31st was coming up and we were all set to celebrate New Year's at our friend’s place(we didn’t see his family plans coming up), That plan didn’t work out and we were back to square 1 (planning wise). We had to celebrate this one as it was our last New Year Celebration together.(we all are graduating this year and don’t know when we’ll get a chance to meet next)
Our friend Indrajit notified us about The Kayakers post regarding their Rajgad night trek event on 31st and we decided to join them on this adventure. Their motto for this trek was Cleanliness, we were excited to be a part of this drive. After all we were getting to play our part in PM Modi Ji’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan(Clean India Mission). I thought what’s better to start 2017 with, than getting to make new friends and making an impact on the nature!
We started our journey from Katraj, Pune at around 5pm (there was some waiting in the beginning) and reached Rajgad by 6:45. There we had our Introduction Round and our guide briefed us about the height of the fort(1,400 m above sea level) and gave us some advice for the night trek. Then after all the efforts and and whoops of encouragement for my friends who were new to this experience, we reached the fort and than it was time for the victory picture(yay!). Our co-ordinators had arranged a place to stay and we had our tent set up done before dinner. Shortly after, the dinner was served and The Kayakers team set up the bonfire, flames leaped up at once and the bonfire began to smoke and crackle, we got to experience comfort in that winter night. It was all perfect the food, the surrounding and being with friends on New Year’s Eve.
Suddenly it was morning! 1st day of 2017 began with the amazing view of the mountains, Rajgad's beauty along with the experience of sun shining warm upon us mixed with the cold wind blowing. We were all set to begin our cleanliness drive after having breakfast. The Kayakers Co-ordinators provided all the necessary equipment(gloves, mouth mask etc) required for the cleaning process. The entire group was divided into teams and particular land was alloted to the teams for the activity, we collected maximum possible plastic waste and encouraged other people to join us in this mission. After all the cleaning was done, kayakers provided us with some refreshments, we were all set to explore the fort by then and so continued the trekking to reach Balekilla(the central volcanic plug), the top most part of the fort and I can't describe the view(it was amazing!!). Also, The Kayakers group had experienced photographers, So we have lots of great pictures taken by them.(Yay!!)
There were some traveling problems we experienced but overall the event was well organized. There is so much more(the descend, the interactions etc) to share but I'll sign out now, Altogether it was fun and refreshing experience.
