Fort Tikona drive in Chevy.

On thursday, 23rd April, being election it was holiday in Pune. As usual, I was longing for an opportunity to get close with nature, have some adventure, enjoy some driving and most of all utilise my camera which is resting a bit too much off-late. Having no frnds in Pune and all frnds in Mumbai busy with their work, I again had no option but to plan out something alone. One of our associates informed me about Fort Tikona which is just 35-40 kms from Pune. For me any fort would do but I was not sure if I wanted to trek on that sunny and hot day. As per info, Fort Tikona didn't seem to be high as it hardly takes a hour to climb. I also came to know that theres a Dam nearby and this attracted me more since it would give a good work out to my camera. So without thinking twice, i finalised Tikona. Had few tasks for the day, completed them by 1pm, had lunch by 2pm and left home by 2.30. Got connected to Paud Road and continued on it till Paud. I purposely slided the windows down and AC was turned off to get used to outside temperature. Else getting down from the Airconditioned cabin and starting trekking could be asking for trouble. Took right from Paud, and asked few people for the way towards Tikona. Some were clueless, some were confused. This got me confused too. I was wondering if I was on right track. Saw one old man walking on the left side with a suit case in his hand. Asked him and he assured that I am on right track. I was about to release clutch and he stopped asking me for a lift for 5-6 kms. I allowed since it was a sunny day and that old man was carrying a suitcase. Normally I never give lift to any stranger. But somehow, I felt like helping this person. I was about to open door for him. But surprisingly, he knew how to open it. He sat inside, i switched off music player playing songs of Dev D so that I could have some conversation with the man. I asked him if he voted and he showed me ink mark on his finger. He was a farmer and seemed to be no-nonsense types. I was trying to make him talking but he was just replying precisely. Normally countryside people talk a lot but I found an exception. He got down after 6 kms and pointed me to go straight for next 12 kms. Road was narrow since Paud and I had to drive down on the left side of road to allow on-coming traffic which thankfully was scarce. After sometime, i noticed a triangular hill which looked like a fort. I was told that Tikona is named Tikona since it is triangular in shape. So I assumed it to be Tikona Fort. I proceeded and saw a reservior on left side of the road and on the right side was Fort. I got down to click some pics of car, reservior and fort. Saw a young man walking from the other side carrying some load on his right shoulder. I asked him the way to Tikona. He pointed that Fort is just this one but the way to go is a bit long cut. He asked to take right after the next village and after 4 kms will reach to the base of fort. After reaching to the next village, I again stopped to confirm the way and asked a couple of guys having a chat sitting on their bike. One of them told me the way and another one was oversmart to reply that I have to trek and I cannot take my car to the top of the Fort. I just smiled at his reply and proceeded. After taking right, the road got kaccha. Although it was kaccha, it was smooth and dusty. I could easily drive at 40kmph without realising any bump or giving any stress to the car. I just went on and on and reached the base of the Fort. Parked the car there and was wondering how that fort must be since there wasn't any other vehicle parked there. I was also concerned about the safety of car. But I ignored and started my way up. First 15mins trek was bit steep one. After that it was not soo steep. Still i maintained a slow and steady progress. For a change, i was consciously trying to walk slowly to avoid getting tired. There was no sign of anybody on the Fort. After 30 mins, I crossed 1st gate of the Fort and the steps got steeper. At some places they were soo steep that I had to take help of my hands too. Sweat was flowing and blowing wind gave a cooling effect. I clicked pics all the way and reached top in 50 mins. And I was surprised that I walked non-stop all the way. That was the result of slow and steady progess. That reminded me of saying, "Slow and steady wins the race". I reached top, explored the Fort. There was nothing much to explore except Shiv Temple and few underground water tanks. What was worth the trek was the scenery from top of the Fort. There were 3 reserviors around the fort. 2 small ones and one big one. Big one particularly caught my attention and clicked some pics of it. The top of the Fort was amazing place to relax. Cool breeze was blowing from all direction and view was spectacular. While observing the big reserviour from top, I noticed that road passes from bank of it and theres also a boat parked on the bank. That seemed interesting and I was struck with idea of going to that place. I also visualised that I could click good pics of sunset from bank of the reservior. So now i started planning backwards to reach that place by 6. And came to conclusion that If I had to reach that place by 6, then I had to start walking down at 5pm. I just relaxed till 5 pm and started walking down. In the mid way there was a small hut and two dog came out barking on me. One was looking like a Dalmation and one was looking like a Labrador. Both looked like mixed breeds. Dalmation was barking and Lab was swinging his tail. This gave me positive vibes and I offered to touch Lab. He immediately rushed towards me with love. Thats the magic of Lab. I touched and caressed it with love while Dalmation was observing from far. I assumed those dogs must be belonging to someone staying inside the hut. After I left, the Lab followed me for 10 mins and then turned around towards its place. It took just about 20-25 mins to reach down and there I saw my Chevy waiting for me. I was longing for cool air of AC. I settled inside, put on AC and there I left. That smooth and dusty road was inviting me. I was in 2nd gear at 30 and I suddenly floored the accelerator and car just pulled like a wild cat with cloud of dust behind it. I floored till 50 and shifted to 3rd gear and pushed the car till almost 70. There came a turn, I consciously braked hard feeling vibrations of the ABS, turned, shifted to 2nd and again floored. It was soo addictive, I was surprised to realise that i reached village in no time. I felt like turning back and doing it once more but resisted the idea since I had to reach the bank of reservior by 6pm. Left-turn from the village was Pune but I took right-turn towards the dam. I went for 5-6 kms and started looking out for the road on the left to reach the bank of the reservior. There I saw few people working in a small shade. I asked them and they guided me the way towards bank. I was soo happy that there exists a way to reach bank and was really thankful to them (as if they created the way for me!). I took left from the place and road turned out to be bad. Infact, it was challenging for a car like Optra to continue the progress on the road. But still I progressed with careful observation of road and tactfully manovering the car and finally reached the bank of Dam Reservior (DR). There I saw the boat which I 1st saw from the top of the fort. I found way to reach to the boat and again tactfully and carefully drove the car to park it next to the Boat. There I saw 2 localites suspeciously observing my activities and talking among themselves. While I was clicking pics of car parked alongwith boat, I saw both of them walking towards me. One of them was carrying a stick in his hand. I kept my cool and continued with my activities. After clicking some snaps, I washed my face in the DR and started the car to drive to the other bank of DR. There too I took some calculated risk and piloted the car just near the extreme bank of DR. Few more feets further and the surface was covered with sand and that could be risk as car could get stuck and I was alone! While I was clicking at new location, I saw both of them approaching me. I gave a friendly "Hi" and they informed me that photography prohibited there. I apologised. They asked me to show them the pics. I showed them in a friendly way and informed them that I went to Tikona and then came to DR just for casual photography. They were convinced and started talking to me in a friendly way. They asked various questions about me, my buss, my family, my car, etc while I was engaged in photography of car, DR, surrounding hills and sunset..! Finally Sunset happenned at around 7pm and I thought of leaving the place. I was about to leave and they asked me for my contact number. I handed them my Business Card and left. I reached Pune at 8.30 and got a missed call from some unknown number. I called back and was surprised to know that it was call from one of the person who met me on DR. He asked if i reached safely to Pune. I replied "yes boss, and thanks a Lot..!"

P.S.:

Blog at www.memoriesofabhi.blogspot.com

more pics at my Orkut Album