Sugar and spice and all things nice.......
That's what girls(and women) are made up of!!
International Women's day was celebrated on 8th March and I had a great time with my sisters.I had registered myself for a Women's special trek to Arnala fort,Virar with the Shikharvedh group.It was my first trek with this group and as always I was very excited.
Reached the Virar station and met up with the group leader,a sweet and dashing Supriya Chaudhary and the rest of the gang.We had breakfast at a nearby restaurant where we had the mandatory misal-pav and wada-idli sambar with garam chai.We took a local bus to Arnala and had a stop-over at a local trekker's humble abode.her house was a typical village house and we saw jack-fruit trees,chikoo trees and papaya trees growing in her backyard.Reminded me so much of my visits to my sisters place at Dapoli, Ratnagiri. So,after a while we walked the narrow lanes to reach the sea-shore.As we neared the sea the strong smell of fish hit us and I was surprised to see the large number of ferries and little boats in the waters.We waited a while and joined a large number of people trying to get into the little boat.I really thought we all would soon topple over but we didn't.To get into the boat we had to take off out shoes and socks as we waded into the water to climb in.We reached there within a few minutes and after we waded back on the other side of the shore after the boat-ride I hurriedly put on my footwear as the scorching heat had mad the sands too hot to bear.Again we walked through the quaint,unassuming village to reach the fort.There were many processions we passed as it was a day of wedding celebrations.Bands played typical koli music and I could not stop myself from joining in the dance with the local koli women.How happy they were to see me join them!
Our group of 21 reached the fort.We had a lone male member with us. Jagdish had joined us at the last moment as another woman leader could not make it.The poor fellow was lugging a huge bag around and I felt sorry when he said it was a souvenir for us trekkers.We had a photo session at the entrance of the fort and explored the whole fort.The fort restoration was in progress and i saw that the fort was crumbling at places.There was an outer fortification and large open area inside.As in the other forts,this one too had huge arches and openings.There was a temple,a well and a mosque within the precincts of the fort. Exploration done,we sat inside the temple for lunch.After that we had a hilarious round of dumb charades.I can never forget Sangeeta's enactment of the film- Bhadakti Jawaani and when it was my turn I enacted -Prithviraj Chauhan aur Sanyukta ki Prem kahaani.....seriously,never ever heard of such a film!!!We lazed around and played antakshari for a while.We had a super voice among us-Shobhana,the youngest trekker among us.Shikharvedh group presented each of us a mug with a lovely message on it (at last Jagdish could heave a sigh of relief, his load was lighter!)and we resumed our walk towards the sea for some group games on the sands.
We had a great time during the group games.We played Dog and the bone and Ram-Ravan game.A few of us even had terrible falls in the sand as it was really so difficult to run in the sand.The best thing was the total confusion created in the Ram-Ravan game,we didn't know whether we had to run and save ourselves or catch the others.....total siyapaa!!!This brought us to the last leg of our simple and short trek.We took the ferry back to the other shore and clamoured into the crowded bus.There was a huge queue at the bus-stand and it was surprising to see that there is such a large population even at these far-off villages.I was beginning to have a splitting headache and I was not alone.Felt so much better when we halted for tea and snacks at a restaurant near Virar station.Everyone ordered samosa-pav or batata-wada pav and tea.We freshened up and caught the fast local.Had a great time on the return journey as we had a bit of bargaining with a vendor who sold chains and bangles and also had tasty bhel.We bid our good-byes as we reached our respective destinations.
All in all it was a simple yet rejuvenating trek.I am glad it was not a strenuous trek as I was too tired and exhausted to challenge myself with any difficult trek.(due to with my late nights,paper-checking,orchestras,movies and plays that week) I am sure I will be joining Shikharvedh some time soon for another trek.Felt nice to be with the same sex for a change....enables us to open up some more than we normally would.Made a couple of new friends and hope to meet them again.
That's what girls(and women) are made up of!!
International Women's day was celebrated on 8th March and I had a great time with my sisters.I had registered myself for a Women's special trek to Arnala fort,Virar with the Shikharvedh group.It was my first trek with this group and as always I was very excited.
Reached the Virar station and met up with the group leader,a sweet and dashing Supriya Chaudhary and the rest of the gang.We had breakfast at a nearby restaurant where we had the mandatory misal-pav and wada-idli sambar with garam chai.We took a local bus to Arnala and had a stop-over at a local trekker's humble abode.her house was a typical village house and we saw jack-fruit trees,chikoo trees and papaya trees growing in her backyard.Reminded me so much of my visits to my sisters place at Dapoli, Ratnagiri. So,after a while we walked the narrow lanes to reach the sea-shore.As we neared the sea the strong smell of fish hit us and I was surprised to see the large number of ferries and little boats in the waters.We waited a while and joined a large number of people trying to get into the little boat.I really thought we all would soon topple over but we didn't.To get into the boat we had to take off out shoes and socks as we waded into the water to climb in.We reached there within a few minutes and after we waded back on the other side of the shore after the boat-ride I hurriedly put on my footwear as the scorching heat had mad the sands too hot to bear.Again we walked through the quaint,unassuming village to reach the fort.There were many processions we passed as it was a day of wedding celebrations.Bands played typical koli music and I could not stop myself from joining in the dance with the local koli women.How happy they were to see me join them!
Our group of 21 reached the fort.We had a lone male member with us. Jagdish had joined us at the last moment as another woman leader could not make it.The poor fellow was lugging a huge bag around and I felt sorry when he said it was a souvenir for us trekkers.We had a photo session at the entrance of the fort and explored the whole fort.The fort restoration was in progress and i saw that the fort was crumbling at places.There was an outer fortification and large open area inside.As in the other forts,this one too had huge arches and openings.There was a temple,a well and a mosque within the precincts of the fort. Exploration done,we sat inside the temple for lunch.After that we had a hilarious round of dumb charades.I can never forget Sangeeta's enactment of the film- Bhadakti Jawaani and when it was my turn I enacted -Prithviraj Chauhan aur Sanyukta ki Prem kahaani.....seriously,never ever heard of such a film!!!We lazed around and played antakshari for a while.We had a super voice among us-Shobhana,the youngest trekker among us.Shikharvedh group presented each of us a mug with a lovely message on it (at last Jagdish could heave a sigh of relief, his load was lighter!)and we resumed our walk towards the sea for some group games on the sands.
We had a great time during the group games.We played Dog and the bone and Ram-Ravan game.A few of us even had terrible falls in the sand as it was really so difficult to run in the sand.The best thing was the total confusion created in the Ram-Ravan game,we didn't know whether we had to run and save ourselves or catch the others.....total siyapaa!!!This brought us to the last leg of our simple and short trek.We took the ferry back to the other shore and clamoured into the crowded bus.There was a huge queue at the bus-stand and it was surprising to see that there is such a large population even at these far-off villages.I was beginning to have a splitting headache and I was not alone.Felt so much better when we halted for tea and snacks at a restaurant near Virar station.Everyone ordered samosa-pav or batata-wada pav and tea.We freshened up and caught the fast local.Had a great time on the return journey as we had a bit of bargaining with a vendor who sold chains and bangles and also had tasty bhel.We bid our good-byes as we reached our respective destinations.
All in all it was a simple yet rejuvenating trek.I am glad it was not a strenuous trek as I was too tired and exhausted to challenge myself with any difficult trek.(due to with my late nights,paper-checking,orchestras,movies and plays that week) I am sure I will be joining Shikharvedh some time soon for another trek.Felt nice to be with the same sex for a change....enables us to open up some more than we normally would.Made a couple of new friends and hope to meet them again.
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