Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani; the land of berries, table tops & points.

Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani; the land of berries, table tops & points.

(12^th- 13^th April 2014)

Another extra holiday on 14^th 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 11^th 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

 

"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