A few Pics of Rajmachi

http://picasaweb.google.com/ananditaashokkumar/RajmachiHike is where u'll find rest of the pics...

All the way to Rajmachi....

Let me pen it before I forget it.

There couldn’t have been a more beautiful and an appropriate night than a Kartikey Poornima to head for a night hike up to Rajmachi. Yup, Rajmachi was the year’s second hike and my first night hike with the Podar Hikers’ Club.

The morning of 24^th was very gloomy as I was taken to bed due to ill health. And I had second thoughts if I’ll be able to carry myself through the hike. But by late afternoon I was back to my normal self all high spirited packing my haversack. (Overnight hikes always give you ample time to prepare.)

It was around 8 pm than I and Swati reached college after treating ourselves with toast sandwich and pani puri from Pankaj’s. Inspite 8 being the official time to assemble the public (read fellow hikers) didn’t stop pouring in until 9 pm. We boarded the bus at 9.30 pm after a brief set of instructions from Phadke Sir and hit the roads by 9.45 pm. Right from the time the engine turned on so did our vocal cords. The very next instance all were singing and dancing to the tunes of bollywood numbers till the very time that we reached the base.

Rajmachi is near Lonavala and it didn’t take more than 2 hours to reach the base. And it was surprising to many of my fellow hiker that we reached without getting misplaced anywhere. After warming up our bodies to the chilly winds and getting freshened up in one of the villagers house (read visiting the loo) we started our trail. As always Sir guided the trail from behind and designated the experienced “committee” members to be in the front and middle order. We were lead by a villager all the way up. At around 12.30 am we kicked off. I and Swati were somewhere in the middle order but tried to overtake a few in front of us when we heard them discussing about OSO and Sawariyya on such a beautiful night ;) and then we found ourselves in the company of Krish and Mahesh were we spoke about Khoya Khoya Chand ;) Btw did I tell you we were 52 of us.

The starting 15 mins were nothing but plain land crossing the fields. We mocked that if the whole trail is something like this then forget it! But what lay ahead was a total surprise and in no time were we breathless and panting. The over enthusiastic crowd had to halt many a times to keep pace with rest. At one point of time the puffing souls lay flat on the ground on our way up. We were quite tired and lay still for more than half an hour. That place was one heck of a beauty. A grassy patch of small plain land with wild ajwain growing on it, mountains surrounding its circumference, star studded sky, and the radiant moon in its full bloom. Splendid.

The walk up to Rajmachi seemed endless and breathless more so cos the serene was so breathtaking ;) we rarely needed to turn our torches on cos the moon lit our pathway brilliantly. It was almost 4.30 am when we reached Rajmachi. We fell flat as soon as we got a place to rest. We took shelter at the X Sarpanch’s house. Around 10-15 guys slept it the opan varanda and the remaining of us cramped inside. But that wasn’t a problem cos we were so tired that we fell asleep right then. More over by 6.30 am we were back on our foot. By 7 am most of us were ready and had our morning tea and steaming poha served by the house. By then a few others had already walked up to a nearby lake and returned.

We were to climb the Manoranjan Fort and Shreevardhan Fort. Manoranjan was a comparatively short climb. We were among the first once to start the climb. Me, Swati, Archana, Sagar, Krish, Mahesh. The view from the top was breathtaking. We took quite a few snaps and turned a deaf ear to what our “internal guide” Chinmay was saying. After a while we headed down to climb Shreevardhan Fort. These guys just blew like a wind and were soon out of sight. We tried to be on the right track first down the Manoranjan Fort and then up to the Shreewardhan Fort. Shreevardhan was a bit longer and strenuous. But the reward was equally fruitful. It was higher than the earlier one. The gushing winds would have surely taken me with them if I had let go! I can proudly flaunt that I was the first amongst girls to reach the top. We stayed here longer. Posed for snaps. Took a few shots. Saw Parin in various poses not cos he was in front of the camera but cos he was behind the camera. He is famous for his camera stunts. After a while we came down and had a refreshing glass of Kokam sharbat. (By the colour of it no one would agree with me.)

From here we split. The 10 of us, Archana, Swati, myself, Krish, Chinmay, Mahesh, Aman, uncle, Sagar and Mohit, went to explore the forest. It seemed that I followed these guys to a place which seemed to lead no where but we landed up to the right place. A locked bungalow. We spent some time there taking a few more photographs and chatting up all the ‘way’.

It was 12 pm by the time we reached the Sarpanch’s house and had Phithla Bhakri for lunch. Later we had a small talk with the retired manager of RBI (whose name I fail to recall) who is an enthusiastic trekker himself and a member of an NGO how has helped develop Rajmachi. After the talk we hit the down hill to reach the base.

Now this was the fun part, the best part, the last part. I and Swati were all pumped up to keep pace with Sagar, Krish and Mahesh who could fly with the wind. Their target time was to reach within 1 hour what we had climbed in 4 hours. These guys were in sight for some time but we lost their link sooner than we expected. Swati too slowed down cos the loose stones were making her loose balance. After sometime I found myself to be with Mayank and Mohit and had lost both the links in front and behind me.

We were on track as we followed the arrows made on the stones. Each one of us took the lead to make it down the hill. But within some time we had lost the arrows. We found ourselves to be in the middle of nowhere. There were diversions and we didn’t know which one to take. After putting some thought we took one path and yet again found ourselves on another diversion. We had thoughts of waiting for the others but they were way too behind and we took some path only because the path we found lead us somewhere down. We had messed up our ways and that’s for sure cos of two reasons, firstly because we had lost the arrows and secondly because we passed a 200 mt stretch filled with more than 1000 brown-black BUTTERFILES! We walked through them, literally. It was a magnificent sight. But at the same time my mind was on the path cos we didn’t know where it led us. But it was an amazingly wonderful sight. All I knew was that I have to reach down there be it anyway. Once I spotted a small village we knew we weren’t in much trouble. It took us exactly 1 and half hours to reach the base and I was more that elated to see our bus standing there. By that time the first group had already reached and freshened up. After all the seven of us – Krish, Mahesh, Sagar, Pratik, myself, Mohit, Mayank had freshened up we went to have some refreshing cola. Pepsi, Fanta, Limca and of course the local drink ‘Treet’ is all that we drank. The next group arrived only an hour later. It was only at around 6.30 pm that all 52 were at the base. By 7.30 pm we hit the road leading Mumbai. A few dead souls slept through the journey, the rest sang like a radio being played in the background and a few of us chatted up in the foreground.

It was at 10.30 pm on the 25^th of Nov that I reached my home in Thane. It was an amazing experience with a hell lot of fun and falling.

-Anandita.

26^th Nov 07.

PS: I’ll post the pics as soon I get them.

Blowin' in the wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

Bob Dylan

Not just another Sunday

It wasn't just another sunday today for the only reason that i got up early to head towards my computer class at 8.30am. The day began early with not a very good start as the pawarnagar bus which i boarded broke down at the bus stop itself. but nevertheless i had a friends company in rick till opp Indian Lib whr my class was. The afternoon went lazing ard at my place and carryong frward the lazed self to Abha's place. We saw a movie whose half way through i slept in the same sitting position sprinning my neck badly. Ok so "we" didnt see the movie, just Abha saw it ;)
When i woke up i slid the curtains to a side n saw an unusual darkness around which made me fell that i had slept for ages now. Surprisingly it was only 6.20pm and the dark clouds were already set throughout the place.
The best part came in the evening when we had a few rounds in and around Lokpuram, had a scope of mango icecream each, almost reached home n then went for yet another round. This is one of the evenings worth remembering and laughing over it in the years to come for some unsaid reasons. We took some traits from our jhooler master planner dost n bhai and did some ourselves. and i m throughly proud of myself n so is my crime partner. Oh the plan, the story, the tricks, the action, the execution, the spontaneity, the alertness, the shivering and finally the retreating panipuri!!! Simply Awesome. Right buddy? ;)

Happy Diwali

Yashachi Roshani!
Kirti che Abhyangasnan!
Manache Lakshmi Pujan!
Samadhanancha Faral!
Premachi Bhaubeej!
ashya ya Diwali chya Hardik Shubhecha!

The most lightening festival of the year began yesterday with its first day of Dhanteras or Dhanatrayodashi. Dhana as the name suggests means wealth. On this day either a utensil, gold or silver or any metal is purchased. This day has a symbolic story regarding how a wife saved her husband whose horoscope read that he would die on the 4th day of their marriage. She lit the whole house with lamps, placed all the gold and silver she had in a heap in front of their bedroom and sang melodiously all night long. The Yamadeva, God of Death took the form of a serpent and came to kill the husband but after hearing the melodious voice and the heap of metals he sat their listening the whole night and went away the next morning. Thus the wife saved her husbands life. So on this day the female of the house places a lamp in the front door to please Yamadeva and protect her husband from him.

The Second day of Narakchaturdashi has many stories attached to it. In the North it is the home coming of Lord Rama from Ayodhya. One story is how Lord Krishna killed Narkasura demon and rescued the sixteen thousand daughters of the Gods and married them to save them from embarrassment. The other story reads of Lord Vishnu taking the incarnation of Vamana and destroying King Bali who proved to be a threat due to his increasing greed for wealth. In this form, the Lord requested the philanthropic Bali to give him the area of land he could cover in three foot steps. The King seeing the petite size of Vamana agreed and then Vamana took his real form of Lord Vishnu and placed his first step on heaven, the second on the earth and to place his third step the King Bali himself offered his head. This day is commemorated with the celebrations of Chotti Diwali.

The Third day is the Lakshmi Pujan where 5 Gods are worshiped. Ganesha, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati, Lakshmi, and Kuber. The story of Lakshmi goes something like this. During the amrut manthan she emerged out from the ocean of milk called the Ksheer Sagar bringing along with her wealth and prosperity to mankind. She chose Vishnu to be her consort. As the moon also came out from the same ocean he is considered to be Lakshmi's brother.

The Fourth day is celebrated as Padwa or Varshpratipada. This day is synonymous to when Lord Krishna had lift the Govardhan Mountain with his little figure to save his folks and cattle from the angered Lord Indra. The Govardhan puja is celebrated with zeal and vigour in the north.

The Fifth day is the Bhaubeej or Bhaidooj which is observed as an affection between the brothers and sisters. Bhaubeej marks the end of the five day festivities of the lively and auspicious occasion of Deepavali.

Bday wishes to yogi n sid!

Its too late to wish Yogi on my blog but nevertheless Happy Bday to him.
N Happy Bday to Sid who is in Arizona celebrating his bday with his US friends.....

ROMANCING WITH FOOD

How is it possible that its diwali time n a maharastrian house hold is without such delicacies like chivda, chakli, besan ka laadu, rava ka laadu, shankarpali, karanji....
Its only diwali time when u are fortunate enough to have a plate full off such yummy items. and considering the foodaholic that i'm i am always eager to pounce upon a hand full of things at a time...n guess wat the pics which u see here on my blog....i have made all those things....yup tht rava ka laadu n besan ka laadu is made my me with my moms assistance in rolling them out in perfect rounds....the chivda is fully to my credit n so are the chaklis though partially!...there is a huge contribution in all the things u see in here ;)
I bet your mouth must be watering now....n the stock is limited so if at all u want to have a taste of it u are heartily invited...after all its diwali time...Happy Diwali n a Prosperous New Year !!!!!
Dont worry u wont need medicines after eating them (as one of my friend says otherwise)