‘the Kohoj kind’

A trek, finally! I had many trips around Maharashtra this month but not a proper trek. So last weekend trek to Kohoj was special. Little did I knew, it would turn out to be one of the best learning experience.

We took the first shuttle to Palghar from Kopar. I sat at the door with my younger sibling Sachin for a while and later with my dear trek mate, Sneha. We both laughed about the stand-up comedies we had recently seen.

We got up, took our bags, all set to get down when at the next station when we noticed a faint rainbow. Mountain as a backdrop, amidst scattered buildings, this rainbow looked majestic.

We got down and ate a quick breakfast outside Palghar station and got in the bus to Vaghote village. The ride to this village was curvy. The transition of the landscape from plain village farms to hilly farmland was smooth. I couldn’t close my eyes for a second as I didn’t wish to miss any scenic view.

When we reached and finally began to walk, my excitement level had already crossed all borders. I was walking, talking, singing, waiting to listen to the streams, trying my best to listen to the birds. Trying my best to live each second in the wild to my fullest.

As expected, there was a certain crowd as it was a Sunday. Luckily, while we began, there were only two groups. There are proper white arrows marked from the bottom till the top. These arrows are on eye level for someone my height (5feet) and hence difficult to find, but that’s the only way to reach the top without losing your way.

The best part of in monsoon trek are the streams. On the way to the top, we crossed two streams, one small and one big. The sound of both silently guides you to the top. I could never have enough of the sound of the stream, mixed with bird calls, a few insects, wind claps of trees, it felt like a perfect melody to reach the top.

When we did reach the top, I realized how we failed as a group. Only seven out of twelve had reached. We waited for around an hour and headed to the temple and then to fill water. By then, the rest of the group also reached. Together, we headed to the top of the fort.

“The top of a mountain is the top, no journey can ever beat that,” a fellow trek mate said while walking to the top.

When I saw the view from the top, I felt his words. My entire journey with the stream, the birds, and the jungle felt worth it. The first few seconds at the top felt like a mighty embrace from the mountains. I couldn’t move my eyes of the sight but then Sachin began to climb even more ahead, I obviously joined him.

A few of us climbed up the pinnacle sort of structure. I was made to click pictures and I did with a smile because the view was worth it. After all of them had the pictures clicked, they asked me, do you wish to be clicked? I didn’t have an answer.

No, I hadn’t come up to the top for a picture. I had come here to embrace the structure, embrace the mountains, embrace the feeling of reaching the top, to embrace the entire journey to the top, to thank these structures for existing, for making me feel at home each time I climb one… I hugged all the stone structures before I headed down, I hope my hug conveyed my love to them.

While getting down, we functioned better as a group and all twelve reached the base together. However, one smart fellow did run ahead and reached before us all. The base of the fort has the Pajara Dam, which we had eyed on our way up.

A small child dwells in each group member I trek with, and loosens up at times as such. Almost all of us were in the water, splashing, swimming, having fun. No one thought of any sort of consequences and just lived in the moment.

It was truly beautiful to see the sparkly smiles of the entire group. The tiredness of the past few hours of climbing up and down, group’s mishaps all got washed away in the water. The group had a new refreshed energy as it headed out.

No one had eaten well post the breakfast and two good mates went and got some chips and cold drinks for all. All superpowers please bless the existence of such souls. All crunched and drank a little and then the BEST to Palghar arrived.

The refreshed energy went out of the window, a breeze of good sleep came in and almost all had a good hour nap back to Palghar station. Again, to gather all twelve at one place was a task, some needed to use the loo, some needed tickets and some were hungry, and people like me were just panicking about missing the train!

All did get in. Yet again there was Samosas for all. I would have practically cried out of joy when I saw the Samosas because I was extremely hungry. But soon, my focus shifted to my dear trek mate Sneha. She was the one I began this journey with, trekked the entire fort almost, the weather in her eyes was changing and I couldn’t take it.

I sensed that if she shared what’s happening, she would burst out crying and that’s exactly what she said. She came to a trek after months, I don’t know when again would we meet, I told her so. I asked her, she can share it now, or perhaps never.

We spoke almost the entire way till Dadar. I managed to get her weather better. We shared chapters of our lives which we usually keep to ourselves. It felt good to have ended this beautiful trek on the note of connecting to this one soul. The one soul who had kept trekking and all of us at bay for months.

The other part of the journey from Dadar back home was a blur. All I know is I reached home and I slept with a content smile. A smile that marked the Kohoj kind of joy. Only a nature lover or Sahyadri baby can feel how peaceful that sleep is after a trek.