Aati Kya Khandala Part 3

We decided to push off and within next five minutes touched the Bushi Dam. If you are imagining Bushi Dam to be some sort of huge mass of concrete, spread across acres of land from which tones of water oozes down, then as George Bush would have said it, makes no mistake about it, what we had was something drastically opposite. I am still not sure, what we saw was the complete Bushi dam or just part of it but whatever it was , it lived up to its name. A dam hidden in bushes.

As soon as we braked at the base of the dam ,we were surrounded by mass of humanity offering us to take care of our bikes, shoes, helmets and parking space on simple request to have the wada paav and chai on their tea stalls after we came back from our trek to the dam. We parked the vehicles on the roadside in free parking and proceeded towards the climb. Before you can reach Bushi Dam there is a pool of water which you have to cross on feet before you can reach the base of the dam. We folded our trousers, picked up the shoes in our hands and started to walk through the water. It was slippery and cold but we managed to cross it without any acrobatic falls. PNL was questioned on why he didn’t went for the under water photography in the pool. May be PNL camera didn’t supported it, other wise I am sure that photo freak would have done that also and we would be obliging him striking mermaid poses in the water.

We climbed the slippery rocks and reach the top of the dam. There were Tea stalls all around but surprisingly no one inside them. The dam was filled up to the top. It was like looking into the glass filled with water standing on the Brim of the glass. We literally saved our photo man from taking dive into the water as he stood like his favorite mallu hero Mohanlal on the topmost grill of the dam for what else but a photo pose.

The next halt was to be the trek towards the waterfall. We trekked on the slippery rocks, made more dangerous because of ongoing rains. Higu was crying his BGB’s once again as we finally stopped at the base of the waterfall. I decided to lie near the stream as AJ, Higu and PNL went around nature gazing. Lying near the stream and gazing aimless at the monsoon clouds was one great feeling I experienced after many years. Trust me, there could be nothing as soothing as the feeling of staring with empty minds at the sky above

I was suddenly awaken from my peaceful slumber by loud splashing sound of water and when I saw on my left towards the stream , I saw another dam being constructed in the stream . Well, there was a wrestler straight out of WWF arena, bare bodied deciding to take a dip in the minuscule stream. He lied horizontal to the stream blocking the force of gushing water through the sheer strength of his body mass.

By the time, all the three guys hard returned and I saw Higu and PNL discussing something very seriously. I thought some change in plans in our route might be underway and when I reached closer I knew my guess was correct. PNL and Higu had spotted two beautiful ladies, who had come along with their families to the waterfall and both of them were now discussing how the things would take shape, in case their parents decided to give the hands of their daughters to these two John Abrahams. They had agreed upon who will have which lady as their life partners and were now discussing that me an AJ would take train back to Pune and these two guys will be coming on the bikes along with the two ladies. It was height of creative imaginary and heart filled optimism. I knew it, they are stuck with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) something that bikers and trekkers experience at high altitude and make your mind goes numb. Before the guys could go any further and ask me and AJ to bring their kids also back to Pune, we decided to retreat back to the Bushi Dam base.

The road from Bushi Dam to Lions Point towards Amby valley can be described as the stair case to the clod number 9. Well can’t help it with this comparison, being a Bryan Adam Fan myself. But yes, its undiluted magic to bike along this curvaceous climb to the top of the mountain. Smooth as Silk Road, new shining barricades all along, glittering neon light symbols and cloud falling all over your face, this stretch stirs the poet within you. And it did succeed in arousing the poetic feelings in Higu who with his vast knowledge of slang’s vocabulary came up with following quotes shouting full throttle from the pillion. “Man its plain orgasmic”, “It has touched the bottom of my**”. I knew Higu was having fun and I too was driving pleasure out of the joyous moments that nature can offer you. We have switched on our head lights because of clouds all around us. It was like once again in Delhi with dense fog all around you in winters. We reached Lions Point, it’s a plain spot on the mountain from where you can see the entire valley but because of clouds on the ground nothing was visible. There were many families and tourists al around and makeshift tea stall serving pakodas tea and cold drinks to the people. We stayed their for around 15 minutes and decided to head back towards lonavala. We were in love with the road we cam from and wish to be driving as soon as possible. This entire stretch from the Bushi Dam to Lions point is known as Jal Vayu Marg and is jointly maintained by Indian Air force and Navy. And if you have promised your girl to take her to the cloud number 9, take my advice, a ride on this road will dutifully serve the purpose.

Reaching Lonavala city back we turned towards the highway once again on or way to Khandala.

In Khandala we visited Rajmachpoint and Sunset point which has some real breath taking views of the mountain , waterfalls , the express highway thousands of feet below and off course SRK’s Bungalow. That’s what guide there told us when he charged 5 rupees from all for us to peek at the SRK bungalow from his binoculars. We never knew SRK had four Bungalows in Khandala as all for us saw four different houses from his binoculars. We still don’t know who among is the lucky one to see the real bungalow of SRK.

We plan to head back home as it had started raining and rains on the hills could be real dangerous. PNL was forcibly dragged back as he was still in mode to click some more picks. His second stick of 1288 MB was half filled or In other words still some 100 picks could be clicked. Sensing danger from both PNL and the falling rain, we rushed down before the rains could get us.

We Halted at Lonavala, just to buy chikki for everyone’s homes in Delhi, Mumbai and Kerala and tank up the fuels and then zoomed back to home sweet home.

Any Road back home is soothing and reflective. The road seems easy, the sights seems familiar and even the painful stretch seems to have suddenly become more sober.

Me and Higu touched Pune from khandala in 1.hrs 15 minutes flat. PNL tried once again to overtake us by a giving full throttle chase with his Yamaha, though in his bid to do that he took a wrong turn as a result reached home hours late.

I now stand in front of mirror. Dark eyed, dust covered, tired but extremely happy. One more Journey ended, one more experience gained. What next, a biking trip to Leh perhaps someday. Amen!