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The third weeekend of November 2008, we went to the chilling beauty of Dabhosa waterfall. Yours truly and Hanumant had been there a month back, but we wanted more of the place. The Moronz plan to the place finally materialized, and we were more than willing to have another go. There were some last minute participants as well as dropouts, and our final tally was 11 - Kalpesh, his cousin Prashant, Pali, Keta, Pam, Tahir, Nitin (new guy),Amey, Tahir's friend Vishakha, Brownie and me. Kalpesh was on his beloved Yamaha R-6

The route taken was:

Onward Journey: Thane - Bhiwandi - Wada - Kodala - Makhada - Jawahar - Dabhosa

Return Journey : Dabhosa - Jawahar - Vikramgad - Manor - Dahisar

Here is a short summary of the trip :

- Keta ensures everyone is awake early

- Amey and Tahir are very late to start off so we leave without them at 7:30. They catch up with us after Bhiwandi.

- Nitin's Yamaha R-15 has a flat tire just after entering the jungle beyond Wada.

- We reach Jawhahar by 3:30. On the way, Kalpesh checks out every petrol pump

- We have lunch at Jawahar and leave for Dabhosa. Reach the campsite by 5:30

- We find fishermen at the campsite. We pitch our tents and blow air into our floats.

- Contrary to what our rationale says, we plunge ourselves into the icy waters. We splash each other with it.

- Kalpesh's camera runs out of battery owing to too many ride pictures

- After half and hour in the water, every one is chilled to the bone. We get a fire ready owing to a kind old villager and Pali's prehistoric fire starting skills

- Brownie arrives ! A lone soldier in the night, he is there defying all odds. And everyone is impressed with his single minded doggedness.

- We take out the stuff for happy hour. Nitin gladly accepts the task of bartender. A session of snacks and drinks ensue.

- A combination of highly concentrated rum and vodka initiates some winged creatures flying in our heads. I show off my Creative Zenstone, while Pam shows her practical sense and knowledge of science to make the music audible to everyone. The ball that I have brought is blown into the water, and while everyone is stopping me, I run and pick it up from the other bank without wetting myself. Kalpesh jokes - "Ye kisi ki nahin sunta, apni man ki hi karta hai".

- We cook the Maggi we have brought. I still have the last remaining bottle of Vodka - Limca and I merrily drink and cook to the tune of music.

- The vodka finally goes to my head and I lose a bit of self control. Then ensues a period of ready entertainment for all, as I entertain them with a typical desi movie like performance. With action, drama, tragedy and a lot of senti.

- Finally agree to sleep. Pali gets frustrated with my woeful bawling and goes to sleep. Both of us are sleeping under the moon, without tents.

- I wake up to a beautiful moon lit morning. After a few minutes of introspection, I realize that last night I finally managed to stay sane after drinking. Maybe it was because there was no more daru left after I got high.

- I take a dip in the water, but can't stay for too long as the chill soon reaches my bones. We pack up and leave

- The roads from Jawahar to Manor are superb. Nitin lets his R 15 loose, maintaining speeds of over 100 kmph even in the ghats. His maneuvering on the curves is impressive, though I get a little jittery at times as his pillion. Everyone is enjoying the roads, and a sudden bump on the road sends everyone a couple of feet from their seats.

- We have lunch at Manor. I start feeling drowsy, and become a little grouchy and grumpy.

- Nitin wakes me up on the highway with his supersonic speeds, as I hold on to the bike somehow. We bid him adieu at Ghodbandar, Hotel Fountain. Well met friend!

- Others part ways near Andheri. Prashant, me and Anupama are in the car which drops me at home. What luxury!

- I come home and drop dead. The evening's still not over for me as I have to go pick up my cousin from Lucknow.

- It takes me 20 minutes and a Herculean effort to wake up. Drop the idea of giving Berty his tent.

- I decide to write the memoir. Try to make it short but fail!

Thanks to everyone who made this trip memorable to me. Special thanks to Pali to come up with the idea of daru, and to Pali and Kappu, and others who faced the brunt, for putting up with all my histrionics.

There's always a first coming your way when you are with MoRonZ ... and this happened to my first in the rains ... and it was at least as much fun, if not more, and scarier than the previous excursions.

The weather forecast for the weekend was not so heart warming for many of us but I was looking forward to getting drenched (I love the rains, my affinity to catching the cold not withstanding) and blown away. Our first meeting point was Ghatkopar, and I was the first to get there. Then started the only part of the trek that was a little taxing on me - waiting for people to get there. I am terrible at waiting, with a low threshold of patience ( I am constantly trying to stretch the limit though [:P]). But the nice part of that was that I got to know some really great people(read Janaki's friends - Rahul, Pooja, Murali and Santosh; and Purvi), and though it was our first meeting, as is the case with all MoRonZ, we gelled really well, the Somaiya gang even threatening me showing that they had the numbers on their side [:p]. And Sandipan was coming ! Braving the weather and withstanding the pressures of a "Happily Married" life he finally got there, a mere one hour forty five minutes past the meeting time (sorry Sandy - had to rub it in [:p]). And I was close to my boiling point though I have learned to cleverly camouflage it now [:)]. We got on a fast local to Karjat which took us quickly to Kalyan, where Purvi kept asking whether I was sleepy, to which my reply was that I was rather bored. In the meantime, Sandy was suffering the brickbats of not being able to read his love's mind. Sandy boy, you still need to learn a lot in life!

So finally we reached, Kalyan ST depot, at 8 in the evening, the latest of the lot, and had to face the annoying grunts of the others already there. And right in the nick of time as well, for soon after, we got on an ST bus to Murbad, which was occupied majorly by our group. The journey was initially rather quite, for no one was ready to take an initiative and start a conversation. I was still trying to blow away that "Post Wait Trauma" by listening to "Boys and Girls" by Spoon and "Chan se Bole" from "Yahaan" (Listen to them and you will be revitalized in a minute - I guarantee you !). Finally Rahul started the singing with the age old "Humne wo Kya dekha" from "Satte pe Satta" and coaxed me into join him. So I began, in my really high volume "[i]besura[/i]" pitch which I use to annoy others, and soon everything seemed absolutely perfect. It was raining and it was dark!

We changed buses at Murbad, and everyone refreshed themselves in whatever way possible in the break. Venkat was there with us this time, and we hello'd each other and shared chocolate. More of the Venkat story later [:)], he is an important character in this tale [:P]. The second part of the bus ride was much more interesting, with everyone introducing themselves to the others. We have people from varied professions in our group now - ranging from TV Directors to designers, engineers, financial experts and a weird guy like me [:P]. Ajay - the TV Director was the first one to introduce himself. I was made to sit down forcefully as usual when I tried to explain what I do [:(]. Sandy was still on his phone. Purvi was really buoyed and it showed in her introductory speech. Then there was Murali - the only "clerk" with us - the call center guy. Then there was Rahul II, who had already impressed us with his vocal skills, and his other half Puja, Santosh "Kuti", another Santosh, another "Ashish", Samar, Noel and some old faces whom I will keep hidden, for I am evil by nature [>:)]. Also with was Clifford, who I was looking forward to meet for he had made some wise remarks about our Mocha meetup. With a booming voice and an uncanny wit to conjure nasty one – liners, he is one fine addition to the MoRoNz group. But the most amazing part of the trip and so of the introduction were the sisters Deepti and Preeti, for they were identical twins! I have seen twins before, identical ones as well, but you can tell one from the other! And I can't in this case, even after spending some time with them on the trek. And them dressing alike doesn't help either. Maybe they even have have the same thought process or the same brain waves! So finally we reached the Gorkahgadh base village - Dehri / Dedhi(Correction made :P). After stretching myself (which was termed a dance routine[:D]) while the others changed and got equipped, we started our hike. Close to 20 of us were "Lamp Posts", and we realized later how useful that turned out to be. The initial stretch was slippery but relatively flat, giving many of the first timers a false sense of ease and security. However, Rahul had forewarned us of "a rock patch" and I was still apprehensive. By this time Preeti and Deepti had been named [b]Thompson and Thompson[/b] of Tintin fame. There was constant chattering from Rahul II, and frequent demands by Clifford to have himself captured by the camera, which were readily fulfilled by Preeti / Deepti , as they were clicking anything / everything possible. The "Thompsons" were traveling with a single torch among themselves as well, passing it along to the one in front [:P]. I hope they have better sense for the next adventure !

When we took our second halt, Rahul broke the news about the rock patch lying ahead, and that the girls had to follow him followed by the others. We reached the rock patch and thank god it was night! I think many of us would have chickened out if we looked down into the valley in broad daylight. So started our slow and tiring ascent to the supposed "top". We were to rest inside some caves there. And I had the haver sack with our food supplies etc on my back, which weighed a ton and did not help the cause. I don't know how Rahul and Manoj are able to carry it day in, day out easily. Rahul even carried Keta's bag with him when it got damaged! Hats off to these guys! Well under Rahul's guidance and under the watchful eyes of Manoj and Hemant, we all got through one patch. And lo behold! There was another one awaiting us! I think mathematics wasn't Rahul's favorite subject, or rather, I believe he always wants to scare the mickey out of us, and these memories will be with us forever. I managed to get a glimpse a perfectly ".5 chandrama" among the clouds between all this. We negotiated the other patch as well and reached the caves. Phew! I was finally free of the dead weight on my back! We changed into dry clothes and took out all the GRUB we brought with us. All of us were hungry, and gobbled up everything that we could lay hands upon. Venky had by this time developed a special "bond" with Purvi, and started offering biscuits and stuff that I had carried all the way up. Poor me! Taken advantage of as usual. After the munching was over (Preeti – Deepti were barely caught having a bite, I think they survive on mutual covalent bonds [:p]), we restarted our blaring of impossible songs again. Rahul II, and myself were having a stiff competition in who would sing the "chillarest" of songs. Sandipan was joining us whenever he emerged out of his marital blues [:P]. Unabashed, I dished out the ultimate weapon " Chali aana to Paan ki Dukaan pe" from "Aaj ka Arjun" which I thought was the winner. But Rahul had another ace up his sleeve:

Alu ko Gobhi se Pyaar ho Gaya
...
Saare Matar Jal Bhun Gaye
.... Achaar ho Gaya.

You'll have to meet Rahul to have more of such fun. The people were in splits on hearing this.

The singing continued into the night, but people were now starting to venture into dreamland. It wasn't made easy by our [i] sadak chhaap [/i] songs, and indications were given by shouting at us or blinking the torches (read Ashish – the "Happily Married" guy). Sandeepan lent his voice to some as well, baring out some really [i] Dard Bhare Nagme [/i]. Finally we laid our vocal chords to rest and laid down on bare ground. All the pristine spots were already taken, so we had to lay down wherever we could. I was the last person to rise in the morning, taking some much needed rest, after a kind soul (read Keta) laid the blanket on me. Got up, had two servings of Pohe, took a leak, and was ready to the trip to the actual "pinnacle". In the process, we witnessed Vanky's primate skills, lurching from a thin branch which extended from the cliff. He was made to fill numerous bottles of water by our leader Rahul, with vote of unanimity from others. His partner in these ventures was the bubbly Purvi who didn't mind the private time they were getting through this. The view around was breathtaking and the rains and fog were adding to the beauty.

Now we were to start our climb to the top. We had Manoj to help us in this , with Rahul staying behind to cook lunch. Hemant had already left us to conquer the sister peak "Machindragadh". Pooja, who was trekking like this for the first time, decided to stay behind, which was a very wise decision. The first patch was the most difficult one, as there were no steps and holds, so Rahul demonstrated it to us, before leaving us to cook. I was the last person to start the climb with Clifford and Murali ahead of me. I thought I would manage it easily. However, as I started, I got a cramp in my left foot, and I though of ditching the ascent. Clifford was reassuring me from above. I got down, eased my leg and did it on my next try. From next time I will add the fingers exercise to my routine [:p]. We got up there, to find everyone enjoying the strong breeze, and Rahul II posing as a model with his shirt off. We took some snaps there, and enjoyed the view when the fog / clouds cleared a bit. There was a small temple there, and the more religious sort prayed for their safe descent [:p]. The climb down was not much for we were already experienced, Manoj had useful instructions and the fog prevented us from seeing the view down! On one portion in particular, Manoj said that there were no second chances – it was "One Tappa Out". But no one got "out" and we got back to the caves.

We had some time to spare before the lunch got ready, and Janaki was all for Dumb Sharat. But everyone (including me) wanted to guess rather than clue, so ultimately I was the Bakra. We had some fun with that, though its not that much without competition. Cliffords one liners peeved the Thompsons and they threatened to plant "Pug Marks" jointly on his face. We had the now customary lunch and started on our way back. Getting down in the rains is much more tougher than climbing up, for we can't see where we are going ( you have to face the rocks and get down). It was a long and slow process, with Rahul, Manoj and the others helping the girls and "Ashish – [i]Fat Gayee[/i]" guy. Pooja in particular, was very scared and took it really easy. Better safe than sorry as they say. I was with them till the rock patch after which we parted and I joined Clifford and Keta. We attacked the flat region and went down really quickly, with and odd slip or two. We thought that the guys ahead of us had gone at least one hour early. Clifford halted midway to come with Bertram and his cousin Noel. Keta and me continued ahead, she was also now gaining confidence and we managed a decent pace. At a crossroad we took a left and thereby went by an unknown route. But at least it was going down! A heavy downpour and strong gusts of wind greeted us and we were thankful that we had already descended the rock patch. We finally reached the base temple, and to our surprise we were not very late - we had almost caught up with Ashish and Deepti / Preeti. We had a snap in the middle of the highway. Then we jumped right into water, a barge had been discovered by Ashish II and Sunil and the flowing water was more than refreshing. All of us had a dip. Then we went to the village [i]Chaay ki dukaan[/i], where the wise ones changed into their dry clothes, and all of us devoured [i]Vada Paav[/i] and tea. Then we got on jeeps which would take us to Kalyan, with luxurious seating space as compared to Naneghat. Only 9 of us in a jeep ! Got to know about Raksha,Santosh (Samarth's friend) and Hemant on the way while our "Princess" dozed off. Raksha described how she was dreaming of steps and hand holds whenever she fell asleep nowadays. Came to know of a really cheap Mountaineering Course conducted by Manali Mountaineering institute. Hemant saahab's stories were particularly interesting and awe - inspiring.
We reached Kalyan, and I found out my wallet was all soggy! So much for the rains! We got on the train and I disembarked at Kurla after some nice chit chat with others and Venky's leg pulling. Back to work from Monday, body ache and sleep deprivation not withstanding!

Phew, finally finished it - a rather long one I would say! I hope it does 0.1% justice to the awesome spine chilling adventure we had. And did I tell you that I never used my raincoat! [:p]

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them." --- Quoted

"Never forget that life can only be nobly inspired and rightly lived if you take it bravely and gallantly, as a splendid adventure in which you are setting out into an unknown country, to meet many a joy, to find many a comrade, to win and lose many a battle." --- Annie Besant

I don't believe in luck. Whatever happens in your life is a result of your own actions and the actions of all those people around you, whom you can't control directly. So if you have a group of really caring people around you, you'll always be happy, whatever the situation the outside world creates. People crying about fate befalling everything on them is utter nonsense. If you don't change your own destiny, you have left it in the hands of other people.

And I was till very recently, on the other side, letting my life drift, without any purpose. I was out of college and missed my dear friends who were in different parts of the country and the world, busy in their own mundane life. I couldn't accept the fact that they were no longer with me. But eventually you have to let things go. I am no longer going to be passive. I have a few of my old mates here, and I am going to make lots and lots of new ones, so that in every corner of the earth, I have someone to spend my time with. I am going to lead life as I see it from now on. I am now a changed man, with the same indomitable spirit as I had a couple of years back! No more dwelling on the past too much, I look ahead !

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”

Three treks, and I am still waiting to get to the top. Three different locations, different sets of people, but the same result. And to add to that, I have my own memories to trust, no memoirs like pics or souvenirs either. But this doesn't faze me even the slightest bit, for I believe in the old saying that the journey is more important than the destination. And I believe that these memories will remain with as one of the most exciting ones I have ever had.

First trip: 31st December 2006
Companions: Anuj, Kunal, PVC and Udit
Destination: Peth Fort near Karjat

A night trek it was and we had in our ranks PVC and Kunal, who I think had never exerted themselves as much as that night. The path was simple, a gravel filled road leading up - nothing nerve racking. It took us some time getting to the midway point, allowing for PVC's slow pace. We reached a village at around 12 in the night. Before that we had passed a plateau like area from where the view was magnificent.

But after the village, we couldn't find our way. No one had ever been to the top, and all info we had was via Udit's brother. So a search followed where we looked in every nook and cranny for a possible path. My friends jokingly tell me that I destroyed quite a bit of Flora in the process. But alas! to no result. Finally we tracked back to the Plateau where we spent the rest of the night under a bright moon. And it was pretty chilly - I had just a jeans jacket to help me. At 5:30 we started downwards and reached a tea shop at the base. The tea and biscuits where a welcome sight in the morning. And not to forget the Tum Tum ride back to Karjat during which I was sure I would freeze to death or catch Pneumonia at the least.

All in all, it increased my urge to go on more such expedtions - this was my first real trekker after all.

Second Trek: 24th February 2007
Companions: Rane and Bharatiya
Destination: Dhak Bahiri

Rane the seasoned trekker was the inspiration for this one. We had planned to go somewhere the weekend before this one but he fell sick on Friday night and the trip was canceled. So we agreed to go the next week. Everything went smoothly in the morning, and it being a day trek, I had high hopes of this one. And with two other seasoned trekkers with me, I was on a roll. With such high spirits, we reached Sandshi village - the base for the Trek. And Rane showed his communication skills to get the location of the Dhak peak supposedly.

So we started our expedition with the mountain ranges staring down at us. An old lady told to follow the straight path going out of the village so we ritually followed it. But bad luck struck once again. The tracks keeped going around the mountains rather than moving towards them. After meandering about for some time we just decided to climb up a stream. And thus began one of the most nerve racking experiences of my life. We were very enthusiastic about our potential. Our goal was to get to the top of the mountain through which the stream ran, and then move to the other peaks from there in search of the 'hidden' caves. The path was not esy by any means with many a slippery footings. But we continued to move up through deep forests and over steep rocks. But finally we had to stop. For a steep cliff stared at us. Bharatiya and me tried to look at any possible way to get to the top but it seemed too risky to venture. And Rane the enthusiast had by this time become Rane the rational or the pessimist as I would rather put it. So we climbed down from there. However it was no mean task. The rocks were slippery and the mud was crumbling as the grass had dried and couldn't hold the surface. As we were retracing our steps we found a well defined trail in the overgrowth. And it could have cost us our lives or at least a few broken bones. Bharatiya was leading us, we were going slowly down that trail. and out of nowhere we found a 50 ft fall. we couldn't go further and the ground was too slippery where me and Bharatiay were to go up easily. And I had a 20 Kg bag on my back to add to my woes. The mud under my feet was slipping and I was going down. I desperately hung on to whatever support the dead grass gave me and turned around. After I had negotiated the dangerous part of the climb, I had a feeling I was granted a new life. After that there was not much to be written apart from maybe Rane getting poked by a three inch thorn in the unmentionables which thankfully didn't do much damage.

After our decent I was still enthusiastic enough to try another path, but gladly the other two vetoed it right away. We returned back to Powai, but not without some further action - I punched a guy while trying to get down from the train. A very entertaining adventure, but still a failed one.

Third Trek: 10th March 2007
Companion: Deepak
Location: Rajmachi via Kondane

This was supposed to be a wonderful and easy night trek. I had researched about the location for half a day on the internet, and even found a map. What I hadn't thought about was the difference between theory and practicality. And disaster struck as soon as we reached Karjat. I had left the map and the page with all the directions at home! But still we were pretty cheerful as we knew that there were arrow markings made by trekkers - for this was very popular destination. We reached Kondane on a rickshaw madly driven by a drunken old geezer. We met two people who were staying at a rest house at the base and were planning the excursion in the morning. They advised us to do the same, but the exuberance of youth prevailed and we decided to give it a try. It wasn't made easy by the constant howling of dogs and a dark night with no moon. Moreover, we couldn't find any arrow marks ! We were all at sea and just decided to follow the broadest path that we found. But that just led us through the villages in the valley. After wandering aimlessly for 3 hours, during which the pain in Deepak's leg started increasing, we decided to go back to the place we started - close to the rest house. Deepak could barely walk after some time and we rested on a large flat rock for some time. We started off by showing off our vocal skills, and it is the only time I didn't mind Deepak singing ! But soon drowsiness befell us and we decide to sleep and keep a watch in turns. This happened till 3:30 after which we tracked further back, with Deeapk able to walk - to a Temple and slept on the stairs there. In the two and a half hours I lay there, we were almost bitten by a dog and were frozen in the month of March. Finally, we took a Tum Tum and returned to Krjat and then to Mumbai

So you see, although I am still not at the top, I have some memorable experiences and I am a wiser trekker now. And the most important lesson I learnt was to stay enthusiastic even in the face of failures(The second most important was not taking up an unknown location for a night trek).

Blog Debut

Ya thats me. In one of those ponderous moods of mine. Or at least pretending to do so. Sitting by the seaside and listening to the waves smashing against the rocks soothes your senses more than anything else. So does a moonlit night with no clouds and a mild breeze. On many such nights I used to take solitary walks around our scenic campus (IIT Bombay), pondering on many things like a true philosopher. I always thought that I would write all those things down. But unfortnately it never happened. Many a time I have thought about starting a Blog. But I was too lazy to type. My apologies to all those really active people. So now that I have finally taken the plunge, I think I will continue with this newfound hobby per se. Lets see. Usually I amreally enthusiastic about a lot of things but have a habit of ditching them half way through for I grow bored and disinclined to continue with it.