The Start
Indrai is located in Chandwad taluka approximately 75 kms away from the city that is known as the Wine capital of India (i.e. Nashik). On a very fine Sunday morning I along with my friend Akshar, Nikhil & Manas started on a bike after having a small breakfast. Reaching Chanwad was easy with the help of GPS but as we neared the fort the GPS connectivity was lost and we had to rely upon the localites for the directions. The locals were co-operative however, each one told us different routes that totally confused us! It was later that we were able to deduce that fort had different routes to climb ;)
Following the directions of one kind villager, we reached the end of the village and could see narrow tracks (That were created by constant walking) leading ahead. We knew that it was the start of our walking journey!
Search For The Foothills
We parked our vehicles and started walking along the path we just found. As like any other place in Maharashtra that is untouched by modern roads this place was a mix of ascends, descents, planes and mountains. Mountains were on both the sides and converged at a point (Which was opposite to the village) that marked the natural dead-end. All of this covered in green with small streams of water running from the mountain tops collecting at a point to form a small river gave a perfect flavour of the rainy season!
Lush Green Scenery
After walking for a while the village that we started from was completely out of sight and suddenly one of my companion discovered that he forgot his keys at the vehicle! Without wasting any time we ran to get back the keys. Luckily we found them, returned back and resumed our journey. It was already a walk of approx. 1.5 kms and this back and forth meant that we had actually walked approx. 4.5 kms however, the foothills were still not visible!
Whatsoever, for me this experience was new and I was enjoying the journey.
We saw a lot of cattle grazing on the green fields that spread across the plane however, there was no human in sight except for a shady tiny hut that was surrounded by a thick fence of Babul that ran in circle around the hut. We could see a family living there (Perhaps, one could relate it with the isolated house in the movie ‘Tumbbad’ where hero used to stay when he was a kid, except that there was no horrific grandmother in there!).
In the hopes to find the foothills we walked further on the plane and decided to go towards the mountain on our left as it seemed to have a fort like structure upon it. This way led us to the spot where small streams that ran down from the mountains were collected and formed a river, someone had constructed a dam like structure (perhaps to increase the seepage of water) over which we now stood. There were many tiny crabs waking on the wall of the Dam but there was no sight of foothills.
The dam wall
We decided to go back to the hut we saw and ask the family for directions. So two of my brave friends went in and came back with the information that foothills started at the end of the plane towards the right, and finally we were on the right track!
The climb
We reached a man-made structure (it was a dome standing on the four pillars) that was on the brink of collapse in front of which we found a small path that looked like foothills to climb the fort. It was completely covered by trees but we decided to go and check. Luckily it was the path that we were searching and finally, we started climbing!
The fort was an easy climb but as it was the rainy season there were a lot of hairy caterpillars everywhere. They look all fluffy but touching them causes irritation and pain. So, carefully avoiding the caterpillars we climbed further and reached a small plane where some bulls were grazing. We were happy to see them and thought we could rest as we had walked a lot but I guess the bull had some other plans. Perhaps, he thought that we were there for grazing too and hated sharing that he came charging towards us with full rage! We quickly ran down to protect ourselves (A friend of mine later told me that in such situations we should run upwards as the bulls body cannot climb quickly, however that was not possible in our case as the climb was across the plane).
After some deliberation we decided to try again but as soon as we tried to peek, the bull came charging towards us again and we had to run down. It was frustrating to have come this far and denied the entry by the bull gatekeeper! It was already 5 hours since we ate anything and with this bull gatekeeper and no other way around we decided to descend with a heavy heart.
As we were about to leave we saw a group of about 5–10 people approaching us. They saw our faces and asked what happened and when told about our situation asked us to join them. We agreed and this time when we climbed the plane we could see that we clearly outnumbered the bull gatekeeper! He watched us cross the plane and did nothing violent.
While standing on the plane one could easily see the steps carved into the mountain that led to the fort. It is like looking at a miracle! The questions about how those people managed building them? Mesmerises the viewers. After a small climb we reached that man-made wonder. These steps were huge (unlike the once we see in the building that we live or work in) and after a certain distance turned right leading towards the grand entrance. The view from here was wonderful, we were almost into the clouds and rain water that was flowing from the top was making it even more beautiful and thrilling!
We were completely exhausted by all of the walking and climbing and decided to eat our snacks before entering the fort. The entrance of the forts usually have a small cabin for guardsmen in this case it was carved directly into the mountains, we sat and had our snacks there and later proceeded to enter the fort.
Into the Fort and The Descent
The entrance had some inscriptions which obviously we were not able to read (A google search later showed that it was in Farasi). Moving further was a pathway leading to a large stone cut pond and few temples, there were many caves on the way that might have been used as offices. All of this however, was in a bad shape due to neglect. It was wonderful to see such a historic marvel located in the bosom of nature making it strategic from military perspective.
As we were already late and with the clouds now thickening around us, we decided to climb down. As we reached the bottom of the steps we saw that there was another way that lead somewhere. Out of pure curiosity we went onto that path and found that it lead to a cave filled with potable water!
We came back and started our descent. The descent was pretty easy and hassle free (Unlike the climb) however, challenges lied ahead!
As soon as we reached the bottom of the fort it started pouring down heavily. With no place to take cover we walked ahead. We had our raincoats on yet the water was seeping through, so much was the force. The small streams of water that we called beautiful while climbing were now turned into a deadly once crossing which became a major challenge. After facing all these challenges we finally reached the place where we had parked our vehicles, completely exhausted and hungry!
We made it to the home safely after a hault for some dinner. Never in my life had I witnessed how suddenly a weather could turn, the change was almost instant! The journey was as beautiful as was the destination and it increased my respect for the ancestors that build and lived there.