Korigad (Lonavla Region)
1st Aug 2009
Korigad in the monsoons – near INS Shivaji in Lonavla. A beautiful drive through mist with visibility down to about 5 feet in parts.
Ashok picks me up at 6:40 am, we drive down to Ramakrishna’s in Lonavla for rava onion dosais and chai. Past Bushi dam, on to the misty plateau where Korigad is situated. This early in the morning there are hardly any signs of life, as opposed to the return drive at noon when we have to skillfully negotiate the thronging millions of nature lovers. But now we have the road and the hills to ourselves… except for an occasional ghost-like royal enfield parked in the mist by the road, or an impatient Innova wanting to overtake us. A cotton candy man walks up, cutting across the hairpin bends of the road along well used short cuts. The bunch of pink cotton candies on his back making a striking contrast with the lush greens through the mist.
Ashok curses liberally as he strains to see through the mist. He is not amused by my pointing out cotton candy men and bikes in the mist: “I’m trying to keep us alive here” he growls.
In the year since my last visit, more wayside shacks seem to have cropped up. At this early hour they are silent, their palm thatched roofs and mud walls merging into the landscape without offending the senses.
We pass the signs for Koraai Mata Mandir.. the trail is hot now… Ashok recollects the base village name as Ambaavne. The temple and the town are to the left of the road. It’s a small temple, painted pale pink on the conical dome, and white below. Sign on the left of the road declaring Peth-Shahpur – aha, that rings a bell now. We park just ahead of the sign and start up the trail.
First 15 mins of flatish walk on a red mud trail, with small streams weaving in and out. Then the Ambe valley uglies – a couple of dead end roads, a new bungalow under construction right at the base of the hill… I wonder what this will mean to future Korigad hikes… Will access be claimed as private property? The grabbing tentacles of development will wrap around this beautiful landscape – question is how soon?
For now we are still the lone hikers. We climb up in peace. 35 mins to the plateau at the top, with photo stops for ferns and crab and wild flowers and valley view, past the view point with railings and a ganesh temple and a cave. The ponds I saw last time were shrouded in mist, and I had got the impression that they were huge.. now see that they are not so big after all. No mist on the top today. We wander through the plateau which I had not explored last time (as having 3 wet bedraggled children in tow was not conducive to wandering windy misty plateaus). Find the fort wall and walk along it anti-clockwise. By now my cell phone camera has given up. Ah well – will have to go again sometime for the rest of the photos.
The wall traces a parabola – we walk to the “high” point on the parabola. A large bird, white on the underside, glides in the wind and disappears in the mist.
It’s a sheer drop from where I’m sitting on the wall, to the steep valley on the opposite side of our trail. I watch a black and white swallow as it is caught and buffeted sideways by the currents above this valley. The mist can’t make up its mind – the valley below keeps disappearing and emerging. There’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be right now.
Walk back along the other leg of the parabola, the side of Peth Shahpur, the road and the trail we came up, not very far below. It is a small hill but incredibly beautiful especially while wearing monsoon greens.
On the flat trail back, hordes of hikers are going up (are we glad we are done with the hike!). First we pass a couple of all-male groups. “Sir, is this the right way up?” asks a young man in his early twenties, addressing a frowning, irate Ashok. I grin. Another out of shape one wants to know how far? Is the trail easy? (Disproving the myth that men never stop to ask for directions! The staunch might still insist that “real” men never do…. but we’ll not debate that point.) Then there are the co-ed groups stopped to take Titanic-like photos on a rock, amidst much squealing and leg pulling. A cell phone radio (blasted things!) is blaring popular bollywood songs. The final group we pass is an all-female group – of about 6 girls/women, again with a cell phone radio to keep them in touch with civilization in this wilderness. One of them is wearing armfuls of red and white plastic bangles – of the newly married variety. I am impressed that the new bride has taken off into the wilderness with her girl-friends. Ashok half-heartedly suggests that she has been “let go”… Hmm – she looks rather pleased with herself – perhaps she’s done the dumping 😉
