We were stranded on a football shaped massive circular rock,confused,worried, horrified; figuring out how to proceed towards Ladder. Due to its curvature, it was very difficult to locate a firm surface where we could put our feet and descend. It was such a confusing rock patch which otherwise certainly demanded rope for safety. Standing about thousand feet from mean sea level on the edge of a valley, this rock seemed the biggest challenge of this Bhimashankar trek. 

There was a deep valley straight below and we had to go towards the left side of the rock to reach the ladder.The view from top was astonishing but nobody was in the mood to take photographs.Strong wind was making our task difficult. We had to crawl sticking to a rock like a lizard without any support.Small mistake would take us directly into the valley where it would be difficult to even find our body! 

As a trek leader and experienced trekker, Sachin had taken the risk and went down from the right side of the rock, trapping his both legs between a vertical wall of rock and a vertical hill. He had injured himself due to friction between his skin and the surface of rock which had taken away his part of skin. He somehow managed to land on a firm safe place. But that was not the right path as he came to know after reaching below that rock. He suggested we come down from the left side only. Milind sir was getting angry and worried at the same time as he was opposing the idea of going down to base village via Shidi ghat.While going down slowly his rucksack got locked between his back and rock. Imagine you are at the 3 O’clock mark in a circular wall clock and you have to reach till 5 O’clock mark and proceed towards your left. Bag and you are under a large gravity force which is constantly pulling both of you down! As it was a circular portion,we had to crawl making a face front and back and hip sticking to rock, sitting and holding rock with hands at both sides. At one point of time Milind Sir was not able to go ahead or come back; he was trapped. Little wrong movement would loosen his grip and he would lose contact with rock and what worse we couldn’t ever imagine that would happen. At that moment, I remembered my father; he had scolded me, ‘Why don’t you take term insurance as you always risk your life by going on stupid activities like trekking and bungee jumping etc.’ But everybody was silent and worried about Milind Sir.

Earlier this day:

After the last monsoon trek, we hadn’t gone on any trek. During tea break and lunch break in the office Milind Sir was constantly suggesting going on trek. But this time I was thinking of going on trip rather than trek,accordingly I convinced him to go on a long trip instead of a one day trek,visiting the southern part of Kokan,visiting undiscovered places, walking on virgin beaches was on my mind .He also agreed to visit his village near Sindhudurg and do scuba diving and other activities. But he stressed that organizing such a long trip would require some early preparations- like booking train tickets, booking hotels. Getting leave in the office at the same time for all would be a little difficult,hence we decided to go to Bhimashankar trek on 31^st December of 2017;a perfect way to end the year!

Going on Bhimashankar trek has been on my trek list for a long time. It was decided not to involve or invite many people,planning to avoid amateur trekkers.There should be such a number of people that all can fit in one car and go without much preparation. After gathering information on the internet, we came to know that Bhimashankar is a long trek; it would take around 4 hours to ascend and more than 2 hours to descend if everything goes well.From Navi Mumbai it would take around two and half hours to reach the base village called Khandas.Hence we had decided to leave Navi Mumbai at around 5 early in the morning. Atmaram and Ashok stay at western line and it would be very difficult for them to reach Navi Mumbai at 5 in the morning.

“Why don’t you come to my home to stay the night before?” Sachin suggested.

Atma and Ashok agreed and I had no choice but to join them.I reached Kurla station at around 10.30 PM.Within 10 minutes Atmaram and Ashok came.Catching the next local ,we reached Sachin’s place at around 11.45 PM. 

Over that week,I was having pain in my left heel below my ankle.The pain was intermittent with varying degree.Due to which I had already stopped doing my routine morning exercise.I was not sure whether I would be able to complete this Bhimashankar trek or not.Sachin gave me some local brand ointment which I applied on my heel and slept.

Trek day:

I woke up at around 3.30 AM,freshened up and had a bath.Having ginger tea made by Sachin,we were ready to leave.As decided Milind Sir had reached Sachin’s place at around 4.45 AM and we left exactly at 5 AM, sticking to our  plan. We traveled to the base village via Chouk and Karjat.On the way, near Karjat, one could spot N.D. Studio.We promised each other that we would visit this place in future. We reached the base village Khandas at around 8.30 AM.

After Identifying safe place for the car,we immediately started the trek.

We were ascending via the Ganesh ghat route as it is the easiest way to reach the top. There were intermittent dense forests and a number of open plateaus. As it was 31^st December we were the only group going for trek.The route is scenic and thrilling, offering splendid views. We were walking without taking any rest, clicking photos ;capturing videos.

After walking a while,I observed one strange thing ; there was a large rock lying on a trek path on which many sentences had been written with white color, probably using lime. Generally ,it is a common scene at many places that people express their love by writing their name which indeed is a cheap thing, but this was different.As we moved forward we found number of such rocks.At one point it seemed horrifying; depicting some old horror movie scene having thick forest and pin drop silence and only 5 of us trapped in the middle of jungle. We tried to figure out the meaning of sentences linking different lines from different rocks. Some frustrated persons had written their family problems on rocks, threatening to kill each other. Cursing them ,we kept moving further.

At the plane plateau we stopped for breakfast as Milind sir had brought many things from home like bananas, boiled eggs,bhel etc.

We reached the top at around 12.30 PM.Bhimashankar is one of the Jyotirlingas in Maharashtra and considered as a holy place.One can reach directly to the top using a vehicle from other side.There is a well built road. 

My heel was paining like hell.I was not in the mood to visit the temple as it is located little down below to which you have to trek down many steps.

Eventually I went as everybody was insisting.On the way,at both sides there were lots of shops selling flowers and sweets. 

I removed my shoes, washed my legs and spreaded pain relief spray and I sat for a while. There were a large number of people in the queue at the entrance hence we decided to get blessings from outside. Bhimashankar forest area is considered as home for many trees of Ayurvedic medicines. Many shops were selling these medicines guaranteeing 100% cure for a variety of old diseases like diabetes, epilepsy etc.

After darshan, we immediately headed for lunch. We heard there is a good hotel called Kshitij.We ordered Pithle Bhakri,Shev bhaji and had mindful lunch.

It was around 3 PM we started descending down.We were walking rapidly as we wanted to reach the base village before sunset. 

After descending half distance there was a hut-like shed where a young local boy was selling buttermilk,lemon water. From that point, one route goes down via Ganesh ghat and other via Shidi ghat. Earlier in the morning we had ascended through Ganesh Ghat. Suddenly four of us agreed to proceed down via Shidi ghat as Ganesh Ghat involved a longer walk. But Rajesh -the boy selling buttermilk, had warned us ‘if we go now by Shidi ghat ,we would not reach the place where our car had parked as this route ends at a different point from where we had to walk for about 2 km to reach the car.’ We turned a deaf ear to him and were excited to go down by Shidi as we hadn’t experienced any thrill since morning.

After walking around 500 m,We were stranded on a football shaped massive circular rock,confused,worried, horrified; figuring out how to proceed towards Ladder. Due to its curvature, it was very difficult to locate a firm surface where we could put our feet and descend. It was such a confusing rock patch which otherwise certainly demanded rope for safety. Standing about thousand feet from mean sea level on the edge of a valley, this rock seemed the biggest challenge of this Bhimashankar trek. 

There was a deep valley straight below and we had to go towards the left side of the rock to reach the ladder.The view from top was astonishing but nobody was in the mood to take photographs. 

At that moment I remembered my father who had scolded me, ‘Why don’t you take term insurance as you always risk your life by going on stupid activities like trekking and bungee jumping etc.’ 

Everybody was silent and worried about Milind Sir.After some time,we saw local villagers coming up from ladders.They seemed husband-wife and it was their usual route to Bhimashankar temple.They guided us to pass this rock patch.They were climbing easily with bare slippers without hesitation which boosted our confidence.We all felt that God had sent us these two rescuers. Milind sir had controlled himself and tried the right path. After scaling down the rock, he safely landed at the ladder place.Slowly and carefully one by one all went down .I was the last person to pass the rock.

This path was really thrilling, my pain in my heel had vanished and I was enjoying this path. It was really risky though. The ladder was not well maintained.We were carefully crossing these ladders ,at one point we saw one rungs of the ladder had broken away and they had tied using simple rope.They were extremely  narrow. Only one person could merely walk on its path. Finally we all safely scaled down ladders .When I saw ladders from below I almost fainted. I was surprised how it was standing on its place firmly without failing or breaking .The ladder of around 50m had supported only at the center portion, vulnerable to vibrate and sway laterally. Being a civil engineer, I would never pass this type of construction.We felt that the ladder could break anytime soon and would fall deep into the valley.

When walking on relatively simple terrain after crossing Shidi(ladder),everybody was thinking about those two villagers and who were true Shankar-Parvati for us and I felt that it is always the God who comes first rather than term insurance.

Even though we came down using these ladders, there was still a long distance remaining. We were walking speedily as we wanted to reach the car early. But the trek was so lengthy that at one point of time I was tired of walking. 

Eventually we reached down but at different points. After asking local people, we came to know that we had to walk towards the left side using a rough road path to reach the car.

It was an altogether different experience. After reaching Mumbai the next day ,I inquired about term insurance and have taken insurance from ICICI.