Chanderi- Vangini

i had visited oberoi mall at gokuldham goregaon on 30th nov 2008 along with arunabha dey ( school friend). after strolling for sometime in the mall and not understanding what to do we reached the third and the last floor of the mall. Cross words a new book store had opened up. we decided to visit it and started pondering over the books stacked over there. among the travel section i happened to come across a book titled '' off-beat tracks in maharashtra''. decided to buy the book after final confirmation being given by Aru. it was a nice book totalling 256 pages written by milin gunaji- a hard core treckker. i reached home and started reading through the book and came across the place CHANDERI. being close to mumbai excited me and i decided toi visit the place. now i decided to search for my colleagues who can come with me. the obvious choice narrowed down to DENZIL -office colleague and a friend and a person who loves nature, mountains and a tuning, level which matches mine. i asked him the very next day on monday and to ASHISH NEGI-- a office collegaue and a person who had shown interest in trekking and nature . i was sure of connecting well with ASHISH. denzil could not come as he had to attend certain ceremony. ashish was ready. we decided to move on saturday 6th dec 08 at 5.00 am. to andheri station.
on 6th i got up at 4.00 tried calling ashish , however there was no response. tried for next half an hour till 4.30 a.m.. since he didnt picked up the phone, i thought lets close this and also went to sleep. by 6.45 a.m., ashish was calling me and i picked up the phone and ashish told he was sleeping and forgot to pickup the phone. looking at his enthu and of the dedication as of mine , i decided to leave for chanderi. we decided to meet at andheri station. my wife prepared thepla and i started from gokuldham by auto and reached goregaon stn for 22 rs. at the ticket counter purchased ticket to vangini return costing inr 38.00 . boarded the local and reached andheri and got down at andheri and waited for ashish at andheri 5th platform. he arrived 10-15 after and we caught 8.17 fast local and reached dadar and took the karjat local from the 6th platform. on the dadar stn we got biscuit and veg burger. we were lucky to find seat in the train and the crowd in the train was ok. the train left by 8.55 a.m. and by 10.05 a.m. we reached vangini stn. had a tea on the station and took 1 litre water bottle. the canteen person asked us to walk towards badlapur on the tracks and travelling for just 1.00 mns , we took left and reached the market place of vangini -east. the main market of vangini is on the west. being hungry we started searching for a hotel to eat something. it was a small place with smal shabby hotels--not in real term. ashish saw this place named rajasthani hotel.. we stepped in a had wada -pav. i had 2 vadapav with usal wheras ashish took 2 with usal. we then had tea. after feeling relieved , we started for chandheri. we took an auto from the stand which was nearby. there is a per seat charge of inr 8.00, and the auto moves after taking 5 person. so we decided to book the entire and tolk to pay him inr 40.00. after going through the habitat, the auto reached the main road, and took the route towards badlapur. we started enjoying the breeze and the majestic montain range clearly visible on our left side. i started capturing the glimpses through my mobile. on the way comes a small place called goregaon and finally after 15 mns the auto stopped and we got down on the same road. at this juncture there is a motel named chanderi on the right side and on the left is the track to chanderi. ashish took his camera which was a sort of professional camera and started shooting the scenes. we started walking towards left and it was amazing as the road was lonely and the scenes were amazing. we kept on walking and after walking for almost 20-25 mns , we met a villager who asked to take a left from the main road..was a sort of kachha rasta and to reach a village called WADI. we took the route and was amazingly quiet , breeze , greenery. it goes through someones private farmhouse. however there is no-one to stop and the same path is used by villagers. after walking straight for 15-20 mns. we took left and then straight and again left and went straight. its better to ask villagers to how to reach wadi. after 15-20 mns we reached wadi a small adivashi village where there is small school. from here we went towards the stream which was without water and started moving towards chanderi mountain. villagers were talking bath, washing clothes, filling up driniking water ...whathever water was left. we asked the villagers and they asked us to walk straight along the stream. while walking 2 village boys ageing 12-14 met us and told us to show the path and take us to the montain top for inr 100.0. we were in 2 minds , whether to trek alone or to take the help. finally ashish and myself decided to convince for inr 50.00 . the boys agreed and we started following them. he took a differnt route away from the stream . after walking for only 10-15 mns i was feeling very uneasy. for the first time in my life this was happening as i considered myself to be very strong, balanced and had trekked earlier also to bheemashankar. ashish was quite strong and was proceeding swiftly. then we would have walked for 20 mns when the boys told they have to get back since they were feeling hungry. after fruitless persuasion we gave up and started to proceed on our own. we kept on walking and after 15 mns, i started feeling exhausted and lied down. i was feeling terribly tired and thirsty. we had just 1.5 litres of water among both os us. i was feeling breathlessness. took some rest and again started walking , since it was almost 12-12.30 a.m. the sun was above our head , and we were feeling very hot and tired. we kept on walking with intermitent stops. the chanderi mountain was easily visible to us and was surrounded by huge moutain range. we could see from our naked eyes that the last part of the mountain peak was a straigth solid rock which was impossible for us to climb. while walking myself and ashish decided to reach atleast the base of the mountian. since we had to return on the same day , we could afford only to reach the base. after walking for almost 1 and half hour, it seemed that we would not be even be in a position to rech the base. we were completely lost in the mountain . except for ashish and myself , there was no-one. the path was of small mountains on which we were walking , and not of thich vegetation and hence the walk was ok. the issue however was of sun rays directly falling on our heads. the water quota was also getting over and we were now left with only 500 ml of water. the heat was draining us out and it was getting difficult for me to even walk for 10 mns. at a point we reached a stage where we had no path to proceed further and were surrounded by shrubs -- which started giving us irritation. it became so much that i pulled my t-shirt off my body and didnt knew what to do. ashish was having the same problem and advised to use our own saliva . we decided to call the day and to head back. initally i was not ready, however realised that it was good decision since out of water and between such shrubs. we started back and were forgetting our paths in between. i thought will i be able to reach home. we kept on walking with intermittent stops to regain energy. finally at 2.00 we reached a spot where there were trees and thick vegetation and lied down for 15 mns. then we started again and reched the village WADI . by this time i was completely exhausted and asked one of the villager for water. he took me to his house and offered me water. i had one full glass of water. ashsih was quite strong and resilient and didnt had water. we waited to 15 mns near the school and agai n started the journey back to the place whether the auto had left. the walk was of almost 5-7 k.m. there is no auto, we kept on walking and finally reached the spot and took a tea at chanderi motel and rested for 10 mns. we got the auto and reached vangini station . on the stn we had thepla and tea. local came and after 2 stns we manged to find a seat. both were tired and exhausted. ashish slept wheraeas i was thinking of the amaging journey we had and the mistakes we had done by not preparing well. by 6.15 was at home. took bath and ate something . the irritation was still there.
this is how our amazing journey came to end and we were uncessful in reaching chanderi.

please use the help of the local while going to chanderi and start the journey early unlike us and take ample water. this place is now very rarely visited since its far off from the main road and of the shrubs which causes irritation to the entire body.