I like
to walk in the nature. There’s nothing more pleasurable than a simple walk in
the eternal beauty of the environment. It feels so calm, so relaxing and so soothing
that the feeling of it just can’t simply be defined in words. With lush
greenery around and beautiful views to capture in one’s eyes, the
journey itself becomes a memorable one. There are so many things that one can
fall in love with while taking a simple walk in this green world. It could be the calmness of the weather that build around them which they
get to feel well deep within or it could be the sounds of the nature, the
chirpings of the birds that one gets to hear when they take a one in the early
hours of the morning.
Undoubtedly,
the best walk is the one taken at that hour when the day
has just started to break. There are so many lovely things that one gets to experience
at that hour. They get to see the sky changing its colour, birds rising from
their nests, flying high in the sky and filing the surroundings with their
chirpings, one gets to feel the morning air on their face which seems like its
cleansing their soul. You also get to see a good fog around you with bit coolness in
the weather which shivers you and send a chill within your body when you take a
one on a nice winter morning. These all things seem extremely delightful as you
get to experience the lovely surrounding environment closely. More importantly,
you get to see the city getting back to life for the day. There are so many
lovely things apart from these which one gets to experience in a single walk
which would lift their mood and spirit completely which would make them feel energised for the
whole day. Though I am a very lazy kind of a guy and not a morning person, but still
I too got the chance to experience all these things on few occasions in my life,
especially at the times when I participated in half marathons. There’s
something special about it which I think is best known when experienced rather
than reading about it at some place or seeing videos related to it. The energy that gets built around you by seeing your fellow runners along with the feeling all those wonderful things of the nature has to offer generates within you make it all a pleasing experience.
The
thing is that I love walking so much that I can walk effortlessly for hours. You
can take me anywhere you want on foot. There’s some certain kind of pleasure I
get in walking. But nothing is more pleasurable when this walk is in the lap of
the nature. Though every such
walk which is taken in the nature is special but nothing comes closer to the
one taken on a winter morning. I still remember the ones I used to take in my college
time which are still quite fresh in my mind. The distance between my college
and my bus stop was around 1.7 km. Usually as I used to have an ample time in
my hands, I used to cover that distance on foot. The coolness of the weather
around sending some chill deep within my body with beautifully set fog, with
headphones in my ears playing wonderful songs and the cap of my red jacket over
my head, made it all a perfect setting to experience the loveliness of that
moment. That simple walk of 1.7km used to give me a certain level of peace which
I feel was the most cherished moment I had back then and the best thing
about it was that I got to experience it every other day until my morning
lectures came to an end.
But the best walk which
I have taken till date with nature surrounding me was at a place where I could
have only got to experience the core beauty of our environment. I don’t know
how many Kms I would have walked that day. But by the time I reached the top spot
or the last location of my single way journey I was completely exhausted.
Though I was feeling out of energy but there was certain kind of pleasure deep
within me after reaching that spot to complete what was a remarkable journey. It
would have been a more delightful one had I been able to make a return journey
on foot as well. But the continuous persistence towards that top spot and
effortless nonstop walking for around 4-5 hrs made me so tired that I wasn’t in
a position to make a return journey on foot and had to hire a cab for it.
The
place I am talking about is Sanjay Gandhi Natural Park which is located in the
heart of Mumbai city. It is notable as one of the major national parks existing
within a metropolis limit and is said to be the one of the most visited parks
in the world. For my zeal to experience the beautiful built natural
environment and to be close to the nature I visited this place and it didn’t
disappoint me at all. This park has everything to offer, from great natural
environment to fresh air to green surrounding to rich diversity of flora and
fauna to dense forest to lake for boating to tiger and lion safari to river to a trail of 7
kms to the topmost location and the last stop of journey, Kanheri Caves, which
in itself is a wonderful place to explore, adding further to your already
existing long trail of 7 kms. These all will keep a nature lover happily engaged
and is like a perfect treat to them.
There
are various marked routes which one can take to explore the place as per their
liking and convenience. Though the best way to explore and enjoy the journey in
the park is on foot but you can cover the distance in your vehicle or you can
hire a cab or a bicycle for it at the entry gate. But if you have a good
stamina and love to walk, then you should cover the distance on foot. It will
all together be a different experience. There were many sideways in my trail of
7 Kms which I took and the journey to and fro from them added much more Kms to my
already existing trail.
The thing
apart from the natural beauty which I enjoyed most there was the Lion and Tiger
Safari. I was super excited for it as it was going to be my first experience. For the very first time I was getting an opportunity to see those animals
so closely that too in their natural habitat. It was a 20 minutes ride in the
fenced forest area. For security reasons only caged buses of the park were
allowed in that area. For visitors’ purpose, only one lion and lioness were
kept behind the caged fences while others were set free in the dense forest. Seeing
the way the lioness was sitting in her cage I had only one line for her in my
mind “As the name, so is the style.” Sitting like a queen on a throne with bit
attitude was she, which was a lovely sight to watch.
Tigers
were also kept in the same protected area. As I was in the batch of early
visitors, I was lucky to get to see some of them out of their cages roaming in
open enjoying the freedom of movement in their natural habitat. One of them was
lying on ground and yawning like a baby which looked really cute and I didn’t
miss to capture that moment.
After
covering I don’t know how many Kms from the starting point, and exploring as
much natural beauty I can, I reached the end point of my journey which is the
one of the oldest archaeological sites of India, The Kanheri Caves. The word itself
comes from the Sanskrit word ‘krishnagiri’ which means black
mountain thus perfectly giving the description of that place.
Most of
the caves there were open and I visited as many as I could to get an idea about
how the life in that period used to be. There were so beautifully constructed that I
was literally able to see the things as they stood at that time. I was able to identify
their beds, the structure of their house, i.e. the kitchen area, the hall area
and other areas of the house. Plus, there was a water storage area outside each
cave too on either side of the entry which still had some water in it (maybe the rain water). But one could clearly hear water
fall from some nearby location there. This shows how knowledgeable and advanced people of that time
were as they had done good preparations for rainwater storage which would prove
beneficial not only for them but also for many generations to come. I spent a great time in viewing them and exploring as many new exciting things as I could after which I reached the top most point of that area. It felt so relaxing to
be finally up there after hours of nonstop trail. I could easily see the giant city on the
other side of the park from there. I sat there for a while to take
some rest and get back some energy while feeling the beauty of the natural force
surrounding me. It felt really calm up there and I experienced a certain kind
of peace which is hard to find in that noisy and fast running life of the city.
It was completely differently world up there.
The visit to Sanjay Gandhi National Park was full paisa-vasool or in fact it was better than that as it was a day well spent. In all it was a learning
experience for me. It gave me the memories that I will cherish for my life because a day spent
in the lap of the nature is not easy to forget. And as I mentioned earlier, I
would have made a return journey on foot as well had I not be feeling completely
exhausted which in all would have marked my journey as complete. But someday, at some
other place I feel I will be able to do that which would be included among
my remarkable journeys in the nature which someday I will share with my
readers as well.
