घरबसल्या trekking: September 2021

|| श्री अशापुरी देव्यै नमः ||

पायाला ~~मुंग्या आल्या~~ जळू लागल्या.. कोळेश्वर पठार

Geographically, we all know, the धोम dam backwaters 🏝️ is V-shaped, 90° rotated anti-clockwise, when viewed conventionally on the Maps, i.e., with North direction pointing upwards.. what lies at the center of this 'V' is कमळगड fort (popularly known for its कावेची विहीर of red soil) and its open end is the plateau, where our itinerary was planned for today 📅 - starting from V's Northern end (further West ⬅️, from जांभळी village 🏘️) and ending at its Southern end, at नांदगणे (Sachin साठी, नांदगाव 😜)..

Few weeks ago, we were exactly on the 🙃 opposite side of this 'V'.. what can be seen at the center (a bit left) is कमळगड ⛰️ and everything behind it (towards right) is what this post is about, कोळेश्वर पठार.. the area which we were set to hike / explore 🧐, or should I say, the area which we were to be victims of its bloodsuckers..

19 September 2021

After resting 😴 a while at जांभळी, after morning chores, after घरून आणलेला breakfast 🍛, after some village अति-गोड चहा ☕ and after short introduction ℹ️ round, as always, we kicked-off today's schedule along with a villager 👳, to aid us in starting the navigation via the correct one.. yes, you read 📖 it right - even if it was Vishal's trek, there were no cooking plans today 🤔..

Now, we were on our own.. through the beautiful हळदी-कुंकू blossom 🏵️, we reached a small dam / lake like structure in the West.. this reservoir can only be viewed on Google Maps 🌏 in satellite mode (and not by default).. calm as mirror and clear as reflection, the water was peacefully resting, after the heavy rainfall ⛈️ in last months, the outcome of which were clearly seen in the surrounding mountains 🏞️ in the form of landslides - brown shades of green.. for the first few minutes, it felt like we were circumambulating (walking around / प्रदक्षिणा) the still water body, in attempts of seeking a way upwards ↖️ on the left..

After trial and error, soon we were gaining the elevation, but कोळेश्वर was yet to reveal its true identity / enormity.. fighting the innumerous leeches on the way, we reached its first plateau.. here, all could be seen getting rid of the parasite from their shoes 🥾, socks 🧦 and pants 👖, outside and inside.. had only heard 👂 before today, ok, also seen 👁️‍🗨️ in a hollywood flick 'Speed 2' 🛥️, these bloodsuckers do literally suck-it-out (from humans) / suck-it-in (inside themselves).. it was yet another never-before / first-time experience that will easily be remembered 🧠 for the lifetime..

Also known for leech therapy, they are used for medicinal ⚕️ reasons, to remove the impure blood 🔴 (impure जरी असलं तरी लालच असतं 😉) from human body, and for Gangrene treatment.. each one of them can drain you upto (to a maximum of) 15 ml.. same as 'upto 50%' type bluff by commercials, this must have been a rare case today though.. in its uninterrupted and natural version, it silently 📴 (without any sensible movement) creeps up the body, starts the sucking process and gives up automatically when satisfied, without any possible side-effects.. forcing / pulling it apart can be more painful and harmful, leading to continuous discharge of the red liquid 🩸.. salt can make them release the hold, and as we experimented (that also successfully worked), so does the antiseptic, dettol ➕ (credits: Tanmay).. Prasad and Piyush were firsts of major victims.. whoever was spared virgin, or had cleared himself of the charges, could then savor some surrounding views of beautiful केंजळगड, its neighboring giant - रायरेश्वर, the lake we came from and now back-in-vicinity, the धोम dam.. Far-off seen were पांडवगड (clicked-from-location 📸 of first snap above) and मांढरदेवी 🛕.. कमळगड? महाबळेश्वर? not yet..

It was another round of reliving SarPass 🏔️ while chatting with Mr. Gokhale.. for your kind information, there is also a version of chatting outside mobile world.. what we observed after reaching this side of the top, laden by सितेची आसवे 🌸, the earlier one merely turned out to be a promo.. Sandeep and Nilesh, who had not thoroughly checked themselves in phase 1, were now bleeding. red. unstoppable... "actions 💪 speak louder than words 🗣️" is one saying.. so should be another one, like "videos 🎥 explain better than texts 🗒️" / "YouTube 🎥 overrules Google Web Search 🗒️".. watch this one for the grip: leech special "not to miss" video on whatever happened till here, by Sandeep (also today's winner 🏆 with about 23 bites), https://youtu.be/-S1wNuB1syE

सितेची आसवे

Dilip and Vivek even removed their Ts 👕 to check if some of them crept all the way up.. employing dettol and turmeric (हळद), we were on our way to the day's next target, the ➡️ East side col (खिंड), which in itself was about 4 hours of 🌲 jungle walk 🚶‍♂️.. yes, that's the expanse of this plateau.. we started having रायरेश्वर closest on the left.. in about ⏳ 2 hrs (honey 🍯 break included), it was time to relish some केंजळगड moments (then closest on the left), and another ⌛ 2 hours (lunch 🍱 break included) meant we had कमळगड in the front..

After hour and a half break of leech clean-up, snacks (bourbon 🍪? of course, yes), time-lapse of always beautiful #Sahyadris, we were accompanied by another villager 👨‍🌾 to his home 🏡 for unadulterated honey, ₹500/kg.. what seemed like ages to fill in those 3 bottles, most of us started worrying about rest of the schedule ⌚.. finally, we were off to an ancient कोळेश्वर temple with hardly any remains.. occasionally checking for leeches, the dense forest rescued / protected us from the sun 🌤️, as it did not rain throughout the day.. after crossing and drinking from some tiny streams of free-flowing, natural, mineral water 💧, we decided to have lunch next to a hut, under a full-grown tree.. Piyush had to again clean them up, the leeches.. as if poked by a needle 📍 planted / planned on a chair 🪑, Vishal got up in a flash, where he had just declared, 'we'll have lunch here' and had laid down as if the trek had ended.. confirming a nearby safe, more precisely 'leech-free' place, we did have our lunch.. with 👈 Sandeep and Nilesh 👉 on either side, it felt like, (as if) I was in a containment zone.. at once, I parted to the other side of the circle 🔁..

Giving tummies sufficient to be busy with, we were now feeling much better than what was after that long walk.. about to get up, Prasad claimed, 'पायाला मुंग्या आल्या'.. some of us instantly proclaimed 🤪, आज फक्त 'पायाला जळू लागल्या' म्हणायचं, thus the title of the post.. Nimish, Vaibhav and Dilip shared some fruits 🍈, चिक्की 🍫 and खाकरा with the kids.. sealing off the lunch with their home-made buttermilk 🥛, we marched toward the col..

धोम dam

Now म्हातारीचे दात 🦷 were clearly visible.. a mountain adjacent to कमळगड having some distant pinnacles, as if to maintain ~~social~~ physical distancing 😷, are known as म्हातारीचे दात.. धोम dam, green landscapes coupled with the floating clouds ☁️ were nothing less than cherry on the cake 🍰 for the view.. कमळगड also had started to somewhat show itself..

म्हातारीचे दात

कमळगड

In no time, we were in the col, now also able to catch the glimpse of the Southern end of the 'V'.. कमळगड in the front now moved to our left, ok! we turned right toward South, and from flat, were now to descend.. but before that, was today's final opportunity to be fascinated 😍 by #Sahyadris, in its महाबळेश्वर flavor and mini बळकवडी dam (with an arrow 🏹), first dam on the कृष्णा river, that originates not very far from here.. while half of us were still finding the correct way, we half were all enjoying 🥳 yet another version of the unbeatable and beautiful nature..

महाबळेश्वर and बळकवडी dam

Before I forget / before the post ends, another rare thing to happen today was spotting leopard 🐆 pugmarks 🐾.. also, today was the day 🤞 from those 7 years - the span required for Strobilanthes callosa / कार्वी to blossom..

pugmarks

कार्वी blossom

Being अनंत चतुर्दशी, at the base village, people were busy with the known rituals of गणपती विसर्जन.. implying, today's eventful journey was to end with the well deserved prasadam 🍚..

2021 edition of IPL 🏏 was to resume today, MI 🔵 vs CSK 🟡, after the tournament was halfway called-off earlier this year, when some of the players were affected / infected by the pandemic.. as we were waiting for the ordered dinner to arrive on our tables, when we switched on the live streaming on hotstar 🌟, Android mobile app, CSK were already 3 down for 10 runs on the board 📋.. yet they won.. but, MI have always lived up to the habit / reputation of starting low 🔅 and ending high 🔆 in the IPLs.. let's see..

The fatigue of 18.8 kms feet distance 📏 and 800m elevation gain, नैनसुख @ #Sahyadris followed by dinner, duly meant, our conscious mind was to be awakened only when our stop arrived.. ok! when we arrived at our alighting spot..

Kiran. Others are mentioned above

Back to home, it was / is / will be obvious dialog of sharing the experiences with better half 👩, specially the uniqueness of them.. while 7-8 were successful in confronting my shoes, 3 others could creep-up my legs, but not a drop was wasted.. "चढून पस्तावल्या असतील, काही असेल तर निघेल ना!?" 😀 म्हणत the day ended in sweet dreams 💤..

YouTube video of complete trek, by Sandeep again, TBA

Hold on.. Dilip was with us today, and sure the post cannot end without some of his lines 📝 (English translation follows)..

मानवाच्या 50 हजार वर्षांच्या आधुनिक इतिहासात,

एक काळ ⏱️ होता जेव्हा या जगात प्रत्येकजण वैज्ञानिक होता, तत्ववेत्ता होता, इंजिनिअर, शेतकरी होता 👨‍🔬👷 👨‍💻.. मानवाला या ग्रहावर 🌍 राहण्यासाठी लागणाऱ्या सर्व गोष्टींचा शोध 🔍 खुप आधीच लागला.. पुढची शतकं त्यातून फक्त निर्मिती होत गेली गरज नसलेल्या गोष्टींची आणि त्या गोष्टींसाठी / गोष्टींनी मानवाला धावायला 🏃मजबूर केलं..

In the 50,000 years of modern human history, there was a time when everyone in the world was a scientist, a philosopher, an engineer, a farmer 👨‍🚒 👨‍🔧 👳‍♂️.. all necessary things that human beings need to live on this planet 🌎 were discovered long ago.. the next centuries saw only extras, forcing human beings into a rat race 🐀..

सांगायचा तात्पर्य असा की / the point is, leeches are just another parasite in the world, first is human.. 🤖

difference being, parasites depend on other living organisms, and humans depend on non-living objects.. 🙏

|| श्री अशापुरी देव्यै नमः ||

ह्या पलीकडे अजून स्वर्ग काय असणार आहे?.. सिंहगड - ३७३ १००

आपणही एखाद्या वर्षी ♍ ६ वेळेस करूच.. अवघड असलं, तरी अशक्य नव्हेच.. आणि 'खरंच होईल का?' 🤞 विचार करता-करता, कदाचित होऊन जाईलही 🤘.. त्यानंतर बायकोने घराबाहेर नाही काढलं म्हणजे झालं 🤷..

that's the excerpt 🔖 from earlier post 📝 on सिंहगड, आणि ही post मी घरी बसूनच type करतो आहे 😘..

"सिंहगड 6x" is now an achievement of / for a lifetime 🤘 #CannotAskForMore.. all 6 starting from parking at आतकरवडी, till पुणे दरवाजा १.. न भूतो ⏮️ न भविष्यति ⏭️, म्हणून 'of / for'..

ज्या तारखेला वाढदिवस 🎂, तेवढ्या वेळेस सलग सिंहगड सर करायचे पराक्रम तुम्ही ऐकले असतीलच, ज्यात १०, ११, १२ वेळेस करणारे ही आहेत.. माझा जन्म ६ तारखेला व्हावा, कदाचित इतकेच चांगले माझे कार्मिक account 😇 असावे.. पण अजून थोडे जास्त पुण्य केले असता जर १ किंवा २ तारखेला जन्म 🐣 झाला असता तर ही post लिहायची संधी भेटली नसती..

weekend आहे म्हणून ४ तारखेला रात्री 🌛 करू, म्हणजे सोबतीला पण असतील, हा विचार करत plan तयार झाला जो पावसाला 🌧️ काही मंजूर नव्हता.. आणि, नुकत्याच प्रदर्शित झालेल्या हिंदी चित्रपटातील 📽️ dialog "back-up का भी back-up होना चाहिए" प्रमाणे केलेली जय्यत तयारी गाडीतच राहीली.. that night, it rained 🌧️, rained again ⛈️ and rained more ⛈️ 🌧️.. जो एक केला (३६७), त्याला सोबत वैभव (नेहमीप्रमाणे), तन्मय, प्रसाद आणि अद्वैत होते..

दुसऱ्या दिवशी 🌇 संध्याकाळी 🌃 ३ करून 🐌 🦀 🐸 🐍, वाढदिवशी 🌄 सकाळी 🌤️ जे उरलेले ३ केले 🐜 🦋 🐕, त्याला end-to-end १८ तास लागले, ज्यात ११ तास trekking आणि १० तास moving time होता #NoMatterWhat #PushYourLimits.. जसा शेवटचा ३७३ होता, तसाच तो मागच्या वर्षी वाढदिवशी केलेल्या २७३व्या नंतर १००वा सुद्धा 💯, thus the title "सिंहगड - ३७३ १००"..

मेरी जीत ✌️ है तू, किसे परवाह हार क्या है 🤗..

without boring you further, jumping now to the second part of this post.. some not-to-miss and heavenly snaps and time-lapse videos.. credits: सिंहगड