Neeti looked tired…but her mind was abuzz with recipes…”What to bake/cook”She amazed me by stayin awake to cook pasta and bake a choco –cake.(Her eyes without exception close at 10pm on any other day) .Managed to wrap up by 1 am.Got a sms frm Srikumar…sayin he cudnt get no sleep…so we spoke at length,speculating about the trek,with comments from a half-asleep neeti in the background.Woke up at 4 am next morning,finished our morning biddings,left home,and reached the pre-decided place of Pritam Hotel(Dadar),caught a busride to Panvel ,had breakfast at a restaurant nr the bus stand,caught another busride to our destination.
Walked up a concrete path for about 30 mins to the base…..had a round of introductions and instructions from the leader of the trek-Kavita.And then started our trek to Chanderi by the Panvel route…a not-so –oft tried path.There was a huge crowd for the trek-more than 50 people.Everyone but me seemed to be an avid and experienced trekker.One guy I can’t forget is raj who had got his son along…he carried him in his bag all the way to the top….Hats off to his stamina and determination.
The trek uphill was uneventful,except for some holdups due to overgrown branches and beautiful waterfalls.The most eventful part of the trek up was the amazing wind atop Chanderi………one felt one cud just be blown off the mountain into the valley below.You could never be too careful out there…..everyone was treading cautiously and slowly.The view from atop….was breathtaking….sadly wasn’t carrying anything that wud take a lasting and tangible image of the place which is now etched in my memory.
We reached by about 1pm. after a non –taxing 3 hour trek.(Rain and waterfall refreshed us in the interim and so did Srikumar’s Glucon-D).I relaxed my eyes by looking at the vast scenery in front of me..It was a relief from staring at the muddy path ahead or at your slipping feet.Atop Chanderi is a small cave with a small temple within its recesses.Out came all the food…yumm…bread,cheese,pasta,cake,theplas,salami,egg sandwiches,chapatti –bhaji,dahi-bhaat………….food!food!and more food!
At about 2 pm,we commenced our trip down.I wont forget me innocently remarking to Vishu that the trek down would be quicker…FACT CHECK….the trip down would take more time because one has to be careful not to topple over the person ahead in that slippery terrain…
And right he was……we left in batches,giving a leeway of atleast 15-20 mins to the pervious group to get as far ahead as possible…but when we started,we could see them right there!!!as if they’d hardly moved!!We were moving at an ant’s pace…trying to keep outr feet firmly planted on slippery terrain ,and at the same time trying not to get blown away by the amazing wind.
I had a nice time….walkin down in those floaters…..The 2 waterfalls helped…in getting my muddy clothes back to their original colour.We hit the concrete road by about 630.Srikumar and Savio got this brilliant idea or runnin all the way to Panvel(bout 13 kms…)but we caught them nr the rickshaw stand,bout 4 kms away,caught a rickshaw back to Panvel ,in the bus to Mumbai at 830 ,time flew by..I had a nice nap..so did many others,the only one with her eyes wide open was Neeti.I was so thrilled with this experience I walked about half the way home(Made poor tired Srikumar do so too:p:).Back home by 1045.
Nice trip…a memorable trek for me.,being my first one.And,well about Dad,he enquired why I don’t I go trekking to the hill next to my ancestral house in Karnataka.!!!!!!!!!!!
