The Utterances of a Peculiar Mindset

I had been to Vasai fort once again. Last time I could not see the whole fort cause of the huge size of the fort. This time I covered some more area but again I had to leave early. So maybe next time I will cover some more part.. :-)
The place seemed to have changed over the last time. Lot of reconstruction activities going on. The government is reconstructing the area along with the usual conservation activities. Maybe it is looking forward to making this place a tourist spot. Shridutta thinks many of these reconstruction activities are actually damaging the fort.
Anyways, here are few snaps of the visit. Enjoy

I had recently been to Kalsubai, the highest peak in Sahyadris. Was a great trek in all. Will soon be writing a detail travelogue of the same. For the time being, here are few snaps from the trek. Many more snaps have been uploaded to my picasa album.

I had been to Mahim fort on 26th January. This yesteryear glory now remains as a shelter for few slums. The fort has totally been occupied by slums and people are using it as their homes.
Well, on a positive note, at least the fort is being utilised unlike others which just stand in ruins now..

Here are few snaps from my visit to Vasai fort. Hoping for your comments.

I had been to Vasai fort yesterday. This Portuguese fort is almost in ruins now, bearing few old archaeological remains which will interest only a historian. I will soon put up snaps I clicked there..

As many of you must be already knowing, creating video is one of my most favorite hobby and pastime. Here is a video i had created way back in 2005. Its about the treks I had done during my engineering days. Hope you will find it interesting..:-)

Day 3: August 1
We were close to Jodhpur station as I said hi to the beautiful day. It was 6:30 AM when the train touched platform No. 3 at Jodhpur station. Right in time. The beautiful architecture of the Railway stations gives a perfect impression of what the city is about. Beauty, royalty and hugeness. And the city doesn't let you down at any moment.

The tourist guides and rickshaw hawkers will approach you as soon as you exit the gate. And they won't leave you easily.. Looking for a good place to stay is not much difficult in the city, being a famous tourist spot. We didn't had a night halt plan so any normal lodge was ok for us. We stayed at a place called Sinla Haveli. The person seemed to have converted his haveli into a small lodge. Nice place to stay.

After freshing up, we left for the place called Masuriya (Snaps awaited). This is a religious place and is considered to be the samadhi of sage Balinath, the guru of Baba Ramdeoji. All through the way to Masuriya, we were having a fantastic view of the Mehrangarh fort. (Refer the image above) The sahyadri forts must be looking like this once upon a time, I was wondering.
The Masuriya is actually a cave carved out of giant massive rock. There is one temple of Baba Ramdeoji and Balinathji. The view from the top of the place is just awesome. I sould not go to the top of the rock as they have jammed the way using a gate and glasses.

After this place, we got back to the hotel. Within an hour, we were ready fo out further journey to Ramdeora, our actual destination. There are three ways to go to Ramdeora from Jodhpur. Train, Governement buses an private buses. We decided to take the private bus cause they have good frequency and speed. We left Jodhpur by 1:30 PM.
The journey to Ramdeora was great. I had taken up the window seat and was just looking out of the window all through the way. The journey passed through the desert of Rajasthan and I was enjoying taste of sand with the wind flowing. And I was enjoying. Cause it had the essense and fragrance of my land, Marwad.

The "Rani ki Smadhi" en route to Ramdevra is a beautiful example of Rajasthan architecture. This small but fascinating spot is considered to be tomb of some queen. I could notfind out much information about the same but it must be a tomb of some queens from the Tanwar family which ruled at Pokhran. I will check out for more info ext time I will be at the place.

We reached Ramdeora at around 5 PM. There are lot of Dharmashalas (small lodge kind places, run by trusts). They are cheap and provide very good facilities. Also there are few lodges newly constructed. After getting fresh at the Dharmashala, we left for a visit to the Ramdevji temple. This was the main reason we were to Rajasthan. So I could not just wait much.

Situated about 12 kms. to the north of Pokhran (Jaisalmer), the village of Ramdevra known after Baba Ramdev, a Tanwar Rajput and a Saint who took Samadhi (conscious exit from the mortal body) in 1458 A.D. He had miraculous powers and his fame reached far and wide. Legend goes that five pirs from Mecca came here to test his power and after being convinced, paid their homage to him. Since then he is venerated by Muslims also as Ram Shah Pir. The Hindus regard him as an incarnation of Lord Krishna. There is large number of followers of this god, Spread across whole Rajasthan, Gujrat and many other parts of the country.

After having Darshan at the temple, we just wandered a little in the market, had our dinner and got back to our halting place for a deep sleep. Looking forward to the next day.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I was on a tour of Rajasthan for one week. Here I will be putting up about my traveling and the places I had been to.

Day 1: July 30
Left for Jalna at morning 6:30. It was 1st Birthday of my sweet cute niece Netal. So just attended the birthday party. We were supposed to move further to Mumbai from here where we would catch train for Jodhpur.
Left for Mumbai at 2300 hours IST by Latur-Mumbai CST Latur Express.. In short nothing much to be written about in the day.

Day 2: July 31
Reached at Dadar at 7:00 AM. Took up a taxi and reached Bandra Terminus, we were to take up train to Jodhpur from here. I would recommend take up a local to Bandra from Dadar. The terminus is just 1.3km away from the Local train station. Or even better, alight at Khar road which is 0.4km away from the terminus.
The station is very clean and well maintained. So getting fresh here was no problem at all. After getting fresh at the waiting hall of Bandra Terminus, we planned to wander a little. Went to my new college (CIMR) and my new hostel. Wanted to show the places to my mom. he was happy and satisfied with the places I'm gonna study and live at.
After getting back to the terminus, we straight away went to our train and rested in the boggie through which we were supposed to travel. The train we had taken up was "Bandra Terminus - Jodhpur Suryanagri Express". Very fast and comfortable train. It stops at Borivali, Surat, Vadodara, Ahmadabad, Abu Road, Palampur, Marwad, Pali, Loni, Rani and Jodhpur. So you can see, very selective stations. I will recommend this train to those traveling to Rajasthan.

The train left Bandra at its scheduled time, 01:30 AM and was running on time throughout. Enjoying food at various stations, we were traveling through the route, looking forward to reach Jodhpur at 6:30 AM next day.
I will specially recommend the Rabdi at Abu Road station. Its very delicious.
At 9:30 PM, I was in my bed, looking forward to next morning.

TO BE CONTINUED...

I was at Mumbai yesterday for some work. Travelling through the beautiful valleys of the Khandala and spectacular water falls, looking at the magnificent Duke’s nose is one thing I love this journey for.
You won’t observe anything until you enter the first tunnel on the route. And as soon as the train comes out of the first tunnel, the stunning view will leave you speechless. All you can do is enjoy the beauty of nature. The magnificent Duke’s Nose keeps staring at you while you enjoy the view of green and dense valleys and the water flow falling down in the valleys.. The train keeps going through numerous tunnels. And at the end of each tunnel, there is one surprise for you.. Don’t miss an opportunity to travel through train on this route. And if you have some extra time, then go by a slower train that gives you more time to enjoy this nature.
Another way of enjoying this beauty of Bhor Ghat will be travelling by car or bus through the Pune – Mumbai Express way. This way provides a bigger view of the nature as it passes through various hills of the region. The number of water falls you can observe through this way are just countless.

The express highway will also provide you a nice view of forts like Lohagad, Visapur, Tung, Tikona, Rajmachi and Korigad at few places. But the most spectacular is undoubtedly the Duke’s Nose.

Bhor was a pricely state 100 Kms south of this Ghat. This was one of the 3 main ghats developed by Satvahana to move the goods from the merchant ships from Mesopotemia, Syria & Egypt to Paithan their capital. The port of Karanja & Rajapuri was connected to this ghat. There are buddhist caves right from these ports to Paithan in form of a chain. similar to Motels of Today. The other 2 Ghats were Thal and Nane. When the Brits came on the scene they converted the original Bor Ghat in to the railway Track. starting at Palasdari. A separate motor track was created from Khopoli. which is still in use.
These days the Express Highway is used more widely due to the less time to travel and faster and more convenient driving.

Mark your date 28th Jun to 1st Jul @ Pune - Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, Near Neharu stadium.
While Maharashtra celebrates 334th anniversary of coronation of their respected idol, King Shivaji on June 28 th, Rajashivaji.com will attempt to get into ‘Guinness World Records’ for the largest photo exhibition in the world on single theme ‘Forts of King Shivaji’, making billions of his admirers feel proud on the auspicious occasion of coronation anniversary.

“This would be the largest photo exhibition in the world on single theme ‘Forts of King Shivaji’, where 40000 (Forty Thousand) photographs of over 250 forts related to King Shivaji would be exhibited at an exhibition”.
“This is also an attempt to get worldwide recognition on an official platform, by virtue of which getting cognizance of world towards the charismatic persona of King Shivaji”.

RajaShivaji.com has a stock of over 1,50,000 digital photographs of various forts related to King Shivaji,out of which only 40,000 photographs will be displayed as per the norms of ‘Guinness World Records’.
The exhibition is being organized at Ganesh Kala Krida Manch, between June 28th & July 1st, which would be formally inaugurated on June 28 th at the hands of Shivshahir Babasahed Purandare and in the presence of MNS Chief Raj Thackarey.

The earlier record in this category was set by HP Company in UK in 2005, where over 33670 photographs of smiling individuals were displayed on the theme ‘Smiling Faces of UK’. While HP record raised from photo donation of people in UK. However, in our case a single & dedicated team of photographers working on the RajaShivaji.com project has clicked all the photos with superior in size of the photos and the no. of photo.

This exhibition would also act as a facilitator in creating awareness about the protection and conservation of these forts, which are the symbols of OUR national pride.

You all are requested to attend this function and make it most successful event.

Dont forget..Catch this event....pay tribute to Shivaji raje..

on 28th June, a big event related to trekking is gonna take place in Pune. The event will also make its way to Guinness book of world records. You have a chance to be a part of this magnificent event.. This is a request to all of you not to miss the event.. Its gonna be one memorable event of your life.. Also if anyone is interested for volunteering for the event, please contact me..

Btw, can't disclose the details of the event until official announcement is made. The official announcement will be done very soon.

The monsoon is here. And what can be better way to enjoy the monsoon than trekking? There are lot of choices for a monsoon trek. Here I will be sharing few of them.
The start of monsoon season has to be with "Katraj to Sinhagad" trek. (30 July is Enduro. Don't miss it.) Tikona is a fantastic option for enjoying the magnificent view of Pavana lake and the mawal ranges after rains. (This is the area where Amitabh Bacchan and Aamir Khan are planning to build their farmhouses).
Rohida is one place which provides spectacular view of Bhatghar dam with the rains pouring in from all sides. Rajgad will be one wild choice for enjoying the best of the monsoon Flora and Fauna. (You have to be aware of capricorns though). Raigad had always been perfect choice of monsoon trek. You will also get to enjoy the "Konkan Rains" in this trek.
Harishchandragad is a choice if you wanna enjoy countless water falls of Sahyadri. A further bike ride to Kalyan via Malshej Ghat will be one experience you are gonna share with your generations to come..
Panhala to Vishalgad is one of the wild treks you will prefer for monsoon. The 3 day trek passing via dense forests full of thousands of colorful birds and few wild animals is gonna be one of your most memorable experience. However, this trek should not be tried by a group of leass than 10.
Bhimashankar is a good option if you are a group of 20+ people. The area is full of wild animals including striped tigers. And monsoon is normally mating season of these animals. So you have to take care cause animals are kinda violent this time.
Korigad near Lonawala is an easy but beautiful trek for monsoon. Kothligad near Karjat is one medium difficulty trek. But being at the natural caves at the top of fort is one thing you will remember for sure.
Sudhagad near Pali is one of the most beautiful spots in monsoons. However, snakes can be a caution in the area. Also the route is some places very risky in rains.
Ratangad near Bhandardara is like a jewel true to its name. The Amruteshwar temple and nearby Randha falls are worth a look and thousand memories.


Above all these options, there is one special trek which is considered as the true enjoyment of monsoon. The 7 day Lonawala to Bhimashankar trek passing through the dense forests, hundreds of waterfalls, tens of hills and water streams, ups and downs along the Sahyadri ranges is definitely the best one monsoon can provide.


For any more information, my phone number is 9890774748. Or you can drop me a mail at trek@dineshsoni.com

Happy Trekking.. :)

Many of my well wishers provided me the feedback that thy enjoy reading my travel and outing related posts. They enjoy reading my Endeavors with Sahyadri. For all those who love traveling, trekking and reading about it; I have created a new blog called Touriz'ma. Here, I will archive my old posts related to trekking and also will put up new posts about my latest trekking and traveling experiences.
So keep checking the touriz'ma to keep updated about my traveling, to get information about various forts trekking spots in Sahyadri.

In the past, I had put up a list of 101 trekking spots in Sahyadri. In continuation of the same, here is a list of all 448 forts in Maharashtra. It includes hill forts, land forts and sea forts.