A Trip to Maha......... gani
Wish you all a very Happy new year, friends..... before I step into the first post for this year.
Mahabaleshwar.....
Situated in the heart Of Sahyadri Hills in Satara District, Maharashtra. It is also known as 'Queen of all Hill Stations'.
We were dropped there at around 5 AM in the dark, amidst a shivering weather. Due to the weather, we got out of the hotel only in the late morning -- after ensuring that the sun was over our head. The environment was more or less similar to Ooty / Yercaud.
The strawberry vendor....
The market place...
Naive(!!) villagers...
The market place reminded me of Madurai old markets and my grandma's village markets. Something similar to a Bharathiraja movie too....
The same day evening, we had an interesting trip to Tapola, which is also called Mini Kashmir. I haven't yet visited Kashmir.. so "no comments" on this so-called name.
Still, the time we had in the backwaters of Koyna dam, was excellent. We had a boat ride there which is said to be of 250 ft deep.. Don't ask me, how I felt while I was sitting on the waters.
Next day we went to Panchgani, where Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao hosted their wedding party recently. Unfortunately, we were not invited, similar to the other non-invitees Shah Rukh Khan/Salman Khan / Karan Johar etc. So, I couldn't extend my stay there at Panchgani. :-( :-(
Panchgani - derives its name from the five plateaus/hills surrounding the village. One of the plateau - "Table Land" is said to be one of the largest plateau in Asia. I could realise that when I observed several budding cricketers playing in a group of several teams. We were told that a small plane can land there easily...
One of these kids may be a future celebrity kid. Reason... this village houses several celebrity schools, where film stars and famous personalities' kids are studying. [Courtesy: Britishers, similar to Ooty concept]
Seems, several hindi movies have captured these locations earlier.. including Aamir Khan's 'Raja Hindustani'. Hmmmm.. now I could understand his passion towards this place.
Was able to capture some of our ancestors' family members. Too much of concentration to her kid.
Next day, we went around Mahabaleshwar.. few temples and several viewpoints, named after Britishers like Wilson point, Connaught Peak, Arthur's seat, Elphinston point etc., in addition to one Indianized Savitri point.
Had a beautiful view of the valley and the surrounding hills.
On the top of one of the hills, tourists are being attracted towards a "tap" of spring water. It has been named as "Tiger Springs", since they were supposed to attract so many tigers in olden days!!!
Another attraction of my favour was the nicely burnt corns.. reason.. the chilli powder spread over them using a lemon... I heard that, in Chennai also, these type of corns are being served with lemon / chilli quoting.
Hmmm...
It should have been an enjoyable trip. However, we were tensed a bit on the last day, since my son was sick of vomitting & diarrhea (due to food poisoning). Eventhough we were suggested to admit him in a local Govt. hospital, help came thru a privately practising experienced doctor. He arrested the problem with an injection...
Another interesting but usual thing, which we observed was too many newly married couples.....
One more Interesting Trip is pending to be posted... will make it asap!!! Currently too busy in clearing my mails.
SOME MORE LINKS
Tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar - Link-1
Tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar - Link-2
243rd post
Mahabaleshwar.....
Situated in the heart Of Sahyadri Hills in Satara District, Maharashtra. It is also known as 'Queen of all Hill Stations'.
We were dropped there at around 5 AM in the dark, amidst a shivering weather. Due to the weather, we got out of the hotel only in the late morning -- after ensuring that the sun was over our head. The environment was more or less similar to Ooty / Yercaud.
The strawberry vendor....
The market place...
Naive(!!) villagers... The market place reminded me of Madurai old markets and my grandma's village markets. Something similar to a Bharathiraja movie too....
The same day evening, we had an interesting trip to Tapola, which is also called Mini Kashmir. I haven't yet visited Kashmir.. so "no comments" on this so-called name. Still, the time we had in the backwaters of Koyna dam, was excellent. We had a boat ride there which is said to be of 250 ft deep.. Don't ask me, how I felt while I was sitting on the waters.
Next day we went to Panchgani, where Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao hosted their wedding party recently. Unfortunately, we were not invited, similar to the other non-invitees Shah Rukh Khan/Salman Khan / Karan Johar etc. So, I couldn't extend my stay there at Panchgani. :-( :-(
Panchgani - derives its name from the five plateaus/hills surrounding the village. One of the plateau - "Table Land" is said to be one of the largest plateau in Asia. I could realise that when I observed several budding cricketers playing in a group of several teams. We were told that a small plane can land there easily...One of these kids may be a future celebrity kid. Reason... this village houses several celebrity schools, where film stars and famous personalities' kids are studying. [Courtesy: Britishers, similar to Ooty concept]
Seems, several hindi movies have captured these locations earlier.. including Aamir Khan's 'Raja Hindustani'. Hmmmm.. now I could understand his passion towards this place.
Was able to capture some of our ancestors' family members. Too much of concentration to her kid.
Next day, we went around Mahabaleshwar.. few temples and several viewpoints, named after Britishers like Wilson point, Connaught Peak, Arthur's seat, Elphinston point etc., in addition to one Indianized Savitri point.
Had a beautiful view of the valley and the surrounding hills.
On the top of one of the hills, tourists are being attracted towards a "tap" of spring water. It has been named as "Tiger Springs", since they were supposed to attract so many tigers in olden days!!!
Another attraction of my favour was the nicely burnt corns.. reason.. the chilli powder spread over them using a lemon... I heard that, in Chennai also, these type of corns are being served with lemon / chilli quoting.
Hmmm...It should have been an enjoyable trip. However, we were tensed a bit on the last day, since my son was sick of vomitting & diarrhea (due to food poisoning). Eventhough we were suggested to admit him in a local Govt. hospital, help came thru a privately practising experienced doctor. He arrested the problem with an injection...
Another interesting but usual thing, which we observed was too many newly married couples.....
One more Interesting Trip is pending to be posted... will make it asap!!! Currently too busy in clearing my mails.
SOME MORE LINKS
Tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar - Link-1
Tourist attractions of Mahabaleshwar - Link-2
243rd post
posted by Ram C at 9:43 PM
13 Comments:
Thanks for the post Ram..Superb post and nice descriptions.
I am glad your son is ok..and not sure how you had the guts to take him to the doc? Did someone recommend.!! ( We had a nightmare in Madras 3 years back when my younger one was admitted in a Hospital for 3 weeks..!!)
The Strawberry vendor snap is awesome. FYI, I've never..never seen Strawberries in India...in markets.!! forget being sold on the streets...not even in Super Markets.!!
The Hills, the scary river ride ( 250 feet is scary), the tiger spring water etc..etc..very interesting to read.
Isn't there a temple there?? I thought so.!
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU TOO.!!
Strawberries in India??? I never knew about it till I read this post of yours.
Nice to hear abt the trip Ram. Happy New year to you!
Welcome back and this report brings memories of my trip there. quite a beautiful place.
Thuglak
Ram-
Welcome back and Happy New Year. Nice pictures and a good description of ur trip. Looks like vacations in India are more fun these days.
welcome back Ram! Wishing you a very happy new year!
Aamir Khan might have allowed u if u knew Hindi :-)
i like the strawberry shot too ;)
nice photos n the place looks really good ;)
cool pics !
Ram, hope your son is doing ok now and welcome back :-)
Welcome back ram, hope we can expect more blogging from you now.
That was an excellent indian travelogue! That place is definitely moved up in my list of to-gos.
Looks beautiful, like everyone I too liked the picture of the strawberry seller. Glad to hear that the young lad is okay
We have a travel website which is a Maharashtra travel Guide in which we have a page for Panchgani with lot of information regarding the place. We also have information regarding Panchgani Hotels for which we provide direct link to the hotel websites
We also have a page for blogs on Panchgani. Do let us know if you would like to feature your blog in the Panchgani Blogs page in puneritraveller.com.
Please write to puneritraveller at gmail dot com
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