The advantage is that you start belonging to the community who values, nurtures and encourages your love or liking for that activity. Go to any place and you will end up finding your old friends or friends’ friends or friends’ friends’ friends, ready to take you in, through that community bonding.

I found myself in Pune for a month for a work trip and it was inevitable that I would end up climbing rocks on weekends. Sadly, I don’t have any pictures to show off for Pune climbing but on one Saturday, I caught a bus for Mumbai and was already at home and playing with my friend Archana’s beautiful twin nephews by lunchtime. Archana, her elder brother Milind and their another climber friend Dinesh would take me to Belapur the next day for some climbing.

To quote the place description on Rockclimbing.com,

“CBD Belapur is an extension of Parsik hills that has been explored and developed as climbing and bouldering site. There are lots of bouldering routes ranging from V1 to V8 opened at the site. There are a some bolted sport routes as well ranging from 5a to 7b. The area has been host to open international bouldering and lead climbing competition and artificial bouldering as well.”

More information on how to reach : http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/CBD_Belapur/

CBD Belapur has long been popular among Mumbai climbers for its suitability for rock climbing. The hillocks have huge boulders and rock walls that make it an ideal site for climbing. Access to this place is very easy too. Members of Girivihar, the famous Climbing/Trekking/Mountaineering organisation based out of Mumbai routinely conducts its rock climbing camps in this area and initiates youngsters into this fabulous sport.

http://girivihar.org/category/rc-camp/

The four of us parked our car at the base of the hillock. We passed through the village and within half an hour, were somewhere up the way on the hillock, around the site where boulders lay in our wait. All the routes on these boulders are already bolted. We had our own rope, belay devices and other climbing paraphernalia. There were two routes that we were planning to attempt in the short duration of 3 hours that we had available to us.

I wanted to attempt a lead climb that day. It had been ages since I had tried that. In fact, it had been a long time since my last session in the natural rocks and the rock here, ( Deccan Basalt) felt good. With Milind as my belayer, I started the climb. I could not make much progress that day. I had a fall in the second move itself. I made it till the first clip, took a fall, climbed again and made it  some way beyond the first clip but could not proceed after that. Milind was the next to attempt it. I belayed him while he smoothly made it past all the clips and topped the route. Phew! The route was now ready for climbing on the top rope.

Archana, I and Dinesh then completed the route on the top rope. It was a good practice session for me as a belayer that day.

after the first clip..in my attempt at lead climbing

climbing on the top rope

Milind belays

at the top

Archie

We moved our gear to the route adjacent to the first one and this time, Dinesh opened the route. This was fairly easier than the first but was fun enough.

Towards our left, in some distance, we could hear climbing calls from Girivihar climbers who regularly practise on the rocks here. They were doing some very difficult routes and we spent next half an  hour watching them climb and chatting up with some friends in that group.

It was a Sunday Morning very well spent! I was in Maharashtra’s hilly terrain after a year and it felt very nice to be in the hills, surrounded by bush , plants and the grass, with views of cliffs and boulders around you ( albeit hidden behind the plant growth as the season was immediately post monsoon). At the top of both of the routes, I had felt the necessity to have a camera clipped to my harness so that I could have clicked the beautiful view visible from that vantage point.

I returned to Pune the same evening, with more plans to climb here on my next trip.

239 km of tarmac separates Pune from Aurangabad, first being my college city and the latter being my home city. I had been disappointed for a while, to not have ridden down this road on my bike in the four years that I stayed in Pune. To be fair, I did take that ride a couple of times in the past couple of years but I had always had a pillion and was now yearning to do it solo.

Let me make it very clear that riding a bike solo on a busy highway is not something that I call an adventure. But there’s a first time for everything and I was appalled that in my 4 years of biking, I had never ever done a ride solo. I wanted to break out of my reliance on the boys who would typically accompany me on such ventures and just be on my own.

Just before the day I decided to take up that ride, ingredients had been simmering for a while. I was in Pune for a work trip, had my bike with me, had been wanting to take her home for good and did not want to send her through some expensive vehicle transport service. So on a whim, I called up home and lied outright about how I was planning to have a guy friend ride the bike for me and bring her home. The next day was a Saturday, an office holiday. I took out the helmet, put on my favourite jacket, stuffed a few clothes in the backpack and there I was, gliding on the road, in the early morning Sun.

Caution had been thrown to the wind in the sense that I hadn’t been able to check the condition of the tyres or even the air pressure in the tubes before leaving for the journey. My plan was to park the bike wherever she broke down and  just get to the nearest town/village/taluka somehow ( shared auto, lift, whatever. It’s a well frequented road. So I was not worried either about safety or access to resources ). I would then find a mechanic, bring him to the bike and get her started. What I didn’t forget to make sure was that my wallet would have enough cash!

( Money can buy everything? )

But in the end, none of this was required and I ended up cruising along the highway at an average speed of 60kmph. Including a short break for breakfast on the way, I was inside my home within 4.25 hours. What was the reward? The shocked expressions on the faces of my family members when they saw my face blackened a bit by the dust, hair going haywire and the helmet in my right hand and finally figured out what I had done.

I was the happiest soul that day. There was nothing great in what I had done. But there was great satisfaction in knowing that I could do what I had set out to do, without any hassle or any accidents. The ride had been smooth and my unicorn had proven a trustworthy companion, as always. The ride made me feel that I was at least a tad bit better prepared to do things solo now- not just driving, but a few other adventures as well ! After all, the first psychological step, which is always the hardest one, had been taken.

I was home for a sore body filled weekend with some memories of good music enjoyed in the good air. Music of the drums, the guitar, the wind and the gear- I had vroomed it all up!

Now a couple of my biking pictures, although none exist for this Pune-A’bad ride.

This is a Honda CBR of a friend when we rode from Pune to Mumbai

During a test ride of Hero Honda Ambition 150cc ( a sort of an off roading bike ) at Delhi Auto Expo. I had ambitions to buy it, but never did.

We reached the park around 10-10.30 a.m.,which was supposedly the ideal time for visiting the butterflies.

The park turned around to be pretty basic with no unusual species of butterflies to treat the eyes with.Yes,butterflies were sure to be seen but they were of the usual variety-common crow,blue jay,tailed jay,plain tiger and common leopard.

I have routinely seen these butterflies at CoEP boat club!Whats more,there wasn’t s single Daniad Eggfly!!may be the timing was not right or may be I need to wait for few more months for the park to get populated by more colorful creatures.

Tailed Jay

Plain tiger

Blue Jay

Common Crow

Common Leopard

Shinde Chhatri-first view

Shindyanchi chhatri

staircase to the 1st floor.

clicked from the staircase

..

flooring

tried to cut out the cement bags at the left side of the hall.

Aditto!

Memorial of Mahadji Shinde

Nandi

.

(L-R)Photowalkers-Aditya Marathe,Neha Kulkarni,Aziz,Manoj

(Group photo clicked on Aditya’s canon.) 

 Thanks for watching!It was a nicely spent Sunday Morning!

Here’s the photostream: