schoolfriends – Akshay Surve

Am back from an awesome trek to Peb fort via Matheran. It was much needed and was at just the right time. Not sure if I would be able to organize/attend any treks anytime soon. Though, it was my second time to Peb, the terrain was much different than last time.

Some highlights of the trek (straight from our mailing list):

– A Dropout Log of friends who dropped out at the last moment could have also been written. Wat say GuysNGals? though I refrain from it as I believe all of them wanted to come but just couldn’t because of unavoidable circumstances. Hope you guys make it a point to come next time surpassing these circumstances.

– Trek was amazing. We made our move from green cover sometimes as tall as 5 feet, rocky patch and the final dip in the river 3 feet deep (shallow) was just the icing on the cake.

– Since we were fewer in number, we could be adventurous which at times meant we could be fearless and be lost (momentarily) and walk the road less travelled. Need I say that has made all the difference. 😉

– Hats off to Akshat to take that extra step and accompanying us for this trek. He had an implant in his left elbow.Wish you speedy recovery from all of us.

– All along the trek belonged to Bala. I am sure he would remember it for loooOooong and because of him we would too 😉 No wonder he has posted the Trek Log too.

– Hip Hip HUrray !!

– Pics from Karthik: http://picasaweb.google.com/7.kartik/TrekToPEBFortNeral?authkey=u99R3-O-8_s

– Pics from ME:

– Browse the complete album by clicking on the image below:

Leaving you guys to read some post of the previous school friend’s meetups:
– Mahuli
– Juhu
– Karnala

Once again I planned an annual meetup for SchoolFriends.It happend to be around the same time as last year and an adventure trek too.

I am sure you would love to read about it too…

What started with a casual discussion between me, dazzle, kartik and pratik, finally culminated in one adventurous and eventful outing. Special thanks to everyone who made it to the outing… (in no particular order 😉 Dazzle, Pratik, Kartik, Cherie, Sheetal, Abhijeet, Nihal, Santosh (Nihal’s cousin) and Me (too 😉 !

So what was so adventurous and eventful this time around? Oh hell yeah… everything. The planning whcih was too adhoc… we did what we wanted to and didn’t try to plan things (or try and stick to any decided plans).

Firstly, the train journey (Goregaon-Bandra-Wadala-Panel) was FuN filled and all the while. We switched trains one after another. Ppl stuck to their roles… Cherie (always gigling), Kartik (Gadget gyaan) likewise.

I had thought of hiring a TumTum (10 seater) to get to Karnala which was around 15km. from Panvel. Me and Kartik tried to get a good deal out at the rickshaw stand and fixed it with someone. On the other hand others unanimously (Yup, Cherie has the convincing power…) decided to walk our way to Karnala.

A 15 km. walk was no small deal… eveyone knew that but then I am sure everyon wanted to have Fun (yeh school_friends ka style hai bidu !) We had our share of breaks. Batata vada, sabudana khichdi, chaas and kokam sarbat were awesome at Datta snacks (near phalase phata… 3 km from Panvel) We kept on walking… and walking… yah and some more walking. Need I say it was real hot and the road was pretty dumb but we had years of gupshup to cling onto and yah the usual kheechna-kheechana to do. Oye we topped our own record of 12 km. to the Mahuli base with a rock solid 15km to reach Karnala. Just to give u an idea of the enthusiasm… Cherie and Pratik ran the last 100mt in a sprint… surprised 😕 !!!!

We got our lunch (batata vada and pulav along with some tasty onion slices) from a nearby restaurant and had it in the Karnala Bird Sanctuary on a circular looking stage amongst monkeys.

After taking a small break we started towards Karnala fort. Again it looked dumb to start with but soon we were on a dirt track towards the top (bcz someone directed that it would be quicker). Quicker it must be but soon we realised that it wasn’t that easy… must be bcz of the 15 km. walk we did before. Anyways it was exciting and challenging to keep us going… though we slowed down a bit. We would take pics at regular intervals all this while. Also this time around we had thick vegetation protecting us from the sun’s heat. Hey ‘Sathiya haath badha, Saathiya’ is one song which would fit very well. We made sure we all reached the top.

The view from the top was exhilarating. Most of the fortification was stil intact. There was a water reservoir at the top from which we quenched our thirst. The water was coOL and satisfying to say the least. We explored few parts of the fort here and there and were ready to start our journey back. We did the customary Jay Gunj at the top before leaving which left us completely rejuvenated to reach to the base again.

The descnt was simpler and we choose the longer (bt comparitively simpler) route this time. During the descent it was more of some coOL music (courtesy: sony erricson and nokia), some groovy moves (courtesy: cherie, dazzle, me and pratik), bum-massage and setting sun. By the time we had arrived to te base it had got dark.

If you feel that was it… then you are wrong. Nope we didn’t return walking back to Panvel… tat would have been too much. To substitue for it we took lift from a truck from the highway. Yah, it was all the more exciting to come back in the truck. We all cramped ourselves in the front of the truck… yup all 9 of us in the front. The truck driver also tried to play some bhojpuri music on our request.

We came back to normalcy (not sure of this) after reaching Panvel station and traveling back home by train.

By the way I didn’t write much about birds bcz we didn’t see any. Yup, its just a namesake bird sanctuary, though it didnt affect us much and we continued with the same zeal to the top.

So how was it? I sure missed to mention a lot of things… but that is the price you pay for not making it to the outing for wateva reasons of urs 😉

Thnks once again for the people who made this possible by comming for the outing. Feel sorry for all who missed this one. Like always, there surely will be a next time ;-).

— I just pulled this from the follow-up mail I posted on our schoolfriends group.

Pics from the Trek: