Back to the trekking season after monsoons. Normally winter treks are not as easy compared to the monsoon treks but the cyclone which hit the western coast of India in November brought rains in the Western Ghats and trek to Avchitgad near Rohe would not have been at a better timing.

On November 22, 2009 we assembled at Dadar for our journey to Avchitgad. We were a group of 15 trekkers. It was a mixed bag of people. Some of us were regulars while some were freshers (may be the first or the second trek).

A week after the unseasonal rains hit the western Ghats, the region was still lush green and we could see streams flowing in patches. Within an hour we drove past Karnala on our way to Rohe.

The road off NH-17 to Rohe was a little bumpy ride. We reached around 9.30 a.m. at Medhe.The village Medhe is at the northern side of the Fort and is approx. 7.5 Kms before Rohe. After a small round of introductions we proceeded towards the fort. The route was easy to climb and covered with trees which protected us from the heat.

We soon reached the Mahadarwaja. The Mahadarwaja like all the other forts around was in a bad shape. After walking past the Mahadarwaja we came across the valley around the Kundalika River and Roha.

There are a number of tanks on the fort but the water therein is not potable and one should avoid drinking water from these tanks. The walls of the fort are of rough workmanship, consisting of unhewn stones. The name Avcitgad, apparently from the Sanskrt avcitta or haste, accords well with its rough style of building.

The Northern and southern side of the fort is protected by citadels (machi). The view from both the citadels is fascinating. The structures on the fort have fallen however the plinth of the structures still exists to give an idea of the buildings on the forts.

After relaxing, we traced our steps back to Medhe village. There were two wells in the village one for swiming and another for drawing water. After an exhausting trek, we refreshed ourselves in the cold water of the well.

Read the headline today in the news papers, ‘INDIA BEAT AUSSIES BY 99 RUNS’.

I thought to myself was it the same Aussie side which defeated India in Baroda.  No Bret Lee and James Hopes were missing due to injury. Mitchell Jhonson’s fitness was also an issue before the match.

So inshort we batted very well against a weak attack. But what happens when Bret Lee is fully fit and is back in action? The commentrators are praising the Indian side for wining the match. But this side didnt win against the fully fit Aussie attack.  So we should not get carried away by with the win instead focus on the next match as Bret Lee may be back in side.

Its too late to wish every1 happy diwali. But its me always late to wish. I spent all the time watching Barclays Premier League, Formula F1 and Moto GP.

I finally got some time to move around this Diwali on Monday and had been to Shivaji Park, where the pollution and the gases emmitted by the bursting of crackers had reached its max limit but there was no stopping. Even in the Silence Zone the crackers did not stop bursting. Shame on Mumbaikars (dat includes me) and the Law enforcement authorities who do not abide by the rules. SHAME.

Though Lonar was the most awaited place on my bucket list but visiting Ajanta and Verul was the icing on the cake. Both the places are treat to visit. Once you see the place you will get to know why they are listed as World Heritage Sites.

The Paintings at Ajanta are simply astonishing. Its a wonder how the artists created colors which were not existing during that era. Ajanta truely changed the history of art.  Besides the paintings the carvings are a treat to watch. The artists surely gave life to the rocks.

Verul on the other hand revolves around the Kailash Temple in Cave # 16. This Monolith structure is a miracle as to how our ancestors created this temple from a mountain with the help of premitive accessories available at that time. Unlike the other temples, the shivling is placed on the upper storey. The temple resemples a chariot with Lord Shiva is placed at the highest point. Its very difficult to imagine as to how the artists toiled for nearly 200 years to create this monument. I am not satisfied with the visit and wanted to explore more in the temple(though I spent nearly 4 hours going around the Kailash Temple).

So After a beautiful trekking season, a leisure trip was most needed and to visit Ajanta-Lonar-Verul was really the icing and Cherry on the Cake

Lonar, the name I heard few years back and immediately got to know that it was a lake formed in the crater created by a Meterorite fall. It was in my Bucket List (or what one of my friend calls it - Bhatkanti List) for a long long time. So when the program of Ajanta-Lonar and Verul was finalised by YHAI, Mumbai Unit I simply couldn’t miss it.

My Journey began from Mumbai by train. I reached Jalgaon where a bus was waiting for my Group. Our immediate destination was Ajanta and after having breakfast we moved to visit the caves. After a day long tour in Ajanta Caves my group moved toward Lonar

By the time we reached Lonar Village it was 7.30 p.m. We had to wake up very early as we had to leave around 6.00 a.m. for the walk to the lake.  

When I reached the Lake I was astonished to see a huge crater and a lake formation in the crater. All of us were spell-bound but I immediately turned my ears to the information given by our guide who informed us that to make a crater of the size of Lonar lake in Basalt rock of thickness 600-700 mts. you would need a 6 mega-tonne bombs. He further told us that there are around 22 temples around the lake.

The Group started our tour around the Lonar Lake with the first temple which is the Shankar-Ganesh Temple. All of us assembled in this temple to hear about the construction of the temples and the era of the construction, the ancient history of the temples.

The Style of Construction of the temples is known as ‘Hemadpanthi Temple’. The Construction style is named after the Prime-minister named Hemadpant in the Court of Seuna Yadav of Devgiri. The speciality of the construction was that no cement or lime-stone was used in the construction of these temples. The Temples were constructed by fixing the stones or the moulds one above the other. All these temples were built around 8^th Century A.D to 11^th Century A.D.

The Hemadpanthi Temples are divided into three parts the entry is called Sabha Mandap, the middle portion is Antrayal and the last is called the Gabhara.

Another important way to recognize the Hemadpanthi Temple is the carvings on the entrance to Gabhara. There are a fixed set of carvings starting with ‘Toran’ on the innermost lining then the ‘Anand Sthar’ followed by ‘Kalash’ and lastly the carvings of ‘Vyaal’. Vyaal is an old animal, presently extinct but its said that tiger (Vagh) in its present form has evolved from Vyaal. The Anand Sthar is generally depicted on the entrance of the Gabhara or in the later stages of the carvings is on the Pillars of the temple. But Anand Sthar is most important part of Hemadpanthi Temple and has to be there in each and every temple built in the style of Hemadpanthi.

After the initial discourse about Hemadpanthi temples we moved on to the next Ram Temple. The idol of Lord Ram is relatively new and is said to be placed by the locals. It is said that Lord Ram performed the last rites of his Father, King Dashrath at this lake. This temple is a nice place for meditation. Another speciality of this temple is that if any person standing in the Antrayal, one can see 7 shadows of the person standing. Our guide Anand Mishra also showed us the magnetic effect in the rocks by placing the compass on the floor and moving the compass on the rock and LO! like magic, the compass changed the direction.

Leaving this temple we moved to the next temples, the Vagh-Mahadev Mandir, Bhor Mahadev Mandir and then to Kamlji Devi Mandir. The Kamlji Devi Mandir is the biggest of the temple at Lonar Lake. We took a little rest at this temple and enjoyed some light snacks and moved ahead to the other temples such as Ambarkhana Mahadev Mandir, Mungla Mahadev Mandir. On the last lap of the temple visits we first sat at the temple which is called Shukracharya Shala (School of Shukracharya). It is said that at this place Shukracharya performed many yagnas and the hill adjoining this temple is called Bhasmachi Tekdi (hill of ashes). This temple is also an excellent spot for meditation. We all again spent a few minutes meditating and felt fresh and refreshing after a long walk around the lake. The rareness of this temple is that the sabhamandap is circular in shape as compared to the rectangle or square. The roof is also kept open which gives way to the stars for the person studying astronomy. This was made in view of the fact that Shukracharya used to study astronomy and astrology for which the open sky can be viewed from the temple. Just besides this temple one can hear a sweet noise of free flowing water which comes from the top of the hill adjoining the temple. This water continuously flows in the lake.  On climbing the top we got overselves refreshed in the Sita-nahni and the whole group enjoyed themselves in the free flowing water at Sita-nahni.

Bio-Diversity at Lonar

The crater is rich in Bio-Diversity housing diverse population of flora and fauna. The bio-diversity of the flora and fauna is divided into 5 parts. The First being area outside the crater, then slope of the crater comprises the second part, the flat land at the base of the slope is the third part, the muddy area around the lake is the fourth part and the fifth and last part being the lake part.

 On the slopes you can see the trees of sitafal. These trees have survived for long as the cows, goats don’t eat the leaves of this tree. The forest Department has planted trees like teak, nilgiri, banayan, coconut, mango, etc. thus adding to the fauna around the lake.

From Lonar we proceeded to our next destination the Verul Caves but Lonar will still linger on our minds and will be in my memories forever.

In September, 2009 I had been to 3 treks. Starting the month with a waterfall trek and then to Ajoba Hill and lastly at Nane Ghat. This year in september it hardly rained except after the first week. It didn’t rain much thereafter. So though we got to enjoy ourselves for the waterfall trek, we couldnt enjoy much for the remaining two treks.

Starting with the Waterfall at Manjurne-Bhorwadi, the trek was one of the easiest trek. Now with State Government planning a road to the waterfall it would be much more easy to reach the place. May be by next year we would be able to take our vehicles and reach the place. So the satisfaction of enjoying in a private waterfall would vanish and we have to bid our time with others in the waterfall. Though it didnt rain much but we had a nice and a pleasing cloud cover.

Ajoba on the other hand started with the walk in sun shining above us. The trek to the Valmiki Ashram was exhausting. We could enjoy the view around. Some of us who had been to Karolighat nearby showed us the beautiful waterfall which we could see from a distance. The valley around Karolighat was equally beautiful and I felt that I missed that trek. But there is always another time. In the evening on our way back to Asangaon we were welcomed by some nice cooling showers and felt that it was a worth to get ourselves drenched in what you may say as the last of the showers of the season.

Last Sunday, It was time to visit Nane Ghat again after a period of 2 years. I have some good memories of Nane Ghat when we stayed in the caves. But this time it was totally opposite. We neither had rains when we climbed nor was there any cloud cover to protect us. But our group was good and enjoyed the trek to the fullest.

After a wonderful trekking season in Monsoons, I will be looking forward for the last program of the season of Ajanta, Verul and Lonar and more keen to trek this winter.

This year the Ganpati Festival started with Swine Flu, Recession and Water Scarcity as major issues looming largely on the Festive season. In fact Swine Flu had caused the Government to take steps to close down schools and Colleges in Maharashtra, just a week before the Ganpati Festival started. But when the festival started no one seemed to be bothered about the Swine Flu which caused a few deaths a week back and the masks were selling at Rs.50.00 a piece. But now the media is more interested in cashing the Ganpati Festival rather than concentrating Swine Flu which was the Headline in all the leading news papers in Mumbai. I just happened to see the news that “MALARIA KILLED 14 PEOPLE LAST WEEK” but the news item was in corner as if it was a regular affair. May be Malaria is not as exciting as swine flu for the Media or they had some other important news which they could cash on.

Coming back to Ganpati, I happened to visit few friends and relative on the first day i.e. Ganesh Chaturthi.  Yesterday, Was the day of immersion of Gauri-Ganpati and was astonished to see the money being spent on by the people in carrying out the immersion of Idols. I stay in Parel, which has few well-known civic hospitals. The employees of this hospital were busy enjoying themselves in the loud music of the immersion procession. This loud music was on for an hour or so. Its an irony that the road is recently declared a silent zone by the same Civic Authorities …..I am at loss of words to explain how the patients in this hospitals will be feeling at this moment.

The Pandals of Ganpati occupy more than 3/4th of the road and no 1 is bothered to take up the issue. The traffic situation is already in a mess and with pandals occupying the roads the traffic goes for a toss. But everything is fine, the CHALTA HAI attitude is surely going to bring us down. This is the real spirit of Mumbai whatever goes around you the real Mumbaikar is not going to be bothered unless it harms him/her. KEEP UP THIS SPIRIT AT THE COST OF ……………. (please fill in the Blanks)

I have been hearing about the forts in Pali Region i.e. Sudhagad and Sarasgad for a long time but the first chance to visit Sudhagad came 2 years back. But for me this fort is jinxed. Whenever I plan to visit the fort something or the other turns up and the trip to visit this fort goes for a toss. But when I got the the opportunity to visit Sudhagad this monsoon, I decided come what may, I am going to visit this fort this year. We started on our trail on Sunday morning and reached Pali by around 9.00 a.m. Another half an hour journey to Nadsure which is the base village near the fort. The climate was mesmerizing and the monsoon season was in full bloom. It was lush green outfields everywhere around the region and the paddy fields added another shade of green to the surroundings. We trekked for nearly 2 hours but the heavy rains halted our progress. The jungle made the things worst and we had to abandon our plans to visit the fort. But our leader had alternate plan and we immediately regrouped ourselves and moved to another fort in this region which is Sarasgad. We reached the base of the fort at around 4 p.m. we started our climb, the climb was good and soon could see the fortifications and the steps which lead to the fort. We were stunned to see the steep staircase. The location of the staircase was between two fortifications (the fortifications were built on the hills).  Even though the fort can be seen from the main road, the stairs or the Main entrance to the Fort is not visible from the main road. We enjoyed the climb to the fort due to cloudy weather. But in winters it would be a tough route as it does not have much trees. We also encountered a rock patch which had a few holds but it was a risky one to climb in monsoons. But we managed to tackle it and reached the staircase the staircase was even more dreadful than it looked from below, it was much more steep and slippery. The fort as usual is in dilapidated. The fort has lots of water tanks and are full in the monsoons. It’s a best place to camp even during the winters. Now I hope to visit both Sarasgad and Sudhagad together.

England wins the second test of the Ashes at Lords after 75 years. This is what I read in newspapers today. No one expected England to win especially after their pathetic show in the first test and after Flintoff announced retirement from test cricket. 

England now 1-0 up in the series, owe the win to few of its players like Andrew Strauss, Cook, Anderson, Swann, Flintoff and to some extent to Collingwood and Prior. The win was still not a team effort as most of the batsmen and especially Pietersen disappointed the team and his fans.

 The Aussies have themselves to blame for the loss, after letting the Englishmen off the hook in 1^st test, they really never came back in the second test. The Aussie captain failed miserably in both the innings. And looking at the Aussie team one realizes that the lethal Aussie attack led by Glenn Mcgrath, Shane Warne is missing.  With three more Tests to go the Aussies will now have to pull up their socks to beat the Englishmen to defend the Ashes. One positive side for Aussie is the pup has hit century at the right time.

The Monsoons are most important for India. The whole economy depends upon rains as Agriculture is the preliminary occupation of Indians. Nearly 50% of the population is dependent on agriculture or industries related to agriculture.

 This year the scenario is very bad. The monsoon reach Kerala by last week of May but because of cyclone on eastern coast it didn’t reach other parts of India till mid-June. The rains till end of June have not been sufficient to even start sowing for the next harvest.

 The Farmers are frustrated as they have already sown the seeds for the next harvest and because of no rains or insufficient rains, their efforts have gone waste. 

 Every year there is a big talk about rain water harvesting, saving of rain water, etc. But nearly 90% of the rain water in India goes down the drains or is wasted. When do we realize the importance of water?

 People like us staying in big cities don’t really understand the importance of water as we don’t have to walk 5 Kilometers everyday for bringing two buckets of water. In the villages the scenario becomes worst, when it fails to rain on time or when there is an insufficient rains.

 The rivers are streams in India are polluted with industrial and human waste. The courses of rivers are being changed to fulfill the vested interests of politicians who have occupied cabinet posts at centre and state levels. When does the common man rise for conservation of natural resources? When there is a famine?

 Atleast now should we realize the importance of water and start conserving water in whatever for you can? Can we do it this year?