Mohitez

Hey one more time had a great weekend picnic at Mahabaleshwar.

This time I with bunch of office people, almost 35 people.

As soon as we decided to go for office picnic, Madhavi asked me to book for a Volvo as she was afraid to go in non-Ac bus. So we did it in time to free from last minute hassle. Also we booked an Economy Room at MTDC, Mahabaleshwar for Rs.600.

To book the room you can get the list of Agents from MTDC website.

On 27^th Feb 2009, Friday evening:

We both were working late in the office and got late too come home.

We started our packaging at 11 AM and ended at around 1:00 AM.

On Morning 28^th Feb 2009, Saturday:

Madhavi suddenly woke up and asked me did you check the time? I said no what happened let me sleep, And I realized we had missed our Bus which was suppose to be arrived at 6 AM at Parle, Bisleri.

Freaking!! “Now what”, I asked Madhavi.  She said,” Drop the idea we are not going anywhere”. I said,” No let me try to call bus conductor and request him to wait for us”.

After so many calls and talks finally we decided to catch office guys in their Bus.

To our agony that bus too started its journey and reached somewhere in Vashi.

Now we quickly rushed to out travel agent office and tried to get another bus but he said there is no other bus than the one we missed.

 But he suggested us to take another one till Pune and catch local bus to Mahabaleshwar.

Now it was time of judgment and luck. We decide to play our luck and called Mandar my office colleague to convince the other people to stop at Pune so that we can come with them. Mandar did his part well and we were on our chase.

Luckily our office bus got stuck in traffic so we got more time to catch them. It was been destined that we should come together. Finally we reached near Pune Toll Naka and we met there. Now I was but nervous that Madhavi shouldn’t get problem with Bus and all.

But luckily she managed to engage in talks and we safely reached in Panchagani without any trouble.

At Panchagani all the people ate the Lunch at roadside Hotel. 2hours later we reached at MTDC hotel at around 4 PM.

At room:

It was quite cozy room but it’s sufficient for couple. There was TV [without remote] and attached toilet bathroom with hot water facility.

Around 6 PM everyone was got ready to go around the city. Getting a bus in such small town is little pain as our Bus got stuck in because of small unattended car parking.

Soon it was dark and but still we left for Venna lake. There is good boating facility and people enjoyed their rides.

Opposite to Venna lake there were small Merry-Go-Round kind of games.

Madhavi and Pretty went for FreeFall ride and they seem like really enjoyed it.

I tried some hands on video games and to my luck I win some good bucks too.

Madhavi and I went on playing some games and thoroughly enjoyed the time.

We really had a good time over there.

Night:

After a dinner in market place we returned to our hotel and got slept but some our bachelor friends were spent that night with a camp fire till 4:00 am.

Return to home:

Weather was quite pleasant in the Morning, we checkout our place at 9:30AM.

In the morning there was no electricity so we had to wait till 9AM.

MTDC at Mahabaleshwar is really a nice place to stay. I would say its worth of price.

The area is quite large and scattered. The surrounding is just like a small Jungle. I seen so many species of Birds over there along with monkeys.

They also have Kerala Ayurveda Kendra near canteen. The rates were high but I think sometimes you can spend on luxury.

After breakfast we headed for our journey to return. First we went to see Sunset point and then Wilson Point. Both the locations are good.

While going to Panchagani bus was stopped by traffic police at one stop and bus driver and Police man got into small arguments. We were at fault because our bus was not having PUC certificate. Mean time I got down from Bus and requested the Police man in usual manner to spare with us.

To his kind I got the bus’s legal papers back and we started again for Table top point at Panchagani.

After some time we reached at Mapro factory. We just had good ice-cream and some good products from the shop and also buy strawberries from local vendor for Rs.45 per Kg.

 cont....

This was consecutive holidays on January 24, 25 and 26th. But actually we didn’t make any plans for it. So this time we decided to go to pilgrim center Titwala on Sunday 25th January. Titwala is famous for his Ganpati temple and its on central line of Mumbai. You can catch train from Dadar heading for Kasara. Always see N on the train for Kasara. It’s a good practice to check the timetable for this route of trains. And you should also check if there are any mega blocks for that day. Otherwise you will end up in frustration due to unavailability of trains. Kalyan is a junction from where trains goes into two different directions mainly Kasara and karjat.

In the morning of Sunday we caught the train of Titwala from Dadar at 10:30AM. By the time we reached at Titwala it was almost 12:30 PM so we took horse ride to reach at temple. It was good fun but I felt sad for poor horses. We reached at temple within 15 minutes but we had to wait in queue as aarati was started. After one hour we got the darshan and we headed for home. During on the way to temple I got an idea that we can go to Matheran. Sanju Pintu and Madu were shocked by my idea. But they also thrilled to go to Matheran as Sanju Pintu were never visited Matheran. Madu got an query and she told us that there would be crowd as there are consecutive holidays. But we just decided to go there and have a try.

This was unplanned trip so now we realized that we need night clothes and all necessary items. We bought night gowns and trousers for night from shops at Titwala Station.

Now it was time for ATM as we needed most important money.

This was resolved as we found ATM outside Kalyan Station. Now the journey was opposite side of Titwala. Now we wanted to catch karjat train from Kalyan for Neral Station. Be aware that there is another station called NERUL on harbor line of Mumbai. So whenever you want to go to Matheran, just specify the same at ticket counter. From Neral you can take cab to go on pick of Matheran. Matheran is a hill station and the roads are very curvy and sharp to reach at top.

For each person the cab will take INR 50. Cab reaches at top within 15-20 minutes while Local tourist train from Neral to Matheran takes almost 3 hours to reach. But its damn beautiful journey for all kinds people especially kids. You watch beautiful valley and scenic views from this train. You can go by your own vehicle but it’s not recommended if you are new to such kind of roads. Be extremely careful while driving by your own.

By road we reached at Dasturi point from here you have to manage to go to main point of bazaar by either walking or taking horse ride. Horse ride will be charged INR 150-200 as per the season rates. You can bargain for the same.

Walking through this beautiful place is a kind of experience. That’s almost 30-45 minutes walk.

You will certainly enjoy if you get a good company of someone.

When we reached at Dasturi we came to know that it’s overcrowded since Friday and rates are high to get an accommodation. We still hope for the best as we were not in mood of return from this point. I tried contacting my earlier horse owner from Matheran Mr. Ramdas but failed to contact him. Now I was bit worried as it was getting dark and we were still searching for house.

After some search and help from Mr. Ram (our horse rider) I found one lady in the middle of road and she was agreed to give accommodation. I went with her at her place.

It was down under the lane. It was a proper wail painted house. I bargain for some time and agreed for INR 1000 for that night. I accepted to sleep in small bedroom kind of tiny room and one more family will stay in hall. OOPS!! This was terrible experience to search a room in such a pick time. Last time when I visited Matheran at that time I stayed in a posh hotel like Rangoli.

It was a cool A/C room with all the facilities like swimming pool and pub. Food was also excellent it was included in the tariff. That time I paid INR 1800 for luxury. And Now I got into a small house for nothing and paid 1000 bucks. Anyways this was thrilling too.

In the night we had a tasty Biryani at Shabbir miyas biryani. You will find it upside the masjid.

Weather was not that cool but pleasant for night.

In the morning again we thought of train but alas! It was packed due to earlier reservations.

So there was no chance to get the tickets but I got information that you can book the tickets of this train from Online booking prior two days. Otherwise you have to try your luck to get the tickets from only 30-40 remaining tickets and that’s also you will get it just 30 minutes before of departure.

Finally we had our snacks and got two horses for our wives and me and Sanju walked down the road of Matheran with good chitchat in the presence of beautiful green trees around.

This was memorable trip for four of us. I believe sometimes unplanned things just go perfect than planned ones. By gods will everything goes perfect.

few Numbers might help you.

Horse Rider:

Ram 09423930632

Ramdas 09270234784

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Accomodation:

Deepak Sonavane/ Mrs.Asha Sonavane

094030308898

Tip: Do bargain!!