|| श्री अशापुरी देव्यै नमः ||
असंही काही होऊ शकतं.. अस्वलखिंड
Time ⏳ can catch you totally unprepared and unexpected 😱, and this one is yet another proof / example.. No later than the soonest we reached the base village Kudali (after the trek), me and Vaibhav had a short discussion 🗣️, if or not to write ✍️ about this trek.. though he suggested to drop the idea; I think, you also need to know this blue moon side of probabilities, that did materialize today.. blue moon is a rare occasion when the moon waxes to full 🌕 two times in a Gregorian calendar month, and not literally blue in color..
14 August 2021
Had heard about Aswalkhind from Vishal and Swapnil during one of the treks.. but doing it in monsoon 🌧️ was not something I ever hoped for, especially when it dominated the second half of last month, Kokan being its most prominent target 🎯.. ifs-and-buts started with, would we be able to reach the base village.. about a km and a half to go before the 'aswalkhind trek start' point on Google Maps, we were stopped and cautioned by a villager-cum-farmer 👳 authoritatively, suggesting-cum-commanding not to proceed ahead, as the upcoming sprint of the road was spoiled already by landslides.. we were 60+, both, number of participants as well as the upper range of our individual ages 👴.. this also meant, we now had to manage an immediate next task of u-turning a 50-seater and a 20-seater on a 10 feet road, supported by tiny / small water bodies and sloppy patches on either side.. those and rear side of 20-seater 🚐 were about to lead us to some tough times, but our fortunes were safe.. and later, after doing a lot of math at multiple spots, we did safely manage a 50-seater 🚌 side too..
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| nira-deodhar dam, credits: Vaibhav |
time-lapsed clouds, credits: Vaibhav
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| today's biggest stream-cum-river |
The cloudy ☁️ weather and the dense jungle ensured we had the least of opportunities to capture any other views, than of streams and waterfalls.. the well trodden path was heavily loaded with slippery patches (some algae, few muddy), an assured outcome of rain and jungle combined, time-and-again reminding of the third day from the best of treks till-date, Sarpass 🏔️.. carefully negotiating them and occasionally checking for leeches, we reached today's top in 2 hours, that was hardly 4 kms away (feet distance 👣 wise).. continuing to the other side, we decided to call it the end (one-side) on reaching a 25-feet waterfall..
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| credits: Vaibhav |
thumps
Being there early enough / ahead of others to savor some solo waterfall moments, most of us experienced it later with all its thumping force.. drenched and cold, next in schedule was lunch 🌮.. divided in groups, we opted to choose the best spot we could find to fill our stomachs.. crossing over, back to this side of the col, we hardly had come 15-minutes far, when one of us checked his mobile 📱, if we are following the same trail recorded earlier today, coincidently found also a WhatsApp notification from the group created for co-ordination of this trek.. what could possibly be needed to communicate 📢 now, when we were just returning to base?
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| credits: Vaibhav |
Momentarily not able to believe what was read, we immediately called 📞 the sender to know exactly what is required to be done next ⏭️.. whoever reaches the base village first, was supposed to inform and ask for help from villagers to carry and bring one of us back, who had had a heart attack / cardiac arrest.. not knowing everybody by their names, it was difficult to know who he exactly was, even when the message included his name 🔠.. after ruling out the others who might possibly be of his age, we guessed him to be the one who was among firsts to enter the waterfall.. later in the day, we came to know about that moment happening just after their lunch..
We both were on our way back faster 🏃♂️ than before, to get some help from the base village.. we had brought a rope to help in case the streams are heavy and the person carrying that was not very far from us.. having told 2 of them about the incidence, they volunteered right away to help with the rope, for altogether a different purpose now.. next, we saw few more participants marching ahead of us and 4 more decided to go back for any possible help, resulting in few more returnees loaded with extra sacks 🎒🎒.. about to reach the base village, we first saw 4 and then another 3 local people rushing back to fast-track the proceedings, given the weather conditions and the slippery nature of the route.. his family 👨👨👧 was already on the way.. an ambulance 🚑 was also called on so that he could be taken back to Pune independently.. at Bhor, they met and the passengers in the ambulance were shuffled..
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| credits: Vaibhav |
Even at the age of 70, he was 🚴♂️ fit and fine, active and strong 💪.. One after the other, everybody reached the base village and the topic of discussion could have been nothing else / more.. After a few speculations 🤔 about how / why this could have happened, we were returning to Pune with a never-before experience..
We may be prepared for the bad, but not always the best is followed by untested.. time can go rough, time can be tough.. and then, suddenly we are questioned ❓ out of syllabus.. but may nobody have to face such extremes..
