Reliving the incredible Rajgad journey

Saturday, June 10, 2006
Manish, Ankit, Shweta, Abhinav, Vishal, Vaidehi, Ketan, Sangita and Mushtaq-bhai.

It’s 17:45 hrs and I am checking emails, pretty much what every software engineer in every other software company does for 80% of the time of his day. The rest 20% is dedicated to eating, checking out hot humans of the opposite sex and blaming fate for none of them is in your team, checking out cool web sites (‘cool’ is defined as the one which posts international job openings), chat with friends on the company’s internal chat server, loo breaks and coffee breaks. For the rest of the time, we work really hard and generate about 200$ an hour for the company. Anyway, so I am checking emails and Vaidehi is busy with her script when Shweta’s message pops up on her screen. That is when Vaidehi informs me that there is something being planned for a trek to Rajgad. I am more than ready for any outing since I have just returned from a very long and busy onsite visit.
The P2G build/install team has planned a trek to Rajgad on Saturday. A couple of days pass as fast as data moves on a 1 GBPS Ethernet network and it’s Saturday. As per the plan, Manish, Ketan and Sangita reach GLT at 06:30 hrs to pick me up. I, unlike every other time, am only 5 minutes late and join these guys in the Qualis. Then we call up Abhinav and learn that he’s just woke up. We reach shopper’s stop on MG Road at 6:45 and wait for Abhinav. After about fifteen minutes, by when we have decided to beat up Abhinav for geting late, he arrives. In a typical Abhinav style, he cracks a few Pjs and we are in the Qualis heading towards Vaishali, where Vishal and Vaidehi are awaiting us. At around 07:45 Shweta arrives. A few cups of tea, coffee, a few plates of idli, wada, sambhar etc. are gulped and we all get into the vehicle at 08:15 hrs with Mushtaq-bhai taking control of the wheels.
This is where the fun begins only to get better and better in the coming time. Abhinav takes the lead in entertaining with his jokes, which make absolutely no sense, but are extraordinarily humorous, probably because of his way of expressing things. Since, we are on a trip it is more than a tradition to sing while traveling. So everybody wants everybody to sing but nobody is ready to initiate the action. Finally, Vishal gets bolder and sets the singing mood in everybody’s mind with the all time hit "Dekha na haay re...". After that it is just of matter of seconds and everybody clears his/her throat and melodies of all times are sung by Kishors and Latas. Right from melodies by Shweta and Sangita to item numbers from Manish and Ketan, songs of every mood are sung, only half way through though, by all of us. Vaidehi’s voice is a part of each song being sung but is not audible to human ear. After a lot of insistence from all of us, except Mushtaq-bhai, Vaidehi finally sings a couple of lines. I am sitting next to her so I can hear the song, Manish is in the center seat so he is fortunate enough to be able to hear some murmuring and Vishal and Abhinav probably just know that because it is so quiet, Vaidehi must be singing. So, we keep singing and laughing at Abhinav’s weird gestures and statements and the 80 km journey ends at about 09:45.
We are at the foot of Rajgad, a fort atop a hill, conquered/built by the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, one of the greatest king of all times. Manish asks one, Mr. Dinkar alias Aba, to be our guide. We all start climbing with all enthusiasm and excitement. Three of us have digital cameras with the capability of storing about 900 pictures each. So, ‘n’ number of pictures can be clicked. While Manish has gone to check if he can get some bread, Abhinav, Ketan and Sangita are collecting Jamun(I don’t know what it is called in English), me and Shweta are capturing the awesome beauty around us in the camera and I am too busy to note what Vaidehi and Vishal are doing. An unsuccessful attempt to fetch bread for sandwiches is over and we start moving forward. The first half hour is filled with jokes, laughs, leg-pulling and lot of clicks here and there. Then we order food. Manish tries to order every item in count of tens and Vishal and others try to make him realize that firstly, we are humans, not giants, and secondly, all of us have got with ourselves some stuff to eat. The order is finalised and we move ahead with Aba.
Shweta and Manish are leading the battalion. As time passed, each thing that we were carrying on us, including the clothes we wore, seemed to be an unnecessary load and we wanted to throw it off. Thankfully, nobody did. We were all getting tired and the sun wasn’t getting any cooler. But nothing could stop us from taking tens of snaps at each and every point in each and every pose that one could imagine. After about an hour, when we were so tired that we were thinking of dropping the idea of reaching the top, somebody opened up the tang that we had got. I, and probably each one of us, said in our minds, long live the person who bought the tang and the one who brought cool water. A short break of twenty minutes was enough for refilling of energy and we are back on our foot with the same enthusiasm that we began with. The time that followed wasn’t as tough and there was only more fun to be unfolded.
We are half way up and are chilling out near a temple, which at some point in time, was worshiped by Shivaji Maharaj and his troops. There is a pond close by and is very tempting for all of us who know swimming. Aba has warned that it is risky and a few days ago a person drowned. However, it is too difficult for us to resist and the scorching heat only makes us want the water more. So, after a lot of thinking, Manish decides to go for it and dives. I follow suit. For me, this swim across the pond was the most fantastic part of the trek. The risk associated with it, only made it more enjoyable and memorable. Ketan takes his shoes and socks off and is almost ready to dive when Sangita stops him. Ketan realises that there is no point in arguing with the person called "wife" and steps back. I would say, wise decision. Then we start climbing further and the surroundings get more and more adorable. Again tens of clicks at every point and within a few minutes we are there. We are at our final destination and everything is more lovable than we thought it would be.The breeze matches perfectly with the clouds getting on and off the sun, making it a perfect time be there for a picnic. The ladies lay down bed sheets to make place to sit and open up food. Everybody is damn hungry and can’t resist the smell of parathas. As everybody opens up his/her bag we realize that we have enough food for twice as many people as we are and there was no necessity to order food from Aba. However, everybody is too hungry to think about that and we are enjoying puris, pickle, chutni, parathas, chips, chivda, thumps-up and a few more things. The most amazing eatable was the barfi that Vaidehi had brought. The combination of coconut and mango was simply awesome and everybody praised her grandmother for the amazingly tasty sweet. The ladies, of course asked the recipe while the men just bothered about stuffing the thing into the mouth. Food is done and all of us are just relaxing. Vishal is kind of busy attending phone calls, apparently from bahu-rani, while the rest of us are relaxing. Then, we start exploring the hilltop and discover more natural beauty. We spend a cool hour there and then pack up to start climbing down.On our way back, there is a significant decrease in the number of clicks because the batteries of cameras are down. Mine is still alive but is not going to last long, so only important things are being captured. Climbing down, obviously, isn’t as tiring as climbing up but a few steep points were really dangerous. But that just added to the adventure and we had fun climbing down. So, in a few minutes, we are back at the temple. Aba has been waiting for us over there for about an hour and a half. We worship the idol inside and then sit for having pithla-bhakar, kanda-bhaji and tak. Since we are all full with what we had earlier, we eat just a little and the rest is given away. Everybody is again in a mood to relax and the cool breeze makes the environment cosier. Shweta and me explore the surroundings a little bit and then join the group again. A few minutes pass in general fun-filled chitchatting. Now, nobody wants to leave the place but we have to. So, we pack up and start to climb down to the foot of the hill. This time we are kind of split. Vaidehi and Abhinav are ahead followed by me and Shweta. Manish, Ketan, Sangita and Vishal are probably together but far behind us. We all get together at the hut where we had ordered food. Almost all of us grab a quick glass of lime juice and then start to walk the final steps of the trek. A slow but steady walk of about half an hour and we are at the start point to find Mushtaq-bhai awaiting us. There again, we spend a cool hour in getting fresh, grabbing a few bites to chew, again fun-filled chats and a couple of clicks (with whatever small amount of charge that my camera is still holding on to).
We all get back into the qualis and the return journey begins. These two hours are again filled with laughter mostly because of Abhinav’s comments, for which I can’t think of an adjective to define. Everybody is tired but the ladies still have some energy left to sing and to insist others to sing. Vaidehi gets into the mood a bit a sings something from "Fanaa". It was a beautiful song and was sung equally beautifully getting a good round of applause from the rest of us. Mushtaq-bhai of course, didn’t applaud because he had his hands on the wheels. Again two hours pass by merrily and we enter Pune. Vaidehi and Vishal are dropped at Vaishali. A lot of bidding adieu and we move towards MG Road, where Abhinav is dropped. Everybody thanks Abhinav for all the entertainment and again lot of bye-byes. Then, Shweta and me are dropped at GLT and I don’t know the story further.
Hopefully, everybody reached safe and sound to their respective homes and had an amazing sleep and an even more amazing Sunday. I have been on a lot of trips with friends, a few of which were small treks, and I honestly say that this one can be counted as one of the best ones.

It is good to have an end to a journey, but it is often the journey that matters in the end...