After sending out mails to all and sundry, the confirmed participants were I, Anup, Gaurav, Karthikk and Ananth. It was decided that all of us will meet at Swargate bus stop at 4 pm. Then we were to take a bus, six-seater or jeep up till the Katraj tunnel.
AT 3.30 pm sharp, I reached Anup's flat. He packed his bag and we left for Swargate. Reached there ten mins late. Ananth was just arriving then. He is an amazing dude I admire his stamina. He was returning from the Sanas sports ground after playing two matches each of table-tennis and badminton, as part of an inter-company tournament. Karthikk also came in a few mins later.
THEN. I got a call from Aparna.. Even she was joining us.. And Akanksha too They said that they would go to Gaurav's place and come from there It was going to be a looong night...
Our schedule went a bit haywire from this point onwards..
| EVENT | SCHEDULED TIME | ACTUAL TIME |
| Depart from Swargate for Katraj tunnel | 4.30 pm | On time, but to go to Gaurav's house |
So, the 4 of us also leave for Gaurav's home. At around 5.30 pm, Aparna and Akanksha land up. We then took a six-seater towards the Katraj tunnel.
| EVENT | SCHEDULED TIME | ACTUAL TIME |
| Start trek | 5.30 pm | 7 pm |
So finally it's the seven of us on this Katraj-Sinhagad trek. Here onwards, we were completely at the mercy of nature and Gaurav. Nature, b'coz we were hoping that it would not rain and we would be able to spot the route easily, and Gaurav, b'coz he was the only one to have done this earlier, albeit during the daytime.
Anyways, with our hearts beating and our minds racing, we plunged into the wilderness Gaurav took the lead and was constantly making out a path for us to follow Within an hour or so, we reached the top of the first hill It was a pretty tiresome climb, through lots of shrubbery and thorny plants, making our way up over slippery grass Some even contemplated going back But the excitement was enough to hold us all back.. We took a break of a few mins and again started walking. Luckily we had found a proper track to follow.
Going along this, we reached a place where a flag had been hoisted.. We felt that we were on the right track.. But this was completely the wrong way.. We had to retrace our steps till we reached the correct path..
While trying to bypass a hill, we took a route which had wet mud on the path. That made life reasonably difficult for us. Gaurav was making a proper path for us to follow. He was using his favourite knife for this. And then disaster struck!!!! The knife slipped out of his hand and got lost in the dense undergrowth He was pretty much upset after this incident
At 11.30 we had our dinner. Everyone was really very thirsty. But, we realized that we had only 2.5 liters of water to last us throughout the night. TENSION!!! TENSION!!! TENSION!!! TENSION We had to make do with this much only now. The weather had got very misty by now. Also the moon was playing hide and seek with us. In spite of a heavy cloud cover, it wasn't raining a bit We were really lucky in the matter.
Nothing eventful happened for a long time after this. The beacon atop the Doordarshan tower, up on Sinhagad, was visible every now and then. It was the only guide we had, to reach the destination. Suddenly, we ran into a herd of bulls!!! They were sitting right in the middle of the road.. When we tried to bypass them, a bull with huge pointed horns got up and started walking towards us.. The darkness coupled with the sight of a bull approaching us, its bells tinkling, and not a single soul in sight, was enough to scare us to death. We came back and just waited there contemplating our next move. TENSION!!! TENSION!!! TENSION!!! TENSION . Suddenly, out of nowhere a group of six guys came there. We told them our predicament.. Without paying much heed, they just kept going.. This was our only chance.. We also started walking along with them.. Being in a big group made us confident enough to go through the herd.. We safely crossed this stretch. They were like a Godsend for us. The group hurriedly went ahead. They looked like very experienced trekkers, having done this route earlier.
Going ahead, we ran into two more herds. But we had gained some confidence from the first encounter.. and the hurdles were easily crossed..
By 5 am, we were still a fair distance away from Sinhagad. Some vehicles were visible coming down on the tar road, but we couldn't exactly make out how to reach the road, owing to the darkness. So we decided to settle down on top of a hillock and continue the trek in daylight. The sun would rise in another hour and all were rather tired. Gaurav was feeling dejected that in spite of having done the trek earlier; he wasn't able to show us the way ahead.
When day broke, we saw that there were still two more huge hills to cross. No one seemed to have the stamina to continue. Sinhagad, on the right, was looking like an impossible quest, while a small village, on the left, was just a stones throw away. It was our call now.. The allure of hot tea, breakfast and no more tiresome walk, drew us towards the village. We had some cakes with us, which we ate then and there. But all were apprehensive about our stock of drinking water. That's when I played my trump card. I had saved a bottle of water just for this scenario. Everyone's face was worth watching at that time
We reached the village and stopped at a house to ask for directions towards the bus-stop. The village was called Arvi. The villagers not only gave us the information, but also provided hot water to freshen up and also gave us piping hot tea. WOW!!! It was a splendid ambience.. All of us, tired from our night long hike, unhappy about not having completed the trek, and getting so much help from the villagers. We were being fussed upon a lot. AND, they didn't accept even a single rupee. So, we gave them some of our snack supplies and took leave.
While walking towards the bus-stop, we realized that it was a really beautiful village. Simple people leading a simple life. Most of us felt like settling down there for the rest of our lives.
We finally caught a bus to Swargate at 9.15 am.
