When was the last time you got soaked in the rain? Drove your bike into the cloudy abyss? Didn’t care about the future? Think it’s not possible anymore? But what if I told you, it’s possible and that it can be done in one day? Impossible, right? You’ll agree with me after reading this blog.
It was the most rainfall Pune, had ever seen in a long time. The downpour, although a hurdle for commuters was a much-needed shower to wash away the droughts from the face of the earth. The filling up of the dams and the sustainable growth of the farms was a good sign to rejoice, though it wasn’t enough to quench my thirst for an adventure.
It was a dull morning, with very little sunlight penetrating the thick shroud of clouds. Lazy mornings like these are when we all just want to disappear under the soft blanket and snooze the alarm every half an hour. But beating all the hardships and getting up on such a day is worth all the energy you put, when it’s a road trip like this. Rustling of bed sheets, chaos in the washroom, fidgeting with clothes, shoving food down the throat, saddling of the backpack and excitement to burst through the door, that’s how I felt when I got out of the house at sharp 0800 hours in the morning. The air was cool with a bit of moisture in the air. Making all the necessary calls, I headed off to my friends’ place. After seeing everybody all set and read to go, we hit the road at 0830 hrs sharp from Pune Station and started our much-anticipated journey. We were a total of four people with two bikes to commute and light packed bags consisting of only the essentials. The itinerary was no rocket science. It was a one day outing, start at 0830 hrs, few pit-stops for breakfast, lunch and snacks along the way and back to base at 2030 hrs, hence completing a 12 hour road trip.
The roads weren’t bustling, the climate wasn’t changing, signals weren’t working, Trump wasn’t ruling, Instagram wasn’t copying(Snapchat), the world was in organised chaos. And then, as we were nearing Chandni Chowk, to take an exit to Paud Road, there was a sudden burst of downpour. The cool, pleasant and moist breeze kissing our skin turned into prickly annoying icy cold drops of terror. Although we were expecting a shower, we had tuned our bodies for something like this later during the day. We had to halt almost immediately at a nearby shelter which was the under passage of a flyover, and it was already crowded with people. With a little bit of, “thoda adjust karlona (scooch over a little)” attitude, we somehow got under the flyover. After the downpour increased, we realized that the rain wasn’t going anywhere. Keeping up with the itinerary all of a sudden felt rocket science. No, We didn’t sit wearing lab coats trying to understand how much more water was left in the clouds. We didn’t have lab coats, duh. So after a short discussion for about a minute and the traditional Indian nod of approval from everyone, we braced our souls and went out into the line of downpour and back onto what seemed to had become a treacherous road.
The lonely road screamed with motoring engines, rain pattered fiercely on the face of the earth and the water just cleaved seamlessly as the tires rubbed on the puddled road. We were doing around 60 kmph and all our senses were heightened to their limits. We could hardly hear the other over the mesmerizing sound of adventure. All that the eyes could picture were the blur outlines of the road and the rain felt like thousand pins trying to pierce the skin. The rush came to an end when we arrived at Mulshi for breakfast. It was 1030 hrs in the morning and the downpour continued, when we rushed into the restaurant with our drenched clothes and a contagious flurry of giggles. This was our first pit-stop, Paradise Cafe. The garden restaurant was good, affordable, spacious and open, the view from where we sat was beautiful. At first, the entire place was shrouded with dark mean clouds, but while we were gulping down on our second plate of parathas, the clouds started to clear up and the view was mesmerizing. The river flowing down the distant horizon as the mountains appeared slowly alongside it.
After freshening up and having a heavy breakfast, we moved on to our next objective, Tamhini Ghat. The skies had opened up a little, and the little bit of sunlight making its way down felt nothing less than a gift from up above, pun intended. The journey for the next 10 kilometers was pretty average as you keep riding over a flat land, just waiting for the ghat to start. Soon enough, the feeling of getting lost, started appalling us. And at that very moment we met a group of teenagers trapped in 40 year bodies splashing and drinking around a stream flowing alongside the road. In the time following the jolly conversation and regaining our sense of direction, we set off again on our original track.
Soon enough the plane started to gain an elevation as we cruised along the wet roads of the ghat. As we continued to gain height, we were slowly but fluidly being engulfed by clouds. Switching our headlamps on to see through the cloud and the raindrops falling, we carved our way through it on these blissful winding road. Riding through the occluded, wet and cold course we burst out into a land of waterfalls. For a moment, we thought we were shooting for Narnia. On the adjacent left was the towering side of the mountain from where the water lashed down on the road, and on the right was the beautiful valley with numerous waterfalls streaming down into the trough. The view took us to a land we always dream about.
The beauty of this Ghat is the gradual increase in slope which after a while gives us an illusion of a flat road making us feel the elevation changes are a minimum. But the reality overwhelms us when we reach the crest and our eyes capture the deep valley adjoining the road.
A few moments into the laps of nature and the harmonious flow of water pacified the soul taking us far away from the loud, bustling city life. Few moments and photos later, at 1230 hrs we continued on our path in search for more such mesmerizing waterfalls. As the rainfall was at plenty that year, we witnessed countless waterfalls on our way ahead.
It was 1430 on our watches when we stopped at a milestone which read Pune 90 kilometers. It was our cue to turn back and revisit the places we enjoyed to the fullest. On our way back, the clouds had covered a great deal of distance and traversing the road was a daunting task. The intensity of the rain had increased making the conditions even more challenging to ride on. One would think, we would see the same things over again, but nature had something else in mind. As the clouds cleared away, we saw the nature unfold its beauty which was first hidden in plain sight. The clouds showed us the beauty in different perspectives.
At 1630 hrs, we took our final pit stop at a Dhaba. A good place for a nice, tasteful food and a place to relax after an eventful adventurous ride. Next to and following the late lunch we commenced our journey back home. The final phase of the journey was an average ride back to Pune. Although we left at 1730 hrs, the traffic prone Pune, increased our travel time as we concluded our journey at 2030 hrs.
SAM'S TRAVEL DIARY 