River Rafting at Kundalika

It was rainy and gloomy Saturday in Mumbai. The usual problems of roads getting blocked, traffic jams, water seeping into the house had started creeping up. This is also the best time to visit the outskirts of Mumbai, enjoy the greenery and witness the newly formed waterfalls. We decided to step out and go for river rafting at Kolad, 3 hours drive from Mumbai. We had already booked a place to stay for the night and the package deal for rafting for our group of 5 people.

Luckily, one of us decided to get his car. Travelling by public transport in this weather could be a little difficult, if not impossible. We started out at 4 in the afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to see very little traffic on our way. We reached Vashi in an hour and decided to buy some booze for the journey and the rest of the trip. Samosas could probably be the best snack to enjoy during the monsoons. A couple of hours drive and we had already reached Lonavala. The cloud or rather the fog had descended on the mountains and the view from the car was simply breathtaking. Since, it was getting dark we decided not to halt and waste more time. An hour later we had taken a left turn from the Mumbai-Goa highway and were heading into a jungle. We could see a few lights as we passed a small village and were not quite sure as to where our Farmhouse was. Quite frankly, we were a little lost and a bit scared too. We tried calling the farmhouse for directions but our cellphones were not within the mobile network. Finally, we saw another village and I went out to ask for directions. After another hour of hunting in the dark we saw a little board with directions for Pooja's Farm and we were relieved.
The sumptuous meal at the farm house was a perfect welcome for us. The cottage at the Farm priced at 1000 bucks per person for the night.seemed to be a little expensive. The huge window on the front in the cottage offered a beautiful view of a lake and we immediately knew that it was worth the effort and the money we were paying. The cottage was big enough to easily accommodate 5 people.  Playing around with the long exposure photos from the camera spiked with some booze we were carrying made the experience of staying at this farm quite memorable.
The next day, we got up early and after enjoying an Omlette and Poha we headed out to the river. Kundalika is 12kms away from the farm and carries water from the dam. We met people from other groups who had come down from Pune. After the first few lessons on how to row forward and backward we were ready to hit the water. This was the first rafting experience for me and I was a little scared to start with. The flow in Kundalika is not the greatest and after a few initial tests we set sail. We were accompanied by our instructor who was guiding us on when to row forward or backward. We ran into our first rapid after a while. It didnt really turn out to be tough. On the way our instructor felt a little adventurous and decided that we should venture into the wild bushes and grab some Jamuns. This didnt really please the bees one bit as they attacked us. To avoid the sting we decided to jump off the raft into the water.

Going a little further, our instructor had plans to clean all the mess left from the bushes inside our raft. So, we met the next rapid head on and rowed further into the rapid filling our raft with water. This turned out to be quite an experience and a little scary for the people leading our raft. Now, we were all quite comfortable with the art of rafting and wanted to enjoy ourselves in the river. A few of us flung ourselves into the river and just floated around on our backs. We later realized that pulling ourselves back onto the raft is one hell of a task.
Finally, our expedition had come to an end and we, having made some friends on the raft, joined them for a drink afterwards. The Fenny offered to us by our new friends turned out to be quite smooth and we ended up licking it.
Back at the cottage, our meals were ready and we left for Mumbai after enjoying the delicacies. It turned out to be an experience I shall never forget and would certainly come back next time for some more adventure. 

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..:)