WANDeRiNG MiND!

Just a month after getting into my current job about 6 months back, I was sent to the Pune office to be a part of a new project. Though I wasn’t very willing to travel as the project required me to be there for at least for 6 months, my department head agreed to bring me back in 2 months, finding someone to replace me there. And so I went. My second visit to Pune.

The last time I went, I was in a totally different field of work and the visit was all about job hunting. Those days I had visited all the major industrial area in and around Pune. But this time it was different. I was in a good job, my travel and accommodation was totally taken care of by the company, and I had all the time to myself. Because I was away from my home PC and all stuff mine. For 9 weeks.

Work was extremely boring. However I met a whole lot of new people, made quite a few friends, had quite a few good times, and most importantly, it helped me get myself out of a lot of bad thoughts that’s been running in my head and also in getting out of a bit tight situation I was in for a while.

My office was located 23KM from the city and transportation was bad out there. Weekends I used to take the rare bus or an “over-charging” auto to the city to my cousin’s place and spend time with him and sometimes with his gang of friends. Good guys, all of them. No great guys in fact. I knew each and every one of them had problems, some of them major, but when they were all together it was just fun and laughter. Really helped me clear my mind.

Pune, unlike what I expected is surrounded by the ghats and since I was there during the mansoon and it was drizzling almost the entire day on most days, the place was wet, green and beautiful. So as a part of my agenda to make life more interesting, I decided to try and visit as many good places around the city as I can. With my cousin and his friends. This is about one such trip.

On 29th July 2007, I joined my cousin and a few of his colleagues on their trip to Koregad, a fort in Lonavala and close to the prestigious Amby Valley project from Sahara Group. Koregad is located in the Ambavne village (which I assume is why the Sahara project is so named) which is about 24km from Lonavla.

We left from Pune city in the early hours in a rented Chevrolet Tavera, which comfortably accommodated us, a team of 6. 3 guys and 3 girls. On the road to Lonavla, the scenic beauty that surrounded us just took our breaths away and we couldn’t stop ourselves from pulling over at a few spots and getting shutter-happy, especially since one of the girls turned out to be the “happiest-to-be-in-the-frame” types that I had ever met

We reached the location by around 10AM, and the view was awesome. While most forts are connected by ridges or columns to other hills, Koregad stands alone in majestic solitude. From the base, a broad well trodden trail leads to the foot of the hill. The route is an easy one and it leads to a flight of stone steps to the top. It started raining as we climbed up which made the whole thing more fun, apart from making the whole valley look breath-takingly beautiful.

By the time we reached the top, and into the fort, the rain had stopped but the fog remained, limiting our views. From where we stood, we could hardly make out how far the fort extended. But soon the fog thinned out a little and we were stunned to see lush green land all around us, with 2 big ponds filled with water right in front of us and an old temple structure near by.

After spending a good half an hour splashing around like happy kids in the chilling water (the rain and fog and the cold wind were freezing) we had a quick snack and decided to walk around the fort. We all walked to the ledge we saw across the pond. Once we reached the ledge and climbed up, we once again lost our breath. The view was amazing. We were on a high cliff and it was a straight drop down from where we stood. It took us quite sometime to take in all the beauty of the surrounding valley. It was heavenly. We could also see the Amby Valley, including the private airstrip and am sure we all wished we were rich enough to own at least a small villa in the Valley.

We walked all around the fort for the next hour or so, taking a lot of photographs, before deciding to go back downhill. It started raining again and by the time we reached the car we were as wet as we were in the pond.

We thought of going to a dam nearby, but the huge crowd and the heavy rain there made us decide to carry on instead. But we did walk around in the pouring rain, shivering in the cold wind and having some “vada paav” and a hot cup of tea to warm us up before we left from there.

Our next stop was the Karla Caves which I expected to be something in the lines of the Ajanta caves that I had visited a long long time ago. Well, it was similar in some way, though not as fantastic (not even close), and mostly disappointing due to the bad maintenance.

It’s a 20-minute climb from the car park to the cave, and it was still raining pretty bad. But up we went though with lesser energy this time. We had to buy the entrance tickets at the gate from a small cabin. This of course added to my disappointment later as generally people expect the place to be maintained well, when they charge you for visiting. A tall waterfall greeted us as we entered the gates, thanks to the rains that the region has been getting for a while. The area was fenced and so getting to the falls was ruled out.

They say Karla Cave is the largest Hinayana Buddhist Chaitya in India and was completed in 80 BC. We didn’t spend much time out there, as the cave also had a temple on one side and the number of people waiting to get in through the maze of steel pipes was discouraging after the tiring day we had. However we did check out the chaitya. They say the chaitya is around 40m long and 15m high, carved by monks and artisans from the living rock in imitation of more familiar wooden architecture. A semi-circular window that looks like a rising sun, filters light in towards the cave’s representation of Buddha, a stupa protected by a carved wooden umbrella. There are 37 pillars forming the aisles in the “hall” and they are each topped with teak beams said to be original. carved elephant heads can be seen on the sides of the vestibule. They were damaged and it seems they once had ivory tusks.

[Note: A stambha (pillar) topped by four back-to-back lions, an image usually associated with the great emperor Ashoka, stands outside the cave and is believed to be older than the cave itself. The Buddha images near the entrance are said to be added during the later Mahayana Buddhist period.]

We then squeezed in through the narrow stairway cut into the rock, to go to one of the chambers in the “first floor”. It looked like one of the bedrooms in a modern apartment, complete with balcony. But of course, this was just rock with a neatly cut doorway and window. However a strong stench of urine filled the air which made us wonder if the place was turned into a urinal by the public. We left soon, stumbling down the dark stairway again.

The rain had taken a break and down we all went, back to the parking lot. Soon we were headed back home, tired from all the walking/climbing and soaked to our bones by the hours of rain that we had beein doing it in.

I was back in my room by 7 in the evening, still wet from the rain and real tired, but with a freshness inside thanks to the lush green beauty and the chilling rains of Koregad. It was a real long time since I felt so in life.

[A note: I am thankful to my cousin and his colleagues for letting me be a part of the trip, as it's one of the best days I have had. There is no place I love to be in more, than lush green valleys, mountains, lakes/sea. And the fog and rain to add to it all? Was heaven.]