The GO Journey

The GO Journey
Mid May 2005
I was busy pumping up those Bulging biceps those days. Regular to the gymnasium, I was putting on in all the right areas. Intermittently a Guy named Nikhil Agharkar used to pop in the gym, do some kind of freak workout & leave us envious, being the proud Owner of those 8pack abs & an awesome Athlete Body. On one of His rare trip to the gym, He asked whether I was interested in a trekking adventure... Wasn't I just waiting for this moment for a long time !!!
A Trek to Harishchandragad was planned, but due to less number of people it got shelved....
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Wait...!!!! How can it end here? This is just the start..
Come June 4th & the trek finally materialised. In front of Me were 2 of My good friends as of now, but who despised My presence @ that time. That's another story though. Aditya was also on his 1st trek with the grp. Uma & Her friend Shruti were the remaining people of which Shruti's presence was a Mystery soon to be solved !!
And so started My GO Journey. The term GO is very audacious & was termed much after, in the January of 2007 by another character who I call as The Grumpy Intellectual :P
The 1st trek- Laughter ensued almost as soon as the initial Hi-Hellos were done. A Laughter derived from the explicit GO language which has come large in all these years, uninterrupted, unchanged & unchallenged !!
A GR8 trek in which The Despising Kaustubh Juvale realised that I was the Fuel to his Fire !!!
( Nikhil, Me, Kaustubh, Anuja, Aditya, Uma & Shruti successfully returned to base)

The next trek 2 Naneghat introduced 3 more permanent characters to this GO family. The Tiny Chiu Dandekar aka Archana, who is now Chiu Juvale !! The Highly Spontaneous & Fiery Sushant Wad aka Susu & Tany the effervescent Tanmay Dikshit, who can talk out anybody as also Eat like Bakasur. Unlike Bakasur, He can eat that much & Continously- "to paryanta Me kahitari khato" is His standard dialogue.

The beautiful Gorakhgad trek followed. Hatti had an interesting time on the descend here. More to follow on this later.

The Mega Torna-Rajgad trek in December '05- This Trek really challenged everybody not in actual terms of climbing capacity but by the mere prospect of climbing Torna by morning, travel the ridge across to Rajgad base by late evening & climb up Rajgad to reach Padmavati mandir all the way around Sanjeevani Machi by midnight. Endurance !!!!

A Himalayan Trek around the Chadrakhani Pass in April-May was a different experience, but unfortunately not all GOs GOOed the Virgin paths.

Then came the weakest Time for Me in this group after an incident on Kothaligad. I descended alone to stay away for over a month from all. A Simple Burial of our behaviour & acceptance of Our mistake by Me & Nikhil paved the way for an inspiring trek partnership which has rooted itself deep for the rest of Our lives. Yes, even Me & Jadi have been better friends after that !! Jadi aka Anuja & lately aka HATTI was the second character who wasn't very pleased on My arrival in the group @ the first.

It was in Dec '06 that one of the most Memorable trek happened for the GOs- Ratangad. Not just due to the mere fun but for many reasons. We travelled by rail, then land, then on water to finally ascend this beauty of a huge rock. The climb up the Nedha & going down the other side on complete scree & finally finding the cave after more than 3hrs, at the same place where we actually entered the fort, just few yards off the gate was an awesome experience !!! The delicious noodles @ night & the record breaking descend without a single food break in the entire 2.5hrs !! An unsuspecting Hatti horrified to find 3-4kg stones in her bag @ Kasara station which had been stoved away in her bag long back @ Shendi, during Her Kolha Hunting break !!

June 2007 introduced Me to Death on Dhak Bahiri...
Me & Nikhil climbed up the entire way up Dhak Bhairi from the rock patch & dry waterfall. 200feet from the cave, I missed the route only to get caught up on a vertical patch with no where to go. No way Up & no place to touch down on a 800ft of vertical rock !!! Nikhil's vision under My legs & My daring to come down 3 feet, body grazing the vertical rock with no support at all is My definition of Near Death experience !!

Gorakhgad part 2 followed- The biggest example of extreme climate change in a matter of seconds & the contrast of it within just 3-4kms across the top of Gorakh is what Me & Nikhil enjoyed, while all the others kept stuttering @ the rock base itself !!! A run down the vertical steps for a final show down with the approaching battery of cloud & rain was an absolutely Adrenaline Pumping experience.

June '07 saw Me miss the 1st edition of 1day Kalsubai trek.
I missed a few more treks in 2007 due to some flop reasons given by My medical advisor. In one of those treks to Harishchandragad, Amruta Khadilkar aka Bombti shouted Her way in the group while Hatti created the Famous "Me kuthe jau ata" scene !!! Hahahahaaa... rather she has many such scenes to Her credit including tha famous one @ Gorakhgad where She spent more than 20mins just figuring out how to get down !!! The actual descend actually took just a min!!!
2008 March produced one of the worst energy sapping treks of all time. Kulanggad- The Highest Vertical climb in Maharashtra drained everybody. The lost route, the frantic search for a new one & the trace back, took a Major toll on Me. Climbing @ the bottom of the group, I stopped some 300feet from the top. With Pavan accompanying Me, His Vertigo accompanying Him, it wasn't a pretty sight as We straggled our way to the top. I had posed stiller than a scare crow on more than a single occasion on that sweat drenching, stone carved structure !! I felt the fear of heights for the 1st time on descend & got caught out on a number of occasions, the worst being handing over My sack to Sushant on a patch where He Himself got down with 2 sacks on & just on His legs, while I struggled even on Fours without any load..

After having missed the 1st edition of Peb killa, i joined in the second time. A group of non GOs had also come this time around- Nikhil's friends precisely. They never bothered to come back on a trek with the GOs!!! Mind you, only 3-4 of the normal GOs were enough to ward them off coming with us. Imagine all of them together.

Sudhagad was the 1st proper rain trek in 2008 which unfortunately I missed, but it introduced a temporary Hatti replacement in the form of Tany's friend. Tany introduced a new form of Golf which involves the use of a wooden stick which directly hits the grassy ground to erupt the topmost layer of Soil to slingshot it almost 10feet across !!! Fun as always :P

Sarasgad which saw the highest number of Girls ever in GO History was GOOed upon in heavy rain 2008. While the initial attempt to hit the top got foiled due to rains & pitch darkness, We soon realized in the morning that the abort decision proved Good. There was no shelter @ the top !!! The biting Mosquitoes were equally hopeless & the base, but then who gets a chance to wrap Your legs with Your Female friend's Speckless White scarf !!! The descend brougt to fore the concept of PACHAK. Pachak is the art of jumping in poodles of water & Chikkhal/Kichad in such a manner that all around Us get the Natural gift. ( It doesn't matter if You yourself get dirty :P ) if I remember right, P1 was @ the receiving end of most of My attacks though I made sure that all were dirtified !!!

I hit a dead end for sometime after 17Aug '08 after my freak jump ruptured My right Knee ACL. Trek to Naneghat followed in this period, while I managed a night out even with a plaster on My leg @ Chiu's place !!

26th Jan '10 was the day on which i finally decided enough was enough with my exile. A single day Trek to Manikgad, with a new Person who is now a permanent Member of GOs who got introduced to GO style treks if not the group itself. Formerly Ashwini Rane, now Ashwini Rane Karmarkar had a taste of what a grand experience it is to trek with the GOs
Manik trek famously labelled SHEE trek was left unconquered by GOs. Something which had never occured earlier had hit the GOs. But GOs did strike back, completing the trek 2 weeks later, ascending from 1 side & descending down the other. Sumit Kane & Aniket Kharadkar had been with the GOs @ 1st Peb also, but it was on Manik that I met them for the 1st time. Sumit met during the 1st attempt on Manik while Aniket met on the 2nd. The 2 Junior most members are always in for an Adventure.

Malanggad in April was a welcome change in terms of the Scene seen from atop the mountain. Heavy White clouds all settled down giving a Majestic experience after what had been a drenching climb even @ night 0330hrs !!!
Yes this so called DCH or 3 Idiots or whatever it may be called Trek started with Me, Nik & Tany buzzing off My car @ 0230hrs. The steps ensured a continous climb till we 3 literally stopped to drain the sweat of our bodies!! Even in My shorts & sando, I was sweating like a pig ;) The shortest trek ever ended inside 9.5hrs to & fro my house.

Torna, just Torna repeated itself during the rains of 2009. A 48hr extravaganza under the influence of rains. Hahaha, what a Bonanza it turned out to be !! All the GOs except yet to be introduced Sujata, Ajit enjoyed the bonanza. Right from Sweetie Pie to Aloo Bhusssjiya to drying the temple premises for which I spread CaCO3 powder under My flex sheet to Stealing Bombti's Tee & let it hang on the Temple ceiling to GO planning of giving Me Goat shit by showing it as Avla Supari, all was grand !! Btw this Temple premises was supposed to be as big as a toilet as per Nikhil for the large part of time from Dec 2005 to June 2009 !!! This was the belief held true by all of the GOs by trusting Nikhil & on which pretext He never discussed Torna as a possible trek spot. Finally the Jinx broke & we had 1 awesome of a trek !! A trek where Hatti & specially Bombti created new slipping records. Bombti on her behalf finally sprained her ankle half way down the descend. This was followed after me & Nikhil made sure that Her clear white pant was red in colour by applying red soil all over Her!! Not to forget the Grand Kundugiri while on the ascend & Sumit's 2hrs escapade from the group. Nikhil successfully attempted pissing in a plastic bottle which He had shoved up his track pant- all this on the last seat of the public transport bus while returning. I obviously took My revenge by recording it all. A revenge for having recorded some seconds of My private Potty time :P ( For all those who are getting weird ideas, both the videos have nothing but explicit language. No inappropriate Video has been captured :P) for the 1st time, the GOs even had McDonalds stuff while on a trek. All thanks to Hatti for listening to my advice of using Her Sodexho coupons & then finally getting the flak of- How could have she listened to me !!! Instead of enjoying the mini meal, all were hell bent on badgering my advice & Hatti decision !!!

Kau, Chiu, Adi, Sumit, Me, Nikhil & the newest addition named Sujata hit Gorakh yet another time. For the 1st time ever Nikhil had his own food, his own bedsheet, plate, spoon etc etc. Basically whatever is needed by an individual on a trek. We wondered if there was even a table & a Valet folded inside to do all the work !!! Sujata Maiyya ki Jai ho :P
For the 2nd time with the GOs I descended all alone after summiting the top which is above the cave level. This is also the trek where Sujata realised that She had to seriously compete for Nik with Kau !!!
Apparently the cooking Stove went missing after this trek. All GOs pondered on all possibilities of finding the stove including the idea of Sujata having carried it all the way to Pune :P

The much anticipated Kulang part 2 came to effect in Dec'09. The rule was simple- DO NOT SPLIT UNDER ANY CONDITION. This was derived w.r.t. the scenes that occurred the last time whenever the group split on the trek to Kulang, be it in the train or even on the mountain. This time around it was also the so called Honeymoon trek for Nik & Suj !! Kau was hell bent to spoil it all, continuing his antics from Gorakh trek. A little village propped up in the cave of Kulang owing to the long weekend of Christmas. The descend started @0630hrs to end approximately 6.5hrs later @ 1300hrs !! Sumit & Ani had had a bath, took the wrong route on multiple occasions & yet reached 2.5hrs early !! Sumit alone might have just hit Pune by the time we descended !!! My 1st time fear on this Mammoth of a mountain vanished this time around. The ascend was a bit cautious, while the descend was a breeze. I also happened to have created the most hilarious scenes in GO history by descending some part of the rock patch wearing my tee n 2 undies, worn 1 over the other & front side back. This seems as an ultimate disaster for everyone but the GOs had their fair share of fun. Also the fact that it was cold & shivering for most of them & I dripping like a pig even in that skimpy outfit was a thing to laugh about !!

Jump to the rains of 2010- The GOs hurdled the Roadblock left uncrossed last time. Chanderi which is 2nd nearest spot from our Home town finally saw the GOs GO Yellow :P
Something unseen before happens in the form of a Snake Bit to Nikhil's right toe. Fortunately even a Female Bamboo Pit Viper couldn't do much do dampen Our trek. This trek also gave the the Best Spot for Kundugiri ever. 3hrs in the same spot enjoying the light flow of crystal clear cold water with just the right amount of depth to soak our bodies !! Add the so called Erotic attempts of Mr. Grumpy & Mrs. Not so Grumpy to create some atrocious poses in water, added a light humour considering the use of term- Pani Bharaychay (Filling Water)

Night-overs have been a constant part of GO life. Making life miserable for neighbours by the usual GO antics, going out on bikes @ 0300hrs to grab a Vada-Pav & Shev-Bhaji, watching movies on a 5.1 home theatre @ 0400hrs & what not...!!! Be it @ Kau's place, My, Nik's or even P1's new home, it's always Havoc !! Peeing off the terraces of buildings or even the Gallery is what GOs specialize in !!! Squeezing 10 GOs on a 6x6 double bed ( inclusive of Hatti & Tany ) is a stunning feat regularly achieved.

Ashwini-Pavan, Anuja-Ajit, Archana-Kaustubh & finally Amruta-Suhas have got married in the past 14months starting a new phase in their lives..
I won't GO more in this section since this is about the GO Journey, a Journey joined by the Love of Treks !!!
Almost 6years in this Journey, the fairytale is slowly Fading in an unintended but circumstantial slow down.....
The GOs Trekkers have finally become social....

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P.S. – Whatever I’ve missed in, whatever maybe the corrections, C&C invited !!