INTRODUCTION
Malanggad is like 16 km from kalyan station and is 3200 ft above sea level. It got three levels to it - Pir machi which is Haji malang dargah then there is Sone machi which is the plateau you reach after steep step climb , then Balekilla which is the peak of the fort.
HISTORY
Fort was built by King naladev in 7th century, then captured by maratha in 17th century and finally conquered by british. Place name has been in a dispute where some of them call it Haji-Malang while some call it Shri-Malang, among-st them 'Bal thackeray' was the one who said it ''Replace Haji by Shri'' during Hindi-Muslim riot in 90's.
JOURNEY
It was Sunday, July 1st 2018, Me and mandar boarded metro from azad nagar to ghatkopar which costed us 70 Rs return Ticket, then boarded train to kalyan which costed us 30 Rs return Ticket. After reaching Kalyan station, we went to Bus depot and hopped inside TATA bus which head towards Malangad however Driver was no where to be seen, 20 minute passed by and now passenger started losing their patience level and one by one started shouting at conductor ''Where driver of the bus at? call him'', finally after couple minute driver arrived like a gangster and what surprised me was no passenger had the guts to shout at him, one could literally feel his presence. The reason driver took so much time as he don't like to be disturbed while he enjoys his breakfast, to him it was more like a lunch. The ticket costed us 20 Rs per person.
After reaching base of the malanggad by 8:40 am, we went near one of the shop where we ordered 2 Bhajji Pav plate which costed us 25 Rs per person, to be honest it tasted kind of odd, it was't the one they make using onion, channa or potato,'the one we eat here, they used some kind of flour to make bhajji so we took the newspaper and packed the remaining bhajji so that we can give this to a group of notorious monkey who all reside at malanggad mountain. On a side note avoid ordering anything at the base shop, you will find decent shop on the way to eat.
1.Pirmachi
To reach pir machi, you will have to walk on the steps for at least 90-100 minute which is very tiring, it was very much reminiscent of Mama bhanja hills trek, however the difference is out here there are more steps and also on the way till Haji malang dargah you will come across countless FMCG and religious shop selling cold drink, biscuit and Chips way above MRP price, say if Cold drink bottle MRP is 30 Rs, here they will quote you 50 Rs, so don't be surprised and get yourself enough snacks and drinks from home only.
On the way you will come across various religious shop where they will bait you like ''Remove shoes, wash your leg my son and do the offering to our Haji malang'', for that they will charge you a fee without informing you in advance, so beware and don't fall for it.We ignored many people on the way, mandar was very close to be a victim of it.
On the way you will also come across Hindu sites along with Maharashtra flag and sometimes Islamic flag every now and then, this kind of religious game is very popular in India since ages, most of the time you will find temple near the proximity of darhgah or you can say this other way around also, to be honest it is just to show the presence of population, its like ''If y'all exist we too exist'' even during festival time. Being an atheist i am less interested in religious sites until and unless the place is ancient, isolated or it got an architecture build that really appeals me.
One can view malanggad on the right side once you start getting close to pir machi(Haji malang).
At different intervals we did purchased cold drink bottle and rested for couple minute, during that time i asked one of the shop owner how far is malanggad? have you ever been there? he was like ''Go to haji malang and head back, malanggad is not the main destination, people who trek out there without praying and offering to our haji malang, they end up losing their life''. I mean this guy was using such a strong words, it was clearly a facade. One thing i do noticed is that there is unity among locals, and they don't like if visitor talk about trekking to malanggad instead of haji malang, they give answer which is inaccurate.
On the way while ascending we saw a girl, she claimed to be hungry and was begging for money desperately so that she could eat, so we gave her that remaining bhajji that we packed inside newspaper at the base of malanggad for notorious monkey. Right after couple steps we heard a laughing sound from behind just to find out that the same girl was laughing along with her group and was giving high five to her peers and had a expression like i fooled both these guys. I mean she was no beggar but a casual visitor just like us, we both were stunned. Little did we know losing bhajji was going to cost us later on in the journey, keep reading you will come to know what am i talking about.
We were figuring out the way to malanggad so we kept on walking, i also saw some eateries shop around, then all of a sudden 6 to 7 men popped on us telling to remove our shoes, for a moment we felt like we did something wrong, like we entered religious vicinity with our shoes on. Then one of the man took us to his religious shop. We asked him where is malanggad? we both are headed there, to this he was not giving us the proper answer or showing us the way. He was like ''First do the offering to haji malang then go to the mountain'' we were being pressurized to pray, he handed us two offering plastic box for haji malang costing 100 rs per box, then without asking he added sweets, coconut on top of that box increasing the price to 200 Rs per box. So we gave him one box and kept one box for offering worth Rs 100, then he told us to keep our shoes, bag here only and take it back after praying to haji malang , problem was we both had DSLR camera in our bag so instead of keeping our bag at religious shop, we kept bag at the entrance of haji malang as there is a CCTV attached on the entrance and without wasting time within couple second we did a offering to haji malang for the name sake, and hopped outside haji malang to get our bag quickly, at that time man inside haji malang was like '' Donate some money for haji malang'' but we kept walking, not paying attention to his words, since it is a sensitive topic, i never told them i was an atheist neither i would have gotten myself in to trouble. Finally after all this, that man at the religious shop showed us the way, it was just before the dargah in that lane only, one has to take right, the way goes through gully.If we would have spotted that right turn, we could have avoided all this. There is a misconception among-st locals and shopkeepers(Religious and FMCG) that tourist only come here to see Haji malang.
2.Sonemachi
Once you pass Pir machi, journey towards sonemachi starts. Now one could clearly see Malanggad mountain.
Out here you will feel refreshed, away from all the crowds that y'all encountered on the way till pirmachi, i would say 95% of the people come for haji malang - pray and head back, but real beauty lies on top of sonemachi, this people they don't even know what they are missing.
On the way mandar threw all the chicku seeds that he got with him from home all over the place, it grows throughout the year suitable for warm and humid climate with average rainfall, so yes Maharashtra is perfect place for chiku cultivation.
I have marked the route in above image for your reference(Click on it to view in large), you will get the fair enough idea about the way towards malanggad which goes through gully just prior to Haji malang.
On the way to sonemachi you will encounter Rock patch while ascending, to the left there is a muddy trail that would be easy to climb comparatively to rock patch, anyway to each his own,' take the one in which you are more comfortable with.After trekking for couple minute you will come across this steep climb, just before that on the left i saw religious Green/red cloth with arabic written on it ,rocks were kept so it doesn't flew away and on the right side was the way heading towards the side of the mountain with green/yellow flag at some point.
We were here for SoneMachi, one should hike this steep steps little carefully, one person at a time. There is a warning board just before this steep steps climb stating '' Be aware tigers have been seen around this vicinity'' which is just a another facade,based on some mythology. Leopard on mountains i do understand but tiger is just too much.
After climbing this above steep steps, you will witness one of the most amazing view one can ever view in a place like Maharashtra. It was so amazing that i could't get my eyes off the pinnacle slim shape like structure of Mountain. I trekked many mountains in my life but this definitely stand apart from other ones. Journey till Pirmachi is not fascinating due to commercialization, but after that it will take you around another 30-40 minute to reach sonemachi which is definitely worth a while.
One can also view tahuli mountain from sonemachi peak, tahuli is also known as panch peer as there are tomb of five muslim priest. Tahuli mountain is my hit-list, one day i am going to trek that mountain too.
3) Bale killa (Unconquered)
The pic y'all looking above right now is the way towards bale killa, unfortunately one has to walk on the pipe and that pipe is broken so don't ever try to attempt it without professional trekkers, it will need ropes and different gear. I don't know if that pipe was broken purposely or not, back in the days when pipe was perfectly attached, there used to be guy who used to help trekkers cross the pipe. According to other blogs - police arrested that guy due to many accident happened out there.
We took a rest at Sonemachi peak and eat Biscuit,which was the only snacks left in the bag, then we drank little mazaa and i kept that in my Bag, i told mandar to keep my DSLR in his bag. It was 12:30 pm by the time we started our descent.
This is the last pic what y'all looking above right now, yes right where i am standing i was attacked by Alpha monkey, there were three monkey on my left side and two on my right and alpha monkey taking the lead, blocking me from descending on those steep steps. Mandar was safely down, but i was stuck.
First they approached mandar where he was standing down, that alpha monkey checked mandar's pocket then he realized mandar has nothing to offer, by looking at Monkey's IQ i was literally shocked , then he looked at me,climbed up, at that point i knew i was in deep trouble. I was trying to get alpha monkey out of my way by keeping bag in the middle, i too tried to be aggressive to this all the monkey reacted by screaming, during that moment alpha monkey opened his mouth, my hands started shivering after looking at alpha's monkey Dracula like big teeth with saliva dripping, just google it you will come to know what am i talking about, Monkey holds bacteria in their mouth, sometimes Rabbie's, talking of alpha one they are stronger then men.
Alpha monkey now started pulling my bag and started checking what's inside my bag, luckily both the DSLR was in mandar's bag. I was literally shocked by looking at alpha monkey human like behavior.Somehow i managed to bring alpha monkey on my left side leaving a space to descend.Now i was searching for mazaa inside my bag to offer something to notorious alpha monkey, to be honest i was damn scared, the reason my hands were shivering like crazy due to which i was unable to find mazaa, i regretted giving bhaaji to that little girl who fooled us while ascending. Some of the guys gathered down, i was screaming for solution, they said ''Be calm'' so that i don't make wrong move and fall down from mountain. I gained enough courage and grabbed my bag threw it where mandar was standing, after this alpha monkey made a eyebrow like ''why?'', without thinking twice i literally descended like crazy, alpha monkey chased me, at that time mandar was able to take out mazaa and gave it to Alpha one. Alpha one alone drank mazaa while omega and beta's monkey were watching him, By that time we were able to get out of that range.
After this descending went smooth, while going down no shopkeeper will disturb you. Household people will beg you every now and then but it is better to avoid them.We reached at Malanggad base till 2:25 pm, within 5 minute bus arrived, we boarded the bus, kalyan station was the last stop which costed us 20Rs, then train to ghatkopar, from there to our stop, mine is azad nagar. I was home till 4:30 Pm.
Tips and Guide before trekking malanggad (For Budget people)
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Malanggad is like 16 km from kalyan station and is 3200 ft above sea level. It got three levels to it - Pir machi which is Haji malang dargah then there is Sone machi which is the plateau you reach after steep step climb , then Balekilla which is the peak of the fort.
HISTORY
Fort was built by King naladev in 7th century, then captured by maratha in 17th century and finally conquered by british. Place name has been in a dispute where some of them call it Haji-Malang while some call it Shri-Malang, among-st them 'Bal thackeray' was the one who said it ''Replace Haji by Shri'' during Hindi-Muslim riot in 90's.
JOURNEY
It was Sunday, July 1st 2018, Me and mandar boarded metro from azad nagar to ghatkopar which costed us 70 Rs return Ticket, then boarded train to kalyan which costed us 30 Rs return Ticket. After reaching Kalyan station, we went to Bus depot and hopped inside TATA bus which head towards Malangad however Driver was no where to be seen, 20 minute passed by and now passenger started losing their patience level and one by one started shouting at conductor ''Where driver of the bus at? call him'', finally after couple minute driver arrived like a gangster and what surprised me was no passenger had the guts to shout at him, one could literally feel his presence. The reason driver took so much time as he don't like to be disturbed while he enjoys his breakfast, to him it was more like a lunch. The ticket costed us 20 Rs per person.
After reaching base of the malanggad by 8:40 am, we went near one of the shop where we ordered 2 Bhajji Pav plate which costed us 25 Rs per person, to be honest it tasted kind of odd, it was't the one they make using onion, channa or potato,'the one we eat here, they used some kind of flour to make bhajji so we took the newspaper and packed the remaining bhajji so that we can give this to a group of notorious monkey who all reside at malanggad mountain. On a side note avoid ordering anything at the base shop, you will find decent shop on the way to eat.
1.Pirmachi
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| Base of the malanggad |
On the way you will come across various religious shop where they will bait you like ''Remove shoes, wash your leg my son and do the offering to our Haji malang'', for that they will charge you a fee without informing you in advance, so beware and don't fall for it.We ignored many people on the way, mandar was very close to be a victim of it.
 |
| Milkman standing below Islamic flag |
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| Durga devi temple along with Maharashtra flag |
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| Malanggad view before reaching Pirmachi |
At different intervals we did purchased cold drink bottle and rested for couple minute, during that time i asked one of the shop owner how far is malanggad? have you ever been there? he was like ''Go to haji malang and head back, malanggad is not the main destination, people who trek out there without praying and offering to our haji malang, they end up losing their life''. I mean this guy was using such a strong words, it was clearly a facade. One thing i do noticed is that there is unity among locals, and they don't like if visitor talk about trekking to malanggad instead of haji malang, they give answer which is inaccurate.
On the way while ascending we saw a girl, she claimed to be hungry and was begging for money desperately so that she could eat, so we gave her that remaining bhajji that we packed inside newspaper at the base of malanggad for notorious monkey. Right after couple steps we heard a laughing sound from behind just to find out that the same girl was laughing along with her group and was giving high five to her peers and had a expression like i fooled both these guys. I mean she was no beggar but a casual visitor just like us, we both were stunned. Little did we know losing bhajji was going to cost us later on in the journey, keep reading you will come to know what am i talking about.
- Haji malang or pir machi incident
We were figuring out the way to malanggad so we kept on walking, i also saw some eateries shop around, then all of a sudden 6 to 7 men popped on us telling to remove our shoes, for a moment we felt like we did something wrong, like we entered religious vicinity with our shoes on. Then one of the man took us to his religious shop. We asked him where is malanggad? we both are headed there, to this he was not giving us the proper answer or showing us the way. He was like ''First do the offering to haji malang then go to the mountain'' we were being pressurized to pray, he handed us two offering plastic box for haji malang costing 100 rs per box, then without asking he added sweets, coconut on top of that box increasing the price to 200 Rs per box. So we gave him one box and kept one box for offering worth Rs 100, then he told us to keep our shoes, bag here only and take it back after praying to haji malang , problem was we both had DSLR camera in our bag so instead of keeping our bag at religious shop, we kept bag at the entrance of haji malang as there is a CCTV attached on the entrance and without wasting time within couple second we did a offering to haji malang for the name sake, and hopped outside haji malang to get our bag quickly, at that time man inside haji malang was like '' Donate some money for haji malang'' but we kept walking, not paying attention to his words, since it is a sensitive topic, i never told them i was an atheist neither i would have gotten myself in to trouble. Finally after all this, that man at the religious shop showed us the way, it was just before the dargah in that lane only, one has to take right, the way goes through gully.If we would have spotted that right turn, we could have avoided all this. There is a misconception among-st locals and shopkeepers(Religious and FMCG) that tourist only come here to see Haji malang.
2.Sonemachi
Once you pass Pir machi, journey towards sonemachi starts. Now one could clearly see Malanggad mountain.
Out here you will feel refreshed, away from all the crowds that y'all encountered on the way till pirmachi, i would say 95% of the people come for haji malang - pray and head back, but real beauty lies on top of sonemachi, this people they don't even know what they are missing.
 |
| Mandar trekking, sonemachi visible in the backdrop |
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| Way to sonemachi from pirmachi |
On the way to sonemachi you will encounter Rock patch while ascending, to the left there is a muddy trail that would be easy to climb comparatively to rock patch, anyway to each his own,' take the one in which you are more comfortable with.After trekking for couple minute you will come across this steep climb, just before that on the left i saw religious Green/red cloth with arabic written on it ,rocks were kept so it doesn't flew away and on the right side was the way heading towards the side of the mountain with green/yellow flag at some point.
 |
| Religious Green/Red cloth |
 |
| Steps leading towards side of the mountain |
We were here for SoneMachi, one should hike this steep steps little carefully, one person at a time. There is a warning board just before this steep steps climb stating '' Be aware tigers have been seen around this vicinity'' which is just a another facade,based on some mythology. Leopard on mountains i do understand but tiger is just too much.
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| Steep steps Climb |
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| Malanggad (Sonemachi peak) |
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| Mandar and Me |
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| Another side of sonemachi |
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| View of Tahuli Mountain from Sonemachi |
3) Bale killa (Unconquered)
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| Way to Bale Killa, Further Pipe broken |
- Attacked by alpha Monkey
We took a rest at Sonemachi peak and eat Biscuit,which was the only snacks left in the bag, then we drank little mazaa and i kept that in my Bag, i told mandar to keep my DSLR in his bag. It was 12:30 pm by the time we started our descent.
 |
| Last pic before i was attacked by monkey |
First they approached mandar where he was standing down, that alpha monkey checked mandar's pocket then he realized mandar has nothing to offer, by looking at Monkey's IQ i was literally shocked , then he looked at me,climbed up, at that point i knew i was in deep trouble. I was trying to get alpha monkey out of my way by keeping bag in the middle, i too tried to be aggressive to this all the monkey reacted by screaming, during that moment alpha monkey opened his mouth, my hands started shivering after looking at alpha's monkey Dracula like big teeth with saliva dripping, just google it you will come to know what am i talking about, Monkey holds bacteria in their mouth, sometimes Rabbie's, talking of alpha one they are stronger then men.
Alpha monkey now started pulling my bag and started checking what's inside my bag, luckily both the DSLR was in mandar's bag. I was literally shocked by looking at alpha monkey human like behavior.Somehow i managed to bring alpha monkey on my left side leaving a space to descend.Now i was searching for mazaa inside my bag to offer something to notorious alpha monkey, to be honest i was damn scared, the reason my hands were shivering like crazy due to which i was unable to find mazaa, i regretted giving bhaaji to that little girl who fooled us while ascending. Some of the guys gathered down, i was screaming for solution, they said ''Be calm'' so that i don't make wrong move and fall down from mountain. I gained enough courage and grabbed my bag threw it where mandar was standing, after this alpha monkey made a eyebrow like ''why?'', without thinking twice i literally descended like crazy, alpha monkey chased me, at that time mandar was able to take out mazaa and gave it to Alpha one. Alpha one alone drank mazaa while omega and beta's monkey were watching him, By that time we were able to get out of that range.
After this descending went smooth, while going down no shopkeeper will disturb you. Household people will beg you every now and then but it is better to avoid them.We reached at Malanggad base till 2:25 pm, within 5 minute bus arrived, we boarded the bus, kalyan station was the last stop which costed us 20Rs, then train to ghatkopar, from there to our stop, mine is azad nagar. I was home till 4:30 Pm.
Tips and Guide before trekking malanggad (For Budget people)
- Avoid all the religious shop on the way, they will bait you first by telling you to remove your shoes, take blessing in the name of Haji-malang and for that they charge you hefty fee.
- Avoid all the begging of people you will encounter on the way.
- Bring snacks and water/juice bottle from home only, out here everything is overpriced.
- Locals and shopkeepers might demotivate you to not to trek till sonemachi(Malanggad), Don't fall for it.
- Broken pipe, its like somebody purposely broke it so one can't go till bale-killa, there are other stories on internet but no evidence. Tiger warning Board before Steep steps that heads to sonemachi to create fear among trekkers. Making only haji-malang dargah as main attraction, as their business is dependent on it. It is some of my interpretation theory i made above and what i witnessed, felt according to that i have written it.
- Go in group, if not you can Purchase wooden Sticks on the way which is easily available so it can be handful when you encounter notorious monkey.
- Trek is tiring but still easy.Half day journey trek for mumbaikars. Bus frequency is good enough till malanggad
- Total cost - 210 Rs per person
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