After a good sleep at Highland Hotel, Pachmarhi, we were fresh for
the adventure that awaited us the next day. Hotel is, almost, in the middle of
the forest, so we were excited to hear the chirping of Birds and to feel the
freshness of the air. Sound was evident enough in the room, but its intensity
increased as I walked out of the room. To enjoy the aroma and the nature little
more, I went for a small walk in the forest.
I walked on the main road connecting A to the outside world. The
air was fresh and cold. Everything, in the morning, oozed serenity and provided
rejuvenation to the body. After a short time, Mayuri joined me. After spending
half an hour, we returned to the hotel, to prepare for the day’s adventure.
We had fixed the driver in the evening so that we could start
early in the morning. Though we asked him to come at 8:00 Am to start the trip
early, but Mr. Pappu came at, his usual time, 10 AM. So from the beginning, we
were already 2 hours late.
Without wasting time, We started to the base of the Dhoopgarh.
Dhoopgarh is the second highest point of Madhya Pradesh. Dhoopgarh is primarily
known for Shiva temple. Devotees offer Trishul to Lord Shiva when Shiva
fulfills their wishes. After reaching the top, you can see the Trishul lying in
the heap weighing 1 kilogram to 100s of kilograms. According to our guides/instructors,
it was only 1700 steps to the top. Mayuri was sure that she could finish this
climb within 1.5 hours as she has already climbed 10,000 steps at Girnar
Mountains.
It was hardly a 30 minutes drive to the base of Dhoopgarh. We were
told to choose LEFT on all the turns that helped us the most in our journey. As
soon as we entered the forest, there was any other soul except us. At the start
of the journey, there was a temple inside a cave, and a Panda was sitting to
shed his boon on people who were reducing burden of their pockets. After
choosing LEFT for 3-4 times, we reached a point where it was tough to decide
the correct path. Even after having the urge to move to RIGHT (Because it
seemed the correct path to us), we took the LEFT turn.
We were already in the dense forest, and we were unable to locate
a walkable path. Even though, we were scared, but we kept moving in the same
direction. Soon enough we realized that we took the right decision. We saw the
people who were climbing the staircases. It took us approximately half an hour
from parking to stairs starting point.
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| Oops, Vishal it is not merely 1,700 stairs. Let me rest a little |
Soon enough we realized that 1,700 was not merely the steps
instead it was a jungle walk of approximately 3 Kms each side. After one and an
hour, we were at the peak. As told by villagers, devotees have offered so many
Trishul that it has become difficult to maintain all these in the temple. So
such unwanted offers (Offers with no resale value) all were lying on the ground
of the temple.
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| Forest, we reached from one end to another in this forest. |
I went inside the under construction temple without considering
that two monkeys were already in the fight over the offerings offered to
Shivling. These both little monkeys considered me as another shareholder, so,
according to the game plan, one monkey ran away with the offering whereas
another monkey tried to scare me off from the temple. But it was an over smart
creature. So instead of providing me the chance to run, it caged me inside the
boundaries, built with Iron Pipes. It was sitting on the top of the door, which
was the only way to come out of the cage. I convinced myself of the intentions
of Chota monkey after throwing few nervous glances at the monkey. I submitted
in this fight without imagining the upcoming scenes and requested an outsider
to help me. As soon as Chota Monkey saw me resigning in the Man2Monkey fight,
it considered me a waste of time and left the premise after another monkey who
had already started enjoying the offering.
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| Heap of Trishul, Do you believe me Now? |
We returned to our Jeep within another hour. It was a nice walk in
the middle of the Jungle. It would have been a better and enjoyable walk if
there were not any stairs.
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| Picture Perfect, my beautiful wife |
We visited another Shiva temple that is situated at the base, and
the idol is established in the middle of a cave. Though there were others
temples on the hill, but I did not have any intention to meet all the gods, so
I skipped a few. On the way back to Market, we checked other viewpoints.
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| On the way to another view points |
For lunch, we were dropped at Nandanvan restaurant. All the
drivers drop their customers to the same restaurant. The restaurant is located
on the four-way road and edge of the forest. So location can be one reason that
all the drivers chose the same location. However, food at restaurant was tasty
as well as cheap. Pappu came within half an hour after finishing his lunch.
Shortly we started for Pandav caves. Buddha followers used these
caves for the living purpose. These caves are referred as Pandava caves because
number of caves is five. But people linked these caves to Pandava’s. Entry/exit
for these caves is from a well-maintained garden developed by local
authorities. This garden serves as a nice picnic spot for the local people.
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| Pandav Caves |
From the Pandav caves, we moved to the Panchmarhi Lake. It is not
a huge water body, but it attracts lots of people and offers various fun
activities including boating, chit chatting over the coffee, and horse riding.
As per the information received later, the lake is a water collection pool that
serves the people of Pachmarhi in case of the water problem in the area.
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| Munmun, in the backdrop the beautiful lake and sunset |
Now it was time for our last but most awaiting sight i.e. Sunset
point of the day. As always rising sun and setting sun generates the magic with
the help of sky, but in mountains that enigmatic beauty multiplies to manifolds
due to support of these hills. We waited patiently for the sun to go down
behind the mountains. It moved slowly and intently. As if it was telling us
that it is not the end but the preparation of better tomorrow.We sat for some more time to salute the surroundings to give us
the joyous day.
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| Sunset point at Pachmarhi |
Pappu dropped us back to our hotel room. We enjoyed the dinner
at Hotel Highland. It was tasty and fabulous. Mr. Jeet and another friend were
our guests of honor today. After seeing off our guests, we retired to our room,
to get ready for another fun-filled day that included a trek to waterfall from
Jungles.