the alarm went off at 4 am on the 25th of june'06 and i got up to get ready for my trek to LOHGAD.we were 4 guys.we boarded the general bogie(boy is it crowded.....! it reminded me of the scenes from SWADES...) of INDRAYANI EXPRESS at 6.15 am from THANE station and reached LONAVLA station at 8.00 am. then we reached the next station MALAVLI,by taking a local train from LONAVLA.thus we started walking from malavli station at 9 am to head towards our "LAKSHYA"..LOHGAD..the first 3-4 kms is a straight and flat road till a point from wer u hav to cross farms to reach the actual ramp.once we started "walking the ramp"..our previously almost inaudible slight huffs and puffs gradually turned into heavy pantings,but it was FUN!
we finally reached the first gate of the fort by 11.15,and then started exploring the various parts of the fort....the architecture of the fort is amazing...i mean....it is built in such a way that u can keep an eye on the enemy in all the possible directions. and if ever any king would have thought of attacking the fort...he would have then thought," arrey chchod yaar....itna upar tak kaun jaayega...pakega..."...but jokes apart i really wonder how people in those days attacked,fought and conquered such forts....
once u reach the fort...there are a lots of things inside it to view.there's a whole new world inside it.it took us about 1 and half hours to explore the most of it...then after having some self-made sandwiches,we rested for sometime and then came the main thing....VINCHU-KAATA...it's an extended part of the fort...which is really difficult to explain in writing..it's actually a bit dangerous to climb down to it...u hav to climb down a vertical wall of rocks...ekdum MI-style...meri fatt rahi thi...but somehow i managed...then we walked to the end of the fort,as shown in the figure...which used to be some kinda ultimate watchpost or something.after enjoying the view for about half-an hour...we returned and started climbing down the fort.we came down to malavli by 6.30.
overall it was a fun experience..
shamie,
26th june 2006.
Even I was plannin for a trek this time...but damn this last yr projct. Had commitments with BARC :(( ...But then I'm sure for city-bred guys like us being awestruck of the heights attained by Kings in those days is quiet natural! I aint got any doubts that u guys must have emptied atleast half a dozen IODEX bottles after u returned(ofcourse, used for massage!)
ReplyDeletelolz....though i didnt empty half a dozen iodex bottles for massage...i did sleep like a sloth till the next noon....
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