Rajmachi

The concept of working on Saturday's was alien to me, but with the new job I spend most of my weekends working. I hardly get a chance of being anywhere remotely close to nature. After coming back from the office on Saturday I had decided that I would not let sleep take over and waste my Sunday morning. My friend Kirti from TCS, being free as always, had been making plans for going out on a trek during weekends. She was joining a friend who was joining a group of people for a trek to Rajmachi. So, I decided to join them.

Walking up at 6 on a Sunday morning reminded me of my school days when I used to wake up early only when I had to play cricket matches..:). Early morning treks have always been fun and I have always looked forward to such ventures. I had to reach Thane station by 715 to board the train to Karjat on time. I managed to reach Thane early, for a change, and enjoyed a cup a chai as it was just starting to drizzle. The platform no. 5 at Thane station was packed with groups of young people, eager to leave the hustle and bustle of city and enjoy a weekend, sunday rather, close to nature, in peace. I met Kirti and her friend at the station and we boarded the train. The train was crowded and there was no place to sit. The sheer joy and excitement among the travelers was quite evident. Finally, we reached Karjat and I met the rest of the group. I am not the kind of person who would make friends easily with anyone and hence was feeling almost alone on the trip.

We had the quintessential breakfast, Vada Pav, outside the station and started out on our expedition. A rickshaw took us to the place from where we start walking into the jungle, towards the Rajmachi village. It had started pouring quite heavily and I was in complete awe of the pristine green surroundings. With a few villagers working in the fields and children standing by the huts staring out into the open fields, this was rural India as I had always read and heard about. We decided to start the trek and were quite excited to see small waterfalls formed by the rain water.

We reached the Kondane caves after a few hours. The huge caves with scriptures engraved on the outer side of the cave is was declared as a Heritage site by the government and is preserved by the Archaelogical Survery of India.

The 50 feet high waterfall presents a great opportunity to relax and beat the summer heat.

A little over an hour from the Kondan canves and we reached the half way mark, a plateau. The plateau offered a breathtaking view of the hills with clouds(read fog) interspersed in between. The rain was making the tracks very slippery and I was thoroughly exhausted. I had decided to head back but was forced by the group to carry on and walk for another 40 mins. I somehow pulled myself and dragged for another half an hour. This time I was serious about going back. I could not bear the pain in my legs and back. I was told that we are very close to the village and we can relax and eat good food in the village. The lack of any edible items in my bag kept me going for another few minutes.

Finally, we reached the village by 1400 hrs. The group was still excited about going to the Fort. But I had given up and decided to roam around the village and click pictures. The poha and anda bhurji I had at the villager's house is probably the best meal I have had in recent times. It was totally worth the painful journey.

The village also had a few solar panels installed by a government agency for a renewable energy project. I spoke to a villager and came to know that the village had no electricity because their is no sunlight during this time of the year. This is a serious issue and I hope that we can some day figure out a solution to this problem.

After having relaxed for a couple of hours we started walking back. This time the rains had stopped but the tracks were very slippery, making our walk downhill all the more difficult. I was falling down quite often now and was literally covered in mud like the kid in the Ariel Ad. Somehow, we managed to reach the base by 1830 hrs and Karjat station by 1930 hrs. We took the 2040 train back to Mumbai and took back with us a lot of memories and injuries..:)