matheran is a place I know since I was a kid… my dad loved it and in turn I came to love it… every year during my school vacations we would take a trip to this beautiful hill station… we would enjoy the toy train ride from the base (neral) to the top of the hill station… the 2.5 hrs ride would be intermingled with games of cards and chess, listening to music and playing antakshari with other kids we didn’t know… our favourite place to stay was the Regal Hotel… one of the finest at that time… not really the 5 star category (thankfully till date there are no 5 star hotels there), but it was a nice place to have a relaxing weekend… we generally took the trip in the first week of june… the onset of monsoons in maharashtra… the red mud, the monsoon rains, no vehicles, the hordes of monkeys, the horse rides and the chikki… these are some of the things I can never forget…
(matheran is famous for its no vehicle law… vehicles are banned on this hill station… they are allowed only as far as dasturi which is 45 mins walking distance from main matheran… the only automobile allowed is the toy train… internally people just walk, ride or hire the hand drawn rickshaws to go to places… not even locals are allowed to use vehicles in there… and this is the charm of this place… the only hill station in India or maybe the world to have such a law)
when I was in college, I was part of the hiking club… and invariably, every year we all would end up hiking to matheran… end of june and about a hundred teenagers trudging up the road to matheran (it was more like a picnic… we would just walk up the road to dasturi in the name of hiking :p)… rain drenching us to the core… joking… laughing… dancing in the rains… fooling around… eyeing the hunks… looking longingly at the couples walking hand in hand, wondering if we will ever do the same thing with someone we loved!… our legs groaning for mercy… bags dripping with the rain water along with all its contents (sometimes it would rain so much!)… and in about 3 hours we would reach the main market… it was always a 1 day trip, so we never checked into a hotel… all of us would gather in the market place and play games (during july - august it rains heavily, the hotels are shut down and the place is practically empty)… as the day would pass the rowdier we would get… I bet matheran has not seen a more rowdy crowd till date! … in the evening we would hike back to dasturi (the train does not work during the monsoons) and hire a cab to take us back to the station… a day in matheran, well spent…
my best friend Tasneem loved matheran too… I know her since my school days when we were partners in the IV Grade… we got admitted in the same college to be together… we were always together for our hiking trips from college… her uncle owned a bungalow in matheran… one summer we decided to go there… her cousins were joining in too… I remember the weekend well… 2 of her cousins were expert riders… everyday we would go for long horse rides around matheran… to places not many visitors know… riding in the woods… wind in the hair… enjoying every second of the ride! … they taught me to ride that summer (I am not an expert rider… but I can ride relatively well)… I remember this weekend as my ‘riding weekend’… Saturday night we decided to start a bon fire… at noon we tried gathering some wood… but the only kind of wood we could get hold of was the thin bamboo kind which never caught fire… all night instead of enjoying ourselves we were busy trying to get the wood to burn… and it never did… Tasneem and myself got talking till late night… we talked of matheran, our life, our dreams, our past, our crushes and also about wine… I distinctly remember telling her that one day I wanted to taste red wine… and she laughed at me saying I never would, as we didn’t drink… one of her cousin’s friend had some wine and he offered us some of it… I told him to get lost and not to listen to our private talks… he ran away and we burst out laughing as he had a major crush on Tasneem…
tomorrow I am going to matheran after 8-9 years… I am going to relive all my remembrances as I take long walks there… or as I go riding there… I don’t think it must have changed much… at least I hope not… will get back with pictures and my experiences this time round… till then hugsss… and I will miss all of you there…
bye n laterzzz…
ps : the invitation posts will be put up in a few days time... after my next post.. till then keep writing... hugsss
12 comments:
ooo hav fun! even though ive not really been thr, it sounds like a beautiful place....even i have a frnd tht goes to matheran verryyy often...i remember every time we aked her wer she was going, she used to say matheran hehe
mujhe bhi jana hai matheran !!
Have fun there... and rock it down... 9 yrs... i m sure ur gonna loweh it ;)
have a nice trip!!
ooo and by the way - gorgeous pic lady!! ur charming the bloggersss here with tht smile!!
HAVE FUN m000nie wow!
btw when u get bakk do join us at Ish's Between friends blog ok.
HUGGGGGGGGGZ!
Keshi.
i hvnt sent u any post to publish, yet. Will write something new and send across.
incredible law i must say. unheard in m'sia.
=ammu=
*refering to no-vehicle ban
i have some very fond memories of Matheran. All I saw there was 'love' - quite literally too ;)
WB m000nie!
Pics plz :)
Keshi.
I love Matheran.
It brings back some of my best memories.
First time,I went there with pretty much my entire extended family. Deadly stomach poisoning struck after we ate a chicken[who to this day I beleive swallowed a cyanide capsule rather than being taken alive]
Then, I recommended the place to my college buddies and we travelled all the way from Kerala to go there.Had an awesome blast.
Nostalgia strikes hard!!
Matheran is one of best touriest place in india and having luxuries hotels Matheran, Matheran inn, resorts in Matheran, Matheran hotels for your Matheran package tour and many peak points.
A Bungalow usually have one or two floors with many rooms and can consider for acomodating a large group of families or tourists.Here is the list of all Bungalows in Matheran on Rent.
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