Weekend @ Rajmachi

Give a man a good photograph and he admires it.... teach him how to click one and he keeps shooting the rest of his life.....

He he... was just trying to be a bit insightful. Anyways, my last team of Aurangabad had almost done nothing for several weekends together. So we finally decided that we go on a trek this weekend, though we knew that one of us had to go for an official trip abroad. So this time we asked some more of the folks. My last trip's photographs had created quite a stir among the otherwise boring folk, who just believed to come and go to office on weekdays and sleep on weekends.

So this time, we pooled in more people; 6 of us - 4 guys and two girls. How I roped in the girls this time, its for them to write and already one of them has written about it; http://aditionly.blogspot.com/2010/12/lights-silence-camerassss-action.html

So there we were at Thane station at 5 in the morning, shivering with my old team-mate searching for something to eat and drink. Anyways we boarded the train from Thane and the girls had already boarded from Dadar much earlier. Finally we got down after about an hour and half at Karjat. It was a sleepy place with sleepy people and only people awake at 7 in the morning were the auto-rickshaw fellows and this guy wading through the cold river.

Base camp for Rajmachi was Kondive village located about 14 kms from Karjat. A simple breakfast of poha and tea was all that was necessary to get us back on track for the next 4-5 hrs journey.

The village was a perfect location for the photographers and we could have spent the whole day there itself... but then we had to reach Rajmachi.

Well about Rajmachi - 3000 ft above MSL, medium difficulty climb and book says 3hrs climb-time (bullshit). But if are packed up well for 2 days or so, you will be taking much longer and if you are a first timer then even much more.

So, we begin marching for towards our target and the only guides to the place were some arrows marked by some perhaps very good people and some locals who knew nothing but Marathi.



After some posing and some photography we kept marching ahead towards our pit-stop of Kondana caves.

Kondana caves had the beauty of their own. Dating back to 6th century, I always kept wondering (one)why the hell these Buddhist guys build the caves and monasteries this high, and (second) how did they keep climbing every time they wanted to pray...

Anyways, we kept climbing further, lefts and rights going up, guided further by the arrows. I took a wrong path ones and got entangled in a spider web... for the first time I felt how the poor fly must have felt...

With every passing hour the climb became steeper and much more difficult... at some point it seemed like we were lost, just when a local arrived and we tried following him. He just disappeared at the next turn...seemed more of a ghost to me...

At a flat piece of land I gave a signal to all to sit down for some snacks; whatever was left the ants feasted on them...

Tired as we were, we three photographers kept nudging ahead... partly because of the distinct flora and fauna around us; majorly because of the spirits that these two girls had...hats off to you both...

After a grueling 5hrs of climb with our unnecessarily heavy bags, shouts from one my fellow trekkers gave us a sigh of relief...the village was in sight!!!

The village was small, 15huts maybe... simple people, no electricity and very simple food, which we devoured down in matter of minutes...

Our place for the night was a simple "pukka" home.... the sun was about to set and we had little time left to capture the surrounds in the golden light of the sun

Night started to fall and our caretaker brought in the evening snacks of tea and onion bhajiya and also fire-wood for a bonfire...

The cold night and the tired bodies slowly dragged our conversations towards weird topics ranging from the IT industry to ghosts and spirits...the spirits in Rajmachi were interested too... notice that white dot in the black region above the girl in the centre....

The next day was superb.... I had planned it the last night itself and I wanted to climb the smaller of the two forts Manoranjan. I even started on foot at 5.30 in the morning towards; pitch black and I got totally lost in the jungle and so I gave up....

By the time everyone got up (9 am) i was thoroughly bored. But then it was sometimes gr8 to be alone, and in the lap of nature...

So finally we set out after a simple breakfast towards the higher of the two forts Srivardhan...

Difficult as it seemed, but it took just about 30 mins to reach the top...

The pit stop in between was modern day temple decorated with ancient architecture to add to the beauty



The view from the top was gr8... we could count almost all the houses in our village...

The way downward was as awesome as going up... it seemed like we were moving in through dense foliage...

After reaching down we sat down for a simple lunch and started on our way back. This time we took the longer route to Lonavala, about 20kms from our minuscule village... we had read that sumos and other strong off road vehicles could make it through that path..... we preferred it on foot....

One of my fellow campers had already developed cramps; rather had got a pulled hamstring... she had already quit the Srivardhan trail before.... but she happily agreed to this walk.... hats off to her

13kms down and totally devoid of any energy that was left in us... we were resting near a bridge and still deciding the right way to go.... when I suddenly heard an unusual sound... no it wasn't a sumo or for that matter any other car... it was a TRUCK!!!!

One shout and we were abode the truck... it dropped us at Lonavala... this was really an icing on the gr8 trekking cake that we had all this while... for the last 2 days....

At this point I would like to invite more people before I take a break from the treks for sometime with my good old fellow campers.... I have a visit to Sindhudurg left for the new years weekend....and i guess one or two more to some other places that we had planned including Gir sanctuary.... anyone interested may want to call up and join in.... I am sure you would enjoy....leaving for now....

Aastalavista....
Abhi

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 3, Daulatabad, Ellora and Bibi ka Maqbara

The morning at Lonar was wonderful. And so was the trip back to Aurangabad - a small auto with 3 over sized bags and people, a maurit van that stopped at every place where there were people and finally a state transport bus... We reached Aurangabad at midday freshened up, hurriedly had lunch at the roadside biriyaniwala and stepped into the autorickshaw to explore the last realms of our trip...

We reached base of the Daulatabad fort which was around 14 kms from the Aurangabad City. The climb to the top was another 150 meters but the last two days had pumped in enough strength and stamina for this last climb.

Daulatabad was a warehouse of history. Right from that antique door above to the mysterious corridors below, the place was a loaded and bubbling with stories of Shivaji and his endeavours...

I guess this is the right time to give one stark observation about Aurangabad - on one hand we had this  hardcore Marathi culture and on the other hand there was a distinct flavour of Hyderabad...

Whether it was the brilliant and tasty chicken biriyani or this Minaret, Hyderabad seemed to form a distinct part of the dialect...

After some exciting forty five minutes, we reached the top. The look and feel of the place seemed to place it straight out of the Harry Potter comic book...
The climb down was through a maze of tunnels with absolute darkness and only bats for company and their shit adding a strange aroma to place. We reached the bottom and finally started towards Ellora...did I mention that on our way to Daulatabad, the accelerator wire of the rickshaw had snapped off and we saw a really awesome "jugad" for driving...

Anyways we reached Ellora in one piece and the first thing to notice there is cave no. 16. The largest single rock-cut temple in that area. Ellora to be precise was the much larger than Ajanta; with over 34 caves and spread over 4kms from end to end...

Ellora is more of Hindu literature coming straight out of the books. This one being the Kailash temple and rest dedicated to other Hindu gods.

Visit to these places really made me feel a complete waste - I mean the time during which these were made, there was very limited technology and yet they managed this feat.
Anyways, we were too tired to carry on with the rest of the caves and rather skimmed through most of them, and we also had visit the "Poor Man's Taj"...

Bibi ka Maqbara is a splendid piece of architecture. It beautiful to watch at night, so I wonder what will it be like during the day. More than that was the fun watching people trying to click this piece at night. I mean I wanted to go and explain the folly, but it would have meant a crash course in photography... So I restrained myself... and only kept the amusement to my fellow wanderers...

Competition brings out awesome stuff I must say and the above piece was the result of the same. But at the same time its gr8 to see someone capture the techs and depth of photography so well.... so heres a perfect night shot to end this 3 day trip...

Our way back also included Pawanchakki but I didn't manage to capture the amazement there...

We finally boarded our bus to Mumbai and thus marked the end of the wonderful trip...my only expectation is from the association that we had formed... I hope to carry it forward for a long time...

So thank you my fellow mates for this wonderful 3 days of super-fun-filled-adrenaline-charged extravaganza....

Aastalavista...
Abhishek

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 2, Lonar

The nite ended rather early. I was already up by 5.30 in the morning. I had been instructed by my other two "campers" that we had to catch the first bus at 7.00. Well I got up, freshened up, only to return to find that they were still sleeping in their cozy beds.

Anyways, we finally made it to the bus stand on time. The scene at the bus stand was awesome. It was hell crowded. We managed to get "one and half" seat only, such that at any point of time, either I could sit alone or only the other two... :P

We reached Lonar after a cruel 150kms and 5hrs in the state transport bus. A short stint in the rickshaw and there you are at the Lonar crater. Now you have to trust me about Lonar Crater; it is the most beautiful place that I have seen so far... Created some 55000 years ago, this crater is 1.8km in diameter while 137meters deep from the top. At the base of the crater there is this lake and it is 1.2 km in diameter.

Well we stayed at the MTDC bungalow (mind you it is the only place where you can stay there). It is a sprawling multi-storey building, with several rooms and dorms. The bungalow itself was very beautiful... you might even consider not getting out...

Well we started the descend by 12 noon with the sun on our head. But the location was such that we completely forgot about the heat. Well 500 mts above the sea level it's a bit cooler too... The hedge at the bottom of the crater is dense, awesome path moving right into the jungle...

One small standing instruction for first timers with regards to trekking in Lonar; the water of the lake is Alkaline. Loads of caustic fumes around. Carry a large cloth, wet it and tie it around your nose and mouth.

Coming back to Lonar... the region is damn pollution free and the skies are so clear and blue that once you look up, you are just "sky-struck". There are 12 temples around this lake; we figured out around 8 of them.

Most of these temples are abodes of bats. But then one of them is maintained very by the locals. There are some Shiv statues in various forms around this main temple.

The view around the temple was awesome. Apart for the smell, colors were so very good that one could just stay back and keep looking. Green waters, blue sky the perfect tree and a beautiful lawn... I had almost decided to build a house there; only a little while later I got choked with the smell after a waft of breeze swept across.

We took a different route to go back to the top. The structures on the way back were equally enthralling... who placed them there or why where they there in the first place....we had no idea.....

After we reached back to the top, we sat on the edge to relax. As the view surged in, our contemplative sides started to take over.

The lights slowly started to fade out as the night started to take over. The evening over the crater was as breathtaking as the crater itself. Soaking the last rays of the sun we let our tired bodies breath as the last 2 days had been quite tiring physically.
We slept quite early partly because of the tiring 2 days we had so far and partly because of the classic malvani food that the MTDC resort had cooked for us.

The morning of the next day was as beautiful as the whole place itself. A classic view from the back of the hotel gave a beautiful panorama which I had missed earlier...

We left the hotel in the morning and started for our final phase of our classic trip...


Aastalavista...
Abhishek

Nvr thght History was gr8 out of d books - Day 1, Ajanta

So what do you get when a bunch of 3 idiots from the same office, just plan stuff out of nowhere for the weekend??? Yeah you get a gr8 trip with an awesome package of entertainment; in fact, the embedded fun so much that no other package tour can offer.

Yeah... so where was I, yup I remember. It was thursday morning and I had reached the office much later than the usual, and as I settle down, what do I hear across the partition??? "Something something..... Ajanta......something something..... Daulatabad......" So, with my brain perked up with this newfound source of energy on this unusually boring day, I got up to find out the exact source of this particular frequency, only to find that it was the guy across the partition. He had planned a trip, with another colleague of mine, to Aurangabad for 3 days....

No before we move into further, a quick word of acknowledgement. I owe this wonderful 3 days of adrenaline filled adventure trip to this particular guy from my office.

Yeah now moving back to where we started... this had to be a low cost trip. So strictly no alcohol. Moreover we had plans to ascend and descend lots of hills and mountains, so for the heck of safety. Our journey started from Thane in a semi - "luxury" bus (read low cost) and we reached Aurangabad in the morning.

After a quick refreshing stint in the International Youth Hostel, we set of for Ajanta caves, 110 kms from the city. Here, since we had missed the morning bus, we had to hire a cab (cost us a bomb)...

Ajanta is a hell of a place. We didnt follow the conventional route, the route usually taken up by the family people. Instead we climbed down the hill, a drop of almost 150 mts straight down into the valley. The 7 step waterfall, the view of the caves from the top of the observation point added much more of excitement to the trip.

Wiki says Ajanta comprises of a total of 31 caves (damn we figured out only 26). All the murals and frescos depicting the Buddhist and pre-Buddha cultures with the ones starting from the Satvahana era up to an era of Kanishka. In fact these structures were constructed in different periods of history separated by over 4 centuries (beat that)...

As we climbed down the hill, the highest observation point kept diminishing in size, and so did the second one. There was a sense of an achievement that we were actually moving down a steep slope. Back of the mind however, there was this thought that kept shooting back that we had to climb back again the whole hill since our cab waited there. Truthfully, I guess I was only one with this thought...... :P

The climb down was excellent; easy to be precise. The flora and fauna was excellent feed for a photographer. I had this admirer (same guy who had planned all) all the way long. He had shown keen interest in photography and with a little help, he really clicked gr8 images.

The old bridge between our hill and caves creaked under out weight. But the view was breathtaking.

And  the kids who ran around us, they were cute too....
Hmmmm......moving over to the actual caves, the caretaker told us that the cave nos 9, 10 and 23 are the most important of all, but then we had this adventure bug in us, so it was a unanimous and implicit decision that we roam around all of them whether we have the light left with us or not (yes the caves close down at 5.30pm)

Some of my grabs in these caves...

Thats all I have with me right now for Ajanta. For other grabs of Ajanta please visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=100783&id=1311662017&l=6a40530ca3

This was actually the Diwali day, but it had poured cats and dogs in Aurangabad. There was a heavy haze and to add to it was the fog from the fireworks.



So as we returned and searched for a good hotel to pounce upon some good food, all of us recalled what a day it had been....

Our faces and body were tired.....but then there was this thin smile of satisfaction, for we had a gr8 day..... and also there was this curiosity how our next two days of our trip will be....



Aastalavista...
Abhishek