Fulfillment of a dream - Raireshwar

Base: Korle Village
Distance : 85 Kms approx from Pune(By Road), 225 kms from Mumbai
(By Road)
Route:Pune-NH4-Bhor-Ambavade-Korle-Raireshwar

I had a dream once- to feel the wind against my face on my cruiser...to see the rising sun, then watching it rise again at a different co-ordinate, run away from the bustle- the noise of city life to a place where the only sounds that I hear are of flowing water, the moo of cows, and the gush of the wind. For a change this dream did get  fulfilled and how, to describe this in a word – Raireshwar.

31^st Jan – All excited to welcome another NYE, I was in Mumbai planning to go out with friends to someplace-may be matheran, alibag, kashid but nothing worked out. Left with only options of sitting at friends place to see them drink and blabber crap to me yet again or go to a overpriced smoky disc which will  definitely give me some ache if not in the head. Since I’m smart, I thought of coming back to Pune to plan something for 1^st Jan. Flipped through my usual reference books for places nearby and did find a few interesting places close by. I zeroed on a Fort in the Bhor region- Vichitragad a.k.a Rohida. Plan was set for the lone ranger to go on an early  morning odyssey. But not sure what transpired, before sleeping I said to myself.. tomorrow I’m going to Raireshwar, it was as if the place itself called me.

1^st Jan – I get up at 5.30 which is an hour behind my planned schedule, this courtesy a friend who insisted that I wish her on the New Year before sleeping so had to be awake till then J. I’m out of the house at 6.00 am, checked the sunrise time a Pune its 7.07 a.m, these Android phones have apps for practically everything. To shock me the weather outside looked cloudy, surely it won’t rain today I assured myself. I rode along the Satara road to the old Katraj ghat – it looked beautiful as ever in the morning. No sooner did I land on NH-4 I could see the rising sun in the horizon, I took a few moments to simply gaze at its ethereal beauty- the wonders of nature are incomparable to anything mankind can dream of creating, well anything just except those beauties which passed by me in quick succession. Beautiful, monstrous ninja’s, hayabusa’s, duccati’s – green, red, black.

Time for a pit-stop : Stopped just ahead of Khedshivapur at McD’s to tank up both myself and my bike, back on the road in another 10 mins. I was 7.10 when I took the turn to Bhor off-NH4, just a few moments later I noticed that it was in fact getting darker as I rode on, I thought I’m dozing off. I stopped to take a look and to my surpise the sun was yet to rise above the horizon here, so I thought of waiting, and there it was, in a few moments what I saw was my second sunrise of the day. What a start to the new year and remember its only just begun.

Continued my jouney to Bhor my destination was a village called Ambivade which is the base village for Raireshwar, beyond Ambivade there is still a motorable road uptil the base of Raireshwar. I took another break at Ambivade – compelled by a curious looking structure, the structure as I discovered was an old suspension bridge across the river made by the erstwhile ruler of Bhor during the 1920’s, it still stands today in usable condition speaks volumes of the craftsmanship. I crossed the bridge and it kept shaking, scared me a bit as there was deep water below. Across the bridge is the Samadhi of a ruler of Bhor, which was unfortunately closed, I looked around and saw a staircase toward my left going downwards. Utter curiosity led to me discover another gem- the Nageshwar temple, this ancient temple is at the river bank and surrounded by greenery on all sides. It was a sad sight to see that the adjoining area was filled with trash presumably by picnickers, I wish I could improve the situation there.

I paid my respect to the presiding deity, clicked some pictures and hit the road again. Another 5 mins of ride and the tar road was finished, journey from here was to be on a motorable (read under construction ) road, I enquired the village folk about the distance to Raireshwar and they said 8 kms. I asked my self – Can this bike with stand the rigor’s of dirt tracks, there was only one way of answering it. Let’s check it out!! The road till the village of Korle was a combination of untarred, tarred, gravelled and non-existent patches, from the village of Korle I had to motor my bike through the mountain pass which was only a mud track, the villagers told me not to worry as the route is frequently used by bikers, another 30 minutes of winding climb on the mountain pass and I reached a point where the road started descending just then I noticed a board point Raireshwar to the right, which I nearly missed. There was a steep climb and my bike would keep slipping, I told myself this is a cruiser, don’t make it things it not meant to do. There were bikes atop but they were Pulsar’s and other sports bike, mine wasn’t built to undergo off-road rigors.

So it was time for a decision to be made, the man in me told to go back-its not safe to leave the bike in the open, but the boy in me told me to park the bike there itself and trek further. It was me vs me, and ultimately the boy-me won, I obviously couldn’t drop going till the top after reaching the base. The staircase was visible at a distance now. On the left of the ridge where I parked the vehicle I could see the fortress of Kenjalgad . I huffed and puffed my way to the top( C’mon I am fat) so that’s expected. I met a villager who was carrying some grass(fodder) with him, he gave me information about the village, the temple and the entire plateau and also an invitation to see his farm. I accepted it with glee. But before that I wanted to see the Raireshwar temple, he showed me the way to it.

The hill-plateau of Raireshwar is dotted with natural water springs which supply clean cool water to the village at the top and also a few at the base of the hill. The visit to the temple was a bit disappointing, it was rather difficult to digest that the “Oath of Swarajya” was taken at this very humble place, it was here that the idea of a great nation a “Maha-Rashtra” first took place, surely this deserves something more grandiose. But the thirteen year old who took the “Oath of Swarajya” didn’t belive in grandiose monuments he belived in grandiose deeds, deeds which have become a part of our folklore.

After a few minutes the village guy by the name of Jangam helped me to explored the plateau a bit, which surprisingly has a lot to see water springs, farms, and deep forests. He showed me his farm in which he cultivated organic-non irrigated wheat, all this with the moo-ing of the cows in the background and a mild breeze with fresh air flowing all along. Suddenly life felt so simple. He insisted on me having a cup of tea at his place, which I couldn’t refuse. He wanted me to have lunch too, but I refused since I was running late. I tried giving him money for the tea that he served but he wouldn’t take any.  It was sad that I didn’t have much time I would’ve definitely loved to explore  the plateau more as it has a bit of wildlife too. It was already 11’o clock and I needed to go to office also, so it was time for me to descend back. It took hardly any time for me to climb down and I started my journey from the place it left. Took me 2 and half hours to reach Pune with lots of breaks. I was back at office and life felt complicated all over again.

With such great start on the first day of the year this will surely be a year of unforgettable experiences and fulfilment of many other unrealised dreams !!