Pride Comes Before a Fall : Harishchandragadh 2006
26 January 2006. It was exactly 5 years since my first entry into Canada as a Landed Immigrant - see my blog post at http://taccidentalimmigrant.blogspot.com/2012/07/welcome-to-canada.html .
If I was superstitious, perhaps I should have been a little more cautious. But being gifted with a reckless nonchalance I did not even think about it. I had other things on my mind. The night was cool, there was hardly any light to go by, and the descent to the col of Tolar khind on Harishchandragadh needed all my attention.
Following close on my heels was S.R.Vasudevan, an old colleague from Air India and Ravi Wadaskar with whom I had shared two great mountain adventures in Kinnaur ( see : http://taccidental.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-chango-chronicles-1998-third-time.html )and Ladakh . Earlier in the afternoon we had parked the old Mahindra jeep in the village of Khireshwar at the base of Harishchandragadh. We had then hiked up to the summit of the fort with only one stop along the way, on the rock steps above Tolar Khind.
Since we were carrying very light loads, the ascent took us an hour and fifty minutes only and we were mighty pleased with ourselves. Vasu declared himself to be overjoyed that he had made it in such a fast time - "Not bad for a pair of jokers over 50!" Obviously I was the other joker since Ravi was considerably younger than us. I agreed and let the cool breeze on the summit dry my shirt as I proceeded to take pictures as the sun was setting. We tarried a while before beginning the descent.
But as the old saying goes :"Pride comes before a fall". I had hiked up to and camped on Harishchandragdh many times and so perhaps I was becoming over confident. The very first time that I had come to Harishchandragadh was about 25 years ago. With my wife Margaret and some other friends, we had walked from Malegaon phata for two days via the villages of Ambit and Pachnai, camping on the banks of the Mula river in the night before reaching the plateau where the temple is situated. We had spent a full day exploring the hill, marvelling at the sheer concave drop of the cliff of Konkan Kada, where we flung and watched the bunches of wild and vibrant yellow Graham's Groundsel soar up in the stiff updraught.
Some years later I had watched a slide presentation (by Vasant Limaye) of the first climb of Konkan Kada by a team from IIT, Mumbai. I had hiked up with the evergreen Kersi Dastur and Franco Linhares in May 2004 and I was very impressed when Kersi served up fried eggs for breakfast in the morning!
I had gone up and down Harishchandragadh in every season, therefore my guard had slipped. Now, in the semi darkness I was making my way down with the help of my little Petzl headlamp when, apparently for no reason at all, I stumbled and found myself launched into the air as if from the mouth of a cannon. Instinctively I covered my bald head with my hands, curled myself into a tight ball and waited for the impact which I knew was coming in a split second. I landed hard on my back, slid and knocked my skull on what I knew immediately was rock, and I felt for sure that this time I was going to die. I was scheduled to leave for Vancouver in two weeks to rejoin my family and I told myself that this was not happening, this was an awful nightmare from which I should awake shortly. The gods must have had pity on me : I came to a sudden jarring stop in a clump of dry, thorny bushes. I lay supine for some time, moaning in pain, completely winded. Then I heard voices, the voices of Ravi and Vasu, yelling my name in the darkness. I responded feebly and tried to sit up. Miraculously, I did not seem to have broken any limb, but one side of my forehead had sustained two gashes but otherwise my cranium felt intact. Ravi soon climbed down to where I lay and gave me some water to sip. The liquid helped the shock to subside. After ten minutes or so I tottered to my feet, clambered back up to the trail and we continued down to Khireshwar village. Once more I had had an accident, and once more I had lived to tell the tale.
Am I just plain clumsy? Am I unfit to tramp around in the hills and mountains? Have I been put under some evil spell? Do I secretly harbour a death wish? Should I stop hiking and climbing? I have asked myself these questions an umpteen number of times. Not finding any satisfactory answers, I have always done the next best thing: hit the trail again!
That night I insisted on driving the jeep borrowed from my friend Rajan from Khireshwar and down the Malshej Ghat - this has always been one of my favourite roads in the Sahyadri and I wasn't going to let a little accident deprive me of that supreme pleasure! Vasu took over after that and both he and Ravi got off at Chembur, leaving me again to drive home to Wadala where I was living temporarily in a friend's vacant apartment. As I parked the jeep on the road at around 1 am, a van full of policemen cruised slowly by. I hid my battered face as I pretended to unload my vehicle slowly; I was sure that if any of them shone their torches at me, the drying blood on my forehead, my torn shirt and pants would immediately cause enough suspicion to warrant an arrest - after all, we live in a paranoid society in these troubled times!
Ten days later I was hiking to spend the night at Basgadh, near Trimbakeshwar, with my brother Raj and his wife Sushma and my old hiking friend Franklyn. It was to be my Farewell to the Sahyadri hike before I settled down in Canada for good! Such is the hypnotic draw of hiking in that wonderful part of the Western Ghats to which I had been, yes, you are correct, accidentally introduced by my wife Margaret decades ago in March of 1978!
This blog will attempt to recapture some of the magic of those golden years of hiking in the Sahyadri....stay tuned!
If I was superstitious, perhaps I should have been a little more cautious. But being gifted with a reckless nonchalance I did not even think about it. I had other things on my mind. The night was cool, there was hardly any light to go by, and the descent to the col of Tolar khind on Harishchandragadh needed all my attention.
Following close on my heels was S.R.Vasudevan, an old colleague from Air India and Ravi Wadaskar with whom I had shared two great mountain adventures in Kinnaur ( see : http://taccidental.blogspot.ca/2014/02/the-chango-chronicles-1998-third-time.html )and Ladakh . Earlier in the afternoon we had parked the old Mahindra jeep in the village of Khireshwar at the base of Harishchandragadh. We had then hiked up to the summit of the fort with only one stop along the way, on the rock steps above Tolar Khind.
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| Map of area by the late Arun Samant for Harish Kapadia's "Trek the Sahyadris" (5th Edition) |
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| Vasu (left) and Ravi pause to eat oranges on the way up. |
Since we were carrying very light loads, the ascent took us an hour and fifty minutes only and we were mighty pleased with ourselves. Vasu declared himself to be overjoyed that he had made it in such a fast time - "Not bad for a pair of jokers over 50!" Obviously I was the other joker since Ravi was considerably younger than us. I agreed and let the cool breeze on the summit dry my shirt as I proceeded to take pictures as the sun was setting. We tarried a while before beginning the descent.
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| Ravi Wadaskar and I on Harishchandragadh |
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| The great prow of Napta (left of centre) is distinctive in the fading light. |
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| Vasu is all smiles on top of Harishchandragadh |
But as the old saying goes :"Pride comes before a fall". I had hiked up to and camped on Harishchandragdh many times and so perhaps I was becoming over confident. The very first time that I had come to Harishchandragadh was about 25 years ago. With my wife Margaret and some other friends, we had walked from Malegaon phata for two days via the villages of Ambit and Pachnai, camping on the banks of the Mula river in the night before reaching the plateau where the temple is situated. We had spent a full day exploring the hill, marvelling at the sheer concave drop of the cliff of Konkan Kada, where we flung and watched the bunches of wild and vibrant yellow Graham's Groundsel soar up in the stiff updraught.
 |
| Girl Power at Konkan Kada! Margaret (left), Violet (middle) and Hazel (right) threw flowers into the abyss. Franklyn tried hard to stop going over the edge! 1981. |
Some years later I had watched a slide presentation (by Vasant Limaye) of the first climb of Konkan Kada by a team from IIT, Mumbai. I had hiked up with the evergreen Kersi Dastur and Franco Linhares in May 2004 and I was very impressed when Kersi served up fried eggs for breakfast in the morning!
 |
| Franco Linhares follows Kersi Dastur to the top of Harishchandragadh |
I had gone up and down Harishchandragadh in every season, therefore my guard had slipped. Now, in the semi darkness I was making my way down with the help of my little Petzl headlamp when, apparently for no reason at all, I stumbled and found myself launched into the air as if from the mouth of a cannon. Instinctively I covered my bald head with my hands, curled myself into a tight ball and waited for the impact which I knew was coming in a split second. I landed hard on my back, slid and knocked my skull on what I knew immediately was rock, and I felt for sure that this time I was going to die. I was scheduled to leave for Vancouver in two weeks to rejoin my family and I told myself that this was not happening, this was an awful nightmare from which I should awake shortly. The gods must have had pity on me : I came to a sudden jarring stop in a clump of dry, thorny bushes. I lay supine for some time, moaning in pain, completely winded. Then I heard voices, the voices of Ravi and Vasu, yelling my name in the darkness. I responded feebly and tried to sit up. Miraculously, I did not seem to have broken any limb, but one side of my forehead had sustained two gashes but otherwise my cranium felt intact. Ravi soon climbed down to where I lay and gave me some water to sip. The liquid helped the shock to subside. After ten minutes or so I tottered to my feet, clambered back up to the trail and we continued down to Khireshwar village. Once more I had had an accident, and once more I had lived to tell the tale.
Am I just plain clumsy? Am I unfit to tramp around in the hills and mountains? Have I been put under some evil spell? Do I secretly harbour a death wish? Should I stop hiking and climbing? I have asked myself these questions an umpteen number of times. Not finding any satisfactory answers, I have always done the next best thing: hit the trail again!
 |
| The gap of Tolar Khind can be seen above and to the left of Franklyn |
That night I insisted on driving the jeep borrowed from my friend Rajan from Khireshwar and down the Malshej Ghat - this has always been one of my favourite roads in the Sahyadri and I wasn't going to let a little accident deprive me of that supreme pleasure! Vasu took over after that and both he and Ravi got off at Chembur, leaving me again to drive home to Wadala where I was living temporarily in a friend's vacant apartment. As I parked the jeep on the road at around 1 am, a van full of policemen cruised slowly by. I hid my battered face as I pretended to unload my vehicle slowly; I was sure that if any of them shone their torches at me, the drying blood on my forehead, my torn shirt and pants would immediately cause enough suspicion to warrant an arrest - after all, we live in a paranoid society in these troubled times!
Ten days later I was hiking to spend the night at Basgadh, near Trimbakeshwar, with my brother Raj and his wife Sushma and my old hiking friend Franklyn. It was to be my Farewell to the Sahyadri hike before I settled down in Canada for good! Such is the hypnotic draw of hiking in that wonderful part of the Western Ghats to which I had been, yes, you are correct, accidentally introduced by my wife Margaret decades ago in March of 1978!
This blog will attempt to recapture some of the magic of those golden years of hiking in the Sahyadri....stay tuned!
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| The temple at Harishchandragadh |
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| Paradise Flycatcher at Tolar Khind |
NIce pictures and Nice Blog Aloke. Couldn't recognize Margarate in that pictures. She looks stunning tho. Miss you guys and miss Van.
ReplyDeleteYou've told me the story personally several times,but pictures and a liberal dash of "MOUNTAINEER-TREK SPEECH",maketh all the difference!Looking forward to more tales of the mountains!
ReplyDeleteI remember all the treks that we have done togather to Harishchandragad and reading this blog brings back pleasant memories of those days.
ReplyDeleteLoved reading your trek experience. Have shared it with other trekkers. Please do keep sharing
ReplyDelete