Hi All, A boring Saturday afternoon at home doing nothing except exercising my fingers on the TV remote. Decided to head out somewhere though not decided where. Decided mid-way to go to this unknown caves of Kondhane. These caves are on the western slope of Rajmachi plateau (on Karjat side) and were carved in the period around 200 BC. Its an easy half an hour trek from Kondhane village passing through a nice blanket of trees- so no sunny exhaustion. The caves too are not huge and vastly spread as Karla or Kanheri, but such beautiful ancient architecture situated deep inside a forest is something amazing. I was slighly exhausted- but the first sight of the caves just sucked away all the tiredness.
On the return thought it wont be dark as early as 6.30- but it was. Lost my way and landed up at a farm of Emu birds with 4 huge and dreadful looking dogs coming running towards me. I always have a knife in my pocket whenever I go on treks- and I can repel one dog, but 4- no ways. A quick scamper backwards was a better option that time and a quick walk bought me to the right diversion. Came back to where my bike was parked- was already very dark then. The moment I switched on the HID it was insects all over the spot light, the front of the bike and lot of them on my body too. A short slippery and bumpy and near-crashing ride bought me back to Kondhane village. It was an easy ride all the way home. My route: Mira Road-Thane-Vashi-Panvel-Chowk-Karjat-Dahivli-Kandpe-Kondhane and back. Didn't note down the distance but would be around 220-240 kms both ways. Here are the pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/pulsurge/MiniTrekToKondhane# Not much of a great ride- but it was worth the time and felt privileged of having explored a relatively uknown place and experiencing exotic examples of ancient architecture which still exist. Dont know when they might just disappear. Regards, Deepak
