02-Jan-2005 --

First of all I (Koustubh) would like to thank my friend Sujay Patankar for giving me information about CP project, and providing me the GPS required for our first CP hunt.

Myself and Pradnya (my wife) started from Pune for Jath (town near CP, almost 250km from Pune) on 1st Jan'05 by a public State Transport (ST) bus. We stayed in my cousin's (Pranesh) room on that day.

On 2nd Jan'05 morning, three of us (Koustubh, Pradnya and Pranesh) started for the Confulence Point (CP) by having a good breakfast in a local restaurant. From the maps obtained from mapquest.com, we were knowing that CP lies about 6km from Daphalapur on the road going towards Kavthe Mahankal. CP was almost 2km off the said road. We caught an ST bus on Jath Bus Stand going towards Kavthe Mahankal. We were knowing beforhand that we do not want to get down at any known bus stop. All that we knew was we need to get down from bus when our GPS reading shows the reading close to 75°E. The bus conductor was confused after hearing that none of us know where exactly we want to get down. It was very difficult for us to tell the conductor (who does not know what is a GPS) that we will be getting down after our bus recahes close to 75°E. But Pranesh convinced him that we will come to know about our "bus stop" only when our bus leaves Daphalapur. Conductor said OK and asked us to buy a ticket for village Kokale (village next to Daphalapur).

The bus travelled for almost 30 mins, and when we saw a milestone showing 3km to reach Daphalapur, Pradnya turned on the GPS. It was showing 75°E plus few minutes. By the time, we reached Kokale, GPS reading was still not so close to 75°E. Hence we had to re-purchase the tickets for next bus stop. By this time, everyone in the bus was curious about GPS, and were asking us what we were going to do by that instrument. We told them about CP concept, and few of them got the idea of CP. Three of us started watching GPS closely as it was approaching 75°E. By looking at our curiosity about CP, conductor gave us authority to ring the bell whenever we want to stop the bus..! [The ringing of bell in ST bus is indication to bus driver for stopping the bus, and only conductor is allowed to touch the bell]. Pranesh rang the bell when we were just 0.5 seconds away from 75°E.

After getting down from bus, GPS reading for latitude was 16°N plus nearly 59'. we took a glance over area where we had to walk in search of CP. As every CP searcher does, we had prepared ourselves for climbing hills, crossing water reserviours if needed. However, the land in the direction of CP was mix of farm fields and unused open land. We had planned to walk in north direction, but straight road was not available in that direction. hence we took few deviations in east and west directions, and made our way towards north. After 10 minutes walk, a farm owner's sight caught us. he curiously asked what were we doing there. we tried to explain him about CP, but he was unaware of latitude and longitude concept. so we told him that we have come from Pune, and are from Agricultural department, we just want to take pictures of some specific land which is almost 1 km from that point. We took our snap with the farmer, and we moved further.

We were moving over narrow paths, and sometimes over small waypaths along farm borders, and also taking our snaps. All of us were enjoying the search journey as it was first CP hunt by everyone of us. After some walk, we aligned ourselves with 17°N, and GPS reading was a couple of seconds more than 75°E. All of us were excited as we realised that we are almost there at CP. Pradnya was holding GPS in her hand, and we were moving towards a small brick house in the farm. Suddenly Pradnya said excitedly in a high pitch - "YES..!". Yes, we were there on the Confluence Point 17°N-75°E. It was about 9:15 in the morning.

CP was just beside a fairly high tree as can be seen in the CP photo. There were farms starting from about 200 feet on North, East and South of the point. There was a brick house on West side of CP. The land where CP point is present, is owned by the Pinjari family. The CP lies in the town limits of Kokale, Tehsil Kavathe Mahankal, District Sangli.

In a few minutes, two ladies came out from the brick house to see what we were doing there at that point. It was a mother-daughter pair. We could explain to daughter about CP concept as she was studying in VIII class. We were surprised to know that there was a hut on the CP point few days ago...! But, hut owner had dis-assembled it just a week ago. We took a snap of Pinjari family alongwith their pets. One thing I would like to mention here is - In India, it is a common to find a crow sitting on the back of a cow, but near to this CP we could see a goat standing on the back of cow (shown in one of the photos).

We had planned to make a cell phone call to our home in Pune after getting at CP, but unfortunately the area where CP lies was not covered by any mobile service provider.

After taking all needed photos like GPS reading, N-E-S-W photos, and having discussion with Pinjari family we left the place with great satisfaction, and nice memories. Then we had our Idli breakfast along the way back in the farms which tasted delicious than ever before.