Wood, Mud and all that Natural

Standing over my workstation, the Chief Manager asked in disbelief, "Matheran? Now? Its rainy season dear........there might be landslides. You would not be able to enjoy anything if it rains, which it will. I won't advise." While we were just about digesting his comment, another colleague exclaimed......." The second phase of journey .......just go and see.......the taxi man drives at such a pace on narrow and turning, hill roads........at times, two tyres are in air. " I don't know, he was motivating us or trying to dissuade us from going to Matheran on this weekend - a plan which we made last week .........postponed..........and now finally, were all set to go. "Beware of the leaches..........take some salt with you. And ya, by the time you'll return..........I'm sure you'll be all Red and Wet (No.......he wasn't referring to Red and White bravery awards..........just referring to rainy season ........leaving our clothes.....red with the laterite soils of Matheran and wet with rain)" , chipped in another friend from behind.

But the combined power of all these, couldn't deter our plans of seeing Matheran .........Mumbai's nearest Hill station, we've heard so much about.........(except may be, for one of the five dropping from the gang, at last minute). The plan was all set.........journey charted out. Friday night, we went to the bed, knowing that tomorrow morning there is a long day ahead of us. Dreams of a beautiful weekend, soon took over.

We all met at Kurla Railway station at 7 am to catch the 7.11am fast local to Karzat. I had already booked the tickets. The train was on time and while i was contemplating of whether or not to get a sip of tea, the train was on the platform no. 5. As we boarded the not-so-empty, not-so-full train, we could see that there are few other groups who seemed to have taken the train for the same destination as we. Some stations & some jokes later, we were at Neral.....a small village on the Central line. Out and we took a shared taxi @Rs.50/head.....to Dasturi naka, the entry point of Matheran. We had planned to take the Matheran toy train, but we came to know that during rainy season, they have reduced the frequency to once a day and for going, the train had already left. While on the way from Neral to Dasturi Naka, some of the most amazing sights can be seen. At one particular point.....there were around 20 waterfalls at one place, bang next to the road.

The road had a pretty good width, considering a hilly terrain and it was well maintained. Dasturi naka, is the point where we need to pay Rs.25/head to enter the Matheran trek. At this point, as we moved inside........we were greeted by a beautiful MTDC guest house on one side and a fleet of horsewallas available to ferry those who would not prefer to take the 2.5Km trek ahead. As any city in India, the main road (the road to Matheran centre/ Bazaar Peth) here is called MG Road.

The first thing that I did, was to read the old government installed boards, talking about the place and its importence - a dilapidated yet a reliable source of correct information about any place. and the board said three things that anybody visiting this place must know

1. It is the world's tiniest hill station
2. It is Asia's only hill station where vehicles are not allowed inside the town
3. It is India's cleanest hill station.

The first thing that you notice, once inside the naka, is the laterite road.......there's no pucca raods in Matheran. We decided to take a trek on foot.........as all were fresh and ready for a walk. Cracking jokes and immersing the sudden shift from metalled roads to the kutcha road and to the greenery and clean surroundings, we soon reached to a point, where people walking few meters ahead of us............left the main road and took a narrow lane besides the railway track (made for the Matheran toy train). We checked with some local ladies passing by and got to know that the track along the tracks, was a shorter and cleaner way to main bazaar.......fewer horses , you see!!

Soon, we were in the main market.....called the Bazaar Peth. We were pretty hungry by then and were looking for the first possible place to eat. Some of the shops, just outside station were closed, and others which were just opening, were not yet ready to serve and asked for a half an hour time to serve. Half and hour............too much!!! and we moved ahead. Walking 50 meters more, we finally settled at a decent looking restaurent, ready to serve us Coffee and Omelatte - toast. The food was just ok types and costly (as against expectations). The place was just opposite, Nariman chikki point, the most famous chikki shop in the town.........a place , where you can get 10s of varietites of chikki, fudge and stuff like anardana, gulkand and gilori. We took enough to last us the day. While tasting, some 5-6 varieties before selection, we asked the person at counter about all the info we needed to walk through Matheran. He also presented us a map of the place.

Matheran sight seeing is about taking different circles / circuits. Each circuit have 5-9 points(places, from where sight seeing is best possible) and is typically a 2-3 km walk in total. We started on our first walk on the most popular circle - having 7 points including Echo Point, Cherlotte Lake point, One tree point, Khandala point etc. The trek all the way was on the clean surroundings, pebbles laden on red laterite soil. The foggy situation (it was actually the cloud mist) was making the whole trek much more enjoyable. A good part was that all along the trek, at some distance, cleanly maintained washrooms have been constructed. the morning's misty air was washing through our faces and reminding us of the nature's purity. All kind of fear about leaches, clothes getting coloured, rains, poor road from Neral to matheran - raised by our colleagues, were found to be just a fear. Not just we came through a nice braod road, in a safe taxi journey, the pebbles on the trek were ensuring that the mud don't catch our clothes. Even though it was intermittantly drizzling, the rain was never beating on us, due to the thick canopy of greenery providing a roof over the track. We meandered our way thorugh the jungle trail......guided by signboards maintained at each junction on the trek. Old world bunglows, some of which have now been converted into resorts, were present not just on the main road, near station........but also deep inside the jungles also.

Khandala point was the first one, we went to and it was nothing but a farce. The most beautiful point came up in form of Echo point - the view was mesmerising.....it

was a tip of a hill and on three sides, we could view the valley deep below. The rain has added to the beauty of the grounds - which were filled with flowers. Clouds from below were being blown upwards with the cool wind. The sudden cut on the ridge that we were standing on, was adding to the beauty of the place. The best thing about Matheran is that, there are no hawkers to disturb the peace or sound of nature. The only sound we were hearing at Echo point was us talking in the backdrop of wind blowing and water falling somewhere far.

Our next major stop was cherlotte lake. The lake is basically the stopped water over a dam - a dam small enough that people were actually taking bath underneath it. We sat beside the lake, with legs in the cool waters....to balm them against the gravel walk that we did. While we were just thanking the weather of the day and the place, the rain came........and it came hard and fast....giving us just enough time to run to a tea hut nearby, just outside a small temple. The joy of having a hot cup of tea, beside a lake, in natural surroundings, and with rain pettering over the lake water...........is something one cannot explain in words. This can only be felt.Well, after a good half an hour rest there, we moved on and through a jungle trail, came back to the main bazaar area.

A beautiful park near the station, is a good place to sit and relax, after completing one circuit. We had our sumptuous lunch, followed by good amount of choclate fudge at Nariman Chikki Mart.

Second trek that we followed was Alexander Point, rambag point one. The trek till alexander point was a long and lonely one....it seemed as if we were the only ones taking that trek........but that only added to our motivation levels. Alexander point was a beautiful hill corner with an amazing view of the valley below. The place had some couples enjoying the nature in solitude, in each others arms. We thought it wise.......not to disturb them and left the place early.

The last phase of our trip belonged to shopping......the place we knew, was famous for leather footwear and chikki. We did some amount of bargaining, enjoyed the shopping, eat out more chikkis and packed even more for home. For return to Dasturi naka, we decided to have a slow walk - this time along the gravel road, meandering through the jungle , rather than following the tracks. However, soon after, one of the girls from the group decided to take a horse back ride, to the end point. All others walked along with her.

The journey back was pretty uneventful as all of us were still lost in the thoughts of the fairyland we were returning from. Fairyland, yes it was, for , what other place you can find, nature undisturbed........jungle trails amongst mist and cloud, sound of waterfalls, and birds singing - all that within an hour or so's distance from Mumbai.

We have returned from Matheran - but with the determination that we'll come back and back again, many times over. And yes, next time a colleague of yours comment - "Matheran? Now? Its rainy season dear........there might be landslides. You would not be able to enjoy anything if it rains, which it will. I won't advise." Tell him, Matheran is a place to go in all seasons..........and monsoon is the best of them."