Its really a hectic week when a project like MNP (Mobile Number Portability) is going live and being a software engineer, you have to face all the brunt. It was 26th January and planned a short trip with some of my friends to get refreshed after the hard week i had. Basically wanted to rewind, enjoy the bike ride, play guitar, click the beauty of mother nature and adventure into the dense jungles. So planned for a bike ride to Bhimashankar, 170 Km’s from Pune.
We started in the morning 7, met at a road side tea stall near Nashik phata, had chai and breakfast.
We were four guys two each on two bikes, also we were carrying a guitar and my SLR, so it was pretty packed up. We then decided, we would be covering much distance with out a pause now. But the serene beauty of the places and road side ghats did not allow this. There were so many beautiful places by the highway in between that we had to stop and click. The images would give you a brief idea.
On the onset of the ghat, we started taking the rough curves. After riding for some time, we discovered a beautiful lake surrounded by hills on one side and highway on the other. We decided to stop, click some pictures and then resume our journey.
My colleagues demanded profile pics, so made them pose and shot.
Als managed to take the advantage of the sun and clicked our shadow.
We started on our bikes again and filled our petrol tanks after the ghat section was over. After continuous riding for an hour, we came across a beautiful dam. Though its was very far but my 17-55 mm lens covered it gracefully !
We felt that our destination was now not far as the jungle, trees, bushes started. Riding on the thin road in between the dense jungles and trees on both sides gave me a warm feeling inside, felt i am thousands of km’s away from the busy streets, the honking of vehicles were replaced by the pleasant twitting of many bird, altogether gave me a different feel for the first time in the journey.
We reached Bhimashankar at around 12:30 PM, had lunch and got prepared for the adventure into the dense jungles. Firstly, visited the main Bhimashankar temple, place for which bhimashankar is known for. <IMG_1807.JPG> There were lovely sculptures on the walls of the temple and i tried my hand clicking them by altering many settings.
Also found this old man playing lovely music by his hand made instrument basically strings !
Could have clicked from the front but the place was all occupied by tourists.
Then we asked a localite about the places we wanted to visit. I had taken the names of the points & places to visit in bhimashankar before we started. Googled, read some blogs and took the places. They included Bhimashankar Wild Life Sanctuary, Kalavanti Mahal, Hanuman Lake, Nagphani point.
We parked our vehicles and then started for the hunt for these places. The terrain was very uneven and we had to drink lots of water to keep us hydrated in this harsh heat of the sun. Once, our foot journey started, we had to cross the steep terrain and small hills and our backs, legs were in pain.
We kept moving and moving taking small small breaks in between.
It was a harsh physically but the beauty of the place on the tophill kept us moving.
We then reached the top and were so energized and refreshed after seeing the scenic beauty of this wonderful terrain, just loved it.
On our downward journey, we visited the Hanuman lake. This place had lot of monkeys and we gave some portion of the food we carried with us. In return, these monkeys gave us good poses :-)
We were hell tired by now. We reached a hotel on the way back, freshened up there and again started. Finally we reached the place where we parked our vehicles. It was already 4 PM by then and we had to start since we have to cover some distance.
On the return journey, i was the pillion rider as i wanted to click some images with the movement without stopping. On both sides of the road, there were large lands covered with grass, giving a layer of gold on the top of it !
Our water bottles were empty now and luckily we found a place where fresh water was being spilled from a top pipe. Filled our bottles, made the body wet. Loved the mechanism used for water showering, being an engineer and clicked it.
Also i tried some shadow shoot. It was very difficult also to keep the camera static with the speed the bike was moving. Still got few clicks.
After covering some distance, we took a break at a place which was surrounded by large rice and wheat fields on both sides. Loved to see it after so long a time. 
I then tried to make a profile pic for this trip album which basically covers the bike, the helmet and water bottles.
Also at one place got a man made model, basically put in the paddy fields to keep the cows and other animals from grazing.
We then saw a beautiful lake deep down the road resting on the lap of a village. Without a second thought, started moving towards it. Children were overjoyed seeing us and i happily clicked.
We then parked our bikes and went straight into the water. I was a little strange to the fact but later succumbed to my friends request. Lastly i too took a dip in the cold water and we all were ready to complete the rest of the journey after this refreshing bathe in the cold water. Luckily we carried towels :-D
We started our journey again and decided not to stop. But the beauty of mother nature kept me stopping at places and clicking. Moreover the time was best for photography with soft light of the sun. came across this lake on the lap of hills, where few guys were washing a jeep.
We kept riding and riding till we got this
A wonderful display of carriage the villagers use. Happy to have clicked them ! Also there were a herd of sheep blocking the road. Could do nothing but wait for them to cross !
Finally we reached to the spot where we first stopped during the start of our journey towards Bhimashankar. We decided that we would have some food here, sit till the sunset and play some music on the guitar. My friend, Kishaloy belongs to a band and he has mastered the art of guitaring by now. Loved to hear him play in the time when the sun is bidding bye for the day.
He deliberately fulfilled all our requests of playing slow sad songs to sufi and rock :-) The sun was getting down and down giving a wonderful view of the lake. 
We then decided to complete the last part of our journey, but the truth is none of us wanted this wonderful day to wind up and we were in no mood to wrap up 
But for the sake of office the other morning, we all decided to start our journey back home. It was almost 7 PM and the city lights were being seen from this ghat top 
Finally we reached our destination, Pune and were tired. But this tiresome is nothing as compared to the peace of mind we had through out the day. loved every bit of it. Felt like, all our tensions, project deadlines were very minimal as compared to the happiness we can earn by traveling. As my musician friend describes this trip in some words :
“Return to innocence, return to adolescence”
I drove bike, took small pauses during ride, and enjoyed the place & beauty wherever my heart asked me to do so. But this time the attitude was return to innocence, return to adolescence.
Let yourself go off, be transcend, try all altitudes, dream, act likewise, no to nothing, do all things with passion & innocence. All the way my mind was saying me these words & my mind was swaying in the songs of – “RETURN TO INNOCENCE, ENIGMA, and PINK FLOYDâ€. I couldn’t make out why my mind was asking for such kind of TRANS MUSIC genre.
I saw places, its innocence, the nature & its beauty. I climbed mountains of the WESTERN GHATS, after saying no to all my fears what I saw was just jaw opening scenario. The ghats were so high & majestic that a look at the bottom gives u a shiver throughout the body.
I swam after so long years, I feared to start, but gradually I enjoyed. The water was too cold but the shiver also felt soothing to me. Everything I did, all the craziness I thought to do gave me happiness. Maybe ride, walk, swim, sing, and scream everything felt soothing.
The whole feeling was very pleasant as I wanted to return to my innocence, I wanted to enjoy life as a person in his adolescence does.
And the inspiration for all these – I promised my life to always remain happy, my life also said to me that it will be happy if I remained happy.
I see happiness when I am the innocent; I could never be selfish in my entire life nor can be in the future. I found innocence in my trip today.
A dense jungle, ghats, many numerous villages, places, fields, animals, beautiful persons and great companions for the journey. The trip was great, the experience was great.
For variety, excitement and a touch of the exotic, you can not beat Morocco holidays. There are beautiful beaches, medieval medinas and Sahara adventures to tempt you.