Andharban Trip – Part 2
I hope you liked the part 1 of the trip. I am continuing the enticing journey here.
There were several streams and water falls on the way and so we carefully crossed them. No matter how hard we tried to walk over the rocks to avoid getting drenched, we failed and had to walk with wet shoes on. One good thing was that it wasnt raining. So incase, if you are going in rainy season, you may need an additional help of ropes and other safety equipments to cross them. The same streams were the only source of drinking water and in a lengthy trail as this, it was a blissful experience.
There were several streams and water falls on the way and so we carefully crossed them. No matter how hard we tried to walk over the rocks to avoid getting drenched, we failed and had to walk with wet shoes on. One good thing was that it wasnt raining. So incase, if you are going in rainy season, you may need an additional help of ropes and other safety equipments to cross them. The same streams were the only source of drinking water and in a lengthy trail as this, it was a blissful experience.
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| Quenching our thirst |
We quenched our thirst but what about our hunger. There were no eateries in the way and we had nothing in our bags expect one packet of Parle –G which was divided among 10 of us on a brief halt we took. Even such conditions couldn’t lower our enthusiasm, this is the best part of traveling in a group – someone always has that energy to ask “Ek Kheechega Kya?” (Can you click one please) Another one will tell us details of Ram Rahim’s (MSG) Gufa – the tunnel that reaches to Girls Hostel and how it must be similar to this forest!!
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| Enthusiasm was still up |
Before we started to move again, we again decided to not stop anywhere before Hirdi – the village where we could get something to eat. After walking for another 30 minutes, we kept asking every passerby the very same question “How far is Hirdi?” and received different answers from all varying from 30 mins -1 hour. Finally, after more than 1 hour, we moved from no light to open sky on a plateau. There was some flowing and again “Ek Kheechega Kya?” was back hence we broke the commitment again, stopped for a photo shoot for Tinder and Shaadi.com (look at that contrast!).
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| Flowering on the plateau |
This was a positive sign as the village must now be somewhere near since we could hear some chattering. As we moved closer, we saw a gathering of people sitting in a circle, feasting on thier packed meals. I so wished I knew someone in that group. Nonetheless, only some distance away we saw a wooden structure in dilapated condition which led us to the our McDonalds – we had reached Hirdi.
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| Restaurant @ Hirdi |
What a relief! Some of us stretched our legs on a khatiya(bedstead) and rest of them sat on chairs and without further ado we ordered everything on the menu which was Maggi, Poha and Bhakri (There was no tea). As I am always very keen to hear stories from people so this one is about Hirdi village.
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| Grandsons’s Wife and their daughter |
There are just 4 Houses in the village and all of them belong to one family. This hut where we were eating was owned by Grandson of the village’s most senior person (dada). His granson along with his daughter in law handled the cooking affairs and their cute little daughter helped them around. This is their primary source of earning.
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| Senior Most person in Hirdi – Dada |
As we were relishing the delicacies, one of us joked about the Wi-Fi password. On asking about how they manage their daily affairs with no power supply – the old man said there was power supply but due to heavy rains there has been disruption and power cut since 3 days. Contrast again.
Dogs and Hens with their chicks roamed all around u. We were about 8 km inside the forest these were the only animals we saw until now. Each time we asked for water, they filled only half of the jug –this proved that water was not easily available them, they fetched it from the nearest lake which was about 3 km away. But what about food? As soon as, we dropped a grain of Poha from our plate the hens would come and eat it.
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| Village with just 4 huts |
Even the dogs were looking at us with a hope that we would offer them something – and we did but when humans don’t have enough to satiate themselves how will they feed the animals. Dada told us that the nearest road from here is about 4-5 km from where one can hire a vehicle to go to outskirts of Pune which were roughly 40 km to starting point and add 10 km more to reach where they can buy ration.
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| Only a Dog could have hope from him 😛 |
Even if the power department is informed of the power cut – they will need to travel 50 km+ by vehicle and next 5 km by walk for just 4 families and more importantly no one knows when they will come to check next. But at least we can be proud that these people at least have access to electricity and government has not given up on them even though they are not a significant vote bank.
Post lunch, our depleted energy had been replenished by the divine food which saved our lives in the forest because there was a gap of 8 hours between breakfast and lunch. Now we had to walk back the same route because we didn’t have a luxury of a driver waiting for us at end of the trek who could ferry us back to the start point. Walking back was a more difficult task as we had to ascend the thick forest that we descended.
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| Wondering if going back was possible |
Everyone needed rest but none could afford to as the clock was ticking. We had to reach start point before it gets dark and if we are late no one can help us in the forest so even if we had to limp we had to limp faster. And thankfully no one had the audacity asking “Ek Kheechega Kya”.
Luckily, everyone could pull up together and after walking incessantly for 2 hours we reached the last waterfall. Having reached earlier than expected, we decided to enjoy the fall.
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| Our private waterfall for the trip |
We knew no would turn up at this point as late as 4:30 pm so we were the only ones shouting and splashing water on each other. And not to forget I had a great pedicure thanks to these little creatures.
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Natural way to get Pedicure
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Enjoyment makes us oblivious of time and so I had to ask them to rush. We managed to click this one before we moved. Some of them said “Shareer ki saari garmi chale gayi”. I do not know what they were trying to do in that cold water.
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All of us except Niyaaz
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Until now the weather was supporting us. As we started moving from this point, it had started to drizzle. My friend was elated not because he loves rains but now he had a reason to wear the raincoat which we were carrying in our bag. Rains can wreak havoc in a forest but thankfully here only a tree had fallen off, maybe this is quite a common phenomenon. It could mislead path for some travelerswho were not aware of the route.
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| Tree fell off |
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My friend who on the way to the village was talking of Ram Rahim’s Gufa had now started a conversation about Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru). Again the contrast! There is something in the air of these woods that takes our mind from outer world to inner self. I have a long pending to wish to stay in a forest but don’t know when I would be able to fulfill it.
We reached the starting point at 6 pm after walking 16km. One of the most difficult forest trails taken was over ….
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| All of us |
But… but somehow there was more adventure in store.
One of the bikes had a flat tyre! Expecting a repair shop in the vicinity this far from the city was not an option so we had to drag the wobbly vehicle. On the way we many such cases of flat tyre so possibly it was an intentional act. We were lucky to find a shop open at around 7 pm about 5km from there. Pratik and I were shit tired so we left.
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| Nightmare on the trip – Flat tyre |
Since my friend couldn’t control the desire for Tea, we stopped at popular joint – Vithal Kamat. Unfortunately, after we saw the buttery pav’s and steaming bhaji we were unable to control our taste buds so we ordered dinner; just then it started to rain so heavily that even the roof was leaking. Post dinner, we wore our raincoats and started riding home
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| Pav Bhaji |
The plot for horror story had begun. How can I describe loneliness of the stretch? It was the dead of night and it was raining cats and dogs. There were absolutely no lights on the road. We were all alone on the road, no sign of any passerby. We wondered if we had come on the wrong road even though we knew there was only a single road that passes that area. There were many people at the restaurant and suddenly we see no one in this country of 125 crore people. All kinds of thoughts from bike breaking down, being robbed, getting murdered had filled our minds. When I told my friend what if the bike breaks down he got agitated with me to even think of such a thing. Even though he was thought the same but his agitation portrayed the fear.
The only light we could see was the that from our bike which was not even sufficient to see potholes ahead none the less, there was no, absolutely no question of going slow, If the bike breaks down, no one will come to our rescue so we went as fast as we could and for this reason it was a terribly bumpy ride.
After a LONG interval of 40 mins, we saw another biker and we felt relieved to find a company of absolute stranger
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| The final hurdle – Traffic Jam |
Some distance ahead we saw a traffic jam and for the first time in life, a traffic jam had made folks who work at Hinjewadi happy because at least people were still alive and T-virus hadn’t spread in the world (resident evil). A local told that it was due to tree felling (So it was not just forest). I got down helping others move the tree away from the road. Thankfully, it was taken care and so we were clear.
We finally reached home at 9:30 pm when I saw 19 missed calls.
To those who don’t know about my relationship status – no, it was my mother.
To those who know about my relationship status – yes, it was my mother.
Lessons to learn
1. Never leave late from any such place as no one can come to your help if any untoward accident happens. Even a flat tyre can’t be repaired. It would have been better if we hadn’t stopped to eat at Vithal Kamat.
2. This trail should be taken in a big group only because the start and the end point is 40 km away and so you need someone to take you back to the start point.
