Ameya Gokhale

Nagzira Tiger Reserve, Maharashtra

2012-05-22T13:43:00.002+05:30

We recently visited Nagzira Tiger Reserve. Although I was able to squeeze only 2 days, I was lucky enough to capture some good sightings of Tigers and other wild creatures. Attached are some pictures that I took. Let me know if you like them.

Android.... Android....

2011-11-22T14:36:00.001+05:30

A mobile theft at the notorious kurla station prompted me to buy a new phone. I am now a proud android owner. This stuff is awessome... I mean it rocks truely. The infinite number of apps along with the power of google makes it feel like a marvel. It looks like the powers of android have totally taken over the manufacturer brand.

Thanks google for this wonder......

Silly Computer Graphics

2011-10-30T09:44:00.001+05:30

Whats so great about computer graphics in a movie??? I've always wondered, why people like to see the artificial world of computerized animations and fake scenes created only for soothing your eyes. I understand if it is a cartoon movie. But in a normal movie with a dedicated hero and a heroine, what role do these graphics play?? Many people keep saying: 'the movie was good, it had a lot of computer graphics'... Yeeeeks.. This statement sucks hard. Hardly anyone talks about acting!! You need to be skilled enough to show that you are a BEGGAR, when in reality, you are a MILLIONAIRE. By praising unreal fiction, are we not moving towards an artificial world?? Something that makes us dwell in the (un)realities of an imaginary belief...!! In fact, the recent trend of movies is -- getting closer to reality. Also think of the many many television pro grammes that show the whole world what goes on in REAL LIFE. In spite of all this, I wonder what people like in a movie that's full of graphics.. If this continues, our definitions of entertainment will be far away from reality and practicality. In my opinion, entertainment should be close to our own life. A little deviation for the sake of adding spice is still justified. But then, when things go beyond reality and we as humans start praising virtual reality, certainly, something is wrong.... This might just be the reason, why TV soaps are far from reality. They try to grab your attention by showing what you are something that only fits in our imagination. May be a situation that you are always afraid of, or something that you only feel is possible, but have never encountered. Now that's what I call unreal... No logic.. Plain emotions. Same is the reason, why TV news channels rely so much on useless and crap news being aired 10,000 times a day. This is one big reason, why I like plays and stage performances. Lets hope things get more REAL than far-fetched.....

Who stops me??

2011-10-28T00:25:00.001+05:30

Sleep is sometimes a really funny experience. You know you are sleeping, yet you are in a fairy tale world- enjoying your dreams. At times, I wonder, what differentiates our behavior in the dream world and the real world ?? In the dream world, (say for example), I see an irritating "mosquito" flying around me, I immediately raise my hand to slap that jerk...Yess......!! This is the point, where I realize the immense force that I encounter. My hand bluntly refuses to get raised. I feel as if I am lifting a 100 kg dumbbell along with my hand... I try hard to lift it, but in vain. The mosquito is still there and I try shooing him with my gestures- quick body movements, head shaking etc etc... That's when I come across realization number 2- I can't even move my body parts... They too feel like being under a tremendously heavy weight rings. .. This is where, I slowly start contemplating- am I dreaming??? Oh yess, I was dreaming...and that's exactly why I was not able to move anything. ... I wake up.. And even before I completely open my eyes, my memory of this dream are vanished.. Probably, my dreams are recorded in some different part of my brain and hence not accessible in day time. .. There's memory compartmentalization even in my brain.. Huh.. In another such dream, I came across a wild thought- some funny idea. The first reaction was to expose it on Facebook/twitter. (That also proved- I am a social media addict..!). Now since my brain is compartmentalized, I can't recollect that funny idea. But surely wanted to tweet something in my dreams and believe me, it must have been interesting. Lets see, if I can recollect it, when I again visit similar dream destinations. The point here is: the only difference in dream and real life behavior is that, I can't generally move myself in dreams... In real life, I can... otherwise, both are almost the same.. The only question that remains:- who stops me from moving, while I am asleep(and dreaming)??

(I may sound like an idiot, but that's what I thought of scribbling)

Sent by emoze push mailSleep is sometimes a really funny experience. You know you are sleeping, yet you are in a fairy tale world- enjoying your dreams. At times, I wonder, what differentiates our behavior in the dream world and the real world ?? In the dream world, (say for example), I see an irritating "mosquito" flying ...

How to add labels, while posting to Blogger via Email

2011-10-19T11:32:00.002+05:30

How to add labels, while posting to Blogger via Email:

Blogger provides a functionality to blog, using your email address. But then, there’s a glitch- you cant add any tag /labels/ catagories for your posts which you emailed to blogger. You have to visit the blogger dashboard to do this. For those wondering, why in the first place one needs tags/labels with a blog post, the reason is that Google or any other search engine, saves information about your blog and its posts, only if you have good tags. If you haven’t used any tags, chances of your site showing up in Google search is very slim.

Posterous has been kind enough to let you post via email with a special syntax for appending the tags( labels or tags, whatever you want to call).

· To do this, you need to have a posterous account. So register yourself on http://posterous.com as the first step.

· Now the next step is to connect your posterous account to autopost to blogger. Connecting blogger or any other(facebook, twitter etc etc) account to posterous is very easy This URL should help in case you don’t know.

The set up is almost done.

Adding Tags to Blogger posts via email:

Simply use the following code to each of your post in the subject line. ((tag: tag1, tag2….. tagn ))

The picture below explains the technique:

Note: The code that you added in the subject line is not visible in the blog. It only helps posterous to attach the coded tags to the blog post.

For any queries, comment to this post.

Enjoy…!
How to add labels, while posting to Blogger via Email: Blogger provides a functionality to blog, using your email address. But then, there’s a glitch- you cant add any tag /labels/ catagories for your posts which you emailed to blogger. You have to visit the blogger dashboard to do this. For those w ...

Lalbaug & Around, Ganapati 2011

2011-09-11T20:46:00.005+05:30

On the day of Ananta Chaturdashi ( 10/11th day of Ganapati Bappa's stay ), I happened to be at Lalbag. I tried capturing a few pictures, of the immersion processions and the overall festive Pomp. I have tried naming the pictures as I remember. however, if you have any correction, kindly let me know.

Lalbaug on this day, actually turns "red" because of the "gulaal". Streets wear a red carpet and everywhere around, you get to see a zealous celebration. All around this area, there are flower garlands/fancy caps/saffron ribbons, all arrived to bid farewell to our dear Ganapati Bappa, who had stayed here for 10/11 days.

Mumbai, Specifically Lalbag is known for its remarkable size of Ganapati idols. It is interesting to see the co-operative effort by the numerous members of the Ganapati Mandals ( organizers). The huge idols needs a lot of effort to be picked up from its Pandal ( stage ) to the truck which carries it for

emmersion. For some big and well known processions, it usually takes about 15 to 20 hours to reach the Girgaon chowpaty( sea face).

This is one of the few celebrations, when men /women come out in equal numbers and dance on the streets. All enjoying to their best ..!

The album of these pictures is located in the slideshow attached below:

!!....... Ganapati Bappa Morya........!!

Chenna Creek, Thane

2011-08-18T14:22:00.003+05:30

On 15th August, I visited one of the least known places in Thane – Chenna Creek. Many of us have heard about it or even seen it while going to Borivali, but the good part is that, it is not crowded like any other monsoon spot. I with my friend Hrishi just drove to this place and went along the bank of this river towards the uphill direction. There is also a small hamlet which one has to cross.

CAUTION: THE WATER LEVEL AT CHENNA CREEK GROWS SUDDENLY AND CAN COULD BE DANGEROUS. RECENTLY ( MONSOON 2011 ), 4 PEOPLE HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES. SO PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND SAFE. THE RIVER CONTAINS MANY SMALL AND BIG DITCHES WHICH COULD NOT BE IDENTIFIED. Ref: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-31/mumbai/29835196_1_navi-mumbai-waterfall-rains

How to reach:

Drive down the Ghodbunder road to reach Gaaymukh temple. A little ahead to the left, there is a bunch of hotels and a small road going alongside a river which runs downhill from Yeoor. This location is called chenna creek. The river is surrounded by excellent forest cover and hosts a thicket of Mango trees.

The location on google Maps is provided below:

View Larger Map

Since I was not prepared, I had to click the pictures using my cell phone. Please pardon the lack of quality. This location is right on the Ghodbunder road and is visible everytime we travel on the road to Borivali.

A small Hut in the forest of Chenna.

Huge trees mark the distinct foest

Thick Forest with entangled creepers

Forested Path

River

Thanks

Ameya

Picnic @ Waterfall, Khandala, 2011 Atos origin

2011-06-20T00:27:00.004+05:30

Purely Picnic. Yess thats it .. Although we went to one of those places, which is rather well known for a difficult trek, we also fully enjoyed it- purely as a picnic. We did not go too far on the route, but enjoyed the gusty waters and a small pond.

After a successful venture of Dukes Nose, my colleagues have gained enough confidence in me and are now convinced that I am not going to kill them out of hardships and extreme efforts.
As usual, we started our day by filling up our already inflated "IT belly", adding some fuel at Kamat, Khandala. In about 30 mins we were near an old church which further takes you to the stream. We reached a private property belonging to a church and also had our share of 'scoldings' by a senior there. He asked us to proceed, just that our vehicles would not be staying parked inside. After a while, we reached a cliff which was opposite to the tunnel on the express highway.

Right in front of us was a towering waterfall pouring down in the valley. This fall reaches the bottom of the ravine and flows around the massif above which we looked like tiny dots. The platue extends itself in all directions- wherever your sight could go.
Small and big dunes cover the platue with patches of pine trees. Many vibrant streams intersect this platue and converge into the ulhaas valley forming numerous small and big ponds and waterfalls. One such miniature waterfall was our destination.

After a while, me and Anant went ahead while the rest of our group enjoyed taking some really weirdo snaps on the platue ( a.k.a Switzerland ). The water in the stream was a little lesser than what we had expected. Nevertheless, it was sufficient for a small group of 8 people. In a short while we all reached the stream and then started the real fun. The boulders and slippery rocks posed a sliding obstacle to most of us and caused an "sliding sensation". For some it was an exciting first time experience, but for me, I was happy that no one slipped too much..!

Soon, it was water all over and we played like little kids in a baby pool. No age bar.. All were drenched, and if not, were made to get drenched. Cameras started popping out and everyone started posing in all the creative ways that they could. New places and poses were soon explored and pictures were taken abundantly. After all the permutations and combinations were over, hunger once again took charge and the "vadapav" that we got parceled was feasted on.

After an hour of playing in water, we started back. We reached the church after taking some more pics (only 70... that’s it..!) and that’s also when we realized that we have lost the number of our driver because of another unfortunate cause. Supermodel "Kite" had replaced all the air in his cell phone with water. And that his phone was on the verge of counting its last breaths. Obviously, we had to walk all the way to Kamats- making us realize that "Kamat was not as close as it appeared in the morning".

We were greeted by Manoj and Family. And then had a sumptuous lunch at El Taj... (yumm..!)!!
In all, we took some 300+ pictures amounting to 1.9 GB of data. However, I have picked some of the most good looking- presentable and sensible ones. For others, please call me directly and I will arrange to give you the same. The pictures below could be downloaded on the following URL:

Picnic @ Waterfall, Atos Origin, 2011

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Around Saswad

2011-06-12T18:07:00.002+05:30

These are some old pictures of temples and palaces around Satara Region. Of them all, my favourite is Bhuleshwar. Aah .. what a marvel.. We mostly visited temples full of carvings and also covered a fort: Malhaargad.

The adjoining picture is that of Shinde Chattri.

A day is insufficient to cover these places and one needs to keep driving all around to catch up with the destinations.

I will provide additional information once I get it

.

Sion Fort

2011-06-10T20:40:00.004+05:30

On one of my free days, I spent my time at the nearest but the most overlooked fort in mumbai. Sion Fort. I had been there long back, but not after I started visiting hills regularly. Its close to the station and right on the Eastern Express highway. Exactly at the place where you find the maximum traffic in sion: near the Multiplex Cinema.

I will try and update some historical information if I could find any. Till then, you may want to have a look at the pics.

A Wikipedia Link is provided here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sion_Hillock_Fort

Devbagh-Vengurla-Malwan

2011-06-08T10:38:00.005+05:30

Last weekend was spent merrily with my pals- a guys only trip to the serene beaches of Malwan- Vengurla and most importantly: Devbagh.

Devbagh is a marvel... It holds the confluence of the slow moving Karli river and the rough sea. The actual confluence is mysterious with the strengths of both the waterbodies mixing with each other.

Obviously, Sea-Food was our taste for 2 complete days.

Thanks to Ashutosh, Tushar and Hrishi for making the visit a memorable one ..!

Photos are linked Below:

Kothala Bhairav - 2007

2011-05-19T20:09:00.004+05:30

Kothala Bhairav:
A very rarely visited place as compared to its famous neighbour(harishchandragad). Wonderful views, table top, and an interesting uphill hike through a ladder makes it worthwhile.
Rains are the best to hike anywhere in the sahyadris. Lush green surroundings, decorative waterfalls, misty clouds and towering peaks can make any activity much more interesting.
This trek was intially named karkai cha dongar. However, after reaching this place, I realized that karkai is too huge to be covered in a day's time and that kothala bhairav is only 5% of the whole area and forms only a small extension of the huge karkai.
Starting from mumbai in the morning made us reach the base village kothale at around 1 pm. It was raining very heavily and nothing was visible. We managed to get a local guide on whom we had to rely. The fog was so thick that identifying the mountain itself was not possible. Hence wherever the guide takes we were to go.
The route to the top is a normal well trodden path way. There is a small ladder
which we have to climb on the way. There is also a water tank which is seen on the way near to the ladder. From a trekkers point of view, this could be a simple trek taking around 30-45 mins from the base to top. The top is more or less a flat platue. There are remenants of a temple, some ponds and some constructions. However, when we reached the top, it was foggy enough to blind our visions completely. I remember everything but only in segments.
As per the chakram norm, we were yet to have a round of introduction. The wind was strong to blow us all off, rains had already drenched us, roaring, thundering added to the music. What more creative situation could I think for an introduction session???? It was by far the most thrilling intro,I have given. Everyone shouting at the top of their voice, repeating over and over again. The wind proving louder all the time made this experience very thrilling.
The descend was equally interesting, and we rushed to the base village before it was dark. Our overnight stay was decided to be at a local temple. It was covered from 3 sides and comprised of a chember inside, where we planned to stay and cook.
With the rains pouring around, eating Biryani(veg though...) was a delicious idea. In the meantime, I and Parag had to go out in the dark to get water for cooking. The water pump(boring) was at a diatsnce of about 10 mins. Funnily enough, we lost our way while returning and had to enquire at some villagers about where our beloved temple was. Going out in the dark we also realized that there was enough mud all around the village and that our (just) changed & dry clothes were showing camouflaged colours.

In such situations, nights are very romantic. Nothing beats the time spent on a trek during a beautiful night. It makes you forget the world behind and presents a glimpse of what an ideal heaven could be.
Didnt realize when we were fast asleep and when it turned into a typical village styled morning. The hens and sparrows chirping. Localites going out for their daily water filling jobs..
After tea and some breakfast, we decided to start back. This time through a route which most of us have seen, but not many have done. It connects the kothala village to the famous tolar khinda of harishchandragad. Many have passed through the tolar khinda while going to harishchandragad. We usually take a left at the khinda and climb the rock patch. Instead of taking this left, if you continue going straight further, you will reach kothala village in about 1.5 to 2 hours. We did this route reversed from kothale to the khinda.
The route shows a different side of harishchandragad. The ganesh dhar and vitthal dhar could possibly be seen only from this end. The route climbs up gradually to tolar khinda with some gigantic waterfalls on the way. The cliff of karkai keeps towering at our left. We reached the khireshwar village and feasted on maggi at our well known aishwarya dhaba(chintaman kavte).
The rains and wind were to be there with us. The flat walk from khireshwar to khubi was 6 kms of horizontally blowing high pressure water shower.. The shower was as if slapping us in our face. But still we all enjoyed the experience and concluded our trek at khubi fata.

Pictures are available on Milind Kadam's Picasa Gallery ( below)

Karkai cha Dongar ( May 2008 )

2011-05-17T22:14:00.005+05:30

Karkai cha Dongar was an adventurous trek we did in the peak Summers. It was a trek of realizations.It firstly made us realize that Sahyadris could show us CHLLING NIGHTS even in the month of May. It also made me discover that the my sleeping bag needs an urgent replacement.

This was my second attempt to climb Karkai. Before this, I had tried climbing Karkai from the Kothala Side, but was able to climb only upto the Kothala Bhairav. Owing to its size, it was a good idea to trek it up only in the dry( visible) season.

Me, Sada and Kaustubh drove till the base village( Kolhewadi ). From some of the sources, we came to know that there is no water atop and that there is also no shelter. We were initially going to carry a tent so that our shelter issue could be addressed. however, I stressed on the point that it was more important to carry water than a tent, and that whatever effort we take to carry a tent could be effectively utilized to carry additional bottles of water. Finally, each one of us carried about 7 Litres of water.

An old villager was given a role of our guide. Probably he was amongst the only few who have visited the top of this huge mountain. A small well near the village was the last big water source we came across. The entire trek is divided in stages with a platue at each level. To my surprise, there was a fairly visible track which we used most of the times. It vanished in between and we simply had to scramble through the scree. This cycle kept on repeating. The track was made by the cattle which at times came up grazing.

After a trek of 3 hours, we reached the top. The top is a solid rock platform and was widely spread across the viscinity. Our guide left us and we had a short nap after being worn out in the heat of mid summer. As usual, after spending some time in photography, we started thinking about food. By then, it was almost sunset, and the heat had reduces. Slowly a breeze started occupying the empty space. Within no time, the breeze turned into a strong wind and we realized that it would be very difficult to burn fire for cooking. The rock platform was so flat that there was nothing we could have made a barrier of. And yes, obviously due to the hard rock surface, there were no trees. Thr wind went on getting stronger and stronger, thus getting the atmosphere colder and colder.

We managed to create a barrier for our fire by using several small rocks which we piled up one above the other thus creating a small wall. After fighting with the match box, hay and the smoke we finally cooked maggi and butter toast. Strong wind.. Cold atmosphere and the hot maggi was a bliss..

All the time we were feeling like nothing was more taller than us. We could see small lights sparkling like clusters of stars, whih were actually the far off villages. No human sounds, no mobile phones, but only the wind roaring was an experience within itself.

We finally decided to give it a day and bid good night to the wind. However, this was not to happen so easily. The strong winds were entering my sleeping bag from all sides. The temperature had dropped down tio chill everything around. The hard rock had by then turned colder. Felt like my rough looking sleeping bag was a mere "odhani". Although I did not have a thermometer, the temperature could have easily been about 10-15'C.

The night went in moving from one shoulder to other side. And none of us were able to sleep well. Sometime in the morning at around 5 am, the wind stopped and all of us went fast asleep without knowing. Later, when the sun went high up in the air, we woke up and the first victim of our abuse were our sleeping bags.
After a small breakfast, we started back, and comfortably reached within 2.5 hours. Again, the scorching heat started reminding us that we were out of our karkai cold dream and now its time to drive back to the even more humid mumbai.

Route

Mumbai- kalyan- murbad- malshej- khubi fata- khireshwar- kolhewadi(about 2.5 hours from thane in the morning time). No water atop. A peak seen in the right is called Niroli, but we didnt go there.

Team Members:
Ameya Gokhale, Kaustubh Naik, (Late) Sadasivan Sekar.

Note: Guide is Mandatory.

Full Album is available as a slideshow below. For any details feel free to contact me.

Picasa Web Album Slideshow:

Belapur Fort & Gadeshwar Lake

2011-05-08T22:21:00.006+05:30

Belapur Fort

A change in plan gave me an opportunity to visit the nearby Belapur fort. Thanks to the book by Harish Kapadia where I first came across the existence of this place. Surprisingly, its not at all difficult to locate - stands right on the Palm Beach road. Google Maps was sufficient to guide me to the place.

The forts stands in a severely dilapidated condition. Infact it it surrounded by several plush looking residential complexes. Theres no proper route to reach the top. Just wade your way through and you come across a massive Bastion( walking 15 or 20 mins from Palm Beach Road). This is the only structure which is identifiable as a fort. There are traces of other constructions on the fort. A wall marks the other end of the hillock on which this fort rests. Going ahead of this wall makes you enter a nearby society. There are 2 small water sources near the fort (but not atop).

Thankfully, this fort has very less number of names written over it. Also there are no traces of humans making this place into a public toilet.

History: (As per Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belapur_Fort ), The fort was built in 1560–1570 by the Siddis, after they wrested control of the area from the Portuguese, In 1682, the fort was recaptured by the Portuguese, who had managed to annex the regions controlled by the Siddis, near Belapur (at that time known as Shabaz). In 1733, the Marathas, led by Chimnaji Appa, wrested control of the fort from the Portuguese. He had made a vow that if it were to be successfully recaptured from the Portuguese, he would place a garland of beli leaves in a nearby Amruthaishwar temple, and after the victory the fort was christened as Belapur Fort. The Marathas ruled the area until 23 June 1817, when it was captured by Captain Charles Gray of the British East India Company. The British partially destroyed the fort under their policy of razing any Maratha stronghold in the area. During its active days, the fort stationed four companies each of 180 men, and 14 guns ranging from 4–12 pounds (2–5 kg) in weight. An underground tunnel is also supposed to exist, which many locals believe connects it to Gharapuri Island, the site of the Elephanta Caves.

Gadeshwar Lake:

Going ahead from Belapur and having a little snacks, we reached Gadeshwar Lake, a very beautiful waterbody in the interiors of Panvel. It is a dam which lies in the centre of many well known peaks around the Badlapur- Karjat Area. The backdrop of Chanderi is the most inviting for any photography enthusiast. The lake was almost dried up with very little water, but with a lot of grassy flat lands. Grazing cattle looking curiously towards both of us was a little scary, but they were harmless.

It seems this place is crowded in the monsoons due to picnickers, obviously inviting tensions within the local police.

Panvel - Nere - Gadeshwar is almost a half an hour drive( approximately 15 - 20 kms).

A link to the complete Album is available below:

Belapur Fort, Gadeshwar

Belapur Fort & Gadeshwar Lake

Lingana Climb, Chakram Hikers, Feb 2006

2011-04-08T11:55:00.003+05:30

Lingaana: A pinnacle close to Raigad. I did this trek ( Climb) with Chakram Hikers in Feb 2006. For those who know these people, may find some change as to how they look now.

click here for photos:

http://photos.ameyagokhale.com/48837643

Lead Climber: Mahesh Kendurkar, Sharang Thorat

Team: Prateesh Sane, Pinak Puranik, Arun Ullal and Ameya Gokhale

Date: 11th Feb 2006.

The best part of this trek was about the fact that we actually rappelled in dark. Also the rope got stuck and had to be retrieved it the next day morning.

RAIRESHWAR – NAKHINDA – PAATHSHEELA – ASWAL KHINDA

2011-01-12T22:06:00.012+05:30

A route which existed some 20-30 years back, but eventually faded due to lack of usage- was our target for the last weekend. We did manage to get some things right, while we need to visit again to complete the rest. Some stuff below will be useful for fellow trekkers who in future plan to visit this place.

Some Geography:

Raireshwar, within itself is a popular place amongst trekkers and bears a significant history with Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj commencing the “Oath of Swarajya”. Geographically Raireshwar is more like a table platue, which spans over 20 Kms in length and 7 Kms in bredth( at the maximum). Raireshwar is now connected by a Tar road which reaches the south eastern edge. The road goes from Bhor- Korle – Raireshwar Khinda – Wai – Bhor.

The Extreme left (western) end of this platue is called “Nakhinda”. The Name Nakhinda in Marathi refers to a “Needles Hole”. There are many such small- big hills in the Sahyadri Ranges with a significant “Needles Holes”. The left edge of Nakhinda descends ferociously down to a col – Aswal Khinda. This col further descends to the base village called Kamthe.

Kamthe is connected to Kudali via a well trodden (walkable) route which passes through Aswal Khinda.

In the North, there is an Arm which juts out ( Northwards ) from the left end of Raireshwar platue and is locally called “PaathSheela”. Kudali Village rests at the base of PaathSheela.

Surrounding hills include Chandragad, Koleshwar, Jaslodgad( Mohangad), Kamalgad, Kenjalgad.

Our Objective

1) Exploring Nakhinda and preferably, reaching above the needles hole. In the recent past, not many people have visited Nakhinda. To have a look at this huge Massif from all sides within itself would be an achievement.

2) Finding out a route which directly descends from Nakhinda to Aswal Khinda without going to Kudali village.

Our Trek:

Day 1:

We reached Bhor in an ST bus and managed to convince a Jeep driver to drop us till the Raireshwar Khinda. He (un)willingly took us there and we started our trek at nearly 6 am. With the courtesy of this new road, we directly reach very close to the top of Raireshwar. A small climb to the top (15 mins) takes you to the Temple and then the Village. This new road starts from near the Korle Village and reaches near the ladder of Raireshwar. It further goes till Wai and from there back to Bhor. Almost everyone in this village is called Jangam. We had a quick breakfast at Dagadu’s place and he appointed 2 guides to take us till our Destinations. However their condition was – “we will take you to whatever closest place we know of. Rest is your job to find out and explore”.

We were really quick to cross the Raireshwar platue and reach the southernmost point of the Raireshwar-Nakhinda Platue. Chandragad was standing right in front of us and koleshwar platue towards our left, saperated by a huge col. The route till this point waded through thick Karvy and thorny bushes. We moved ahead from over the edge (traversing) of the massif to reach a point from where the Needles Hole was very clearly visible. We all were kind of overjoyed, to finaly see this portion of Nakhinda because we had not seen this side of Nakhinda anytime before. (Time: 12 Noon)

As per our guide, from there to reach atop the Hole was not possible. Hence we decided to come back the same route till the junction of Raireshwar Nakhinda and then move northwards to approach Needles hole from Northern side.

Again a route which made us fight with thorny bushes, Karvy thickets and at times duck down to avoid being caught in the thorns took us till the north side of the Nakhinda Platue. This is also the junction where the jutting arm ( Paathsheela) commences. (Time: 2 PM).

From here-on, the guides were very less co-operative since they were not sure of the route by themselves. They tried convincing us not to try doing the Nakhinda to Aswal khinda route, but on pressing hard, they took us to a point which appeared terribly frightening with the extra heavy Sacks, most of us carried. The route actually had put us in 2 minds. It appeared as if it will take us to the Aswal Khinda, but at the same time, with the Heavy Sacks, it was rather risky to descend this way. Also there was a permenant fear of this route leading no-where.

At this point, our guides were strongly opposing us to venture this way down and also started to convince us to take the PaathSheela route which descends to Kudali. They also started complaining about the fact that it was nearly 2:30 PM and they have to return to their village before it gets dark.

We now decided to explore the route by ourselves. 2 of us went ahead to explore the direct route and 2 of us tried to locate the Kudali route. The Forest was really thick and wading it without a good koyta( big knife to cut branches) was impossible. Inspite of some good attempts, we had to leave that route and move ahead Time: 3 PM).

We crossed the Paathsheela and descended the route till Kudali- which is a fairly simple descend. On this route, I came across what is called an “Animal Trap” – a wooden structure which used to capture animals. We reached Kudali by somewhere around 8:30 PM.

Day 2:

The Super cold night made us Sleep well and was refreshing afer the previous days effort of 16 hours. We started off for Aswal Khinda after a ‘Feasty’ Breakfast at 10 AM. A simple route takes us to Aswal Khinda, which we managed to reach by 11:15 AM. We had a good break here and then started the long walk till Kamthe. We reached Kamthe at 3:10 PM. Kamthe though appeared closer, took us 3 long hours to reach from Aswal Khinda. A Jeep till Poladpur and another Jeep till Mumbai got us home at around 10 PM in the night.

Telephone Networks:

Almost all places on the Raireshwar platue and Nakhinda are covered by some or the other mobile network. However, as one descends Northwards towards Kudali, there is Absolutely NO NETWORK coverage, till you cross Aswal khinda.

Base Village and Transportation:

1) Korle: served by buses from Bhor. Jeeps charge you nearly Rs 600 ( special Jeep). If you want to reach the Raireshwar Khinda, they will increase this amount to 1000.

2) Kudli: Served by buses( 2 in the morning to bhor). Jeeps operate till Bhor.

3) Kamthe: Served by ST buses- 3 or 4 in the day. Jeeps also available locally.

Note: For contact details of Jeep Drivers, you can write to me.

Team:

· Priti Patel

· Rajas Deshpande

· Dr Saurabh Chavan

· Manoj Kalwar

· Aneesh Gokhale

· Ameya Gokhale

Pictures:

My Pictures for this trek are available below. If you need the full size versions of these pictures, please write to me.

Mobile Phone Features and Sensibility

2011-01-03T22:35:00.019+05:30

Although I am not a techie, I have had enough experience with mobile phones(as an END USER). The mobile revolution entered our lives sometime back in 1998. I remember the first individual whom I knew used a mobile phone was a 'hep' dude(Son of an industrialist) in my college. He supposedly bought his phone by selling off his bike. ( bike was cheaper and phones were as costly as a bike - What a comparison..!). Although primitive, his phone was talk of the town. Phones kept on becoming cheaper and cheaper and the number of people using mobiles grew exponentially. It took me almost 8 years after this incidence to actually own a cellular phone( I know that’s just too late, but now I know why people close to me call me a tube light).

Phones started percolating the Indian markets like an epidemic virus. features started getting better and better. Later years saw Cameras, Music, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Game Console, Multimedia Capability take over the mobile revolution. In the coming years, we are about to see much more added to these features. However, within my short usage of the 8 different handsets, I can starkly point out a list of sensible features which I found the most useful and always felt proud of the fact that my mobile phone had those.

1) Ability to save Extension numbers:

My first ever phone- a Motorola- CDMA( reliance) phone had a unique functionality to save the extension numbers. It was one of the most basic phones (which just managed to store 10 SMS messages- all dark screen, appeared like a dot matrix print). What it did was, Whenever we tried saving a number as "Office", it asked for an Extension number. WOW ..! I was more than happy because how much ever we advance, our offices still have those internal extension numbers which are a headache to handle if not remembered.

P.S; This functionality was never seen again. Even the latest blackberry models do not have this capability.

2) Auto Suggest Numbers:

While you make an outgoing call, and you type the first three or four numbers(within a 10 digit long mobile number), the phone out of its own intelligence suggests the possible numbers which share the same initial digits. This is similar to the way we type a part of the email address in GMAIL and some email addresses already stored in your contact book are already popped up and you can easily choose the one you want without typing the rest.

3) Search Name by Numbers:

We all know that we can search a persons phone number by typing some alphabets of his name in the address book. But now, I have a number and want to figure out whom it belongs to. There should be a functionality to insert a number and search whom it belongs to.vThe first I saw this was in the Sony Ericsson Music phones.

4) Changing Radio Channels using headphones:

For Nokia users, this is a regular feature, but unfortunately, I presently use a LG phone. This horrendous gadget does not allow me to anything apart from calling the last person and receiving a call.

5) Ability to add infinite applications(Java, Symbian, Android, or anything else):

C'mon, By infinite I don’t mean actually infinite. But at least 20 ?? My dear LG finds this too much and does not let me add anything more than 8 Java applications at one time. Nokia N73 did not have an upper limit on the number of applications till the time there was adequate free memory.

6) Standard Internet profile:

While you connect to the internet, it is important that your phone does not ask you too many questions. All the Nokia phones I used always asked me atleast a bunch of questions before they actually connected to any webpage. This is ridiculous because you desperately want to find out if your boss has sent you any email and all you do is click the wrong key to answer the right question. You may end up choosing a totally incorrect profile and choose paying a huge bill.

My current LG phone, does this (surprise..!) by asking me a one time question for which internet service to select.- Good I am happy.!!

7) Different Sockets for Charger and Headphones:

According to LG, I cannot listen to songs/radio or anything else while I charge my phone. (WTF..!). It happens so many times that I am running low on my battery and need to charge immediately. While this happens, I simply cannot use this phone for a conference call, which I know I must take on a headphone. Nokia was much better in terms of usability.

8) Ability to get RID of all those Trial Softwares:

All the advanced phones which I ever had, contained some crappy softwares which were trial versions and provided only half the functionality. The moment you start using them it says "visit the website to register your product". The website(if visited) charges you in some tens of dollars per year. I mean that’s too much. Firstly you expect us to use a trial version software in the world of open source and torrents. And above that, you want us to pay in terms of some 50 odd dollars ?? do you ever know that our mobiles themselves cost lesser than 20 dollars. Nokia allowed me to delete such useless softwares, but LG doesn’t.

9) Light Weight Browsers:

Whether Nokia, LG or Samsung, All come with a very heavy browser which takes a million seconds to initiate and then another million hours to connect to the internet. Now I am talking on a comparative basis. When the end users know of Extra-Ordinary softwares like Opera Mini, Bolt or even the full version Opera Mobile, why on earth are the Biggies obsessed with their Heavy - White Elephant browsers.

10) Ability to block SMS originating from Spammers:

My Vodafone number generates atleast 25 messages per day which are absolutely crap. The serve no purpose to me. I should be able to filter out such messages, as soon as it gets into my inbox. Most of the bulk SMS is delivered using Nams instead of numbers. Such messages should be deletable.

This is more or less a partial list. If you can think of some more MUST BE features. please comment below with the same ..!

Real Estate: The Real Future (Is It ????)

2010-12-28T20:45:00.012+05:30

These days, almost everyone (including me) are on an obsessive spree of buying a new home. Some call it second home. Some say its their Investment and for a really few numbers it is a bare necessity. Ofcourse I am no different. In this Real Estate Tornado, Even I have tried to make my hands full and searched for a number of possible options to fulfill my psychological craving to stay competitive in this rat race. At one time, there used to be fun fairs in huge football sized grounds. Now these are replaced by "Property Exhibitions". Almost every weekend, there are such Property exhibitions stalled at various levels at a variety of locations. Visiting a Property Exhibition has now become a favorite pass-time hobby on weekends.

I happened to visit such an exhibition in my home town: Thane. There were many stalls belonging to various builders. Most of them had shown a tendency to favor present-ability by employing "Good Looking" sales girls- Polished as well as Finely dressed. And obviously the crowd preferred the stalls with fairer gender. Wading through the stalls I was mostly concerned with the prices.

However, pries were effectively hidden and were disclosed only at the end of a boring long speech which the sales girls recited with a beautiful plastic smile.( Why cant I smile that way ??).

It took me some 2 hours to completely go around each stall and grasp all the information available. (P.S.After the exhibition, my SPAM SMS and SPAM CALLS have grown to an unmanageable level)

While going through the exhibition, A few stark observations that I made are mentioned below:

1) Most of the builders provide a free site visit for the prospective buyers.

Catch:

After the exhibition, I called up one of the well known builders(or well publicized ?? anyways, lets call them ABC builders ) and expressed interest for an UPCOMING PROJECT. The project was located near PEN. A place about 80 km from Thane on the GOA Highway.

The right person from ABC was not available to take my call and hence I was asked to leave my name and number. After a while, I received a return call from ABC builders inquiring for my requirements.

Dude: Sir, What is your budget ?
Me: (blank) .....(again blank) ..hmmmm .....I will fix my budget depending on your construction and amenities.

( I had no answer, ......this is a rat race. .)

Dude: Ok Sir, Tell me your requirement.

Me: Please tell me how I should plan to visit your construction site. I was told that you provide free site visit on weekends.

Dude: yess sir. We have a Site Visit Program Package specially designed for you on every Sunday.

Me: Program ... Package ?? you said it was free ...

Dude: Yes sir, it is still free if you visit in the next 10 working days. Also sir, we have an orientation session arranged for you where we will inform you about the various facilities that we offer. Your site visit will be free only if you attend the orientation session by coming to our office in Andheri(west). You will need to do this one day before the site visit.

Me: Thane to Andheri West ???? (WTF ... Andheri west from thane is like going to a different planet on saturdays. It will take me a lifetime to achieve this task).

Me(again): But I will not be able to visit Andheri for this. Can you please email me the documents, I will read them and get information about the project myself...

Dude: No sir, for availing the free site visit, you need to be here.

To Keep hope Alive, I actually went to his office. All drenched and wet ( our mumbai rains did a guest appearance on that same day).

The dude explained me how their company was stable and consistent with their results. He tried to explain me the model and the plan. Then comes the real fun:

Sir our project is situated at a strategic location... The New international airport is about to be constructed here. A new highway is also being formed. This will connect the PEN City to mumbai in 15 minutes. So anytime you want to visit goa, you can actually visit your adobe. This home will also be useful when you want to go abroad. .......!!! BLAAAAH BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH....!!!!

2) "All projects were going to start very soon (in fact the sample flats are ALMOST ready)".

Catch:
In reality when My mom visited the ABC project at PEN, all she saw was a flat ground. I also came to know that some of the land was yet to be acquired.

3) All Sites have HUGE Club Houses, Swimming pools, Gymnasium and Jogging Parks. All club houses will be provided with a 24 Hours Water Supply, uninterrupted Electricity and a Strong Security Service.

Catch:

Theres no Catch .. Club Houses were really ready ..!

The only problem was with the Water supply and Electricity connection .!!! So essentially you can Swim in the pool, play tennis, carve 6 pack muscles in the society gymnasium but die out of thirst and may be fall from your balcony out of darkness ..!

4) We already have tie-ups with Major Banks and Loan Providers:

Catch:

I doubt if this so called "tie-up" does really stand, when the bank officials are about to process and approve your loan. A good old friend of mine told me that when he approached an already tied-up bank with a builder, he went through immense pains and finally got his loan approved after a month. Another friend who approached a co-operative bank also went through the same pains and also took the same time.

Conclusion: Home loan is Painfull ..! Tied-up builders HARDLY influence anyone.

5) All projects will be completed within the next 12 months:

(Super Duper) Catch:

All the above happens -----------PROVIDED the builder is healthy, his construction workers do not go on a strike, the Sarkari Babu does not ask for an extra premium, the plan gets passed easily, some poor dude does not claim ownership of this land being robbed from him forcibally, the builders wife does not fight with him in the next 12 months, his dog does not run away with a fair looking bitch and so on ...!!

So yes, your house will be built in 12 months.. if all the above if fulfilled.

6) All homes are VAASTU Compliant:

"Sir ...The toilets are placed perfectly in the extreme corner so that you do not face any vastu problem which may effect your growth in home office, private or public life. "

I am sure an authentic Vaastu Expert will still want to make some radical changes in this design( yet that's not the focus of this blog) .

6) All Exhibitions will also sell USEFUL DOMESTIC tools and items:

What Catch ?? they sell everything from flower pots to Hand held Slicer-Dicers to Agarbattis.. and yess... the most talked about stuff: FENG SHUI AND VAASTU tools. .! These are sold as a part of the Property Exhibitions so that you can buy them for your existing homes.

My very Own Business Model for young Entrepreneurs:

For the young upcoming Entrepreneurs , remember this is one of the most exciting ideas someone can ever give you.

Just get a Painter who can create a good enough Hoarding about your own construction company. Find a good barren looking land somewhere near the woods - and post your banner and hoarding there. Advertise on every possible email community and exhibitions. People will flock your office/ stall or site . Now you can very easily grow your loss making Agarbatti business saying that you know of a "Tanzanian SMOKE THERAPY" which helps cure anything from Rheumatism - cancer or even AIDS. (For better prospects, Also talk about Swine Flu - the latest panic creator). "just 2 Agarbattis a day will keep everyone Awake" ....!!!!

And still if you cant make money with the smoke, atleast take everyones Contact number and sell it to an authentic builder. He will keep bugging everyone to buy his bricks. ..!

Hope you make Good Money ..!

Latest Update:

With the above Experience, I realized that I presently do not have any money( unless I get a loan at 8.5% - only or the first one year.. and later on 11%). And hence my home Search is currently Dormant ..!

regards

Ameya Gokhale

Malshej Traditional Route

2010-11-13T18:22:00.009+05:30

I had read about this route some years back in a book( don’t remember much of the details now). Later My friend from pune: Ajay Dhamdhere told me about this route and I was fascinated. Infact I was of the opinion that I should do this one as a circular trek with Chakram Hikers. However now I really feel that It was somehow a good decision considering that the route is not amongst the most simplistic ones. On the previous night, we had stayed in one of the Tapri’s @ Khubi fata. I happened to inform the tapriwala about this route and he said there was one Mr Marathe who could help me with the route. In the morning, I met Mr Marathe who owns another Tapri nearby. This guy said that he was too busy that day but since there was no other option I requested him to guide me atleast for the first part of the route

so that It becomes relatively simple for us to search the route further. He came with us an in the first 10 mins itself we realized that it was IMPOSSIBLE for us to find the start of this route.

To describe in some layman terms, If we are standing at the junction of the road to MTDC and the highway, we have to draw a line which perfectly bisects the angle between the two roads. There is no route or anything until one enters the initial thicket( that’s where most of us are going to start doubting ourselves if whatever we are doing is right or wrong).However, It take just a couple of minutes in the thick bushes and waist level grass to see a totally faint trail – yet a definite trail. It appears as if the trail must have been a regular route some years back but now since not many people use it, the thick bushes must have taken over.

The route further reaches a stream where one comes across wide stairs. Though the staircase is not a part of the route itself, It is much evident that this route was one big routes in the history. To add to this thought process, one can further see a Ganapati idol inscribed in the right hand side wall- with even wider staircases. This curious route proceeds further to 2 water tanks a little above on the right side. This appears like a small cave carved out in the wall. However pulling yourself to the cave level shows you the water tank- Atleast now it was filled with water till brim(October 2010).

The route moves ahead in similar fashion making you thing every moment “this must have been a big route sometime in history”. However a little ahead there are 2 – 3 landslides, because of which, we spent atleast 30 mins searching for the right track. At this point there was always the option to enter the thicket (instead of searching the right route, and expect that we find the correct route in a while). (Within our group, We called this “Zahir giri”, since our dear friend Zahir would have always chosen the option to descend through the waterfall boulders). However we did not do this, because in that case we would have lost the charm of this route being an old prominent route. After a total brainstorming search, we found that the route was washed away at a point due to the land slide. Anyways we found the route and were back on track.

If you are a regular trekker walking on a route which is a fairly common, the Chocolate/Gutkha/ biscuit wrappers usually do provide a sure shot way to confirm if we are on the right track. We tried using the same hint here, but it didn’t work. A very big reason was the MTDC resort being perfectly above the right side wall. Though it was much-much higher, this old route was the only place for the chocolate wrappers and Gutkha wrappers to fall and get accumulated. So whenever we came across a route-search activity, we always came across some wrappers- which initially made us think that we were on the right track- though the route used to get thicker and eventually lost.

With further misrouting and searches, we managed to reach the apparent ground level. This is then a broad route on which there were evident Jeep tracks. This made clear that were on the route from Thitbi to Kalu Waterfall. By the time we reached this broad route, it was almost 3 hours or a little more from the time we started.

We eventually reached Thitbi and further to Savarne ( after a long unwanted TAR road walk of almost 2 and half kms).

Since my car was parked at the top of the ghats- at khubi fata, I had to get a lift from a truck and reach the starting point of this route and get my car back down to pick my friends- Kaustubh and Mahesh.

Sindola

2010-11-08T22:14:00.021+05:30

Sindola was a dream come true. Right from the time I first visited Harishchandragad way back in the year 1999, I was impressed with the shape of this curious looking Massif. However doing it in 2010 means it took some 11 years to find an opportunity. The trek was surprisingly simpler than whatever I had thought of , heard of and was shown of. I got to see some pictures on Wikimapia which made me believe that this was one of the highly technical places in the Sahyadris and I should not think of too many fancies and should also be prepared to return back in case I come across something like a huge Rock Wall. It was around 10 AM when me and Mahesh started the trek from near the base village. Our guides were 2 young men Yuvaraj and

Raja. This hill is initially a gradual massif with a group of pinnacles on its top. The massif appeared fairly tiring with tall grass all around. After the massif is a narrow traverse which passes from the base of these pinnacles. The crack between the first and the second pinnacle (from right side), contains water and a small uncomfortable cave like structure( hardly a person could crawl inside). We topped up our bottles and continued further. After we complete the traverse to the last pinnacle, we get to see good old carved steps which lead to the old existing door with a Ganesh idol. There was also a Hanuman idol at the same place, but it doesnt exist anymore due to damages to the idol. The top is grassy with numerous water tanks(almost 4-5) offering an apparently potable water source.

The view from the top is FANTABULOUS ..... This is one big incentives of visiting this fort because it offers amazing sights all over. Many distant peaks are visible from here. The great geographical divide: Kokan and the Platue are clearly visible as two different layers.the mountains like Hatakeshwar, nimgiri, Sindola, Dev Dandya are also visible nearby. The villagers also tell us a story about an aircraft which had fallen down somewhere on a nearby mountain many years ago.

Route:

Mumbai - Kalyan - Murbad - Malshej ghat- Khubi Fata - Madh - Bagadwadi.

( drive in the morning should be around 2.5 hours)

Chakram Trek Report Online Submission

2009-11-17T22:37:00.027+05:30

Disclaimer:

The form below is a feedback form to fill in and record important information pertaining to any trek which you did recently. Ideally it is meant for the Leaders. However if you wish to provide information by filling up the form you are free to do so. It is my personal attempt to automate the form filling process so that information recording happens easier for the leaders.

This form is designed and utilized by Chakram Hikers (Mulund). So, although you will receive an email, This system is not affiliated to Chakram Hikers in any ways currently and will be taken to the Chakram Website only after a thorough testing procedure.

If you have any comments/Suggestions, please feel free to share it with me.

Thanks

Ameya Gokhale

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Dhak Bahiri

2000-11-14T13:11:00.051+05:30

(L-R) Me, Anuj Katkar, Zahir Shaikh, Aniket Choudhary

Those were some really great days. On my personal front, I had got a new job at Mobile2Win - giving me a source of income(which was the most wanted at that time to keep my trekking go on smoothly). On the other hand, we had formed a small group of like minded people who liked trekking insanely - and on every weekend. Like many other things, camera was also a luxury item for most of us, in those non-digital days. Aniket was the one to have a film camera who took pictures while we trekked. His camera was particularly known to produce some wonderfull results.

I had heard about Dhak Bahiri from a friend of mine who had informed me that "It was to be climbed using an old Creeper".

Our like mindedness worked together and we started off to Karjat station. An Auto was hired which dropped us to Sandshi Village. In those days, my networking skills in this field were also not very efficient and all I knew about this place was based on the book by Harish Kapadia.

Hiring a guide(which now we do for almost every new trek) was a completely alien concept. Mainly because we did not know if they would really come and also how much money would they charge. After enquiring the route locally, we started off. The trek towards the first platue is very tiring and added to that -humidity was burning us off. After a long trek of almost 3 hours, we managed to reach the platue where the forest appeared inviting. It took some time to search for the correct route and reach the wall. The route on the wall is through a Nala(stream). This route will take us to the base of the cave where one needs to do all the acrobatics. Half of us decided that they wont be climbing the Creeper( which was by then replaced with a bamboo - which appeared deadly..!).

Finally we managed to do this task and reached the Cave. The cave is a little eerie with the so called "sacrifices" happening inside. Blood all over and villagers offering these (chicken)sacrifices to God. The return journey was equally tiring and it took us very late to reach the base village. 2 of us were far behind and we were in a little anxiety untill we saw them coming towards the village.

Pictures: Special Thanks to Aniket for the Photos and the associated pains of developing the roll and scanning it..!.

Participants: Ameya Gokhale, Prasad Sawant, Aniket Choudhary, Anuj Katkar, Zahir Shaikh, Vikram Bhalerao, Prakash(I hope I am right with this name).

Other Pictures of this trek are displayed below.

Vikram Bhalerao

Aniket @ water tank inside the cave

Bahiri Cave Acrobatics

Kalakrai Pinnacle