Konkan Kada & Taramati Peak

Continued From Here - Harishchandragad Trek 

Next morning, as usual, I woke up early. The others did too. Warmth of the rising sun began to further enrich the colour of balsams and the yellow wild flowers forming a picturesque sight. This day had some exciting destinations on the agenda - Konkan Kadai and Taramati peak.

After our morning tea, we left to Konkan Kada, a cliff that looks down towards Konkan (Coast). This place is incredible. It was very scary but enchanting at the same time. Mist played around with the peaks and creating a formidable view. We spent a lot of time there trying to capture and absorbing the beauty of nature.

Sanket tried some cool group photo shoot at the cliff with his GoPro. I am glad, Zeeshan borrowed my iPhone and captured some of these beautiful panoramas. 

We headed back for some Poha and more tea. While Jyothi mam stayed back at the cave, we decided to trek the Taramati peak. The trek was a short one. We took less than an hour to reach the peak. A stretch of dense forest gives way to grass route and some steep rock climbs at the very edge of the mountain. Apart from two slightly challenging rock climbs, the trek to Taramati peak seemed pretty straight forward. 

The view from the Taramati peak was as expected, brilliant.

 Picture Credit - Sanket Patil

 Picture Credit - Sanket Patil

At Taramati Peak, I took some long video shots of the moving clouds to turn them into a time lapse video using my iMovie software. 

Thanks to Sanket, we tried some great shots at Taramati peak. Every time we tried to jump, one or more people were still not in air. After almost 10 takes we finally captured this one. Sanket joked - "Last pic;  iske baad sidha niche kud jana." (This is the last picture, If this does not work, next time, try jumping down the mountain.) Except for Dhirendra, we all managed to time the jump well. So, disappointed Dhiru had to be captured separately. 

We got down from Taramati peak and decided to leave. Jyothi mam and Rutwik went ahead. Soham, Brajesh and Dhiru enjoyed a bath in the pond and we all began our journey back to Paachnai village. We stopped at the tea stall again for some awesome black tea and Jyothi mam’s portrait photo shoot. 

The village seemed just the way we had left it, the previous day. Not a thing seemed different as though nothing had happened there for a day. Except that the three kids I had observed playing in the swing were out of sight. 

We relaxed for a while, had lunch and left at around 3:00 PM. The lady who had served us food for two days bid us farewell and watched our vehicle pull out of the village. 

We were initially planning on catching the 4:15 PM train from Kasara but that seemed impossible. Our next option was the 5:15 PM train to Thane. Chances of that seemed meagre as well. However, none of us were in a hurry. We were relaxing and enjoying the ride back. 

At a small town, we stopped for a while and Dhiru had a sudden urge to dance. He set his bluetooth speaker on the street and began dancing in the middle of the road. Everyone who had gathered there watched him with amusement. That was truly one of the funniest moments of this trek. I admire his guts to do that and truly it was an impressive performance. 

On our way, we were alerted about the strike on Nashik Highway. At that time, we had no clue of what this strike was about. I only learnt from the newspaper, the next day that the villagers were protesting against an hideous act of molestation by a teenage boy on a child. More than 20 vehicles were burnt. For us that meant deviations and delay in catching the 6:18 PM train. The route we took had a severe traffic jam. Somehow, our driver speeded and made sure we reach the station on time. We reached the station 3 minutes in advance. We got off the vehicle and ran towards the train. Some of us quickly bought tickets. That last bit happened in extreme haste but it was fun. Had we missed that train, we had to wait till 8:15 PM for the next. That would not have been difficult either with this super exciting group that I was with. 

On my way back to Mumbai, I recollected the best moments of the trek and the beautiful images of Harishchandragad, Taramati peak, Konkan Kada reappeared before my eyes. This trek had been an incredible one both in terms of the location and the group. We did not reach the top on time to watch the sunset or go to Konkan Kada on the first day as planned. So what? We went there the next morning. We could not catch the 4:15 PM train, but that did not bother us, we were ready to wait. We were a group that was accepting everything that came by and no body took it more seriously than required because, I think we all knew that in such treks what remains most memorable is that which happen unexpectedly. 

No matter what we plan, how much we organise, any travel is bound to surprise us. And after all, the things we did not plan for are the ones that shall turn memorable, like - Meeting 7 new interesting people, black tea served at a cave, Sitting together at a view point, looking at pitch darkness and listening to music and humming the songs, GoPro photo shoot at the cliff, Our several takes before the final perfect jump at Taramati peak, Portrait shoot at the cave, Dhiru’s dance performance and our run to catch the train, minutes before its departure. So when I see the images of Harishchandragad and Taramati peak along with its spectacular views and flowerbeds, an amalgam of emotions shall also bounce back before my eyes. 

I always feel that travel and treks make me a better person by boosting in me the enthusiasm that perhaps hides in the nature, by developing in me the positivity to accept things as it is and by making me adaptable to anything unfamiliar and unknown. On the contrary, monotony drives me crazy and pulls me down into a ditch filled with limited knowledge and hypocrisy. I wish to travel more; at least once a month, so that the lessons that my travels teach me can flourish into the monotonous side of my life by influencing and inspiring it and also shielding me from its negativity. 

Here is the film on this trek -