Monday, June 26, 2023

A memorable trek to Ratangad

We went to Ratangad, near Bhandardara on 17-18th June 2023. We had taken Shravya, our 4.5 year old daughter for the trek. We have been following 'say and do' with her since we learnt about it. We love trekking and have introduced it to her since she was 11 months. We took her to Lohagad then and fortunately there was very less crowd and she could crawl on the steps of the fort. We have been blessed with a child who is eager to climb wherever possible and she enjoyed it. 

We have been taking her to different forts since then and she has climbed very well considering her age. We have seen how powerful 'Say and Do' is every time in this case. 

Yesterday we realised how the effects of this habit can be seen over the years..

Parth, her father has been telling her stories using some of his childhood story characters and his own trekking experiences since she was 2 years. They built the stories and introduced more characters from her experiences to it. So, for example, there were 2 mice and a cock to start with. The story in general goes like, these are Shravya's friends who stay in Ratanwadi, the base village of the fort Ratangad and they go on different treks together along with Shravya's other friends. After experiencing a jungle safari, a tiger family got introduced, who also visit them and go on treks with this bunch. 

For seasoned trekkers it takes around 2-2.5 hrs to reach at the Ratangad fort caves from Ratanwadi. The height is 4250 ft. 

Almost entire trail goes through a Jungle. It had rained at the night before we were supposed to climb up. The trail was full of wet leaves and slippery patches in between. We started from Ratanwadi around 8:15-8:30am. From the start Shravya knew the drill. We cross the stream at times, we eat Ranmeva ( karvanda, jambhul) on the way, we keep climbing for few hours to reach the caves. Throughout the way she and Parth talked about how the way has changed since Parth / myself came there which she knew from stories. Parth kept telling and improvising another story of animal friends climbing with her at that time which kept her going all the way up. 

The last part of the climb needs you to climb up cliffs where iron ladders are fixed to aid the climb. It takes  around 10-15 minutes of careful climbing on stairs to reach top. She started asking when we will reach now when we were at the last couple of stairs but till then she climbed tirelessly. 

To our amazement after reaching in caves, in five minutes she was happily roaming around. We went to see Hanuman darwaja, Katrabai range, Ranicha hudda etc. She loved the places and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. After half an hour we went back to the cave for lunch. 

Around 2pm we again went out to get water and see the rest of the fort. She excitedly visited every place, went down to see the hidden water cistern, climbed up to the needle hole with the help of new railings installed there, climbed down on her own with the railings and further went down to see Trimbak darwaja, the rock stairs on the other side of the fort and  the majestic Alang Madan Kulang Kalsubai range at a distance. Climbing up to and down from the nedha is still tiring with the railings as it is a steep climb and one is always aware of the exposure in case of fall. It was very windy and while climbing down we were appreciating her by telling that it is a tough climb even for adults and you are doing  very well. To that she simply said ' तुम्हाला वाटलं अवघड आहे पण माझ्यासाठी सोपं होतं ते '. It gave me immense pleasure hearing that she is doing things with such a simple belief in herself. 

While walking back she created a few lines of her own poem..

रतन गडाची वाट कशी

भुताबाईंनी खाल्ली जशी

खाल्या खाल्या पोट दुखी

पाने खाऊन छान वाटी (the last line kept changing:) )

         - श्राव्या लवाटे

We came back in the cave around 5 pm. She was a bit cranky then due to hunger and sleepiness so Parth carried her till the cave about 10 mins away. Once in the cave and after eating something, she was all fine and started playing again. We were amazed to see her energy and excitement. We stayed in the cave. 

The next morning she woke up and there was no hint of any stress or tiredness from the last day. We started climbing down around 8:45-9am. It started raining while we were heading to the stairs. She climbed the stairs down very carefully as we had told her many times through stories and her previous experiences. I kept appreciating her for all her courage and efforts since the previous day and she told me ' माझे पाय दमले तरी मी चालतच राहिले '.

She chatted all the way down telling stories, reminding the ones heard before or asking questions about something she would see at the time. It took us around 3.5 hours to reach Ratanwadi. She was anxious to reach the village in the last stretch and kept telling me that ' मला कधी एकदा रतनवाडीमध्ये पोहोचू असं वाटतंय '. 

Once we were down and she ate something she was back to her energetic mode till she fell asleep in the car. 


Sunday, May 28, 2023

Himalayas calling...

As it was Shravya's first long school break during the summer, a trek in the Himalayas was the first choice. Although we had considered a trek the previous summer, we had hesitated due to concerns about Shravya's age.

Then, in February, our friend Mithali shared details about a kids and parents trek near Manali organised by Mountain Fit. Our friend Apoorv was going to be one of the leaders and he expressed confidence in Shravya's ability to complete the trek. I was still not sure whether we should go for it. But we hadn't been to Himalayas over 6 years and it felt like a calling...

Saturday, December 4, 2021

वाघांच्या राजधानीत...

काही महिन्यांच्या उपासानंतर जंगलात फिरायला जायचं ठरलं. आज उद्यात तारखा ठरवू म्हणत माणसं ठरेपर्यंत दोन आठवडे गेलेच पण १६-१९ नोव्हेंबरला भाचेकंपनीसकट १० जण ताडोबाला जायला गोळा झालो. 


ताडोबा आणि अंधारी अभयारण्याचं  (Tadoba and Andhari Tiger Reserve - TATR) मुख्य वनक्षेत्र (core) हे ६२५.४ स्क्वेअर किलोमीटरचं आहे. आजूबाजूचं काही (buffer) क्षेत्र मिळून एकूण क्षेत्र साधारण १७२७ स्क्वेअर किलोमीटरचं आहे. कोअर भागात जाण्यासाठी कोलारा, नवेगाव, मोहारली गावातून दारे आहेत. बफर भागात जाण्यासाठी, कोलारा, पळसगाव, अलिझंझा ही प्रवेशद्वारे आहेत. आणखीही काही प्रवेशद्वारे आहेत पण वरील प्रवेशद्वारे प्रामुख्याने वापरली जातात. कदाचित या दारांपासून एका वेळी आत जाऊ शकणाऱ्या गाड्या जास्ती असल्याने किंवा या ठिकाणी पोहोचणं त्या मानानी सोपं असल्यामुळे तसं असावं. 

Friday, May 28, 2021

Rediscovering Genius AKA Tribulation/Trio/TriMatics/Triple - A Math game

Back in 1990s we bought a Mathematical game called Genius. It is still one of my favourite games. Unfortunately, I never found it anywhere to buy it again. 
The same game seems to have been launched by different brands under different names - Genius, Tribulation, Trio, TriMatics, Triple etc. 
Recently I found a video of the same game with a different name. In the video they had mentioned how it is not available anymore but how one can make it at home. 

In last week, we made it at home. I am sharing the details of how we created the games and how to play those. 

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

लॉकडाऊनला वर्ष झाल्याच्या निमित्ताने…

जगात सगळीकडे कोविड १९ चा धुमाकूळ चालू होता, भारतातही तो पसरायला सुरुवात झाली होती आणि आता कधीही देशभर लॉकडाऊन जाहीर होईल अशी चिन्हं दिसत होती.  १५ मार्चला आम्ही सगळ्यांनी घरूनच काम करायचा निर्णय घेतला आणि १७ मार्चपासून Work from home ची सुरुवात झाली. २४ मार्च २०२० ला भारतात पहिल्यांदा संपूर्ण देशात कोणालाही कुठेही बाहेर पडण्यासाठी बंदी घातली गेली. त्या बंदीला १ वर्ष पूर्ण झाल्याच्या निमित्ताने गेल्या वर्षीचा घेतलेला हा आढावा.