Maharashtra's forts hold treasure troves of stories. Our official lazy bum, Satish S goes off without notice and checks out Raigad and Pratapgad.

You have to agree, Shivaji was easily the most interesting dude you encountered in your History textbooks by a long shot. No seriously, how could you possibly relate to the French Renaissance and some Douchebag the XIIth who executed people like zat. This, when you were 10 years old and all you wanted to do in life was to play ball, watch cartoons and tease the girls about their ponytails.

Shivaji also set his forts right up some god forsaken places on the Sahyadri mountain ranges in Maharashtra. Perfect for some post-exam workout and dodging mom's “go out and do something, you good for nothing” rant. The fort in question here is Raigadh, which was his capital way back in the 16th century. Enough reason for the Maharashtra Tourism Board to install a rope way. And the forts in rather good shape even after all these years of abuse served up by the weather and the Indian tourist.
To get to the base of Raigad, get to Mahad via Panvel. Take a bus/SUV full of lazy bums and I guarantee you a good time. You could take the ropeway, which takes all of 4 minutes to get to the top. Alternatively, the steps which will take a good 90-120mins and 1400 steps of huffing and puffing. In any case tank up on water, because everything at the top costs 2X...

MRP. But do take the steps at least once because you should not be missing the main door to the fort which is an architectural masterpiece in its own right. Everything at Raigad is actually, if you can imagine the availability of resources in the 16th century.

Places to explore in the fort are the court room (which has been designed to reflect as much sound as possible so that even a mumble from 30 feet away is clearly audible), Shivaji’s burial site (which has a statue of his dog that jumped into his pyre. Mutt says he's a descendant), the horse-rider optimized marketplace and “Takmak Tok” which is a cliff from where serious errant's in Shivaji's empire were pushed to death. Also explore the area of the princess' bedrooms and around it. Shivaji's supposed personal temple is inaccessible but the views on the way are simply exhilarating.

If you plan to stay overnight at the top, you have the Zilla Parishad's rooms which come at 250 bucks a pop with 50 bucks extra for every person you try to cram in. There is also the MTDC resort which costs 900 bucks a night. And service is dodgy at best and it'd be advisable to carry inflatable pillows and blankets. Food too, is an expensive commodity and “Deshmukh's Dhaba” which Dad told you about is nothing like one. But get up at 5:30 in the morning and the clouds in your face will make you forget every thing and then some.

After you...

come down you could consider heading to Pratapgadh which, by the way, is only 50kms from Raigadh. You'll be stunned at the amount of thought gone into making this fort with regards to safety, usability and simply 'make-a-fool-of-the-enemy' factor. Surprisingly, there has never been a battle at this fort. This is also the place where Mr. Afzalkhan famously met his death at Shivaji's hands.

There is hardly any trekking to be done over here since most of the distance is to be covered on road. It was built thanks to Mr. Nehru who inaugurated a killer metal statue of Shivaji sometime in the 1960's. And I must add, there is something about the man's statues. You could keep looking at them and you couldn't care less about that damned commodity called time. And screw the bloody British who took his sword away.

Both places should be approached with extreme caution, sunscreen lotion and trekking shoes. Quality lenses by way of binoculars and cameras are also recommended, though visibility is questionable during the monsoons. Tour guides are recommended as well and the ones at Raigadh are particularly dramatic with their animated hand gestures and sharp voices. Trust me, History never seemed this exciting.

- Satish S