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Published: September 21st 2008
The Falls-1
Time to quench some thirst!!Matheran Trek (12st Sept-14th Sept 2008)::
For sometime I had this desire of trekking in the dark and my wish was fulfilled when the enthu group(raj, saju n me) decided going trekking on Matheran(2 weeks ago).Then came the tedious task of gathering people. Frantic calls to friends ,relatives ,friends of friends etc went on ...though to no avail .Finally we ended up with the usual suspects(raj,saju,arnie,aalu n me). Skepticism crept in as Aalu was the only girl and we weren’t sure that she would be able to complete the trek.But then we thought, oh hell its arnie’s problem:-) not ours .Worst case we had to leave them midway and we were ready to do that 😊.
D-Day-12th Sept- Plans of reaching Ghatkopar stn early etc were made ..but as usual we can never be on time..Last moment packing and last moment search for bags and windsheeters followed..Though we managed to reach Ghatkopar on time,the coupla-coupli arnie-aalu were busy hogging n drinking oblivious of the fact that trains to karjat are few and far in between. We managed to miss the 12:04 local 😊 and took the last 1:17am local. The journey by train was a trek in itself. No space
Ghatkopar Stn
Freaks!! we missed the train for even one foot and to top that the intoxicating smell of armpits ..heavenly 😊. Things got better from Kalyan. We managed to sit and it was a smooth ride thereafter.
2:55am: Reached Neral Stn. There was a steady drizzle going about. I was happy that our extra baggage of windsheeters came in handy.
3:10am: The journey begins armed with chocolate bars,biscuits,oranges and water. In about 15 mins time we reached the start of the hill. That was the last of the street lights and whatever other sources of light. Ahead of us was a big hill in darkness and a winding road. We could see the lights on top of the hill which was our destination.
"If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space." Torches came out and it helped that even on a cloudy day there was quite a bit of moonlight coming through. It was simply an amazing feeling just to walk up that dark road with the rain hitting our faces. After about half an hour, we started feeling the pinch. Luggage’s changed hands, windsheeters came off..Arnold did the half-monty ..But we labored on ..We were worried about Aalu
The first break!!
Arnie.half-monty..it helped I guess.. n kept taunting her so much so that she wouldn’t dare complain .Good that she has an ego:-)
On going up further we noticed that an animal was following us. On first glance we thought probably it’s a fox or something..but later realised that it was just a poor-wet-scared dog which wanted company to go up in the dark..and we were worried that we were a small group. Up urs Arvind ..up urs Sai ..up urs everyone else who ditched us ..who needs people when u have animals for company 😊. Further up there was a stretch where it was just dense bunch of trees on both sides. There was a storm of some kind which shook us really bad. It was scary to say the least but good it lasted only for a couple of minutes.
4:15am: Our first break and it was a nice place too {though we could hardly make out anything} .We could hear the waterfall in the background and there was a nice concrete block to rest our tired asses. Refreshments followed. Oranges ,chocolates and cookies and the KachraMan a.k.a Saju making sure that none of us threw any litter on the ground 😊.
The first break-2
KachraMan is camera-shy..n Im obsessed wid ma hair!! 4:35am: We resumed our climb and it was an uphill task 😊. The break actually made our legs stiff and it took one helluva effort to manage the steep..really steep bends. We tried walking backwards to ease the front muscles. It helped a lil but not much. The good thing though was that we were maintaining a good pace right throughout and there were no whiners in the group. So we could cover more distance in less time. The light on the top of Matheran started coming closer and closer. Everyone was surprised at the timing of the journey. We had actually covered almost twice the distance as would have covered
otherwise. The last bend and we could see the lights at the gate. Our joy knew no bounds. KachraMan and I ran towards it. Our legs hurt badly but everything was 'maaf' as we had achieved Glory (we still cant figure out where she disappeared later though 😊 ).
5:30am: After walking, rather climbing we were resting at the gate of Matheran waiting for it to open. Mission accomplished. Everyone had good words to say to Aalu (for a change 😊). She has been rechristened 'Dum Aalu'
Bravo!!
Mission Accomplished!! for her courage and spirit (which she has started having off late...i mean RUM 😊)
The journey to the resort was tiring as we were walking with dead legs. The view was simply awesome as d sun was just about to get up from its slumber. Raj’s estimation was that we would reach the resort in half an hrs time. He forgot to add '3' before it. It took us 3 ‘half n hrs’ to reach the resort.
7:25am: reached Anand-Ritz resort. The steady drizzle was still on. The resort was picturesque amidst the greenery and the mist. It was a good budget-resort with 700rs per-head for a duplex room and food. It also had a swimming pool,pool table,discotheque,tt,carom,gym and sauna..though none of it was in good shape. We made sure that the 700rs was fully utilized. We started off with breakfast n then the pool with a bottle of Smirnoff. The weather and the cold pool water didn’t make a difference then 😊. Arnie had a good time with his inflated-aeroplane. Poor plane had to bear the brunt of Arnie’s atyachaars and it wasn’t surprising that it failed to last the ordeal 😊. The entire resort was occupied
Fag Time
“Fame is being asked to sign your autograph on the back of a cigarette packet.” by gujju uncle and aunties who were obsessed with food and their game of housie. Some m**** f***** even asked me for his breakfast thinking I’m the goddamn waiter…n I used to think I looked attractive..attract I did,wrong context though😊. Lunch and games of carom,tt,pool followed. Raj was beaten badly in all the games…so much for the TCS-sportstar.
6:30pm: Back to the room. Everyone knew that a tour of Matheran was humanly impossible and so we thought of taking a short-nap. Got up at 9ish and toured the market place for some non-veg bites and vodka stock. Had a quick dinner and then back in the room with vodka shots and overfried chicken. We had our fair share of pain-killers and crocin tablets. “Har sin ke baad Crocin 😊”
Enough adventure for the day and we thought of hitting the bed.
“Aank lagi tho duniya badli..oh..oh Sone de….😊”
10:00am: After a real goodnights sleep we got up fresh & checked out of the hotel. On the way back, we stopped over at the Kamat’s hotel and had a hearty brunch. It had started raining heavily. KachraMan had the opportunity to dress in his super-hero costume 😊. The weather
Rest time on way to the resort!
One expression wonder---"Dum-Aalu" and the view were simply breathtaking and we all decided that trekking downhill would be fun instead of a motor-drive. And fun it was. It wasn’t surprising that our faithful dog was there with us again. The path was full of small waterfalls, streams and everything else that one would ask for. We had the opportunity to click some wonderful snaps, pity that moisture has seeped into the lenses and the snaps didn’t come out that clear. Stopovers for bathing in waterfall and chai-cigarettes break n snaps made sure that we took double the time going down than going up. But it was time well spent. I quit from my Rock-On band as they weren’t lending me support 😊. The last bit was completed in an auto with 5 of us cramped in.
6:00pm: Back at Neral station from where it all began. This definitely has to be one of my most memorable trips simply proving the fact that you don’t require numbers to make a trip happen, it just requires a small number of people with like minds and a passion for adventure.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one Rest time-2
The coupla-coupli ...expressions says it all..Arnie still wondering "WHY ME :P" can go.”
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Viraj
Viraj
Amazing !
Simplay amazing guys ! I have been missing last 4 trips to Matheran :( Have fun