Me and this world - a tête-à-tête

परवा फेसबुकवर प्रकाशच्या हॉटेलची जाहिरात टाकली आणि सुधीर दादा ने कंमेंट केली. त्यावर सगळेच तुटून पडल्यासारखे कॉमेंट करायला लागले. यात दादाचा पहिला मुद्दा असा होता कि गडावर का नॉन व्हेज देताय. त्यावर माझे त्यांच्याशी बोलणे झाले, त्याचा सारांश असा: "गडावर नॉन व्हेज अजिबात दिले जात नाही. खाली पाचनई किंवा खिरेश्वर मध्ये आधी सांगितले तर ते मिळते पण परत सणवार, यात्रेचे दिवस वगळून. हा माझा फर्स्ट हॅन्ड अनुभव आहे, फार जुना पण नाही अगदी या वर्षीचा फेब्रुवारी मधला. प्रकाशने गडावर देणार नाही असे ठामपणे सांगितले, खिरेश्वर मध्ये बाळू म्हणाला यात्रा तोंडावर आहे, घरी सामान येऊन पडले आहे, बाहेर शेतात देतो अगदीच हवे असेल तर." आम्ही घेतले नाही हा भाग निराळा. यावर काही जणांचे म्हणणे असे पडले कि पुर्वी गडावर बनत नसेल का? तर त्याचे उत्तर असे आहे कि अगदीच बनत असेल, त्रास देणारे वाघ, रान डुकरे, तितर वगैरे जे काही सहज उपलब्ध होत असेल ते सगळे नक्कीच खाल्लं जात असणार. लॉजिक आहे, ऐतिहासिक पुरावा माझ्याकडे नाही. पण पण पण ... पुर्वीची बहुतेक माणसे शहाणी होती, थोडक्यात समाधानी होती. पैशाच्या मागे लागून प...

Roomies at Room No 8, Left to Right, Neha, Mariko, Bijoli, Me, Amri, Ela and Jeny The year would have begun on a sad note when I was still fuming from last month’s arguments and my behavior. But God had something better in mind! On the very first day, I went for a drive to Mahabaleshwar. And travelling on very first day marked this year as Year of travelling for me. Team Wanderers at Mengjai Hill Then came first weekend and after a long time Team Wanderers had the first re-union at Mengjai hill. And then came second weekend and I lived through another dream of climbing Harishachandragad via Nalichi wat. This route to get atop Harishachandragad mountain is said to be one of the toughest  routes. Highlight of this trek was also that I was only lady with a crowd of some 30 gentlemen. Then I put stay as a metro was awaiting my arrival. On February 1, 2014, I left for Kolkata for my rakhi-brother- Samrat’s wedding. Here I stayed with a typical Bengali family. Unders...

It is 3 AM of 20 th May 2013, and it’s just been few minutes, that I returned from a trek to Saandhan Valley. I don’t know why today throughout the day, I have had a very strange feeling & I am motivated to write this. This post isn’t about today’s trek; this is an account of a trek completed seven and a half years ago! Those were the days when I was a total amateur mountaineer rather just a hiker and a very confused person. I hardly thought of this business as a lifelong passion. It was perhaps to socialize that I joined for this trek. Said to be a tough trek, this was taken also a personal challenge. Harishchandragad it was. There are 3 well known routes to the destination; we took the one from Khireshwar.  It was mid December 2005 & the sky that night fascinated me way beyond my expectations. Almost every star was trying to prove its existence that night. I had never seen a sky with so many stars, least that I had thought they existed. As the darkness of ni...