Life Journey...: January 2016

Sinhagad Fort is very popular trek destination of puneities. It literally means Lion's Fort. Fortress elevation is 4,304 ft. Fort is located to the southwest of Pune at a distance of 25 km. My office friends decided to half day trek at Sinhagad fort. Our trek plan “Chalo Sinhagad” circulated to all possible attendees in office. We planned, who will pick up others in the early morning on trek day in the meeting room. Outside of the room, people may be thought that we were discussing the serious business matter in the conference room.

I woke up at 3.10 am in the morning I refresh and leave home at 4.01 am. And I reached my pickup point at 4.14 am at Hadapsar Bridge. My friend came on Royal Enfield Thunderbolt bike. He wore a black colored jacket like Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s ride in TV commercials ad. I thought Dhoni came to pick me up. In the early morning, pin drop silence on the road for sometimes. Only a few vehicle were on the road. Due to very less traffic vehicle moving fast.

We reached Katraj dairy in record break time. Meanwhile, we picked up one mavla (Soldier) on our esteemed bike. There our friend wait for us with the car but again we need to wait for another mavla for 30 min. We reach Sinhagad Fort foothills at 5.45 am in the morning. We went very smoothly in traffic in the morning. We parked our car at Sinhagad foothills trek starting point (Donje village). We hit the trail after shooting few snaps.

We were 11 people came from 4 major suburbs of the city. After new member intro, we started trekking. Girish initiated "Chalo Sinhagad" trek, and he completed trek more than ten times. Mandar went to Harichandragad fort trek. So this trek was a piece of cake for Girish and Mandar. Girish knows trek route inside out.

We were at good in trek starting timing, and we were on track. Fresh environment... Bearable temperature... Good weather… No fog... dead silence... route made of stone, blocks, and sharp turns… walked under stars in the open sky... battery light crush darkness with a small beam of light. Battery light was not sufficient so few mavlas started mobile flashlight. We walked on trek route with mobile lightning bugs. 3-4 mobiles flashlights look like few lightning bugs flying in the air.

In life journey, we have a choice of the shortcut and long cut. Same options were available on trek route. On few sharp turn, I take a shortcut and then I can hear my heartbeat so loudly that I feel my heart speeding like a car in the tournament. We took few breaks on the route. After some time, I found that our lead trekker was taking rest on stone. Before I asked anything He told us, He was not tired, nor his energy was dried. He was pumping his lungs with fresh oxygen. He was running on fumes.

In history, Shivaji Maharaj won Sinhagad fort with few mavla’s. In schoolbook, we have one chapter on the Sinhagad battle. In battle, Tanaji and his soldier scale the steep cliff with the help of a monitor lizards (Ghorpad). Shivaji Maharaj words "गड आला पण सिंह गेला" after hearing about Tanaji Malusare’s death in fort battle. Shivaji Maharaj changed fortress name from Kondhana to Sinhagad after the famous recapture of the fort in battle. Statement by BajiPrabhu Deshpande inspires me "संकटावर अशा प्रकारे तुटून पडायच की... जिंकलो तरी इतिहास घडला पाहिजे आणि हरलो तरी इतिहास घडला पाहिजे..."

I thought how soldier climbs fort with or without a horse on this treacherous route. Trek route was not that much difficult, but I wonder how they fought fort battles. How they defend or attack it?

We reached fortress bridgehead in approx. 100 minutes. Sun was slowing moving to rise again. Sunrise was spellbound. White color spread across the sky. Sun was behind fort walls. So it looks likes sunrise from fort top. Small vendors were ready to serve us lemon juice and other snacks. We had a small photo session and had lemon juice for refreshment. Lots of people reached Fort now. Fort top point still long away from us. Sunrise blew me away.
Within approx. 30 min we started return journey. Now it was testing time for knee and joints. Climb down route somewhat better than ascending. We got free time for chit-chat. In conversation, Aniket told us, he is alumni of JSPM College. He guides college student for their last semester projects. We finished trek return journey in almost 1.2 hours. Now it’s time for snacks. Our trek was like running a competition where the player touches endpoints and return after that. We did not travel through length and breadth of the fortress. We had breakfast at the local hotel. In breakfast, we had Poha and medium spicy MisalPav with tea. Finally, we started return journey in the car, and it took 1.5-hour journey to reach home. Amazing trek comes to ends.