Sermon of the Day

It was a cool dawn in spring. The world was stirring itself up for the day as the Sun made it's appearance.

A group of Zen monks, fresh and eager faced, were sitting on straw-filled mattresses in a courtyard. The Zen Master arrived and sat under a tree. He chanted with his head bowed and looked with repose at the disciples.

As he was about to begin his sermon, a bird alighted on a branch above him. It hopped about energetically and broke into a birdsong. All eyes and ears turned towards it. The bright-colored feathered creature sang for a while and flew away.

Turning to the monks the Master said, "The sermon for the day is over."

Milarepa's Cave

The Annapurna Circuit trek is amazing for the varied geography, picturesque villages and views of the mighty Himalayas. Being a teahouse trek, it can be done without a guide, porters, mules, tents, stove, fuel, ration and motley paraphernalia. Excellent lodges on the trail promise a warm bed and wholesome food besides an opportunity to meet, chat and socialize with trekkers from around the world. So, the Apple Pie Trail, as it is nicknamed, is what I chose for my first visit to Nepal in Sep-Oct 2009.

This trail initially follows the lush Marsyangdi river valley, moving away from it after Manang (3540m). The vegetation starts thinning till there is almost none as the trail approaches Yak Kharkha (4018m). In another day or two it goes over the windswept Thorung La at 5416m to descend dramatically into the cold desertlike region of the upper Kali Gandaki valley. The list of impressive 7000m+ and 8000m+ peaks one sees would be too long to mention here. The valleys are deep and broad and the scenery left us spellbound. I and my friend Shalini Menon did this trek at a leisurely pace to do justice to the place and also because this was the first time either of us would go above 5000m. We also did numerous day-hikes, Milarepa’s Cave being one of them.

On day 8 (Oct 03) we were in Braga (aka Bhraka) at 3360m, separated from Manang by 15-20 minutes. Having found a room for 100 Nepali Rupees, we decided to spend the next 2 days in that region and do day-hikes up to 4300 - 4600m in order to acclimatize for the tougher days ahead. I woke up late the next day at about 08:00. S was already in the dining hall. We had a heavy breakfast while reading our respective books. I was reading Annapurna Circuit, a Himalayan Journey by Andrew Stevenson which S had already finished. The lodge owner, a friendly, bearded, tough middle-aged Manangi with glowing reddish sun-baked skin noticed this and told us that the author had stayed in his lodge a few times and kept in touch with him. He showed me a hard-bound autographed copy of the book on display in a corner. He said various autographed copies had been either damaged or stolen by trekkers and the author had been kind to send him a new one each time.

At about 10:45 we took our daypacks and left for Milarepa’s Cave which is on the slopes high above Braga and Manang, to the true right of the Marsyangdi. The lodge owner was kind enough to walk with us a short way and point out the rough direction we needed to go in. Going south along the river, we soon reached a wooden bridge. Crossing over, we were told that we would see two paths ascending into the mountains. The one on the left was steep while the right one was gentler. We chose the right. Clouds shrouded the mighty peaks and the sky was a mass of gray as we began the ascent. The visibility on the trail and in the valley below was good though. The trail seemed well used, though much narrower than the main circuit. We passed numerous cairns and chortens. The settlements in the valley below looked picturesque and tiny, dwarfed by the mountains. After about an hour or so, we encountered steep rock and sand formations of the kind one sees in Spiti in HP, India. Unlike Spiti though, it was quite green here due to higher rainfall.

Milarepa, a 11^th century Tibetan mystic and poet had lived and meditated in this region for many years. This is a historical fact, not a myth. Many regions of Nepal have had strong connections with Tibet, and the influence of this can be seen to this day. After China occupied Tibet, a group of Tibetans called Khampas made Mustang their base and continued guerrilla warfare against the Chinese for many years. Mustang is just a week’s hike from the upper Kali Gandaki valley. Regions such as Mustang and outer Dolpo in Nepal are probably greater strongholds of Tibetan culture than Tibet itself these days, though in a fossilized form and losing their seclusion and identity rapidly.

We continued ascending and I began sensing a mystical quality in the air as we passed through an Alpine forest. It was a strange, uncanny feeling. The spirit of Milarepa, a giant among the various mystics of Tibet, seemed to have permeated the rocks, soil, air, forest and the mountains. The feeling was neither pleasant nor disturbing; just strange, special and peaceful. S could sense it too, as we talked about it later. If this seems weird to you, you could just put it down to the wind blowing in my vacuous cranial cavity.

At some point we encountered workers building a Stupa. I smiled and asked how far the Milarepa Gompa was. In another 30 minutes or less, I reached the steps leading to the small, unimpressive Gompa. It was 12:45. It had been a pleasant hike and I was not tired. Just then it started drizzling, gently at first and then more heavily. Seeing a hut from which some fumes were emanating, I ran for shelter. Inside was an old Lama who welcomed me and plied me with hot water, black tea, powdery biscuits and some kind of prasad. We sat by the wood-fired stove cum fireplace, trying to talk in broken English while the rain made a racket. The Lama figured that I knew Hindi. He would say a word in English and ask me translate it into Hindi, and then translate it into Tibetan himself. He seemed particularly amused by the sound of the word ladki, girl in Hindi, and had a good laugh at it. S too arrived in a while and was extended the same hospitality. We wondered what drove an old man like him to live alone in the mountains, so frugally and simply, and in conditions that would surely be quite harsh. What was it like to live such a life?

After it stopped raining, we said goodbye to him and went looking for Milarepa’s Cave. We spent another 2 or 2.5 hours roaming around and going further up the mountains in search. We saw many blue sheep, aka bharal, grazing in the meadows that were enveloped in a gentle swirling mist. They seemed unperturbed by our presence but would move away the moment we were within 15-20 feet radius. The cave was not to be found though. We descended back to the Gompa and followed another path that I had missed earlier. I don’t remember it well now, but it was quite close to the Gompa. It climbed a little and then traversed the side of the mountain on the right. Finally, I saw the cave on one of the hillsides. It was unmistakable, a small unadorned cave with offerings, incense and a little statue of Milarepa.

The skies were still overcast. None of the mountains above were visible and neither was the valley below. I descended to the river in 50-60 minutes by the steep route. At the bridge, I waited for S and we headed for the lodge.

The lodge owner said he thought we might have lost the trail and was wondering what took us so long to return. Over ginger tea and hot chocolate, we narrated our experience and it was only after talking to him that we realized we had ascended a fair bit higher than Milarepa’s Cave. Although shrouded by the mist and clouds, another 2-3 hours hike would have brought us to the base of Annapurna III (7555m), perhaps close enough to see the Gangapurna glacier. Well, that’s what I’m gonna do if I ever come here again, I thought.

I treated myself to a large pizza and chocolate brownie for dinner that night, and we made plans for a day-hike to Ice Lake the next day. 

Night trek to Peb

This was my first night trek. It was thrilling and enjoyable enough for me to be motivated to write about it, albeit a little late!

Unlike as usual, I had the weekend off on Apr 11 & 12. The last trek that that I'd done was in winter, sometime in Nov - months ago! Was itching badly for a good trek. Summer makes things worse for trekking in the Sahyadri. (Monsoon is the best. Winter is good for tougher ones.) Even an easy trek can sap the energy out of seasoned trekkers. So a night trek was the only obvious choice. The places I had in mind were Harishchandragad, Naneghat, Peb (aka Vikatgad) and Gorakhgad. I'm generally averse to an "easy trek." At the some time, since this was my first night trek, I could not afford to bite off more than I could chew. A few phone calls later, asking people if they would care to join, what their choices are and so on, I and Moiz finally decided on doing a night trek to Peb. This would be my 2nd trek with Moiz, a seasoned trekker and traveler by my standards. ;)

The plan was to leave Mumbai by 4:00 PM and start from Neral a little before sunset. That way, we would suffer little heat. Secondly, it would also give us the advantage of some light which would help us in the initial patch where there are chances of getting lost - more so at night..! he he... :) More about that later.

But it was not to be that way. I went off to sleep and probably didn’t set the alarm properly. When I woke up, it was 5:15 PM. I saw missed calls from Moiz and called back. He had assumed that I cancelled our plans at the last moment. We took stock of our situation and decided that we would go ahead with a trek although it was a little late. Question was - should we stick to Peb, or opt for Gorakhgad instead? We decided to stick to doing Peb. There was some risk involved in this, but since I had done Peb before in daylight, I had a fair idea of the route and felt we would be able to manage the tricky part even at night.

I took a local at 7:27 PM from Ghatkopar. Moiz joined me at Dombivli. We reached Neral at 8:45 and had some grub near the station. We started the trek at 9:30.

Here's the inside scoop on how to go about tackling Peb at night. :)

From Neral station, walk towards the right - in the direction of Vangani. At one point after one has left the hustle-bustle near the station behind, take a left and walk across a small maidan and onto a narrower street with shops on either side. (I believe this point is a tax/rickshaw stand - not sure.) One can now see Matheran (left), Peb (center) and Nakhind (right.) One can now see the col between Peb and Nakhind which one has to reach first. Reaching this col is the only slightly tricky part of this trek 'cos it is easy to go off on the wrong track if one is not careful and does not know better. After walking a while along the road, we reached a village. We continued walking along the same road, going right, till I realized we had come a bit too far to the right. I could see the lights of a village which was closer to the col and realized that it was that village we had to reach – not the one we were in. We backtracked a little on the road and then walked across the land in the direction of the lights. There was no need to backtrack all the way on the road. If we had been more alert, we would have spotted the farther village instead of going to the right. Anyways, we did not lose much time due to this.

We reached Kapoor Farm – it is a landmark in the area. We saw a path going in the direction of the hills on the left of its gate. We took that path and soon reached a brick structure which was under construction. Must mention here though that there is always quite a bit of construction going on in these parts and so the paths do not stay as they are. The only thing that can truly guide you is your sense of direction, judgment about which would be the right path and your wits. Of course, you can always ask someone if you're not sure. There are always sooo many people anywhere in India - you just can't escape humanity in this land! There was a pot bellied baba sitting with someone outside this place and we thought of confirming the route with him. As it turned out, he was not a local and did not know the route. He did confirm that we were in the right direction though, so we went ahead after having some water.

Soon after leaving the Ashram behind, we started ascending a hill. There is only a single fairly well trodden path here rather than the confusing criss-cross and mish-mash that one finds closer to the villages. We simply followed this path which went right first before circling and turning left, ascending all the while, till it took us to a small plateau. We now had to begin using our head torches since it was quite dark, esp. in the thickets. We did not have much benefit of the moonlight since the moon, in the waning phase, was almost full but hidden by clouds. Ascending this hill brought us to the first big power transmission tower. I must make special note of these towers now.

More than anything else, it is these power transmission towers that can act as one's guideposts on this trek. They go over the same terrain and roughly the same direction. In fact one of them sits bang on the col between Peb and Nakhind and then the lines go down on to the other side towards Panvel. The path does not go directly below these of course, but the direction is approx. the same during most of the trek till the col. One has to keep note that if you're going too far away from the direction in which the power lines are going, then you're off track. And one should be alert and keep a look out for the path where it seems to disappear or where multiple paths seem to crop up.

After reaching the 1st plateau, we turned right and began another ascent through the hill and thickets to reach a 2nd plateau / flat area. This is larger than the 1st one. The 2nd tower is somewhere here too. We walked straight past the tower, with the path going slightly left, till we reached a point where we crossed a 3rd tower and walking even further we could see the col right in front of us. At this point, it seems easy to think that all one has to do is climb and reach the col in 45-60 mins. But it is not so. There is no proper route to the col from this point. There are many boulders and thickets in between which make it tough to ascend to the col from this point, either from the right or from the left. During the day it is possible to manage an ascent somehow, but at night it is foolhardy.

There is a path which leads towards the area situated directly below the col. This seems to be going in the right direction but is in fact the wrong one. Keep a look out for a path which goes right in the direction of Nakhind rather than Peb. Although it initially seems to be going in the wrong direction and away from Peb, this is the right one. At some point it turns sharply left and then one ascends through a fairly thick jungle following a clearly visible path till one reaches the col via a 4th tower that one passes along the way.

Our problem was that either due to poor visibility, or lack of alertness or being engrossed in talking, or all of these, we missed the point where the path turns left and kept walking straight ahead till we reached a point where a further clear trail was not visible. It was then that stupid me realized we had again gone too much to the right. There was no other option than to backtrack 'cos we were now somewhere below the hills of the broad Nakhind mountain. We decided to backtrack all the way to the 3rd tower so as to be very clear about taking the right route. But we kept a lookout to see if we could find a path on our right which went up. We rested at one point and it somewhere there that we saw the now dry nullah made by the monsoon waters. We figured that the nullah would take us to some point near the col since the water flowed from that direction. So we set off to ascend through the nullah rather than backtrack further which would have cost us 30 minutes or so. Fortunately, after just 2-3 minutes of climbing, the nullah criss-crossed a path which came from below (the one we missed seeing earlier). So we followed the path rather than the rocky nullah till we reached the 4th tower. From the 4th tower, there are again 2 paths. I don't remember exactly now, but we took a path on the left which was ascending figuring it would take us to the col since that was still further up. But that path went in a different direction after a while. Again it turned after a while and started climbing in the direction of the col. It is all quite hazy now in my memory. We were scrambling like crazy through the thickets since we lost the path after a while. We just kept ascending however we could simply knowing that we were in the right direction and could see the mountain ridge up ahead. Fortunately, after about 15-20 mins of this crazy scrambling we accidentally got back on the path again. After that in another 10 mins we were on the col. Finally.....!! Near the col, there are 3 other paths. One goes over the col and down towards Panvel side to a village below. One goes right towards Nakhind along the ridge that connects Peb and Nakhind. The 3rd one, which we had to take, was the one on the left which goes to Peb.

It was 12:30 AM by the time we reached the col. We spent a good 45 minutes there resting, drinking water, eating and chit-chatting. It was very cool, peaceful and much of the topography we had trekked over was visible from this point. From the col to Peb there is no chance of getting lost and it takes just 35-45 mins to reach the caves of Peb from there. The path does go up and down and there are some slightly steep scree ridden paths. When one is almost at the end of the connecting ridge and near the Peb mountain, there is a rock patch that needs to be tackled. It is just 20-25 feet and an easy free climb with plenty of holds - no problem even at night or in the monsoons. After the rock patch, we skirted the mountain wall in front of us and took a path which went to the right. A further walk of 10 mins and we found the caves on the left. Whew..!! It was 2:30 AM when we reached the caves.

We were out of water and so I set off to find water at 3-4 spots near the cave which I knew. Found nothing. I realized that these spots probably held water only in the monsoons and a little after that. We were now faced with the prospect of trekking to Matheran without any water. We decided to sleep for 3-4 hours and set off as early as possible to avoid the Sun. We went off to sleep at 3:00 AM, near the entrance to the caves rather than inside.

We woke at 6:30 AM. Or to be more precise, we were awakened by the Sun and chirping birds etc. soon after Sunrise. As I woke up and sat erect, the most wonderful sight greeted my eyes. This was the best moment of the trek for me. We were in the west and the Sun was in the east on the other side of the mountain, so it was not visible. There was freshness in the air and the quietude was broken only by the sound of birds. Best of all, moonset had not occurred. Since it was not bright daylight as yet, the almost full moon was clearly visible too. And down below we could see the flat lands - villages, fields and the Palasdari lake. Just sitting quietly at this spot for 10 mins was the best of this trek for me.

We quickly packed and set off further for Matheran by 7:00. We also intended to check out another 1-2 places for water which we could not check out at night. Walking further we reached a wall which one has to climb using an iron ladder. There is a tank at the top near the wall but that too was dry. We climbed further and then took a right to get on to the ridge that connects Peb and Matheran. There is a path that again skirts the top area of the hill and goes around it instead. At it's end where we could now see the ridge to Matheran clearly. We saw a path going to the left and leading to a hut. The "hut" is a kinda Ashram set up by followers of Swami Samartha. There was no one around so we freely trespassed and entered the shrine. Lo and behold - the blessed souls who lived here had kept water in a drum inside the shrine..!! We were very thirsty and drank our fill before also filling the bottles. We would not run out of water till Matheran now.

Leaving the hut we walked in the direction of Matheran and after a while met 2 guys. They were the Swami Samartha fellows who lived in the hut. One of them showed me the place where they got the water from. It is very close to the hut, a little below it, and has water all year round. There is enough water for them to take a bath everyday and enough for their 2-3 cattle to drink as well. They invited us for tea which we declined and after ascertaining the route we set off again. It is an easy 1.5 - 2 hours walk to the railway track of Matheran from Peb. One has to descend by an iron ladder at one point where it is rocky. After this descent, the path leads straight to a point where it again skirts the mountain side rather than going up. This is on the west side, so if one leaves early, one is shaded from the Sun after this point. A further 20-30 minute walk brought us to a point on the Matheran railway track at 9:00 AM. The train passes by this point at 9:15. We decided not to risk boarding it as we would have to board it while it was running and also ran the risk of a hefty fine if caught without a ticket. The ticket checker was sure not to let go of relatively rich city folks like us – “Tch Tch… Educated people like you should know better. Now you have to pay a fine.” I am sure they let local folks hitch a ride without any payment.

So we walked along the track till we reached Dasturi Naka. It is the entry point for Matheran where one has to park one's vehicles and leave them behind as they are not allowed in. We reached the Matheran market by 10:15 AM. Had a snack there and roamed around a little before going for an afternoon snooze in the Paymaster Park. Sleeping like bums in a public park on the park-benches was quite an experience. I did not get much sleep though Moiz was fast asleep soon. I could overhear the yapping of a group which came after us and rested nearby. A young boy was wondering aloud why we were not getting disturbed by the insects. To which his mom or aunt or whoever it was, replied "Huh..! It makes no difference to people like these." .. he he... When I later told this to Moiz, he speculated that they probably thought we were drug addicts. Or maybe good-for-nothing bums asleep in a public park 'cos they have nothing better to do in life.

We left the park at 4:30 PM, had a snack in the market and bought soda to make a 2nd round of a heavenly drink (Kokum sherbet with Soda..!) and took a cab down to Neral. I was back home by 8:30 PM.

All in all, a great escape and a resounding success as it was mine as well as Moiz's first night trek.

My Expenses: 49 - Andheri to Ghatkopar rickshaw, 30 - Ghatkopar to Neral return ticket. Sub-total: 79.

Shared Expenses: 70 - restaurant at Neral, 50 - Matheran entry fee, 30 - Diwadkar restaurant, 32 - 2 bottles of soda, 70 - snack in market, 100 - cab from Matheran to Neral. Sub-total: 352. Per head: 352/2 = 176

My total expenses: 176 + 79 = 255.

Cheap, huh? And this was one of the treks where we ended up spending more since we went to a touristy place like Matheran. Else we would not have had to spend more than 150 bucks per head.

Last Post?

Have started another blog where I am writing anonymously since a while. So, I may not write any more out here. This may be the last post. On the other hand, it's quite possible that I may write something once in a while here too. :)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Haven't read the book but saw the movie today. Liked it a lot.
Great acting by Jack Nicholson & direction by Milos Forman. Makes me want to read the book too, but dunno if I'll ever get around to it. :)

American Neuroses

American Neuroses - A Cultural Analysis - a very good essay by Dan Rowden on Genius Realms - a discussion forum.

On Pleasure and Pain

Never admit the pain,
Bury it deep;
Only the weak complain,
Complaint is cheap.
Cover thy wound, fold down
Its curtained place;
Silence is still a crown,
Courage a grace.

- Mary Gilmore (1865-1962), Australian Poet

Something I read recently made me recall this poem from my 8th or 9th grade school textbook. I remember it word-to-word, not just because it is short but also because the teacher who interpreted it for us seemed to like it a lot. It was visible in the interest with which she spoke about it as opposed to other things that were in the syllabus.

The poem advocates a stoic courage and an ability to deal with pain with a silence forced upon oneself. It advocates hiding one’s wounds from the view of the world, because we know how ruthless the world is. It does not care about the wounds that one carries. On the contrary, it inflicts more wounds once it realizes how frail one is. In saying “Never admit the pain, Bury it deep” the poet seems to be advising us to bury the pain so deep that not only is it not visible to the outside world but also so that we can therefore have the ability to deny or hide the pain from our own selves. It sees this as strength, and loathes complaining as cheap and a sign of weakness.

This kind of stoic courage has helped me on many occasions in my life. I am sure many people adopt the same approach. However, then as well as now, there seems to me something seriously wrong with this approach to dealing with pain, although I perhaps still resort to it sometimes.

All of us are hurt. We experience pain right from the time we are born. Being born itself is such a painful and traumatic process. We are pushed out from our mother’s womb, which is such a comfortable and secure place, into this world. The first thing we do is cry. As babies, we experience pain even though the concept of “I” has not yet fully developed. For several months, a baby does not know that it is a separate entity from the world. Experience of pleasure and pain play a critical role in the development of the concept of “I”. Through such experiences we realize how the world is separate from us, that we are a distinct entity upon which pleasure and pain are bombarded. Later, as we get more integrated with society, the development of the process of thought and the thinker (an entity created by thought itself) also plays an important role in strengthening the “I”.

We are born with a high sensitivity. We continue to experience pleasure and pain all through life - only perhaps less keenly as we grow older. We see pleasure as something good, desirable, and pain as something to be avoided. We either run away from it or develop strategies to deal or fight with it. In doing so, we lose our sensitivity and become thick-skinned and hard-hearted – not sensitive even to our own pain, forget others. We want pleasure, comfort, security… And in trying to have this we become clever, escapist, insensitive, thoughtless, blind… We do not realize that pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. We cannot have one without the other. The pursuit of comfort and security, material as well as psychological, is such a tortuous process, filled with conflict, uncertainty and effort. And it ultimately leads to pain. Pain remains the central fact of human life.

One may say that one is not pursuing pleasure or comfort, and that we just want to be happy, content. But upon looking carefully within, one realizes that this is just a form of self-deception. One may not be greedy or covetous, but one still wants happiness through pleasure. We confuse the two. Pleasure can be pursued or sought. But happiness does not come from seeking. One cannot go to it. It comes to us. And it comes to us, only if it wishes, as a kind of side-effect of something else, of a different quality within oneself than one which is always “seeking” or “becoming” something. One need not name this quality – why give it a name? If we give it a name, a word, then again our clever minds will snatch upon it and bring it within the realm of thought, as something to be pursued or achieved. It is easy to be firm or stubborn and pursue something; it is far more difficult not to do that and instead try to understand why one wants pleasure, happiness (or whatever you want to call it) in the first place.

To quote J. Krishnamurti, “I have been hurt all my life, I am sensitive - you know what hurt is, the wounds that one receives, and what effect it has in later life. I have been hurt. I can deal with superficial hurts fairly intelligently. I know what to do. I either resist, build a wall around myself, isolate myself so that I will never be hurt, or grow a thick skin - which most people do. But behind that they are wounded deeply.” The Buddha was perhaps trying to convey the same thing by saying that “Life is suffering (Dukkha).” It is significant that this is the first of the ‘four noble truths’ that he preached.

Most of us do not even realize that we are in sorrow. Sorrow is the human condition. We either try to overcome it or explain away our suffering. And so we never understand it.

Some of us are good at seeking escapes. Or to put it another way, we are successful at escaping and so we do not even realize that we are being escapist.

Having beliefs and clinging to them is being escapist. A belief is not a fact. For example, does one believe that fire is hot or does one know it as a fact? Isn’t it stupid to say “I believe fire is hot.”? We have beliefs only about things that we do not know anything about. We do not know what love is or what truth is and so we have beliefs or ideas about it. If we want to know what love is or what truth is one has to know oneself first – and we do not want to do that because that is not the easy way. So we seek escapes by believing in this and that… and engaging in action based on that, which only adds to the chaos although one may think otherwise.

Being committed to some idea or values is also being escapist. Why do we choose some idea or value? It is because by believing in or being committed to it we hope to achieve something. Behind that, what we are still seeking is comfort or security. We are disturbed by the chaos of life, and so we try to escape from it rather than face the reality within ourselves. By conforming to some pattern based on conditioning, we become half-dead human beings. Escape can take various forms – seeking pleasure or not seeking pleasure, seeking money or some object or not seeking it, seeking love or not seeking it, seeking comforts of the city or seeking an idealistic rural life, wanting something from someone or not wanting it and so on… We all indulge in being escapist in some form or another. Even pursuing spirituality is an escape.

There is no limit to the ways in which one can escape. We seem to have an ingrained tendency towards flight from disturbance rather than understanding oneself. Perhaps it is a natural and genetically encoded impulse in human beings. But that makes it all the important for us to see the danger of it. What is wrong with being disturbed? Unless we are disturbed, we will not have the energy to change and understand the cause of the disturbance. Understanding oneself means investigating into one’s psychological processes and instincts. This leads to self-knowledge or freedom. It leads to an understanding of life that is different from that which most people are used to. (In using the word “life” I am including death in it because death is not the opposite of life or something separate from it. It is a part of life.) That is the only basis upon which one can engage in right action or the foundation upon which one can build one’s life. Then whatever action one engages in is right action. The same action, if it does not come from self-knowledge is mere conformity with the intention of achieving something and thus being secure, which leads to more chaos/confusion.

However, when we look within ourselves, we may see many things that are ugly. It is difficult to simply look at the fact, or what-is, without any acceptance, justification, condemnation or running away. Similarly, it is also difficult not to turn self-knowledge into another thing that needs to be achieved or pursued by means of a path, system or method. I know this problem only too well and probably the way I am struggling to overcome it is also a part of the problem. In the spiritual realm, the effort to do something does not accomplish anything. As Krishnamurti said, “It is the truth that frees, not your effort to be free.”

There is no easy way out. There is no refuge – neither outside nor within.

Thoughts on Thinking

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.

- Oscar Wilde

To understand the misery and confusion that exist within ourselves, and so in the world, we must first find clarity within ourselves, and that clarity comes about through right thinking. Clarity is not the result of verbal assertion, but of intense self-awareness and right thinking. Right thinking is not the outcome of or mere cultivation of the intellect, nor is it conformity to pattern, however worthy and noble. Right thinking comes with self-knowledge. Without understanding yourself you have no basis for thought; without self-knowledge, what you think is not true.

- J. Krishnamurti

The unexamined life is not worth living.

- Socrates

Our system of upbringing is based upon what to think, not on how to think.

- J. Krishnamurti

A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove.

- J. Krishnamurti

In a certain sense we are nothing but a complex mass of mental, nervous and physical habits held together by a few ruling ideas, desires and associations--an amalgam of many small self-repeating forces with a few major vibrations.

- Sri Aurobindo

There is no refuge other than conquest of the mind.

- Katha Upanishad

Thought sees itself to be impermanent, in constant flux, so it creates the thinker as an entity apart and dissimilar from itself. Then the thinker operates on thought; the thinker says, “I must put an end to thought”. But there is only the process of thinking; there is no thinker apart from thought. The thinker and the thought are one.

- J. Krishnamurti

The world changes when the mind changes.

- Buddha

One makes all kinds of discoveries when the mental machine stops, and first of all one realizes that if the power to think is a remarkable gift, the power not to think is a far greater one; let the seeker try it for just a few minutes, and he will soon see what this means! He will realize that he lives in a surreptitious racket, an exhausting and ceaseless whirlwind exclusively filled with his thoughts, his feelings, his impulses, his reactions - him, always him, an oversized gnome intruding into everything, obscuring everything, hearing and seeing only himself, knowing only himself (if even that!), whose unchanging themes manage to give the illusion of novelty only through their alternation.

- Satprem (Bernard Enginger)

Thought has survived for millions and millions of years, and it knows every trick in the world. It will do anything to maintain its continuity.

- U.G.Krishnamurti

Thought is our enemy. However, we are not ready to accept the fact that thought can only create problems, but cannot help us to solve them.

- U.G.Krishnamurti

Thought is the movement of constant becoming... the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.

- J. Krishnamurti

Religion is the frozen thought of man out of which they build temples.

- J. Krishnamurti

What is jealousy? Can you look at jealousy without the word jealousy? The experiencing of a fact without thought and feeling is a profound event.

- J. Krishnamurti

Perception without the word, which is without thought, is one of the strangest phenomena. Then the perception is much more acute, not only with the brain, but also with all the senses. Such perception is not the fragmentary perception of the intellect nor the affair of the emotions. It can be called a total perception.

- J. Krishnamurti

The first task of yoga is to breathe freely, to shatter that mental screen, which allows only one type of vibration to get through, in order to discover the multicolored infinity of vibrations; that is, the world and people as they really are, and another "self" within ourselves, whose worth is beyond any mental appreciation.

- Satprem (Bernard Enginger)

But what makes you choose? What makes you say this is good, true, noble, and the rest is not? Obviously the choice is based on pleasure, reward or achievement; or it is merely a reaction of one's conditioning or tradition. Why do you choose at all? Why not examine every thought? When you are interested in the many, why choose one? Why not examine every interest? Instead of creating resistance, why not go into each interest as it arises, and not merely concentrate on one idea, one interest? After all, you are made up of many interests, you have many masks, consciously and unconsciously. Why choose one and discard all the others, in combating which you spend all your energies, thereby creating resistance, conflict and friction. Whereas if you consider every thought as it arises - every thought, not just a few thoughts - then there is no exclusion. But it is an arduous thing to examine every thought. Because, as you are looking at one thought, another slips in. But if you are aware without domination or justification, you will see that, by merely looking at that thought, no other thought intrudes. It is only when you condemn, compare, approximate, that other thoughts enter in.

- J. Krishnamurti

There is not a single movement of our being, at any level, not a single emotion, not a single desire, not the batting of an eyelash, that is not instantly snatched up by the mind and covered over with a layer of thought; in other words, we mentalize everything.

- Satprem (Bernard Enginger)

Thought is violence because it is trying to protect itself. There is no such thing as you and me. The totality has created you and me. You have no isolated existence. The demand of being an individual is the real cause of suffering. The how is absent for me. The hows dished out in the market-place are not for me. The one who is living doesn't ask how to live.

- U.G.Krishnamurti

This vast space which the mind, the I, cannot reach, is silence. The mind can never be silent within itself; it is silent only within the vast space which thought cannot touch. Out of this silence there is action which does not arise from thought. Meditation is this silence.

- J. Krishnamurti

Thought is time. Thought is born of experience and knowledge which are inseparable from time and the past. Time is the psychological enemy of man. Our action is based on knowledge and therefore time, so man is always a slave to the past. Thought is ever-limited and so we live in constant conflict and struggle. There is no psychological evolution. When man becomes aware of the movement of his own thoughts he will see the division between the thinker and the thought, the observer and the observed, the experiencer and the experience. He will discover that this division is an illusion. Then only is there pure observation which is insight without any shadow of the past or of time. This timeless insight brings about a deep radical mutation in the mind.

- J. Krishnamurti

If I really see what thought does, thought comes to an end. Whatever thought does it breeds misery, sorrow, conflict, and when thought realizes that, it will come to an end by itself, the vicious circle is broken; thought, which means time, has come to an end.

- J. Krishnamurti

Building on Sand

Nice one by Charles Schulz. The dangers of building on/from sand...
So what is the right basis to build on? Self-knowledge.

(click on the image to enlarge & read the text)

Serious Humor

A student of philosophy, eager to display his powers of argument, approached Diogenes, introduced himself and said, "If it pleases you, sir, let me prove to you that there is no such thing as motion." Whereupon Diogenes immediately got up and left.

Diogenes was knee deep in a stream washing vegetables. Coming up to him, Plato said, "My good Diogenes, if you knew how to pay court to kings, you wouldn't have to wash vegetables."
"And," replied Diogenes, "If you knew how to wash vegetables, you wouldn't have to pay court to kings."

A man said to the Universe,
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the Universe, "that fact has not created in me a sense of obligation."
- Stephen Crane

"The other day I saw a cartoon in a magazine," he recounted to the audience. "It's in New York City, at a busy intersection in Times Square. There are two dogs sitting by the curbside, watching the people hurrying by, always busy and in a rush. And one dog says to the other, 'You know, reincarnation gives me the creeps.'" - J.Krishnamurti

“There are three monks, who had been sitting in deep meditation for many years amidst the Himalayan snow peaks, never speaking a word, in utter silence. One morning, one of the three suddenly speaks up and says, ‘What a lovely morning this is.’ And he falls silent again. Five years of silence pass, when all at once the second monk speaks up and says, ‘But we could do with some rain.’ There is silence among them for another five years, when suddenly the third monk says, ‘Why can’t you two stop chattering?” - J.Krishnamurti

A Catholic is standing on a mountain and looks down into the beauty of the valley. Suddenly he slips and falls down the cliff and is barely able to hold on to the branch of a tree that is growing there. Below him is an abyss of a thousand feet. He doesn’t know what to do, so he prays, ‘Please, Lord, help me. Save me from death.’ And a voice comes out of the sky and says, ‘Have faith, let go! And the man looks up and calls out, ‘Is there anybody else up there?”
While we were all laughing, Krishnamurti looked at us with bright eyes, eventually asking, “What is trust? Do you have trust? Not trust in something, some idea or ideal, just trust.” - J.Krishnamurti

You may remember the story of how the devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, "What did that man pick up?" "He picked up a piece of Truth," said the devil. "That is a very bad business for you, then," said his friend. "Oh, not at all," the devil replied, "I am going to let him organize it." - J.Krishnamurti

"It's like the husband whose pregnant wife is about to give birth.
When they arrive at the hospital, the man asks her, are you sure you want to go through with this?"
(Meant to show that choice isn't always relevant.) - J.Krishnamurti

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us." - Calvin, from the cartoon strip Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Waterson

Story of the Weeping Camel

This one is quite unlike any other documentary that I have seen. Saw it today morning before going off to sleep.

For one thing, the concept itself is unique. It wonderfully blends storytelling, drama, cultural ethnography and nature documentary into one. The documentary is shot in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. The story primarily revolves around a family of camel and sheep herders who face an unexpected crisis when the mother of one of the newborn camel calves rejects it. It simply refuses to give the calf any motherly affection and care. This is probably because the mother, Ingen Temee, has had a particularly difficult first birthing experience, being in labor for about 2 days. In fact, we witness the calf being literally pulled out because the mother does not have any strength left to push it out. The calf, Botok, is an albino Bactrian camel. It was heart-wrenching to see some of the scenes between this calf and the mother. Days pass, and even after the best of efforts to effect a change, the camel remains obdurate as ever. The calf becomes weak and seems to be losing the will to live, often refusing even the tender attention of the family who has been feeding it with milk manually.

Amgaa, an elder in the family, then decides that a Hoos ritual will be required. But for that they need a good violinist. So they dispatch the two young boys to Aimak to fetch a musician. Aimak is a place where the western way of life has already made its presence felt more strongly than in the remote place where the family lives. It was funny as well as troubling to see the behavior of Ugna, the younger of the two boys, as he encounters temptations such as television, bicycles, ice-cream and department stores. We see a consumerist in the making. :)

With the help of some family friends, the boys make contact with a violinist at the cultural center who agrees to help. After the boys reach some, the family waits anxiously for the violinist to arrive as the calf is even more desolate than ever.

We then witness the Hoos ritual which was wonderful and touching. This was the best moment for me. Offering prayers to the spirits, the musician first simply hangs the violin on the hump of the hassled and nervous camel. The violin strings vibrate as Odgoo & Ikhee try to soothe the camel. Odgoo then sings a melodic song to the accompaniment of violin to try and change the camel’s heart. However, it seems to have no effect. The violinist is about to give up but she continues to sing, urging him to accompany with his music. Finally, we see the camel weeping with emotion. Its heart has been stirred and it now accepts the calf as its own.

For me, this documentary was a fine example of magical storytelling and witnessing the way of life of these people who live in the harsh environment of the desert. It also shows how nobody can survive without love – neither the calf, nor us, nor planet earth. The funny way in which the childishness of consumerism has been portrayed was also nice.

Puff the Magic Dragon

This is one of my favorite songs - I keep humming it now and then thesedays. :)

It was sung by the folk artists trio Peter, Paul & Mary. It is a beautiful song about the loss of childhood as we grow up. It tells the story of Puff the Magic Dragon and Jackie Paper, a little boy. Together as friends, they share great adventures. However, one day Jackie Paper grows up and loses interest in his playmate Puff. He moves on, leaving the mighty dragon alone and sorrowful at the loss of his friend.

Hearing this bittersweet song almost brings tears to my eyes sometimes. The story of Puff the Magic Dragon and Jackie Paper could well be a story about the loss of our own childhood. How many of us remember the imaginary adventures we used to engage in as children? Ah, how I wish we could set off on imaginary adventures once again - in the way that only children can! Amongst other things, this too is one of the abilities that we lose as we grow up.

I wonder what became of Jackier Paper as he grew up. He probably became like one of us. Are we not cowards who, most of the time, meekly succumb to the demands of this mad world? And we call that becoming "mature" and "growing up." Would it not be brave to escape and indulge in these imaginary adventures? I don't think it would be silly to do so, to whatever extent we can, although not as much and in the same way as children. It is about being imaginative, creative and sane - and not about being escapist, as a so-called "mature" person would say.

Those who love fantasy books and films like Lord of the Rings, would perhaps be able to relate better to the theme of this song. It was also made into a cartoon film in 1978. I found it recently - it is pretty good, an evergreen classic. :)

Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff, oh!

Chorus:
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee

Together they would travel on a boat with billowed sail
Jackie kept a lookout perched on Puff's gigantic tail
Noble kings and princes would bow whene'er they came
Pirate ships would lower their flag when Puff roared out his name, oh!

(Chorus)

A dragon lives forever but not so little boys
Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys
One grey night it happened; Jackie Paper came no more
And Puff, that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar

His head was bent in sorrow; green scales fell like rain
Puff no longer went to play along the cherry lane
Without his life-long friend, Puff could not be brave
So Puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave, oh!

(Chorus)

Links:
Download the Song!! Link 01 Link 02 Link 03
Puff the Magic Dragon - Wikipedia
Song Facts

The Shawshank Redemption

Just finished watching this film.

Hope is a good thing. And a good thing never dies.

The Sweetest Gift

Quietly, while you were asleep
The moon and I were talking
I asked that she'd always keep you protected

She promised you her light
That you so gracefully carry
You bring your light and shine like morning

And then the wind pulls the clouds across the moon
Your light fills the darkest room
And I can see the miracle
That keeps us from falling

She promised all the sweetest gifts
That only the heaven's could bestow
You bring your light and shine like morning


Lyrics from 'The Sweetest Gift' by Sade

al-Ghazali - The Alchemist of Happiness

"God caused my tongue to dry up, so that I was incapable of lecturing. Each day I tried hard to speak so as to please my students, but my tongue would not utter a single word, nor could I accomplish anything at all." This is how al-Ghazali described one of the symptoms of the profound existential and spiritual crisis that he went through at the age of 36. Besides this loss of speech, he also fell sick, and the doctors were baffled. They simply said that the illness lay in his soul and not in his body. Nobody could do anything to help him – not even his brother Ahmed al-Ghazali, a Sufi mystic and poet, who was close to him.

‘al-Ghazali – The Alchemist of Happiness’ is a remarkable documentary, or rather a creative docu-narrative directed by Ovidio Salazar that examines the life of this man who was the leading intellectual of his time and is considered amongst the most influential thinkers of humanity. His name was Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali - aka Algazel to the western world. The title derives from a work by al-Ghazali, ‘The Alchemy of Happiness.’ The reason why I say this documentary is remarkable is because it deals with a subject that is very difficult to deal with – the inner transformation of a human being. And it does so quite well. It does not delve deeply into any intricacies or attempt a biographical account of his life. It portrays him as a human being, his concerns in life, his crisis and how he cured himself by finding himself and experiencing the mystical union with God that the Sufis spoke about. It also brings out very well his relevance for us – because he too lived in times of great confusion, just as our modern times are also confusing in terms of the choices we have to make and the path we have to follow. His was also a time when established religion, becoming increasingly violent, radical and splintered, held no meaning for him as a person seeking the realization of truth or the understanding of things are they really are. Interspersed in the documentary are interviews with contemporary scholars of Islam, al-Ghazali and his era, which are insightful.

Ghazali was born in the city of Tus, Khorasan, and lived from 1058-1111. The Islamic civilization was then the most advanced in the world – the medieval renaissance of the western world was still far away. Even as a child, he was an intellectual prodigy and a seeker of truth. As he says, “From an early age I constantly thirsted for a grasp of things as they really are. For me this was something instinctive, a part of my God given nature, a matter of temperament, and not of my choice or contrivance.” He studied in Tus under a caretaker with whom he was left as a child upon his father’s death & later in Nishapur under a leading scholar and intellectual of his time. He exhausted all the books and intellectual possibilities of his time. He grew up to become the most prominent jurist, theologist, mathematician, philosopher, scholar and intellectual of his times. His stature was such that people called him the “Proof of Islam.” Gaining the patronage of a Vazir called Nizam al-Mulk and the Caliph of Baghdad, he was asked to head the Nizammiyah University in Baghdad. He was a man who could win any debate on any topic under the sun. Yet, it was this very same man who was also deeply aware of the futility of all debate, because it is about the ego and its self-aggrandizement. Two people could speak, and speak sense, only if both were together concerned with finding out what is true. Certain events in his life coupled with his own realization of how his knowledge and his personality were just a mask hiding his ignorance and darkness led to a crisis in his life.

Try to imagine what it must have been like for him. The most eloquent speaker, the intellectual leader whom to hear hundreds gathered, the advisor to Kings, the social reformer who attempted to lead his society towards sanity and unity, realized that he was ignorant of his own self. What a pitiable condition he must have been reduced to – his tongue could not utter a single word! And that was just an outer symptom of the inner crisis. The documentary then follows his journey briefly as he left Baghdad to become a Sufi and attained self-realization. I say briefly, because it was primarily an inner journey than an outward one, and that inner journey cannot really be followed. In his later years, Ghazali returned to Baghdad and his family and also taught for a while.

Making this documentary and following al-Ghazali’s journey, was like a journey that Ovidio Salazar the director undertook. As he says, “The afterlife approaches and this world passes by. The journey is long but the provisions are scant, and the danger is great. Having set out on this journey to discover more about Ghazali and to dispel some of my own doubts, I have come to realize that the certainty of knowledge lies in the taste of it. And while not achieving Ghazali’s certainty, at least I am beginning to understand what I need for this path.”

I hope that this write-up or review of the documentary interests whoever is reading this to watch it. For me, above everything else, it was a reminder of what needs to be my ultimate concern as a human being.


Some Links:
Information about the documentary on IMDB
Reviews on IMDB
The Heart and Mind of al-Ghazali
al-Ghazali – Wikipedia article
‘The Alchemy of Happiness”

Trek to Sudhagad

Yours truly went on another solo trek on a Saturday (July 7) to Sudhagad. Ascent from Thakurwadi & Descent to Dhondse. I was too eager to do this trek & so did it solo in 1 day as could not spare Sunday. However, I would recommend anyone else to do it as a 2 day trek & preferably in a group. Just a day would not do justice to this beautiful destination. If you have 3 days, then Sarasgad, Khadsamble caves & Thanale caves can also be done. Or you can just stay on the plateau atop Sudhagad - nice place & one can find shelter in the wada or in the Bhoraidevi temple. Only 1 family from Thakurwadi has a hut near the wada - when I went there, just an old woman & her grandson were there. Advisable to carry your own stuff if you want freshly cooked food - don't count on being able to find someone to cook.

Lot of travel involved in reaching base village. Reach Panvel or Pen first. From there take a bus to Pali - confirm that bus is going to 'Sudhagad Pali' 'cos there are other places also called Pali. Buses to & from Pali to Thakurwadi & Dhonse are available approximately every 1 - 1.5 hrs. There is a bus from Dhondse to Thane at 4.00 in evening - good for return, else one would have to change bus 2 times. Lots of transport to Mumbai from Thane, Pen or Panvel.

Don't have time to do a more detailed write-up - might post more details later. Happy trekking!

Trek to Kohoj

I still have to scratch my hands and feet now and then due to the mosquito bites on the trek. The memories of the trek too are still quite fresh and so I thought I’d do a write-up on it right away.

With no one else being willing or able to take leave, I had to cancel my plans of a 3 or 4 day trek this week. I decided to do a solo trek on July 04, which was a holiday for me due to it being the US Independence Day. I decided upon Kohoj as the destination since I could travel to Palghar on the western line easily after work, and also because it affords a bit of shelter at the top. Besides, since I would be trekking without any sleep after work, I thought an easier trek would be ideal.

I left office at 0245 and took the 0310 drop to Vasai. The Sumo dropped me at Vasai station by 0415. After buying the tickets to Virar & Palghar, I stood on the platform for a while not knowing when the first Virar local would arrive. After a while the indicator showed 0519 as the arrival time. Since I had another 35 minutes, I read the Sahyadri Companion again for a description of the route to the top.

The local reached Virar by 0535. I did not enquire immediately about where the shuttle train to Dahanu would be available and missed the first one at 0540. The next one was at 0630. Lesson well learnt. I went out to have some potato bhajia and chai and again killed some time on the station. It was quite crowded even at this hour, with college boys and girls, office goers and tradesmen. I felt a bit funny observing all these people and wondering what they would be doing all day long while I spent the day on some remote fort / mountain that they must’ve never even heard of.

The next shuttle at 0630 was not crowded and I found a place to sit. The scene around changed drastically within a minute or two of leaving Virar behind. There was no smell of human excrement and no ugly buildings visible through the window. I stood by the gate after Vaitarna station. This area has the Vaitarna lake which is one of the sources of water supply for Mumbai. As Saphale approached, Tandulwadi was visible on the right. This is another beautiful and easy trek. It started raining and the doors had to be shut. The overcast sky with layers clouds in various shades of gray seemed to be promising me a very wet day ahead.

It had stopped raining by the time I reached Palghar at 0710. The ST stand is opposite the station. Any bus going in the direction of Thane or Kalyan via Hamirapur stops at Nane too since it is located further along the same road. I boarded a bus at 0730. It passed through some hills reaching Manor at 0800. Mastan Naka on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway is just 2 kms from here. In case a bus to Nane is not available soon enough, one can take another bus or a shared rickshaw (a tamtam / vikram) to Manor. From here, a shared rickshaw to Nane, Vaghote or Ambit would be easily available. These are the 3 villages from which the 3 different routes to the top of Kohoj begin. Vaghote & Ambit are on the road to Wada, while Nane is on a different road going via Hamirapur village.

From Mastan Naka the bus took a right on the highway and soon turned left again going off the highway. A prominent mountain became visible on the right now and I wondered if that was Kohoj. I reached Nane by 0830. The spur of a longish hill below Kohoj ends right in the village. Kohoj with its two pinnacles at the top was also visible in full. On the right of the road, at quite a distance, 4 – 5 other mountains were visible. The only one of these that I could identify was Kamandurg with its twin peaks that I had climbed last year. I walked in the direction of the departed bus & asked a villager how further the route to Kohoj began. He said it would be difficult for me to find the route going to the base of the mountain where climb began since there were lots of paths criss-crossing and planted fields in the monsoon. The prominent route beginning on the left after walking away from the village no longer exists. I asked if he knew anyone who would be willing to come with me for a part of the way. He called out to someone and asked him to go with me. Saying thanks, I departed the other villager. We started chatting and he asked me how come I had come all alone, whether I loved going to mountains and forts, where I stayed, what I did for a living etc. He told me of a boy who too had come alone earlier, and how he had a map & a book with photos and did not need any directions. Then, he told me of a doctor from some Vedanta association who loved Kohoj so much that he kept coming there alone often, spending days and weeks at a stretch on the mountain top and the village. He said he came there for ekanta and did tapasya up there. Once he had stayed for 3-4 months, surviving on water at the top, barely eating anything and coming down to the village when he felt very hungry. At another time, he had come with his wife too. It sure made me wonder what she thought of all this. Just before we turned left off the road and into the fields, he pointed out a half-constructed house belonging the doctor who had bought some land in the village.

The hill below Kohoj was on our left now and we were approximately walking in the direction of the col which connects Kohoj and the hill. I learnt from the villager that they mostly did subsistence farming out there. Some industries had come up in the area, and some people worked there. Others worked in Vasai or Palghar. There were many people from the village who had studied up to graduation level. Some had done MA too. Then, he told of how the tribals had usurped many small plots of land that actually belonged to the government. I kept quiet since he was probably telling only his side of the story; there seemed to be some turbulence between the tribals and the non-tribals in the village. We went in different direction once, and had to ask another villager who pointed out the right path through the fields leading to a dam. This was a very small dam, built by the government. The forest department too had done a lot of reforestation, he said. I could see that there were a lot of trees, on the mountain as well as in between the small plots on land on the plains. He was to leave me till the dam, but he walked a bit further ahead since there were more fields and still some criss-crossing paths. He left me at a point where the small climb to the col began. (In stead of walking through the fields, one can also climb the hill from the village itself, and walk along its top, climbing up and down in parts, till one reaches the col. That would, of course, take more time.) I paid him Rs. 30 and he seemed happy with the amount.

I began the climb at 0915. Reaching the col, one has to turn right and keep walking along the spur of the ridge that descends from the top of Kohoj. The 2 pinnacles at the top are always visible on the left. Except in parts, the path is quite prominently visible here even in the monsoon. I stopped at a point along this path to change into my track pants; it was windy here and so the mosquitoes would not bother me much. After climbing over a small hillock, one soon reaches a plateau. Walking straight across this plateau, one finds the path going a little to the right. As per my reading, after about 10 minutes one comes across a path on the right coming from Vaghote. From that point, the 2 paths meet and turning left begin climbing the way to Kohoj. I must not have been attentive ‘cos I missed seeing this path. After a climb of about 15 minutes one reaches the machi or plateau of the fort. There is a small and easy rock patch just before one reaches this smaller plateau from which the top of Kohoj seems very close now. Off the path, on the left, there is a small pond and a renovated Shiva temple further ahead. The temple has just a somewhat broken shivling inside which seems to date back to the times when the fort was constructed. I rested near the pond and had my first drink of water since beginning the trek here; also had some snacks since I was a bit hungry. The pond’s water is not potable. There are also ‘7 interlocked tanks’ as described in the Sahyadri Companion whose water is again not potable.

Near the temple, I met a tribal man and 2 girls who were collecting mollusks. He smiled as I said “Namaskar” but seemed eager to get along with collecting mollusks, so we didn’t talk much.

From the Shiva temple, there is a path that leads straight up to the top in 10-15 minutes. There is another path that goes to the right, encircling the base of the top while gently climbing up. Following this path, one comes across what seems to be a part the wall of the fort dating back to 800 AD which now look like just a heap of rather shapeless stones. After this, on the right one sees a cairn like rock formation about 20-25 feet in height. From here, the nagnath lingi or pinnacle is visible. The path descending steeply down to Ambit village also begins here. I climbed up the rock formation and sat the top for a while to admire the almost 360 degree view from the top. However, I found myself dozing off and half-afraid that I would fall off, I climbed down. I had already decided that I would descend by this route.

Going back to the path, it then turns left, and soon joins the path that comes straight up from the Shiva temple. The cairn like rock formation near which the path descending to Ambit begins is actually on a small hillock to the right of the Kohoj top (visible on the left from the top). Passing through the remnants of the bastion reconstructed by the Portuguese, one reaches the top very soon.

I reached the top at 1145 – in 3 hours and at a very relaxed pace with stops in between. At a fast pace, it is easily doable in 75-90 minutes even in the monsoons. It started raining heavily now, and so I took shelter inside the Hanuman temple that has barely enough space for 1 person to sit comfortably. I finished the remaining theplas, biscuits & til chikki while it rained. The rain stopped after a while but it was still a bit foggy – I was in the clouds that I had seen from the village below.


There are 2 pinnacles at the top, of which the one on the right is shaped like a human or a rather stout scarecrow. I dumped my bag at the base of this one and tried climbing up it from the left side. The initial part is easy but one needs to be a bit careful at the end. I reached the top soon, and sat on the head of the scarecrow. But it started raining immediately and I had to climb down to the shoulder. It suddenly got very windy too and the rain was lashing strongly. I hid behind the head on the other side since the wind was coming from the opposite direction. There was just enough space for one person to sit and I held the head for support hoping that it would not fall on me, or that the scarecrow would not get decapitated by a bolt of lightning. Since the wind and rain did not stop for 5 minutes, I felt worried about my climbing down. Presently, it stopped and so I immediately decided not to wait or sit further at the top of the pinnacle and in stead climb down. It was a bit more tricky to climb down but I managed by finding 1-2 good footholds. As soon as I finished this, it started raining again, but the rest of the climbing down was easy. I found my bag all soaked and taking it went into the hanuman temple again. The rain stopped again in a few minutes and so leaving my bag in the temple I went out to explore the fort.

There absolutely nothing left of the original fort as such, except perhaps the 3 water tanks and the somewhat broken shivling in the mandir on the plateau below. The fort was originally constructed sometime in 800 AD, probably by Bhojraja of the Shilahar dynasty, and around the same time as Kamandurg was constructed. Nothing is known of its history since then till the time the Portuguese renovated it. A small part of the bastion and a few steps leading to the top are the only remnants of it. It was controlled by the Marathas for while till the British finally captured it. There are no canons visible at the top. All of them have probably been buried in the sand by nature. The villager I met below said that one of the canons has been installed on a kind of pedestal in the village. They had simply rolled it off the top of Kohoj, 2-3 times, in parts, ‘cos it is not a straight fall. Then 30-35 men carried it into the village.

It does not take long to explore the top of the fort – perhaps 15-20 minutes at the most. There is a temple dedicated to Krishna at one end. Kohoj is said to be the only fort with a Krishna temple on top. The idols inside didn’t seem too old for they were quite crude as compared to the delicate, although broken, shivling. Same with the rock-carving of Hanuman which was again quite crude.

I encircled the other pinnacle and found that it was easily climbable from one side. I climbed up this one too since it had more space to sit at the top – 2-3 people can sit easily. I sat there for almost an hour and a half with the wind blowing strongly and the rain lashing me strongly as it came and went in spurts. The rain was coming from the clouds far above. I was witnessing a curious spectacle. The string wind was blowing the lower clouds in which I was sitting in the direction of the central or main Sahyadris. Every now and then, after a big cloud as blown away, the visibility became clear and the entire region in the front, on the right and down below right up to fields and the road was visible. When it was less windy, the sound of vehicles miles below was clearly audible – the horns, the sound made by the tires of heavy vehicles. No human voices, of course. The vehicles looked like a few ants crawling in a line. As the wind blew the grass, in some patches it looked like a river of green flowing upwards. As another groups of clouds was blown in, the visibility reduced again to about 25 – 35 feet. These were very light, fluffy clouds with not much moisture in them. Sitting at the top on the pinnacle on the left, the other human shaped pinnacle looked a bit eerie in the reduced visibility. It would have made a good photograph – but I was not carrying any camera.

It felt very peaceful sitting all alone at the top, with not a single other person visible anywhere on the mountain. Sitting there in the midst of nature, although a lot of thoughts passed through my mind, it was still very calm. I felt I did need not any other thing at all. I could have sat there for hours if I did not have to climb down – in spite of the strong wind and the lashing rains.

I climbed down at about 1430. The largest water tank at the top has potable water. I drank some water here and refilled the empty bottles. Began the descent as 1445 after spending a great 3 hours at the top. I climbed down in 5 minutes to the Shiva temple and then climbed to the cairn like formation from where the path descending to Ambit began. Soon after it begins, it forks into 2 paths. The one on the right leads to the small col connecting the nagnath lingi and kohoj. From below, it looks as though the lingi is part of the contiguous structure of Kohoj. This path can be used by rock-climbers wanting to climb the pinnacle. I took the path on the left that descends steeply through quite a thick jungle. I sure felt better knowing that there was no wildlife in this jungle. The path is overgrown and strewn with leaves in some parts and there are boulders and rocks in parts which make it seems as though the path ends suddenly. After a steep and quick descent of about 30 - 40 minutes, during which a stream flowing down the mountain was always on my left, I reached a point where I had to cross over the stream. Crossing over, I dropped by sack on some rocks and decided to take a bath and some rest. As I removed my shoes and dipped my feet in the flowing water, it seemed to take away half of the tiredness in them in 1 or 2 minutes. Finding a point where the stream flowing down made a small waterfall, I stripped and had a bath in the buff. It felt very refreshing. After changing into a pair of dry clothes, I continued the descent with the stream now on my right. Another descent of 15 minutes brought me to a point where the descending path met a broad path coming from the right and descending gently to the left. This is where the jungle to almost ended. Turning left, I followed the broader path with a village visible further on the right. I guessed this was Ambit. I ought to have found some path turning right and leading to Ambit, but I guess I missed this as I kept following the broad path that looked prominent. It ended abruptly in some fields that were fenced. Stepping over the fence, I walked along the bunds of the fields and reached a hut. An old woman here told me I had left Ambit behind. I saw another path from the hut which seemed to lead towards the road and confirming this I followed that path to reach the road in another 10 minutes.

As I hit this road which went to Wada, Ambit was further down on the right and Mastan Naka was on the left. Within 2 minutes I got a tamtam that took me to Mastan Naka. I thought of having some chai and nashta here but I saw a bus to Palghar coming and stretched my hand asking it to stop. I was lucky again. One can also take a tamtam right up to Manor from Ambit, and then find many buses, jeeps or rickshaws to Palghar. The bus took me to Palghar in 30 minutes, from where I took the 1840 shuttle to Virar after a wait of 40 minutes. The shuttle was quite crowded since the passenger trains plying between Mumbai & Valsad, Surat etc were irregular.

At Virar, I incidentally met some colleagues returning from a picnic and we together a local to Andheri. Reaching Andheri by 2000, I was home by 2030.

Trek Expenses:
Vasai – Virar local Train – 4
Virar – Palghar Return ticket – 20
Chai & Nashta at Palghar – 12.50
Palghar – Nane ST bus – 23
Villager at Nane – 30
Tamtam from Ambit - Mastan Naka – 5
Mastan Naka – Palghar ST bus – 15
Virar – Andheri local – 10
Andheri – Vijaynagar, Marol rickshaw – 43

Total – Rs. 162.50/-