Bhimashankar

Bhimashankar trip is always a cherished trek. This trek is to one of the Jyotirlingas. This trek is also special to me as it kick started my treks in IIT. We decided to go to Bhimashankar on the 21st of Jan. The day when decision was made to go there was full of chaos. There were a lot of people who ditched us at the last moment. Yet we managed to get 8 people for the trek. I am yet to recall as to how Rajesh and Sharath had been convinced to climb this peak. After this trek, they have decided to quit trekking for life. Manish was eveready, somehow Mayur was brought into the frame. Then Yogi was called who called upon a couple of his friends, Devanand and Tiwari. Sharath and I went to the canteens nearby and purchased some items in the last minute panic. \par
WE all got up in time and made it to the Karjat station. We go there in time. We were at the station one minute before the train arrived. Anyways, it was early jan, and as the journey got underway, we felt the cold wind freezing our bodies. In IIT the general practise is to sleep late. We did that, and the effect was seen on the train. We were all sleeping. Anyways, we still dont miss out opportunities of viewing some great views, both natural and of the feminine type. At Karjat, we alighted. We had to go to the base village of Khandas, pronounced as Khaan - dus ,, but we called it Khan - daas . We asked people on the station , the directions to go to Khandas, and people showed us the way to Sandaas. :) \par
After this minor miscommunication, we got a rickshaw who agreed to take us to Khandas. And here we set forth. The morning was quite cold. We halted midway to have breakfast consisting of vada pav and sweet. We also packed some vada pav for lunch. It must be said that the vada pav of Karjat are the best one would get on this planet. We hit the base village at 9 am, right on schedule. On the first sight of Bhimashankar, Rajesh said those memorable words ---- " Hamain pahad chadna hai kya ? Pahad chandna zaroori hai kay ? ham Pahad kyon chad rahe hain ? " -- in his own unimitable style. \par
We carried on, and after losing our way briefly, we got our backings right. We came across a white tree, a huge well. The trek had started. ......\par
We climbed across grasslands, patches of forest. Somewhere in the trek, we lost our way. Then Manish, who never believes in going back, said that we continue.We then started to climb a steep slope, that was quite muddy and slippery. Manish managed to go first. Then I followed. Then at a steep section, the mud underneath, came off. And i slipped and fell . As I fell, i caught hold of the roots of a tree. At this moment I was hanging in mid air. Then I kept my foot on the ground, only to realise that the part I landed my feet, came off. The guys below were looking in disbelief. I had almost resigned and had accepted my fate of falling down and getting injured. Manish who was above me kept egging me on. Then with muscles of magnitude i pulled myself . I used the stick in my left hand and the root which i held with the other hand, to pull myself. Then Manish pulled me out in the final stage. The other guys took a much longer route to climb. All this while we knew we were lost. \par
Then we took notice of Mayur's hand. It was filled with blood. Mayur strangely did not know what had happened. Then we washed his hand, and tried to find where the cut took place. It was a due to a scratch from some thorn . Undeterred, we carried onwards, with the first signs of Rajesh tiring. Soon we hit the rock patch. This was the seedhi ghat. We realised that we now needed to find the ladders that would help us in climbing through the rock patch. I went around in search of the ladders. It didnt take me time to find them. The path to the ladder was narrow, and only one man can walk on that path. The ladder experience had its victims though, Donthi and Yogi were scared when they looked down. ANyway the tough part came before the second ladder. We meanwhile passed the bags through the human chain , a team work that is so necessary in any trek. Then came the section where we had a vertical rock face. This was about 2 metres long. There was harldy any place to keep your feet. There were signs on the rock face, indicating that hands needed to be used to hold the crevice present and move along the rock face. Manish went first and the other guys followed him. I went last and found out that I was too short to keep my leg at the final step . Manish came to my rescue and he kept his palm. I stepped on that and moved onward. We soon saw a cave and took a well deserved break. We then named the nipple hill. Then came the third ladder, which was easy compared to what we had done before. After the third ladder there was one rock section which again tested our climbing skills. ANd within minutes we were out of the seedhi ghat. Then we came across the mango tree, the famous landmark. We took a well deserved break, with chaas and water being served by the villagers. Then we started the ascent again. We were way too slow in the first section. We tried to go fast. But could not do so. \par
Rajesh and Sharath, found the climb a bit too strenuous. They were relieved of their bags. Yet we were slow. In between the views from the climb was great. After a couple of hours of trekking we hit the top. We were there at 3 pm. WE had a good darshan of the temple. Had food in an nondescript hotel. It was now 5 pm. It was too late to go back.\par
Then we had some arguements. Some suggested that we take the bus back. Some said that we stay overnight and take the bus the next day. Some said that we stay overnight and go back trekking. WE thought for the time being we shall wait for the bus. We then went to the spot where we could see the sunset. WE took a few snaps, including the famous jumping jack snap. \par
Then we came back to the bus stop to find out that the bus scheduled to arrive at 6 hadnt come. WE waited and mulled over various openings that we had. The man at the shop asked us to stay. One more thing we had to worry about was money. We were short. We did not have the clothing to fight the biting cold. It was 7 pm. Bus hadnt come. Now it would take 3.5 hours to pune. It would take 4 hours to hit talegaon via chakala. Meanwhile Rajesh who was very dull during the trek , came alive as he knew Marathi. WE also had Manish, but Rajesh suddenly came alive. OK , now even if we had reached Pune, what then. WE would not get any train back. Remember we were all dead tired and didnt want any more complications. The bus then arrived. We spoke about our case with the bus driver. He said that we could take a bus from Pune. There was one every 15 minutes. We then decided to take the bus to Pune. I forgot to mention earlier, we had a class the next day .\par
Then we were travelling to Pune. We were the only passengers in the bus. Bhimashankar is connected by road only to Pune. There was a steep ghat which we had to descent. I was quite surprised at the ease with which the bus driver drove in the ghat. \par
WE hit Pune by 10:30. then we thought of going by train. WE then went to the next station. In between we had suggestions of going by bus, and Sharath saying that we should take the Sumo. We all headed to the railway station, as we got to know that the passenger to Mumbai was due in 30 minutes. WE took tickets in the passenger train. The train arrived. Prior to that we had vada pav, checked our weights etc. The train was jampacked. That was the last thing we had wanted. Worse, we all took different compartments. After hitting Talegaon, we spoke to the conductor if we could get shifted to first class. The conductor agreed to do so. WE then paid him 50 per head. we all got sleeper berths. WE all had a great sleep. Rajesh somehow got up and woke us all at Thane. Soon we were at Kanjurmarg. Then Manish as usual who doesnt believe in walking back, made us walk 1 km to the next bus stop, when the previous one was 20 m behind us. \par
A great sleep, followed. ........... This was my best trek until Harishchandragad....... the group was great. ...... characters all of them ....... the first one in Mumbai. This experience triggered others to start trekking,,, at least I hope. .... \par
}