A quick trek to Rajgad

First week of June always starts with an expectation. Heavy winds, rains, traffic jams, road blockages, pot holes, interrupted power supply, that’s what an ordinary citizen of Pune expects during this month. Thanks to the rains, and of course the local governing body, all expectations were met in the last few days.  The rains were pouring; the roads were blocked, what else I could plan for a Saturday morning, a TREK!

I started early in the morning, at 5 AM. It was dark outside. I like travel in the dark. Yes, it’s a loaded statement. If you want to do something that you believe you can, probably you don’t need to see everything that’s out there. Darkness is better. You just need enough light to see the next step (for a car probably the next 20 ft, for a start-up it’s probably the first version of the product, for someone who wants to write a book it’s the first blog). And that’s all. Darkness gives you the focus. Sunlight does not. It shows you things that you don’t NEED to see.

Enough of philosophy for now, I had to pickup Sagar.  Dr. Sagar Sabade, an old friend of mine (I mean the friendship is old, we are young!) is back in India for a few weeks. He wanted to confirm that my treks are as exciting as I portray them in my blog.

Uphill climb

At 5:14 AM Sagar was waiting outside his house. A quick handshake, and a smile, that was enough to bridge the 18 months gap after which we were meeting each other. We have been friends for last 22 years, and out of that we spent just 3 years together, during the engineering days. But real friendship is beyond time and space. I guess most of the things that really matter, like friendship and love, can’t be constrained by time and space.

In-spite of the close friendship, we had not done a single trek together. So this was a special TREK for me. I was hoping that it turns out to be the same for Sagar.

The first few minutes were spent on talking about routine things like work, family and other usual matters. By the time we reached the tunnel on the Katraj bypass, we had started our discussions about purpose of life.  One can discuss such matters with very close friends like Sagar. 

Rajgad in the Clouds

By the time we reached toll plaza, our discussion again moved on to WORK. Somehow in the last few years ‘business’ has changed. Life has become very fast, for everyone. And it has started impacting our daily life, relationships, and the way we live. Look at it, close friends like us, when we got a chance to talk, spent almost an hour on discussing WORK. For a moment I thought life is HARD. Yes, and it has started impacting me. Something is wrong.

While we were busy discussing WORK, the car had reached the destination. A left turn from Margasani and we were at Gunjavani, the base of the grand Rajgad. The fort was covered in all green (trees, bushes, grass) and white (clouds). We parked the car in the Gunjavani village and started our trek. It was 6:30 AM.

Rajgad literally means king of forts and fort of the kings. It is a great fort. This was the capital of Shivaji Maharaj for a long duration, before he shifted it to Raigad.

Lake on Padmavati Machi

It’s a long trek from Gunjavani. With moderate speed, without a break, it takes around 80 minutes for me. I have seen people taking 3 hours as well. But that’s not fun. TREK should be quick, fast and adventurous. In 40 minutes we were at the wind point. If you want to experience WIND, this is a good place in the Sahyadri ranges. There are other places too (like Rohida, Torna, Kaas plateau). Beyond this point, it’s a steep uphill trek. During the entire trek, Sagar was leading the way and I was following him. We reached the rock patch at 7:40 AM. Rock patch is a great place. Sagar was thrilled to go through this patch. The last 80 minutes had brought a change, a welcome change. We were both talking about LIFE and forgotten WORK. Body was sweating and mind was fully charged, fresh.

Rajgad Citadel

At 7:50 AM we had entered the fort through the Chor Darwaza (a small escape route meant for emergencies). After a short break of 5 minutes, and some chikki’s, we started moving around. We saw Saibai’s Samadhi, the remains of the royal palace and the sadar. I was planning to keep this trek a short one and wanted to start the return journey immediately. But Sagar wanted to see the fort, at least some parts of the fort. We had three choices; we could have visited the citadel, the sanjeevani machi and the suvela machi. All three places are great. I chose suvela machi as it could be done more quickly than other places. The walk from padmavati machi to suvela machi is great during monsoon. We had enough clouds around and there was wind. We were feeling fresh. Soon we reached the chilkhati buruj of suvela  machi. The fortification of this machi is amazing. We climbed the stairs of the buruj and decided to have the breakfast there.

 We had shira and some biscuits. Then we proceeded to the ‘Nedha’, a natural needle hole

Suvela Machi

carved out by wind on a vertical cliff. It’s around 20 ft in diameter. The route to Nedha includes a vertical rock patch. This patch does not have railings and hence climbing it is some risk and great fun. Check the photo below to sense the challenge. Try to find Sagar in the photo and you will see how big the 'Nedha' is! The view from the ‘Nedha’ was amazing. We rested there for 5 minutes and then started our return journey.

Sagar sitting in the Nedha

The return journey from suvela machi to padmavati machi was like walking in the clouds, literally. That was refreshing. At 10 AM, we were back to the Chor Darwaza. While we were planning to start our descent, some trekkers were arriving. Those folks had apparently started from Pune at 4 AM. God knows what they were doing for last 6 hours.  

We started our return journey. Walking down the rock patch was a great experience. Beyond that we had some easy patches and some steep patches. Overall it was fun. At 11:30 we were back to the parking lot. Drive back to Pune was a non-event. At 12:50 PM I dropped Sagar to his place and came back to my place at 1:00 PM.  .... The trek was strenuous, challenging and fun. In short it was EXCITING.

The trek was over on Saturday, but it had initiated a deeper thinking, within. What makes anything EXCITING? Is it the joy of achievement? Probably anything that is strenuous, challenging and fun may qualify as EXCITING?

How about WORK? Why is it not EXCITING for me right now? Is it not fun for me? Nothing could be further from the truth. Software development is FUN.  Is it not fast enough?  Is it not strenuous? Is it not challenging? Where is the catch?

The answer arrived on Sunday, I mean today. Now that the flow of thinking has started, it’s not allowing me to take a break. I need to write it down, right now, at 11 PM. While I am writing, one of my colleague pings me on a communicator tool. He is still working and shares some test results.

One quick question comes to my mind. Why is he working right now at 11 PM? Is it fear (don’t lose your job in a tough economy), is it greed (get more pay), or is it something else.

Probably it’s something else; it’s the joy of achievement.

Like many other things worth doing, software development is strenuous, challenging and fun, and is EXCITING.

For that matter driving is EXCITING. But for whom? Obviously if you WANT to drive, then any strenuous, challenging and fun DRIVE will be EXCITING. But what if you HAVE to drive rather than you WANT to drive? Will the drive be EXCITING?

That’s the answer.
If you are doing something because you WANT to do, it’s EXCITING. But if you are doing something because you HAVE to then it’s not. Period.

What is EXCITING for me? What do I WANT to do?
I see that and I get the answer. The answer lies within.

Am I doing Software development because I HAVE to or is it because I WANT to?
A direct question like this deserves a direct answer, and a real answer that comes from within.



I WANT TO!
It’s 11:22 PM, and I am sensing something. It’s the moment of awakening. It’s the time to internalize ….

If you are still reading this stuff, and interested in the journey (I mean the journey to Rajgad, the inner journey is a different matter, find your own directions!) … here is some information that might help. 

Citadel from Suvela Machi

Elevation	4,324 ft (1,318 m)
Difficulty Level	Medium
Endurance Level	Medium
Adventure Level	High
Fun Level	Great
Ideal for	Everyone who has a great respect for Shivaji Maharaj should visit this place at least once. Best season is monsoon. To see the entire fort, you need 2 days.
Routes	Gunjavne Darwaja or Chor Darwaja both on Padmavati Machee from Gunjavne Pali Darwaja from Wajeghar-Pali Alu Darwaja on Sanjeevani Machee via Dhanghar Vada, Bhutunde