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 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 from Pune, 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. That is the thing about travel. You realize the uniformity. You realize how you are just one tiny speck of the entire universe.We 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.
