A quick trek to Pratapgad

“At 4 AM, most of the people who are driving a vehicle on the Pune-Satara road are the ones who HAVE to. I am a different case. I WANT to.” Self dialog, at 4 AM. Early morning is a good time for self discovery, and self dialog.

Believe me, 4 AM is not a great time to be in the drivers seat, even for me. But then there was the next challenge waiting for me. Now that the challenge was accepted, the only way I could have kept my focus on the drive was to think positively.

The challenge was CRAZY.

Pratapgad

  Start from Pune at 4 AM, reach Pratapgad by 7 AM, see the entire fort, capture snaps, capture video, talk to locals, start the return journey at 10 AM, take a break at Mapro garden, and reach Pune by 1 PM. And find out at least one water body in the Jawali forest that will be worth visiting in the monsoon. In short, in 9 hours, do an amazing drive and a trek. That’s CRAZY.

All CRAZY things are like that. When you say you will do it, people think you are CRAZY. Then you do it, and people are convinced that you are CRAZY.

Does that matter? Probably not!

In this case I was convinced that if I had to do a quick trek to Pratapgad, starting from Pune at 4 AM was the right choice. This way one can avoid the early morning rush from Mahabaleshwar to Pratapgad. And then during the return journey one can avoid the traffic jams in Wai, and Pachgani. In the end, starting from Pune at 4 AM turned out to be the right choice.

I like travel in the dark. And 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 50 ft, for a startup 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, interestingly these thoughts visit me every time I start for a early morning trek. I am back to the steering wheel. Toll plaza at 4:20 AM, Shirwal at 4:45. Khambataki Ghat crossed at 5:00, a right turn at Surur at 5:15, Wai at 5:35 AM and the ghat section started.

Note: All the videos are converted to low resolution to reduce network traffic.

 

The fun began. Pandav Gad was seen on the horizon in the morning twilight. 'Harisons folly' would have been a great place for a nice photo shoot. But that wasn’t in the plan. The journey continued. Pachgani at 6:00 AM and Mahabaleshwar at 6:30 AM. I was doing the next patch of the ghat section for the first time. Each turn was new and driving (fast) was fun. I was looking out for a perfect place for the Monsoon season. Place found. During the monsoon, it might look as serene as the other one I had seen during the last monsoon. The downhill journey was over. A left turn towards Pratap Gad at 6:50. The last section was a narrow road. Suddenly from no where three Indica's arrived. And they all overtook me in the narrow ghat section. I hate to be overtaken but they were apparently in a hurry, so I gave them way forward. It was anyway only few minutes of drive remaining. At 7:00 AM, sharp, I was at the parking lot. 

On the way to Pratapgad

 

The final stretch

Pratapgad is a big fort. Luckily the parking lot is very close to the main entrance of the fort and the rest of the uphill trek is slightly more than Parvati hill, an easy climb.

The main entrance to this fort is 300 meters from the parking lot. The entrance is typical Maratha style one. It’s around a curved surface, similar to many other well built forts.



Out of the 300 odd forts that Shivaji Maharaj had under his control, he acquired a lot of forts (e.g. Purandar, Sinhgad, Panhala) , renovated many (e.g. Torna, Raigad) and built some. Pratapgad is one amongst the built ones. I entered the fort and went directly to the Afzal buruj. From here one can see the place where Shivaji Maharaj had a famous encounter with Afzal Khan.

The fort is divided into the lower fort and upper fort.

The lower fort is around 320m long and 110m wide. It is located at the southeast of the fort, and is defended by towers and bastions. Tulaja Bhavani Mandir is located in the lower fort. The shrine is made of stone. The folklore says that Shivaji Maharaj brought the stone from Nepal.

Canon's outside the Tulaja Bhavani Mandir

The upper fort is built upon the crest of the hill. It is roughly square, 180m long on each side. It has several permanent buildings, including a temple to the god Mahadev. It is located at the northwest of the fort, and is surrounded by sheer cliffs. There is a huge statue of Shivaji Maharaj at the top.

Statue of Shivaji Maharaj

One can go along the edge of the fortification of the upper fort. I walked along this route and did some photography and video shooting. 

Madhu Makarand Gad on the horizon on the left side

While doing that I came across an old resident of the fort. Apparently for last several generations his family was residing at Pratapgad. I like talking to these people. These kinds of people have a great pride and they know some interesting things that you may not otherwise know. A smile & "Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji" was the ice breaker. No formal introduction was needed. He showed me an interesting map. It was a typical war map indicating positions of key knights on both sides for the famous battle at Pratapgad. Then he showed me all the places, out there in Jawali forest. History and geography should be learnt 'on-site' with a teacher like this old man. The interaction lasted for few minutes but had a great quality in it. While I had all the tools to capture the video, audio and photo, I intentionally avoided capturing any of it. Such moments need to be LIVED, right there.  

It was 9:30 AM in my mobile :-) Time to say good bye. 

My return journey had to start at 10 AM. I started climbing down. In flat 30 minutes I was in my car. Return journey started at 10 AM, as per the plan. 

Cheese cubes, an apple, and one full glass of milk was the breakfast menu. Good food after the trek and easy to consume while driving.

The traffic was OK and three hours was enough time for the safe return journey. 

Overall it turned out to be a great experience. 

Elevation	3,454 ft
Difficulty Level	Low
Endurance Level	Low
Adventure Level	Low
Fun Level	Great
Ideal for	Family outing, coupled with Mahabaleshwar. Best season is monsoon.