Enchanting Sinhagad

The plan was to go together. All four members of the team on my short term assignment in Pune. As the assignment drew to close and I started winding up, I asked my team members for trekking to Sinhagad on my last weekend at Pune. Eventually there were only two of us left. We decided to go for trekking on Sunday, November 28, 2010.

At 0545 hrs  I called up Rahul Prabhune to wake him up. He picked me from the Swar Gate in his Santro around 0700 hrs. We  drove to Sinhagad base, halting on the way at Khadakwasla. We reached the base around 0745 hrs parked the car there. The climb began at around 0800 hrs. The trek starts with gradual stony path and is easier for initial part. It gets steeper and rocky as one moves up. We had to do some rock climbing in some creeks.

On the way there were a couple of small shops selling lime water, mineral water, cucumbers and Indian goose berries.  The trek is mostly rocky and green. We stopped at places to see the view about us and breathe some fresh air. 

At around 0930 hrs we were at the stairs of the fort. We climbed the top of the gate and gazed at the view around us. It was a feeling of a conquerer.

After taking few pictures we further dwelled on the mountain. The remnants of the fort are just few walls, gates and a chamber. Though much bigger than Purandar it is more like a table land. 

There are around 3-4 small desi style food joints (dont know what else to call them). I liked the arrangements for the customers. They had mats laid under the shade of low bushes where one can sit, lie down and relax and have the local marathi food. We had bhajji or onion pakodas (fried nuggets of onion and gram flour paste)  and then curd in small mud pots for the starters. 

After lying down for a while we had the 'Jhunka Bhakri' comprising of Pithla(local dish made from gram flour) and Bhakri(Jowar chapati). A cup of tea and then we got up to explore rest of the place.

A little further on the table land we saw that some people were doing rappling across the valley. I hurried myself to find out. It turned out that I was right. We quickly paid 100 bucks to the guys operating the sport. I quickly got into rappling gears, a harness and within minutes I was hanging from the rope through a harness and moving to the other end of the valley. It was an amazing experience. 

We started the descent around 12 and reached the base around 1. We drove off to the city chatting about the wonderful experience that I had. As for Rahul, he was a regular to Sinhagad during his childhood. For me, Sinhagad would remain one of the best experiences in the Maratha land.