling on KK's cell until he receive it. After 15-20 min KK came back with his cell phone. We had a cup of black tea from villagers. It was 4:30PM & we decided to moved towards Raireshar. After walking 10-15 min, suddenly we changed our mind & cancelled the Raireshwar as it was getting dark & we were already tired. We moved toward Pune around 5PM.

We stopped at Ambavade village. I read somewhere that there is an old suspension bridge & a popular Nageshwar temple at Amabavde village. You can see the suspension bridge from the main road. This bridge is built by Pant Sachiv of Bhor Shankaraji Narayan in memory of his Mother. Crossed the suspension bridge & visited Nageshwar temple. After that we visited Narveer Kanhoji Jedhe's Samadhi. Kanhoji Jedhe was initially with Shahaji Maharaj & later he supported Shivaji Maharaj as Shahaji Raje suggested him. You can see Jeeva Mahala's samadhi besides Kanohji Jedhe's samadhi. Jeeva saved Shivaji Maharaj from Sayyad banda who was with Afzal khan. We left Aabavade village around 6PM.

It was pouring down while coming back to Pune. We were wet thoroughly & wanted to have some hot-spicy snacks & cuppa tea. We stopped at Kailas Bhel at Khed Shivapur one of the popular hotel which was moved to a brand new food court. We completed our journey by having fatty Vadapaav, Bhaji with hot cup of tea & reached Pune around 7-8 pm!

Ride - Trek - Pray - Wed - Trip to Kolhapur

We had to attend wedding ceremony of our officemate Sachin in Kolhapur. We decided to roam in & around Kolhapur so that we had to leave 2 days before wedding day. Major problem was getting leave from office, as many of us works on same project & our TL was also on leave for a complete week. Actually we wanted 2 days leave but got just a single day n that was enough for us. Sachin had managed a car for us at K'pur. At the end KK got out from the plan. So me, Rohan & Durgesh decided to go by Shivneri bus. Later Sachin told its very difficult to manage a car as its marriage season so can't manage car for us.

On friday we were going on bike towards Swargate from Sinhagad Road to book tickets. बोलता बोलता रोहन बोलला की चला बाइक ने जाऊया, road is just awesome, you will enjoy bike riding, we don't need to hire any car at K'pur & we can go anywhere we want if we have our vehicle आणि शेवटी मी पण थोडं फार तिखट मीठ टाकलं. Durgesh who's Splender got replaced by Ganesh's(his frnd)CBZ, as Ganesh's mom was in city n she can't sit on CBZ so he took Durgesh's bike. After giving a half an hour lecture Durgesh agreed to ask Ganesh. We knew that ganesh won't mind it. Finally we decided to go by bike & not to talk anyone at office so that we can leave office early by telling that we have bus at 5PM. Durgesh had already booked Auragzeb movie tickets 9:30PM show at R-Deccan. So we went for the movie & reached home around 1:30AM.

It was working Saturday so we came early at office & managed to finish work before 5PM. Our journey towards K'pur started. Mumbai-B'lore road is just an amazing so enjoyed riding on the road. We took a break after Satara & from Satara Road is simply great. First time in my life i enjoyed bike ride for such a long time. You won't get potholes on the road. Finally we reached K'pur around 10PM, had dinner & went to have ice cream at Empire Icecream around 12:30am with Groom(bakra). I liked this small ice-cream parlor & promised owner to come tomorrow to have ice cream's without dinner while coming back to home saw the night beauty of MahaLaxmi temple & Sachin told some history of Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

Next day got up early & went to Mahalaxmi temple to offer pray. Temple is so amazing & very large. We were very lucky as there was not huge rush in a temple. अगदी प्रसन्न वातावरणात देवीचं दर्शन घडलं. After having B'fast we moved towards Jotibak - दक्खनचा राजा. Jotiba is just 20-25 KM away from K'pur. We were on the way, got stucked by a crowd & Rohan told, "पाटील इथे बैलांची शर्यद आहे, पहायचं का? I bet you will enjoy it." It was cloudy & we were on time so we decided to see the bull race. Durgesh & me were quite excited as we were watching bull race first time. It took half an hour to start race. Initially we enjoyed it much. काही बैल गाडीसहित आपल्या मालकाला घेऊन शेतात शिरत होते तर काही थेट लोकांच्या घोळक्यात घुसत होते. हे बघताना हसू मात्र आवरत नव्हते. पण शेवटी शेवटी मात्र हि शर्यद बघणं नकोसं झालं. पुढे जाण्यासाठी बैलाला आपल्या धन्याकडून फार मार खावा लागत होता. बैलांच्या तोंडातून रक्त निघत होते. क्षणभरात रंगाचा भंग कसा होतो याचा प्रत्यय आला. Tons of thanks to Maharashtra Government who banned the bull races. त्या बैलात आणि आपल्यात काय फरक आहे असा विचार मनात घर करत होता पण खूप फरक होता आणि आहे!!!

गप्पा मारता मारता जोतिबाच्या डोंगर पायथ्या जवळ आलो. मे महिना असूनही शेतं हिरवीगार दिसत होती आणि हवेत पण थोडा थंडावा होता. एकीकडे पिण्याच्या पाण्यासाठी दाही दिशांना टाहो फोडावा लागतो पण कोल्हापूर परिसर मात्र यास अपवाद होता. जोतिबाचा डोंगर परिसर तर अत्यंत नयनरम्य आहे, मे महिन्यात इतकी हिरवळ तर पावसाळ्यात काय सीन असेल याची कल्पना केल्या शिवाय राहवत नव्हतं. There was a huge rush in Jotiba Temple, as most devotees offer pray to Jotiba on Sunday. Temple is so nice, Many devotees through Gulal & Coconut pieces while chanting 'जोतिबाच्या नावानं चांगभलं' loudly. We too joined them. One more thing don't miss any opportunity to have sweet(पेढे)in local shops around temple. I'll promise you'll enjoy the Varna products MP3 advertisement. :-)

Now it was time to become trekkers from baratis cum devotees. Why? because we were heading towards one of the popular & important fort Panhala. I guess Panhala fort is just 10-12 KM from Jotiba. This fort is completely different from other forts in maharashtra region. Its a huge fort & Taluka place so there are many houses, hotels & resorts. It was quite difficult to digest for us so we hired a guide who took us to many places & told some history in just 200 bucks. तीन दरवाजा, सज्जाकोटी, धान्यकोठार, अंधारबाव are just awesome & must visit places on Panhala. गडावरील बऱ्याच वास्तू अजूनही शाबूत आहेत. Recently i had read PaavanKhind book written by Ranjit Desai based on the life of BajiPrabhu Deshpande. So i was feeling the whole history but the resorts & hotels on the fort helps you to come back to present which is very bad.

Well it was time to have some Pet Pujaa(now don't even think of any girl with name Pujaa), मग काय झुणका भाकर आणि खर्ड्यावर तुटून पडलो. In between we heard of Paavan-Gad fort which is adjacent fort of Panhala. This fort is built by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Road from Panahala to PaavanGad is just awesome. Just follow the road which leads from the AndharBaav & you will be at Paavangad after 4-5 KM's drive. पावन गडावर फार काही गर्दी नसते, इथे फक्त हाडा-मासाचे गिरीप्रेमि येतात. I must say don't miss Paavangad if u plan for the Panhala fort. Later i come to know that there is walk path from Panhala to Paavangad is very beautiful & scenic, so next time will visit Paavan-gad by this way. Paavan-Gad is the second fort where i talked with her(my life!!!), it was Rajgad where i talked her first time. It was just amazing feeling. You won't get it. :)

We started descending from Panhala at 2:00PM & reached K'pur around 3:00PM. You can see PanchGanga ghat on PanchGanga river. We were quite tired so had looked it from the road. After having cuppa tea it was time to see Rankala - Juhu beach of K'pur. Its a lake located in city itself. This lake had given chance to prove Maloji Raje(Chatrapati Shivaji Raje's grand fater) & from then he became Umarao of PaadShaha Nijaam. Its a large history. If you are from Pune Mumbai, Pls don't expect smart faces..! कोल्हापुरात त्या type ची हिरवळ थोडी कमीच आहे. :-)

Next day went to Azra, wedding ceremony place which is around 120 KM from K'pur. We had to come back to K'pur & then drive to Pune on bike. After ceremony we moved towards K'pur with Sachin's frnd in his Swift. Durgesh was sat on my thigh for around 2 hrs. च्यायला माझ्या बायकोला पण इतका वेळ मी मांडीवर बसवलं नसतं. पण काय करणार आलीया भोगासी असावे सदर. It was drizzling. We reached K'pur at 5PM & moved towards pune. It was raining but thanks to god we didn't get wet. Finally K'pur dauarra came to an end around 10PM we reached Pune.

Photo courtesy - Rohan Patil from his brand new Samsung S4 oopps sorry S3.

Jivdhan Gad - First Night Trek

Finally we planned the Jivdhan Gad trek on 2nd Feb. As usual some cats crossed the road & trek postponed to the 2nd March. We were quite excited as it was our first night trek. Many married(that's why i don't wanna marry. :D) & physically ill people were not interested which is as usual, so plan was almost cancelled. We guys showed a great enthusiasm to the management & plan got fixed to Jivdhan - Nane Ghat. It was working Saturday, yeah we don't work on 2nd & 4th Sat only :(. We had to leave from office at around 2pm so we came to the office at 8am(sharp), later we came to know it was our mistake. I left home without lunch box so had lunch at Swikaar hotel with colleagues. We were around 27 people left office around 3pm. We never leave on time, every time somebody comes late. This time it was Shantanu sir, everyone was shouting & when he entered we welcomed him with a big round of applause. We were on the way near Rajguru Nagar & he opened home made 'Puri' then we realised why he got late. I don't thing everyone got it as many of us finished it like a beggar. ha ha ha Somebody passed some sweats packed in plastic box, once everyone saw it they jumped on box. Thanks to god, plastic box survived.

Once the bus took the left from Narayan Gaon towards Junnar, road is quite bumpy. मार्च महिना असूनही आजू-बाजूचा हिरवागार परिसर अतिशय सुंदर वाटत होता आणि डाव्या बाजूला जाता जाता सुर्य रंगांची उधळण करीत मावळत होता. We reached Ghatghar village which is the base village of Jivdhan gad around 8:30pm & had packed snacks. So one can consider 4-5 hrs ride from Pune to Jivdhan gad. Many of us were mingled with Vijay who bought special home made 'dhapate'. सगळेजण तुटून पडलो धपाट्यावर & of course Potato sabji made by Vaishali. After having snacks we packed our bags & filled water bottles near hand pumb.

It was night trek so we hired a villager from the Ghatghar who guided us to reach the top of fort. If you are planning for Jivdhan night trek then hire villager or get a guy who had already done Jivdhan night trek. Its completely safe trek. Road towards the top is almost straight forward. Climb is very easy. It takes 1 hr max to reach at the top of the fort. We climbed so slowly as there were many girls who just hate to trek(i guess!!) so it took around 2 hrs to reach top. I wanted some responsibility & thanks to Himagi mam who was absent so decided to stay at last. Thanks Girls were as usual having chat loudly so me Sachin, Abhishek kept some space to enjoy the silence of nature. Walk towards the top of fort is quite easy besides two rock patch. While climbing the fort me & Ashwin sir learnt many Kokani sentences like maka kaam asa(i'm busy), miya damluy mare(i'm tired) blah blah from Sachin & Abhishek who are from Kokan. Later Manali mam joined us n talk went to other languages. Thank god we didn't had talk on Computer languages :D.

Ashwin & Parth sir had photo session with Moon. Soon we came to the final rock patch of the trek. This rock patch is quite tricky so Abhishek who is professional trekker fixed rope & KK helped him too. We already knew gals would take minimum half an hour so we sat down on the steps below the rock patch. In between we saw an animal, i don't know what it was. I was playing with head torch & suddenly it focused on the side of fort & eyes of that animal reflected. It was really one of the unforgettable moment. Thanks to Rucha, we clicked some pics at night.

Later we came back near to the granary where Sahil already made soup for us. After having soup, we concentrated on sabji made by Sahil. I swear it was one of the best dish i ever had. When you hungry, you like everything but guys it was really awesome. 10 out of 10 to Sahil. O n how can i forgot Chatni bought by Vijay. Oops i must say sorry to Rucha for not giving her Chatani. You know what was the time we had dinner?? It was 12:00am. गडावरच्या वाऱ्याने इतकी भुरळ घातली की बस्स म्हटलं आत धान्य कोठारात झोपायचं नाही. बाहेरच शिवारात झोपायचं ठरलं. हळू हळू गडावरचा वारा झोम्बू लागला. The cold breeze at top of the fort sent shivers down my spine so i forced Ashwin sir to sleep besides me as there was space n wanted to get rid of air :D. Later i came to know inviting Ashwin sir was huge mistake as soon as he started snoring. I woke up at 2am to attend nature's call & there was Durgesh too. I told him lets go into the granary & we went in granary. There was a dust but that was okay as compared to the outside breeze. Here again some gals were chatting so i started snooring loudly then they stopped talking.

We got up around 7:00am as sun was quite up. Went to nature call & had cup of tea with biscuits & went sight seeing with few guys. From the left side of the fort you can easily see AMK, Kalsubai. After having Pohe & playing Charades.

Me KK & Parth sir collected garbage from granary & left the fort from Kokan darwaja towards the Nane Ghat.

Most of the forts have Kokan Doors & Jivdhan is not an exception. The Kokan Darwaja of Jivdhan gad is as same as the Ratangad's Kokan Darwaja. Passing Kokan darwaja with luggage is quite tricky at some point, but overall its easy. Nanacha Angtha looks awesome from Kokan Darwaja.

There is one of the interesting point called VanarLingi - a rock aside of Jeedhan Gad. It's just amazing no words to explain. After spending time near Vanarlingi we started getting town towards Nanacha Angtha. You can easily see Nanacha Angtha from Jeedhan Gad. Walked through the forest as there was Manali mam who visited Jeedhan 7-8 times so there was no chance to lose the road. Walk from forest is quite confusing so guys who were coming behind us lost the path. We waited for them for half an hour & then reached Nane Ghat where we have Dahi-Kichadi & Jamun too.

Manali mam told we are not going on the top of the Nanacha Angtha. Then me KK & Sachin decided to go at the top of Angtha. Initially i thought it would be easy climb but after having full lunch climbing was really hard & खालून मॅम ओरडत होत्या चला लवकर फार उशीर झालाय आपल्याला. The surrounding from Nanacha Antha looks awesome. You can see plain plateau in front & on the left side AMK, Kalsubai, Harishchandra gad easily. The scene from Nanacha Angtha was really awesome some trekkers just finished around 400 feet rappelling. Just imagined how it looks after rainy season. Started getting down from Angtha by promising to come for rappelling. As Jivdhan is very easy trek so we didn't tired but after Nanacha Angtha we were quite tired, it added some tadka to the trek. Journey of returning back to home is always boring so that's the story of our first night trek. Now looking forward for Harishchandra Gad Night trek with our Yo group. :D

नाचता येईना अंगण वाकडे. दुसरं काय?

परवा मला कोणाला तरी कोणत्या तरी भाषेत काही तरी सांगायचं होतं. आता कोणाला आणि काय सांगायचं होतं हे तुम्हाला सांगायची मुळीच आवशकता नाहीये. हे अगदी personal आहे. मला माहित आहे तुम्ही मला personal मधलं personal सांगितलं असेल. असो हा मुद्दा फार काही महत्वाचा नाही. मला जे काही कोणाला सांगायचं होतं ते सांगून झालं.

परवा मला एका मराठी माहित नसलेल्या मित्राचा फोन आला म्हणे कि i like you so much असं एखाद्या मराठी मुलीला मराठीत कसं म्हणायचं. मी म्हटलं सोपं आहे. मराठी मुलींना इंग्लिश, हिंदी उत्तम येतं. तू इंग्लिश मध्येच सांग कळेल तिला फार काही विचार करू नको. पण त्याला वाटलं मी त्याची थट्टा करत आहे. मागेच लागला सांग सांग म्हणून. नंतर मी थोडा deep मध्ये जाऊन सांगितलं. म्हटलं हे बघ मराठी मुली मराठी पोरांना लवकर पटत नाहीत जितक्या सहजासहजी त्या non-मराठी पोरांना पटतात. हे मात्र बावलटाला लगेच कळले. Thanks अमोल म्हणून फोन कट केला नमुन्याने.

पुणे मुंबई सारख्या शहरात हीच परिस्थिती आहे. माझा काय या बाबतीत personal experience नाहीये.तुमच्या सारख्या मित्रांचे किस्से. नाचता येईना अंगण वाकडे. दुसरं काय?

Piya Ka Ghar - A Classical Bollywood Movie

Last night every one went to meet relatives so i was the only one who had total control over the TV Remote. After having dinner tuned some news channel but every channel was busy with rape, blame n politics which was too much. I'm damn sure you can't live happy life by watching news channels daily. So i moved towards movie channels & every channel was playing same movie they already shown many times. After struggling for an hour i got stuck on Zee Classic playing old movie 'Piya Ka Ghar' staring by Jaya Bachchan. The movie is very simple but fast. It doesn't stuck at any point, no fight, no unnecessary drama. I guess most part of the movie revolves in a small room which turned into 1 BHK. In this room an old couple with their three sons n their 2 wives tries to live happy life.

Malti a wealthy villagers girl marries to a second boy & enters the family who lives in Mumbai Chawl. This newly married couple doesn't have their own bedroom so at night Kitchen get turns into their bedroom which was not just a fine to spend a night for the couple. Kitchen has a window which doesn't get closed. Such window is just an open door for chawl noise & light. Actor finally close it by removing his shirt but he couldn't get rid of radio noise. Finally they decided to sit on bed & once they sit on bed, बेड कर-कर करणे लगता है. और कुच किये बिना ही बेड का आवाज सुनकर भाभी हस देती है. So they remove bed & got sleep on floor. Soon noise & light from open window disturb them. Each day gets spoiled & they doesn't come together. Later she tells her hubby to sleep outside of the house.

एकंदरीत काय तर एका छोट्या खोलीत joint family सोबत राहून निवांत वेळ घालवण्यासाठी धडपडणाऱ्या जोडप्याची कथा म्हणजेच - पिया का घर. सिनेमा पाहताना फार मजा येते. कसे आणि कधी एकदा हे दोघे एकत्र येतात याची मनाला फार उस्तुकता लागून राहते. मुंबईचा तो रेट्रो लूक, ती BEST, local train आणि त्या काळातल्या मोठ्या-मोठ्या इमारती मस्त वाटतात. शेवटी मालती जी मुंबईत एकांत शोधत असते ती गावी जाण्याचा निर्णय घेते आणि घरातल्या प्रत्येकाला आपली चूक लक्षात येते. वयस्कर आई-वडील तीर्थ यात्रेला जाण्याचा निर्णय घेतात, भाऊ-वाहिनी घर सोडून जायला तयार होतात. शेजारचे लोक नवीन घर घेण्यासाठी पैसे द्यायला तयार होतात. या सर्वांचे प्रेम पाहून मालती गावी जाण्यास नकार देते आणि उर्वरित आयुष्य त्याच घरात सुखाने घालवते. Every character done a great work. Jaya Bacchan was just awesome as a Malti. Song 'ये जीवन है, इस जीवन का यही है, यही है, यही हैं रंगरूप' hails from this movie. Here is the wiki link fo this movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piya_Ka_Ghar. खरंच जया बच्चनने खूपचं छान रोल केला आहे. आपल्या बायकोसाठी आणलेला गजरा तिच्या केसांत लावायलाही त्या बिचारयाला किती कष्ट करावे लागतात याचे आणि अश्या अनेक प्रसंगाचे चित्रण अतिशय सुंदर आहे. कधी वेळ मिळाला आणि टीवी वर लागला तर जरूर बघा..!!!