Visit to Degree of Confluence Project Points

Degree of Confluence Project was something that we knew since 2010 and we even often talked to visit a few Degree of Confluence Points(DCP). But as it always happens, more one talks about a plan, less is the probability of its execution !

It was July 2012 when we decided to visit a few DCP in August. Accordingly, I went through the list of the DCP in Maharashtra and zeroed in on 6 points which were in Northern Maharashtra and, more or less, on the same route. Due to a gradual loss of enthusiasm, it took me days to create high-level plan, incrementally. Even the leaves that I applied got approved 2 days before we were supposed to leave and the preceding day, I came up with a somewhat detailed itinerary; it was decided to visit only three DCP – 21°N 75°E ,21°N 76°E and 21°N 77°E. In addition, I listed few places like Laling, Songir, Bahadurpur, Parola(all forts) and swinging towers of Farkande.

Respecting my suggestion, it was decided that Vishal and I will be riding on our respective bikes while Antik and Sourabh aka Golu will travel in Antik’s car

This approach has multiple advantages :
1.The riders get to ride
2.The drivers get to drive
3.Riders can get some rest in the car, if required
4.The baggage can be dumped in the card, which is desirable in monsoon and the riders can freely ride

As per my original plan, August 11 – August 14 were allocated for the expedition and August 15 for complete rest. As it always happens, my day before the expedition, mostly a Friday, was hectic. To add to my problems, the Bajaj Servicing guys dutifully did a lax servicing and the snags I had reported in my bag surfaced when I took my bike to office on Thursday – all I could do was express my dissatisfaction and carry on with my expedition with worries and irritation about the bike’s performance !!!

August 11,2012(Saturday) :
I and Vishy started from Kalyan on bikes around 0715 hours. We took NH-3 and proceeded towards Nashik. Near Shahapur, we halted at Kamath’s restaurant where Antik and Golu joined us(in Antik’s car). After having breakfast, we left for Dhule – our objective for the day was Laling fort which was above 280km from Kalyan. After crossing Nashik and before Chandwad, I saw bifurcations for Saptashringigad
and Vani, a famous religious place. Though I don’t recall the names, there were several ‘Vani’s preceded by proper nouns –  I was left wondering about the meaning and origin of the word ‘Vani’. Before Malegaon,Vishy’s bike stalled and we had to push it get it started. After crossing Malegaon but before Dhule, we came across a very few restaurants for lunch. Once, we entered one but the waiter was quite arrogant and didn’t allow us to sit in the family room, instead wanted us to sit in a place where flies were freely flying. We moved ahead and found a decent one ahead. I had decided that till the 3rd DCP visit, I won’t eat anything spicy – my stomach was already out of order ! The boy working at the restaurant told us that Laling is quite near and we felt heartened. Just 5-6 km before Dhule, we took a left and entered the Laling village(actually, too small and dingy to be called a typical Maharashtrian village). We parked our vehicles here and headed for the fort

Antik’s shoe sole came out and he returned to the car while I, Golu and Vishy went ahead. After wandering for some time, we managed to reach the fort by a path that went up through a fallen fortification wall. Except a small temple and a some caves, there wasn’t any structure on the fort. The walls appeared to be partially reconstructed using bricks and some ‘modern’ stones. From the northern end of the fort, NH-3 and Dhule city were visible. We soon left for Dhule and took a left on NH-211 and headed for the city. Passing by Tilak Hospital, we took a left U-turn at a crossroad for Ganpati Palace – a nice hotel.

EOD odometer reading : 208 miles

August 12,2012(Sunday) :

We woke up and got ready at leisure. We headed for the Songir fort which is around 22km from Dhule on NH6..

Again, the Songir village was a dingy one ! The fort had steps to the top and we reached the summit in no time, around 1000 hours. Except for a deep cistern, there were no remnants atop ! The rock was quite reddish – I found this in contrast to the forts situated in Western Ghats. This fort, too, appeared to be heavily ‘reconstructed’ ! We then started for DCP1. After some initial confusion, we came back to Dhule, had lunch. One thing I liked was in almost all the restaurants we visited, wheat ‘chapati’s were served!

We now started towards Jalgaon, at 1345 hours, via NH-6. I had given the tracker(Garmin eTrex Vista HCX)to Golu so that he can navigate and I and Vishy can follow on bike. We took the first left after the Faangne village. This road headed to Chopda, Amalner and Yawal. After a few km, the Jalgaon jurisdiction begun. There were fields on either side of roads – something common for the entire journey in Dhule, Jalgaon and Akola ! Soon, the tracker notified the proximity and we alighted from our vehicles. The point was on the right side of the road and we entered the fields. I had a word with curious farmers and told them briefly about our ‘mission’. They told that the prime cultivation is of (hybrid)Jowar and Paddy but pulses like Tur are also grown.

They were apprehensive about the dependence on the rainwater – no canals, no rivers(since morning, I came across only one, dried river viz. Kanheri, towards DCP1 and low groundwater levels ! But in spite of the less rainfall this year, the fields were full of crops. It started raining and we ran for cover. The red soil soon started sticking on the shoes and in no time, we had to exert some force even to lift our feet.

Avoiding stamping the crops, we headed as per the compass directions and reached the point which was amidst a field of hybrid Jowar. A farmer told me the village name as Londhave(लोंढवे).I took the pics of different directions and asked Antik to take off his blue t-shirt and put it as a marker for the DCP1.

I then stepped out of the field and took a pic from around 40metres. We left the village around 1630 hours and backtracked to NH6 and left for Jalgaon which was 84km. We came across Parola but since there was quite some distance to be covered, we dropped the idea of visiting the fort ! Crossing Erandol, we reached Jalgaon. We halted at a hotel near Jalgaon railway station. The auto-rickshaw drivers whom I asked directions, the hotel staff – all were awed by our riding/driving enthusiasm for places not known for tourism; this experience repeated all the way 😛

August 13,2012(Monday) :

The day was important – two DCP, separated by a distance of 150km, were to be covered and halt was to be made in Shegaon. But we still started at leisure and hit NH-6 again. Soon we crossed Bhusawal and halted for breakfast. From here, the Bhusawal Thermal Power Project was visible.

We then crossed Warangaon, where I saw an ordnance factory which probably wasn’t directly related to DoD, and continued. We made a mistake – the car was left behind and we rode way ahead. Later, we got confused after seeing the compass which was pointing in the South-West direction for DCP2 and we were heading North-East. After an exercise of traversing towards, we decided to fallback till Warangaon and begin search afresh. But well before Warangaon(around 11km), the pointer turned perpendicular to the road and we decided to stop. We parked our vehicles at a dhaba.

Antik and Vishy decided to stay back while I and Golu set on the search.

We were carrying jackets, camera, tracker, notepad, pen and 1litre water. Traversing fields of Paddy and Jowar and occasional wastelands, we were heading towards DCP2. Due to little or no rains the previous and that day, the soil in the fields was not sticky.The humidity must have been above 60% – we were sweating a lot. We had to cross 2 hillocks which had many shrubs and thorny trees. Again, we came across curious and surprised farmers, some thought we were students, some believed we had come for inspection for setting cell phone towers 😛 One thing I noticed was the language had a very little Marathi flavour and the diction was quite harsh. After a walking for a distance of almost 4km(at least, we felt so), we reached the point DCP2.

This was on a wasteland and not a cultivated farm.As told by a villager, the village is Hartaala(Hartaale?)(हरताळे) and probably is under the Muktainagar police station’s jurisdiction. We quickly erected a stick on the point, took the necessary photos and headed back to the highway. We reached at the parking at around 1430 hours. We again set towards Shegaon, after some delay due to Vishy’s bike stalling. After we crossed Malkapur, the bike gave up again and we had to stop at a ‘dhaba’. I and Antik hurried in the car to Malkapur and brought a mechanic along who asked us to change the plug in the next town of Nandura. We obliged . DCP3 visit was pushed to the next day as it was getting dark.After passing Khamgaon, we  left NH6 and reached Shegaon, got a comfortable accommodation and went for Gajanan Maharaj’s samaadhisthan visit.

EOD odometer reading : 476 miles

August 14,2012(Tuesday) :

We set out early as compared to the earlier days. We took SH-24 towards Akot(55km) in Akola district. The road was in bad condition and our speed was slow. But the weather was pleasant and cool. I came across a river named Purna which had some noticeable water levels. Milestones for Rondale, Devre, Akola etc. were visible. Since the morning, I knew we will have to trample mud trails as it rained the previous day and even in the morning.The 3rd DCP was situated in the fields, again. The soil was pitch black. This time, all four of us set to find the DCP3 alike DCP1. In the fields, apart from Jowar and Paddy, ‘Rai’

, ‘Moong,’ Soyabean were also cultivated. Since it had rained in this area, the soil in the fields was wet and at some places, the water had clogged.

Antik lost his sandles – its strap gave up and his further marching was barefoot. I had a brief chat with an elderly farmer who told me that now if it doesn’t rain sufficiently in few days, all the grown crops will be destroyed and they will be in a peril(so will be their fellow countrymen, I thought!). They can’t grow the kharif crops alike the heavy rainfall areas but they dare undertake ‘chana’(grams) in Winter. We proceeded further as per the compass. Suddenly, I spotted two deers, merrily chasing each other ! Soon, we spotted an entire group of deers and a few antelopes.

It really felt nice to see these animals behave so carefreely ! Of course, I was unhappy about the damage they cause – trampling and gulping up the nascent crops. Nevertheless, the farmers bear with them !

After dissecting some more fields, we reached DCP3.

This was is in a non-cultivated field and we had no difficulty in taking photographs. By this time, drizzles had started. On enquiry, a farmer told me that it was a village named Aalewadi. We hurried up with the proceedings and returned quickly to the vehicles. It was 1215 hours. I cleaned my shoes as much as possible and we headed back to Shegaon.

Just before entering Shegaon, we had some spicy lunch and it was concluded that Gautala Wildlife Sanctuary can’t be covered the same day and we must fall back till Nashik. We galloped accordingly – Dhule was 247km, Nashik 414km. But later, it was decided we will halt at Dhule, in Ganpati Palace again, owing to the fatigue.At 0030 hours, a policeman dressed in civil clothes came and asked for identity proofs and some questions. We were half asleep and murmured the answers. He left in few minutes bidding ‘good night’. It was probably a farce of ‘vigilance’ given the impending Independence Day celebrations.

EOD odometer reading : 667 miles

August 15,2012(Wednesday) :

We left Dhule at 0730 hours and it was decided that next stop, for breakfast,  would be at Nashik which was at 154km. Owing to my slow riding speed, I took point. Lost in my thoughts and in a zeal to ride, I halted only twice in that ride – once to fill petrol and once to take a leak ! From outskirts of Nashik, I called up the guys and was told that Vishy’s bike tyre went flat and they were still 92km from Nashik. Hence, it was decided that we would rendezvous at some place ahead of Nashik. But since I expected to wait for above an hour for the others, I wanted a restaurant that was spacious, away from city’s hustle-bustle and commanded some good views of mountains; I rode all the way to Igatpuri and halted at Hotel Greenland opposite the Maharashtra ITI. These guys arrived after around 70 min, at around 1230 hours. We had lunch and I reclaimed my luggage so that I don’t have to wait again later. We completed the goodbye formalities at Kalyan Phata and I reached Panvel at around 1600 hours.

Updated : The DCP visits have been approved by the Confluence project, cheers guys !!!

Photo courtesy : Sourabh Porwal/Vishal Desai