A rendezvous with “Kille Purandar”
17th October 4:00 am. I ran form my kitchen to switch off the Alarm clock that had started screaming at the top of its voice. It’s then that I realized I was up almost an hour ago, without its help to prep my self for the very first Trek of my Life.
Trek Unlimited was my ticket to the first adventure week end since I joined Cybage almost 3 years ago. Instead of whining about waking up early on a Saturday morning, of a change, I was already at my pick up point well before time. And it wasn’t just me. All my other fellow trekkers were there before our designated pickup time to witness a phenomenon that is a rarity these days. Our Bus arrived on time 6:00am sharp!!! I knew this is goanna be a fun day “as planned” that very instance.
We started our journey towards Purandar and picked up Ajay and Balaji on our way. Nancy initiated an exercise where in each one of us had to introduce oneself. Hey, it is so routine and boring, when you know that very few people pay attention to this part. No. It wasn’t. Cause this introduction was “Jara Hatke”. Not only we had to introduce ourselves but all the guys before us with there first names!! It reminded me of a scene from the move Dhamaal where the South Indian guy gives them lift on the road to Goa and starts telling Arshad Warsi and Jawed Jaffrey (Aadi and Manav), his name. And by the time they reach Goa, he has just finished his pet name!!! We didn’t even realize that we had already reached the bottom of hill by the time introductions were over.
After we disembarked our ride there, Amit gave us few important instructions, and we started off to scale the fort at about 7.45 Am. I joined our trek leader Ajay along with my buddy Hemant ahead of the pack so that we could get some clear shots of our path forward as well as buy some time to catch breathe while we wait for rest of the group. 10 minutes into the trek and things started to become a bit difficult for me. Even though Ajay kept repeating that this is a trek with beginners’ level difficulty. I was having a hard time keeping up with him. Instead of clicking photos, soon I found myself drenched in sweat toe to brow just trying to find Ajay Hemant and the others who were way ahead of me and the rest of the group still long way down. Those were the only 4 minutes through out the day that I was alone. I could here my heart pumping, feel lumps growing in my calves. Was I really tired that soon? Should I sit for a while and continue once the rest of the group catches up? Will I be able to make it to top? Still covering the goat path ahead one step at a time I looked ahead and there it was… “Bini Darwaja” our first halt during the way up. I looked at my watch and reached for my camera. It was 8.21.am.
Excited and exhausted I re joined Ajay and the leading pack. The view form there was very surprising. On my way up I could barely see the road 10-20 feet ahead of me. But form the top we were able to see almost all the way down from where we had started, the path being dotted by our fellow group members. Refreshed by the cool morning breeze we relaxed in the shade of an old church reminiscence of the British Raj. We were just at the half way mark.
Soon rest of the group followed in and we scrambled on the Bini Darwaja for a quick Photo session. Amit blew the whistle and we again gathered for the head count. We were asked to form a “round circle” (Gol circle). And Nancy took over the proceedings of the assembly. We were asked to pick up chits that eventually divided us into groups of 6. Amit explained us the new task. Apart form returning back in the arms of Mother Nature to enjoy its beauty, the next objective of this trek was to infuse bonhomie, make new friends. So in the next phase of the climb, members of each group had to interact with each other, know more about each other while racing towards the top try to be the first group to make it there. During this part of the trek all of the groups were walking close together teasing, bucking at other groups and getting to know each other more. We went through the Dilli Darwaja and Kalyan Darwaja but the target was Kedareshwar Mandir. The walk over Raj Gaadhi was pretty brisk as Ajay and Amit had instructed the group not to spend much time clicking Pics. It’s from here that we got the first real glimpse of Shiv mandir on the peak. This along with the strong breeze infused new energy and vigor.
There we were on the top. Everybody charged with a sense of personal triumph and achievement, devouring the natural beauty and the view all around. There was another group already on the top and their guide was sharing some information over a megaphone. After all of us had enjoyed our moment we all huddled around Amit for our dose of info about the fort. We had 30 minutes by ourselves on the top and even with the smog hanging all around the view was breathtaking. The best part was everybody was so ecstatic that no one cared which group had made to the top first.
We started to climb down at about 10:00am and gathered to see the statue of Murarbaji Deshpande welding swords in both hands. Then we again scrambled to explore the area more. We were clicking our photos in different settings near Bini Darwaja when I heard a familiar sound “Ayee Deshmukh” from somewhere. I turned around in surprise…. It was Swanand my childhood friend. Though in contact through Orkut Scraps, we were meeting in person almost after 10 years!!! That too at such an unexpected place!! He was there with the other trekking group that we had come across at Kedareshwar mandir. After exchanging pleasantries and promise to meet again in Amravati we parted and I reached “Purandareshwar Mandir” where the group had stopped for lunch. After washing Hands and feet with the Cool fresh water from the temple well we sat around and enjoyed a hearty meal exchanging food and jokes alike. A dog that had been following us down from the top was also interested to join us for lunch especially Nancy’s lunch box and we were having fun keeping him at bay.
Lunch was over and the unanimous mood within the group was to find some shade and take a nap. But the committee had something else in store for us. A Game! Everyone was initially reluctant, but after a bit of pep talk from Amit we started off with the Game. The game was designed so as to test the knowledge about likes and dislikes of you team mate by giving answers to the questions asked by other Groups. The question asked we funny and answers given were funnier. The winning group was felicitated with some chocolates. After a brief photo session we started to climb down to our Bus. On the way back we sang songs at the top of our voice but the song to steal the show was sung by Shirish sung originally by Kishor Kumar “Aake Seedhi Lagi Dil Pe”. Shirish sung the song with no less virtuosity as Kishor Da. Finally at the sight of West Avenue everyone signed off with the song Chalte Chalte…
A fitting End to a day filled with fun and excitement.
