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Lost in Torna-tion

Caught up in professional lives, Nandakumar and his friends had almost forgotten the joys of trekking. Taking a much-needed break they set out to conquer the highest fort in the district

Nandakumar

Posted On Thursday, August 05, 2010 at 10:11:00 PM

 
After ages of not doing much, the dormant traveller in me awoke. I joined a few friends and together we decided to rediscover a common hobby we shared once upon a time (before professional life began!), of biking, nature and treks; and finally Mani, Akshay, Gourang and I planned a midnight trek on a comparatively free weekend.

Conquering the highest fort of Pune would surely bring a thrill back to our lives. We decided to trek up to the Torna fort, 35 kms from Pune, near the village Velhe.

In order to be ready to begin our trek from the foothills at midnight, we started from Pune on Saturday afternoon, at 3pm.

A cup of tea and conversation that revolved mostly around in-jokes among us friends later, we were ready to hike up the hill and find whether over the years of inaction, our stamina had deserted us.

Since the whole trip was about finally doing something different, we decided to take the road less travelled. Not every experiment results in a success. Luckily, we realised this in time.

After a short while we found that this ‘new route’ didn’t really take us anywhere. Without wandering any more, we decided to return to the base village and restart our trek.

Not losing out on enthusiasm and hope, we again began at 11.30 pm, this time via the route most commonly used and reached the top around 4 am. Wow, what an achievement, we felt; conveniently ignoring the fact that we were completely out of breath.

On the top rests an old Hanuman mandir along with a splendid view. The height of Torna has an advantage over other forts and you can see three more forts with a lushy green mountainous backdrop.

Watching the sun rise from such a height is always a great way to begin a day. Out came the cameras and we clicked our way to day break.

A breakfast of dry snacks later we trekked back down to Velhe and headed back home. It was back to the grind the next day, but this time with a bit more energy and freshness than the week before.
— As told to Akanksha Tyagi


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