Harihareshwar: Stairway to Heaven

THE PLACE:
Known as the Kashi of Western India, Harihareshwar is known for its seashore where the river Savitri enters the ocean. The town is surrounded by four hills named after Lords Harihareshwar, Harshinachal, Bramhadri and Pushpadri. Nearby is Shriwardhan, another place of interest and beauty. This was the Peshwa residence who governed for their King. Also there is the ‘Peshwa Smarak’ and the Bankot Fort at Bagmandala, about 4 kms from Harihareshwar. Approximately 230 KM from Mumbai the NH17 takes a smooth fast road through Panvel-Mangaon-Goregaon Phata on Mumbai-Goa Highway to reach this holy place.

THE TRIP:
As we had spoken with the Media at Peace Rally 2007 that our next trip was to Harihareshwar, we were set to visit this place soon. Date was decided as 13th and 14th October 2007 for this ride, an overnight camping at Harihareshwar. Ashish coordinated with all the members of Bombay Bikers (http://www.bombaybikers.com/ ) to prepare for this 230 KM road trip which would be our longest this year so far.

Trip Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ujjwal.dey/BBHarihareshwar

Meeting Point:
Center One Mall, Vashi, Navi Mumbai at 7 AM
13th October to 14 th October 2007

Saturday 13th October:
On the early hours of Saturday, 8 riders showed up on time with 3 pillions. There were 4 Royal Enfields; my Bullet Electra 4s, Kamal’s Bullet Deluxe, Ashish’s Std Bullet and Vishal’s newly acquired Lightning 535 with alloy wheels. We had a few cameras clicking the group photos as passing people wondered where these bikes were heading with so much luggage. We had 2 tents with capacity of 4 people each and foam rolled up for others. We had brought our spares and ration of Maggi noodles, biscuits, chips and coffee. Ashish’s Bullet’s cranny was incredibly loaded with his spares, the 2 tents and clothes and food stuff. Later on villagers on the road to Harihareshwar commented that “he must have been thrown out of his home”. Such was our meticulous preparation that we were ready to camp just about anywhere remote from civilisation.

NH17 was as always welcoming and smooth as butter on baby’s butt. We passed Panvel and got on the Highway and raced ahead at good speed with the Pulsars and Hondas racing ahead as the Bullet-eers enjoyed a relaxing cruise through Karnala Bird Sanctuary with monkeys peeping at our thunderous Royal Beasts.

The nice sunny weather was a God send after the disgusting monsoon season. Soon we had our first problem with Shijo’s RX 100 having its piston broken. Luckily a mechanic was a KM away and we reached there and surrendered the bike for fixing and moved on. This was a major delay and while I and 3 other bikes reached Harihareshwar by 4 PM, others were to reach only by 6:30 PM. The Ghats past Mangaon was enjoyable. The road had some very bad patches but overall a better Ghat experience than what we saw in Trambakeshwar during Independence Ride 2007. Some of the climbs were very steep and the turns were almost in opposite directions.

We had originally planned to visit Shriwardhan as well but we decided due to the RX100 delay that we might as well head to Harihareshwar and install camp. Meanwhile we had bought groceries of potatoes and lime and stuff at Mangaon for body fuel. There were many stops till Harihareshwar since we lost contact with the group accompanying Shijo (who were with the mechanic) and mobile networks failed us after the Ghats.

At Harihareshwar we went to the MTDC hotel and had snacks for lunch. After a few cups of coffee and water we decided to head towards the beach. The village and temple would have to wait till Sunday. We rode into the beach area where the Tourism Authority has ingeniously charged a Rs 10 parking charge per head. We rode on through stones and mud to get to a concrete platform touching the sea-bed. This was a derelict cremation ground with tree-lined mountain on one-side and rocky depths of the ocean on the other.

So we set camp and made coffee and noodles on a portable stove. The tent couldn’t go up because we were not about to dig holes into concrete and the beach was dangerous as the locals warned of high tide and quicksand. We decided that no one will go swimming in this beach which has seen a loss of 250 lives over the past year.

Jeepers Creepers:
Soon darkness enveloped our surroundings and we could see an incredible star lit sky above. City dwellers can’t imagine how many stars are there to gaze at and admire. But in the darkness of the village of Harihareshwar I spotted not just this network of heavenly bodies but also about 5 shooting stars. The latter probably were meteorites burning as they enter Earth’s atmosphere and thus light up like comets zooming briefly and disappearing abruptly.

The camp was buzzing now with everyone sharing their experiences and the demand now grew for Ghost Stories. Bhavin started with his folklore tale of the creatures known as ‘Jhand’. They can’t take human forms and they grow smaller and smaller as you look down and taller and taller as you look up. He shared a tale where this evil creature got inside the home of one of his relatives in a village of Gujarat after the relative callously gave matches when the scheming Jhand asked for it in a dark street.

Soon Uday (Rambo) joined in. Already he had convinced us that this camp was on an erstwhile Hindu cemetery and he had told us of how whirlpools suck tourists in at the ‘Swarg ki seedi’ (Stairway to Heaven) where Pandavas supposedly went through to the afterlife. Passionate discussions raged on spirituality and how we are trapped in 3 dimesnions while the spirits roam free beyond. “The ghosts are those spirits trapped with us in these 3 dimesnions and hence haunt these places” Uday informed.

Stories told, we spread out our foam and blankets for a sound sleep for the ride on Sunday. At about half past midnight everyone wound up for snooze. The stars enveloped us like a warm blanket on this moonless night (Amavasya) as we slept on the cremation concrete pltform while loud angry waves lashed at the rocks below. Mysterious sounds kept disturbing us after we put out the lights. Sometimes it was a stray dog scavenging on our camp and sometimes it was a lazy rider rolling over plastic or bottles. Every time the noise came we would have 3 guys flashing their torch lights around to look out for thieves. Thankfully the stray dogs didn’t piss on our lazy riders snoring to compete with the loud lashing waves. Some of us awoke again to check the wave height as the water level rose up to the steps on the cemetery platform. I slept for about 2 hours and woke up at sharp 6 AM on the faintest sunlight. Though the night was warm the early dawn was chillingly cold with dew decorating our bikes with random shapes.

Sunday 14th October:
As all the lazy heads slept I sneaked away to shit on the rocky beach and came back to disturb everyone and wake them to smell my prized cigarette. The riders were dying for smokes the night before and I had rationed mine to last till the morning. After sharing my stash in the morning the gang had biscuits and set out after freshening up to see the Holy temple and the village of Harihareshwar.

There is a small entry fee to see the temple and we walked towards the old gate to enter a modest temple premises. This wasn’t as grand as Trambakeshwar but the presiding deities gave us ‘darshan’ (sight of deity) without any queues. The presiding deity is said to ward off bad horoscope signs including Sadhe-Sati by darshan. Unfortunately here too we were not allowed to take photographs of the deities.

A long steep stairway awaited behind the temple which we climbed to have a majestic view of the beach and mountains. From the top we descended the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ which ended on the rocky ocean. On the rocks we sat and bantered and majority sinful riders decided not to complete the ‘parikrama’ of walking round the rocky beach which I found disappointing but ultimately time saving action. After climbing back up and down into the temple we had a heavy breakfast of poha, misal, wada, coffee, etc and started our journey home at 10:30 AM.

We rode fast on the Ghats this time and reached Mangaon very quickly. At the end of the Ghat we had a 2 hour long swim on a stream that ran under a bridge. Soon, all the riders together rode on to the Highway towards Panvel. Uday, we found out, had his tyre puncture in Mangaon and was still there as the tyre had completely torn away. With a quick-fix job he rode on with a pillion to reach us on the Highway where we were at the mechanic’s garage testing the RX100 post repair.

We rode on to find a good restaurant for lunch and found one on the Highway. We ate a hearty meal and discussed who owed how much to whom. All settled we set off for a speed run to Mumbai.

The 4 Bullets led this time with the Lightning 535 racing at over 110 KMPH and Kamal, Ashish and myself close behind. I had used up my film-based SLR camera’s roll and regretted not getting more pictures of the Ghat and scenic Highway (NH17). My Cramster was packed now with things used up and no longer helpful. As the group sped at stretches of road at constant speeds of 100 KM it was an incredibly awesome trail with thundering Bullets roaring and revving.

Soon dusk had us with headlights on going through the Karnala Sanctuary and leading into Panvel. We parted ways and everybody headed home as Kamal, Ashish, Uday and I went on to Vashi where I separated to head home through Airoli bridge.

I reached home by 9 PM and after a hot shower crawled into bed to a sound peaceful sleep.

This was a wonderful camping road trip and we had no serious problems with everyone riding well in groups and reaching home safely.