AKS

We were dying to initiate the Lonnavala Karjat trek along the rail route. The plan had turned up into a fiasco in prior two cases. This time “Professor” (Prathamesh) called up late afternoon. “kal chutti hain, lets get spaced out.” The whole plan for lonavala to karjat was fixed up. Along with it, we had a new criteria. Lets make it a freak trip. It was decided to start for this trip with just 100 bucks, and spend the least of it.

In case we come across the wild face of the nature, we were carrying some fire crackers. Other necessary things like water, soap strips, extra pair of socks, lighters, match-box, were also accompanying us that evening.

We started early, just wanted to save some time to avoid getting late the next morning.

As we hopped down the lonavala station, stretched our legs and started walking along the rail tracks. Walking down the track wasn’t as easy as we thought. The un-evenness made it difficult to even set down your feet. After a while we decided we could step on the cement bars on the rail tracks. But walking right from the middle of the track would be pretty risky. Risk’s like stepping onto someone’s poop is as risky as falling off from……..

The Guard at the “Railway Fatak” had spotted our torch from a distance. Sanjay seemed to be pretty friendly, so we let him know our plans for the night. According to Sanjay, walking on the rail tracks wouldn’t be wise. Just because of the darkness, and the long tunnels which are around 4 km long would be fatal for us during the night time. Instead we could walk the distance upto Khandala. Walking down till khandala would be even safe, and wait there till the dawn. Treading the remaining way during the day time would be easier.

As we had no alternative plans ready, we just decided to hop down to Mumbai, spend some time at Marine Drive, and leave for pune early in the morning. On our way to khandala, there was a point where the old Mumbai pune highway was somewhat 10-12 feet below the railway bridge. We decided to sit on the edge of the bridge with our feet suspended in the air. The rail track was just 1-2 meter behind us. Every time a train passed us by, it was a thrilling experience.

Khandala Station:

By the time we reached Khandala, it was pretty late. Ensiferum – Battle Song, playing on my mobile phone was the loudest thing on the railway platform. A bony chap entered the station, yawning and stretching his body. By the time he hopped the platform, my playlist had scrolled down to blink 182. He gave us a weird look, and sat on the bench beside us. The new guy joined us, as he boarded the Chennai mail.This guy was going out to catch up his friends in Kalyan. “kabhi kabhi apne bistar mein takkiye daal kar, gharse chup ke se bhag aata hoon. Subah 6 baje papa walk pe jate hain, uss se pehle ghar pohchna padta hain.”

Dadar Station:

The next local was after 40 minutes. So platform ke bench pe sone ki “Khwaish” bhi poori kar-lee.

CST: 0500 hours

We had the sweet coction – tea!

Our whole journey had been a WT(without ticket) journey. It was pre-decided, that we’ll be going the whole way without ticket. The total expenditure for the whole trip was Rs. 17 only, and the expenditure was unavoidable ;)

We boarded the Indrayani express for pune. The boggie jolted, we were on our way back to Pune!