Luminous Day, Twinkling Night, and Incredible Six

Since the last trek that is in the month of October, we had not been anywhere. We all got bored by sitting at home so we planned to go for one-day picnic atleast. We searched for the destination, which could have been completed in one day. The most suited name, which strikes me, was Karnala or Rajmachi. We all zeroed down to Rajmachi, which is simple walking trek. Rajmachi being a hill station experiences very pleasant climate. During summers (April-June), it is temperate, and in winters (November-February), it is a bit colder. June to September is the monsoon seasons. It offers medium to heavy rainfalls. Best time to visit is any time in a year; monsoons may be avoided, as the rugged mountain roads can be slippery. Summers and post monsoons are good for trekking.

Manasi, Minal and Madhavi (new member in our group) started their day early in the morning coz they have had to reach Karjat on time. We (Pranav, Abhijeet and myself) met at Karjat station at 7.45 am. This may had been early morning for Abhijeet who has habit to sleep until late. We kept talking (let me correct myself guessing) about our new member in the train from Karjat to Lonavala. At last boys are always boys! We gathered at Lonavala station, had some breakfast, and collected some food for afternoon. Thanks to the Abhjeet's friend – Nilesh who dropped us till the bottom of the hill. Journey so far was brisk. We were aware that this trek was simple but a long walk involved in it. We kept walking on the plain route enjoying the site seeing and tittle-tattle. Madhavi - An aspiring trekker who is not used to for such a long walk got tired very soon but hats off to her elation that kept her motivated. Minal was very much excited; this helped her to move on. The sun was hot and we were all sweating. After a long walk, we reached at a temple, took a small break there, and had Kokam Sarbat- desi enery drink, which helped a lot in further way. After almost five hrs of walking, we reached at top of Rajmachi. A cool breeze helped us to coup up our fatigue. At the top nothing to view, accept the Sahyadri lines. There are only destroyed parts of Rajmachi, this made Manasi very annoyed. She showed her anger in words, "Kutrasarakha Chalun kay bhagital tar bhagna awashesh" (we walked like dogs to see this destroyed parts). We took a small break of half an hour and started our return journey.

The second half of this journey was more excited. The clock stroked 5.00 pm when we reached at the village at the base of the fort. We had very little time left in our hand coz we have to cover atleast half a distance before sunset. We do not have torches but we kept faith on our gut feelings and on moon light so we moved on. Unfortunately, we have very less photographs of return journey. The expressions on everybody's faces were amazing, fear, curiosity, excitement, all mixture of emotions. We reached at a plateau from where the setting sun was looking astonishing. We could not resist our selves and stopped their in spite of lesser time. We enjoyed the sunset with some food.

The sun dipped behind the silhouette of the hill leaving a crimson glow, while the lapwings cried out on their way home "did you do it did you do it". The jungle as slowly settling down while the creatures of the night took over the realm of the dark. As the time kept passing, the surrounding became darker. At last, the rising of the crescent moon broke the darkness. The solitude in the air and nocturnal calls of the wild synchronized with the darkness bringing out a passionate feeling for both heart and mind. The jungle was communicating with silence of the dark. When we experienced life reverberating in physical, chemical and biological domain of Rajmachi, we were forced to judge as to what is a purer form of life; is it the shimmering water or the blue sky or the green expanse spread in the region!

To roam around the dark jungle was my long wish, which had fulfilled as I got a change to stay in the Rajmachi jungle in night. I am frightened of neither darkness nor the other things like bhoot, night creatures etc but I am very much frightened of snakes. However, I have to extol myself because I made efforts to come up this fear while walking through the dark jungle. I have to confess that at one point I was afraid when I got confused between the ways. Many thoughts stroke my mind like are we on the right track. What will happen if we do not find the way? Do we have to stay in jungle? in addition, many more. However, I swiped all the thoughts from my mind and started moving ahead as we do not have any other option. We were all walking keeping our fingers cross so that we can get the right way. We kept all our faith on arrow marks so when we were unable to find an arrow for long time, then Minal became anxious but she was fighting her fear with her tittle-tattle. At the same time she was very much ecstatic, thrilled about all happenings. Pranav was helping Madhavi and Manasi with the way. He himself kept falling many times, which made us laugh numerous times. Manasi and Minal were so scared that they just kept quite all the way until we reached at village. We tried to make them speak, chuckle many times but they did not even respond. Only Abijeet was intrepid and took decisions judiciously. After lots of struggle in the darkess n with each other's help, we manage to reach down in the village. That was the exact time of our relaxation…the mind, body and soul was pleased by seeing the people around.
We left Castle Rock with fond nostalgic memories . as the road ahead beckoned us .. for ahead those riding days and jungle nights will live on forever. There is something in the air that brings you back to the jungle again and again.

thats y a poet says:
I I took a walk through the jungle and what did I see -
Here was a swinging monkey right in front of me -

I took a walk through the jungle and what did I see -
Here was a roaring lion right in front of me -

I took a walk through the jungle and what did I see -
Here was a slithering snake right in front of me -

I took a walk through the jungle and what did I see -
Here was a racing cheetah right in front of me -

I'll never forget my walk through the jungle -
But now it's time to go home and just be me –