The 1st official trek of this new monsoon season and our 4th installment for the trekkers delight. It had to be a little bigger and special for all of us. The preparation for this trek began in mid May itself when we decided to begin an exciting monsoon trekking season with a warm up trek. The place was decided (Karnala fort), the date was fixed (26th June), what needed more was some extra zing and enthusiasm for the preparations. The following events indeed made up for that—our email id, twitter account, recognition by Mumbai Hikers group and some more likes on our fb page were really instrumental in increasing our passion and hunger. This up gradation helped us to spread our wings in the virtual world of the trekking organizations. The result was for everyone to see. A much higher response, larger then expected and two buses for 70 odd people. Whhooooooosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Along with this joy of getting a thunderous response, there was this added pressure of responsibility, the tension of handling such a huge crowd safe and secure all throughout the journey. But even then there always was this gut feeling that we could do this and it was not impossible.
The countdown for the trek began right after the flaps of calendar were turned to June. A short meeting at Ruia parking lot was enough to calculate all the expenses and decide upon the entry fee per head. The next day the event was published on our facebook page and invitations were sent across to everyone. Slowly but steadily we decide to publicise ourselves to a larger audience by creating our own email id and twitter account. However the turning point was the recognition by ‘Mumbai Hikers’ (a trekking organization) who decided to publicize our event on their website. It was really a nice feeling to see our event being shared along with events of some of the leading trekking groups of Mumbai. It’s only because of the generosity shown by ‘Mumbai Hikers Group’ that we are able to reach out to a wider audience. Heartiest thanks to ‘Mumbai Hikers’. Then came our blog- another additional benefit to publicise our events and trekking experiences.
The next few days would go only in deciding the total count, the expenses, money collection, budgeting and encouraging others to join the trek. Sitting on facebook, chatting with others only about trek and counting the number of people attending the trek became a sort of daily routine for all of us. As the day approached, the tension seemed to built up. Constant phone calls and regular chatting became the need of the hour. To add fuel to fire were some of the casualties who decided to back out from the trek at the last moment. However, the bad health of our fellow organizer Viraj Tavsalkar was a difficult bite to swallow. But then all the credit should go to him for rejuvenating himself on time and giving his 100% on the day when it required the most. A meeting on the penultimate day to finalize our itinery and to add finesse to our co-ordination proved to be a much needed one. Finally the judgment day arrived and it was time to say “GANAPATI BAPPA MORYA” and enjoy the trek to fullest.
HAPPY TREKKING
OMKAR.D.JUVEKAR.
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