You know that trekking is my refreshment. If I don’t trek, I start feeling dull. This time the trek was to Vasota Fort and I had amazing experience on this trek. I will write about that later, first let me introduce Vasota fort to you all.
This fort is located in district Satara, Maharashtra India and is very less known for its history. This fort was built by Bhoj Raja of Panhala and defended by Tai Telin. She was a mistress of Pant Pretinidhi, a killedar of the Fort. He served as Pratinidhis to Chhatrapatis of Maratha Empire, later he became independent rulers of the Aundh.This fort was always remained with Marathas. Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj included Vasota Fort into Swarajya(Maratha Empire) in 1655 and then this fort was renamed as “Vyagragad” (Vyaghra means Tiger), owing to its difficult natural defense. Later in the era of British rulers, the fort was bombarded with heavy artillery, many buildings of Vasota, included Chandika Mandir, Daru-Kothar were destroyed by British. (Above information is taken from Wikipedia).
So, now let's come to my trek. This trek is a jungle trek, located in dense forest near Koyna dam water and therefore it is open from October to July. This is famous for its location, as we have to cross the Koyna back water to reach to the base of the trek. It was the longest but most beautiful boat ride of my life.
We started from Pune one night before around 10.00PM and it took approx. 4 Hrs to reach to the nearest village, Banmoli. We didn't stay there. Our trek organizers "Outdoor Ventures" had arranged tents to stay somewhere near the village. Next morning we had breakfast and started boat ride at around 8.00 Am. Early morning, cool breeze, surrounded by mountains covered in fog, sun rays were falling on the mountains and slowly waking them up. That’s how I felt during that boat ride. We were 18 in count. All were playing anatakshari, enjoying in their way but I was lost in my own world. It was so eye soothing and relaxing, seeing and observing the beautiful nature, seeing the ripples in the water, mountains partially covered in the fog and partially shining in the sun rays. People are singing and talking but my mind was listening to the sound of motor boat, water, cool breeze. People who had read my previous blogs, they know that I am hydrophobic and this was the first time in my life when I had enjoyed a boat ride. Nature is so beautiful. Everything gives us so much to learn. I feel that it talks to us; it’s just that we all are so busy in our materialistic life that the sound fades away.
Here are some clicks of that beautiful ride.
It took us approx 2 hrs to reach to the starting point of the trek. It was a wild life sanctuary, so there was a checking point where we had to give the count of the plastic bags we carried. Usually they check for the same after the trek and charge some amount as fine if found lesser in count. As that checking point was little crowded, we were waiting for our turn. When we start noticing your surroundings, we would see many little but beautiful things happening around us. There was a kid. He was playing with a little tree branch, using that like a gun. People were waiting in small groups, some were chatting, some were taking rest under the tree and some were roaming around. You would get to see so many shades of human life in such places. Finally our turn came, they checked our bags and then we proceeded.
We had a small introduction round within our group. Some were with friends, some came alone, like me :-p. We started the trek. The whole trek was amidst the deep forest. There were few stairs to climb in the beginning. Beginners may find it difficult, as it is a little steeper and it needs good stamina. So this trek comes under the moderate category. During the trek, you won’t find any view, as it is surrounded with the dense forest, but after reaching the top, the eyes were so delighted seeing the view. It was beautiful and I can’t express that in my words. I tried to capture that beauty in my phone.
It was an approx 2 hrs trek to reach the top. We spent some time there exploring and then had lunch. This hill is surrounded with beautiful scenery. Here are some pictures capturing that beauty.
After that we started descending. It took me approx 1 hr. to reach our starting point and we started our back journey on boat. All were tired and sleepy. In the morning, all were so playful and energetic but on our way back, all were tired from the trek but satisfied. This time seeing the boat and people lying there reminded me a scene from the Bollywood movie "Zindagi na milegi dobara", just after the scuba diving.
We reached the village around 5.45 PM. We had lunch and then started towards Pune.
So now I am going to write about that special moment, I talked about in starting few lines. This was the Shiv Garjana that we performed there. This Garjana is the praise given to Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Every single word in the Garjana describes Shivaji Maharaj and his virtues. I can’t dare to write that, as this is in Marathi language and I don’t understand Marathi. So I don’t want that unknowingly I write something wrong. I am posting a video here, chanting the Shiv Garjana at the top.
So what made it beautiful is the feeling and emotions of all those people. I didn’t understand even a single word there, but I could feel all those emotions and feelings those people had during the chanting of that Garjana. I felt connected to that moment. They all were so devoted and passionate towards their culture, their beliefs. That was beautiful and that was the “Moment to freeze”.
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