Malshej Ghat 2 :- The Impromptu Independence Night Ride {15/08/2010}

It was the month of August 2010 & we had just barely commenced studies for our Finals. I used to go to najju’s place for studies & somehow we managed to finish studies for our first subject (Financial Accounting) out of eight subjects by 11.30 pm on 14th august 2010. We took a small break till 12.00 & we realized were in no frame of mind to jump to a fresh subject after 12.00 am on the eve of the principal National holiday. So we decided to ride somewhere instead & celebrate the Independence Day & the completion of our first subject. We started considering alternatives for the night ride & soon ended up with our nominated favourite destination as Malshej Ghat yet again. It had been almost two months now since my accident at malshej ghat so I desperately desired to ride on those roads yet again & pay my tribute to the mighty malshej. I didn’t had any particular point to prove to anyone but just wanted to ride to Malshej ghat once again for myself. Najju was equally excited since he hardly got to ride on our last trip to malshej so we decided to leave by 1.00 am.

We rushed back to my place & I got some cash for food&fuel, my jacket, shoes, arm/knee guards, gloves & we were on the road by 1.15 am. I had some petrol in my bike so I decided to fuel up somewhere near kalyan. I was ripping my bike all the way till Thane toll booth & to my disbelief; my bike was out of petrol just after the Thane toll booth. Luckily, there was an Indian oil petrol pump within 2 kms so we pushed the bike till there & got if filled with ample petrol for our trip.

After refilling, Najju took over the bike & we were off NH3 after kalyan bhiwandi bypass & riding on SH222 in an hour. As soon as we crossed titwala, the road was super lonely as we hardly encountered any vehicles. The roads got pretty foggy at times & my bike’s headlight wasn’t that powerful so I asked najju to not exceed 50-60 kmph which he gladly did since even he was in a mood to cruise on these beautiful roads on a cold night. We didn’t take any breaks since we didn’t want to take any perils by halting on the road at this hour of night. With steady continuous riding, we were at the foothills of Malshej by 3.30 am.

As the ghats began, I sought-after to take over the bike from Najju as he had very little or virtually nil experience in riding on ghats & it wasn’t a noble idea at all too let him experiment for the first time on these deadly ghats of Malshej in the middle of a cold foggy night. I communicated my intention to him but as anticipated by me, he was relishing the ride way too much to give up the handlebars now when the actual pleasure of riding on ghats was about to begin. He assured me that he’ll ride very watchfully so I had no option but to let him ride. Now, considering it was his first encounter on ghats that too on a foggy night, he exceeded my expectations by a fair margin. However, there were a few occasions when Najju scared me to death when it looked like we were going to go offroad & straight into the ghats but in all probability I was being over worried as Najju seemed to have enough control over the bike. My fears really compounded to a new level by the much denser layer of fog after every next turn & it got so foggy at times that we couldn’t even see 20-30 feets away. Najju was riding quiet sensibly & leisurely at such times giving us a chance to adore the foggy climate for further more time. It was getting amazingly cold as we rode up the ghat & finally it seemed to me like we made it to the top much sooner than I expected. I must admit I under-estimated Najju’s riding capabilities to a great extent but he proved me wrong by getting us safely till that point. Anyways, I loved the amazing cold atmosphere there & all of a sudden out of nowhere, we crossed a small stream of waterfall falling right in the middle of the road from the rocky ranges above us. The water was damn cold & we were sufficiently showered enough by the waterfall to feel the chill even more. As soon as we crisscrossed the waterfall, we stopped for a second look & the sight was indeed beautiful. I wanted to ride through the waterfall again myself this time but it was too cold already to try anything stupid like that deliberately. Hence we proceeded ahead & then decided to halt somewhere till the sunrise before beginning our return trip.

We found a nice little roadside hut by 4.45 am where we decided to take a halt till sunlight. Clicked some pics, wandered arounds here & there while Najju tried to get a nap.

Some pics:

My baby parked just outside the small hut. We used the headlights to fight the darkness there

Najju trying to catch a nap using my Knee Guards as pillow :)

My bike - Giving us the light

A small sweet temple like setup in the hut.. Sai Nath Maharaj ki Jai

Soon it was pre-dawn atmosphere as the dark sky above started to turn lighter. My friends chaitanya/nandeep had just been to Bhimashankar which was about 50 kms from malshej So I wanted to go there & Najju agreed to as always. As the first rays of sunlight pierced through dark clouds, the villagers from nearby villages started appearing slowly. I inquired for directions of bhimashankar with a local villager & although he didn’t have exact information on how to reach bhimashankar, he did inform us that it will not take us more than two hours to reach bhimashankar on bike. I was excited by the news & decided to leave ASAP & see the complete sunrise on the way rather then waiting here for sunrise since it wasn’t a perfect spot to see sunrise anyways. Najju had no problems to leave either, so we geared up & we were on the roads before 6.00 am. It was my turn to ride my baby again & I was making full use of throttle on the open lovely roads whenever I could, though I had to slow down a number of times in order to appreciate the breathtaking views enroute.

Pretty soon we were done with malshej ghat & we were on Ganesh ghat. Since we were already on quiet an altitude, ganesh ghat was our way down on the opposite side of malshej ghat. The roads of ganesh ghat were much smaller & much more steeper then malshej & few turns were purely not at all as laid-back as they seemed to be. I just loved riding my bike there. Soon we were off ganesh ghat & SH222 & we were riding through a small village road towards Ozar.

We took numerous stops for inquiring directions from locals who gladly helped every time. It was almost an hour into the ride but we seemed to be nowhere close to bhimashankar even though I had been maintaining decent average speeds. Finally we saw the first milestone mentioning bhimashankar at some 60 km odd more from that point. We were a bit low on petrol & there weren’t many petrol pumps in sight, plus both of us seemed to be really tired by that point as it was already almost 24 hrs since we both hadn’t slept. So I was in dual minds as to whether or not to go ahead for these additional 120 odd kms & contest against the lack of petrol, lack of energy & lack of sleep. I stopped at that milestone & asked najju if we should go ahead ? He seemed to be furthermore tired then me, maybe due to that uninterrupted all night riding earlier so it wasn’t a positive response from him either & hence i decided to mark an end to this trip here & have a turnabout.

It was a bit disappointing to come all the way & not visit the holy shrine at Bhimashankar owing to few petty issues but we really weren’t in any state of mind to endure the trip further so I had no options. I kept riding back towards Malshej ghat for some more time when I noticed a few sudden jerks from the pillion seat where najju was sitting & it felt like he was going to fall down since he was very sleepy. I asked him if he was fine & he nodded positively so I sustained riding for further some more time & then I felt a really noticeable shudder at the rear seat as if najju was just about to fall but fortunately he regained control. I got really panicky at that point so I stopped the bike that very moment & asked him to get fresh with some of the water from our bottle. He got off the bike & I could really see his eyes all red & sleepy. He looked far more composed after sprinkling some water on his eyes. We hadn’t been talking since last hour or so as I was busy ripping the bike & najju was trying to catch a nap so we utilized this small break to start a conversation on how the trip was so far & how lovely the location & roads were. I asked him what’s wrong with him & why is he so drowsy whereas I was feeling quite fine & could manage without sleeping for additional few more hours easily. To this question of mine, I got a very genuine answer by him that he was sleepy since he was not riding the bike & it gets too boring being on pillion seat for too long & the cool morning breeze from the mountains in such a beautiful lap of nature makes it very difficult to keep the sleepy eyes open. I could understand his concern as I was experiencing exactly the same feeling yesterday night but since the trip had just started, the excitement kept me awake. I offered najju to ride the bike provided he rides it very cautiously & unhurriedly. It brought an instant smile on his face.

We switched seats & we were back on road after about 10 minutes of a much deserved break. I knew it may be a stupid idea to let him ride in such a bad state but I decided to let him ride since it wasn’t a threatening road to ride on & minimum traffic around. We kept looking for a dhaba to have some tea but we weren’t lucky enough. However we were blessed by really breathtaking views so we decided to have a break for some pics.

Closed eyes - Probably too mesmerised by the beauty :)

Finally after around 30 minutes, we were at the footskirts of Ganesh ghat & I asked najju to give back the bike to me since ganesh ghat was just a tad more difficult to ride on a few turns as compared to malshej ghat but as predictable it was a prompt NO from him. He guaranteed me he can manage & I had to have faith in him bearing in mind that he had managed to ride up the malshej ghat in a foggy night & this was a broad day light so it won’t be considerably challenging to him. So he started riding up & within no time, we were pushed off the road by a mini-truck speeding from the opposite direction in our lane & Najju got off road a bit to avoid crashing with the stupid mini truck driver. I got frightened for a second but the situation wasn’t that bad since we were barely off the road & there were enough support rails on the edge to keep us safe. However I did ask najju to give me the bike again but he didn’t. As we continued ahead, I noticed quite a steep & tricky U-turn coming up which I had ridden on earlier in the morning so i warned Najju beforehand to maintain steady line & throttle in first gear to ensure he takes on the turn without any issues. Nevertheless, as it turned out, the U-turn was a bit more demanding for him to handle then he judged it would be & as soon as he nearly completed the turn with desperate efforts, he couldn’t maintain the correct line & we were off the road again, although this time on the opposite lane of the road though. The entire episode lasted barely a few seconds & concluded on a not so positive side. I was thoroughly startled & out of breath for those few seconds when everything seemed to be going wrong in an instant. However, I appreciate the fact that he got the bike to stop without falling even though the place where the bike had stalled was too steep but he did manage to hold on. I got off the bike & frankly I was a bit pissed off at him since this could have been much worse than it was.

Finally I calmed down in a minute, after it occurred to me that no damage whatsoever was done either to us or the bike. However I was in no mood whatsoever to let him ride throughout the rest of Ganesh ghat as well as malshej ghat now. Najju didn’t argue over it & we got back on the bike. The bike wasn’t much offroad so I managed to get it on road again with a little effort in 1st gear & a firm push by najju. I kept silent for quite some time as I was still a bit angry when Najju told me that he couldn’t handle the turn very well since he was already too tired & sleepy which was my prime concern to not let him ride in this condition especially in a ghat region but he didn’t let me ride despite of my requests. Anyways, I knew it was the deadly combination of lack of sleep & food which was taking a toll on both of us so we didn't waste any energy on further arguments. I was done with the Ganesh ghat in further 10-15 minutes & we were back on Malshej ghat. The beauty of malshej ghat made us forget all our fatigue & anger as we saw the gorgeous lake & I decided to do some offroading to see the lake from much closer.

A few videos at the lake

As we moved ahead after the offroading session as lake, we saw some huge waterfalls well flourished with water.

Dats ME ;)

We clicked some amazing pics & we were really astonished by the awesome views which had grown far more beautiful than they were when we visited last time around in the month of June. Small waterfalls were evident everywhere & some huge waterfall appeared occasionally as well. We started back the journey downhill from malshej after clicking some pics.

Malshej brought the smile back on his face

Finally, we saw the most beautiful spot in malshej as we were just about to pass the one & only tunnel in malshej ghat. A small passage right next to the tunnel lead to this awesome spot & there were already a few people enjoying the view so we joined them too. I'll let the pics do the talking.

We didnt want to leave the place but unfortunately  we had to.The return journey was much swifter in broad day light & minimum traffic around. I was looking forward to ride down malshej ghat again but i was very watchful this time around on the turns & corners in the ghat. So far I thought I hadn't lost any confidence after my accident but as I was riding down the same roads again, it occurred to me that I wasn't completely right. I just couldn't take on the corners at same speed or confidence as I could earlier on my last trip. My mind tried to console me that it is not any loss of confidence on corners but my increased sense of safety which is making me go slow on corners, but my heart knew, it was definitely a sharp plunge in my confidence as I kept on fearing a speeding SUV from the opposite direction on every next turn I encountered on the way down. Surely it was a sad feeling to know back then, that I wasn't as much confident a rider as I was a few months ago but then again I was very glad to be lucky enough to be able to at least ride on the very same roads again in less than 2 months after the biggest accident of my life. Lost in the midst of all such thoughts, I was slowly but steadily off malshej ghat & I kept on wandering desperately for that particular turn where i met with the accident which could have killed me. But sadly, I didn't even come close to identifying that turn on my way back. Finally I did manage to identify the village & that dispensary where I got treated after my accident by that beautiful doctor. So I gave up the search for my accident spot & initiate a search for a dhaba instead.
Finally I saw a nice little dhaba & pulled over. We had a lovely breakfast of double omelettes & left soon by 9.30 am. On the way to kalyan, we encountered heavy rainfall which delayed our return since we had to take shelter at times. Finally we reached kalyan bhiwandi by-pass by 11.00 am & from here, we had agreed that Najju will ride. But I made sure he had a cup of nice hot tea before giving him the bike keys & Najju got us back safely by 1.00 pm. After dropping Najju at his home, I went straight to bed as soon as I reached back my home. It was indeed a lovely night ride.

Ride Statistics:

Riders:

Mitesh

Najju

Bike:

Yamaha FZ 16 LE

Places covered:

Mumbai-Thane-Kalyan (Via NH3)

Kalyan-Murbad-Kasgaon-Malshej ghat (Via SH-222)

Malshej ghat-Ganesh ghat-Junnar-Ganesh ghat-Malshej ghat

& the same route back to mumbai

Kms covered:

Approx 280 kms

Rating:

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