Our halt for photo session payed well as the winds shifted the clouds enuf to spot another lil hill straight ahead, and v wished it was Matheran! Our tummies needed sm fuel. Nilesh had brot milk packets at base which i had to experiment with now. My first attempt on raw milk n it tasted surprisingly sweet. A little more climb with a definite rock patch was noticed and endorsed. But as v moved, the prominent path tagged our questionare. Infact too prominent, v stud at a crossing. A thick mud road to left crossing across to right. And a hill climb straight. We looked at each other n instantly knew the question. But to find the answer, i walked to left and Nilesh to right. used my utmost intuitive skills and returned wd the simplest answer.. 'No idea whr it leads man' But my hero Nilesh found a way. 'Not the route dude, i found a pond.' need to go - call of nature. Errr okeyyy. So v decided to split. I wanted to explore the route uphill and he went down to relieve himself. I noticed the the path zigzaged above and the rocks wr neatly placed for me to step up n climb. I found a spot high enuf to guard the entire plateau and Nilesh down below. As he returned i guided him up and v climbed bit more to enter matheran from Garbet point.
Dombivali... The brothers came in their usual cool attire n jovial faces, searching for food like hungry canines! We shared a few chip packets and masala peas. Regular calls with suchendra updated us that their taxi was around thane. I asked shri, harsh how much time it wud take them. One said 10min other said 40. We realized we were wrong question to wrong people. The last local would reach by 1.30, we had just 10min!
The atmosphere got heavy. Anger n frustration filled the air. Even the dog on station felt it i guessed as they moved restlessly and tried calming us by their clown acts! We decided we'll still catch the train. Let others come by taxi till kasara if they miss again. A last call from paarang turned the air around... It was a prank! Thy were in the train. God u guys are gonna get a good bashing. V caught the train with revived excitement doubled by our becoming bakra!
journey to Shendi village. But not without harsh performing another hilarious act with the localites on station, adoring there sleeping poses! Most of us took the opportunity to meet our subconscious mind. We had boarded at 3.30 and by 5.00 v could feel the cold drizzle on our face on the dark roads of village. we took the opportunity to explore the village around and manage few clicks with the parivar (chai poster!). Early Morning fed us with hot tea and bhajiya. i personally took the responsibility of clicking close shots of it to tease office guys! We were to take boat crossing the Bhandardara lake to the village across but fate had decided to play its part again. The continuous
rains had hindered all water transport and we had to find road transport. A 22km journey around the Bhandardara dam, through the mountains and besides in numerous waterfalls took us to the base village, ratanwadi.
temple, built in the Hemadpanthi style. Its about 1000 years old temple of Lord Shiva. We were cautioned of loosing the way up due to dense forest so took a guide from village. The way up was more fascinating than we had ever imagined. A fast exuberant river greeted our start and rest of the way saw us crossing the same river with knee deep heavy current water. 
We were playing snakes n ladder with the river and falls. Till we won our place to a plateau mid way up! Our stomach grinned and we had to explore our bags for our first treat on biscuits and namkeen. All thrilled with the scenery around... no one could have guessed what lied ahead! Me and Harsh managed to surface ahead of all. With supriya deciding to stay behind and delay us! Oh ya she was caring her 20kg bag... No wait... ah it was suchendra carrying it for her. And we were so concerned that we often stopped and shouted to check if all r coming.. "Gende(yash) aa raha hai na!" and he dragged his feet along like a desert lizard, his tongue touching his throat!
trance to fort - Ganesh Darwaza. Ahead were a few more rock cut stairs which gave us an option of exploring the fort further to left or settle down at the caves to the right. Ah rest it was! We ran to the caves just to see another sweet fortune hugging our tired body. A dirty pathetically left cave. To be or not to be, that is the question. The lady in charge got down to cleaning. Man i realize the importance of woman now! Yash still in his agony fought hard to light a "chulah" well he needed it most with all his shivers shouting some rest. He unfolded a sleeping bag and don't know how but his huge figure found its way inside.
We meanwhile utilized every second to click pics and check out surroundings. The brothers again entertained us with their 'fevicol ka mazboot jorr' act! We Convinced the guide to stay a bit late so i can climb down with him. Yeh i was still fighting my pals to move on to my trek of sunday, even if i had to go down alone. God y u always go against me...
A hunt for life. Not around the jungle but inside each others bags. And the lady in charge did her job again amazingly well showing us the way to delightful paneer, Dal makhani, Razma. Sweet dishes had rasgulla. Man if that bag has such relieving food. i can carry it all day long! Those were not only mine but every ones thought.
Post lunch we gained enough energy to explore the rest of fort above us. Rains continuously pounding did a commendable job of breaking our determination... but failed. And we understood why we won when we saw the scenic excellence in place. Barah lake was a place u would feel so royal being in, naturally formed pools n waterfalls were amazing.
Shri got this innovative concept of performing a Durga mata puja. Supriya standing right infront in her pink raincoat and we all hiding behind her, just our hands visible. Pinki Mata! There were further green carpets and a hill calling us but most of the group felt too weak to go further. Hence we refrained.
A normal trek. descent excitement and fun, we'll head down and end our dream. Where's the Man vs Wild concept! Think again...
We decided to make a stretcher with logs but they were too weak to hold weight. We broke even the stair iron support to make something worth carrying him. Which did solve the purpose a few feet but finally gave way.
Madhu tried her best to walk slower than tortoise, counting every single rock on the way back. I and prajakt made sure she failed! We managed half way through to the middle plateau, and met some respite in the form of eager villagers. They took charge and quickly made their own way work to carry Girish. The heavy waters had made the sweet river swell like a mad bee. Luckily they knew a better way down, though we still crossed the waist deep fast moving current once. By 8:30pm we managed few smiles on our faces as the dim lights of village houses surfaced.
Prajakt gathered courage to surface and bear the chilling wind outside. We had to go far on the main road to connect to mobile network. A few calls and 30mins of rains wetting our bodies saw us finalizing a jeep back to Kasara station. I was still in hopes of meeting my group for second trek. But the moutnains around had made the network too feeble to connect across. Thus i traced my steps back home, sad i couldnt go to another exciting trek but happy i could be the reason a man is alive today!Technorati Tags: Man vs Wild
