Harishchandragad – A Paradise on Earth.

After reading a lot abt Kulang; I was thrilled to be der, it was a place I was very curious to explore, but God had other plans, Kulang was cancelled by Urja (A Trekking Group) due to multiple last minute cancellation; since I was already packed, Urja Leader Yatin suggested “Harishchandragad” with Vrangers (A Trekking Group); a place I had been before but from a different route (Nalichivat), by far the toughest route to this fort. Harishchandragad is surely one of the most trekked forts in the western ghat; It is a destination that caters unbounded joy to beginners and pros alike.

As the meeting point was Kalyan ST Stand, my plans was pretty clear travel from Borivali to Thane (In ST Bus) and then from Thane to Kalyan (In Local Train). I reached the ST Bus Depot @ Borivali at 20:00 and witnessed a huge queue; time moved & it was almost 45 min n no sign of any Thane Bus. I was getting restless and worried since I had to catch the slow Kalyan train at 21:45 from Thane station. Finally two buses arrived and everyone gushed in.

Thank my luck, next to me; seated Mr.Arvind Desai, a wildlife freak, he had visited Corbett 15 times, once I showed him my eagerness to visit it someday he started sharing his experiences; then it was all ears till I heard the conductor yelling LAST STOP, sharing numbers we moved apart. After lot of struggle I got into a crowded train with my huge backpack, which I carry only for two plus day treks. And then I got a shock of the day when I noticed my cell phone had been pick pocked, using some co-travelers phone I checked & found that it was switched off, I knew I lost it and also thanked myself for not carrying my precious phone (Rockr E6) for treks. During monsoon I always carried a basic phone wid me on treks.

Reached Kalyan Bus Depot and found everyone waiting for me. Lead Ananda asked us to relieve r bags since we had missed the bus and the next bus would take sometime. Team comprised of 10 (Ananda, Smruti, Soniya, Swapnil, Ram, Anis, Nilesh, Yatin, Ruben, Myself). I called up home using Yatin’s phone and told them abt the phone story. At 00:30 the bus arrived [Kalyan - Nagar (Aale Phata) Bus]; almost everyone slept like a log once it was out of the city. We reached r stop “Kubhi Phata” @ 03:00. Ananda distributed the roles; Yatin was given the role to front lead, myself center lead and Ananda back lead. Pulling r torches out rangers started walking towards Khireshwar Village which was 4 KM away. Here Swapnil who was walking with me started showing a hobby he had picked up recently “PJ-ing” and his PJ’s were more of puzzle wer he used to throw question’s and expected a funny answer, frankly I couldn’t even try one right . We reached Hotel Aishwarya @ 04:15 (A small hut hotel @ Khireshwar Village), after taking a short break of 30min we started moving ahead again, walking few distance we saw a temple, Yatin informed us that it’s of Goddess Wagheshwari, moving little ahead we crossed a noisy stream; here Yatin turned back and alarmed us that from here on it would be dense forest and also a Leopard prone area. Moving ahead avoiding thorns & loose rock we could feel the trail getting steeper, suddenly the team halted with Yatin’s signal and he conveyed that he had spotted two eyes and suspected to be a Leopard, I still remember Anee worrisome face who was walking behind me; I moved to Yatin and checked the place, found nothing, and the team moved again. We reached “Tolar Khind” by 06:15 and were all set for a huge breakfast. The khind is marked by a small smeared stone bearing the carvings of a lion, implying that it is guarding the pass. This place turned out to provide the much needed spark, from here on we were no strangers to each other we were like friends forever and we all enjoyed the moment as small kids crying for Brown Breads (I was one of lucky too get it, & made fun of few who couldn’t) few of them had to munch the regular bread. It was sandwiches with tomatoes, cucumber, butter, green chutney (prepared by Ananda himself), and not to forget chips being added as toppings by Ram. It was like a bunch of kids fighting for food and space; we made all kind of noise we could; then finally we moved with some beautiful memories. Walking a few minutes from Tolar Khind, we came across a rock-patch on which railings are fixed. After ascending the railings carefully we reached a plateau, were again the kids got naughty with photo sessions including Anne posing as Goddess Durga and few of us as her hands. Journey from Khireshwar Village to the summit is by crossing 7 hills and every hill offered us lots of monsoon fun including waterfalls, streams, lush green patches, slippery trails, traverse, rocky paths, valley of flowers, crabs, birds, butterflies, etc. We enjoyed every of these moments as the best anyone can and even God kept providing such funny moments when any of us slipped we used to clap and the counting went on…..


Here and there we kept munching biscuits, chips and chocolates. Ruben was carrying a water proof camera and he ensured that all the moments were captured. Finally, after a long walk through easy climbs we reached r destination “Harishchandreshwar Temple” at 10:30. The environs and the yard of this temple render a serene ambience to its visitors. There are series of caves in the yard of this temple and few water tanks that houses potable water all round the year. These are the only reliable sources of potable water here. In the mountain to the left of this temple you will see several rock-cut caves perfect for accommodation. The temple is also surrounded by rock cut caves. You can stay there as well. Everyone generally prefers the caves but that was already occupied and we choosed the caves inside the temple boundary. Parking ourselves inside the caves we decided to take a short nap for 2 hours and then move to Konkan Kada, but it was raining heavily and we had to wait for the rain to slow down; around 14:30 we all woke up decided to leave for Konkan Kada (The highest cliff in the Western Ghats, also famous for his conclave shape). We moved towards the caves area, had r tea and then reached Konkan Kada by 16:15. It has always fascinated many people since years. Due to the conclave shape the air is gushed from the bottom towards the top hence if you throw light things it floats instead of falling down and then falls towards your side. We tried throwing water droplets and we could see it happening. After some photo sessions and dancing we moved back to the cave; before leaving for KK, Ananda had already asked the stall owner to get the dinner ready. Once we all returned we saw that the caves were over-crowded wid a new group who were looking for some space; they told us that der guys are on the look for another cave and this is just a stop gap arrangement; Thank god they found a cave and moved off….

Meantime we had changed up; except Ananda & Ruben they were to get the dinner from the stall. To mention there are two stall owners who prepares food for trekkers. Waiting for Ananda & Ruben we again started pulling each others leg and were having great fun. Yatin had planned to skip his dinner so he wished us Good Night and was off to sleep; he ensured that we are not short of any music and snored throughout the night. By 20:00 we had finished r dinner and off to sleep. I and Swapnil started irritating Anne for not knowing about the zip on the sleeping bag; and she warned me that since her sleeping bag was wet, she would take mine if we don’t stop teasing her. We still continued as naughty boys, Anne continued to take r irritation sportingly. Sleeping in the caves has always been fun for me; this time though it was raining helter-skelter also the rat fun made us wake up multiple times; I woke up around 02:00 when I heard some noises ; Nilesh the crazy bon-fire freak was setting it up and Ananda was equally supporting wid some candles. I went back to sleep after some fun talks; all wer up by 05:00; It was announced that after breakfast and sight seeing, we would start descending, hence bags had to be packed immediately. After morning routines we were off to the caves for breakfast; then for sightseeing we started with Ganesh Caves; A cave which host a huge Ganesh Idol, it looked like a better place to stay ; then we moved towards Kedareshwar cave; Besides Konkan Kada, the Kedareshwar cave-temple is another beautiful jewel on this fort of Harishchandragad. This large cave, filled with chilling water, has a large centrally placed monolithic Shivling and the cave is supported by four stone pillars. Three out of these four pillars of the Kedareshwar cave-temple are now broken. It’s believed that the four pillars represent four yugas, and the one standing represents the present "Kalyug". I and Ananda jumped into the chilling cold water and swam across the ling and then washed the shivling and took his blessing. Nirvana struck and I felt reborn; it’s a felling I can’t describe in words, let it be with me. With this great felling we moved towards “Saptatirtha Lake”. This lies to the east of the temple, a well-built lake called “Saptatirtha”. On its bank are temple-like constructions, came to know from the stall owner that it contained idols of Lord Vishnu. Currently these idols have been shifted inside the caves near the temple of Harishchandreshwar. After this we moved back to Harishchandreshwar Temple, took his blessings and lifted r bags and off we moved. I was asked to lead now as we had to descend faster, we moved very faster also took some good breaks, lots of photo sessions at a plateau creating human pyramids and doing lots of stunts, and even applauding every falls, I remember Soniya’s flat fall and the way her back pack saved her head during that slip. We took breaks at many waterfalls, then at Tolar Khind. Ananda and Soniya moved ahead after Tolar Khind to ensure that he makes arrangements for lunch at Hotel Aishwarya and for the vehicle to leave us till Khubi Phata. After an unforgettable trek we reached the base village and munched on lunch, got into a jeep and made r way to the KP. Anne had to leave for Pune so Yatin decided to escort her; they were lucky enough to get a bus for Aale Phata. We eight kept walking towards the bus-stand ofcourse by enjoying every step; No buses were ready to halt even looking at the stones in Ananda hands, finally we managed to get into a bus, which was full & we had to stand. One by one started making themselves comfortable and sat at the gangway; except me and Ruben all had made themselves comfortable. We reached Kalyan by 18:00, Smruti left us der and seven of us got into the train, during the journey back we went through the trek multiple times, shared r best memories of the this amazing trek ; We also started picking up Swapnil’s PJ’s now and we were replying with proper answers. Swapnil, Soniya, Ruben and Me decided to get down at Kurla. Reaching home was like coming back from heaven.

This was my best trek with Vrangers; also the best fun filled Trek ever….memories are still fresh.

Photos of this trek can be viewed here

http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Album?uid=17376615179501771458&aid=1252304115