धागा......

धागा


एक सुखाचा , एक आशेचा ,
एक ठळक , एक लपलेला .

कधी आसवात ओथंबलेला , हुन्दक्यात दबलेला  ,
कुठ तरी गुंततय अस वाटतानाच  , सहज वाट सापडलेला .

माझ्या नकळत मला बांधून ठेवणारा ,
कुठे तरी नाळ जोडून ठेवणारा

एक धागा....

-- मीता मेहेर
    (२०१६)

Dodhani waterfall rappelling ...an awesomely thrilling experience

I have always loved trekking . It amazes me that however high I go ,there is always something higher than that and once I reach there , its gives the feeling of how small I am.
I have not done many treks but have experience of couple of medium difficulty and a few easy ones, but hardly done any treks with professional groups. I do read their itinerary to plan mine. Why should one reinvent the wheel :-) . While browsing through such events, I came across waterfall rappelling and it became to do in my list.

So we (Milind, Pranay , Jasmine and I) opted for 4th September 2016 event scheduled by Mumbai Travellers. As usual , No car , no Milind Meher in the plan , which  always works in my benefit :-)
After much internal discussion , we decided to leave from Borivali at 5:30 a.m. to reach Dodhani Village in Panvel, as reporting time there was 8:30 a.m. Jasmine tried to convince me to start by 6 or 6:30, but we anyways started at 5:30 , thinking that we will need time for breakfast.

We did start on time , took a halt at MacD , but it was too full with only two people working and taking orders . So rather than standing in a long queue , we decided to move ahead and have something along the way. We passed Nere and the temple where BNP members had organized run , and before we knew , we were at Dodhani village. There was not even "Chai Tapri" open on the stretch ... but we did pass through beautiful fields and river . Everything was green... just picture perfect. We reached there almost an hour early at around 7:45 a.m.

Dodhani village is more like Aadivasi pada. By now , villagers must have been used to of having visitors, who wander in the woods which they live and breath everyday. Few people were busy in their daily chores, few were waiting for the bus.

After some time we had one more family joining us, Hemang , Kinnari and their 10 year old beautiful daughter Arshiya. Arshiya was interested in rappelling and I felt sad that I could have got Tanaya along. We chatted for sometime and again there was this endless wait for rest of the team to arrive at the spot.

 So I decided to have a walk. 

and after some time i heard a local lady asking me , "kuth?" i.e. where are you going. I explained her that I am waiting for the bus (which will get Mumbai Traveller group to base) , but rater than waiting , I am walking. She was so amazed with the expression on her face "Are you mad ?" , but may be instead of saying out loud , she said i can just stand at the corner of the road and bus will stop for me. I smiled and asked her is there a river nearby , as I saw pile of cloths with her. And she answered "Ho na , hi kai ithach hai" i.e. its just here. I followed her but my ears still were at the road , as I did not want to be ignorant , for the bus to pass by.

In few minutes I saw a bus approaching Dodhani and turned back to join others in the waiting area. It was 9:00a.m. or so , the leader Vishu, Harshal and rappelling instructors Hemant , Manoj and 10 odd other people interested in rappelling . 
There was small introduction round , instructions , breakfast and Tea and consent form signing :-). 

We started at around 10:00 a.m with 45 mins trek through beautiful fields , water streams and some very narrow path where you hardly have space to keep both your feet side by side.

 And finally we were at the top with breathtaking view in front of us.

There is this main waterfall from Matheran, which actually turns into Dodhani waterfall down the line. Vishu said , we were lucky as this is the last batch of the season for rappelling and we have favorable conditions. Heavy rains a day before resulted in tremendous force to the water, and they had to shift to other side and event was also delayed by few hours.  

We were the only group there as this place is less known , so all were happy that there would be less waiting time. Hemant explained us all about rappelling with the note that when you stand at the cliff you may forget even left and right when i give you instructions, quite possible.... :-). Then Harshal asked us , who wants to go first and without any hesitation Mehers and Hemang's family were first ones to raise hands.... for obvious reasons... we did not want to be stuck in evening rush :-) and had other things to attend later in the day.
So Hemang, Kinnari, Arshiya , Jasmine were all ready with harness and safety gears and were supposed to move towards kind of staging area. Hemang reached there easily , I could see Arshiya little afraid , so Monaj helped her out. Then Kinnari joined them. 

 Jasmine was worried... and I was trying to have some lite conversation with her to get her out of the fear zone. She started for the staging area and ... slipped .. it was bad ... later she showed me bruises on the hand / elbow.

Then slowly Milind and I moved towards staging area.

Hemang was first one to go. 

                                                                  (Photo by Jasmine)
We were cheering , clapping for him, but could see the initial struggle to get the body in right position. He slipped a bit, but then handled himself very well and off he went ... I could not see beyond that point ... and we waited where Harshal / Monaj got signal from Vishu to get the second person ready.

It was Arshiya's turn... 10 years little girl. One could easily make out that she is little uncomfortable . Standing at the cliff at that age and letting your body go with the Newton's law is not easy ...she was saying "No" after getting off the cliff a bit , but then it was not possible to pull her up again...so she had to go down and she did it ... hats off to her.

Then it was Kinnari, and then Jasmine. Jasmine was tense.. when you approach something with doubts, it shakes you and affects the performance ... and Jasmine had a fall and had to slide down the cliff. This girl is amazing. We did couple of treks together including Rajmachi ... and now this event. She just sails through it , little slow , but she makes every possible effort to complete it with her will power.   

Till the time Jasmine was completely at the ground , I was been hooked up to the main and safety rope. Hemant and his team mates were hungry , so we helped them with some snacks we had ..Ya we had to rappel with our bags..

And within no time, it was my turn. I found myself at the cliff, facing the huge mountain, looking at the main waterfall and my back towards beautiful landscape. I was asking myself ... are you scared? After watching four members from the group fall / slip through the cliff .. the answer should have been yes ... but I was too excited. I was only listening to Hemant, as he said when you stand at the edge , just listen to me . and I did ... as far as I could see and hear Hemant I followed exactly what he said, and Manoj's advice to have complete foot on the rock. Not the heal , not the toe, complete foot.

When I was just about down from the cliff , Harshal asked me to wave with both hands , and I was like , are you kidding me ? but I did let go of my right hand which was behind my back ... he shouted again , let go of the left hand as well ... you are in locking position ... you wont go down .. and I did.. I did let go of the rope ...it was just rope with which I was hanging on ... and a small little thing called faith :-)

                                                          (All photos by Jasmine)
I was doing good with my body posture and Hemant asks me , are you doing this for the first time .. I said yes ... he said so am I .. and made me laugh , After that I could not see Hemant. I was in the waterfall. For few seconds I was not able to find rock to position my feet. The water was pouring with a force and there was nothing much visible around me .It was just water all around me and its sound. My helmet was not secured properly , so it was covering my eyes, but anyways I had to look down to breath properly in the water. I quickly found the wall and adjusted myself , remembering Hemant and Vishus words , you should not stop in between, that's not a choice. and slowly I was descending.

I could see Vishu at the other end helping me with descend and realized it was not just Hemant but Vishu at the other end holding the lifeline called "Rope" :-) . Finally my feet were on the ground and had huge smile on my face and sense of achievement in my heart.

                                                       (Photo by Jasmine)
I saw Milind at the cliff from down and then he was down in no time . He has issue with height, so I was telling him in staging area , not to look down and just look at his shoes. I am sure he must be proud of himself as I am of him.

                                                               (All photos by Jasmine)
Pranay followed soon.

                                               

Mehers passed in flying colors without any fall at the cliff and all decided to go for Kokan kada next time :-)
This was yet another excellent experience , in quest of knowing myself more and better.  
Now waiting for Pranay's video :-)