Torna Cross- country Rajgad

A warm bed, dry clothes and a simple but fresh and hot meal. Elementary things which we take for granted nine times out of ten. Our life in the city has become so much of a chore that these basic things almost never get their due importance. Most of us are tied up with our work and commitments/ timelines/ dispatches at one end and with our spouses/ kids/ their studies at the other. So when life gets a chance to get back, it strikes back seriously. We realized this the hard way last weekend on our cross-country trek across Torna fort to Rajgad. But I have started at the wrong end. So here goes..

This trek, like most of those I’ve been on recently, was set up by the TCSians. Well, they did keep oscillating between Torna-Rajgad and Sarasgad-Sudhagad until the last two days but settled for the former. The reason was quite simple. Torna and Rajgad by themselves were quite friendly as treks go, but the CC trek between them was serious business, more so in the rains. There a couple of rock patches which get very tricky as does the wind which blows across the ridge. So a few experienced chaps were opposing it. But the other option was quite simple, said a few and finally had their way. Plus the Sarasgad –Sudhagad trek would be two separate treks as opposed to Torna-Rajgad which was a CC trek. And that’s what we were keen on. Destination settled, everyone was racing against time to make the cut. Mugdha finally made it at the nth minute and we started at 0000 hrs, Saturday, 2 hours behind schedule. Not bad, eh?

The group that finally made it was of 22, including myself. This included a bunch of five from TCS, Kolkata, who had made the trip to Mumbai clubbing the trek with their work schedule. Myself, Pats, Mugdha and Sagar (who we picked up from Pune) were in Pats’s Scorpio while the rest left Mumbai 4 hours later by bus. Mugdha was dozing off before you could say TREK. We picked up Sagar at Pune at a godforsaken hour and place and moved on. The base village for Torna, where we would start our trek, was Velhe, 50 odd km from Pune. We took a turn from the Pune Satara highway at Nasrapur, and the route further was done without much fuss. Since we were doing the cross country trek our start point would be Velhe (Torna base village) but our end point would be Gunjavane( Rajgad base village). So it was decided to keep our car at Gunjavane which is 15 odd km from Velhe. Dead beat, the four of us crashed out in a school verandah at Sakhargaon, where the bus would pick us up. Don’t know what it was, the rain or the ants which were munching on me, I woke up within a couple of hours and woke Pats up. We drove to Gunjavane and tried to hitchhike our way back. Tough luck. Got back just in time for the bus to pick us up at the school at sakhargav.

So we started at about 0800 or thereabouts. Saurabh and Yatin pretty much knew the way and we were soon on the main route to the top. The first half of the trek is a walk through the fields and gets gradually steeper as we go along. Rain was intermittent and we weren’t sure about keeping our rain gear on or not. As we reached the first ridge the first signs of some serious rain became apparent accompanied by gusty winds. I had opted for the raincoat (modern version of Irla) in favor of the wind cheater and was none the better for it. Had I not removed it on the ridge, I would be flying all over the place. Lots of Karvi shrubs were blooming all over the ascent and made the place look all the more wondrous. I suppose this region has one of the highest rainfall in our state. Or so we felt anyway. A few lovely waterfalls and fantastic landscapes (when the fog lets us see them) later we reached Bini darwaja in about 2.5 to three hours of trekking. Once inside the Mengai devi mandir, finally met the entire group on one to one. The TCS team had a sub-team which had enrolled from Kolkata and except Manish, most were greenhorns, but totally enthusiastic. After a bit of refueling (mainly theplas and biscuits) we walked up to the flag-post and the ladder which leads down to “Zunzar Machi”. After the Bhagwa was unfurled (quite an exercise) and some serious confabulations later, it was decided to skip Zunzar machi for safety reasons. Also it was bone chilling cold what with the wind crying murder and our warm clothes not in place. Dinner time was at hand and Saurabh had made arrangements for it to be delivered from velhe. We were a bit worried coz if they had messed up, we weren’t exactly supply surplus. But dinner came and on time and wow it was a virtual feast (considering our location), after the shrikhand tins tumbled out. Bhakari, Bharli Vangi, dal and bhat with mirchicha Thecha. What a spread. By the end of it every one was at bursting point. Post dinner the TCSians conduct a small ritual during every trek, the “sanskrutik prabodhini”, as they call it, raising awareness about our history, culture and everyone’s invited to the party. Basically have fun the right way, and learn something while you’re having it. There is a chunk of history associated with Torna, besides being the first fort that Maharaj took over. Apparently there is a ghost of the Fort’s caretaker which resides here and because we sleep there without his permission (ha anyone any idea how we get it??) he calls the guests outside one by one and pushes them over the ledge. A few must have lost some sleep over it. Though everyone was dead beat, it was great fun and listening to the warrior Maratha’s heroics. Sometime, during one of the renditions, I crashed out. We were to leave at 0730 but the rain was coming down in sheets and we could barely see a few feet ahead of us. I hoped saurabh and the gang knew their way out. After refilling our water bottles, we set out to Rajgad; the trek would be a 6-8 hour one depending on how the weather held up. But the rain was relentless. The first climb across a narrowish ledge which would be a cakewalk normally was now a tightrope walk, what with the wind holding its own. It was madness. Fortunately Abhinav, Saurabh, Mayuresh and Yatin who took lead, were confident yet careful. We put up support ropes wherever necessary and made, what could have been a dicey place, a nice descent. At many places near the first rock patch railings have been installed, which was a big help. We moved on towards Budhla Machi. Budhla means an upturned vessel in Marathi and that is the shape this place resembles. The 2 rock patches prior to it were scorchers. 80 degrees and slippery to boot. Previous trekkers have left anchor bolts there on which we wound our ropes. We were 22 of us so it was almost 2 hours by the time we were done with them. BTW, having Abhinav with us who is a real mountain goat, really made this possible.

Moving onwards to Budhla machi, we had lost track of time completely. Being completely drenched for over a day now except when we slept and the wind, OMG! Not to mention the fact that we had had no solid food today. The next few hours we were just going up and down over a dozen and more hills on the ridge itself, which would take us to Rajgad. Suddenly after what seems like three or so hours, we came out in the open with the mighty Torna, (or Prachandagad as it was used to be known as) right in front of us. We had walked across a ridge which curved in a parabolic shape to face the place which we thought was behind us. That’s it. We had lost our way. One wrong turn and we were exactly in the middle of nowhere. So we anchored for a while, tanked up with dry snacks and tried to make light of it. Finally Saurabh arrived from somewhere and we were back on track. By this time fatigue was setting in, what with the weather taking a turn for the worse. This part of the trek would take us to a motorable road which cut across the trek route. This would take us to Vajheghar, one of the many villages at the base of Rajgad. We reached this place at 1800 hours. This meant a solid 8 hour trek. Eight of us had decided in advance, that we would take a call here and since it was too late by then, we decided to back off and head home. The others were given the option but it wasn’t taken. Rajgad from here would be a further 2 hours at the very least. So after some pleasantries, we parted. Had to hitchhike our way to Sakhargav, where Paatya got his Scorpio. Changed clothes and had dinner near Pune. Fresh, dry clothes and a hot meal…What a luxury!!! reached home by 0100 hrs. Crashed out!! Jannat!

Epilogue: The others which trekked further to Rajgad lost their way en route and after going round in circles for two hours and more decided to bail out and hit the very road which we took. Reached there at 2330 hrs and slept at a nearby school. Got the ST bus which leaves for Pune at 0600 the next day and finally reached Mumbai late noon. Period.