Ghumakkar's Diary

Kalavnatin in clouds, as we looked at it from Prabalgad I have been to Prabalgad twice, but for some reasons (reasonable/non-reasonable!) I couldn't write about it.  So, going easy way - I am re-posting a very comprehensive post written by my fellow trekker Kranti . Also, I will update the post soon with trekking route for Prabalgad, which you can use with your Navigation app to "easily" navigate to the Top, else "getting lost and finding the way" is still the Best Way :) Prabalgad - A beautiful Day Trek in Monsoons :  “Pahad chadne ki kya Jarurat hai?” – Mom “Tumhara beta pagal ho gaya hai” – Dad “Mama/Uncle you are damn cool, man” -  Nephews/Nieces “Gaadi se jaana, bike se nahi” – Loved ones “Pahad chadna mere liye sirf ek trek nahi balki ek nasha hai, meditation hai” – Me #filmy Okay, so with all of these above, finally started our much-awaited Trek to Prabalgad/Kalavantin. We have been planning for this trek for more than a week n...

Naneghat has been like an annual pilgrimage for me. So, when I planned for the ride and trek this year, I was sure I wouldn’t be blogging about it. But the way it turned out to be – I couldn’t resist jotting it down and share. On just a few days’ notice three Decide&Ride TM Bullet guys agreed for the ride and trek along with a colleague and my roommate. Plan was simple - Ride/ Food/ Trek/ Food/ Trek down/ Food/ Ride back. Itinerary included Heavy to moderate Rain and Fatigue with Directions, misdirection, lot of fresh pahadi water, scenery and slips. We started it at around 6 AM morning. It was raining since last evening, and when we started it was still raining. Josh took Ashutosh as pillion and Abhishek hoped on to my pillion seat, Sandy was to join us at Kalyan naka with Monty – who found his bull not ready for ride and had to cancel it ( though he rushed and did power-trek to meet us at top later ). Anyways, it was still raining when we met at Kalyan naka and left for N...

There’s saying, that whatever you may do, plan-replan, if He doesn’t invite, you just can’t pay Him a visit. So, it happened again with me. As blogged earlier, I couldn’t embark on the highly coveted Ladakh ride with Bisons in last July. I was waiting, accumulating leaves (and money too), planning, preparing for the ride for last one year and just couldn’t go. So, I re-planned it with a college senior and bullet enthusiast. Fingers crossed, not shared with anybody, tickets done, final planning started, route done and it cancelled. Partner got his leaves cancelled and thus the plan again crashed. I thought to ride solo, but recent cloud-bursts and landslides, that are rather common as the monsoon dies, killed much of my insane enthusiasm. I have been to Spiti eons back, and it seemed that a visit to North of it just not to happen soon... Shot somewhere in Spiti Valley, Keylong in 2007 At that time, I saw a retweet by Deepak Sir ( @Magic_Eye ).  Dheeraj of DeViL on WheeL...

It’s been there for geological ages, we have been looking at it for last about 4years and I have been planning to trek it since a long time. Finally, few weeks back, we trekked the Ghansoli Hill. Ghansoli Hill is located at the eastern boundary of Ghansoli town, behind our office complex at RCP. The hill or better hillock is a part of small range that separates Kalyan and Navi Mumbai towns. A search on Google Map returns with a name Parsik Hill for it, though there is one more rather famous Parsik Hill in Navi Mumbai. We also found a NewsArticle , that talks about NMMC plans to develop Nature Awareness Centre at this hills and calls it Gawli Dev Hill. Here, we would be calling it Ghansoli Hill . I asked my colleague about it and he readily agreed. The very next Sunday we did it with another friend. We weren't aware of the route. All we knew is that a Central Road runs along the western edge of the hill and can be reached through the Vashi-Mhape road. We later found that t...

Have you ever been on road to ascend the heights of a jungle? A trip to Naneghat may provide the best of both, a short but marvellous scenic ride as well a moderate but certainly a demanding trek! The Naneghat Peak Naneghat is considered as one of the highest peaks in Maharashtra of the Sahyadris , the Western Ghats mountain range. At an elevation of about 700meters, it provides amateurs and  travelers , especially who spend their hours sedentarily in offices , an opportunity to reveal their limits, a chance to exhaust their hearts out!

What’s the highest intensity of itch you have ever tolerated? Well, it actually depends on the person; some just can’t survive it a day, others have mastered the art of living with it forever. I had this itch of riding for last few weeks. After multi-unsuccessful attempts to ride on a Sunday with friends, last Sunday was the ultimately the savior. All I need a little scratch, if not a long ride. I had had a plan to visit the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai. While preparing for the ride, I remembered a picturesque spot about which Abhimanyu , my unofficial photography guru, told. This spot is somewhere near Mumbra. So, I decided to first visit this place, have some snaps and then ride back/ahead towards Gorai for some 50km a side ride. It certainly was an unplanned plan; and I was really happy to be on such a subtle ride. View Larger Map I started at about 11:30 and took Belapur-Thane Highway, and at Kolwa, took the NH 4 towards Mumbra. On the way I gave lift to a roa...

“ So, you opened illegitimate sites on your office PC! Can you come down to Bldg No. X-A and meet your HR, Mr. Ravi ?” “Who are you?” “ I’m Pankaj, calling on behalf of Mr. Ravi; and it is necessary for you to meet him asap so that we can resolve the matter and arrange counseling session for you. ” “But, I know, I haven’t opened any such site, and if I really have, mail my Boss and Cc it to me, then only I’ll meet whosoever.” “ Okay. What about a ride to Lohagad ? We’re planning to organize a picnic there, tomorrow morning and want you to come with us. ” “What the hell!? You were talking about breach of policies and now that you are inviting me for picnic!!!” “ Abe, this is Pankaj on line. Are you coming for ride? ” “What man!? F***! And, I thought you were actually calling me from HR!” “ He he he! That means you actually open such sites?! ;p ” “Ha ha ha! No, not at all! Okay, for the ride, yes m coming.” “ Fine! Then be present at More Mart, Koparkhairane at 5:00...

Last Sunday, no one was ready to go on a ride with me, forget any trekking. I had a plan to trek Kalsubai , but it failed. Later we planned to ride up to Jog Falls , and it too met the same fate as earlier. So, I was upsettly planning to spend the day at home, when my ol’ maniac riding mate came to rescue and suggested to ride to a nearby place Nagothane to visit a very less heard Vardayini waterfall. View Larger Map Nagothane is about 80kilometers from Navi Mumbai on Mumbai - Goa National Highway 17. Few kilometers ahead of Nagothane, past Jindal’s Maharashtra Seamless Steel Factory, there is a small village Kherwadi on the left of Mumbai-Goa highway. We missed the road to village while riding, and went on the Ghats. A local guy helped us to find the village. Road through the village is in just fine shape, and we needed to ask the route inside the village too. We were able to ride our bikes to a place from where it was finally impossible to ride ahead, enjoying a little o...