The weekend that never was

It must have been Friday when I received an email from Ashish asking whether I would be interested in a night trek up to the Torna fort. Just two days before that I had decided to go on a bike ride and trek to Rajmachi. I emailed Ashish back telling him that it wouldn't be possible as I wouldn't be back till late in the evening on Saturday and wouldn't be able to join in on the trek.

Friday evening I headed to Life Cycles with Srikanth to rent a bike for the ride the next day. We rented two bikes and cycled back. Left home the next morning at around 4:30 AM to meet Bani at Swargate and then continue on to meet the others and head to Rajmachi. After about two hours of cycling and riding on the National Highway for about half an hour, I decided that I didn't want to compete with the trucks and lorries to get to Lonavla and preferred to head back. On the way back, I remembered Ashish's email and thought of maybe heading to Torna.

I suggested this to Srikanth, who thought it was a brilliant idea! Riding back, we rode past E-square theater on University Road. I hit the brakes, left my bike and ran in to see if there were any movie tickets available. I was looking forward to watching 7 Khoon Maaf but as the show was sold out I had to settle for I Am Number Four. After the movie and after stuffing myself with caramel popcorn and a sandwich, we headed to Life Cycles to return the bikes.

After returning the bikes, we headed back, had lunch and I fell asleep. I woke up at 3:30 and decided that I would head to Torna. Ashish said that we would bike to Torna (this time motorbike!) and then hike up from the base.

At 4:30 PM we met at Swargate and set off for Torna on 3 bikes. I was riding with Chikita, while Ashish and Arti were on one bike and Anoop and Srikanth on another. I was extremely excited about going on this trek. One because Rajmachi hadn't quite worked out the way it was supposed to and two because it was a night trek and I was told that Torna was beautiful! :)

We arrived at the base of Torna at around 7:30. We ate dinner and started walking a little after 8:30. Right at the beginning there was a fork in the trail and we chose the trail that we thought was the right one. Using our flashlights and the light from the moon we continued on the trail. After about 2 hours of walking, we realized that at some point we had taken the wrong path. Torna was slightly confusing as there were several trails leading out but many of them ended in a dead end and only one of them led to the top. We figured that if we continued moving up we would eventually hit the actual trail and could then follow it up to the fort. So, we continued walking in the direction of the fort.

Soon we were forcing our way through bramble and thorny bushes. We climbed over a dry waterfall that only had rocks in it. We continued climbing and walking. As we continued walking, the trail became harder to follow and the climbing and walking became harder. The inclines were steeper, the pathways were slippery and there was nothing to hold on to.

We finally came to a climb that was about 60 degrees and smooth stone. Somehow, with pushing, pulling, crawling and scrambling we came to stable ground. The next climb was almost 90 degrees and it took all our strength and a lot of motivation and even more faith to climb that rock face. There were six of us huddled on a small strip of flat ground and yet we were still not at the top of Torna. It was almost 2 AM at this point and Ashish tried to scout out the trail to the top and returned thinking it was safer and better to try and head back down.

Arti, Chikita and I were in disbelief. We had no clue how we had just reached the top and climbing down the way we came was almost unimaginable. After 5 minutes of an uncomfortable silence and all of us making up our minds that we had no other choice, we started climbing down. We decided we would follow a particular order until we came to flat ground and were more comfortable.

I swear, for the next hour or so, we were all holding our breath and hoping that we would get to the bottom without any major glitches. Srikanth lead the way, followed by me, then Anoop and Arti and lastly, Chikita and Ashish. As the inclines were so steep and the ground so slippery, we had no choice but to slide and crawl down the slope. After every section we stopped to make sure everyone made it and then continued further. It was amazing that everyone was so calm and collected on the outside, while I'm sure on the inside their heart was racing and while their mouth is saying, "Everything is going to be OK," their mind was still wondering if everything would go off smoothly.

After about 1.5 hours, we reached relatively flat ground and started walking through. In the meantime, we saw some other trekkers a little further off who had also gotten lost. We warned them to not come further and decided to head towards them. We finally got to them and they told us of their trek. We decided to rest there for some time and settled down to sleep.

We woke up to a biting cold, where our toes were freezing inside our shoes and we were shivering even with sweatshirts on. We started walking at 5:30 AM and headed back to the base village. Thankfully, we were able to find our way and a little more than an hour later, we were back at the base and happy to get there! :)

We had tea and headed back on our bikes. We ate breakfast on the way and headed back to Swargate. From there, I went home took a long shower and crashed.

After the trek, we laughed about the night and how eventful it had been. But at that moment, hanging off the tips of my fingers and hoping that my legs will find some solid ground, things were not so funny.

It was an amazing experience and I have newfound respect and appreciation for the five others that were on the trek with me. I think we now share something very different and special and I look forward to going on many MANY more treks.

I think the one thing that will make me want to go back with this very same group for any trek at any time would be the trust and faith. That night, I trusted every single person there and I think this was the only thing that let us all stay in such good spirits and it was the same thing that got us all safely to the bottom. I think it was so clear that we would all make sure that every single one of us would be safe and would get home safe. This was very very comforting and encouraging and made us push through any fears or inhibitions we might have had.

I think I owe everyone on the trek a big THANK YOU! :)