2009-07-26 Umberkhind

UMBERKHIND

Sunday, 26th July 09 went to Umberkhind, a pass between Lonavala to Penn. It starts from Kurvande village, so the ghat name is Kurvande ghat and down it goes till Chavani village. We started at 10am from Kurvande village near Lonavala and took us four hours to reach Memorial spot. From Khandala it started raining heavily and fog was also on the way. So much that we hardly could see Dukes nose else one can see the entire Lonavala range. After descending through forest we reached the base of pass from where we could see the roaring Amba river and Chavani village at another border of the river. Since water flow was heavy we preferred to cross the river from the bridge. After twenty minutes walk we reached a place where there is a memorial today. Umberkhind is famous in history for Shivaji Maharaj’s battle technique where he defeated three thousand soldiers with his thousand soldiers. [lot of arguments on the number of soldiers from both the sides ] Then Raibaghan & Kartalab Khan surrendered themselves to Maharaj. They had to leave all their weaponry, horses & materials. Due to incessant rains Amba river was flowing heavily. So we couldn’t go up till the Memorial but have to click the snap from the edge of the river. Thanks to Alaka and Kunal who helped me to shoot in windy rain. Kiran & Bharat explained the history of Umberkhind. Alka and me sat for a moment on the edge of the river and it was as if river is giving her flow to us. We felt like we are moving and water is steady. Then we realized its better to move than we actually moved with the current.Again our walk started towards Shemadi village that is almost four km from Memorial. At Shemadi village we had our lunch, shared our experiences and started our Journey back to Mumbai. To go to Umberkhind one can go either from Khandala or from Lonavala. One has to reach Kurvande village and walk towards dukes nose. From Dukes nose take left and the route descends to Chavani village. It is easy and preferably to do in rain as one can enjoy greenery around. From Memorial to Shemadi village road will be boring in other seasons. One has to carry food and water as entire route is through forest. From Shemadi village one can get Auto rickshaw to Khopoli and from Khopoli highway or ST stand one can get further buses.

Didnt click much due to heavy rains.