Oct 4, 2009

Hiking during the monsoon season and searching for objects for photography has been my passion since quite few years. Like earlier years, this year too around forty five youths of the Infant Jesus Parish, Dombivli, planned the hiking expedition during the second weekend in the month of September to a relatively closer destination-the Siddhagad Fort in the Murbad taluka of the Thane District.

We took a private bus from Dombivli early in the morning and passing through Kalyan and Murbad (30 kms from Kalyan) reached the base village known as Narivali (about 16 kms from Murbad). After taking breakfast at Narivali we started our hiking expedition to the Siddhagad Fort.

The Siddhagad Fort is divided into two parts. The lower fort is about 1,400 feet above the sea level which is known as Siddhagad Machi (plateau). There is a village of about 300 populations on Siddhagad
Machi. The upper fort is about 3235 feet above the sea level and is known as Siddhagad Bale Killa (Citadel). The trail to the fort is quite difficult and it takes at least three hours to reach the chief door of the fort (darwaza).

 

Within the fort, there is an ancient temple of Goddess Shri Namrata Devi and a dilapidated shrine of Lord Shiva. There are also few remnants of the fort over which the British and the Maratha forces had fought for mastery. There are some broken cannons, and few water cisterns. Facing towards Siddhagad on the left, one can see Gorakhgad and Macchindragad. The Siddhagad Fort is also known in Indian Freedom movement as two the freedom fighters, Bhai Kotwal and Hiraji Patil were shot dead at this place by the British in January 1943. A memorial dedicated to these freedom fighters is located at the opposite end of the fort.

The trek from the base village Narivali provided ample number of objects that i could capture in my camera. The houses covered with grass roof and vegetable creepers, children peeping from the windows,  paddy fields, varieties of wild flowers and insects and above all the distant mountain ranges were the delight of any photographer who would never miss the opportunity to capture the wonders of nature in the digital chip. At the end of the trek we had a delightful dip in a shallow spring water stream.

After the enjoyable trek and being in the cradle of nature for over eight hours we returned home by nine in the night. Though physically tired, i felt a sense of satisfaction as i could make the tryst with the nature and at least forget for a day the monotonous urban life and stress and routine of office work.

 

Those who would like to go on a hike to the Siddhagad from Mumbai or any other place in small groups can take a Central Railway local train and alight at Kalyan as it is the nearest convenient railway station.

Every half an hour there are State Transport buses to Murbad. From Murbad another ST bus will take the trekkers to the base village, Narivali. A walk towards the Siddhagad soon turns into a trek that will take around three hours to the Siddhagad Machi. The approximate time of the trek is around 6 to 7 hours including the return to the base village.