Early Morning Awakening:
It was 4:40 in the morning when is saw the time on my phone and decided to head to a place the locals call “Balu Mama Temple”. I woke my father; it was him with whom I would go to the temple.
It is your ordinary temple on a hill, but the adventurous part is yet to begin, the temple is located at a decent height from the highways nearby, and the hill continues to go on. This hill is not the highest point in Lonavala but gets the job done.
These bunch of hills make up the Lonavala Tungarli Dam.
From the temple itself, you can easily see the reservoir. But the good part is for the dawn chasers.
Preparation Rituals:
Let me continue my story. So, yeah after me and my dad woke up, we gathered all that was necessary like torches to trek in the dark and hot water to make warm tea at the summit (if you could say so) and some peanuts (mungphali).
We had to put on at least 2 layers of clothing as in winter, Lonavala becomes so chilly where the cold winds just take away your body heat so easily.
Now you might think that this happens everywhere in winter, especially in hilly regions or the north side of India, but let me just appreciate Lonavala also I haven’t been to any other chilly cold place, so pardon me.
Chilly Scooter Adventure:
We got the bags ready and headed for the scooter downstairs. As we walked down the stairs the wind washed in our faces. It felt like it was telling us its damn cold outside. I started the scooty and we started from our home.
The Balu Mama temple is around 3-5 km from our home, I haven’t calculated the distance as now I just know the directions to it by heart.
The wind outside was so chilly. Whenever my body feels cold air especially my front body, like my chest and abdomen, my abs start shivering, this causes my breath to shiver too and if this happens while I am speaking then the words start to get confusing.
Even with 2 layers of protective layer, I felt cold, past few days were like 17-160 C. There is a section in the journey where we start climbing towards the temple but there is not a single street light so we have to rely on the headlamp of the vehicle. The journey there was one of the creepiest things I have felt.
With the cold wind in your face, very low visibility due to an almost faded-out headlamp, and creepy jungle vibes. Following along the road we reach the temple; at this time of hour, there would be no one at the temple. I park the scooty and we head for the summit.
Trekking Under the Stars:
We switched on the torches and got moving, I had brought 3 torches for our way to the top, 1 was my father’s and the other two were our home’s. My dad’s torch had very focused light and the other had much dissipated or spread-out light.
I lost one of our home’s torches inside the bag, and the other one had broken down. Now we had only one light and two phone flashlights to illuminate our path.
It was pitch black with some distant lights of the city and a few industrial lights in the distance.
Summit Stargazing in Lonavala:
You could even see the stars in the sky as there was very little light pollution. The Ursa Major was the prettiest one (Saptrishi in Hindi) and the Venus was the brightest of them all. A few galaxies were visible in the form of starlight.
I would talk about how I was able to tell them apart in a bit.
The trek was not so hard but was only steep in some parts and was quite easy. But not to underestimate I was panting for half of the trek; it may be due to the cold weather. It would take around 15- 25 minutes according to your cardiovascular stamina.
After reaching the summit it was just casually stargazing and some were sitting in the dark waiting for the sun. I used a stargazing app to identify all of the lights in the night sky and was able to tell them without it the next day.
Sunrise Anticipation:
As time passed by the colours on the horizon started fading out and changing for the brighter ones. The sun comes from behind a mountain range and it feels like it first peeks and then rises into the horizon.
Majestic Dawn Unveiled:
I don’t know from where I got to know or saw I just remember the name of Nevada for sunrise as the sunrises from there are supposed to look surreal and out of the world. I was seeing the same kind of sunrise from Lonavala.
Tea, Tranquillity, and Tungarli Dam:
Man, it was a good view, with the dam reservoir in the distance, cold wind gushing from the river to the mountain top, and the colours changing in the horizon with hot tea in your hands. It felt majestic to be there and experience it.
I would strongly recommend visiting this place and spending some time there, especially at sunrise or sunset for the best experience.
Recommendation and Gratitude:
If you made it so far I would love it if you could comment about how you felt about this and my other blogs in the comment sections.
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