Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani; the land of berries, table tops
& points.
(12th- 13th
April 2014)
Another extra holiday
on 14th April, thanks to Ambedkar Jayanti, for the wandering bug
started biting my feet. As all the other destinations, which we could have made
on a weekend outing with a bonus Monday holiday, couldn’t be feasible, given to
scorching April heat, a place at higher altitude was what I was looking for.
And finally I came across Mahabaleshwar, a small hill station in Satara
district of Maharashtra, where all the Mumbaikars, as well as people from other
cities from plains of Maharashtra state, find their rescue during summers. This time Deepali, who never says ‘No’ to any of
my instant outing plans, was also back after being busy with her engagement and
all, of course with a ‘Yes’ to this trip as well. So, the plan was made to
leave for Mahabaleshwar by 9:51 pm bus on Friday 11th Apr. People
started wondering and asking, “You two
girls are going alone?” Strange! For Gad sake, how two girls can be alone
at first place yaar? Lol
As pre-booked, we
boarded 9:51 pm bus, which actually arrived at 10:30 at Shantiram Talao, Malad
(E). It stopped at Lonavala at 1:30 am for refreshment for half an hour, and
reached Mahabaleshwar at 6:00 am.
We hired a taxi, the
driver of which helped us find an economic room, and later sent one of his boys
with a cab to pick us up for the package tour, we had booked. We hardly could
find any local conveyance there, for you have to book a package or packages for
sightseeing, if you don’t have a car of your own. Mahabaleshwar is specially
designed for tourists and the basic sustenance of the people over there seemed
to be tourism only. Our excitement and enthusiasm made us book three packages
for the whole day.
Coming to the major
attributes of Mahabaleshwar, it is a small and one of the evergreen hill
stations of Sahayadri range, which basically is a plateau, and you come to
witness a lot of variations like barren hills, green hills, stony tops, red
soil etc. in this season, though during Monsoon it’s a different story in sahayadri
ranges, when all the Western Ghats turn lush green, with lots of enchanting
waterfalls adding to its beauty.
To make up for the
absence of a waterfall, the main charm of the city, the driver took us first to
Mala’s Jam factory, where we saw the
process of jam making, though from the window pane only. Lol
Then our tour started
with Parsi Point on the way to
Panchgani, where sparsely and peacefully spread, one of the longest peninsular rivers,
Krishna with its clear and clean blue
water, made us all go awestruck. For the
first time I saw a river which is quite still and peacefully moving, the
surrounding mountain valley protecting and guarding its beauty. There were
telescope men, who showed us certain points from there, where they said that we
cannot go, but where eventually we ended up reaching at later point of the day.
Hmm
Then we went to Table land at Panchgani, where there
were certain flat rocky plateaus, with no vegetation at all and hence the name
table top. There some horsemen offered
us rides, to which we agreed after some initial reluctance, but when all of
them started yelling; “Mam, on my horse
please” Mam, I offered it first” “Mam my horse is more beautiful” etc., they
all surrounding us and revolving around
us with their respective horses, which felt so suffocative and torturous that
eventually we denied it flatly. Then our driver took us to the Ghoda-Gadi
(horse pulled carts) point, where we hired one cart and rode throughout the table
tops, stopping at main points like Pandava’s
Pad-chinh, Sydney point, visarjan lake and caves. There was no vegetation
on the top except for one single tree, which the driver told us was the only
tree on the top, and it’s famous for the shooting of many of bollywood movies.
Then we went to
Salim’s strawberry garden, where we saw strawberry farms, and where I realized
as to why strawberries are so costly. Hell, it requires a lot of hard work and
care for strawberry plantation. They have to plant the seeds somewhere in
November, and when leaves come, they have to cover the soil with some neat
sheets, leaving enough spaces for O2, so that berries do not touch the ground
soil and get spoiled. They also plant other vegetables in between, to give
strength to the delicate roots of the berries. Then we came across other plants
like mulberry and raspberry, and tasted some of them raw and fresh. ;-)
After farm tour we
ordered fresh strawberry with cream, and relished it to the fullest. The taxi
bhaiya told us to buy strawberries from there only if we want, and they will
drop it to our hotel. We placed order for 1 kg of strawberry, gave our name,
hotel name and phone no. , and didn’t bother to
take their contact details, thinking there must be some setting between
taxi driver and the shop, and they will 100 % drop the berries at hotel itself.
After that it was all
about points; I mean we went to Echo
point, elephant point, needle hole’s point, kate’s point, shooting point
etc. which all had their own attractions, the names of which owe to the British,
and all the points have English names, except for Savitri point, which is the only Indian name, thanks to river
Savitri, that flows from there. J
By that time we were
tired and hungry. The taxi bhaiya took us to a roadside dhaba, where we had our
lunch. Then we proceeded for Venna Lake,
which though wasn’t in our package, but on our request he agreed to make an
exception. We rested there for a while under the shade, admiring its beauty.
The lake had its boat club, but we didn’t feel like boating at that point of
the day. So after quenching our thirsty eyes and heart, we set off for the
destination next.
Then came our last
package of the day, starting with Old
Mahabaleshwar, where our tour started with a visit to Mahabaleshwar and
Krishna temples, which were at walking distance of 2 minutes from each
other. If I go by the story and legend
of these temples, it will be a long description, so I keep it short. Oh let me
tell you, it’s at Mahabaleshwar that the Krishna
River originates, and the Krishna temple remains soaked in water 12 months,
which amazed us a lot, and we were quite mystified. We paid our obeisance to
Goddess Krishna, praying to bless us with same serenity and peaceful movement
in our respective lives evolutionary process. J
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| "Krishna temple, the source of krishna river " |
Then our next
destination started, other bunch of points; Arthur
seat point, window point, tiger spring point, hunting point, Malcolm point,
castle rock point, savitri point, monkey point, majori point, Elphinston point
etc. The one point which attracted and
touched me the most was the ‘Arthur seat
point’, named after Sir Arthur, who used to sit there and stare at the Savitri
River, where his wife and child drowned in a ferry mishap. The point felt quite
intriguing, with strong wind gushing in with full force, due to which the
nearby trees made huge rustling noise, which I first mistook for some heavy water
fall. The Savitri River, the source of which is tiger spring at a walking
distance from there, was dry at that time. From there one can have a
spectacular view of konkan and deccan
plateau, pratapgarh and tornagarh forts and savitri valley. There was
something about that point that kept me hooked and lost until Deepali said, “Let’s go now.” Hmm, the whole
Mahabaleshwar was beautiful, and every point provided us with beautiful and
scenic views, then why this point felt so touchy, I wish I knew the answer.
 |
| "the Arthur point which kept me engrossed for a while" |
By the time we
finished with Lodwick point, we were tired and exhausted. The driver bhaiya
said that only one point i.e. Mumbai
point, that’s the sun-set point is left, where we have to reach by 7
o,clock, until then waiting at Lodwick point entrance. It was 5:00 pm by then,
so we told him to drop us to our hotel, where we could take some rest and
decided to witness sun set on our own. He gave us direction for a point at the
market place only, at a walking distance from our hotel, from where we can
witness sun set, telling us to leave hotel by 6:45 pm.
We took quick naps,
and like good girls, got up at 6:15 pm and started our walk at 6:30 pm. As per
the left-right direction given by the taxi bhaiya, we kept walking, and later
the arrows on the road, set our destination for ‘Wilson point, which was a sun-rise as well as sun-set point. We
asked someone on the road about the distance, but he was like “By the time you reach there, the sun would
have already set.”
 |
| "so what if we got late for the sun set, we gonna come in the morning for the sun rise" |
And true he was, as by
the time we had crossed half the distance, darkness started creeping in. Still
we kept walking, thinking at least to touch the point, but the point seemed
nowhere, and instead we reached a point at a curve, where a stream was flowing,
which we took for ‘laxman rekha, beyond which it seemed still more curves and
pin drop silent lane surrounded by dark, mysterious trees. We turned back for
our return walk, with a decision to come again in the morning, to witness
sun-rise. Deepali googled and got the information about sun-rise, which was at
6:28 am. I was too bad and shrewd, you can say, to throw all the
responsibility on her to wake us up early, so that we don’t miss the beauty.
She also accepted the challenge gracefully as getting up early was really a
challenge when we were dead tired and needed more sleep. But she came up to the
expectation and answered the alarm clock at 5:15 am by waking up herself and
me. By 5:30 am we were out of the hotel and took the same route. When we
reached at the Laxman Rekha, we felt proud over our prior decision to not to
cross the stream, as it was another 10-15 minutes’ walk from there up to the
Wilson point.
We were not the only
ones to get up early to witness the sun rise, as so many vehicles drove past
us, and when we reached at the point it had been already been over-crowded;
people in groups, with cameras in their hands, focusing on the point below,
from where in few minutes at 6:15 am the sun rose majestically. It was real
A-Awesome, the sun first showing s a tiny white face, and then rising so
elegantly with an orange hue, suddenly turning into bright golden rays, which
spread throughout, reaching out at every face there, as if returning and
replying graciously to our hellos and thanking for all the welcomes. The Wilson
point was the highest point of Mahabaleshwar, and the entire view from there was
quite magical and enchanting, and we were glad that we explored it on our own. Treat
to our soul! J We kept sitting there for quite a long time, may be for an
hour, and then started descending down with eyes and heart full of magical
moments.
 |
| "soul touching" |
 |
| wilson point fun |
We reached our hotel
at around 8:00 am, had quick naps of half an hour, and then got ready for check
out. We were waiting for the strawberries to be delivered, but there was no
sign. Even the hotel boy went to enquire about it, but he wasn’t getting it. We
regretted for not taking up the contact no. of the shop. We waited till 10:00
am, then checked out of the hotel, and hired a taxi from the stop for Mumbai
point, the sun-set point, which was the last point of our package tour, and
which we skipped the previous day due to tiredness. We asked the taxi driver if
he could take us to the strawberry shop to help us pick up the parcel, but he
said that it’s in another direction and extra charges will be taken, which was
more than the amount we paid for the berries, so we just dropped the idea.
So, we went to Mumbai point, which was 7 kms from the
main city centre. And it was another beautiful point, which gave us spectacular
view of the lush green valley. There were lots of school children, picnicking,
having full-toosh fun, shouting and playing with monkeys and taking pictures of
them. All of them looked so happy and free. We sat there for another 20 minutes
and then returned back to the market. We had our breakfast there. It was 12:00
pm by then, so we started walking towards the bus stop for our 1:30 pm
pre-booked Krsna bus. At krsna, I remembered taking the picture of the gate of
strawberry garden, which out of habit I do almost of every place I visit. And
there it was; the phone no. of Salim strawberry garden. So we thought of
calling one last time, before buying strawberry from the market. I pulled out
the phone and called Salim, and narrated the incidents. He said that it
happened due to some date discrepancy, and they took it for the next day. He
apologized, and enquired about our bus timings, and promised to send someone to
deliver the berries. And yes, finally we got our strawberries, thus restoring
our faith in the honesty of the hill people, which few hours back we thought we
had lost. “It’s ok….Galtiyaan ho jati
hain…never mind. I make a whole bunch of them myself,””: P
 |
| "A-1" |
Thus the trip ended.
We boarded the bus and came back with loads of memories.
“Again the trip was
A-Awesome!!! Keep smiling… J J J “” Nawi
Mahabaleshwar; a jewel of western ghats
