Eight together to Mahabhaleshwar

Our College days were coming to an end. All of us wanted to use every minute we had with each other to the fullest. So started the discussion of planning a trip. It was first supposed to be a one day trip which soon took form of a 3 day trip. This was a real achievement. Now you may wonder why! Well it is a big deal!!!
 To plan a trip with 8 girls and make it happen deserves an award. All this thanks to the efforts of one of the girls, the bride to be, who got the hell down to unite all 8 of us for the trip, bearing all the tantrums, making all the travel arrangements, tackling all our excuses. Luckily, we also had helpful friends back in college who were ready to fill for our absence. Thus all fell into place, rather was made to fall into place and finally we all were ready to go.


 We, the eight idiots with bags all packed set off on our first trip together to MAHABHALESHWAR on the 1st of March 2013.

Day 1: Bus Ride.

    Well, the first to get into the bus was me. I was to board the bus from Andheri at 10.00pm. Having everybody's ticket gave me a weird  responsible thrill. There I stood waiting for the bus to arrive, feeling proud that like always I was again on time. Oh! so responsible!!!! My inner being swelled with pride... The moment I got into the bus I informed the others about the bus number and where they were suppose to stand, reprimanding those who still hadn't left, and complimenting those who were already there. The next pick up was at Bandra. We were suppose to reach there in 10 mins, but thanks to one big shot somebody who got late and was suppose to board the bus from Andheri. The bus waited for a full 20 mins for him. Oh! what a waste of time, "silly, stupid fellow", I cursed him mentally using my bare minimum vocabulary of swear words. tupid, silly and idiot aren't even swear words anymore as per my gang.

Any which ways we reached Bandra, only to realize that my bunch of idiots were standing elsewhere. Girls!!! but this time it wasn't our mistake. The driver stopped at a signal he wasn't suppose to stop originally and considering we were already late, he wan't ready to wait even 5 mins more and all my pleading cum scolding seemed to be falling on deaf ears. Luckily that big shot somebody intervened here and made him wait. My friends also made it to the bus within 5 mins. Welcoming and scolding them at the same time I hurried them to their seats. As usual nobody was paying any attention to me, they were busy admiring what each other was wearing, choosing seats and partners.  Suddenly the dead, quiet bus had come to life with their happy, excited chirping. Gosh!! Girls will be Girls!!!.....

     Phew!! I heaved a sigh of relief. Out of 8, six of us were in the bus, now two more to go. Next stop, Thane. Both the girls were on time and soon got into the bus to complete our gang of 8. God save the rest of   the passengers now. Chit-chatting, teasing, gossiping we moved along. Zindagi naa milegi dobaara played on the tv screens of the bus but we were busy living our zindagi here.. Well the bus ride was horrible for most of us. It was colder than I expected and we were cramped up in that position for hours.. The only relief was when we got down for refreshments. Ahh!! I could feel my legs again. Quick tea, washrooms and photos and we were back in the bus to our cramped up positions.

     

     Sleep was a distant possibility in that bus, although we pretended to fall asleep. We couldn't talk any longer unless we wanted to be thrown out of the bus by fellow passengers. The only one who did manage to catch some sleep was Miss Foodie,
who spread herself royally on two seats with a thick blanket over her. For me, there was no question of getting sleep, as I found the bus creepy with somebody at the back seat calling my full name loudly and saying "woh aissa nahi kar sakti (she wouldn't do that)".. Prank or illusion, I don't know and didn't bother to find out. The destination was soon to come.







Day 2: Mahabhaleshwar 1

          In the early hours of morning, way before the sun woke up, we reached mahabhaleshwar. Sleepy and exhausted by the bus journey we all clambered out of the bus only to be surrounded by enthusiastic fat taxi drivers eager to take us to the best hotels they knew. Luckily we had our bookings done beforehand at Priti sangam and one of us who actually proved to be our trip guide, led us towards our hotel. So behind her we walked down the streets of early morning mahabhaleshwar, all quiet and empty except for the noise made by the rolling wheels of 8 bags being dragged behind us. I realized for the first time, that they do make so much noise. It took us a good 15 mins to reach our hotel. As we had reached so early by 5.30am, the attendants there, were sleeping, They soon woke up to our fervent call bells. We entered only to find out that they weren't giving us our rooms at that time as their check in timing was 9am. On hearing this, one of our most saintly friends took charge and tried explaining  the attendant that we were promised on phone and through her contacts that as we will be reaching early we would be allowed to check-in early. In her angry yet saintly ways which was in combination very funny for me, she tried . Unfortunately the rooms were full, the attendant wasn't ready to budge from his decision but on his master's command we were allowed to wait in a room adjoining the hotel. At least now we had a room to keep our luggage. But one look at that room and we all had visions(pretty dreadful ones) about how our rooms are going to be. However we soon realized that the room was actually a clinic and our dear Miss saint assured us that our rooms are not like that and she had been there before.

      All 8 of us, moaning and groaning, entered the room cum clinic and in the waiting room we sat waiting patiently. Miss Saint was upset that we had to go through this but where was she to know that ones we 8 are together no place is a dull place. After all the moaning and groaning was over we became our normal selves and the photo sessions started. The sleepy heads did not hesitate to make the examination bed their sleeping bed, that too turn by turn.

                                            Miss Squirrel sleeping on the examination bed

The rest of us competed for charging points and as expected the first one to go about the room searching for one was me. Then started our photo sessions and we posed happy faces, funny faces, sad faces, The food Mother, Annapurneshwari pose...etc etc.

                                              The Saint: Mata ANNAPURNESHWARI

 Talking about food, our dearest Miss Foodie had a separate bag dedicated to food. She can forget to get clothes but not food, so out came the packets of chips, biscuits, fruits and what not, each in variety.














After All this fun and food, all we wanted was a cup of tea. Although early, it was bright enough for
us to venture out, so all of us decided to go and search for tea. we hoped that by the time we come back it will be 9 and we can go directly to our rooms.

      We walked down the lonely streets.All the shops were still closed, there were hardly anybody out on the roads, the farmers had just got their goods and were arranging them for the coming day sale. We talked and walked, taking pictures on the way and came to the only tea stall that was open at that time. 7 cups of tea and one coffee (kapi) especially for our Tam Brahm friend was ordered. There was no place to sit in that stall so we perched ourselves outside a closed shop like homeless street children and waited for our tea. As soon as the tea came, the owner of the shop outside which we were sitting also turned up to drive us away from there. By now the stall was empty and we sat and enjoyed our cup of tea!!Oh Sorry!!  only I enjoyed my cup of tea, All others hated the tea, in fact I finished their's too. I loved the flavor of ginger and the sweetness of the tea. But the rest, looked at me with wonder, as how on earth can I like such a thing. May be it was my cold that made the tea feel so good, but I loved it. Anyways after the tea we walked down till the taxi stand to find out about the charges and the trip. After finding out and fixing the first tour, we got back to our hotels to get ready for the day.

      By the time we reached the hotel, our room problem was sorted and we were taken to our rooms. All of us walked with great anticipation wondering what our rooms would turn out to be . We were taken to the opposite building where our rooms were. They were on the ground floor. We had two rooms booked. The moment the first door opened, all of us almost leaped with excitement as the room was truly awesome. Each room was a duplex, the lower and the upper sections were large and spacious, It was extremely clean, the washrooms neat and well kept. It did not stink of Blankets. The room felt fresh. Happily we got into our rooms, Four in each, two up two down. Like kids we ran trying to claim the upper section. I remembered how I have done the same for the top bed of the bunker beds. It's funny how we still are kids at heart. There is a child like joy in climbing up the stairs and staying on the top.

 
















 It was time to quickly settle down, get ready and get moving. All of us freshened up, got ready and of course the bride took time, her bridge groom was waiting for the pictures. So each of us played the role of her personal Photographer and happily clicked some of her best portraits. best by me, rest by others.( yes guys, you can kill me for this). We quickly had our breakfast and went for our first trip.

    We left at around 12.00pm for the First tour. Our First tour comprised of  Old Mahabhaleshwar with Panchaganga temple and the Lord shiva temple. Then was the castle rock point, Aurther Seat, Savitri Point, Monkey Point, Majori Point etc. Almost all of these show the same view from a different angle. The Trip started with the temples. The Panchaganga temple is suppose to be a source of 5 rivers that starts from the statue of the cow's mouth. Small children selling flowers come up to you with their smiling faces, that it becomes difficut to resist their innocent request. Miss Saint ended up buying flowers from one such child, melted by his charming smile, more delightful than the flowers he sold. The rest of us were not that saintly enough. After the temple we headed for the points. The points are scenic no doubt, but are highly commercialized with hawkers and banners here and there. Which is a really sad part of the story as all people do is eat and mess up the surroundings. Done with the points, we came back by around 3.00 pm. Had some snacks and rested.

 

Our Plan for the evening was the lake Venna and the much awaited Strawberry with Cream. We walked our way to the lake as it was close by from our hotel. On the way we saw donkeys galloping like horses  Gosh! when they run they can be mistaken for horses. So it's their laziness that makes them look like donkeys! Hmm that's a food for thought. Soon we reached the lake. Bought a pack of strawberries and went for a boat ride. It was a really short boat ride. The only part I enjoyed was that I got to paddle a little and almost learnt how to do it. We all took chances at this. It sure is tougher than it looks. But it's great fun. After this was the round of the Giant wheel. Our Simple and stylish(sweet) Miss Tam Brahm just wanted to have one ride of the Giant wheel. So five of us  hopped on to it, and the view of the lake it gave us was just Awesome. The ride was fun after a long time as we all had forgotten what it would be like to be on a giant wheel. We went round and round, screaming and laughing, fake screams but true laughter. Our friends below watched our mirth but were too scared to try it for themselves. After the giant wheel fun it was the time for some food now. So our dear saintly guide took us to the best place near the lake where we had some good strawberry with cream,corn pattice and corn rolls. It was a truly delicious end for the day.

Day 3: Mahabhaleshwar 2


For the next day we had everything planned beforehand. So all got up early and started getting ready for the trip. A friend of mine and me decided to go about doing quick shopping for vegetables and strawberries in the morning, so we got ready quickly and went to the markets. The streets of the market in the early hours has the farmers selling their goods. They sit with their fruits of labor surrounding them. Turnips, radish, cherry tomatoes, broccoli etc all by their sides, fresh and welcoming just like the farmers selling them. We had a quick chat with them, ate raw vegetables and fresh strawberries that they lovingly offered us and also bought a lot of goods from them. I had tea from my favorite Tamilian stall and quickly we returned after this as it was time to leave for our next trip. The trip around the market in the morning was a memorable one for both of us.

    All were together again for breakfast now, chit-chatting as the food came. The food took some time to come and we were getting late. However, one irritated look from our Miss Foodie  made the waiter hurry up his work and quickly serve us. Soon we were on our second trip to Kate's point, Mapro, velocity, table land. It was a beautiful drive there. the trees curved to give a tunnel like feel. We passed many old schools of Mahabhaleshwar. What a beautiful place to study in! . First to come was the Table Land, as flat as a table. It was were we clicked pictures after pictures mainly of ourselves rather than the place. Then we went down the dark caves and explored them. Back up on the Table land it was too sunny to stand, some found shade under a Metal stand and some monkeys to feed. After this, quickly we made our way now to Mapro. A beautiful garden plus an awesome place to eat. They make some of the best sandwiches and pizzas. A total must have. The strawberries hanging in the strawberry garden and farms adds to the beauty of the place. We got our bottles of Mapro juices and jellies too. Next we visited Kates point, providing one of the best views, of the beautiful Dhom dam on Krishna river and many mountain peaks. After all the scenic places some of us wanted to have their share of adventure, so we visited Velocity next. Velocity is nothing but Go-Karting. Some went for Go-karting and some for the hanging merry-go-around(which was damn silly). Thus we were done for that day and then headed back to our hotels only to stop at a spa cum store of natural beauty products. Eight girls, walking towards a beauty store, what more can the store owner have for a lucky day. The 5 min stop turned out to be a good 20 min stop, much to the dismay of our taxi drivers. Considering it was a beauty shop and we took just 20mins, should be an achievement by my view. Done with all the shopping we returned back to our rooms.

 

  In the Evening that day, we went around the market. There is an entire lane buzzing with shops selling shoes, bags, clothes, strawberries, flavored Channa, and what not. None of them are value for money as you get them all for the same prices here in Mumbai, except for the strawberries and the vegetables which are fresh,  and cheap especially the ones sold by the farmers themselves. We got our boxes of Sweet Charlie and Camarosa. These are basically strawberries. My personal favourite is Camarosa. I had literally chewed the heads of my friends and taxi drivers about where will one get good fresh strawberries. I ended up buying from the Market. The ones sold directly by the farmers are the best and Camarosa stays longer if you want to carry it back home. Sweet charlie can be enjoyed right there as it's sweet and soft, but it spoils easily during travel.

    After all the shopping was done, It was time for us to return and start packing as we had to board our bus back to mumbai the same day. All of us wished if we could stay back together for some more days. Apart from the trips we could have explored more. It was just fun being together and for the eight of us, place is just an added advantage. We can manage to have fun even at the bus stops, railway stations or a small clinic room. However a journey must end so another journey begins. So again with bags rolling behind us we bid goodbye to mahabhaleshwar, reached our pick up points in time, no confusion this time. And what can I say about the bus journey. It went through the most curvy ghats that almost each one of us held a plastic bag in our hands anticipating the worse and just as the ghats ended few passenger got to use their bags too. NEVER by a Bus to mahabhaleshwar again, we swore.

    The time we reached Mumbai and to respective points was really early. so most of us stayed back at a friends house in bandra. and at the break of dawn all made their journey back home.

    The first, memorable trip of our life came to an end. we made promises to make more such trips again. And hopefully I will continue writing to tell about them.