A quick trek to Raigad

This week has been extremely stressful on multiple fronts. Yesterday was a hectic business day, like all the other week days. I had to drive few key meetings and participate in few others. When I came out of the last meeting, the first thought in my mind was to go for a long drive and a quick trek on Saturday morning. When I say morning, it’s 5:00 AM, yes 5:00 AM on a Saturday morning. And when I say quick, it’s a real quick trek.

How about going to Raigad, seeing the entire fort ( I mean including Hirkani Buruj, and of course all other standard places like the Balekilla ( Darbar, Mahal, Nagar Khana), Jagdishwar temple, Shivaji Maharaj’s Samadhi and Jijabai’s Samadhi at Pachad) and being back in Pune by 5:00 PM.

You think it’s crazy, IT IS!   

You think it’s impossible, IT’S NOT!

Alok, one my entrepreneur friend, accompanies me on such treks. Just a phone call and he was ready.  We started at 5:00 AM from my house in Sahakar Nagar. My plan was to take the Tamhini-Nizampur-Mangao-Mahad-Pachad route and reach Raigad base by 8:00 AM. Guess what, we were at Raigad base exactly at 8:00 AM.

During those three hours we discussed my ideas about my life, my future plans, Alok’s ideas about his next innovation (frankly it was Alok who did the talking, but offered first 30 minutes for me to speak, so I need to acknowledge that J).

The road was mostly in good conditions, except for few bad patches. But it was fun. If you know the road, you probably know that covering this route in 3 hours is a pretty good deal. Of course you need to drive FAST, but need to be careful also, especially in the Tamhini Ghat section.

At 8:00 AM we were in the Raigad ropeway parking area. I parked my Wagon R & quickly rushed to the ticket window and booked our one way tickets. During summer it is really advisable to use the ropeway at least one way. In the end this decision turned out to be the right one.

The ropeway started its daily routine at 8:30 AM. Being early birds, we were able to get on to the Cable Car at 8:45. By 9:00 AM we were at the top of the fort. A 15 minute break at this time for a breakfast (Misal-Pav) and we were ready to explore the fort at 9:15 AM.

Mena Darwaza

I had been to Raigad multiple times but had never seen Hirkani Buruj. So took a left from MTDC resort, which is next to the Ropeway station at the top, and reached Hirkani Buruj. We had 180 degree view of the Sahyadri ranges from here and Kokan Diva fort was prominently visible from here. After a quick visit to the Hirkani Buruj we came back to the Balekilla through the Mena Darwaza, where one can see the Nagar Khana, Raj Darabar, ruins of the Shivai Maharaj’s palace.

Sinhasan

Nagarkhana

Then we moved to the Bazar Peth. The height of each unit is designed in such a way that a horse rider could buy while riding the horse J. That’s quite bit of thinking, 340 years back !

Then we took a left turn and went to the Takmak Tok. It was 10:15 AM and it was already too hot. But it was kind of windy and that was making things little easier. We went to the Takmak, saw the grand view of the Sahyadri ranges. From here one can see the entire route from Pachad to the main entrance of Raigad. One can also see the entire Sahyadri range from Kokan Diva to Lingana. Torna and Rajgad are seen behind Lingana. One can also see the construction of a small dam on the Kal (Kaal?) river.

We then started walking towards Jagadishwar temple. That 15 minute walk was real tiring. The Sun was burning heavily and we were having a direct exposure for last 90 minutes. We entered the Jagadishwar temple and could immediately feel cooler inside. Both of us needed some rest. We sat down in the temple and started feeling better. It was at least 10 degrees cooler than outside.

Jagadishwar Temple

It was 11:15 AM when we decided to start our journey. Shivaji Maharaj’s Samadhi is just outside the Jagadishwar temple. For anyone who knows Maratha history, this place is a place of worship. You will automatically feel the sense of pride, the sense of .. Swarajya, Swabhiman, Vairagya. I don’t know how to translate these words in English. Anyway it’s a futile exercise to do that. Shivaji Maharaj has been a source of inspiration and is a matter of pride for people of Maharashtra.

Shivaji Maharaj Samadhi

On a different note, Government of Maharashtra, for a change, has created a small garden next to the Samadhi. And that too without disturbing the overall feel of the Samadhi. And the place is maintained well. It’s clean and it’s in good shape. I was happy to see the tax payer’s money being utilized for a genuine cause.  Whoever thought of it and whoever is allocating budget for it, my sincere thanks to them. Please maintain this place.

It was 11:30 AM and we started our journey back. We decide to climb down the fort using the trek route. At noon we were at the Maha Darwaza. We continued our decent without a break. At 12:40 we were at the base of the fort. But we still had to walk for 15 more minutes to reach our parking place, which was near the ropeway terminal.

It was time for lunch. We went to the canteen maintained by the Raigad Ropeway Company. They offer a full meal at Rs.65. The lunch was decent. It was time to start our return journey. But then there was one place still remaining to be visited. That place is Jijabai’s Samadhi in Pachad. When you start from Ropeway Terminal, as you reach Pachad, one route goes to Samadhi and the other goes to Mahad. We took the one that took us to the Samadhi. In some sense Jijabai is the mother Maratha History. Her Samadhi is also maintained very well. 

Jijabai Samadhi

Now it was time to decide the route to go back to Pune. We had three options. We could have taken the same route that took while coming here. Then there was another Pachad-Mahad-Varandha Ghat-Bhor-Pune. And third was a short cut from Pachad-Nizampur-Tamhini-Pune. We decided to take this route which is now in good shape. If you have a vehicle with enough ground clearance you can take this route. This route is the nearest one from Pune and saves at least 40 KM compared to the other two routes.  

During the return journey Alok took control of the steering wheel and drove the whole distance. That gave me a relief. Alok was in his full mood. He explained me his entire business plan in three hours and offered me some work that I couldn’t deny. Alok is great guy. He has vision; has practical ideas, and has the hands-on abilities to convert the ideas into reality. It’s always fun to be with him.

It was 5:00 PM on the clock when we were back to my house. The drive and trek experience was over, and it was time to start writing this blog….