Yeh hai Pune meri jaan....

It’s a city where traffic sense is a wholly unfamiliar term...... People have never heard of it... they wonder why these lights are put up.
they never let you overtake from right side.... the PMT(theses busses looks like that they have survived a nuclear bomb blast - they are never washed at all )busses stop at the middle of the road, the space designated for the bus to stop is occupied by waiting commuters... there is no concept of footpaths
And the fact that Pune has the highest density of vehicles per square kilometer in the country.....
Auto rikshaws here are a pests waiting to pounce on a passenger and suck away his hard away money especially if yoy are taking an Auto form Swargate or Railwaystation.
In the city with maximum number of two wheelers in the country there are a least number of Traffic cops..

the Trek to Kenjalgad



This fort lies on the same ridge that joins up with RAIRESHWAR. There is a huge tunnel-cum-cave near the top with an excellent view. The top is bounded by a cliff 60 meters high.
my treks in thin year's monsoon was quiet very late compared to last year.....

I came to know about this trek in the yahoo group Pune Trekkers... later i had mailed my interest to join the trek to Hemanth.... and we decided that we all are meeting at the Hotel Natraj in the Bangalore Highway

I got up early at 5:00 and it was raining heavily... i was still in a dilemma - Shall I go or not.... I got ready by 6:00 and by then the rain had stopped...

I left home by 6:15 and reached the hotel by 6:45 and gave a call to Hemanth. Then had my breakfast in the hotel... and came out to the parking lot and was sitting on the bike...

then came two guys on a unicorn... and I asked them if they were for Kenjalgad and yes they were for kenjalgad... Rahul and Pradunya.

Hemanth was already ther at the hotel but we hadnt yet met... then met Hemanth and Deepa... formal Introduction n stuff... for my surprise these two were Kannidgas..

I was so happy so that I can talk to someone in Kannada after a pretty longtime.... the I was introduced to Pritesh and Priya.... then were waiting for other two guys who were bringing the pole for the flag hoisting

started off our journey from there... went on straight in Bangalore highway till suroor Phata.... It was quiet windy which complled meto slow down as I didnt have a good grip without a Pillion

then we took the Mahabaleshwar road till Vai... I looked trough the door of Vai Ganapathi temple and sauht his blessings.... from Vai took the towards Jambhulwadi / Korle.... unfortunately Pradunya's bike got Punctured at Dhom and they had to take a ST till the destination


Finally reached Kenjal, It was heavily raining and tough to start the Trek... I was the first to start the trek and the last to finish...

the place was so beautiful and calm.... its just greeeeeen till the end... I noticed a very good thing about this place is that I could never find a single

Piece of paper or any bottles etc throughout my trek... even we took extreme care of following it... in contrast many other forts have become venue for drink parties and stuff...

on the way trekking up we discussed about the history and Shivaji maharaj etc.... almost 30% done and I slipped on a rock to slide down a few feet... then I

started loosing energy... It was so unfortunate that it was so heavily raining that I couldnt click much snaps... then somehow managed till 50% and my body gave up every consequtive step was so heavy and painful

stopped for soem tiem add had some Date's and glucose and started of... the whole of the group were giving me enthu.. finally reached 75% here we all rested for some time.. in the meantime Hemanth and Rahul went on to the village to get some villagers to the fort to experience the flag hoisting occasion

we were sitting here for 30 mins getting to know each other and then Swapnil joined us... he had earlier missed out to join us coz he was not on time..

and again started out trek to the fort at the top... There is not much to see on the fort. One can see the Wai side from the top and the backwaters of Dhom dam. One can see Kamalgad and Navra-Navri of Kamalgad on the other side of Walki river from the top. There was too much of rain and too much of wind, although managed a couple of snaps. then we did a lot of effort to Put up the flag.. we sang Vande mataram and National Anthem along with the native villagers...

I started getting cramps in my legs... this was my first experience of a severe cramp. it was so painful... I was shouting and and was in tears...
i was feeling like my muscles are now going to tear off..... then my friends gave a massage and it came for a great relief....


went around the fort and then started hunting for a shaded place where we can have our snacks... then finally found a see trough cave where we were not able to stand errect and also it was driping... we had our snacks there and rested for 30 mins... by now i had got my josh back...

then we trekked down slowly... this was the most wonderful time coz the rain had stopped and we could see the beautiful Sahyadri's all around...

reached down by 6:40 and then proceeded to Pune