The Prabal trouble persists

So it had to be a Sunday in winter for us to embark upon the mission to conquer Prabalgad & Kalavantin durg. Back in June this year, our mission to conquer these two peaks turned out to be a complete disaster. This time we were 6 of us - Tushar Rane, Tushar Jahagirdar, Zian, Sugandh, Chanchal and me. We did not have girl power last time, perhaps that was the reason for our failure ;) (Chanchal and Sugandh just giving you accolades for completing the trek so wonderfully)

We reached the base village when the sun started rising above our head and mercury matching its rise. Bright sky, very dry and sunny day it was. We started our trek, making sure we take the route on the left (since left was right). The trail was very clear, unlike in June when it had a lot of grass cover. Cameras jumped out of our pockets and started capturing our pics. We kept following the trail, took a halt for pics and at times to view the cone shaped ceilings of a temple we had passed by while reaching. We also noticed the house which had misguided us back then. 

Sunlight was getting a lot harsh and we all felt dehydrated. Very soon out water bottles were empty. We had soft drinks in three flavors - lemon, orange and mango, but we had decided to open it when we reach the plateau. Beyond a point we could not follow our protocol, and all of us had a sip of nimbooz. It was almost noon and we were yet to reach the plateau. Some how we managed to reach the plateau and were completely dehydrated. We approached a villager asking for water. He duly filled all our empty bottles with water which was sweet and cool. He was sweet enough not to charge any money for water but we still paid him some. 

On the way to the plateau we had discovered an interesting love story between Laxman and Manisha. We saw messages and paintings on rocks, tree barks, steps - all with messages saying, "I love you Manisha. I really miss you a lot and I cant live without you." or something similar. As we climbed up, the intensity of these messages increased, so did our curiosity. The last message we noticed was found on a rock was without Manisha. It had the names Laxman and Suresh, making us wonder our imagination. Dostana 2 was in the making, we felt :P

It was very late by the time we reached the plateau and we certainly could not have completed both the peaks in the same day. We decided to go for the relatively shorter and easier peak looking at our injured teammates. So Kalavantin durg it was, our lakshya! As we started the ascend we felt our bodies loosing all the water. It was a tough task reaching up and we all constantly reminded each other not to look below to avoid vertigo. For some reason I wanted to see how it felt looking down the peak. It felt awesome!

We climbed up to the top most point of Kalavantin durg and dejavu - we remembered all the peaks which we had conquered earlier (Lohagad, Ghangad, Gorakhgad and Raigad) and feeling to reach the top and experience the view. The panaromic view from this peak was beautiful and we could see Karnala fort, Haji Malang fort and Matheran as well. It was close to 4 and we were yet to have lunch so we all descended down quickly. We opened our lunch boxes but hunger had already vanished. We packed up and left for base.

Overall this trek had not been great for us. Weather played the biggest spoil sport, tested our endurance level. Somewhere our risk taking abilities were also challenged. Adrenalin rush was certainly missing. We were relatively slow to complete the trek and we did not even climb both peaks. May be in a better weather we would have enjoyed this trek. For now, trouble at Prabal still persists. Yet, I would certainly recommend this trek for all amateur trekkers :)

Quick Facts -

Prabalgad - 2320 feet

Kalavantin durg - 2130 feet

Nearest local railway station and distance - Panvel (17 km)

Base village - Thakurwadi near Shedung phata

Mode of travel - Six seater rickshaw (Tam Tam as we refer) from Panvel S.T. stand

Difficulty (Kalavantin durg ) - Medium

Ideal time from base to plateau (Prabalmachi) - 3 hours

Ideal time to reach Kalavantin durg from Prabalmachi - 45 minutes

Ideal time to visit - June beginning, September ending, January (Rappelling activity is carried out in January. You can rappel from Prabalgad to Kalavantin durg during this time, under the surveillance of the volunteers)

Happy trekking :)

Excited about my first Caaaaaaar

Yes I am :) I am so very happy that I could complete this particular resolution. Just came back after having a look at my car at the showroom. It was being washed, will be polished later and made ready to reach my place on 11.11.11. What makes this day special is my parents' 29th wedding anniversary and the exclusivity of this once in hundred years date! Destiny was certainly at work!

I remember the buying process began last year, when I was having dinner with family. Dad expressed his expectation, of me being the first among all my cousins to buy a car. It would be a great sense of pride for him. But I was not earning enough to afford a car back then so chucked out the idea. Research process did start though, Maruti Wagon R being my earliest preference. One of my best friend, Pushkar, already has this car and he recommended this one considering my financial condition and family requirements. I visited a showroom, had a look and quite liked it too. Few days later I saw the same vehicle as a cab. Ego crept in and I decided not to buy any car which is used a cab. This meant pushing my budget, which was not possible at that moment, so the whole idea had to hibernate.

Year 2011 brought in a good appraisal and soon began a passive research for my car. New Maruti Swift was set for launch by mid 2011 and it was one of the cars I always noticed. It was spacious from inside thus suitable for my family members (Wagon R was not spacious enough for my family). It was not one of those cars which were also used as a cab. It reminds me of Mini Cooper, needless to say the design is inspired by it, and nothing wrong with that. We relocated to New Panvel mid year and thus arose the need of a car for all of us to go together comfortably for social or any other such gatherings.

Then crept in the idea to go for a pre-owned car, so that we all can get used to it and it was less capital intensive as well. I visited a few dealers but was not really convinced by the whole idea. One fine day mom comes across a car loan advertisement from State Bank of India in The Times of India. It was a fantastic offer, felt like it was too good to be true. Car loan of upto 7 years, with upto 85% of on-road price being financed. No processing fee and no pre-payment penalty. EMI of Rs.1725/- per lakh @ 11.25% floating rate, valid till 31st December 2011. Mom suggested to try for this offer and go for a new car itself. I was skeptical at first but when everything seemed manageable we went ahead and booked our car. On Friday, 11th November 2011 a brand new Tata Manza would be mine! (Yes, and not Nissan Sunny)

When Tata came up with this car last year I could not resist noticing it. It looked beautiful from outside and it's features were good too. A good looking sedan which did impress me but was never really a serious contender for my first car until a friend gave me a ride in his Tata Manza roughly 2 months back. Aniket, my MBA batchmate, is a neighbor and we go out to play Badminton on weekends (planning to commence Tennis very soon). On one rainy day he brought his car to pick me up and thus my first encounter with this beauty. It seemed big, good looking from inside, powerful AC, stylish dashboard with integrated music player. The ride was smooth and I just loved it! 

So as soon as I met my loan eligibility criteria, I suggested my family to go for Tata Manza. I asked them to take a ride in Aniket's car and they did; simply loved the car. With a firm decision we approached the showroom and asked for petrol variant. Sales person suggested to go for a diesel variant instead, as it has Fiat engine which is more powerful, has better mileage and fuel costs would not burn our pockets much (Petrol currently @ 72, soon approaching three figures!) We went ahead with the suggestion and chose Tyrian Wine (rich purple shade). Unfortunately this color was only available in top variants and we could not further extend our budget :( After careful consideration we chose to go for Dew White as we did not want any of our vehicle to repeat colours (Bajaj Chetak - steel grey, Hero Honda Super Splendor - red and Honda Activa - black; all these colours eliminated!)

I always loved sedans and had a craving for a big and feature rich first car. We stretched our budget from 4.5 lakh to 7.2 lakh, a big deal for us actually. Really happy with the way this has turned out and eagerly awaiting my Tata Manza, with plans of my next car at the back of mind already (It would be an SUV). 

Do call me for a ride guys, I shall happily oblige :)