A hike through the hills.

(Pachmarhi - Nagdwar trek)

          We decided to bypass the holi hooliganism by celebrating the occasion in the lap of nature, thus germinated the idea of a trek in the deep woods of Pachmarhi. We were a group of four individuals all on the wrong side of forty, Anil Jaiswal, Sanjeev Khandelwal, Rai sahab and me (Praveen Gautam). Rai sahab joined us in Nagpur from Bhilai. Early morning on the 7^th of March 2012, Anil and Sanjeev picked me up at 6 O’clock and we proceeded to the railway station to collect Rai sahab who arrived by an overnight journey from Bhilai. By 6.30 am we departed by road from Nagpur to Pachmarhi.

          The road conditions were first class and we reached Pachmarhi comfortably by 12 noon, a distance of about 280 kms. Enroute we had a sojourn at Singanama village, about 25 kms before Pachmarhi. We interacted with a strapping young lad named Amitabh who had an inborn deformity of the left palm and foot. The deformed foot was not visible because of the sport shoes he was wearing. However this handicap in no way interfered with his ability to capture a full grown energetic cock after an exhaustive chase through the fields with adequate help from his young cousins! We negotiated an appropriate price for our planned dinner and proceeded towards Pachmarhi, the cock perched between Sanjeev’s feet in the front seat of our car, throbbing with life, its feet tied to restrict movement.

          Upon reaching Pachmarhi we first interacted with the forest officials who refused to formally grant permission for our proposed overnight halt at the Kajri village and the return next day. As we returned to our car after this interaction ‘Mr Dinner Cock’ leaped out to attempt and escape, the tied feet notwithstanding! It was quiet an effort for us four uninitiated beings to get a hold over it and put the fluttering bird back in the car. Sanjeev was in telephonic touch with Sarfaraj and Kamal at Pachmarhi and together they had planned our proposed trek. We established contact with them at Hotel Paradise and got introduced to Ghanshyam who was going to be our guide for the next two days. He turned out to be a gem. Anil went out with him on a two wheeler to the market and purchased the requisite ration and also an appropriate bag for Mr Dinner Cock. We asked Ghanshyam to water the bird and later embarked the Gypsy and proceeded towards the starting point of our trek about 7-8 kms away. We left our car parked at a safe place in Pachmarhi, and reached Nagphani a location on the way to Dhoopgarh. The negotiation at the forest checkpoint was taken care of by Kamal. Sarfaraj drove the Gypsy. At Nagphani we alighted, and shook hands with Sarfaraj and Kamal. It was about 2pm and we were expected back by 4 pm the next day i.e. Rangpanchami. They asked us to give a call for the Gypsy after reaching back the next day.

          We picked up crude walking sticks left lying around by past trekkers, hauled our backpacks and took the right turn into the deep woods leaving the tar road behind us. It became evident quiet early that Sanjeev the diehard trekking enthusiast was going to be the leader of the pack competing with Ghanshyam. Anil with his routine regimen of jogging would follow in the second spot. Rai sahab although senior to all of us in age brought up the astute third position. Finally, I with a genetic predisposition towards slowness would take care of the rear. The first stretch was relatively gentle terrain as we reached Bhajiagiri. Ghanshyam regaled us with interesting tit-bits of information. We had entered 1500 sq kms of tiger reserve forest. The official estimate of tiger population within this area was approximately 45. However Ghanshyam’s personal estimate was slightly more than this. Further he described techniques to be deployed if we encounter any wild animal in general and the tiger in particular. Suitably impressed we trudged forward upon the languidly winding path circumnavigating a hill. In front of us appeared the enchanting sight of Kajri village deep down the ravine where we had planned to spend the night. Then, began the arduous task of descending a steep decline of about 2 kms, down into the valley. It was about 5 pm when we walked into Kajri village. We had walked for 3 hours and covered a distance of 6 kms. At the end of it I was happy with my own performance without anticipating anything about what lay in store the next day.

          Kajri village was a bit of a let down compared to what we had imagined. Although the view and location were enchanting, the village itself was unkempt with debris strewn around spoiling the ambience. The tribals did not possess that pristine quality, corrupted perhaps due to the influence of the biannual inflow of about 8 to 10 lacs pilgrims predominantly from Vidarbha. We selected a hut to spend the night in, and became engrossed in the task of preparing the dinner. Anil supervised the preparation with all of us pitching in. Ghanshyam revealed himself to be a big help, competently performing various campsite tasks. Dinner was delicious as time flew by. We made bed at 10 pm. The temperature at night, dipped drastically. Our sleeping bags proved to be barely adequate, thus dawned Thursday, 8^th March 2012. We rigged up an unexpectedly exquisite biryani breakfast from the leftovers of yesterday night. Sanjeev stirred up a soothing lemonade for the way. We departed by 9.45 am after gathering our belongings and tipping our host. The trek back was altogether 14 kms long. The first halt was Nagdwar. The climb was relatively easy and the view not very enchanting after taking into account the fact that this trail is known by the name of the place, although the reason for this may have more to do with pilgrimage rather than tourism. Later on the path became exponentially picturesque. At Padamshesh Sanjeev fell in love with the spot and marked it out as a future campsite. Afterwards the steep climb upto Swargdwar was breathtaking. Here Anil revealed to everybody his phobia of heights. We replenished our supply of drinking water from the gushing stream with chilled mountain water and marched ahead. The next point was Chintamani and from there we climbed upto Aamgiri. We were making slow progress. I was the main contributor towards this attribute although the terrain also happened to be tough. We had a long rest at Aamgiri and then climbed towards Chitrashala. This is an echo point and we enjoyed the view from here. Onwards, the path towards Guptaganga was precarious as we gingerly negotiated cliff ledges. Here we faced our first minor crisis so to speak. Anil refused to go forward upon this path. Ghanshyam suggested an alternate route which according to him was less precarious but would be a detour of about 2 kms. Sanjeev wanted to go forward on our present path, he hadn’t realised the seriousness of Anil’s problem until then. Anil said he will split and meet us at some point ahead enroute. It was about 4.30 pm, dusk was impending and we had to exit the forest before sundown anyhow but there still was substantial distance to be covered. Rai sahab stated firmly that we are not going to split at any cost. He asked the group to decide upon taking any one of the two paths and then the whole group should stick to that path. Somehow all of us together cajoled Anil to go on upon the precarious but shorter route which we were walking on. Rather reluctantly he relented. At the next juncture the climbdown towards Guptaganga was the steepest and the most precarious yet! Anil was cursing but he was stuck without options. Somehow, with great difficulty Sanjeev guided Anil down the decline by simultaneously rendering a step by step commentary and thereby inducing that much needed calming effect. We crossed Guptaganga and then after descending further reached a mountain stream across which lay the path which Ghanshyam told us, represented the last stretch of climb of about 1km back to Bhajiagiri. It was about 6.15 pm. The sun had set and daylight was fading away fast. Everybody was also quiet hungry by now, especially Rai sahab. So we hurriedly munched upon some biscuits and carried on. Sanjeev and Anil marched ahead. I and Rai sahab were by now finding it difficult to put steps forward. The exertion and fatigue was taking its toll. Everybody asked Ghanshyam not to allow me to trail too far behind. So he began walking with me for the first time. Ghanshyam sharpened the cleaver he was carrying. Then he created a stout staff out of a bamboo from a wayside bush. When he was doing all this, he pointed out a rather fresh 3 months old human grave, besides the path, of a tiger kill! A chill ran through our spines but the legs were unable to respond to this urgency. With supreme effort we finally managed to reach Bhajiagiri. It was 7 pm and night had fallen. We detected an iota of mobile phone signal and called Sarfaraj to arrange to pick us up with his Gypsy. Then we fished out the flashlights from our backpacks and started walking the final stretch of 2 kms upto Nagphani and the tar road listening to Ghanshyam’s vivid descriptions of his close encounter and fight with a bear. A stroke of divine coincidence marked the timing of the arrival of the Gypsy and our own finish line touch. By 8 pm we were back to civilization and the comfortable world of hot water taps and room service!

          On the next day, Friday 9^th March 2012 we returned to Nagpur. On the way back we visited Anhoni, which has a natural hot water pond and repeated our cock buying routine to have a late lunch. Finally we reached home rather late by about 10 pm. Anil dropped me off and then both Sanjeev and Anil dropped Rai sahab at the railway station from where he returned to Bhilai by once again taking the overnight train.