I realize what most of you would be thinking with this post of mine. Well, I know most of you would ask why Malshej Ghat again for the third time in less than three months’ time? Why Malshej Ghat all over again with the very same old friends? Why Malshej Ghat again in spite of encountering my nastiest accident there just a few months ago? Why Malshej Ghat yet again despite of having numerous other wonderful options around Mumbai for a one day ride?
To answer some of the above questions, I would say Malshej again this time since couple of my closest friends (Pravin/Shruti) had missed out earlier or I would even say that I planned for other places (Bhandardhara) along with this malshej trip since malshej was on the way. But the true reason for Malshej ghat again apart from those other reasons was that I was simply way too OBSESSED by the beauty & serenity of the mystical mighty malshej so somewhere deep down, I wanted to go there again just for Myself.
So the plans were in progress since a week ago from the actual trip. Initially we planned to visit malshej again on 5th September which was a Sunday but we prepend the trip to Saturday 4th of September, since most of us were on exam leaves & we could go on Saturday without worrying about leaves & going on Saturday would mean much lesser crowd out there to adore the magnificence of Malshej at its best.
But as usual in my experience, things don’t work out as planned. Most of us were having some or the other problem so the trip was threatened to be cancelled because of the following individual issues.
But as usual in my experience, things don’t work out as planned. Most of us were having some or the other problem so the trip was threatened to be cancelled because of the following individual issues.
Shruti - Unfortunately, barely a month before the trip, a young guy from her cast living in her locality passed away due to a small accident on his trip with friends to some waterfall/ghat. Shruti had been under quite a shock after that incident as that guy was quite a close friend of hers. She had informed her parents that she was going to malshej ghat with her friends that too on BIKES. Obviously it was a strict No from her parents, especially her Dad but she wanted to see the beauty of malshej as we all had hyped it so much after our previous visits, so she somehow managed to get her parents permissions although they weren't completely OK with our trip. Her boyfriend denied for the trip with us but she managed to convince him too somehow so she was set for the trip.
Shailesh - He had sold his old trusty Honda Unicorn due to some issues & he was bike-less now. But he had promised me that he would arrange his friend's bike for our trip. Shailesh got entangled in office work the day before the trip & couldn't arrange the bike without which the trip was threatened until he finally managed a bike at 11.00 pm on 3rd September night just a day before the ride.
Pravin - He was a bit skeptical since Shailesh wasn't sure of joining the trip. But as Shailesh confirmed by 11.00 pm, Pravin confirmed finally too.
Percy - He had a genuine reason for cancelling the trip since he had one of his biggest exams on the day of our trip. However the exam was from 7 am - 9 am so I convinced him to join the ride after his exams & meet us directly at Bhandardhara by afternoon since even he wasn't much interested in visiting malshej again. He agreed happily since even he was looking forward to the long ride after a long time.
Najju - We had a minor argument a week ago & we hadn't been too much in contact since then but I wanted him to join us nevertheless. I informed him to join us. He didn't seem to be much interested as amongst us he was the only one (apart from me) who had already been to malshej twice in past 3 months. Furthermore, Najju's holy month of 'Roza' was going on & he wasn't supposed to eat/drink anything between 5 a.m - 7 p.m. every day for a month & surviving the trip without having anything would be a huge task in itself so he was naturally a bit uninterested. But I convinced him somehow, in fact even I decided to join him for the 'Roza' on the day of our trip as it would be too rude to him if all of us have food throughout the trip & he stays all alone. So I promised to accompany him. I knew we can survive the trip without any food/water since we had already done a similar thing (although unwillingly out of no choice) on our trip to mahuli gadh. He had no other excuses so finally he agreed to join us too. I gave him two options, either come by train in morning & reach kalyan station by 7.00 which was our meeting point from where Pravin shall pick him up on his bike or he can ride with Percy after 10.00 am who would pick him up from his house. He decided to ride with Percy & I didn't force him to join us early morning since it would mean Percy shall have company & he doesn't need to ride alone till bhandardhara.
Leave home by 5.00 am
Pick up Sneha by 5.10 am
Reach Kalyan by 6.30 am
Shailesh/Pravin meet us at kalyan station with their bikes.
Shruti/Tushar join us at kalyan station by train.
Leave for Malshej before 7 am
Reach Malshej top atleast by 10 am
Leave for bhandardhara by 12 pm at max
Reach bhandardhara by 2 pm
Percy/najju shall leave home by 10.30 or 11.00 am & reach bhandardhara directly by 2 pm
We all meet there & have some fun & sightseeing till 5 pm
Leave for home & reach back home before 10 pm after dropping off shruti/tushar/Pravin/Shailesh at kalyan by 8 pm.
The plan seemed very much doable & i was resolute to stick to it. Final confirmations with everyone & informing everyone about the plan took me till 1.00 am on 4th September. I knew I had to get some rest but I just wasn't able to sleep. Shruti accompanied me by chatting on phone till approx 2.00 am since even she was sleepless as she was way too thrilled for the trip because it was her first visit to Malshej unlike the rest of us. I tried to sleep till 2.45 am but I couldn't. Finally I gave up & decided to go for a good bike wash for my baby before the ride. I collected all the required stuff & slowly sneaked out of my house at the middle of night at approx 3 am & got my bike out of the garage & under a streetlight in my building compound. With the very first look at my bike, I was so happy that I couldn't sleep & decided to wash my bike, since my bike was in really a dirty condition as I wasn't able to wash her since last few weeks. So Music ON & I washed & polished my bike till 3.45 am. I wasn't sleepy at all even by that time so I called up Sneha by 4.00 am to check if she was up as we had to leave by 5.00 am. To my surprise, she was up & almost ready for the trip by 4.00 am itself. I asked her to get some tea for me when I come to pick her up, as I didn’t sleep at night & didn’t want to take any chances. I got back home, had a quick bath & geared up myself for the ride. I was going to accompany Najju in his Roza so I ate as much as I could before 5.00 am. I had dinner quite late last night but still i managed to eat half a dozen bananas, some water with Glucon-D & few biscuits before leaving. I took all the necessary stuff in my bag-pack & left home by 4.45 am since I had to have that cup of tea before 5.00 am. Rushed to Sneha's place with my bike & she was all set by the time I reached her building. She got the cup of tea for me prepared by aunty & I had it exactly by 5.00 am.Finally we were on the road before the scheduled time. We were in touch with Tushar & Shruti. Tushar had left some time ago & would take at least 2 hrs. to reach Kalyan along with Shruti. I joined eastern express highway (NH3) before 5.30 am & I knew we are going to be too early so instead of ripping on smooth open roads of NH3, I was cruising at speeds of 60-70 kmph to save some fuel & enjoy the cold morning breeze. We crossed thane just after 6.00 am while Shruti was just leaving her home from thane. We contacted Shailesh/Pravin & they were almost ready too. I had drank too much of water before leaving home as I wasn't supposed to drink any water for more than 14 hrs. from now & as a result, I was desperate to have a Pee-break since past 30 minutes. Finally, just a few kms before kalyan-bhiwandi bypass, I took the much deserved bathroom break. Sneha used the opportunity to call up everyone as we were supposed to meet in less than half an hour. Some pics clicked there.
First click of the day - The bushes
First click of the day - The bushes
Sneha informed me that Tushar/Shruti were marginally late so I continued the rest of my journey towards kalyan station at a leisurely pace. I reached Kalyan station before 7.00 am & called up Shailesh/Pravin & I was glad to know that they were already there. We met & did some TP till the time Shruti/Tushar arrived by 7.15 am. We were on the roads soon after everyone grouped together. Our first stop for the day was Hanuman temple right next to Shahad bridge for devotions. Pravin's bike’s fuel pipe was damaged which we tried to repair as it was leaking fuel. Finally Shailesh did it somehow. We didn't stop at Birla temple or titwala mandir as we did last time since we were on a schedule & I didn't want us to be late. Shruti wanted to visit Titwala ganesh mandir but we couldn't honor her request due to the tight schedule. The roads were in quite a nice condition & all of us were maintaining a decent speeds. We took a short break at a petrol pump to fuel up Shailesh/Pravin’s bikes. Clicked some pics there with some beautiful flowers plucked by Pravin..
We left the petrol pump soon & we were on the road again. Shruti was getting constant calls from her boyfriend so I had to pull over for her to answer the phone. I stayed away clicking some pics as she was on phone which didn’t last too long & by the look at Shruti’s face, I was certain something was wrong. She had a small argument with her boyfriend because she came on the trip with us with his permission & now he wasn’t sticking to his words. Anyways Shruti cooled off pretty soon & we were back on road with rest of the gang.
We all rode continually at decent speeds upto murbad & hence we reached the foot skirts of malshej pretty soon by 9.30 am despite of the delayed start & pretty less traffic on such awesome roads. Malshej - Just 28 kms to go
Shruti was way too scared when I showed her the first view of the peak above which was all covered in fog & told her that we all will be reaching up there within next hour. She wanted us to return from there itself but obviously we weren't even going to consider her proposal. After a short break, we started riding up the ghat. We took a small break at the first waterfall on ghat where the girls went crazy at the sight of a nice waterfall.
I reached the place first so started clicking pics as the rest of the two bikes arived soon.
It was so beautiful out there & all of us were enjoying the lovely atmosphere & ride. I hadn't exactly informed Shailesh/Pravin about my intention to extend the ride to Bhandardhara from malshej so I took this small break as an opportunity & finally discussed my plans with them. Initially both of them were a bit skeptical with my plans but I was thoroughly prepared with maps, directions & MY convincing argument speech so finally I convinced them. Pravin/Shailesh fueled up only with enough petrol for malshej ghat trip & so they did shout at me for not revealing my plans earlier. However we all had enough fuel to reach bhandardhara & we would definitely find a fuel pump there so no issues. Finally we reached the top by 10.00 am. I shot a video there.
As we moved ahead, I had the camera on inside my helmet to click this awesome video of us passing through a stream of waterfall falling right on the roads.
As we reached top, the atmosphere started to drive everyone crazy. It was cold & foggy out there. We took a small break at the temple inside the roadside caves & payed our devotions. Later we had bhuttas (corn).
I had told my plans of accompanying Najju with Roza so Shruti was after me to break my fast. However i didn't. The malshej tunnel was just a few meters ahead of the temple. I decided to ride Shailesh's hero honda glamour. I hopped on for a test ride & Sneha/Shruti joined me too. I stopped right next to the tunnel as I wanted to take all of us to that spot which I & Najju had discovered on our last visit to Malshej. It was quite foggy out there & we loved it. We parked the bikes, took our bags & started walking inside through the small path towards that spot which revealed the entire valley. The fog reminded me of Mahuli gadh & everyone was loving it.
We clicked pics, shot some amazing videos, sang stupid songs, danced, passed jokes & had a whole lot of fun out there in the midst of fog.
The path taking us off the road & to the beautiful spot
It was already past 11.00 am & we were in no mood to leave that place. We all were just too engrossed in the beauty out there & forgot that we had plans to move forward to Bhandardhara. Finally I inquired formally with everyone if anyone of them was still interested to get back on the road & ride to bhandardhara & I got the completely expected reply from all of them i.e 'NO'. To be frank, I wanted to ride to bhandardhara as it is a brilliant natural beauty in itself as i have seen in pics but on the other side, malshej was at its best today & there was still so much to see out here today, enjoy in waterfalls, see the lake & what not so finally even i gave up on the thoughts of riding to bhandardhara as we were already off schedule by a small margin. But I knew Percy/Najju weren't. They had left home by 10.15 am & were on their way straight to bhandardhara so I had to inform them to reach Malshej instead. Now the only problem was I had no network & neither did anyone else of us. So out of no other option, I had to go out of the lovely spot we were on & search for the network on the roads but since everyone else was too engrossed in the fun we were having there, I didn't ask anyone else to accompany me while I left the spot alone in search of some network. A small video on my way out of the spot.
I was on the road where our bikes were parked in few minutes but still no network. I needed to call Percy/najju desperately since I didn't want them to miss Malshej in its full glory today & wander alone at bhandardhara. Luckily i remembered our last trip to Malshej ghat & the roadside hut where we took shelter for the night & it was the spot where i did get network so I got on my bike as that spot was about 10 min further uphill. The roads were too foggy & i was all alone so I thought of recording the videos & talk to myself enjoying the lovely ride on cold, wet & foggy roads. I stopped occasionally to check if I get any network but I didn't get any network even after 10 minutes of riding. I passed by many amazing big waterfalls & I decided to get the rest of the gang to one of the waterfalls & enjoy the freezing cold water once i call up Percy/Najju & they are on their way to Malshej.
The video shot from camera inside my helmet while riding the awesome foggy roads of malshej.
Finally after about 15 minutes into the ride, I did get a single bar of network & I made the call to Najju. The conversation wasn't so clear due to network problems but I managed to convey it to them to come to Malshej instead of bhandardhara. Najju replied back that they tried to call all of us since last 1 hour & since we weren't in any network they both wisely decided to head towards Malshej by themselves instead of riding to bhandardhara & currently they were on the way to malshej itself. I got really overjoyed & I was relieved that my friends are on their way directly to us & since Percy was ripping his bike, i was confident they'll reach till us within next 2 hours.
I started my return journey towards our spot where the rest of the gang was enjoying & I kept shooting the videos while returning too. Finally I made it to our spot & found Shailesh already waiting out there for me. He was out there searching me since I was away from the gang for at least half an hour now & he was relieved to see me. He inquired where did I go & when i told him I rode 15 min uphill in search of network, he laughed at me since he had network in his cell (different cell network then mine) right there at the spot where we both were. Anyways I was glad i got some solo time to ride alone in the beautiful malshej valley but I did miss a whole lot of fun the gang had when i was away. See the pics.
Najju & Percy on their way to meet us at Malshej
I started my return journey towards our spot where the rest of the gang was enjoying & I kept shooting the videos while returning too. Finally I made it to our spot & found Shailesh already waiting out there for me. He was out there searching me since I was away from the gang for at least half an hour now & he was relieved to see me. He inquired where did I go & when i told him I rode 15 min uphill in search of network, he laughed at me since he had network in his cell (different cell network then mine) right there at the spot where we both were. Anyways I was glad i got some solo time to ride alone in the beautiful malshej valley but I did miss a whole lot of fun the gang had when i was away. See the pics.
So finally Shailesh & I went in again & met rest of the gang & after sometime, I asked everyone to move out of the spot as there were many other amazing things to see. Nobody, especially the girls were in no mood to leave the spot as they were having the time of their lives there but finally we somehow managed to convince everyone to give up the spot & move ahead.
Some final videos
Shailesh trying to be Cobbler at work & fixing Shruti's worn out sandals
The scared little girl isn't scared anymore
We packed our bags & were on the roads again in search of a waterfall as everyone was eager to feel the chilling water of malshej waterfalls. I had already shortlisted a few big waterfalls on my short solo ride earlier so we started riding in formation with me leading the group & we reached that waterfall in some time where I wanted all of us to enjoy but unfortunately it was too crowded out there so we decided to move ahead & search for some smaller but less crowded waterfall which we did get finally after some time. Everyone was off the bikes & running towards the waterfalls in no time. We parked our bikes in safe location next to waterfall, & took our bags with us & dumped them just in front of waterfall where we could see them while enjoying the waterfalls. One by one, everyone was all wet in the waterfall & Shruti, Sneha Pravin were among the first ones to feel the chill. Shailesh stayed outside to click some pics for all of us. I entered the waterfall too & immediately felt the bone chilling water falling down with huge thrust. It was definitely one of the coldest watery experiences i was having & i loved it. The rocks were slippery so we had to be ultra careful out there. Others did enjoy to the core as well. I, Pravin & Shailesh took turns for photography sessions,
Finally we decided to move out of the waterfall since the water was unbearably cold & falling with huge force so we didn’t wanted to risk getting sick. Shruti had broken her sandals which shailesh tried to fix but couldn’t & her bare footed fun led to a minor scratch on her leg earlier which aggravated further in the waterfall so we tried applying some medications from the medi-kit I was carrying with me. Finally we got out of the waterfall finally at approximately 1 pm after spending almost an hour in there & we headed towards the next destination on our wish-list in malshej itself. We had enjoyed a lot near MTDC resort on our 1st trip so we were headed there & it was barely a few kms away. We reached there in no time & we were surprised by the fog there which was even denser. We had to do a little bit of off-roading to get to the particular end point of the valley where we finally parked our bikes & started enjoying the views.
Percy/Najju were on schedule & luckily without any contact, even they had straightaway ridden to MTDC resort & they called me, so I went to get them at the gate of MTDC resort coz we were a bit away at a different place this time. Finally I saw the similar friendly faces as we regrouped & I got them back to the rest of the gang. Everyone greeted each other, pics were clicked & the amazing vistas were enjoyed by all eight of us together.
From L to R - Pravin, Percy, Shailesh, Shruti, Myself, Tushar & Najju
Then comes the conflict again. Percy/Najju were still in full mood to ride to Bhandardhara as it was just about 2 pm yet & we could have easily reached bhandardhara & back to mumbai by late night. I knew it was doable. Frankly, I had forgotten about bhandardhara but those guys reignited the spark in me to keep up with the original schedule, more so now since we had enjoyed a fair bit in malshej now & we could leave without much regrets. So the proposal was set forward to Pravin/Shailesh & this time around it was not easy to convince them. They had just one reason, it is already quite late & we won’t make it in time to Bhandardhara since the roads are unknown. Shailesh’s bike wasn’t that great either so he wasn’t too comfortable riding further on unknown roads. Percy/Najju were adamant & determined to ride to Bhandardhara so they suggested lets split the group & two of our bikes can ride to Bhandardhara while Pravin/Shailesh may return back to Kalyan directly. I was super excited with that option too considering Percy & myself can cover the said distance in relatively much lesser time then when we are riding with Shailesh/Pravin as they ride at a bit slower average speeds. Shruti was willing to join me on my bike for Bhandardhara & Percy/Najju were all set to go. Finally we discussed this with Shailesh/Pravin & they weren’t much delighted with our idea of splitting up the group. However they didn’t stop us either but slowly a small argument started heating up the scene when Sneha strictly denied with our plan as she wanted to get back home on time. I sensed the argument getting worse & so did others so finally I apologized to Percy/Najju for making them come all the way to malshej & not go ahead to Bhandardhara after all & they did understood the situation so we finally gave up the plans for bhandardhara & left it for another day.
But I made a small condition to Pravin/Shailesh that we weren’t gonna leave home directly from here since its just early afternoon yet & I proposed to ride ahead to Ganesh ghat & at least enjoy the amazing vistas that myself/Najju had seen on our last overnight ride to malshej. Shailesh/Pravin happily agreed to that as those were the familiar roads to them which were not so far too
Finally things cooled off & we decided to get some lunch first before carrying on ahead. We spotted a nice little dhabha closeby & all of us got settled there on a table. I was so damn hungry that I could have ate the entire tandoori chicken myself all alone but I couldn’t as I was on fast accompanying Najju. As we sat on the table, we noticed it was so cold out there that most of us were shivering to death & still loving it. Food was ordered by the 6 of them while I & Najju went outside the dhabha where our bikes were parked. It had been almost a week since we had an argument over a stupid issue so I had to clear up things with him & what better opportunity other than this to talk out & straighten up messed out issues with one of your best friend. Added advantage was that atleast we didn’t had to see the others eat while we stare at them munching the hot spicy food in the amazing cold climate out there. Finally after a small chat with Najju, things were back to normal & the other guys were almost done with lunch. Percy came out sooner & we 3 decided to have a short off-roading session aside malshej lake like I & Najju did last time. It was fun to ride with them but we were back to dhabha soon as others were done with lunch & waiting for us.
So finally we were set for the next destination by 3.30 pm. Soon we all were on roads & enjoying the amazing scenery all around. After less than half an hour, we were at a wonderful location so we stopped to see the view & click some pics. There was a small hill which looked trek-able easily so without further consideration, I, Najju, Percy & Tushar were racing each other to reach the peak. We were at the top in no time & it was an amazing 360 degree view from up there.
The others waiting down for us were running out of patience as we were enjoying up there so we had to come back down although we didn’t wanted to leave that place at all. So the race started again & we all were running downhill & as I reached down finally, I skidded in the mud out there as I was trying to pull off a stunt by getting down on one knee & presenting some wild flowers that I had plucked on my way down for both the girls. Everyone shared a hefty laugh as I recovered back on my feet & thankfully it wasn’t a bad fall so not even a scratch on my body. It was almost 5 pm by then so we had to start our return journey. So we decided to mark an end to the journey & start our return. But I wanted to show Percy the amazing ganesh ghat ahead so just we both went for a quick short 10 minutes ride on his bike & as soon as we returned back, all of us started back towards Kalyan.
There was a small temple out there where we had stopped so we all took the blessings before starting our return journey back. Shruti was still bare footed so she started bargaining with a small local village boy’s slippers roaming out there who demanded Rs 100+ & I guess & Shruti didn’t offer above Rs30-40.. It was funny to see their conversation. Shailesh/Sneha & Pravin/Tushar had already left the spot & myself/Shruti/Najju/Percy stayed back at the very same spot since Shruti refused to leave the place as I had a small argument with her because in my opinion she was wasting time with the local village boy even though she wasn’t interested in buying his slippers & she was just kidding with the little boy. Shruti demanded an apology or else she wasn’t ready to sit back on the bike. I was equally determined not to apologize since I was correct in my own way when I shouted at her for wasting the time with poor little kid out there. Initially I threatened her that we’ll leave her & move ahead but she had 110% confidence that we guys could never do that to her. To top the things, she got Najju on her side too & now both of them demanded me to apologize to Shruti or both of them wouldn’t leave with us. Thankfully Percy was still on my side. We threatened them we’ll leave & now since Najju was with her, we did started leaving just to threaten her but she was unaffected. Shailesh/Pravin had reached quite ahead already & they noticed we weren’t behind them so they called me up & I made a stupid excuse that I was having some problem with by wheels so we are at a halt. Shailesh offered to get us a mechanic from nearby village but I denied saying it’s a small issue & we’ll handle it. We asked them to move ahead & we’ll catch up with them & they did move on since they knew Percy & myself could catch up with them soon. After the call, Percy & I requested them once again to leave but they weren’t willing to go ahead with us so finally to make our point absolutely clear I & Percy started our bikes & went ahead for about a kilometer hoping they’ll call us back but we got no call from Shruti/Najju asking us to come back to get them. So finally we returned back to them ourselves. We saw them walking towards us & they both laughed a lot at our stupid act when we came back again after going away. Shruti had thrown away her worn out sandals so she was completely barefoot & Najju offered his shoes forcefully as they walked downhill. They had walked together almost a kilometer till the time we returned back to them. Finally we all regrouped & sat on the side of the road as we all decided none of us are going to leave now since I wasn’t going to apologize to her & they both won’t get back on bikes unless I apologize. It was really fun out there since none of this was on a serious note, all four of us were just kidding around, laughing, passing sarcastic jokes on each other, playing music from our cells & what not. We four just really wanted an excuse to stay back & enjoy the beauty out there as long as we could. It got really stupid & funny when I had a vague idea of playing ‘X & 0’ with Percy so I got my notepad out of my bagpack & we started playing ‘X & 0’ right there sitting on the side of the road on the edge of the hill with lovely view all around & light evening breeze cooling the atmosphere fair bit. Shruti couldn’t control emotions on her false angry face & laughed out a lot at the sight of me & Percy playing ‘X & 0’ in such a situation at such a place. Najju was enjoying the stupid event happening out there equally & I guess he got on her side deliberately so that she doesn’t feel lonely out there & has some1 to argue from her side too. We kept passing funny comments on each other directly & indirectly.
As we were enjoying the fun time out there, Percy noticed quite a huge bend on the rear wheel rim of my bike & he brought it to my notice immediately. I saw it & I was literally hurt as if I had a dent in myself. I got really sad at the sight of my bike’s rear wheel but then I checked all the other parts & everything seemed fine. Thankfully my tyre still seemed to hold enough air & didn’t get puncture. It was almost 6 pm by now & I got a call again from Shailesh/Pravin as they were really worried. I told them we will be on our way soon after fixing my tyre issue & so asked them to continue the journey & hence they did. As we were enjoying here, they were enjoyin on their way home too judging by their pics,
There was a small temple out there where we had stopped so we all took the blessings before starting our return journey back. Shruti was still bare footed so she started bargaining with a small local village boy’s slippers roaming out there who demanded Rs 100+ & I guess & Shruti didn’t offer above Rs30-40.. It was funny to see their conversation. Shailesh/Sneha & Pravin/Tushar had already left the spot & myself/Shruti/Najju/Percy stayed back at the very same spot since Shruti refused to leave the place as I had a small argument with her because in my opinion she was wasting time with the local village boy even though she wasn’t interested in buying his slippers & she was just kidding with the little boy. Shruti demanded an apology or else she wasn’t ready to sit back on the bike. I was equally determined not to apologize since I was correct in my own way when I shouted at her for wasting the time with poor little kid out there. Initially I threatened her that we’ll leave her & move ahead but she had 110% confidence that we guys could never do that to her. To top the things, she got Najju on her side too & now both of them demanded me to apologize to Shruti or both of them wouldn’t leave with us. Thankfully Percy was still on my side. We threatened them we’ll leave & now since Najju was with her, we did started leaving just to threaten her but she was unaffected. Shailesh/Pravin had reached quite ahead already & they noticed we weren’t behind them so they called me up & I made a stupid excuse that I was having some problem with by wheels so we are at a halt. Shailesh offered to get us a mechanic from nearby village but I denied saying it’s a small issue & we’ll handle it. We asked them to move ahead & we’ll catch up with them & they did move on since they knew Percy & myself could catch up with them soon. After the call, Percy & I requested them once again to leave but they weren’t willing to go ahead with us so finally to make our point absolutely clear I & Percy started our bikes & went ahead for about a kilometer hoping they’ll call us back but we got no call from Shruti/Najju asking us to come back to get them. So finally we returned back to them ourselves. We saw them walking towards us & they both laughed a lot at our stupid act when we came back again after going away. Shruti had thrown away her worn out sandals so she was completely barefoot & Najju offered his shoes forcefully as they walked downhill. They had walked together almost a kilometer till the time we returned back to them. Finally we all regrouped & sat on the side of the road as we all decided none of us are going to leave now since I wasn’t going to apologize to her & they both won’t get back on bikes unless I apologize. It was really fun out there since none of this was on a serious note, all four of us were just kidding around, laughing, passing sarcastic jokes on each other, playing music from our cells & what not. We four just really wanted an excuse to stay back & enjoy the beauty out there as long as we could. It got really stupid & funny when I had a vague idea of playing ‘X & 0’ with Percy so I got my notepad out of my bagpack & we started playing ‘X & 0’ right there sitting on the side of the road on the edge of the hill with lovely view all around & light evening breeze cooling the atmosphere fair bit. Shruti couldn’t control emotions on her false angry face & laughed out a lot at the sight of me & Percy playing ‘X & 0’ in such a situation at such a place. Najju was enjoying the stupid event happening out there equally & I guess he got on her side deliberately so that she doesn’t feel lonely out there & has some1 to argue from her side too. We kept passing funny comments on each other directly & indirectly.
As we were enjoying the fun time out there, Percy noticed quite a huge bend on the rear wheel rim of my bike & he brought it to my notice immediately. I saw it & I was literally hurt as if I had a dent in myself. I got really sad at the sight of my bike’s rear wheel but then I checked all the other parts & everything seemed fine. Thankfully my tyre still seemed to hold enough air & didn’t get puncture. It was almost 6 pm by now & I got a call again from Shailesh/Pravin as they were really worried. I told them we will be on our way soon after fixing my tyre issue & so asked them to continue the journey & hence they did. As we were enjoying here, they were enjoyin on their way home too judging by their pics,
We got back to our stupid acts & enjoyed our time sitting there at the edge of the hill. This was the place where we sat & our bikes were parked just in front of us in the mud.
Finally to end our stupidity, nature had to intervene & it started showering light drops of rainfall & we all loved the atmosphere out there even more now. Slowly the lovely atmosphere started threatening all four of us as the rainfall got stronger & cold wind blew harder making the matters even worse on our already frozen bodies. But Shruti didn’t leave & Najju stood by her too as he was loving the entire chain of events the most I guess. Out of no option, Percy & I had to stay there & get wet too. Thankfully, the wind got lighter & rainfall fazed away soon. We finally offered one bike to Najju so that he can take Shruti with him while I & Percy ride together on his bike but we attached one condition to our offer. They both had to walk down on their feet from Ganesh ghat towards malshej & we’ll give them one bike at the end of the ghat. They both started walking again. We were riding besides them singing stupid songs like “Aaja meri gaadi mein baith jaa”, braking right in front of them, getting our bikes in their way etc thus provoking them to sit on our bikes but they just didn’t seem to budge. Shruti was walking barefoot again this time & clearly she was in quite a lot of discomfort & pain. Plus it was almost 6.45 pm so I finally decided to give up my ego & apologize even though I still knew it wasn’t my mistake. I knew Najju was by her side just for fun so finally I seriously requested Najju to get on bike with Percy as it was getting too late & sun was setting down fast. He did understand me & got on bike with Percy instantly on my serious request & they left.
Then I said “I’m Sorry”
that’s all it took from my mouth to end the entire episode as Shruti silently climbed back at my rear seat & we joined Percy/Najju back on the road & we ripped the bikes at high speeds. We were done with ganesh ghat soon & I saw a petrol pump so pulled in to have a check on my rear wheel air pressure. All was well as my tyre was holding up air pretty well so we were on the road again. The sun had almost gone down completely as we were on malshej ghat again. Shruti & myself hadn’t spoken a word since the moment she had got back on my bike. I was angry on her for being so stupid & kiddish & at the same time I was all worried for my rear wheel rim replacement as soon as possible. It was past 7.00 pm & Najju pointed out the time to me saying the Roza was over & we both could have food/water finally now. I was in no mood to have anything but Shruti forced me to stop finally after sometime & have some water. We all took a small break as Najju pulled out the bottle of water from his bag & we both shared the water one after another. By God, it was a heavenly feeling in heaven. I never loved water as much as I loved having it today. Sadly we had nothing to eat so we decided to continue ahead & stop at some dhabha later on. Things cooled down between me & Shruti in some time after I cooled off myself with the water. We had to scale down Malshej ghat now which was a task in itself. The roads were all wet & the fog out there was outrageously insane. We could barely see a few meters in our bike’s stock headlights in full power & the ocassional vehicles from opposite sides running their headlights on high beams made matters worse for us. Shruti was super scared at every turn as she kept on shouting me as if in her opinion either I was going too fast or I was going out of the road. I absolutely hated her for continuing her demotivating comments & continuing ‘back seat riding’. There were moments when I literally shouted at her to just keep quiet & let me concentrate on the road. She did use to keep quiet for a while but those irritating scary sounds from her mouth on every turn I took never seemed to stop. To make the matters even worse & test our ultimate capabilities, it started raining heavily. There was no stopping Shruti now. I never saw her as scared as she was today. I asked her to just have faith & trust me but it didn’t seem to work as her fear multiplied with every turn as the combination of wet roads, foggy atmosphere & chilling rainfall kicked in. The occasional sounds of heavy waterfalls falling down was no more a beautiful soothing sound to any of us back then I guess & to be frank even I was worried as the weather out there was at the worst that I have ever ridden on. Thankfully Percy & I were doing a fair job of sticking close to each other & riding at controlled speeds maintaining safe distance from our bikes, guiding each other with signals & indicators on each turn etc. The scary weird sounds of small animals/insects from the jungles we passed by didn’t help us either as Shruti freaked out even more with those sounds from other inhuman living beings around us. We were shivering like hell but couldn’t stop anywhere for a shelter since there wasn’t any shelter for kilometers in sight. The rainfall did make the matters worse as I couldn’t ride with helmet’s visor open since the water drops used to hurt like small needles piercing in & riding with visor down would block the visibility by more than 50%.
Finally, by god’s grace & a lot of constant effort, it seemed as if we made it safely down the malshej ghat. It was a relief but the job was half done yet as we still had a long way to go. Rain had subsidized a bit but the all wet clothes continued to freeze us as we rode amongst the roads at decently high speeds to cover the distance quickly. The roads after malshej ghat are completely infested with potholes & no matter how hard I tried, I ran into huge potholes too fast many a times causing our already paining backs to go through a worst nightmare. Poor Shruti was almost out of energy to complain anymore & she seemed to just accept anything which was coming our way. Couldn’t blame her coz we had just been through the worst of conditions since last over an hour & now nothing can go bad beyond those conditions. Finally, to our relief, we say a small dhabha where I pulled over & Percy followed too. I wanted to eat something as I was very hungry but more then that I wanted to get some blood back in my frozen legs & warm them up. I asked Shruti to get down but she wasn’t moving even an inch from her position as if she just froze out there. Finally I got off the bike & I was on my feet barely somehow & it felt amazing to relax & stretch my cold feet. Shruti had a tired smile on her face as I asked her to get down again when she pointed towards her legs which were shivering unstoppably & she said she just couldn’t control her legs from shivering. I helped her put her legs down from the bike’s footrest which hurt her a bit I guess but it helped her get some blood back in her lower feet. Percy/Najju noticed everything & we finally managed to get her off the bike & on her feet by herself without much of our help. I was happy to see everyone all tired & still sporting a huge satisfying smile because each one of us knew we just had the greatest time of our lives in past couple of hours which none of us would forget ever in this lifetime. We passed on small jokes, talked about our experience in malshej ghat a few minutes ago & how scary yet beautiful it was to ride on those roads in chilling cold weather. We all took a small toilet break, got some wafers only as all that excitement, fear, cold had killed the hunger for food inside us. We spoke to Shailesh/Pravin & we got to know that they had reached kalyan just some time ago & dropped Sneha/Tushar who were on their way to home via local trains. We informed them that we were fine & just an hour away from kalyan station so they need not worry for us. After a brief break of about 15 minutes at the dhabha, we were on road again my 8.30 pm.
It was a careful high speed ride till Shahad by 9.45 pm where we finally reached shailesh’s place as I had to return pravin’s cell/wallet etc to him which was left in my bagpack. I called up Shailesh & asked him to get a bottle of colddrink along. He came out with a big bottle of Slice mango juice as well as water & I finished half of it myself. He offered us all to stay back at his place instead of going home but we denied his offer politely. Finally we bid him goodbye & we were on our way to thane to drop Shruti home. We reached thane by 10.45 pm when we finally dropped Shruti who invited us to rest at her place atleast for some time before leaving for our home but we denied as it was already too late. Finally she left too & it was just 3 of us left alone. 5 down, 3 to go :)
As we were about to leave Shruti’s premises after she left, Percy informed me that he is no position to ride ahead & neither will be able to sit on the back seat of the bike since his back is hurting like hell so he wanted to take the train while he asked me to get his bike safely back home. I was really shocked as he seemed to be ridin so well all the way with me since afternoon without showing any signs of pain. I was worried at that point for him but I had no choice other than letting him go alone. We decided to meet at his place by 12.00 am. I gave my bike to Najju as I took over Percy’s black monster & we were back on the road. As we got on NH3, Najju loved to ride my bike out there I can bet as probably it was the first time in the whole day when he got the handlebars in his hands. Percy & I ride at average speeds of above 80-90 kmps on NH3 but I didn’t want najju to over speed & risk the ride at the very end of the trip so we maintained decent average speeds of about 60 kmph & Najju followed my lead for quite some time but it started getting too boring so I pulled close to Najju & asked him to ride ahead at whatever speeds he could comfortably ride & I shall follow him. As Najju got the green signal, he took the lead & maintained a decent 80-90 kmph average all the way without taking many risks & I followed him closely to keep an eye on him but he was doing fine on his own. We finally reached mohammad ali road & it was overcrowded out there due to the Roza month. Najju & I got separated in the traffic out there but I wasn’t worried since these were the familiar roads to him & he was experienced enough to handle it. I made my way out of traffic & reached via kalbadevi road to our meeting point at Percy’s place to drop his bike safely. I called both of them & Percy informed me he was on his way from CST station & Najju didn’t answer the phone. So finally I had some time for my own & I sat right there on the footpath after parking Percy’s bike in place & closed my eyes for a while. Soon I saw a taxi closing by & it was Percy. I inquired about his back pain & he was doing ok considering the rest he got in train after a whole day ride on bike. As we were conversing about the ride & our day, Najju came by finally & it took him so long since he took the long route via CST & got stuck in traffic out there. My second helmet which Najju used throughout the day was tied near the rear seat grab rails of Percy’s bike & it was full of mud & sludge due to the huge rear tyre of FZ so I had to throw it away right there as it wasn’t worth recovering it out of that mess. Finally, we bid Percy goodbye for the night & I hopped on with Najju on my bike to drop him home. 6 Down, 2 to go :)
I dropped Najju home close to 1.00 am at night & we said goodbyes & I was on my way to home all alone at last. 7 down, 1 to Go. :))
It had been exactly 21 hours since I was with my bike now. I was the first one to get out of the house at 4.00 am & the last one to reach back home at 1.15 am on the following day. On my way I saw a few familiar faces celebrating & dancing at 1.00 am in night while bringing the Ganesh Idol of our building. I passed by them & reached my garage & parked my bike in the most convenient location that I could find & I barely had strength to get the bike on main stand. Before I left my bike for the night, I literally kissed the fuel tank of my bike thanking her to get us safely back home.
Climbing those stairs to reach my house on the second floor of my building had always been a difficult task for me after a long tiring trip & it was no different this time, it was just a bit more severe. Finally I sneaked in to my house, stripped myself off of my wet clothes & got some warm clothes on & went straight to the bed & slept in an instant.
Well, the day doesn’t end here..
At approximately 2.15 am.. I barely manage to open my eyes after my dad’s/mom’s repeated attempts shouting at me to get up. I was sleeping as if I was dead so it was hard to wake up. My dad finally gave out a loud shout to get me back to my senses & I asked them what’s wrong. My dad said there’s a guy on our door looking for me. I wasn’t understanding what’s going on.. Was I dreaming ?? No I wasn’t. So I got up & went to the door where I found a guy living upstairs in my building asking me to come down & move my bike from garage as it was blocking the entrance of the huge ganesh ji idol which was being brought in when I was returning home at 1.00 am. I didn’t understood much of what he hurriedly said as I was half asleep & that guy understood my condition from my body language so he just politely asked me for my keys instead of me coming down & moving the bike myself. He promised he’ll return the keys in some time at my house. I don’t know what occurred in my mind but I just gave him my keys & he left. I came back in & crashed on my bed. Within minutes, I realized I had done a big mistake by giving my baby’s keys to a relatively unknown stranger at 2.15 am in night so I just cursed myself & got up somehow & ran downstairs. There were a lot of people out there adjusting the large 20 feet ganesh idol to get it inside the building compound. I went straight to the spot where I left my bike & it was gone.. I ran here & there like crazy & searched my enter lane but my bike was parked nowhere. I was cursing myself like hell for being so stupid & handing over the keys of my most priceless possession to a stranger. Out of no option, I returned back upstairs by 2.45 am with a broken heart & as soon as I got in my house, I noticed someone coming by just behind me & it was the same guy. He came close & handed over my keys back to me while thanking me. I smiled back & thanked him from the core of my heart as he informed me the exact location of the place where he parked my baby(I did find my bike there exactly the next day). So finally all relieved, I jumped on the bed again & went to sleep with the keys of my bike still safe in my pocket & dreams of many more such wonderful rides in my tired sleepy eyes.
RIDE STATISTICS
Date - 04th September 2010
Date - 04th September 2010
Riders - Pravin, Tushar, Percy, Sneha, Shruti, Najju, Shailesh & ME indeed :)
Bikes - Bajaj Pulsar 150, Honda Unicorn, Yamaha FZ-S, Yamaha FZ-16 LE
Route taken/Destinations covered - Marine lines -> Kalyan -> Murbad -> Malshej ghat -> Ganesh Ghat -> Same route back home
Major Highways taken - NH3 & NH222
Total Kms - Approx 260 kms.
