DADIMAA AND PANCHPEER

Date: 12th August 2007

Long before the monsoons, myself and Praveen had attempted trekking to these two points. They are located very near to Haji Malang or Malang-gad. However we were able to reach only up to the point where the path diverges, with one leading to the Dadi maa and Panch Peer Peaks and the other to Malang-gad. I came to know later that we had hardly covered a quarter of the actual distance. We were ill-prepared in the sense that we had not taken anything for lunch and these two points were less frequented. Moreover the heat was unbearable then.

I had therefore resolved to trek to the top. So on Saturday night after leaving my work-place I made for my friend's place at Kalyan for an over-night stay. Early next morning I left Raju's house by 6:50 a.m. It was 7:10 when I reached the Kalyan Bus stand. The bus arrived in 2 minutes time. It was 7:15 when the bus departed. It was around 7:40 when I got down at Kasauli. After getting down at the bus-stop one has to take the road on the left side leading to the village. There was mist all around the mountains and the village was very picturesque. On the right side of the path I took after passing Kasauli village were three waterfalls at different spots while there was one on the left. The one on the right side looked quite near. I was making my way towards it when a women coming from behind told me that there was no proper path leading to the water-falls. A little bit disheartened I trudged back to the path I had taken earlier. As I was admiring the beautiful streams which were crossing the path I was on, I was completely unaware that a herd of cattle was advancing behind me. I let them pass by. The cattle made the path even more difficult to walk upon. The herd was making puddles large enough so as to add to my woes.

It was 9 a.m. when I saw a drop water-fall at a close distance. And by around 9:25 a.m., I reached the open area where there is a diversion of paths. This was the same place where I and Praveen had returned back from. It was 11'o clock when I sighted a 'Dharamshala'. Here I encountered a difficult stretch where I literally crawled my way so as to avoid sliding down the waterfall. On reaching the ‘Dharamshaala’ I enquired with a chap how far the peaks were. He said it was some 30-35 minutes from here. It was around 11:30 a.m. when I reached the point where there was a board which indicated that Daadi maa was to the left and Panch Peer to the right. On the other side of the mountain I could see Badlapur town. I made my way towards Daadi maa. However strong winds and rains made me take cover behind a rock near the board. I though that it was better to get down to the 'Dharamshala' as the path ahead had no supports and the winds had no intention to stop. I returned back near the Dharamshala. I saw some 4 boys having lunch inside the Dharamshala. I recognized Chand whom myself and Praveen had met last time. Chand invited me inside to have lunch. I had a hearty meal of Dal and Rice.

After lunch we had herbal tea. Chand informed me that they (Himself and his wife
Reshma) had to some times make 2-3 trips up and down the mountain to get basic necessities like grocery milk etc. Money was difficult to come. People trekking these ranges would drop by and share the food that they had brought along. If it was raw vegetables and rice they had been bringing Chand and his wife would cook the same at that very place. I came to know that the 4 lads were also getting down the mountain so I decided to go along with them.

It was 12:30 p.m. when we took leave of Chand. While getting down, I enquired with the youngsters what their names were and what they did. I came to know that Sonu used to sell Kachoris at Ulhasnagar. Then Ganesh was into repairing clocks and watches. The other two Pradeep and Datta were into machine repairing. They said that they used to trek the peaks regularly. In fact they had intentions to come back the next week. It was around 3 p.m. when we reached the village. However we had to wait for an hour before we could get a bus to Kalyan. I was at Raju's house by 5p.m. Although I didn't reach the Mazhaar I was glad to have reached the top.

Getting There:
Fare up to Kasauli from Kalyan - 9 Rs.

When to Visit:
These peaks can be visited all year around although it is very pleasant in the monsoons. Carry a stick around so as to avoid slipping.

Important Points: One can stay overnight at the Dharamshalas atop. Panch Peer involves some 5 or more Mazhaars so staying overnight is a good option.

Rest of the photos are uploaded at : http://picasaweb.google.com/n.ramaswamy/DadimaaAndPanchpeer

INDEPENDENCE DAY TRASH DASH

Date: 15th August 2007

Attending the flag hoisting ceremony in the building had been a routine every 15th August. This time around I decided to join some people from a group called NOET (Natura Outdoor Education Trust) for a session of rappelling followed by a clean up drive. I registered myself over the phone. Avishkar Tendle, the organizer of the event told me to gather at 7:00 a.m. at Sanjay Gandhi National Park Gate.

On Tuesday night I stayed at my cousin’s place in Kandivli. The next morning I caught a rickshaw by 6:40 a.m. I reached the gate by 7 a.m. I called up Avishkar to inform him that I had reached the meeting place. A female voice, which was Maria's as I later came to know, answered the phone and told me that they all will be reaching the place in 10-15 minutes. I went inside the main gate. There was a person standing inside with all necessary gear needed for the session. I asked him if he had also come for the NOET clean up drive to which he replied in the affirmative. He later introduced himself as Deven Bhatt. He informed me that he was into diamond business.

Further he stated that he had a previous rappelling experience at Manali. He lost his left leg due to a torn ligament. His travels had taken him to Kerala too. But trekking was not possible now. Hence he was forced to go to places by vehicles. As we were conversing, a stout bearded man in his late 30's, whom I later came to know as Mihir, called up people who had gathered for the I Day Trash Dash. Some 10-15 people gathered around him. After briefing us about the programme, he led us to the ticket counter. We made our way towards Gandhi Smarak. From the ticket counter to this point the path was so full of flora and fauna that I wished I had been to this place more often. While walking I got into conversation with two senior persons in the event, one Mr. Alok Nath was an accountant with Free Press Journal and Mr. Philip, who was into individual research. It was around 9 a.m. when we all reached the Gandhi Smarak. Here Avishkar introduced himself and briefed us about NOET.

NOET has been doing this event since last year. Then we gathered around for a round of introduction. The group consisted of enthusiast right from the age of sixteen to the fifty five year old senior. Most of the youngsters belonged to a dance troupe. Amongst us there was Sanjay, a cancer patient whose very presence lifted our spirits. After the introduction, we gathered around for a game called Aa Saa Ko. The game is like this: The first person would keep his/her hand so as to look like a salute either using the right hand or the left one and say ‘Aa’. The person next to him/her to whose direction his/her hand is facing is supposed to keep his/her hand next to his/her stomach with the palm facing upwards and pointing towards right or left direction and say ‘So’. The person next to him/her to whose direction the palm was pointing then clasps both his/her hand and points towards anyone in the circle and says ‘Ko’. The person receiving the ‘Ko’ then continues with ‘Aa’. Two winners emerged
. Soon Avishkar called us for the rappelling session. Avishkar briefed us about the accessories involved which were a harness loop, chest loop, a carbiner with strength of 27KN and an 8 connector with strength of 30KN through which a cornamental fibre rope will pass through. Gaurang, another member of NOET was showing us what all could happen if things go wrong like if we didn’t loosen the rope enough, if we didn’t keep the legs apart.

The height of the rock which we were going to rappel was 40 feet. I was second to go. Initially I was a bit nervous. As soon as I started getting down I thought I was going to loose my grip and grabbed the rope tighter. Milind, the instructor told me to loosen the rope. He also told me to keep the legs apart. Half-way down I got a hold and was comfortable much before I got down on my feet. Later I realized that in fact one can leave both hands and descend. By 10:30 we were all through with the session. Rappelling done we got ready for what Avishkar termed as ‘riskier than rappelling’. He told us that in our enthusiasm to pick up loads of trash, one should not put his/her hands into holes as they might be home to some reptiles or creepy crawlies. Human wastes like Bottles, Chocolate Wrappers, plastic covers and other such non bio-degradable wastes had to be picked up. Last year somebody had individually collected 35 kilos of waste. This time around there was prizes to be given out by the sponsors ‘Nature Valley’.

It was 12 pm. Avishkar gave us 2 hours time to gather as much as we could. By around 1:45 p.m. I could pick up half a bag of trash and decided to accumulate the same. When it was weighed it came around 3 kilos. Somebody had already brought 16 kilos. Avishkar extended the time limit by 10 minutes more and finally some body brought 42 kilos of waste. A music band ‘Asmaan’ had come over specially to distribute the three prizes. First runner up was Pronita. Second runner up was Arvind and the winners were Ravi and Rohit. Every participant received two packs of Chocolate from Nature Valley. We were done by 3:05 p.m. I left the park with a thought of a day well spent for a social cause by all the participants.

A TRIP TO MAHIM KELVE

Dates: 14th and 15th July 2007

I had recently read ‘Bhatkanthi’, a book in Marathi on adventurous journeys by Milind Gunaji. I found a mention of Mahim Kelve Beach in that book. I discussed the plan of going to this place with the office staff. We decided to stay at Palghar on Saturday night i.e. 14th and venture out the next day. There were no bookings done and we were prepared to spend the night on the Palghar platform.

Others joining me were Dilip, Dinesh, Ganesh, Mangesh, Navnath, Sakharam and Satyavan. When we were ready to leave the work-place, Sanjay, a colleague of mine asked me if we had made arrangements for the stay at Palghar. I said that we were going to stay at the platform itself. Sanjay said that if we wanted he could make arrangements for our stay overnight at Palghar. His maternal uncle stayed in Palghar. Sanjay could possibly co-ordinate with his Uncle and make arrangements for the stay. He told us to leave while he made the arrangements. Thanking him profusely we left for the Bus-stop. We had to reach Borivili Station first in order to catch the 124 Down Ahmedabad Passenger train.

By around 9:15 p.m. a somewhat empty contract bus bound for Borivili came. We hopped into it and occupied most of the vacant window seats. We reached Kandivli by 9:45 p.m. Midway Sanjay called to inform us that he had made bookings for us at Laxmi Guest House. Three rooms along with extra beds had been arranged.

There was traffic near Thakur Village and it was around 10 p.m. when we finally reached Borivili. There were some Volvo buses lined up near the stop where we got down. However on enquiring with the drivers, we came to know that most of them were going to Surat, Vadodara etc with no halts at Palghar. We then made our way towards the ST Bus stand, where we were told that there were no buses leaving for Palghar for that night. So we made our way towards the Railway station as our last resort.

We reached the station by 10:45 p.m. The passenger train was scheduled to arrive by 11:30 p.m. We purchased tickets and decided to have dinner at some hotel nearby. But finding a hotel was quite a task at that time and we had to dash off after a hurried dinner to the station.

The train came by around 11:35 p.m. The general compartments were full in no time. We stood besides the door as there was no place more comfortable. We passed through Vasai Road by 12:10 a.m. When we reached Virar, the last station in the suburban section it was 12:30 a.m. We reached Kelve Road station by 1:00 a.m. Here the train was put into siding and some 4-5 express trains passed by. It was 1:40 a.m. when we got down at Palghar station. We asked a RPF personnel at the platform about Laxmi Guest House. He told us that it was nearby and at a walk able distance only. The Guest House was on the first floor. It was around 2:00 a.m. when I stood near the Hotel entrance door and rang the bell. The door was opened by a fellow, who could have been around 40 years and was probably accustomed to find people coming out so early in the morning. We paid the advance amount and got into our respective rooms. There was a television set in each of the three rooms. We decided to catch up with the latest news before we dozed off. There was nothing much in particular and we switched off the TV and plunged into deep slumber by 2:30 a.m.

I was awake by 5:30 a.m. Had a bath and awoke others. By around 7:00 a.m. we checked out of the hotel. Before leaving I enquired with the hotel owner how far the Kelva Beach was and what was the comfortable means of transport. He said that although there were buses plying between Palghar and Kelva Beach, the 10-seater Vikram was a better option. We descended the stairs of the building and made our way to the main road. There was a 10-seater waiting outside. It was 7:45 a.m. and we were way behind schedule. So we hopped into the 10-seater. We passed through a lovely route which made each one of us feel that we were far away from the hustle bustle of the city and amidst some sleepy town.

We reached the Beach by 8:10 a.m. It was one of the best settings I had seen of a beach. A large number of cypress trees lined in front of the sea were a treat to watch. As it was low tide the sea was at quite a distance from the beach. Most of the members in the group rushed into the inviting sea. We were frolicking in the sea for some 2 hours. We saw a fortification (Later I came to know this was called ‘Alibaug’ fortress) at a distance towards our left hand side in the south direction. We decided to explore it.

This fortification was at a sufficient distance. We walked for more than half an hour to reach it. At close quarters it looked like a part of some fort which had chambers on the inside. There is no proper entrance to this structure. One has to make use of the stepping stones and enter the fortification through one of the opening. Inside there was plenty of vegetation. There was a small tank as well. We took some snaps inside the fortification. While we were enjoying the new found place some one from the group informed us that the place was getting surrounded by water from all sides. We got back to the shore quickly without wasting further time. It was a lucky escape.

Next we decided to offer our prayers to Shitladevi temple. The temple is wonderfully built and maintained. Having visited the temple we made our way to a hotel to have lunch. I opted for the tender coconut though. It was fresher than the ones I could have anywhere else back in Mumbai. I sat besides a tree and relished the Masala Chana having a nice view of the sea. It was around 2:30 p.m. when we made our way to next destination, Mahikavati Mandir. We also decided to cover Shirgaon fort also. We reached the Mahikavati Mandir, which must have been hardly some 4-5 kms. from the beach by 2:50 p.m. It was unlike other temples. It had a room where a family was staying between the entrance and the place of worship. As we had kept the meter running we didn’t have time to enquire about the significance of the temple. The place of worship was pretty old. We had darshan and returned back to the waiting Vikram. By around 3:20 p.m. we reached Shirgaon fort. It is situated near a school. Almost in ruins, we found some children playing cricket there inside the fort. We climbed the fort from the south side. There was a watch-tower on this side with no supports. As soon as we climbed up the stairs it offered a breath taking view of the sea and the village. Just behind this tower was a chamber which had a lot of vegetation. As we moved towards the east side along the narrow path I found some six-seven chambers down below. I then returned back to the chamber behind the watch tower. In this very chamber there is a secret entrance on the west side. We ventured inside it. However it was too dark to find out where it led to. So we returned back to the chamber and walked towards the south side. There was one more watch tower. However due to the dense growth of wild grass we found it difficult to get to the top and skipped it altogether. We then started moving towards the west side. There was a watch tower here too retaining all its grandeur. We made our way to it through a very narrow path. I thought this might have been the place where many of a ruler would have brought his beloved during the moon-lit nights and had enjoyed some romantic moments. We returned back to the North end and descended the stairs. With a heavy heart we left the fort and made our way to the Main Road. It was 4 p.m. We caught a 10-seater up to Palghar from there. One of the passengers, an elderly woman enquired where we were from. We told us that we were all were from different parts of Mumbai. I enquired where Alibaug was (I was still not aware that the small fortification by the beach from which we had luckily escaped was called Alibaug). She told us that there was only one Alibaug and that too was located near Mumbai. She said that she had been to Alibaug from Bauchaa Dhakka’.

Soon we reached a place called Chunnabatti. We just thought what a coincidence it was that there were three places near Mumbai which had similar names of places in Palghar: Mahim, Alibaug & now Chunnabatti. It was around 5:20 p.m. when we reached Palghar and had tea. We then made our way to the ST Bus stand. Here we caught the last bus going to Thane. We must have traveled for some 30 minutes when we reached Manor. An article on Manor in the internet had mentioned about Manor’s beauty. Just then I saw a mini dam like construction on the right side of the road. The Board placed nearby read ‘Soorya River’. I am looking forward to make a trip to Manor soon.

We passed through Virar, Boisar, Versova, etc. We could see many a Jain Mandirs constructed on the hilltops. I concluded that this entire stretch between Thane-Palghar is worth visiting especially during the monsoons. It was around 8 p.m. when we reached Thane Bus stand. On reaching Thane railway station we all parted ways and returned back to our respective homes.

Getting There:

Fare for the ticket from Powai to Borivili was 10 Rs. per head.
From Borivili to Palghar ticket for passenger train was 14 Rs per person.
Rooms we got for 80 Rs. per person roughly.
Fare from Palghar to Kelva Beach: 10 Rs. per head
Fare from Kelva Beach to Shirgaon fort (via Mahikavati temple): 20 Rs. per person for singular trip
Fare from Shirgaon fort to Palghar: 5 Rs. per head
Fare from Palghar to Thane: 70 Rs. per head

Best time to Visit: Monsoons if you want to enjoy the route. If you intend to go to the Alibaug fortress it is best to know the tide timings.

Important Information: It is very difficult to find a pure vegetarian hotel near the Beach, so best option is to carry food along. Coconut is a lot cheaper here. It is available for as low as 10 Rs and nice too.



Hotel Accomadation: Swad Resort for A/C, Non A/C Veg and Non Veg Food. Mukund Aba Wadi, Shitaladevi, Kelve Beach, Taluka Palghar Dist Thane - 401401

Contact Nos: (O) 952525 222471, 952525 699673 (R) 2898 0504
(M) 9860599097 9324045345