The Konkan Kind – II

Konkan plain stretches approximately 530km and is almost 45-76km in width. I experienced only a tiny bit of the mighty Konkan and here is the second post in my series, hope you enjoy the read.

After a good sleep, we were all up on time and headed to explore Vijaydurg fort by 6:15am. As we reached the fort, we witnessed the Konkan kind of good morning. We saw the sun, rise above the horizon with its reflection flowing and reaching us. I clicked a few pictures and then stood still to embrace the moment.

The moment pumped me so much, I was overjoyed. And so the consequence had to happen. I couldn’t take my eyes off the mesmerizing sea and structure of the place and didn’t see a hole and got my right leg stuck in it.

There was terrible pain from the bone near the feet up till the knee. I couldn’t exactly figure where I was hit as it pained from the knee till my feet. I had a good friend beside me who witnessed my fall who asked me to check but I refused and kept walking.

I didn’t wish to miss out on exploring the most magnificent sea fort. I didn’t want the group to have any delay because of my stupid fall either. I needed water badly to gulp in my tears, but sadly we had forgotten to fill our bottles that morning.

Vijaydurg is a good place if you get hurt and wish to divert your mind. There is so much to know about. The older name being ‘Gheria’, this fort is among the only two forts where Shivaji personally hoisted the saffron flag, other being Torana.

It was a naval dock of the time and the entire construction of the fort is an architectural marvel, a good place for students of architecture and history. The fort is also known to be the place where French scientist, Jhonson took readings to detect that helium exists as one of the prime elements of the Sun.

In total awe for the fort we left and took bags from our rooms to catch the 9:15am bus to Jaitapur. As we were getting out bags, I checked my leg and it looked terrible. I gulped the fear of how I’ll deal with it and went down for the quick breakfast before we left.

I sat alone on the bus and looked outside the window. I spotted a few birds and saw many beautiful houses. I noticed a completely dry banyan tree which still, stood strong. It was as if telling me to ignore the pain in my leg and be strong for the day ahead.

We got down at Jaitapur hopped into the Sumo we had hired. It took us first to Yashwantgadh, a fort we missed the last time we had come to Ratnagiri. This fort was used for trade along with Ambolgadh.

The fort is divided into two parts, the plateau and the creek. The doorway has a Ganesh idol and lotus flowers carved. The fort has two storerooms. Patki family stays inside the fort premises and they even have a well outside their house.

dav — Three of us walking towards the entrance that has the Ganesh idol and the flower. Picture Credits – Sanish

On our way to the next place in mind, our tyre got punctured. One of the screws of the tyre was stuck, we oiled and tried everything, but the screw refused to move. After around half an hour with a fellow Sumo driver’s help, we got it fixed and began our journey again.

This half-hour was like a reality check. It gave a glimpse of all that had happened during the first time and how we sailed through it. It was time to thank some superpowers who helped us not have too much delay in the day and we got down at the beautiful Kanakaditya Temple.

It is a famous place for devotees of Sri Kanakaditya (name of Sun God). The five-day celebration of Ratha-Saptami receives many devotees from all parts of the country every year. The kirtans, pravachans and aarti done during the festival is quite an attraction.

Now we were on our way to Purnagadh when we decided to quickly visit the Kasheli point. The view from the top was breathtaking and I couldn’t wait to run down the steps to the point and see the heavenly scene.

I ran the first few steps and what a big mistake that was! My leg began to hurt so bad I thought it will rip off. The sound of the waves hitting the shore was so loud, it was as if my leg shouting out to me and please just stop and stand in one place.

No, I didn’t do that, slowly I walked down the steps to the spot. The shades of blue of the sea, the blurring of the horizon, the sound of the waves, the serenity of moment made my soul so happy, I could have actually danced! That would be asking too much from my leg so I just stood there drooling over the beauty of the place.

777 — How’s the pain in your leg? ‘I can’t feel the pain with such a pretty picture painted around me, it is all too dreamy to feel anything.’

Then, we reached Purnagadh, a small fort which can be viewed in one sight. It had a Hanumanji’s deity at the entrance. Some evidence suggests it was built by Shivaji Maharaj while some suggest it was built by Sakhoji Angre, son of Kanhoji Angre.

Now we headed to Thiba Palace, a lesser known place. It is a fine architecture and clearly gives a feel of old British era. Thiba hailed from Burma and one can dig into the history of his interesting life which made the existence of this marvellous palace possible in Konkan region.

My attention yet again was driven to something else, a tree. After exploring and knowing about the Thiba Palace, I climbed a tree outside the palace. It was so pretty, I couldn’t control climbing it. I could feel the happy hormones dancing in me to the tunes of ‘Sawar Loon’ that I sang.

Now, we headed to Bhatye beach. We reached in time before the sunset. I and a friend kept our shoes in the vehicle and ran to the sea. The feeling of the first wave kissing my leg is something I can’t put to words.

I and my friend walked to the calmer, fewer people end of the beach and spent time playing and doing everything that came to our mind. We observed the sun, its reflection, and the clouds on the opposite side, the waves, and the horizon. There wasn’t a single cell in our body that wasn’t overjoyed.

After a while, we walked back to our group and had fun with them. In some time we left to figure out our stay for the night. Life balances everything since the day had made me so happy, it was time for the night to show its darkest shade.

October 8, 2018

The Konkan Kind – I

Konkan is the coastal plain region between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. It is home to many beautiful beaches, forts and temples. This is the first post in the series of my experience of the Kind Konkan. I hope you enjoy the read and perhaps learn something new.

I had yet again chosen to travel over something else more important. I had an extreme guilt of being selfish but I knew my decision wasn’t wrong and kind Konkan did prove me right!

As planned, we took Mangalore Express train from Thane station at 10:30pm. We were hoping to at least get on the train, but we not only got in, but we also got seats. The place wasn’t enough to get some sleep yet somehow we managed to relax and reached Kankavli station at 7:10am.

Eight of us freshened up and started walking towards the bus stop. We managed to have tea before we stepped in the bus to Ramgadh. Peeping through the window I saw the landscape of small houses and fields touching the horizon and in minutes we reached our first fort.

Ramgadh fort has the most unique Ganesh idol with a wobbly trunk and asuras at the base. There are seven tofs kept in line with a lot of grass and trees around it, obviously making a beautiful frame.

This intriguing fort kept us exploring it for more time than planned and we missed our bus to Achra from where we would head further to Sindhudurg. Soon, we hopped into a tumtum to Achra.

I and my friend sat behind and couldn’t stop smiling the entire ride. It was like living our ‘khwabon k parindey’ moment. The road had trees on either side, the clouds in the sky forming various shapes, the warm smiles of people in intervals, the leaves on the road following us for a while and the calm breeze soothing our souls.

Luckily, we managed to get this tumtum to ride directly to Sindhudurg. We kept our luggage outside and headed to our boat ride to the fort. Sindhudurg is a 16th-century architectural marvel made possible by the great Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The entrance to the fort is hidden like that of the other sea forts built at the time. The purpose was for the enemy to never find it. Only locals can point the correct entry, no tourist can locate it.

Yes, the fort has a beautiful structure and amazing history but my attention was totally driven to the sea. The waves kept thrashing the fort walls, the sound of which was so serene I got lost in my own world.

The mighty sea waves many time hit the fort walls so high the water fell inside. The waves managed to fall on a few of us as we walked past the entire fort wall churning excitement among all of us the entire time.

If the waves could climb the fort walls and reach us, I kept thinking of all the things even I can do and think are impossible. Like the endless efforts of the waves, even I can and I should keep giving my all for my masters and hope to achieve what I think I can.

After a thoughtful walk around this historical fort, it was time to leave. By now, the heat and hunger both were unbearable. As we returned from the fort, we had a kala-khatta gola and headed straight for lunch. The old lady serving us food reminded me of grandma so much, it made me cry within.

As usual, instead of being low about missing grandma, I acted weird and made all around me believe I was annoyed with her being so much keen on me eating. She kept looking at my plate, conversing to me about food and other things, just like grandma.

I wish I had courage enough to hug her and say thank you, you made my day. Her kindness made my soul smile and heart cry. It definitely felt like grandma had come down to say hello, please take care and eat well one last time.

We had some time before our bus to Vijaydurg and we had a walk around. I crossed the lunch place twice, thinking if I should go in and thank the old lady, but I couldn’t. I think I need to get more emotionally stronger for that.

We boarded the bus and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets. The cool breeze helped me have a nap despite the ride being extremely bumpy and scary. I think the BEST drivers should be given special rewards and recognition for their driving stints. They are really underrated F1 drivers.

It was dark when we got down near Vijaydurg fort. A visarjan was going to happen soon and a procession was approaching towards us. The dhol was so amazing, I began dancing in reflex. Not for long but we all did a little jig of our own for a few minutes. It felt odd yet refreshing to dance at a distance from a procession.

We attended the visarjan aarti and I witnessed my first ever visarjan. I don’t have feelings about what I saw, kind of blank about the whole festival itself, I have no clarity of thought on the festival as it is just my second year of actually understanding it, I’ll surely write more on it when I know and experience more about it.

Soon after that, we finished our dinner and then the moon appeared above the sea. Deep pink, calm and as if smiling and welcoming me for a conversation. I sat near the edge of the sea and saw the moon reflect over the sea.

The waves hitting the rocks at the shore felt like the moon was responding to my questions. I clicked a few pictures and hummed a few songs. I was lost in the divine beauty of this moment after that.

My mind had zero tabs open, perhaps still somewhere some music player was on in low volume but nothing more. For a few minutes it was just me and the moon, its reflection and the sound of the waves at the shore, it was a soulful conversation with the moon.

I saw the moon rise above and observed the change in its reflection pattern. After spending these moments of peace it was time to head to our rooms and have enough rest for the next day. We headed back, played cards for a while and slept.

I slept with a big smile on my face. I thanked the superpowers for a beautiful day where I saw the power of the mighty waves in the start and for the beautiful end with the moon and everything serene that occurred in between. I knew somewhere within, that this was just a start and there was more madness in store in the coming few days.

October 4, 2018

Valley of Vigor

‘I kept my bag aside, laid back on a rock, closed my eyes and heard only the stream on my left. In the shade of a huge rock and a little breeze from trees I couldn’t see, I spent a few moments with just the sound of the stream echoing the happiness in my soul.’

We will come to this beautiful moment soon which occurred during my recent adventure to Sandhan Valley. It is located in Igatpuri region of Maharashtra. Unlike my other trek experiences so far in Maharashtra this one was very different in many ways. Basic being that it isn’t a climb, it is only descending in the valley of shadows, and yes that’s what it is called.

My usual trek partner cousin – Sanish, wasn’t free this weekend when this trip was planned. In my head I knew I wouldn’t go without him, though my mom thought it was stupid to think so, I knew I wouldn’t go. He had some work pressure which I was well aware of and hence full week I had spent time to convince my mind that I won’t be travelling this weekend.

And then in the afternoon of the night we were supposed to leave I tried my luck and called him for a final yes or no and to my utter disbelief he said yes, yes he can make it! There was no bound to my joy as I was being blessed with a travel I had convinced myself of missing out!

I could see how tensed Sanish was though he tried his best to hide it. I knew what all was at stake for this trek to happen. I somehow wanted to fast forward the night and get to the time we start walking in the wild because I know nothing bothers us both once nature elopes us.

Next morning after breakfast we started the trek. If anything like what they call paradise exists then the first part of Sandhan Valley is how I feel the entrance of this paradise would look like. Holding us tight from both sides are huge rock structures, stone path in the middle with a few trees and the soothing stream waving at us every now and then.

Since I was ahead in the group I got time to search my spot and relax. Twice I found the perfect place to just sit back and look at the mountains. First, it was me and Sanish, where we lied down on a flat rock and looked up at the beauty of the huge rocks above us. And the second one was when I found a rock cut like a small chair for me to completely relax with my legs up.

We walked and reached a water patch where there was no way but to walk through the water. And so the whole team work begins. Everyone packs shoes and makes a trail to pass bags.

There were tall guys in our group who went in the water and it reached their hip. I thought I will be swimming this through or since I don’t know how to swim, perhaps just drown! I wasn’t of any use in the whole passing the bag trail thanks to my height. But there was water in front of me, I couldn’t resist and I stepped in.

The water was above my chest. I got some grip on my legs and stood still. The water felt cold and I looked up. The huge rock mountains on both sides made a curve. It felt like looking in a mirror as they reflected my smile.

This bag task was almost done, after a while we all wore our shoes and began to walk again. We then reached the patch where we had to rappel down. This time around, the rappelling was very different.

Unlike how I could see the end of my rappel in AMK and in Bhairavgadh (Moroshi), here I couldn’t. There was a curve to the rock. And to my surprise, perhaps because I was happy high with the water patch I rappelled at ease and with speed. Sometimes your body surprises you and it’s a beautiful feeling!

After being overjoyed with two unique experiences it was time to calm down and this is when I relaxed beside the stream. Post which we had lunch and began to walk down again. There were a few difficult rock patches where we had to do the same ‘pass the bag first and then go down’ game but we did it all quick and had only to walk until we reached the village.

IMG_20180421_134737477_TOP — **Nilesh** and his friends helped us find our way down. Sadly expected money from us in return though we provided food. This gave me reassurance about the Masters I have enrolled myself into and the work I wish to do in future. Hopefully I help make some difference to our society.

We reached around 7 pm and there was quite some time before we all dozed off. I was missing my usual talkative buddy with whom such a situation would be ideal to talk our hearts out. I felt silly now that I didn’t make enough efforts to talk the people I was with. But none the less I learned something new.

I learned how to marinate chicken. Since my mom doesn’t cook non vegetarian food, I took this as an opportunity and I am so happy I didn’t really goof it up much. I hope I try it once before the memory of learning how to do it washes off.

Next morning as planned we got up, sipped some tea and got into our vehicles to Asangaon station. The ride was about singing all bad songs with silly lyrics one could think of. It was one hilarious ride. And like all good treks that end with food, this one did too. We hadn’t had breakfast, so this one ended with hot and spicy Samosas!

I haven’t mentioned it much but I did miss more than a few people.
This has made me realize that I should have a post with profiles of people I trek with.

Stay tuned to get introduced to all my amazing trek mates.
Also don’t forget to check Insta @nisha_navgire for pics with poems on this trek!

April 28, 2018

My First Failure

I have always been the person who puts her heart and soul even in the smallest thing asked of me. From school till last week, I have never really faced a major failure. Emotionally I have failed a million times, but for the first time last week I failed as a part of a team in a project at My First Job.

We both gave our interviews on the same day. Our date of joining was also the same. We both had a lot of similar interests, so the bond was beautiful. I learned from her how to use words carefully and that how noticing small things about people can help any bond to grow. It wasn’t only her but in a span of weeks I had met ten team members and learned at least twenty new things which helped me grow as a person individually.

The reason we didn’t get the project wasn’t us. Our work was liked by our clients, they had some other priority work to be done and so they let go of us. We were all given an option to either stay in the company, work in some other team or leave. A few left, others got divided into different teams.

The day our manager told us that the project we all got hired for won’t be coming I kept thinking what better could I have done? What better could we have done as a team? What about our jobs now? What about telling Maa about this? What about managing things at home? I never faced a failure of this sort before. Instead, this was my first failure. I broke.

On my train journey back on the first day we all worked in separate teams there was a flashback from my interview day till the last day we worked as a team. I penned down my learning from each of my team members. After which, my quest for why exactly I felt broken begin.

I realised failure in the sense of losing the project wasn’t the major reason. I feared the changes the failure would bring in which made me cry more. When I got to this reasoning I realised, I have always taken my studies seriously not because I fear to fail but fear the changes a failure would get in my life. And this failure which I faced right on my face this time would bring in the worst kind of changes around me, around my first job atmosphere.

I do not even like to be late for a train, I always reach 10mins before time. I figured why. I fear the change missing a train would cause my timetable that day. I have few times faced this small failures but it didn’t affect me much as it didn’t change much things around me. But this time the change this failure of getting the project would be huge, and hence I felt broken within.

As I sat in the train with my book I tried to dig deeper to find how I can fix this new found problem in me – the fear of changes a failure causes. I closed my eyes for a second, thought for a while. ‘You cannot step into the same river twice’ is what my mind popped up, a quote I had recently read somewhere.

This quote by Heraclitus, a Turkish philosopher, makes it evident that nothing in life is constant. Everything is a phase. Also I believe, for some rhythm in life it is essential it has ups and downs. A person’s life can be judged not on how many things he owns but how many and in what ways he deals with failures.

The latter half of the train journey I penned down how I could deal this failure and the changes it will cause around me. I tried to figure about how I’ll stay in touch with the people in my team, about how I will try my best to do well at the new work expected of me. Facing my first failure made me meet an undercover fear I had. Each failure is learning, is a truth I experienced.

October 21, 2017