Doesn’t it sound like I am sleep walking in Alice’s
wonderland? All this is very much real and I did not need to be in Alice’s
wonderland to witness it. I had gone trekking to Naneghat with Trek Mates India.
The mighty Sahyadris undergo an unabashed change in it’s
complete appearance during monsoon. The feel of trekking through these misty,
mighty, dewy routes bequeaths nothing less than felicidad.
History and Facts:
Naneghat, also known as Nanacha Angtha (Grandfather’s thumb)
owing to it’s shape, is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats near Junnar in
Pune. This pass largely served as a trade route between Kalyan (near Mumbai)
and Junnar during the Satavahana reign (250 BCE).
One of the prime importances of this pass was the fact that
it was used as a toll collection booth to collect tax from the traders passing through.
The tax was to be deposited in a rock carved pot.
The name, Naneghat is derived from words "nane" meaning
“coins” and "ghat" meaning “pass”.
There is an ancient cave in Naneghat which is used as a
refuge for campers. This cave served as the resting place of the traders who passed through
this route. This cave is said to be commissioned by a powerful woman ruler, Queen
Naganika, wife of King Satakarni, the 3rd king of the Satavahana
dynasty.
Satakarni was undoubtedly considered the initial empire builder for the
Satavahanas who raised the dynasty to becoming the paramount sovereigns of
Trans-Vindhyan India spreading outward from the Godavari Valley challenging the
Greeks of Punjab and the Sungas in the plains of the Ganges. Source
Naganika was member of the Maharathi family. She wrote
the Naneghat inscription, in which she describes Satakarni as "Lord of
Dakshinapatha, wielder of the unchecked wheel of Sovereignty". She served as the regent to the throne after Satkarni’s death till their sons came
off age and succeeded the throne.
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| The ancient inscriptions in brahmi on the cave walls |
Naneghat is located at a height of 2, 461 ft. It also acts
as a shortcut between Konkan and Deccan regions.
It can be reached through 2 routes:
- From Pune via Nashik highway, towards Junnar
- From Kalyan through Malshej ghat road
The Trek:
We were a group of 47 including our leader, Vishal Khond.
Started off on a slow note as the bus that was supposed to reach at our pick up
point around 12:00 AM, was late by two and half hours due to technical problems. Well, Vishal
had to arrange for a different bus altogether. Nevertheless, we still managed
to have a good wait time.
We reached the base village, Vaishakare village, at the crack of
dawn. Post refreshments and breakfast, the bus drove us till entrance gate of Naneghat
trek, which was our starting point.
The path seemed to be muddy with scree and surrounded by
huge trees. It drizzled every now and then. We had our usual “straight circle
introduction round” as we reached a small clearance. This group had the
majority of CAs and finance guys, many first timers too.
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| The TMI "Straight Circle Introduction" |
After walking for good 20 minutes, we came across a small shallow
stream, rather easy to cross. Infact, the beginning of the trek is quite easy.
It is mostly a muddy trail. Once we crossed this, we entered the forest route.
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| The Stream |
Monsoon had made it’s impact much evident. The grand trees and
creepers covering the trees prevented much of sunlight to enter into the forest.
The smell of damp moist soil and wood struck the mood chords to a
fare-thee-well.
I felt like I was living my childhood dream of walking into
the woods through green tunnels, listening to the chirping birds, watching the
moves of various other living forms for hours to go. AND, swinging on the creepers that hung from the trees.
We also got to cross couple of more streams on our way forward.
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| The Forest Route |
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| Exceptional Architecture- The Anthill |
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| The Eye Catcher |
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| The Flora |
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| Nature Never Fails To Surprise |
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| The Milky White Mushrooms |
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| The Designer Spider |
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| Girls Like To Swing- Did Not Leave My Chance |
We also got to cross couple of more streams on our way forward.
Few more steps ahead, we were ambushed by incessant mosquito
bites. Yes, there are millions of them. Please carry insect repellent ointments
along or keep yourself completely covered up if you wish to keep mosquito bites
at bay.
The forest trail is followed by the rocky terrain. The patch
becomes steeper and even more exciting. We traversed through the patch, reached
a mid point and turned back to have a glance at what we had left behind. I just could
not take my eyes off the magnificent view. I sat down on a large rock and simply
closed my eyes, wanting to secure that moment and emotion forever.
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| Reached Halfway |
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| The Steeper Patch |
The ascent upward was
easy, only that one needs to negotiate the steps with utter care since the rocks
were wet due to rains and continuous flow of water made them even more slippery.
After around 1 hour, we reached the ancient cave.
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| By The Cave |
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| Behind The Rock Wall Is The Famous Pass |
The inscriptions on the walls of the cave are still visible
and the script is believed to be the brahmi script. Sadly, tourists visiting
this place simply do not understand the importance of preserving such ancient
heritage. They keep littering around.
Towards the left from the caves is the famous Naneghat pass.
The grand rock carved pot still lies by the pass which acted as the toll booth during good old times.
The traders used to deposit coins into this pot while passing by.
While we were busy getting clicked alongside the ancient
toll-booth, Vishal got some hot pakodas (fritters) from a nearby stall. The stalls were set up by the villagers of Ghatghar village, which is on top of Naneghat pass. The
pakodas were yum and we wanted to have more. But Vishal asked us to complete the summit first and then have pakodas while descending. We agreed like
righteous kids.
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| The Ancient Trade Route Pass |
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| Walking Down The History Lane |
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| The Rock Carved Pot- The Satavahana Toll Booth |
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| Reflection Of History |
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| Selfie-ish |
The next leg of ascent was super fun. The surrounding was
covered with dense fog. We could see the clouds floating and dancing around. We also got to witness many reverse waterfalls by the valley and also the majestic Jivdhan fort once clouds decided to change their course.
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| The Final Ascent |
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| Don't Blow Away |
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| Capturing The Intricate |
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| The Majestic Jivdhan Fort Peeping Through |
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| Reverse Waterfalls |
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| There Were Hundreds Of These Yellow Flowers |
The pressure and impact of the wind was such mammoth that it could blow away
any and everything present. The wind kept throwing us back the more we struggled
to step ahead.
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| Dinesh |
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| Sandesh Ran After His Rain Cover |
Everything was blowing away with the intense wind. Caps,
rain covers, windcheaters, sandwiches, theplas (flatbreads made from fenugreek leaves, wheat flour and spices), almost everything including Babhubalis (TMI Secret). Somehow, we reached the top. We had our lunch soonafter. Now that
our hunger was satiated, we took the liberty to spend a little more than the
allocated time to take pictures (selfies- to be precise).
Since we were late, Vishal denied us from having fritters. We
were heartbroken and decided to name Vishal as “Vishal Pakoda” as a reminder of
his sternness. As we were discussing how none of us would able to sleep and our souls would keep
coming back to savor the fritters, Vishal appeared from behind and handed me a
big bag with piping hot fritters. Those were the world’s yummiest fritters ever made.
P. S – Vishal, we all love you. Thank you for being such a
sweetheart.
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| Lunch & Timepass |
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| The Selfie Brigade |
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| Can't Get Enough Of The Obsession |
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| Selfie With Mighty Jivdhan |
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| Ready For The Descent |
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| World's Most Yum Pakodas |
The descent was quicker than ascent since we didn’t have to
wait, explore and click. We had our evening refreshments in Vaishakare and
started our journey back to Mumbai.
It was a musical journey back with antakshari. An antakshari with repeated songs and stopping at chorus or mid-way so that the other group doesn’t get time to prepare for their songs.
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| The Evening Tea |
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| Goodbye Naneghat |
It was a musical journey back with antakshari. An antakshari with repeated songs and stopping at chorus or mid-way so that the other group doesn’t get time to prepare for their songs.
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| The Antakshari Gang |
Everyone became grumpy about the fact that we had to face Monday blues next day.
Every trek is unique from the previous one with an entire
new experience altogether. Likewise, each place has a discrete essence of it’s
own by each passing season. The Sahyadris is one of those places.
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| Gradfather's Thumb- Towards Right |
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| The Group |
** Click on the pictures for better resolution
Picture Credits- Ahmad, Sanchari, Jimit and Dipanwita
Share your thoughts with me at dipanwiita@gmail.com
