My First Trek with Kshitij Trekkers

My First Trek with Kshitij:

Bored of the monotony of office life, I called up Apte Kaka, with whom I had done a couple of treks for Chakram Hikers. When he mentioned that there were no immediate treks, I was a bit disheartened since I was really looking towards reconnecting with Mother Nature and getting away from the monotony of daily life. However, he asked me to look at one other organization – Kshitij and mentioned that they have a website – trekshitiz.com (I wonder how people would have survived in the age before the Internet and Google!). Anyway, I surfed the Kshitij website & found that there was indeed a trek on 22nd April & was very happy. What made me happier was all the information that the Kshitij website contained – maps of the Sahyadri forts, songs on Shivaji Maharaj and also links to other trekking groups. This gave me some insight into the values of the organization & its commitment to creating a sense of pride in the youth about Marathi culture & tradition. The other heartening fact was that all the information was simultaneously available in Marathi & English – there are several organizations who do trekking & hiking but very few (like Chakram and Kshitij) are committed to use trekking as a means to enable character development & positive change in the youth of today – this is very much like Lokmanya Tilak using the Ganeshotsav festival as a means to organize the masses against the British empire.
The next task was to book a place for the trek & I tried calling the leader, Swapnil Kelkar. During the remaining course of the week, we played the highly amusing game of ‘missed call-missed call’ before finally getting through. Swapnil put me and a friend of mine on the waitlist given the high demand for the trek. I prayed that I would get to go & luckily I did! (my friend however, could not make it due to a medical emergence in the family). Having confirmed my spot, the next step was packing – lunch, some ‘satar-phatar’, money etc. and also sleeping early since I had to wake up at 4:15 AM the next day to reach Dombivili from Thane by 5:30 AM. One does not want to be late for the first trek with a new group.
Waking up at 4:20 AM, I stepped out of the house by 4:40 AM – caught a bus to Thane station & was in Dombivili by 5:20 AM. Then came the Sherlock Homes act – searching for the ‘Godrej showroom’ (since I had not been to Dombivili in the last 2 years). But then, as is said – ‘shodha mhanje sapdel’, I finally made it in time to the designated spot. And low behold! the trek leader was himself late – anyway, Swapnil soon came and took charge of the situation & we were zooming in the 2 Sumos by 6:10 AM.
Well, since none of the drivers knew the exact way, we did several turns & re-turns and about-turns before finally finding the road to Khopoli (and consequently to Pune). By now, the crows were croaking in people’s stomachs & we stopped to have breakfast at the Manashakti Kendra’s hotel in Lonavla. Breakfast was Batata wadas & tea - on all the treks I have been to, there have primarily been only 3 items for breakfast – Batata wada, Misal or kanda Poha – please let me know if you have ever eaten a 4th item. Anyway, the breakfast was delicious. I also got to see a bit of the Manashakti Kendra book stall etc. There were several books on stress management, living in harmony, goal-setting etc. that focused on the process of finding inner happiness in today’s high-stress world. Seeing the various books & talking to the volunteers, I started wondering:


Man today has all the Joy,
And money, the final goal, oh Boy!
But his life is often a living hell,
With so many obstacles to fell,
How many riches do we really need?
Or is it pure lust & greed?

“Adhi Potoba mag Vithoba” – after our stomachs were full, we once again began our journey to Vadhu. It was at this time that we realized the driving skills of our ‘sarathi’ – the driver hesitated to cross even 60 kms on a free NH 4 – we almost had to take a photograph of the speedometer when after a long time, it finally touched 80 kms. I guess, the driver was a true follower of the adage – “Better late than hurry, Better safe than sorry”. Hence it took us almost 6 hrs to reach Vadhu.
At Vadhu, Swapnil made us form a circle and we had a formal introduction – Swapnil then explained the background and goals of Kshitij & of our specific trek, which was tro visit those historical places that have been neglected or have not risen to prominence, inspite of their importance in history. Next we went inside into the Samadhi Smarak of King Sambhaji. As the story goes, the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb tortured Sambhaji Maharaj and his friend Kavi Kalash & left them to die at Tulapur. However, the villagers of Vadhu, with great courage, brought Sambhaji’s body to Vadhu and performed the final rites. There are several inspirational quotes at the Smarak on Sambhaji – my favourite one is:

Desh Dharma par mitanewala, Sher Shiva ka Chawa tha,
Parampratapi, Mahaprakrami, Ek hi Shambhu Raja tha.

Also, when Sambhaji & Kavi Kalash were brought in front of Auragzeb and were facing certain death, Kavi Kalash composed a short poem in praise of Sambhaji Maharaj as follows:

Yawan Ravan ki Sabha mein, Shambhu Vandhyo Bajarang,
Lahu Lasat sam Tan, Jaise Khel khelyo Ranarang,
Ravi Chabhi Teri, Khadyot hot Badarang,
Tawa Tej Dekh ke, Tyakt Tyajo Aurang.

Meaning:
“Like Hanuman stood in the court of Rawana, so does Sambhaji stand in front of the Mughal;
His body is flowing with blood, as if he has just played the game of War;
His brilliance is like that of the Sun and darkens everything around Him;
Seeing His luster, Aurangzeb is already giving up his throne”

As Swapnil recanted the story of the 32-year old son of Shivaji, it made me wonder – this great man achieved immortality at such an young age – what do we do throughout our lives to achieve half as much? At the age of 22, when we are just beginning to understand life, Sambhaji had the responsibility of the entire Maratha empire thrust on him. How would we have coped with something like that? A thousand salutes to Sambhaji!

From Vadhu, we took a very bumpy road to Tulapur & reached Tulapur around 1:00 PM. Swapnil, like a good trek leader, again explained the historical significance and details about the place - Tulapur derives its name from an incident in the life of Murar Jagdev, a lieutenant of Adil Shah, who had himself weighed in gold on a pan balance – hence the name ‘tula’ (i.e., pan balance). Tulapur is also the ‘sangam’ (confluence) of 3 rivers – Bhima, Bhama & Indrayani. After seeing the memorial dedicated to Sambhaji, we went to the banks of the Indrayani and chatted for a while and also did a few photo sessions. People were bathing in the river and also enjoying the joys of boating down the river. Then we had ‘kairiche panhe’ at the canteen and went for the darshan of Lord Shiva at the Sangameshwar Temple. The whole premises is managed by the Nirgudkar family. The sad part of the place was that this historic monument has now become a picnic spot – people were having lunches in the garden (though there were notices explicitly prohibiting the same), playing cricket and there were also lovers amongst the trees – how sad that we have forgotten the spirit of the great Maratha at the very place where he sacrificed himself!
From Tulapur, we left for the land fort of Chakan & reached there by 2:45 PM. Unlike other ‘mountain forts’, Chakan is a land fort & a relatively small one – moreover, it is in a very dilapidated condition and no care is being taken of the premises at all. It was also the site of the historic battle between the forces of Shaistekhan and Firangoji Narsale, Shivaji’s commander-in-charge of the fort. We went around the entire fort and then had lunch in the shade of the Hanuman temple near the fort. One of the joys of trekking is the sharing of lunch (sandwiches, pooris, idlis, batata bhaji, theple, dosas, fruits – amazing menu!) – like Lord Krishna’s ‘gopal-kala’. After lunch, Saket Jog narrated the history of the entire fort and the battle that was fought there in a very eloquent manner. As the history goes, Shaistekhan had an army of ~35,000 soldiers fighting against ~250 Marathas who did not give up for 2 whole months, when the enemy army had laid siege to the fort. Finally, Shaistekhan blew up the fort ramparts by constructing an underground passage – even then the Marathas held out for 1 whole day against the Mughal army. Shaistekhan, in admiration of Firangji’s valour, let him go back to Shivaji rather than kill him. Though the battle was won by the Mughals, history will never forget the bravery of the 250 Marathas who made the Mughal army fight for every inch – hence the name of the fort was also changed to Sangramgad. After lunch, we walked to the Chakreshwar temple, 5 mins away from Chakan Fort. The unique thing about this temple, that I saw, was a crematorium in the temple yard itself – first time I had seen such a crematorium within the temple premises. We then filled our water bottles and started walking back for our return journey.
A sad thought crossed my mind as we left the broken down Chakan Fort – we have let our rich heritage (forts, palaces, temples) to rot & decay over time – internationally, Governments & private organizations truly take pride in historical monuments and preserve them as a mark of respect to the times gone by. It is only in our country that the Samadhi of Maharashtra’s greatest son, Sambhaji is completely ignored, a fort like Chakan which bore witness to a legendary battle is breaking down each day and we, as Maharashtrians are doing NOTHING about it. When will this situation change OR more importantly, will this situation ever change?

Oh Marathas, please hear the call of your own History,
Else all will vanish into nothingness,
Our culture, our pride, our existence
Might soon be an unsolvable Mystery

On the way back to Mumbai, we stopped to see the land fort & residence of Senapati Dabhade at Talegaon. The fort is in much better condition than Chakan & we visited the beautiful temple that lies inside the Fort. We also took a walk to see various areas of the fort and experienced the cool breeze that had started blowing, given the evening time. Soon it was time to ‘call it a day’ and head back to Mumbai in our ‘Formula 1’ vehicle. The driver was still as cautious as ever and even rickshaws & tempos were overtaking our Sumo - but then, what could one do about it? On the way back, we listened to a few songs and also tried to catch up on some sleep. It had been a long day and all were quite tired by now.
A few of us got down and parted from the larger group at Panvel – had ‘misal pav’ at Hotel Rahul and then took the Panvel-Thane bus (always an eventful ride given the various fights between different passengers on a variety of issues – truly as Sri Krishna said – Shravan Bhakti is also a great way to achieve Moksha).

Thus ended my first trek (and definitely not my last!) trek with Kshitij.