What does August 15th mean for a common man?

India as a nation grew one more year older today. Today we are a 64 year old nation in whose blood patriotism is still running. My question is what does a Independence day mean to you and me? I am in the process of finding an answer to this question.

You will find school kids going to their schools to hoist national flag, Shops will be decorated with tricolor, will see people wearing the tri-coloured  dress, Rickshaws with flags, some societies conducting their annual gathering, some hurriedly preparing for upcoming festivals, loud speakers playing patriotic songs (mile sur tera hamara included), TV channels featuring patriotic films, news channels conducting debates on topics of growth India has made so far,  tourists find 15th August as a day of discounted day for their vaccation, some happily sleeping till noon as they got a day off from usual schedule, some visiting relatives and so on.

How many of us including me has gone for a flag hoist ceremony once they are out of school? As people are constantly hearing national anthem in cinema halls, else many of us would have forgotten national anthem till now.

Lets not forget the pain and torture people bore so that today we can walk and speak freely. Patriotism should not be a one day thing for an Indian. Patriotism is not about hearing PM speech or watching Border 100th time or posting patriotic messages on wall. Also, it should not be something that comes up on 15th August and 26th January.

Let this devotion remain in our behavior even on other days excluding differences among us and live in harmony Let each one of us do our part to this nation- may be its the smallest ever thing anyone can do- to furnish the gift that we got.

Jai Hind.

Trek to Naneghat

A totally unplanned trek to naneghat - just to have a change from the daily hustle and bustle was decided at about 11.30 pm on friday night.
We started our journey to Naneghat from Kalyan - Murbad - Naneghat at about 8 in the morning. Reached the base of mountain by around 10.15.

Naneghat view from  the base

It took us about 3 hours of hard core trek to reach the top. Many places you may not find a way to go ahead. That is interesting. Proper footwear is a must for this place as you will have to hop from one rock to the another during the trek.
As there were no rains during our uphill travel, we all were sweating out while climbing.

This ghat was used as a trade route in olden times between kalyan & pune.

view from top- kalyan side

By about 1.15 we reached the top. There is a cave carved at the top where about 50 people can stay at a time. Its safe to stay there during night because of the grills and doors constructed by the villagers.There are inscriptions written on the walls of the cave.

Cave

At the pinnacle there was very less visibility because of fog. You can hardly identify any objects more than 10 meters away.
The name nane means "coin" and ghat means "pass". This is because,this path was used as a tollbooth to collect toll from traders crossing the hills.

Tollbooth

We got a small stall where we had tea & bhajiya which was very helpful as all of us were getting cold because of the strong cold winds and rain.

We changed our plan and decided to descend to the other side of the mountain- Junnar, Pune. About 1 and half hour of walking through dense fog, we reached a village named Ghatghar.

On the return journey

From ghatghr we got a bus to Junnar- which is about 30 Km away. From Junnar we went to Bunkar Phata- which is about 10 Km from Junnar by Jeep. 17 people were stuffed into one jeep. From Bunkar phata we got a bus to kalyan- A journey of more than 100 Km excess travelled.

As someone rightly said
"A good traveler is one who does not know where he is going to" - We actually experienced this statement.

On the way back we came through Malshej ghat.

Malshej view

Malshej 

 It was really refreshing and adventurous with lots of images clicked and lots of memories to cherish in the days to come.

And the Caravan............

Trip to Murud Janjira - The Uncaptured fort

We started our journey at about 6.30 am from ghatkopar. Traffic was heavy. We had our morning breakfast at Desai food stall with poha, vada pav tea & kharwas. 

After about 2 and a half hour drive through the busy and small lanes of Raigad, we got a awesome scenic view of the Arabian sea & janjira fort. We were compelled to stop our vehicle and enjoy the natural beauty.

 Our next halt was at the small village named Rajapuri from where we got a boat to reach Janjira fort. Janjira for was seen quite near to the shore from this place. We took tickets and boarded one of the boat. We were amazed to see that these boats move with the help of wind. We had a environment like the one seen in movie 'swades' except majority of travellers were tourist.

As the boat started its voyage, we were given some information about the janjira fort- about its date of creation, emperors ruled, its importance in history. It took us about 15- 20  mins to reach the fort. One thing the person mentioned was about the entry gate. You cannot identify the entry gate of the fort until you are very close to the door. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore is disguising, hidden and very huge. We were told that around 100-150 people can enter together through this gate.

 Beware of the boatmen's monopoly. They will compel you take a guide. Hire a guide only if required. This massive structure was constructed by siddhis in the 12th century. Murud was the capital of the Siddis of Janjira. The only fort in Maharashtra which was not captured, although the British, the Portuguese, the Dutch tried attacking the city. The Maratha King Shivaji tried to dominate the fortress almost six times but failed in every attempt.It has a huge door which was open only when the ruler used to come.For others, there is a small door like opening which was used.

 Inside the fort, we could see the 3rd largest cannon of India which could fire upto a distance of 10 Km.

In all there are about 122 cannons inside this fort out of which 3 are named. One of the canon has a structure of cow head in front of it, hence named gau-mukh

This fort is spread over 22 acres of land, it took 22 years to completely build this fort, the total number of bastions in the fort is 22,  the total number of steps after alighting from boat to the inside of fort is 22.  This was kept to remember son of the ruler siddhi who was killed in the age of 22.
Walking ahead all we could see were the ruined  structures of the fort.

We were shown a underground tunnel which was build as a hidden path. This tunnel was constructed underneath the sea with a  space where 2 person can walk. Unfortunately, both the ends were sealed by the Indian Archaeological department, hence we could go only till 14 steps after that concrete walls were seen.

The interesting part of this fort is that, all the structures built here were built from the stones got after digging for pond. So, there are 2 sweet water ponds which seem as a miracle to get in midst of Arabian sea.
All structure were built with a mixture of jaggery, salt, lead and Lime(chuna). And thats the reason this structure has withstand lashing waves without  any structural impact for the last 950 years.

There is a small gate towards the open sea for to escape from the enemies. This had a door built from stone & was always closed. hence no one could identify it as a door. When seen  from outside, it was just another wall of the fort..

The next place to see was the topmost point of the fort.

Our return journey

Janjira- Front view

Lunch time @ Patils restaurant

Jitu displaying some of his talents

Unity is Strength

The deadly Kancha Cheena

And the Caravan !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: For my earlier travel blog Click here