#CMCSnapshots

Tired of the stock pile of law entrance exam books lying around me, this plan was like my small getaway from the monotony of studies.As decided in advance, a friend of mine named Mohit and I caught the train from C.S.T. station at midnight, to our destination, Asangaon. Gaurav and our experienced travel friend/guide, Rohan caught up with us on the forthcoming station.

There were some fun moments kept us preoccupied and made our long, brisk train journey exciting. This excitement was cut short when the train came to a halt with the traffic in our train line because of an incoming train from Punjab.

I reckoned that it was a small glitch in our trek which wouldn’t take the time to be fixed, but it went completely contrary to my expectations.We ended up waiting relentlessly for three hours at a station which had a vague and funny name called, Titwala.This station which was two stations away from our destination and there weren’t any other means of reaching our destination apart from our train.The train driver started the engines of the train and switched it off, to keep the train engines warm. Also at that time, we imagined that it was the train driver’s fetish to give us hope by starting the engines and then switching off the engines as well as dashing our hopes of the trek. During endless criticism about the Indian Railway, the red light on the signal post started flickering and then turned green indicating that the traffic was cleared.This was probably the happiest moment for us for seeing the color green.Also, it was ironic as we had passed through the picturesque green scenic beauties during our journey to which we did not give much credit to.

In about thirty minutes we reached our destination, Asangaon, it was a secluded and deserted station with nucleated crowds under the warm cement cape of station roof.People were wearing thick coats and shawls ready to head for work in the metropolitan. After asking the locals the way to the nearest rickshaw stand, we were lucky enough to find a polite , humble rickshaw driver who agreed to leave us till the mountain base for half the fare quoted by most auto drivers for the journey the base point. The route cut through the national highway as well as the rough rocky terrain of the rural landscape which had scattered bamboo huts on either side of the path extending to the base point.

On reaching the base point the kind auto driver gave his phone number and told us we could call him to pick us up after our descent. It was a huge boon for us as it was a long journey from the station to the base point.There were no other means of transport plying on this particular route.

Rohan advised us to wait for a little daylight as even in dawn time we could miss important signs or directions, which could lead us astray.

By around 6:45 am the first ray of sunlight peeked through the trees with a warm welcome signaling us to start our purpose of the journey.

The beautiful landscapes ushered new beauty as the sun’s rays fell upon the cream colored long, dried grass which was one of the colors of a beautiful frock worn by the mountains. The path extended to the bridge which led to a stream which was full of with fresh water and small fishes as pointed by Rohan.He had visited the this place during monsoons and so he was describing his experiences.The route was very rocky because of the presence of loose and hard stones all the way up till the man made a railing for a little assistance while climbing a little higher. Our ascent was accompanied by a picturesque sunrise showering its light on the taller mountains accompanied with a tangy orange color which blended into the dark blue dawn sky from the horizon. This compelled us to remove our camera and capture the beautiful sunrise from the scenic landscape as the foreground.Soon the weather was getting warmer with each passing hour as I removed my scarf and then my jacket. The sweat rolled down our forehead and brow as we continued our ascent reaching the halfway mark by around 9: 00 am, physical strain with an empty stomach led us to take short pauses which included drinking a little water and a small snack for energy. As the ascent continued, the climb down became steeper and this little slips which my friends advised I should walk with my feet facing outward for better grip.During our ascent, our friend Mohit was lucky enough to survive minor injuries from a rather difficult situation he got himself into. He was stuck in between two ridges, unable to climb any further he cried for help, Rohan tried helping him by passing a stick for him to hold on to but he slipped and slid to a boulder which he held onto for his dear life, had that boulder not been there, he would have sustained serious injuries.

The view kept getting better with each high point but as we climbed up the ladder to reach the peak. The climb gave us a sense of happiness, contentment, achievement coupled with a sense of relief of completing as it was the one virtue I didn’t expect at that moment and it was completely contrary to my expectations because of its least momentary expectations.

But on glaring at the orange flag waving steadily in the wind was a feeling of conquering, forgetting every bead of sweat on my brow and my parched mouth I just screamed with joy.
We then went onto exploring the ruins of Shivaji’s fort which shockingly has a freshwater supply in a pond the whole year which is an interesting architectural design.

It was past 12:00 in the afternoon when we started our descent. The water that we filled in our bottle got over halfway through our trek down.We had to place our legs in a cross manner for maximum grip and control under the slippery gravel and to avoid plunging into our own deaths during our steep descent down the hill. We were helpless for a major part of the trek as there weren’t any trees whose shadow could shelter us from the sun’s hot blaze which was directly vertically over our head. It seemed like a long and endless trail of misery as our clothes got soaked with sweat and our legs started to quiver with exhaustion.During this period I became cynical as well as pessimistic due to irritation caused by exhaustion.I started noticing the ashes of the forest fires and the deforested trees during the descent. My optimism and zest had ignored these untold stories of the forest and I was glad I got to know both sides of the story not being oblivious as well as not being considerate to the other side.
As we neared the start point we called the auto driver to pick us up from the start point.We were glad to see him when we completed our descent. Every trek presents a new challenge, a new problem, a new learning and new outlook.
Every human being irrespective of his/ her age, sex, religion etc learns something throughout his/ her course of life. Life in general for every human being like a climbing a mountain in which various experiences either removes or adds a defect to make a person learn from either his past or to help him learn something in the future. Like climbing a mountain grooms a human being with passing time. To conclude my learning from this experience I feel a trek is training/practice session for life and climbing a mountain is a metaphor for life as a whole.