Naneghat – Freedom at the pass of coins

Naneghat – Freedom at the pass of coins

I slept on 14^th August with a fear that I would be late for the trek again as I did last time. So I gathered cellphones of mine, my father and mother and ON the alarm at three different timings. So if one cellphone fails to ring, I can bank on the other two. That’s the general tendency of human being to keep less trust on technology and Cellphones are prime example of failure at emergency times. Whatever, we all have stopped wearing watches and stop keeping alarm clocks at our place. I wonder if too much dependency on technology will shrink our homes at some point of time in future, a hypothetical thought though.

Thanks to God, I woke up early on 15^th August. As it was 65^th Independence day, TIE organized a trek to Naneghat, the group which I been with to Bhimashankar Trek. Hoping that this trek would be as adventurous and exciting as Bhimashankar I enrolled for it willingly. Got through my morning chores as early as I can and as usual my mother was yelling at me for being careless and forgetting things. And as usual I was also recollecting what I must have forgotten to put in my bag. Paratha’s were ready to hop into my bag for afternoon’s lunch. Bag was relatively lighter than Bhimashankar trek as today’s trek was a single day affair. Then also I don’t forget to put shawl and newspaper in my bag, still remember the night when we slept on the haridwar ghat with sky as our shelter. After that day I keep myself ready to face sudden challenges. With my new woodland shoes I was ready for my second trek. Borrowed scooty from my Aunt as my Sister was unwilling to give her Aviator. Reached station well in time, called Ganesh (organizer) and learnt from him that I had to buy Kalyan return tickets on my own unlike the earlier trek. Again I missed the train, but this time another organizer Mr. Kunal Chitnis was also left behind with me due to over curious Mumbai Police.

The group plan was to hoist flag at the pinnacle of Naneghat and for that Kunal had brought a 8 foot long stick with him. Suspicious cops questioned him for more than 15 mins and went through his bag. Poor Kunal was drenched in sweat when I saw him at the Kalyan end of Platform no.2 of Thane stn and I thought he started trekking from Bhiwandi itself. Aditi brought the stick to us, which was now a symbol of TIE’s resilience. And yaa TIE means Trek it Easy, a perfect name for a trek group that’s what I think and many will agree to it. Hat’s off to the person who suggested the brand name. Aditi greeted me with a nice and cute childish smile rising from her chubby cheeks. Aditi, Shriraj, Kunal and Me were together on lead in Bhimashankar Trek. Will talk about Shriraj, the cool rapper later.

Kunal and me got into train to Kalyan leaving Aditi behind to wait for her friends. In the train, I discovered some new group members. I preferred to keep silent and enjoy the view outside of a pleasant morning. Meanwhile I learnt from Kunal that some 10-15 people were going to join us in Kalyan, they were all family guys who unfortunately didn’t know the meaning of trek.

Kalyan was hustling and bustling as usual. I could see some similar faces from last trek standing in cluster. Some of them were Mr. Ashish Chawla, Ameya Gupte, Shriraj Bhide, Krupali, Akhilesh, Madhuja and there were quite a few which I can’t remember now. Got into discussions of downfall of Indian cricket team with Ashish sir, he was looking fit and fine after trekking for more than 6-7 weeks continuously(I mean only Sundays). Basically he is a tough guy and very friendly. Met my friend Shriraj Bhide and we again decided to lead the trek. Ganesh and Aditya went away to arrange for Trax by which we were supposed to travel from Kalyan to Naneghat Base. Shriraj who hails from Kalyan, claimed that he knew every nook and corner of the city, made the whole group walk a muddy road which was a detour to a shortcut. When we reached near the vehicles everybody cursed Shriraj for taking a long route. Aditya and myself was again on the front seat of trax and he made me remember that it was the same during bhimashankar trek, but the vehicle was TumTum. It was one and half hour drive from Kalyan to Naneghat base approximately 60 kms. On the way picked up the family guys who brought there own vehicles. Got to know that some people where first timers and they were asking silly questions to Ganesh and he was answering them very coolly. Aditya was curious about going for Job or doing MBA after his BMS degree. Ganesh with his loaded gun (camera) started shooting, he is an excellent photographer.

Reached the base around 9:15 am and discovered that the family guys were already there and were looking in a picnic mood. They brought little kids with them and were asking the organizers how long is the trek and will the children be able to walk so much. Not there fault, they thought that there must be a waterfall and everyone would get wet in the water till evening. But sorry, all the TIE members were in serious trekking mode, ready to conquer the challenging Naneghat pass. After introduction ceremony, we all proceeded making our way through thick forest towards the black wall. First stretch of trek was through beautiful seasonal streams and was less arduous. Ganesh, Shriraj, Dev, myself and other two three people were with us leading. The pinnacle of Naneghat was looking beautiful from the base, it was full of clouds and mist. Butterflies were all over the jungle but not a single of them was ready to sit still for a good shot. I ran almost for 15-20 mins behind them, but they refused to submit. I would have also shown them my patience but it was time to move further with the group. After some time I came to know that Aunties and Kids from the family guys group gave up and were returning to the base again as they were not used to such treacherous hikes. Again Kunal went to leave them to the base, as they were our responsibility though they didn’t pay for the trek.

Shriraj, the rapper bought two mobiles with him. When I asked him the reason, he started rocking English songs on one of the cellphones. Suddenly the whole forest was filled with songs of Eminem, backstreet boys and sorry I don’t know much names. Me, Dev and Shriraj were enjoying the music, but some of the trekkers hated the nuisance which was corrupting the silence of forest. But Shriraj was in no mood to stop his songs, he had fully loaded the battery before coming for the trek. At a point of time, a bee came humming towards me and the nightmare of Bhimashankar trek passed through my mind. Hurriedly I shooed it way and there were no other friends of her humming around us.

As we moved further, the path was getting more slippery. Every step was advanced with utmost care, anyways our speed was good. On a plateau we made a halt that was around 5 kms from the base. There we got the first best shot of the trek, which was a Silver Spider perched on my shoe. Ganesh zoomed his camera as best as he can and got a Ultra microscopic image of the spider. I also got a good shot from my Olympus macro mode. It was a beautiful creature indeed. 

After that halt the real trek started through the cut between the two mountains of Naneghat. It was damn slippery, the forest was getting more denser and the path more steeper. Our second halt was an interesting one, because me, shriraj and Dev decided to buy the plot to make a hotel at that spot. Shriraj’s imagination knew no barriers about what the Hotel would contain. Ropeways, Jacuzzi, Bar, entertainment park and many such hypothetical things, it went ON and ON. My cheeks were paining with laughter and then we decided to proceed further.

On the way we bumped into many fellow trekkers, some were of old age too but looking very enthusiastic. View from the top was getting more awesome as we were moving further, but the electric lines over the mountains were marring the beauty of the place. In every picture you could see them, the pic becomes so artificial if an electric line comes in between.  There was a little water reservoir in the way, where we quenched our thirst and filled our empty bottles. As the top was getting nearer, we could see caves and monkeys hopping here and there. One of the monkey was looking very unfriendly and with his open mouth he was threatening us. It was difficult to pass him without getting afraid, but got through somehow.

It was lunch time now and we decided to have lunch in the caves. Slowly every trekker was coming there and after sometime the whole cave got filled with TIE members. Ancient caves are the prime feature of Naneghat pass. My imagination couldn’t overcome the thought that how these caves must be carved in this mountain. It must have required years to carve such a beautiful cave in the mountain with water reservoir besides them. Floor and wall perfectly leveled, no sign of fracture, no leakage, everything was just perfect. Looking at such constructions, only one question comes to my mind “Has man really advanced in the field of construction?” To my view “Absolutely Not.” Ancient construction like forts and caves are masterpiece of construction and architecture. If somebody doesn’t believe me, they should immediately visit Ajanta and Ellora Caves. There you will find unimaginable structures. Coming back to the Naneghat Cave, there were letters in stone age language carved on the wall which could be seen all over the cave. But again some of the unmindful lovers had incorporated there names on the walls.

Everybody opened their tiffin box and in no time the whole cave was filled with smell of delicacies. Monkeys couldn’t resist it, as they were seen sitting on the mouth of the cave waiting for someone to come and feed them. But they were not brave enough to come inside and confront another gang of monkeys (TIE members). A voice started hitting my ears like hammer and it was not hard to identify the person and she was Krupali. In the above paragraph I was talking about no fracture in the walls of cave, but I requested her to be less loud as there was danger to happen so. She is a real malvani, very expressive indeed, but very good at heart. Aditi was unfulfilled by the lunch she had bought and I shared my parathas with her. She and her group thanked me for the treat. Meanwhile I learnt from Ganesh that Kunal had return to the base as he was also feeling a little feverish. And to tell you about Kunal Chitnis, he is my MBA friend Namita Chitins’ brother. I started trekking with TIE because of Namita, she told me to join their group for Bhimashankar and I was ON to it. As she was enjoying exotic beaches of Konkan and was unable to join us for Naneghat.

After Lunch we proceeded towards the pinnacle for flag hosting. Towards the end of the cut between the two mountains, there was a stone pitcher (pot) kept. It is said that during the reign of the King Satavana, it was used as toll collection booth for the entry in Pune. People passing from there used to drop coins in that pot, and for that only thing the name Naneghat immortalized in the history. 

After rejecting two sites for Flag hosting we decided a nice spot, showing the breathtaking scenery of sahyadris. The symbol of TIE’s resilience, the 8 foot long Stick was erected on the tripod and flag was shoved into it. But the wind up there was too harsh, the flag was not standing on itself. Atlast, Ashish sir decided to hold it straight and everybody standed in a semi circle around the flag. Ganesh positioned the camera away from the group and started the video mode. With the wind moving, our hearts filled with patriotism and with national anthem on our lips we saluted our national flag. It was the proudest moment of trek and the day. The shouts of Bharat Mata Ki Jai, filled the air and echoed back from the walls of sahyadris. I hopped to get a snap of the whole group. Just when I was about to click there was a ear deafening noise from the adjacent mountain. I guess it was of landslide, but it was like a thunder. 

Afterwards we moved towards the last spot of our trek that was “Nanacha Angtha”, it was in the shape of thumb. All of our group sat on the point, facing Thane District and our back to Pune district. Suddenly in a moment fog filled the whole mountain and at the next moment everything was clean and pure. It was the one of the most beautiful scenery I have seen in my life. We clicked some pictures on the top and started descending. 

Again the descend was too slippery and my legs were shaking like anything because they were in utmost attention mode. Again we passed through our plot and again Shriraj reminded me of our deal to buy that plot for a hotel. Though it may sound funny, we were talking seriously of our plans. Shriraj and myself was leading again and Shriraj’s cellphone battery didn’t seem to die after honking for more than 4 hours. We reached the plateau were we got Silver Spider shot and decided to wait there till rest of the group comes. When the whole group came, we started again and didn’t stop till we reached the base. There we met Kunal who was bored to death between the family guys. One of the family guys was robbed of Rs. 3000 by breaking the window and taking the cash out of the wallet kept in the car. It was indeed a sad incident, but the family guys seem to be OK with it, rather there was no option to investigate the matter. Whole group gathered and again 3 trax were ready to leave us at Kalyan. Everyone got into it and we reached Kalyan around 6:45 pm. After that we had some TIE sponsored snacks and everybody bid a good bye to others. That’s how our trek ended in a joyful mood. It was not as adventurous as Bhimashankar but it was a great Independence trek. Thanks to TIE for making by Independence day special. Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra