Trip to Matheran-Day 1

Close to nature

9^th July

It is really one of the most awaited weekend. We planned to spend this weekend at ‘Matheran’, which means forest at the top of the mountain. It is a small hill station on western ghats known for its greenery and adventures sports. It has a very dense forest cover and one always feel himself in the forest in the Matheran. For this trip, 3 of our friends Prateek, Sandeep generally called Sipu, Rohit also joined us, me and Shubham. 

As planned, me and Shubham woke at around 5.30, take an Auto to the Kanjurmarg, a local Mumbai station. Prateek, who was coming from Baroda, emerging industrial city in Gujarat, met us at the station after a long journey of 8 hours. After greetings and bit gossiping, we take a local train from there and to our amazement, that local was going directly to Neral, the nearest railway station near Matheran. The weather was very cold and comparatively less humid and the train was almost empty. We really enjoyed the journey and the spectacular views. I never know the  Mumbai has so good and green places nearby. We gossiped a lot, discussed all the stuff irrespective of the fact whether it  mattered or not. It is really good to escape from the place which is always amidst the cacophony of  traffic, honking, life. It was like if we were moving from the cacophony towards the silence of life.

We reached Neral at exactly 8, had our breakfast and then enquire the status about the other two.Toy train was not operational in this season due to heavy rainfall and landslides. Sandeep and Rohit were coming from Pune and  we all planned to meet at Neral at around 8. Sipu was about to reach there but Rohit was unable to catch a train. We all four started the journey and thought Rohit will join us at the top of the forest. 

We hired a Maruti van till Dasturi Naka Toll. This toll was around 10 km. but the road was very steep and narrow. We gained a significant amount of height in just 4o minutes. Driver was driving very rash and played a music from the movie Raja Hindustani at the very high volume. It seemed to us that he is enjoying more than us. There is hardly any car that he didn’t overtook that day. One of the car was trying to overtook us and in the meantime, I jokingly said to my friends, “yeh to iska bhi baap lagta hai”(The coming driver seems to be the father of our driver in art of rash driving). Our driver overheard us and then began to drive like a mad man. We told him to drive slow but very casually. We were also enjoying the journey, the music, the waterfalls along the track, empty railway lines used for the Toy train track. This season is the best one to visit this place. Everything is operational except Toy train, the best part is waterfalls become activated. There were thousands of small waterfalls and it seems to me that it is like there is a private waterfall for everybody. At each of the waterfall, I spotted people taking a bath. Also, there was more than 1 bathing area that each waterfall had to offer depending upon the heights. The good thing was that if you are with your family or want personnel space to take a bath, you can easily locate a one. Thanks to the nature for blessing this place with unlimited waterfalls.

L to R. Shubham, Sipu, Prateek at Dasturi Naka toll

We reached Dasturi Naka and purchased our entry ticket to Matheran. Yes, there were entry tickets for entering into this hill station unlike others. Beyond this point, no vehicles is permitted and you need to track down the rest of journey by foot. Horses were also available. However, as a young blood and skeptical about the horses, we took a toy train track. 

Lto R. Prateek, me and Sipu at the Toy train track

While trekking, Sipu and prateek had brought their raincoats while me and Shubham had purchased a temporary raincoat from there only. But still, our lower half was wet. It was raining heavily and continuously.  As I observed the crowd nearby, I found most of the people were enjoying getting wet in rains and we were the one, you can say most protective. After initial hesitation, we also become open and begun to enjoy rain like anything. Now, we were jumping on the roads where the water was collected and shouting. The ambience of the place was really magnificent. The best thing was Matheran is an Eco sensitive join and no vehicles are permitted after a particular point. As a result, air was very fresh. It was all so green. My love for green color really increased that day. 

At our way to Matheran. One can watch numerous waterfalls from this place amidst clouds. Beyond inamgination

Our track from Naka Toll to Matheran

 

Me in my temporary Raincoat at our 'close to nature' Hotel

When we reached the city, we expedited our search for the good hotel at reasonable prices and within an hour, after having a look at more than dozen of Hotels, we finalized one. As said by Sipu, Hotel is really close to nature and amidst the gardens and away from the bustles of the city, we finalized one. Close to nature, then becomes our favorite dialogue and we repeated it hundreds of times in our conversation. After changing our outfits, we went to city market again, received Rohit, came back to room and then start the real part, our sightseeing in Matheran. 

First thing on the list was Charlotte lake. It was around 2 km. from our stay. All the roads were quite marshy at Matheran due to which they were quite slippery but that was the beauty of it. Charlotte lake is a most picturesque place at the Matheran and it was written over there, if you have not visited this place, your journey to Matheran is despicable. We felt Lucky. There was one sport called ‘Valley crossing’ was also going on there. None was ready accept Prateek. He motivated everybody. We all encouraged Sipu and said it is nothing for people like Sipu. Sipu agreed in order to maintain his bold image among us.

 Valley crossing at Charlotte Lake, Tension was quite visible

Actually, I also wanted to try that sport but was not confident. I want everybody should try it and then I will also try it. After Prateek and Sipu, I also tried it. This was something very novel in my life. I never had any such experience. Honestly speaking, when I was half way hanging at the rope, I was quite scary and begun to turn my face back to know how far is the destination. It was a spine chilling experience. Rest 2 didn’t tried that sport.

 

Many people were taking bath at the lake and the view was quite spectacular. Shubham went into the lake and began to pose. I was busy in clicking him and he was busy in giving me the pose. So busy, that one of his footwear begun to drown in the lake. He showed it to us but didn’t take any action. That was fun. We run behind his footwear on the road adjacent to Lake knowingly that we can’t do anything. Now, long way is to go but the route was not allowing to walk with naked feets. 

Valley Crossing site near Charlotte Lake

 

Sipu, Shubham, Me, Rohit, Prateek at Lord point

On our way to Lord point, we fortunately  get 1 extra footwear lying abandoned on the stairs. Shubham took them. The surprise was that it was of the same feet which was naked. Now, Shubham enjoyed his journey in two different foot wears. Quite funny!! We enjoyed different sightseeing points after that which were located at the most horrible places and not many people are generally interested them. We took the route that nobody was taking in the hope of getting more close to nature.  

At playground of Matheran, one of the best place in Matheran

Rambaugh point was another good picturesque. On further moving, there was graveyard and we began to talk about the spirits and all.  We were among the clouds and the visibility was highly reduced and all this makes it a bit scary. Still, we traverse more. Finally, we found a Play ground of Matheran. Some local people know it by the name of race course. It was really a very beautiful place. Nobody was there. We unpacked us, I remove my t-shirt and shoes and begun to relax there. We spend nearly half an hour there. We were almost lost among the hills. No other visitor was there. Finally, we found 1 local person there who told us about the 2 routes from there but he advised us to retrace our route back due to spirits, unknown mysteries happened at that place, unbelievable incidents. He make us more scary but at the same time increase our curiosity. We take the another route but after 5 minutes, we decided to retrace our path back. I didn’t know which route we have taken. 

We had not encountered any tourist from last 1 hour at the place which is a famous tourist spot and was packed. After 1 hour, we came again at Charlotte lake. Now, we enquired clearly about the other points. We visited Honeymoon point, a place where love making was made official by the parsis, as told by some local person. We visited many points thereafter but we were very tired. 

Lat point, we visited was called Echo point. Echo point and Race course were the two most beautiful spots in the Matheran after the track. The most beautiful thing was the road where trees were forming the canopy, clouds surrounds you and you will hear the sound of rain but still not getting wet.  It was simply Awesome. At Echo point, another sport was going on. It was bit expensive so we dropped the idea to experience to it. Also, We were not quite comfortable doing that as we were very tired.

We reached the city at around 6.30. It was very true that time passes very slowly at hill stations. We were expecting 7 or 8 but it was still 6.30. Life starts early in the morning and also ended early in the night. We were feeling extremely hungry but all the restaurants were closed in the city. We had to pass the time in Bar. After that we took our Lunch at dinner time. Then we purchased alcohol and begun to move back to our room. 

Our Room

 Now, it was the time to relax. We open the bottles, lighted our cigarettes, played the music and began relaxing. It was really hard to drink that day. We were already tired. Prateek retired early without completing his share of alcohol but that left over by his part was like a boon to us. When everything was completes, me and Sipu moved out, spend some moments together. It was very dark and silent outside. We enjoyed the rain and silence and after alcohol discussions. All the others were asleep by now. Sipu is a man from whom i always seek inspiration and motivation and that day was not an exception. Finally, at around 2, we went to our bed without any definite plans for next day.

At peace with myself

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