TOP
OF THE WORLD
Ruskin Bond in his
book, Notes from the Hill says
“Ï
learned early without quite realizing it that the pleasure of travel is the
journey and not so much in reaching one’s destination. The adventure is not in
arriving, its on-the-way experience. You are not choosing what you shall see in
the world, but giving the world an even chance to see you.”
Nothing describes the
Rajgad Trek that we undertook as our college field trip, better than this excerpt from
Notes from the Hills. Ever since our history professor,Sagar Sir had been scaring us with the idea of
how difficult this trek was going to be, I was counting days for it to happen.
Being someone who loves the great outdoors and all the adventures it gets
along, I knew I was going to love every bit of Rajgad.
We left the campus,
early morning on August 28th. The bus journey was 2.5 hours long and
as soon as we drifted away from the highway and took a muddy path to the
village which was our base stop, I realized what a different world we had set
foot in. It was a classic picturesque landscape. The majestic Sahyadris dipped
in shades of green, the occasional ponds, little villages with hay-stacked
roofs, children running around playing with sticks and the sun that shone not
so brightly, I felt as if I was living inside a postcard. Most journeys do tire
you, but there are occasional things of beauty that instill a new energy
within. The road off the highway was one such thing.
We finally got down in
a village from where our trek was supposed to begin. At first, the steep was
gradual. Since it had been raining earlier, the mud was wet and slippery. In
the first half an hour we found ourselves taking breaks every 10 minutes. It
was during one of these breaks, where we all crowded on a narrow path, that
Sagar Sir pointed us to the hill right across the valley. We could make out
faint boundary walls high up the hill that had just been uncovered with the
clouds. “We only have to trek up this
hill and then cross it over till there” Sagar Sir said rather obviously pointing
to the fort across. Although sarcastic, his mockery always amused us and built
up our will power. Setting foot on the path again, we continued the ascend.
There were several parts where I needed a hand (or hands) to help me cross, or
pull me over. Many times even I would provide a hand to the needy. We would
fall, wait for others to laugh and then eventually get up. Joking, singing
songs, helping and motivating others, the 50 of us were bonding like never
before. Usually in classrooms, people prefer to stay and work in their own
groups but here at least I got to interact, help and journey with batch mates,
I had never talked properly to before. Here there were no groups. All the 50
students trekked up as one team. This is the thing about travel. You realize the uniformity, you ealize how aWe would seldom stop, not only to catch our
breath but to observe and absorb the spectacular beauty around. The greenery
around was therapeutic and we realized we were deep in the Sahyadri forests.
After almost coming halfway, we were relieved to see a small stall of a person
selling lemonade. All of us rushed to savor its sweet taste. And at that time
the lemonade tasted nothing but like the elixir of heaven. Trekking further
each path offered a different challenge. We either had to try too hard not to
slip or too hard, not to fall off the cliff. It was only towards the end of our
ascend that we realized that we had not only been walking through the clouds
but were now above it. The most difficult parts were the rocky patches. The
first rocky patch was a piece of a cake as compared to the second which was
almost a vertical climb. Thankfully there were metal rods to the sides which
proved to be a huge HELP to our nearly dead bodies. Putting our weight on the
rods and dragging the body upwards while creating a strong footing on the rocks
gave me an adrenaline rush which I enjoyed. As I finally my final step through
the CHOR DARWAZA, my aching body did a little dance on the inside.
Ruskin Bond’s lines
justified the sight completely. To be honest I was disappointed. There was
hardly anything. Just a few walls in the ruins, a few old temples for people to
stay in and some secret alleys those were out of bounds. The only thing
absolutely mesmerizing was a pale green volcanic water body that looked beautiful
amidst the mist.
The fort of Rajgad has
witnessed many historic events. It was capital
of the Maratha
Empire during the rule of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj for almost 26 years and the longest span that Shivaji ever
stayed in this fort. It was also one of the 17 forts that Shivaji kept while
signing the Treaty of Purandar. The
fort has been the venue for the birth of Shivaji’s son Rajarama and the death of his wife Queen Saibai. The burial of Adil
Shah, a formidable enemy of Shivaji also happened in the walls of BAAL-E-KILLA, situated at the highest
point of the fort. Sagar Sir asked us, if we had the energy to trek up to there
and surprisingly everyone was interested. The spirits of the exhausted body
seemed to be lifted up by the view which we got from above. We were at the top
of the world, literally. The 10 minute walk to Baal-e-Killa has been the best
walk of my life till date. A narrow twisty curvy path where we were often
greeted by leaning trees on the right and the view of the valley on the left as
the leaves crunched below our feet, the wind whispered in our ears and the raindrops kissed our faces. The nature
had absorbed us completely and was showing us its different shades. And one not
so pretty shade that it showed us was the heavy rain that made it impossible
for us to go ahead to Baal-E-Killa. But I believe half of us were glad, for now
we could explore the fort our way. Wandering about, clicking pictures we tried
to make the most of it. We were told that the fort is being reconstructed to
its glory.
As much as I had been
looking forward to trekking up, I had been dreading the trek down. The descend had
always scared me. I did not trek down, I slid. Whenever I thought I couldn’t go
down a patch without toppling forward, I just sat down and slid till a walk
able patch came. I did this (and encouraged others too) almost 3/4th
of my trek down and it was an experience in itself. I remember this one patch
where I was completely on my own. Some people were too ahead of me and some too
behind. It was a wide stretch of green with a few cattle grazing. I took that
alone time to absorb the nature and understand its metaphors. I liked how
peaceful the chaos of the nature was. It was one of the most amazing parts of
my whole trek. The trek down seemed really long for a part of me could not wait
to reach the bus, while a part of me never wanted this beautiful journey to
end.
The best thing you can
offer a tired person is FOOD and the village was kind enough to serve us hot
and delicious local Maharashtrian cuisine.
Nothing could end the trek better than Pithla, Koshimbir , Daal and Rice. Being at the top of the world
was beautiful but coming back down was not that bad either because now we had
stories to tell, stories of the journey to the top and stories of the world
from above. Stories of falling down, rising up and the stories of the many
moods of nature. Stories of bonding, stories of friendship; stories that became
memorable chapters of one beautiful journey to the Royal Fort of Rajgad.
