सिंहगड - राजगड - तोरणा २०२३

।। श्री आशापुरी देव्यै नमः ।।

a trek to remember, a trek to forget.. सिंहगड - राजगड - तोरणा

while last year's article was with a question mark, this time it was indeed "a double hat-trick".. a 4th activity in the same area, having an annual frequency, starting from 2020.. what we call in मराठी as - वर्ष ४थे..

सिंहगड streak 🏏 - all of the following numbers are from India 🇮🇳 of course.. while it was highest individual Test score (#319) for 2021 and highest partnership 👥 in Tests (#413) for 2022, plan for this year was to augment this article with longest individual innings in Tests, by number of deliveries faced (#525).. but the resolution set for the last year was asking for more, and so, as we grew older 👴 by a calendar year, the streak hoped on to another figure, #538.. the number may not be as significant as earlier 3 you just read about, but the individual behind has served Indian cricket, unequivocally, better than any other, to become the first captain ever in the world to have won 🍾 all the ICC trophies 🏆.. ladies and gentlemen, he is none other than "Mahendra Singh Dhoni", who played #538 international matches (Tests + ODIs + T20Is), the second most for India.. under his captaincy, India flourished in all formats - topping 🥇 the Test rankings for 18 months starting December 2009, seized the ODI World Cup in 2011, World T20I in 2007 and a Champions Trophy in 2013.. with that preamble, let's now voyage through SRT..

as a contingency, the plan this time was to start fairly early and not end-up doing the तोरणा ascend any time after sunrise 🌄 or before sunset.. did that happen 🤨 as planned?.. you guessed it right.. so, ​next time I am doing SRT, there will be some sort of questionnaire ❓ for the potential candidates, only to gracefully filter out the inconvenience they "always" (with no exceptions whatsoever) cause to other participants 😞.. I mean, were the metric units to measure length, not taught in everybody's school 🚸?..

11 Feb 2023

we 8 started to ascend the first of 3 forts at 5:30 p.m. 🕠.. I was pathetically slow 😩 and could only manage the last position in reaching the first (of 3) पुणे दरवाजा.. or was I the second last? cannot recollect exactly, but that does not take away the 'pathetic' tag.. in case you missed it, we were 8.. yes, the highest count 📈 since inception in 2020.. and now you are also speculating - same as all the previous instances, obviously not everyone must have completed it.. let's uncover that too, as you read through..

when we crossed over to reach कल्याण दरवाजा, it was time to mocktail 🍹 a hydration drink, undoubtedly realizing the need / ask of 'time'.. I was in no position (yet) to lead today, so the front-runners actually started to descend towards कल्याण पेठ 🤦, as if the SRT in itself is not more-than-enough.. after having all back-on-track, we started migration from this fort, in unison.. 

nothing unusual happened thereafter, at least till विंझर, to mention in details here, other than my sluggish gait 😦.. spotting an open-but-empty shop, occupied by some PMPML 🚍 serving individuals, who were having their dinner, we too sought permission and joined them for the same cause 🍱.. around 11:10 p.m., it was time to navigate not through the tar road, but through the last year's recording.. first time, with me leading the way..

12 Feb 2023

as if had got disturbed by the barking dogs 🐕, somewhere near the फणशी village, an oldie marched out of his sweet home to suggest / warn us 'इतक्या रात्री 🌌 नाही यायचं'.. acknowledging him half-heartedly, we were back to our business.. सुनो सबकी, करो मन की..

as we converged with one of the usual trekking routes to राजगड, from base village गुंजवणे, we opted for our next strategic time-out ⏱️.. setting and super conveniently hitting a leveraged target of 03:00 a.m. 🕒, the last candidate (not me) (as if) conquered the चोर दरवाजा (as if) in despair.. it took me 5 minutes on top of an hour to achieve this feat, compared to last year's 47m, specified in its article as 'I am proud of myself'..

after super leverage, it was time for the super disappointment ☹️ - unreachable levels of potable water in the cistern near पद्मावती temple 🛕.. we had no choice but to resume the journey with (on an average) just half a liter with each one of us, till we reach / manage to reach the next water source, कचरे काका..

always quoted in my articles as 'engineering marvel', संजीवनी माची was another locale where the front-runners flunked, yet again 🤦 🤦.. yesterday was an undesired detour toward कल्याण पेठ, today was भुतोंडे village.. once again, forcing everybody to retreat back to the trail, discussions started if we should now divide in 2 groups, as परमेश्वर was supposed to board a train at 03:30 p.m. 🕞, the very same day.. clock was now ticking 04:15 a.m. and projections did not appear that encouraging, given the physical state of all the participants, if we were to march and end 🏁 this together.. he suggested to observe for some more time..

the descend and ascend, pre and post the col was debilitating 🥴 enough for प्रशांत to stamp on the idea of division.. everybody else, other than me and him accelerated, rather, did not slow down or wait for others, thereafter.. when we reached the next col (भुतोंडे खिंड), we were further accompanied by सुजन, now technically qualifying ourselves as a 'group' - ever heard of a group (on social media) having just 2?..

anybody would have and so did I, distinctly reckoned him nowhere near the minimum of the required strengths to complete the remaining stretch.. to-and-fro discussion and possible ideas of suggesting प्रशांत to quit the trek were overshadowed by the fact of having relatively flat terrain hereon, at least till the most anticipated and long awaited next water source, कचरे काका.. and it was only this flat terrain, that facilitated in assembling all 8 of us again, where / when we refilled all the bottles 🍶 we had..

गडांचा राजा, राजगड

thanking (and rewarding) the oldie for his hospitality ☕, at 6:30 a.m. 🕡, 7 of us were on the run for परमेश्वर's target.. प्रशांत opted to rest for a while before absconding restarting (fresh).. 7:40, we were at the base of बुधला माची., 07:55 a.m. on the top, all 7 💪.. hiking pretentiously now towards the right ➡️, we reached कोकण दरवाजा, only to learn about some renovation happening at the बिनी दरवाजा 😒 - completely thrashing our descending plans from तोरणा.. I was now starting to feel guilty of being confident about the return time, while talking to परमेश्वर, a couple of weeks ago..

वैभव and I then spared a thought and acted towards the reality check.. only after affirming our misery, one of the workers told us about some getaway near झुंजार माची.. delighted, but only for a moment, and to waste some more time ⌛, I decided to give it a try.. realizing, we have (almost) ran out of luck, we were back to कोकण दरवाजा, where प्रशांत joined us back.. in all of this, we had lost close to 2 hours, denoting 10:00 a.m. 🕙, and he (परमेश्वर) was carving already a 'Plan B'..

about time to start descend towards our new final destination (of the trek), मेट पिलावरे, the old lady 👵 informed us about possible help we can get from her son, responsible for collecting parking changes at the base.. upon our arrival, he arranged it quite effectively and helped us reach कात्रज at 02:00 p.m. 🕑, potentially giving परमेश्वर a fighting chance, duly respecting all the unavoidable matters he ought to have to deal with, in those remaining 1.5 hours.. sometimes, even 'Plan B' needs to be dropped, so that you can go back to 'Plan A' 😊..

a trek to forget

- my सिंहगड ascend was 01:22 hrs 😭.. longest since the very disappointing 01:26 hrs, immediately after the first lockdown 🔒 was slightly relaxed..

- तोरणा via मेट पिलावरे.. there is no way 🙅‍♂️, I am going that way again, unless.. no, there is no stipulation to this..

a trek to remember

- unlike earlier 3 instances, nobody dropped-o​​ut.. after all the interim ups and downs, 40+ kms, 2100+ m elevation gain and ~18 hours, all 8, राहुल, चिंतन and अनुप along with 5 others you already know, started and ended it on high and returned to पुणे in the same vehicle 👏.. all is well, that .. ..