Rohida / Vichitragad 4/1/2009

Places visited: Rohida fort, Bhor cha rajvada

Date: 4/1/2009

Purpose: Picnic.

Persons: Harshal, Juilee, Himanshu, Vaidehi, Mukund, Milind, Naveen, Sandhya, Smita, Sayli.

Till 2/1/2009 I could not decide whether to go or not ( as I was not feeling well and suffering from headache and fever ), but finally on friday evening, I called up Juilee and decided to go with Mukund to Rohida fort. Juilee prepared shira in the night.

Mukund organized the trip.

We gathered at Swargate at 7:00 AM and introduced each other. The S.T. bus came at 7:30 AM. We jumped into the bus and bus started at 7:45. At around 9:00, we reached at Bhor S.T. stand. There we had tea. Some people had Misal-Pav. Then we took a Maruti Omni ( already booked ), which took us to the base of the fort (bajarwadi). We started climbing at 10:00. It was really hot and sunny despite of the winter. The area was not too much green.

Many a times, we gave adhar to each other to climb up.

I followed the "guranchi payvat", which is easy to climb. juilee followed somewhat risky and difficult path sometimes, to get the feel of the trek.

At 12:00 PM we reached at the top, where there was no single savli.

The fort has three doors. After entering the third door, the whole place is an uneven land, spotted with balcony like structures on four sides. The only thought about shelter here was the Rohideshwar temple. Shivaji ni Rayreshvar mandirat hindavi swarajyachi shapath ghetli. On his way back from Raireshwar where Shivaji took the oath of Swarajya, it is believed that he stopped at Rohida. When he saw that there was no temple on the fort he remarked that it was a strange fort, one without a temple. He immediately ordered his men to construct one. And this Rohideshwar temple was constructed.

When we were wandering on the top and taking photos, suddenly ek gungungun asa aavaj ala, ani Himanshu ni saglyanna dakhavla... Madhmashyancha mottha thava udat yet hota.... then we all slept on the ground till the honeybees went off completely, otherwise they would have bit us.

Then we found a good savli near the mandir. So we sat there and had heavy lunch.

Everybody bought different items which all were tasty, like Methi cha thepla, shira, jam, bread, sheng-danyachya polya, etc.

After lunch, we took rest for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, Mukund shouted to be ready and we started to roam around the top. Pan tyachya adhi, amhi tithlya eka sansthela dengi dili. Ti sanstha kille-samvardhanacha kaam karte.

On the top there were 3 boorooj and 3 darvaje. On one darvaja, there was a shilalekh in Devnagri.

A hill opposite to Rohida fort had a single house on it.

There are 4 water tanks with unpotable water. There is a single hidden tank with potable between the 1 st and 2 nd door.

We also drank some water from the pond, which was really tasty.

At 3:30, we started to come down. We took many halts to drink water, as it was really hot day. At 5:00, we reached at the bottom. Ithe ch Juilee cha paay murgalala.

The maruti vala was ready there. He asked us whether we want to see the Bhore cha Rajwada. So we get off at the Rajwada and he left. The Rajwada was closed, so we took photos of the Vadyacha Chowk. The maruti vala had left. So we reached one hotel by walk and had tea-colddrinks and borded the bus to Swargate. We got down at Kandgepark as the bus took route from Sinhagad Road. ( That was good. ). At 7:30 PM we were in home.

After reaching home, we took bath. Aai ni mugachi khichadi banavli hoti, ti khaun zoplo ekdum gaadh.

Notes:

S.T. startes at 7:30 AM from Swargate.

and at 5:30 PM from Bhor.

Expenses for 10 people:

S.T. to Bhor = Rs. 350

Morning snacks = Rs. 90

Maruti to Bajarwadi = Rs. 100

Dengi = Rs. 200

Maruti to Bhor = Rs. 100

Evening snacks = Rs. 90

S.T. to Swargate = Rs. 310

Total = Rs. 1240 for 10 persons.