The King's Fort...

On a rainy, cold Sunday (July 2nd), 6 of us (Midhun, Vani, Santhanu, Prasanth, Naiju and myself),hopped into a Sumo and started out for Raigad(the king's fort)..the plan was formulated around 10 in the night the previous day and the car booked at 11...and here we were setting out for Shivaji's capital, around 180 kms from Pune and at a height of 2851 meters.

It's a well known fact that Pune during the monsoons gets a complete makeover after the hot summer....the dry, brown, parched soil gets covered with a thick layer of green grass and umpteen waterfalls dot the mountain-sides , most of them crossing the road to keep flowing down until they reach the gushing rivers.The route was via Munshi dam, and believe me when I say, the lake formed by the dam seemed as if it had been impended on one side by a thick wall of fog(like some scene from The Lord of the Rings!!).The road passed beside this catchment area for some kilometers and then the ghats started. One after the other the rocky faces of the mountains seem to have numerous streamers of waterfalls floating down its side. Near one such waterfall, we parked our Sumo and then started climbing up the waterfall literally. Learnt one thing:"Your shoes have more grip than your bare feet."Slipping and sliding, we made some way up the waterfall.Vani nearly floated away after falling into the fast flowing water, and ended up bruised and muddy!! Same with me!!! After around half an hour we commenced our journey and reached Raigad by 12:30, but not before passing rolling meadows, which reminded me of descriptions of English counties from some Enid Blyton's books!!!


The top of the mountain was not visible due to a thick layer of mist and the cable car which led to the summit disappeared into the mist within a few minutes...no wonder Prasanth said that this how you goto heaven after kicking the bucket.As the small rickety trolleys started moving up, we were enveloped in a blanket of mist.In places where it cleared, ocassionally we would get glimpses of waterfall pouring down the mountain side.After a wonderful ride of around 10 minutes, we reached the summit.We gulped down cups of hot tea,and wet and shivering, we started the trek around the fort(One thing: guides are available:Its better to bargain...some guy asked us 300 bucks and we offered 50..He eventually refused....however as we started out, he was ready to come with us..and then it was our turn to refuse!!)

So we started the trek and somehow we took the wrong turn straightaway.... Instead of turning right and entering the fort(which we came to learn later)..we turned left and started trudging around the walls of the fort!! Anyway we reached a lake called Ganga Sagar lake, whose bottom as well as the other side could not be seen.After that we found our way to the market place(Bazaar peth) ....remnants of the place where vendors used to sell their wares in separate cubicles..actually rooms divided into a front facade, a main room and an inner room..... and such rooms extended on both sides of the road right into the mist!!!....accompanied by a mysterious aura of things which happened years ago!!! You will find it hard to believe..but if you were to stand alone, you would hear the galloping of horses, of the busy market crowd, of vendors shouting out to prospective customers......click, click....back to the present!!!

The trek continued to a beautiful temple, near which was the memorial of one of the most famous rulers who roamed this territory..Shivaji, himself!!!From here we continued to the main palace...as we walked to the palace, it loomed out from the mist, a magnanimous structure and the mist, only helped to increase it's magnanamosity!!!!! We saw the king's throne, the large area where he played his chess games, and his queens' rooms!!Unlike many other forts, here the fort walls are still stand strong and intact. After this trek, we at last found our way to the main entrance(which proved to be our exit!!!).

And thus, our trek ended.After hot cups of coffee and another rickety, shaky and of course a heavenly(literally) cable car ride, we started our trip home. But before that, we lost our way, went through some more beautiful country land, got stuck in the fog which drastically slowed us down to a crawl and passed over bridges which were submerged underwater. We reached home wet, cold and tired, but most importantly, ecstatic and happy, that we had visited one of the most beautiful places around Pune.........

P.S. This post was ready 3 weeks before but because of the block and no internet access in office , got delayed in publishing. Will put up my next post soon!!!!Also hope you guys liked the pics which were taken during this trip!!!