Today, I will talk about one of my memorable trips – The Devkund Trip. Myself along with Shenaz, Saif, Shubhangi, Pragya, Revati, and Nikhil signed up for the trip.
Why i am saying this trip is memorable? You will get the answer by the series of incidents that followed.
First lets talk about the plot of the trip and how few office friends came forward for the trip.
It was a fine monsoon Thursday. I was sitting in my cubical and suddenly few of the friends decided to go somewhere for a trek on the weekend. I don’t really remember who came up with the idea of Devkund but somehow we finalized the destination and started preparations for the trip. The meeting point for the trip was the office.
First, it started with the booking of the vehicle. I and Shenaz took the responsibility for booking a ride. We searched the best deal which came out as Zoom rental services. We booked the Scorpio. Meanwhile, Saif took the responsibility for the snacks and Shubhangi arranged the first aid box, and believe me she is the only one who needs it in the entire trip.
On Saturday morning at 5 Am, I picked Shenaz from his place and went to Singhad to pick the car which is around 15 km from the meeting point. As we reached the location for pick up, you guys won’t believe, there was no car. we called the zoom customer service executives and found there is no car for us. The car which was allotted to us was not coming. By that time it was 6 in the morning. I and shenaz were in a very bad mood because we planned to reach the meeting point and start the journey by 6 am but we were not even near to that deadline. After several calls, we got a car (Merrazo) which was around 6 km away from the place where we were supposed to pick Scorpio.
Somehow we managed to get the car and reached the meeting point by 8 am. We planned to start by 6 am, it was 8 am still we were not en-route to the destination. At 9 am we started the journey from the office with only 6 people as Nikhil turned his back at the last moment as usual.
We first halted at Hinjewadi phase 1 to have breakfast for about half ‘n’ hour. Shenaz was driving and the journey resumed with a little drizzle. Soon drizzle turns out in heavy rainfall. We had to reach the spot which is around 100 km away from the meeting point before 5 Pm and from that spot a trek of around 4 km to reach the foot of Devkund waterfalls. Because as dusk falls, Visitors are not allowed to continue the trek to the foot of the waterfall.
We halted second time as Shubhangi felt unwell. It was a good spot to take pics. So, everybody got excited and clicked few shots.
Soon Shubhangi felt well after clicking few pics and selfies and journey continued.
Next, we halted to have lunch around 4 Pm and everyone in the car lost hope to reach the destination as we were already late and still en route. The hotel guy told us that despite being late you guys can make it to the waterfalls. His words gave us hope and we resumed the journey. At 5:30 Pm, we reached the parking spot and hired a local tour guide.
We started trek to the waterfall and we stopped at many places to click pictures.
After a trek of 45 minutes, we reached the waterfall and enjoyed the clean and pious waters. After reaching the waterfall, Saif was in another world. He was enjoying the beauty of nature so much that tears starting coming from his eyes as if he found something very precious and pious, he was searching for so long. He was so mesmerized and at peace that anyone can judge by just having a glimpse. He felt a sigh of relief. I can still remember the brightness in his eyes.
Dusk had knocked and it grew dark when we started returning to the parking. Shubhangi kept the ritual and twisted her foot. It was 8 pm by the time we reached the parking spot. We changed clothes, paid the tour guide, and started the journey back. At the end of the journey, Saif was in a fit of anger and disappointment due to some reason. We reached Pune at around 12 midnight. I and Shenaz went to drop the car at the spot. I dropped Shenaz at his place and returned to my place with a lot of memories.
Devkund trip holds a special place in my life. If i will ever get a chance to revisit this place with same people, I would surely love to.