Matheran:- Beyond the city lights

Matheran was my second trip with my college friends, I still remember the reason we decided to visit matheran! It was the day to celebrate Satya’s birthday.

Although, I love to travel but unexpectedly I had never been to matheran, and to be honest I had never heard of matheran much but, still I was excited to visit it with my friends.

I was sleepless and ruthless in the night before the trip day, not because I was excited for the trip but because I felt unwell, I couldn’t sleep properly and at even one point I too decided to ditch the trip if, I didn’t felt better in the morning.

As the night was over and it was dawn and I felt better and I started to pack my things for the trip. In the morning as clock hit 8 AM, my phone was spammed with Ganesh’s calls. I left my house at 9 and reached Vashi station and met ganesh over there.

I was still feeling dizzy as I took the medication in the train, later we met sumit on our way to thane station.

We reached thane station and met our gang, and we were ready for Matheran.

Soon we took the train to neral, but unfortunately, In a hurry and excitement we stepped in luggage compartment, and it will full pack with hawkers and their goods, but still we were a pack of 12 friends and that made the train journey even better. Soon the compartment was filled with our voices, we sang, we did stupid things, pulled each other’s legs and made rest of the passenger uncomfortable. Hahahahaha

After that I wander off from the gang to get a glimpse of the journey and went towards the door with my earphones on,

It felt better, amazing, sky was filled with monsoon clouds and it made atmosphere delightful, as I stepped near the door, I felt the cool winds brushed my face and the songs made the journey even better.

As the trip started I felt great and then suddenly my ears were blessed and I immediately remembered who’s voice it was, it was Zoya, (Don’t know who Zoya is well read my Varanasi blog). It was a song that she sang in her voice, I was surprised and stunned at the same time, I had a little smile on my face, I took my phone and started to capture the scenery with her song in the background, as the trees, building were going behind, I too felt that she is too fading out of my life, by the way this time too, we were on no speaking terms. Hahahahaha.

We reached neral station, I was excited to explore mathern, we stepped out the station and felt the busy streets, little jungle and it was fun wandering there.

I have been born and brought up in Mumbai, so I haven’t witness the greenery around me, I love nature and I felt more connected towards rural area.

Strangely I don’t what happened to me, I had a sudden urge to have a paan (Betel leaf) . Hahahaha I guess the banarasi in me was taking the charge,I and Satya had a Paan. Hahahahahaha

Satya and I have a great bond between us, he’s my homie, my man,whoom i can trust, we exchange all our secrets and have each other’s back at hard times. He is the one who made my college life memorable.

Soon we had our transport which was about to take us to matheran.

This journey was the most amazing part of the trip, the road was full of curves and turns with the view of mesmerising mountains covered with fogs, this is something i can't express in words, and we played the song on full volume to enjoy even more just like cherry on cake.

Seeing the mountain and view from the top was a different experience. Being with friends is the best therapy one can have.

Enjoying the road and the scenery we reached the main gate of Matheran, I remember asking Hari “abhi kidhar jana hai” (where do we go next). Then I realised we have to hike 2 km approx., this made me even more excited.

We took a halt for tea and coffee

Unfortunately, the toy train was closed because of monsoon but nevertheless hiking was more fun along the railtracks, waking with the view of sky touching mountains and waterfalls we were all excited and happy and then Hari started his playlist with all the romantic songs and made the environment even more  lively.



Ample view of sky touching mountain with green lush were breath taking views.

As we stared to hike further, I could feel the freshness in the air, unpolluted air with the combination of happiness was giving the place its uniqueness, as I saw everyone had a smile on their faces, and were breathing heavily with the eyes smoothening view around us.

I had a bit of nervousness and a lot of excitement, when we were finally in matheran

From my view, matheran is small but beautiful hill station, it was like a small town full of different people and different types of row houses and full of cute and muscular ponies and horses with beautifully carved narrow upward lanes and the magnificent beauty, with devilish monkeys everywhere, the town looked like a small French town from the 80’s period, to be surprised the only way of transportation in matheran was through horses and ponies.

I was amazed with the beautiful upward going alleys, and the environment was like sweet cold with little humid.

Soon we reached our guest house, we had some rest and witness the joyful atmosphere.

Oh! did I mentioned the market of matheran?, It’s a cutest and tiny market I have ever seen, it was full of hawkers selling different commodities, restaurants, fruits and fresh flowers, to be honest it was the cutest market I have ever seen, you can sense the fressness in it, It just felt like wandering in the market as long as you could and in the end you would still feel like you didn’t had much of it

Later that night the bbq was ready with its whole setup and to be honest, it didn’t went as we planned, most off the bbq was burned and reduced to ashes but still everything tasted delicious with booze.

I remember Satya and I had a small fight, more like cold war. Yes I had a fight with the birthday boy, but I can’t appreciate a flying chicken hitting my face. Hahahaha, we were good as he’s my chum and what’s the point of having a companion if you can’t have silly fights with him,

Later we celebrated his birthday and partied all night,

Next was we were scheduled to explore matheran, I was very excited to roam the narrow alleys of the town, we headed to many point of mathren, we decided to visit charlotte lake first.

Matheran is a small town, one can roam it completely in bare foot but still couldn’t get enough, when we started walking towards the points, the cute alleys were replaced with mud roads and the crafted houses were replaced by green canopy of trees.

Soon we were away from concrete jungle, and we were more connected to the nature.

Charlotte Lake was beautiful, the lake shined bright with the sunlight rays and it was covered with massive trees, It looked like a diamond in green hands, a view which can ease all you pain, I wish I could sit there for a little more time to absorb the vibe.

The view back of lake was even more delightful, all glory mountain’s covered with snow whited clouds in bright blue sky, beyond anything there is, that’s all I can say
.

After we roamed the place near the lake, we reached sunset point, although it was 3 in the afternoon, the view was amazing I recall the memory that I was dancing on the song

“tum ne na jana, ki mai deewana, mere dil ki hai jo dastaan suno na suno na sunn loo na”

After all this we were really tired, but still wanted to explore but we let it go and started to walk towards our guest house, and the surprisingly Hari said “uder eco point hai, jana hai”, seriously I gave it a pass,

But then he added “uder se zoya ka naam nhi chilayaga”? . Damn that bastard tricked me.

I don’t know if it was my reflex or what but, I felt a sharp knife stabbed my heart in a smooth full  stroke, I had mix emotion of happiness and sorrow, I can’t give up with this chance, unfortunately   no was ready for it but eventually they did, I had no energy but still I was heading towards the point with a steady pace, nature’s sound was melodious for our ears, birds chirping, gust of winds.

Soon we reached there, aa what a view it was, as far as our eyes could see, every  mountain covered with evergreen forest  and the textured clouds, it was almost 6  in the evening, when the sun started to set and made the sky turn yellowish-red, monsoon made the mountain covered with lush of greenness



Soon I started screaming her name, but nothing echoed, all I could hear was the peaceful sound of waterfall and my friends laughing at my failing attempt for the echo, I guess  nature was giving me a signal, but I didn’t wanted to accept the fact. Hahahahaha

We all returned with our heart filled with pleasure, As it began to become dark, matheran was filled with fog, It was nothing I  had ever witnes,s so remarkably, The sky turned orange with Smokey clouds hovered above us, Temperature started to drop and then in couple of minutes it started to rain cats and dogs,

Rain made the environment more pleasant, Still it was 9 in the night, when Hari, Sagar, Ganesh and I went to get the food, it was raining, cold and the streetlights were down, I felt like we were in some sort of jumjiee game, nights  are beautiful in Matheran.

Later that night the environment was cool and breezing, we all were in the guest house, having fun, ohh god, I miss those days

Next morning it was still raining but we had to checked out, luckily it stopped raining, we packed our luggage and walked down the alleys.

This time the atmosphere, environment, sceneries were complete different of what we saw earlier, rain made it more pleasant and cool, everything was wet and fresh and the air was filled with the aroma of Dirt, Even at a point we decide to stay for another day, If it was in my hand, I would have definitely stayed,




I was still amazed that I didn’t knew about this place, so close to Mumbai

Everyone was happy and was going back with memories locked in their hearts, Our weekend and Satyas’s birthday was finally awesome,

And I would like to end this blog with a quote of my closest and dearest friends,
“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” 
- Vedang Gudekar.