Sahyadrica

It does not take long for a murmuring river to turn into a raging cascade, yet it is no match to the prowess of the tall terraces of northern Western Ghats. The rapids are strong to make crossing the river difficult, but not enough to complete the journey to the foot of the mountain. It falls, only to rise in countless little fractions of its former self as mist, dancing to the tune of the winds orchestrated by the mountains themselves. It is only when the waters rage on, fueled by the south-west monsoons, do they spill down the amber facades of the Ghats, touching their feet as they reform their ancestral channels. Walking the leopard's path, with an inverted waterfall to the left, and other two forming Kalu river downhill The range officer pointed to a high precipice from where a river came crashing down, and he said, that’s where we’re headed. Under a shroud of torrential rains, we could glimpse at the full glory of the fall whenever the clouds dispersed. To the right of...

“You have to get lost before you can be found.” ― Jeff Rasley , Bringing Progress to Paradise: What I Got from Giving to a Mountain Village in Nepal The sun setting over your shoulder in a forest wilderness as a dark rainstorm approaches from the east is not the time for you to be out trekking on the cliff of the Western Ghats. But here you are: with your trekking friends and family, battling to conquer the fort, struggling with your inner fears; and here you want to be: beating down the stinging rain, and ever marching on. For you have shed blood and sweat on your way up. For you have prepared to complete this trek, and, more importantly, you have left behind the rat-race which you think life is all about: now, you are not chasing targets, you are chasing your ambition. You are encouraging your friends to tarry with you. You are their emotional leader, and although you know that the light fades and you’re being stalked by a rainstorm, you sit back on a rock to enjoy the view w...

On the eve of Independence Day, we set on a long road trip to a really unique destination in the northern Western Ghats called Naneghat. Naneghat literally means Coin-passage. It has an interesting history behind the name. It was used as a trading route centuries ago between Kalyan and Junnar. In those times, coins were collected as toll to cross via the pass, and hence the name. An aerial view of Naneghat gives a fantastic look at its geography. It is a fascinating landmark in the northern Western Ghats well known throughout the history. But that’s not it. Naneghat was a passage not only for our ancestors, but many, many other creatures small and large that could not tread the sheer drop from the plateau. As we went on to explore this historically significant landmark, we enthusiastically scoured the biodiversity of this region, which is rather pristine, and came to a point of exhaustion where all that mattered was reaching the end. Let’s take a look as we lost our way amidst the ...