slippery rocks of harischandragad

I looked down, with a huge valley right below me. There was not even a single piece of rock that could have broken my fall. But I shook it of in a second and completed the climb. But for me, the even scary part was looking down and bending down trying to help the other guyz up. One slip of hand or foot would not only take me but also the other person. But, IMHO , this trek was worth it.


As we moved along, Jana started falling back every now and then and Anand started catching up. I had actually asked Jana to be the tail man. Anand was telling us that Jana was getting cramps. We didn't give it much importance and moved on thinking that stopping would be the last thing that we should be doing right now. But as we got to a level point, we took a break. Even after waiting for 5 mins Jana and Omkar had not joined us. I knew they were right behind us, but for some reason could not take the last steps. So I went back and I could not believe my eyes. Jana was sitting on a rock, with his calf muscles so tightened to hell that a few more minutes of walking would have turned it to the front! I sat down next to him. Started massaging his legs for some time. He was back to business in about 5 mins, and we continued our trek.

There were a few more trekking groups, one or two overtaking us, and one or two returning. One of the returning teams, told us it was too risky to do the trek right now, so they are going back. Vow, we still were not ready to give up. As we walked along the small winding path, up and down the hill we just stood in our tracks. We just found out why the previous team was going back.



There was this freaking 300-400 meters height that we had to gain. That too, in short distance hike, walking on rocks that were wet and slippery, had only space for one foot at a time and most importantly, if you fall. you are going down not just that 300 meters but a lot more of what you have already gained. BTW, I should say here that our government understands the safety concerns of the trekkers and had put up Iron railings so that people don't fall off.

But, guess what, they forgot that there are people living there and should do something for them to earn a living. Else what? else nothing, other than those people would pullout the railing and sell them for what ever they can get. (And people get angry when somebody call us third world. lol)