Matheran

Date : 28-Feb-2010

I know this is a place everyone in Mumbai has seen / will see atleast once in a lifetime 😛 .. I have been to this ‘Garibancha Hillstation’ 10 times already, but everytime a different company allows me to enjoy this place with an entirely different perspective.

This time around it was the group of four – Yogesh, Mayur, Santosh and myself. Ofcourse, Matheran does not need any prior planning, but we still took pride in deciding on train timing, points to visit, detailed schedule etc, as if we were off to a Himalayan expedition 🙂

An early morning train to Neral was finalised. I boarded it at Mulund, San @ Thane, Yogesh @ Ambarnath and Mayur (whom I was meeting for the first time) @ Badlapur. The immediate thing I noticed about Mayur was that he was just carrying a camera – thats it – whereas we were each carrying a haversack. He stuffed the camera in Yogesh’s bag and was soon free as a bird.

An hour later, we were @ Neral junction and decided to head straight for the taxi stand. At 50 Rs per head, the taxi ride to Dasturi Naka was a good bargain, since it takes just about 1/2 hr to reach there. I remembered the excruciatingly steep walk we had undertaken in college days – by halfway we had been exhausted and needed a lift to take us from there. This time around we focussed mainly on Matheran and hence the taxi.  These drivers do stuff people in the taxis like baggage.  On one of my earlier trips I was seated next to the driver with the gear in between my legs :O giving me that scary feeling everytime the driver changed gear.

Soon, we reached Dasturi Naka – the last stop for any kind of automobile – and after an entry fee of Rs 25 per head were let into the forest which looks so different in every season. The walk to the market was a pleasant one with some photo stops … it took us 30 mins following the narrow gauge track for the mini train.

 As per plan, we directly proceeded towards the One-Tree Hill. On the way was a short halt at Marjorie’s nook from where we could have a glimpse of the huge Prabalgad in front and Irshalgad to the left.

 

A steady walk of 20 mins led us to One tree hill, where the tree that once used to be was no more. Instead there stood some shrubs. We could also make out footprints of some crazy revellers, who risk their lives in trying to scale this hill. One slip and you either break your head on the rocks below or fall into the valley and vanish without a trace. 

We moved back to the market for a quick bite which wasn’t really quick, cos the chef took his own time to cook up a simple dal khichdi, but atleast there was some eye candy around to pass our time. By the time we finished our meal, no one had the enthu to walk any further, preferring to take a good nap instead.

We somehow pushed ourselves towards Louisa Pt. or the Lion’s head … passing the Charlotte Lake enroute , then the Echo Point and finally reached Louisa pt. All over Matheran, there are slogans shouting ‘Louisa pt. nahi dekha to kya dekha’ – easily describing this as the most beautiful viewpoint. I will not use anymore words to describe this place as most of you would have already seen it. Let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

With Louisa pt. done, we were back at the market for a short snack/tea and then started the walk towards Panorama pt, which is at the other end of Dasturi Naka. This was the first time I was visiting Panorama and hence somehow managed to enjoy the long walk. We then waited and waited and waited for the sunset 🙂 Yogesh even enjoyed a nap. The walk back to Dasturi was almost in the dark (after sunset) where Santosh managed to spot a snake, which, luckily we didn’t see. By now, the surroundings had turned a bit eerie and anymore time in that place wud have killed us by fright. The walking pace increased and we heaved a sigh of relief as we saw the last parked car.

 _____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Soon we hopped into one of the waiting taxis and were down at Neral jn. An hour’s train ride later it was back to the usual city life. Though uneventful, this trip was the trigger for the monsoon trek’s later on.