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

Siddhagadh Photo Story

After summers, the first monsoon trek is the most awaited thing. It wasn’t even a week I was back from Spiti and I was going back to the mountains, I was excited. To my delight, we were going to have a bike ride to the base village of Siddhagadh. I couldn’t be happier, as I believe monsoon and bike rides are just made for each other!

PhotoGrid_1531197474659 — An epiphyte is when a plant grows on another tree or plant. We noticed this tree with two different kinds of leaves on our way and it could be an epiphyte.

One can go Siddhagadh via Narivalli village and from there it is the highest fort climb in Maharashtra. But we took another way through Jamburdhe village which cuts around an hour’s climb.

We parked our vehicles and just before we began to walk, we noticed this old well. Such sources of water on and around the forts in Maharashtra is common. My eyes were pleased to see some purple flowers adding to the green colour scheme around. For the first time, I saw houses with a block that had the year written on it. My friends said it is the year these houses were made but I am not sure of this.

As we were walking we found this two things. The one on the left is microbial in origin. It could be slimy fungal species or a slime layer produced by some bacterial species. The one on the right is a common mushroom one can find on monsoon treks in the Shyadris.

We reached the caves. We took pictures and left. Later, we noticed the Ganpati on the bottom right corner of this image.

There are a few difficult rock patches and if you are new to Sahyadris, kindly be more careful. I and a new friend who also searched the slimy bacteria for me were having fun as we climbed together.

There is a ‘nandi’ and ‘shivling’ at the top of the fort. But they weren’t placed together as they should be as seen in temples. We were waiting for a few and it began to rain heavily with strong breeze too. I was so happy, I sang and danced until all arrived.

After exploring the fort, we took a different way down and came across a beautiful old door. We walked past it and reached a temple. It had ‘shivlings’ and ‘nandis’ found around the place kept together. There was also a broken ‘tof’ kept ourside the temple.

There were also this stone structures called ‘virghals’ kept around the temple. These structures are found around many forts in Maharashtra. They depict the history of the maker of the fort.

Saw this colourful leaves just before we reached back to our vehicles.

The walk down got more slippery but it was worth it. We had some hot tea before we began our ride back home. I can surely count this trek as one of my favourite monsoon trek experiences.

July 10, 2018

My First Trek

My first big college trip to Malvan in Oct 2015 moulded me in many ways. It gave birth to this blog and planted a seed of travelling within. This trip made me revisit my vague childhood trekking memories.

The same year in December my cousin asked me if I wished to go the highest peak in Maharashtra. Kalsubai which is located at an elevation of 1646m is a soothing winter trek. When my cousin added that the travel would be on bike, I agreed to go without realizing what I had got myself into.

The forts in Malvan were sea forts and didn’t have much of climbing. The trek to Daulatabad was a blurry image. This was my first proper trek after ages. My excitement and happiness had no bounds. The night before I packed my back as told, twisted and twirled somehow to sleep. We left early morning but soon my excitement came to a halt.

The tyre of our bike got punctured with a big nail within an hour of the ride. I and my cousin somehow managed to fix it at a garage and reached a bit late to the breakfast stop we were supposed to meet everyone. We ate and began the ride again. I was quiet and praying the rest of the way sitting behind my cousin.

‘Will she do it? Has she trekked before? She will complete it surely?’ These and many other questions were asked to my cousin. He wasn’t sure of the answers either yet he managed to say to his friends

‘Yes, she will do it. You’ll do not worry’

His confidence in me gave me a different boost to do this trek and to do it well. Five of us began climbing. After half hour two of his friends dropped out due to unavoidable reasons. Now, it was just me, my cousin and one of his friends.

I saw the peak and was charged to reach it. The structure of Kalsubai is such that you can see the peak the entire time while climbing but reaching it takes time. It’s almost like it trolls you. You feel you have reached when it says, hell you are near, climb more.

After being trolled at least thrice we finally reached the peak. I felt I had beaten all the odds that held me back. I had not thought if my being around made anything awkward for my cousin, I challenged myself physically and did what my heart said that day. I was celebrating this new found serenity within at the top of Maharashtra.

The climb down was easy physically but difficult in my mind. I didn’t wish to let go the feeling of being with the clouds, the mountain, the chirping birds, and the trees. We ate our tiffin as we got down and in a while began the ride back home.

_DSC1150 — As the bike began I saw the peak going far and I started to sing *‘Ae sala, abhi abhi hua yakeen, k aag hai mujh mai kahi…’* **My cousin** joined in as we sang this full song.

In a span of few songs we reached home. From then, bike ride and singing with him is the thing I look for in every trek. I am glad that I took this decision two years back to go on this trek. I let go off the stupid thoughts that held me back and discovered a side of me that I am still exploring.

Life is an adventure to be unraveled each day. Try to explore each shade of you, places and people around. It is an adventure but doesn’t last too long so make the most when you can!

October 1, 2017

My first job

What are your favorite childhood memories? I popped this question to few of my friends to receive a different range of answers. I was going to work over these answers, write something but then my first job happened.

My interview was smooth; it lasted a day almost as if I worked there that day too. The first time I ever cleared an interview was for junior kg school when I was hardly 4. My mother was the happiest person then and so was she now. That time the happiness was for my education, this time it was purely for the new stage in my life that this job would bring in.

‘You were a confident little girl, who spoke well and answered everything asked’ recalls my mother. I was worn out of just interviewing and had made my head for this job. I repeated this line of being confident and speaking well and did it, I got my first job.

‘The best part was you preparing for the new academic year. You would ask me to get your books in May and read a few chapters before the school begin in June, you loved to be prepared for what’s coming up,’ she added.

I don’t think I have changed. The reason why I liked to read and be prepared was because I didn’t like to take the change of an academic year in a rush. Any change at once makes me uneasy. I wished to do my masters and my results got delayed and couldn’t get through the admission process in time. To get out of the unpleasant uncertainty of what to do since I have missed a year, I got myself this job.

‘The unsaid rule was to not hit anyone while playing, I would daily love to it hit at least someone on the road or in the opposite team and then run away,’ remembers a college friend as one of his fondest memory as a kid. Breaking rules is always a different kind of pleasure, be it said or unsaid. ‘I was a disobedient child, I took five to seven years of my life to become a good obedient one,’ adds the same friend.

My first job demands me to follow certain rules, most are bizarre and I think only a handful make sense. I feel like to rebel and be that disobedient child my school friend spoke of. He took five years to get on track, I am sure I won’t do this job that long, but hopefully get adjusted to the bizarre rules soon.

‘I miss the school routine, waking up, dressing up, eating breakfast, and walking to school’ a school friend recalls as her fond childhood memory.

My first job routine isn’t pleasant at all. I am trying to get adjusted to it. The work is yet to begin and we are being trained still. I kind of am expected to learn everything for this job in about few weeks and set it in my routine. It looks difficult but not impossible. I’ll be hopeful that I get my head trained for this job and be okay with the routine soon.

‘The classmates I had fun with, the neighbor kids I played with, I miss them all. The memories of all the games we played, festivals we celebrated have a special place in my heart’ states a friend about his childhood.

I feel the same like this friend does above, about the people I am working with. There is a girl I spent the entire interview routine with and by the end we both cleared it. Two more recently recruited boys join our training session. We are all almost same age group and share some beautiful moments training together. Overall the place we work is pretty sad but being with each other makes it easier and tolerable.

Be it any kind of uncertainty or about the first job like mine, embrace it to unravel all possibilities, like you did as a kid.

September 10, 2017

Be empathetic: the last hug

She was right there in front of me on the hospital bed, about to die, about to bid her final goodbye. I knew for certain that it was time, realizing so I held her in my arms for a while. I didn’t wish for her to suffer anymore. I was numb, head trying its best to process everything around.

The one thing she yearned for is family unity, watching her four kids & their families happy, settled and dining together. Among the grandchildren also, we weren’t united. She yearned to see all her grandchildren together, but only after she left, she saw us all weeping for her. Wonder if it was a sight of relief or pain for her?!

She loved all her grandchildren equally however she said I and my sister were her favorite. It was because only we two among her six grandchildren had managed to be focused on education and a career. Two elder cousins left education, did random jobs and fought among each other. One youngest one left school before tenth standard. Lastly one cousin sister at 18 got married and had a kid. Yet, she loved all her grandchildren equally, with all her heart.

All six, so differently brought up, weird childhood struggles for all. Not one family among her four kids gave a normal childhood to their kids, how on earth were we all supposed to be united?

She understood this childhood complexities because she was an empathetic person. She could actually see through each of her kid’s eyes and churn her thinking through all her grandchildren’s shoes.

img_20160621_182709517 — Looking akin at my sister as she shuffled the pack of cards. It was indeed her favorite game. Trick master at her game of cards and at hiding emotions in her game of life.

Something that seared my heart was how she never asked me to go and meet my cousin sister who got married or play with her kid. Grandma understood that my cousin sister was wrong, but she understood her problems & supported her. She was also understanding of the fact that it was traumatic on my end to take the kid in my hand of the cousin sister who is younger to me by months! How on earth one could be so empathetic, I still wonder.

I still cherish that last hug I gave her on the hospital bed. She was my only grandparent, and watching her suffer in her final stage of life was a grave feeling. The feeling sucked more when I knew she had few wishes, which haven’t come true even after she has left. So dear readers please, if you have grandparents, firstly go and hug them. Try to make them happy, do your bit.

February 2, 2017