Hamlet, trekker and grandeur

1. The charming little village at the base of Makarandgad. Its a typical Indian village, where most residents are farmers. There's are fields, and stone houses and haystacks. There's even a charming little school, where the children come in early to clean their school everyday. We reach there at about 7 am, but the village has woken up long before and everyone is already at their chores. The air is clean and envigorating, and though we've only slept for a few uncomfortable hours on the bus, we are all braced up and raring to start the trek.


2. The immense physical effort the trek demands, and I deliver. For experienced trekkers, it isn't a big deal, but for us novices, it turns out to be huge test. Half-way down the trek, I'm quite ready to give up, but somehow manage to keep going and complete the trek. And somewhere I also find the energy to play a long, boistrous and energetic game of antakshari on the journey back home. Its a feeling of huge satisfaction, when you can command your self to keep going when you feel you can't anymore...
3. The view on the trek is amazing. The Sahyadri ranges are majestic in their beauty. The sky up above is a clean azure, and the peak that we're headed up to rises grandly into the sky. lower down on the mountain, the vegetation is thick, and the foliage varied. As we head higher, the trees lessen in number, and there's grass dotted with pretty little flowers. The sense of quiet and space that the place gives me is overpowering.