I wasn’t much enthu about this trip at first. In the monsoons and especially at such spots I prefer taking a walk rather than going by a car or bike. I doubted that anyone amongst the group would be ready to do so. However, as I haven’t been to Matheran before, I decided to go.
It was Saturday morning. We were total 14 people. Many of us were from Pune,others came from Mumbai and The One for whom this trip was planned came from Noida. We were very happy to see each other after a pretty long time.
We took Sinhagad Express and reached karjat around 8:30am. Then, took local train and reached Neral in 15 minutes. By this time everyone was starving. So we had a breakfast. Vada-pav and mast chay! ;)
oh! I forgot to tell you the moment we stepped out of train at Neral, it was raining cats and dogs.
It was a drive of ½ an hour from Neral to Matheran. The drive was through winding roads amidst the green blanket covered mountains. Still cherish the memory of going through the ghat. A view from cab window.
We reached atop and bought local raincoats and plastic hats cuz our windcheaters already proved useless. Everybody looked very funny in that outfit.
I must tell you hats were the best option to avoid rains.
We bought entry tickets and started to trek.Yes, I was wrong when I thought that nobody would be there to walk with me. Usually, people take train to reach Matheran from the point where we started. Since it was monsoon, the TOY train( what it is called) was not available and we were left with no option than to walk. There was one more option, horse ride!! As it is, we could sense the aroma from horse wherever we went and it was enough to offend our olfactory organs. So , walk was preferrable ;)
After respective posting at Tech Mahindra, this was the first time we all met. It was not just the 2-3 hours meet at any restraunt but we had a complete day. Here, we were allowed to yell,sing, dance and do all the masti we want. The trek seems never hectic if you have the company like I had ;) On top of this, we were blessed with the awesome weather and scenic beauty. The landscapes were a real visual treat!
It was as good as a Jungle trek with all the woods, fog and dark till we reach Market place.
Then, I realised that it is a typical hill station with hotels,gaming shops and had a proper market.
Matheran was more about strolling,enjoying the walk, the nature, the chilling rain, the green grass, watching people lost in the fog, hear the beautiful singing birds and enjoying the scenes around. It was not like trek to a fort where you have a destination to reach and so it was fun!
It was just a one day trip and so we could cover many points. I would say it was more than enough. All we could see at each point was just three colors white, brown and green. White of clouds, brown of lands and green of trees. Every spot we went we couldn’t have seen the beauty of valleys because the hide-seek of rain and cloud was still on!
Still we got the feel of being on height at Louisa Point. The scenes were fantastic as we saw water drop down thousands of feet below us into the fog.
The next halt, Echo Point was again engulfed in fog and there was no chance we could experience echo. So, we made us happy with a few clicks only ;)
Now came the best part of trip. I did valley crossing. It was actualy a pseudo valley :P The valley was not much deep but it was enough to give a feel of thrill! Valley croosing was the activity where participant has to crawl on a tight rope that is tied on to the two sides and at a certain height. Safety gear like harnesses and carabiners are used. Maza aa gaya!!
A so called valley ;)
It was 2pm now and we were hungry like wolves. We started our journey back. We took a halt for lunch.The chilling rain made everybody to shiver and it was getting impossible to sit in drenched clothes.It was better to change clothes.To the surprise, even the extra pair of clothes everybody had brought was wet and now there was no option but to sit in soaked clothes.
On the way back it was more of a peace walk.Everybody was in trans, wondering about a wonderful day spent together. The nature, the company, the fun had destressed us. We were all glad to get such a nice break from routine life of “TECH MAHINDRA” (wanted to use many words instead of ROUTINE :p)
We again took a cab and reached neral around 5pm. This was our last common stop. Vowing to make such trips together again soon, we parted to our own home sweet home!!! J
