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Friday, December 30, 2005

Happy New Year

I shall end 2005 blogging wishing everyone a better, healthier, and happier year ahead in 2006. Keep safe in the holidays and have a wonderful celebration. I shall leave you all with my final post in 2005.

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Mission - Tung Fort

As the name suggests, we may assume that the trek of this fort is very difficult, but it’s very easy. The fort Tung(Kathingad) was built to protect the region of Pavan Maval.
This fort was built with an intention to keep watch on transport from Bor Ghat. From this fort we can easily locate Lohgad, Visapur & Pavan Maval.
Tung Fort

This fort was not as significant as others in the history. In 1657, it became a part of Swarajya with all other forts situated in Maval region. In 1660, Netaji Palkar was appointed to protect this region. In 1665, Jaysingh invaded this region. Dilerkhan and others destroyed the villages around Tung & Tikona, but were unable to conquer these forts. Then, according to Treaty of Purandar (signed on 12th June 1665), Kubadkhan with Halalkhan and others took over fort on 18th June.

As the top of the fort is very small, it takes only 1 hour to see it. Way towards the fort goes along the temple of Maruti. From here we can go further by steps. After few minutes we reach at Hanuman Mandir. Next to this is the main entrance to the fort. Through this we can go at the top. At right side we see Ganesh Mandir. At the backside, we see water trench. From here we head towards citadel.
Here we see temple of Tung Devi. Opposite to it is a cave in ground. Here two or three people can be accommodated. It is a one-day trek.

All ways to the fort go from the base village Tungvadi. After one or one and half hour we reach at the top. One hour is enough to see the fort.

We started from Magarpatta at 6:30 in the morning and we reahed the base village Tungvadi at 10:00 am. There were in all 60 people for these trek from Amdocs. After reaching the base village we took some breakfast and started our march towards the Tung Fort.
Trekking Group
The first route which we choosed to reach the top of Tung Fort took us almost 45 minutes. But when we reached the foo t of the fort, there was no way to reach the top of the fort and we were stuck.
The Place where we got Stuck

Then we came down back to base village and took another route which was the correct one and one hour we reached the first gate of the fort.
The Gate
After more half an hour we reached the top of the fort. Hurray! The top is small with a temple dedicated to Goddess Tungai. The temple is in a bad shape without a roof. There is also a flagpole on top with a Orange flag on top. Seems like a Shiv Sena Flag.

Goddess Tungai Temple

Everybody was exhausted after climbing the hill for two times. We rested for quite some time and then took a nice lunch together.
Top of the Fort
The view from the top is extremely beautiful. We can see the Pawna River towards the east.

we spent some time at the top and then started our route towards the base village back. Overall the trekking was pretty simple than we expected. We reached the base village at 16:00 pm and the we had a great time together at the base village playing some games. It was really a great fun. At last we started from there at 17:30 and reached Magarpatta at 21:00 pm in the night.
Thus we all completed the Tung Trek!

And that's it from my side about adventurous experience of Tung Fort Trekking...

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Parvati Hill & Temple

On 4th December, 2005, one of our college friend Nayana's marriage was there. She was the first one in our college to get married. Some of our college mates came from Mumbai to Pune to attend her marriage.
After the marriage we had some time before my friends could leave for Mumbai. So, we decide to visit Parvati hill and temples.
Parvati hill is located in Southern Pune which is visible from many parts of Pune. There are many temples at the top which is dedicated to Parvati, Vishnu, Ganesh, Kartikeya and Devadeshwar.
The climb comprising of a hundred odd steps to the top does turn to be very rewarding with a beautiful view of the Pune City. It is one of the most popular destinations for walkers and the health conscious (besides the devotees) who make their way as early as 5.00 am as they climb the 108 steps up the hill. It is said that at this spot the Peshwa ruler Balaji Baji Rao watched the British defeat at the Battle of Kirkee.
Located on this hill is a interesting museum that describes the Peshwa rule and a Ganesh temple.
Here are some of the snaps when we visited this place.








So, if you ever get a chance to visit this place then do visit because Parvati is worth seeing and unforgettable.