Tandulwadi trek was one of the most adventurous
treks of my life. It was a summer of 2011, and we (Rahi, Mohit & me) were
at Rahi's place in Mumbai. Initially, we had plans to visit all the famous
places in Mumbai that included, Gateway of India, Haji Ali Dargah, Girgaon
Chowpatty, Essel World and Nehru Science Centre. After finishing the visits to
these places we still had two days remaining with us and that is when we
decided to go for a trek to Tandulwadi Fort. As Rahi had read about the place and he knew it very well, we
didn’t face any sort of problems reaching there.
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| Tandulwadi Fort |
Tandulwadi village (named after the fort) is
located about 8 km away from Saphale. One needs to board a passenger train from Virar and get down at Saphale Railway
Station from where you can get an Auto to Tandulwadi Village.
As we had planned for a night out at the fort we
had to carry all the necessary things like huge amount of water, glucose,
tarpaulin, knives, torch, and antibiotics. Considering the night stay, we had
also carried the packets of Maggie and a pot. We were staying in Andheri West
and had to cover a large distance so we preferred to leave as early as 05:00 AM
from room. After Reaching Saphale, We took Dukkar Rickshaw(Dukkar means Pig,
and here the word is used as the front of the rickshaw looks like mouth of pig)
from Saphale Railway Station to Tandulwadi Village, it was a journey on the
road that made its way through the tiny hills which felt quiet refreshing.
Finally, We reached Tandulwadi Village by 09:00 AM and the fort was within our sights
by now. Some people over there guided us to the way of fort and we started
moving slowly.
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| Rahi & Me Heading Towards The Fort.......PC - Mohit |
The village people showed us footsteps and
told to follow it and said that it will lead to the fort but something
different was destined to happen with us. By that time, sun had came over the
head and we were starting to feel the heat. We had carried a total 10 liter of
water which helped us to keep ourselves hydrated for a long time. We kept
moving towards the footsteps but after sometime footsteps disappeared. We were
taken a back by this...What to do now? Whom to ask? What to follow now? What
followed was unexpected.
We decided to move towards the fort as it was still
within our sights. We were climbing the rocks, over-passing the steep ascent
that too while carrying huge load on our shoulders and it was becoming
difficult to move on by each passing moment. After some time, we reached
mountainside and decided to rest for a few minutes.
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| Mohit & Rahi by Mountainside... |
We halted for 15-20 minutes on the mountainside,
fed ourselves with some fresh cucumber that we had bought at Saphale Railway
Station, drunk some glucose water and were ready to go. As the rock in front of
us was very big we decided that Rahi and Mohit will climb it first and will
pass the rope to me...to which I will tie all the bags and after pulling the
bags up, I will be climbing the rock. After both of them reached the top of the
rock I didn't hear a word from them. Firstly, I thought they were playing a
prank with me but as I called them again and again, there was no reply from
their side. I was yelling at them and what I saw was quiet disturbing, I saw
the glasses of Rahi falling down in the valley. Without getting any time to
realize the situation, I was attacked by a bunch of wild honeybees. Bees
started biting me and I didn't had any sort of land to run away. So helpless
was I am that I decided to jump down but to my goodness, I remembered that we
had carried blankets with us. I just wore that blanket on my body and sat to
the side in pain waiting for my mates to return to me. I sat there for around
half an hour wrapped in the blanket, in bright sunlight when sun was spitting
the fire.
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| Trying to Smile Through all The Pain of Bee Bites |
After some time, I was delighted to hear
their voice. They came back to me and told all the happening. Initially they
were attacked by the bees and to save themselves they ran the whole ground and
in the process, glasses of Rahi felt in the valley. Our Skin was burning with
the bites, we were exhausted and most affected was Rahi. He has been bitten by
the most number of bees. As the bees were gone, we rested there for few
minutes, took antibiotics and started to climb the rock. When they were
attacked by the bees they had initiated a small fire to keep the bees away, now
that fire had spread long by the time we reached on the top again. We made sure
that it will not spread further and started to move on.
Sunset was about to happen and We were on the
eastern side of the hill so it started to become dark very early. We were
battling for a survival now, we had ran out of water by now. we were just
moving downwards and downwards and during the process we saw some footsteps
which we started to follow and kept following for about one hour. After so much
hard work we saw a lady walking on the same footsteps with some wood pieces on
her head. Firstly, we were afraid to ask anything to her as it was a desolate
place but then we had no other option. We approached her and she told us that
there is a village nearby and she was going there only so we started following
her.
We reached in the village Lalthane
which was 3 km away from Tandulwadi. There was a school, and few huts and little
homes where we asked for water. The man who gave us water asked from where we
are and where we are heading towards. We told him that we had came for a trek
and will be staying in the school for a night and will leave in the morning. He
told us that there is no issue but to pack up and leave by 07:00 AM as that was
the school timing, we agreed.
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| Making of delicious Jungle wali Maggie |
As desired, we went back to the open area of
the Forrest to cook our dinner. While Rahi and Mohit went to bring some wood
for burning, I was searching for a better place for cooking and trying to build
a stove of some stones. When you have done so much of hard work and you are
hungry, any kind of food tastes heavenly delicious and same was with us. After
finishing our dinner, we returned to the school, spread the tarpaulin over the
open gallery space and instantly we were in the dreamland of serenity.
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| Place Where We Slept Overnight |
It was around 10:00 PM when some people from
village came to us equipped with sticks as if we were thieves. We had to make
things clear to them that we are here only for trekking purpose and they told
us to leave by 06:00 AM. We were about to leave for a return journey, then a
man from nearby house (Mr. Vasudev Gangade) called us, he was very polite, he
served us with a cup of tea and cookies. He also told about the happening in
the night that a few days ago there were three men who came to the nearby
village in same fashion and had killed one child and were escapee. so villagers
just wanted to confirm if these are the same ones. He also asked if we visited
the fort or not to which we replied negatively. He suggested that there is a
little boy who can lead us towards the fort and we agreed to go there again.
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| The Boy & Man Who Helped & Guided to The Fort |
Once again we were on the track and heading towards
the fort and to my bad luck I hurt my right leg and there was a niggle in my
knee and it was unbearable pain. I decided to stay back While Rahi and Mohit
went on to visit the fort. Sharing some awesome photography here.
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| Some Beautiful Photography |
I waited for them and they came back after around 4 hours. It was time to leave for the return journey we were about to leave that is when we came to know that Maa (Mother) of Mr. Vasudev had cooked food for us and they asked us to have some food as we had not eaten from morning. It was very kindness from their side, we were really pleased with the way they had treated us. That time we really felt like...Yes..Humanity does Exist.
After having some food, we interacted with Mr.
Vasudev for some time, also took his contact number and left for the return
journey. The fact that I had experienced all this in 2011 and writing now in
2016 says all that how memorable it was. In near future, If I got to travel to
same place with same buddies, it will be a treat for me.
It's been a marathon blog for me and to all dear readers also. Thank You for having patience of reading such a huge post and showing interest. Its been the first time I've crossed 1500 words of writing in a day.
Thank You One & All. May God Bless You.
With Love,
