16 th August, 2014: The Trip to the Rajgarh Fort That Was not I am very pally with both sets of my grandchildren, one each based in Lucknow and Baramati.They have the freedom to drive me nuts and still get away scot free. This freedom is just not available to any one else, friend or foe.After the ones in Baramati came back from their Independence Day function on 15th August, 2014, they unleashed their unannounced plan! We were going to see the Rajgarh Fort today itself,no ifs and buts. We scrambled an emergency gear. However, we thought it prudent to take our usual breakfast, and around 11 AM, we began driving to that Fort which was located 120 kms away from Baramati. The distance was not the problem but whether and terrain certainly was as we were soon to find out! It is no fault of the local Maratha strongman, Mr Sharad Pawar that it hardly rains in Baramati. It is another story for Rajgarh Fort! After a one half hours road journey, we arrived at the foothill of the Fort around 12.30. After parking our vehicle there, we set out for the Fort. That is where our troubles began. Rajgarh Fort is one of the prominent Forts of the Maratha warrior Shivaji, and you can find prominent mention of its significance in the literature posted by the Maharshtra Tourism. However, that is where their duty ends. We found to our surprise that it takes a manual trekking of more than three hours on a rugged kuchcha and undulating, meandering bridle path on foot to reach the Fort. Some of the climb up the hill, stretching around 7 kms, is very very steep. The Maharashtra Tourism can hardly be expected to warn the tourists about the perils that await them once they reach the foothill there. As it turned out, the trek is not meant for those above 50 years, weak with their hearts and lungs, and suffering from asthma. Also, those lacking some strong will should abandon the trip at the foothill itself. Now given the smartness of Maharashtra Tourism, we were blissfully unaware about all these. And, as stated before, our trip to this Fort was undertaken without what is called as “ due diligence” in corporate parlance!In our eagerness to reach there as early as possible, we dispensed with the light packed meals that we had carried along with and embarked on our journey straightway. This is where the natural elements took over. The terrain has such soil surface that becomes extremely slippery after rain, and it began raining almost immediately as we began our upward journey. Another bright idea popped up, and we decided to take the short cuts that the Gunjwane village folks take to go to the Fort. Now, there is difference between the habits of the tourists and the locals to negotiate natural elements of the habitat. Due to their familiarity with the peculiarities of each of the elements of the nature in its topography.the locals gallop while the tourists meander in such terrains! We had only climbed the rani Jhansi hill in Jhansi before! We were left with the only popular method Indians know, the trial and error method. You of course know that this is the bane of the many of the ills the Indians suffer from ! It started raining, and pretty soon we were sliding on the tricky slopes! A decision was needed whether to go ahead and face one or two bone cracks especially of a 74 year old youngman like me.On cool consideration, my daughter decided that her husband and her two boys ,Ashish ,13 and Aditya, 11 ,could carry on with their journey to the top of the hill and see the Fort while I and my daughter proceed on our downward journey on slippery slopes for the next half an hour in pouring rain.We were to wait their return to share their tyist with destiny. After a couple of slides that plastered our clothes with the gleaming mud paint, we arrived back to the base. I was of course fully drenched and shivering by then. We cleaned up ourselves, and the comfort of the car that afforded me immediate relief. A hot cup of tea warmed me up my sagging spirits. Then we decided to find out the progress of the other half of our team that went up the hill. Given the fine fidelity of the telephonic infrastructure, the mobiles don’t get connectivity in these parts quite often. We kept on trying, and eventually succeeded in getting in touch with them. They were half way through but had run out of steam, and were consequently replenishing their energies with goodies that they had taken along with. It was around 3 PM, and they would take another two hours to reach the Fort, and then another 1.30 hours to commence their trek way back! It rained incessantly, but its intensity kept on changing as the speeches of political leaders on a campaign trail. Our victorious team arrived back at about 6.05 PM. They had to wash themselves up in a nearby artificial waterfall, very thoughtfully constructed by the local Panchayat, and changed their clothes! We commenced out journey way back. We knew that given our day’s labours, the home cooked dinner was out of question. We reached Baramati around 10.30 PM, and straightway went to a hotel to take our meals. My daughter and I did not see the Fort although three members of the five member team did. Looking back, it was a trip that was not for me and my daughter, and yet it was eventful one for the remaining three! You can’t blame me for not trying to be an adventurist. Can you?
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 04:21:57 +0000
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