Pankaj came up with the idea of Kamalgad and the research started on how to reach, base village, distance to travel etc and after going through few sites and blogs, we came to know, the fort lies in heavy rainfall region and there are chances of sighting big cat, so we dropped the plan as of now. The next fort to consider was Vairatgad. We are on the verge to finalize it, here comes the pop up on GTalk:

5:10 PM Pankaj: oye read these lines:the fort is pretty insignificant as such, not as mesmerizing, rather dull and also this: For the more enthusiastic ones, on NH-4 take a right turn towards Bhor. Reach Bhor. Take a left turn towards Wai [ 35Kms from Bhor ] via MandharDev Ghat and reach Wyajwadi/Vyajwadi. You pass by the base of Pandavgad and you can also cover Mandhardevi if interested.

The pickup spots were finalized and contact numbers were shared and all set for the Saturday trek. Though Pankaj was little doubtful because of his engagements in Mumbai on Friday. But this was well managed and he came back to Pune on Friday night itself. Our regular joiners were Pankaj, Saurabh, Girish and Huzefa. Last minute joiners were Asif and Fakhruddin (Ref. Huzefa).

"D Day" morning started with the light drizzles from within the Pune. We were set-off towards the Bhor on the NH-4 , where our regular food joint was ready for us with its Misal-Paav as our usual breakfast on the trek and tea. The road past Bhor was not as knife in a butter like the highways. Rather it was full of pot holes and the land slide was not the rare site at all, while we pave our way through the Mandhardev Ghat. The gusty and mighty wind was making the drive through the difficult ghat more worse. Even sometimes the wind drifted and shaked bikes and were almost on the verge to lose controls.

Encircling the Pune mountain range we entered into the Mahabaleshwar range just 4km after the Mandahrdev (famous Godess Shrine in Mahhashtra). This is where the stampede happened in February 2005. Just traversing down the mountain range and couple of inquiries to the road side farmers we reached at the base of the Pandavgad-Vyajwadi.

Having our bikes parked at the place and locking the helmets we were all set to scale the fort. The local villagers showed us the way to go up and we too thought it will be much simpler. Very soon our assumptions proved to be false. The route was decorated with the ankle deep mud and was very slippery which made our climb more challenging. There was mud everywhere on our bodies, hands and clothes got dirty when we fell down, our feet, shoes and even inside of our shoes (did I hear RBK or NIKE or Adidas for better grip, sorry boss my advice to you to wear the most worn out pair for this trek, as you will have to throw it away on your return). Girish exhausted himself with the muddy walk (or cake walk?) and had to take rest-breaks in between. All the way we had to cross the thick vegetation and the dense forests. Once we reached at the mid-level we lost our way and after 10 minutes of effort we retraced it.

Reaching top was a walk in the clouds experience as the clouds were kissing the mountains on which we were walking. Very soon we reached at the top where we could easily find out well heard (read) Mr. Wadia's house. We had seen his images before and his well known door bell. The door bell was a old type of rubber balloon horn (pom-pom) & on 'ringing' (pom-poe'ing) his bell he slowly comes out, opens his series of door locks and greets you with a smile and the words "Yes, How may I help you?" with his thin, grey beared, gum-booted, Beeedi puffing looks in his polished English, Hindi, Marathi lingo. What stood out about him were his eyes that sprankled defiance and boundless energy. We asked him the way to top and he blissfully guided us and asked us to come down for a coffee on our way down. Though once we left his home we missed the route and went round the way encircling the complete peak. Once we found our way from the water tank and the land marked pipeline within next 10minutes we could see the remnants of the fortification. There is nothing much remaining except the restored Hanuman and Shiv temple and bastion. When we reached the peak point, the view down the valley on the edge was enough to send a shiver down your spine. One could see the Panchgani table land and the backwater of the Dhom dam near Mahabaleshwar from the top.

Once we returned to Mr. Sher Wadia's place he welcomed us with a nice black coffee and made us comfortable to roam within his spacious innovative home. His creativity is upto the extent that he has painted instructions in the toilet "Guys n Gals, Please shoot straight. He is equipped with the cellphone and radio, but lives very basic life there. He showed us his 3 ways to charge his cell phone batteries. The solar panel, dry cell and the most innovative was the bicycle with the dynamo, where Mr. Sher pedals his cycle to charge batteries. His preoccupation with pyramids is seen in the design and architecture of his estate. Moreover, his life is governed by the pyramid theory too, where he used small sized pyramids to keep vegetables and foodies fresh for a longer period. His explanation to his way of life was "Whwn you stay in such serene places alone, your creativity starts sparking". His house looked like a Alibaba's cave where you can find a candle is being lighted at the same place for years and the melted paraffin forming almost 1ft high formation, 3/4 types of gauges, bikes and cars posters, some babes' photos, even skulls and bones (which he found when he was building his house). He informed us that this fort was being used as a prison sometime in the past and he bought this fort in 1980 for Rs. 40,000. He also had adopted an orphan child from the sheep keepers' community (धनगर), civilised (even he taught him to use toilet commode with the spare one in his bathroom and the boy used to copy him) and educated him. Now adays he's well married and settled in Mumbai with his showbiz work life. We were really amazed to see his happy preferred "CAST AWAY" life, where no human being is seen for a days together.

You can find info about this Mr. Sher Wadia here and here

Once we started our journey down we realized that it was not really a walk, rather it was controlled slide in the mud or even skiing. Somehow we managed to walk/slide down in an hour and washed ourselves to at least look alike the civilized people. Having lunch at Wai we vroomed our machines towards Pune and reached Pune before the dark. Everyone was happy to have this well timely managed trek.

The next day Sunday had more thriller sequel of the trek. Pankaj found a green baby 6" long snake in his sack's side pocket under the vada-paav wrappers and his wet socks. He never bothers to unpack his bag the same day he comes back from the treks. Goshhh... and this guest enjoyed the cozy bedroom of him for whole Saturday night. When next day Pankaj unpacked his bag for a wash he found this friend, which he sent back in nature in nearby bushes, away from the crowd.