Rajmachi - Gaining Height
It was 5.40 am on a Saturday morning and we were excitedly waiting for the last person to join in with us. That was the obvious late comer – Sumukh Byndoor. There were 25 people waiting for Sumukh so that we could board the 5.58 am local train leaving Dadar to Karjat. All were bang on time due to the excellent coordination that we had amongst ourselves. The excel sheet print with mobile numbers of all trekkers was the most handy tool used to get this done. Everyone was much excited as one thing that we knew for sure that we were together going to have a lot of fun through out the day. This was the first time in my life that I had seen such an overwhelming response from 42 people from the organization to join us for a difficult task to complete that too without too much of motivational talks or pushes. It was like a chain reaction that had triggered through all that made us so much excited to go out for a Trek to Rajmachi.
I have read of a Quote by Henry Drummond on Achievements that states “Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can”. As we move ahead in life, we always keep on testing our abilities in various areas of life to learn and achieve more. That comes naturally to someone who is ambitious and wants to grow and reach great heights. Height has different definitions. At times it is just the physical measure of length but at times it can also be counted as the achievement you gain. Rajmachi trek for me was a transition from the first definition to the later. And I surely enjoyed this experience.
We reached the foot of the fort at around 9.00 am. With a vada pav (Indian Burger) and cutting tea, the group was charged to climb. We caught a 60 year old guide who was enough to set fire in the belly of all those who thought that they might not be able to reach the heights. Everyone started walking at a fast pace. We first had to walk through the farms and plain green lands. And while we moved ahead, we slowly started looking at what the target was. As we looked upward, we just saw a bunch of clouds surrounded by walls that looked like a fort. It was difficult though to imagine that it was the fort that we had thought of conquering that day. Some of us were singing, some shouting, some busy clicking photographs, some just gazing the beauty of the mountains that is just not visible in the busy city areas. The air was too fresh for us to breathe and we obviously had started breathing hard after sometime. The difficult part of the trek had started. The group that had come together had slowly started breaking into smaller groups of abilities. Every group had 1-2 stronger members and 3-4 weaker members. As we climbed upwards, we started feeling the obvious difficulty that one has to achieve those great heights.
While all of us climbed up with more or less effort, I would surely like to mention names like Smita, her husband Gopal, Sumukh, Supriya Naik, Ghazala, Jessi Patel, Rashida and Yogesh Hankare who did put in a lot of efforts and kept themselves highly motivated to complete the trek with all the physical wear and tear that they went through. The upward journey came to a hault after 4 and half hours when we reached the top. A small village greeting us with drizzle of rain, wonderful food that one would die to eat was something that was very exciting and encouraging that too especially after such a tiring journey.
For some it was climbing the top that was the difficult part and for some it was difficult to come down. It took us around 4 and half hours more to come down. It had slowly started getting dark as we got down. Thankfully few of us had our mobiles that could be used as a torch and that was the only source of light for us. We reached the foot of the mountain back by 7.00 pm. When we looked back up, no one was ready to believe the fact that we had climbed this height and came back too.
We had climbed 3200 ft and had come down from the same height. It took us around 9 hours of tireless effort to reach the top and then come back down. It was a real adventure with all the fun, excitement, breath taking views, wonderful food, overcoming all obstacles that were coming our way. Like executing a difficult project, something very similar to what we do everyday but just by sitting our chairs and using our keyboards. Here it was a test of our physical capabilities and mental strengths. It was about achieving the physical height with the mental height. Few with who I was spoke while climbing and coming down kept saying that he/she would be least interested in coming along the next time. When I asked the same question the next day, the same people said “I am ready”. The height of achievement had won over the physical height that they were afraid of.
Check the link to view our journey in pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/shashankabhyankar/
I have read of a Quote by Henry Drummond on Achievements that states “Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can”. As we move ahead in life, we always keep on testing our abilities in various areas of life to learn and achieve more. That comes naturally to someone who is ambitious and wants to grow and reach great heights. Height has different definitions. At times it is just the physical measure of length but at times it can also be counted as the achievement you gain. Rajmachi trek for me was a transition from the first definition to the later. And I surely enjoyed this experience.
We reached the foot of the fort at around 9.00 am. With a vada pav (Indian Burger) and cutting tea, the group was charged to climb. We caught a 60 year old guide who was enough to set fire in the belly of all those who thought that they might not be able to reach the heights. Everyone started walking at a fast pace. We first had to walk through the farms and plain green lands. And while we moved ahead, we slowly started looking at what the target was. As we looked upward, we just saw a bunch of clouds surrounded by walls that looked like a fort. It was difficult though to imagine that it was the fort that we had thought of conquering that day. Some of us were singing, some shouting, some busy clicking photographs, some just gazing the beauty of the mountains that is just not visible in the busy city areas. The air was too fresh for us to breathe and we obviously had started breathing hard after sometime. The difficult part of the trek had started. The group that had come together had slowly started breaking into smaller groups of abilities. Every group had 1-2 stronger members and 3-4 weaker members. As we climbed upwards, we started feeling the obvious difficulty that one has to achieve those great heights.
While all of us climbed up with more or less effort, I would surely like to mention names like Smita, her husband Gopal, Sumukh, Supriya Naik, Ghazala, Jessi Patel, Rashida and Yogesh Hankare who did put in a lot of efforts and kept themselves highly motivated to complete the trek with all the physical wear and tear that they went through. The upward journey came to a hault after 4 and half hours when we reached the top. A small village greeting us with drizzle of rain, wonderful food that one would die to eat was something that was very exciting and encouraging that too especially after such a tiring journey.
For some it was climbing the top that was the difficult part and for some it was difficult to come down. It took us around 4 and half hours more to come down. It had slowly started getting dark as we got down. Thankfully few of us had our mobiles that could be used as a torch and that was the only source of light for us. We reached the foot of the mountain back by 7.00 pm. When we looked back up, no one was ready to believe the fact that we had climbed this height and came back too.
We had climbed 3200 ft and had come down from the same height. It took us around 9 hours of tireless effort to reach the top and then come back down. It was a real adventure with all the fun, excitement, breath taking views, wonderful food, overcoming all obstacles that were coming our way. Like executing a difficult project, something very similar to what we do everyday but just by sitting our chairs and using our keyboards. Here it was a test of our physical capabilities and mental strengths. It was about achieving the physical height with the mental height. Few with who I was spoke while climbing and coming down kept saying that he/she would be least interested in coming along the next time. When I asked the same question the next day, the same people said “I am ready”. The height of achievement had won over the physical height that they were afraid of.
Check the link to view our journey in pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/shashankabhyankar/
1 Comments:
Ah, well, even if it is a 'repeat' post, at least it has kept the nearly dead blog alive. I wish I would find something new to read here.
Post a Comment
<< Home