It was a sudden plan. On saturday, my cousin from Mumbai called me and said he wanted to trek Rajgadh. That was it. That night I googled about Rajgadh and wrote down the landmarks, which were : 1) Swargate Bus stand 2) Katraj 3) Shindewadi 4) Naigaon and 5) Gunjavane.

Though it is right, not many knew where Naigaon was. So if you are going on a bike from Pune, follow this route. This is how we reached there :

1) Swargate Bus Stand
2) Go towards Katraj
3) Continue in NH4
4) Continue in that and enjoy the lovely scenes around
5) Also watch out for those curves
6) Enter the Katraj Tunnel
7) Shindewadi
8) Continue in NH4
9) Take a break (optional)
10) You will reach a crowded place. It would be 'Nasrapur'
11) Take a right turn there. There is a roadmap there with Rajgadh mentioned on it.
12) From here it is around 20KMs. Just follow the milestones and you will be at Gunjavane in 30-35 minutes

The last 20KMs will be a bit bumpy, especially after riding on the excellent NH4. Be careful and dont drive too fast. Plenty of curves here.



You have to park the vehicle at Gunjavane village. We parked it, paid 5rs and headed towards what we thought was Rajgadh. Fortunately, we reached a dead end quite soon and a lady there told us we had to take the other route. We took that and there was a board with Shivaji's photo. Something was written in Marathi which we did not understand but that meant it was the way for the fort.

Within 15 minutes, we again faced a direction problem. There were two routes. One going up and one to the left. Since the fort was on the left, I suggested we take that. But soon we were going downhill and I did not have a good feeling about it. And yes, by this time the village dog started following us. Again we reached a spot from where the fort was visible but not any route that leads there. We went and knocked the door of a small hut in the middle of a farm. An old lady opened it and I said "Rajghad?". She answered in marathi and pointed at a distance. I really wished I knew marathi well to understand her but I could guess that she meant we had to take the other route. She was saying something else as well but since we could not understand, we just said 'thank you dhanyawad' and headed towards the direction she pointed.

It was not a tough trek, and since I take a break of 3-4 minutes every 20 minutes, it was not that tiring. That is something to do with the climate as well. It was warm but not hot. And Since there was no sign of rains, I did not carry a raincoat ( a huge mistake ) and was just on my t-shirt and capri. But there are places which were quite steep and at those places there were rails to help you climb. The last part, just before the 'chor darwaja' is a bit tough and you have to be careful there.
I dont understand one thing about some trekkers. They just climb climb climb as if on a mission. I just dont have the strength for that. But I guess even if I had, I would not do it. What is the fun in trekking if cant sit and admire the sky designs, floating clouds, click click and enjoy the cold air?

As soon as we reached ‘Chor Darwaja’, we climbed the steps and were at the entrance of the fort. On the right was a reservoir with ice cold water. We took a 15 minute nap there.



And yeah, the dog still followed us and sat next to us. We gave few biscuits and when we woke up, we found it sleeping peacefully.



The highest spot of the fort was still at some distance. See this photo. This is where we were resting and in the distance you can see the fort’s topmost part.



But reaching there was not tough. There were steps, lots of flat paths and occasional steep climbs with rails.



Reaching the gate, I took a 10 minute rest. The climb was totally worth it. This was shot from the rest spot. Doesn’t it look like our own ‘Great Wall’?



The water behind the fort is the Bhatgar Dam



Suddenly we were surrounded by clouds and it felt just like it was in Sinhagadh.





It grew darker



Almost dark at 4 PM..







Then it rained. We decided it was time to leave since my cousin had to catch the 8PM bus to Mumbai. Till Padmavati temple, it was easy. After that the nightmare started. The rocks were extremely slippery, I was completely drenched and was feeling cold. If rocks were tough, the muddy areas were worse. I must have slipped a dozen times and pulled a muscle after a bad jump. That’s when I realized what heaven was. It was nothing but a small house with a fireplace and bed. That’s all I wanted that time. And no, I didn’t even want Eva mendes there.

My cousin had a slightly better shoe and he was quite a bit ahead of me. I continued slipping, swearing at my shoe and limping with the pulled muscle leg. Then it happened. A royal 11 feet slide that got my Capri, t-shirt and bag totally muddy. I looked up and swore at the clouds. The rain’s intensity increased. I admitted defeat and continued. When I reached the foothill, it was like a small river. I could not see my shoe when I looked down. Fortunately, did not slip there. Thinking about it, I feel a bit scared now but then I just wanted to reach the village as soon as I can.

Then I saw couple of girls outside a house. Just to confirm, I asked them the way to Gunjavane village. They said I was on the right track. I said thanks and took a few steps and had a grand fall. This time on the backside. I could hear someone laughing but I did not look back. It was not funny :(

By this time, the muscle started to pain whenever I lifted my right leg. But I was glad to reach the village. In 2 hours, I would be having a hot shower and follow it up with a good sleep. But to my horror, the bike was not starting. The more I kicked, more it pained and the bike showed no sign of starting. We asked the shopkeeper whether there is any mechanic nearby. He said the nearest one is 10KMs away. My heart and leg sank. Fortunately, someone knew someone who knew something about bikes.

He came, he saw and he tried. Later decided that the spark plug was faulty. One of the locals had a spare one and he put it on my bike. He took a test drive and decided its condition good enough to reach Pune. When asked how much we have to pay, he said pay for the temple here. We gave him 101 Rs. Guess it is God’s way of taking revenge for our criticism of temple loudspeakers.

Riding the bike with a pulled muscle was not easy. Legs had become stiff and I had to stretch it while driving. The bike stopped 3-4 times on the way and that was the first time I wished I had an autostart bike. To make it worse, we missed a turn and reached Katraj double tunnel instead of the single one. Reached Kothrud, Baner and then reached Aundh. As soon as we reached home, I took a shower and slept. That was one of the best sleeps I’ve ever had. Everything was fine the next day.

Yesterday was brilliant. Sports has that effect on us. When your team does well, everything seems right and nothing seems to matter. Even power cuts. Its been two extreme performances but if the defeat against spurs charges the players like this, I would not mind such a defeat once a while :)

It was indeed a dream performance. Gerrard proved why he is the best midfielder in the league, Torres found a better way to silence the defenders, A clean sheet, A Kuyt goal, Lucas having a quality game and an unbelievably fantastic performance by Johnson. The icing on the cake was United's loss to Burnley :D

But I wish I did not have to see it online. Whats with ESPN-STAR? Why are they not showing midweek matches?

Looking forward to Monday's game versus Villa. I wont mind a 3-0

I was looking forward to two good matches - United vs Birmingham and Liverpool vs Spurs. I prayed for a United loss and a Reds win but it just did not happen. Considering Liverpool's pre-season performances, I was certainly over optimistic but then that is football.

Nothing went right. United beat Birmingham. Bad. It only got worse when this match started. The question whether Alonso would be missed was answered in the first 15 minutes itself. YES and there did not seem anyone who could take his place.

I have no complaints with the final scoreline. Spurs were the better team today, they created more chances and definitely deserved to win. My only problem is the way the team played.

Babel gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen, Voronin almost matched him and these two were given stiff competition by Lucas and Mascherano. The bench is scary. Where are the players? What if someone gets injured? I do not want a world 11 for a club but it is necessary to buy few good players (other than an injured player) when someone of Alonso's stature leaves. If the owners cannot invest even that much, they better leave. I am not going to talk about them but what have they done after taking over the club? And I dont understand one thing. Why sell a player when you arent going to get a replacement. It is like quitting a decent job and then wondering what to do.

I respect Rafa for what he has done for the club but I just cant excuse him for being the main reason Alonso wanted to leave. If the club is not among the top3 by the year end, I would like to see a new manager. Need a LB, a right winger and another striker.

It is tough to see the positives after a day like this but I managed a few

1) Glen Johnson had a very good debut
2) It it just the first game of the season. And it was Spurs not some Hull or Birmingham and that too away.
3) Benayoun was fine
4) Gerrard already on the scorers list
5) Cannot get worse than this

Chow and Mow are the two new characters of Videocon. After some extremely mediocre ads featuring Shahrukh khan and Dhoni, they have come up with a really good advertisement. I found this ad of Chow and Mow saving the doll very cute. And I just love the background.