Trekking to Matheran, Hill Station near Mumbai

We got to Panvel at around 7:30 in the morning. It was a small group of five guys. The next bus was due after an hour and a half, so we took a trekar (the larger version of an auto-rickshaw) to Dudani. It is a small village from where the trekking starts. It is a 2-3 hour trek given that you know the route. We didn’t.

So it was more of an exploration. We initially took direction from the local people but soon we had to decide a few turns on our own. We were quite happy to go along a path which looked like been used by humans in the recent past. But it was a shock when we were near the top and got stuck in a jungle. A dead-end. No other route emerged from there. So we had to climb down half the mountain. With a bit more of exploration and a lucky encounter with a local person, we crossed a dried stream and reached the main track. Well, it was a treat! I fall short of words to express how good it felt at that moment.

This part of the journey was even tougher. May be because of the steeper path or because we had already climbed up another mountain and was drained out. We used to go for 10-15 minutes at a stretch and then take rest for 5 minutes. The route at most places weren’t very dangerous. But at certain points you have to be very careful as you walk on a foot-wide strip of earth with the abyss running down hundreds of feet so close to you.

We reached Matheran four hours after we started. The point we reached was the ‘Sunset Point’. It was another half an hour walk to the central market of Matheran. We had a decent lunch and took rest in a nearby park. We also paid quick visits to some other points of Matheran. It is a nice hill station with gorgeous natural views. As no vehicles are allowed, there is little pollution. However the red soil is a problem as it gets all over your shoes and trousers.

We walked down to where taxis were available, got to Neral and reached Vashi by local trains. The journey was exhausting but the excitement and the beauty was far more rewarding than the toil.


On our way to Dudani

Dudani from a little height

Beware! Wrong Route!!

Lost in the Jungle

Finally on the right track

On our way to the top

Sunset Point (The trek ended here at 1:30pm)

Khandala Point

Echo Point

The Lake in Matheran

The Goa Trip (Part III)

The bitter feeling last night had no trace left when we got up afresh next morning. We headed straight to Old Goa. We took our brunch in a restaurant just in front of the famous St. Xaviers church. The food was good; in fact, it was the only place in Goa where we enjoyed having food. We had a taste of Feni, the local drink of Goa. I don’t know whether it was because of the bad experience last night, but it tasted fairly good.

The St. Xaviers church having the body of the great saint preserved in a natural condition generates a great deal of attention resulting from both curiosity and devotion. We joined the crowd to visit the heritage place. We also paid a visit to the big newer church nearby and the museum displaying the relics found in Goa. Chiru, the tall fellow in our group, bought a Goanese hat, his heart’s desire for a long time.

Once done with the churches, we went on our way to see the Portugese fort. We had to wait another hour in the middle of our journey as the car ran out of gas. However, this delay was more of bliss. The location was cool, on the Panjim-Old Goa road. We enjoyed a great deal.

We reached the fort at around the middle of the day. The fort wasn’t of the Maharaja kind. It was meant mainly for functioning as a lighthouse and a water reservoir. But who cares for what it was meant for! The view from the top looking over a vast area of the sea with boats of all sizes hovering across was nice to watch. Guys of our group engaged in a photo session. The more enthusiastic ones took off their shirts to have a better macho look (of course, giving the excuse that it was too hot to wear anything).

Breaking off from the fort expedition, we took our way back to Mumbai. On our way, had another devastating session of putting food in our mouth. I refuse to call that a lunch or whatever you call the act of having decent food. May be people realized that our much-awaited trip was coming to an end and still a lot had not been done! As if to make up for the party we missed, we put party dance numbers in the car stereo and danced our way back. There wasn’t enough room to move the lower part of the body, but still it was a good dance. The trip finally came to an end as we reached our home at five in the morning.

The greatest achievement of the trip was the trip itself. We had planned for it and eventually had dropped it so many times, that finally reaching Goa to celebrate the New Year was a genuine accomplishment. Calangute beach was awesome. I have seen so many filthy beaches with hoards of people that the dark sea at Anjana was a welcome experience. Visit to Old Goa and the fort was also entertaining. If anything was still missing, the car-party on our way back ensured that I would remember the trip forever.


In Panjim

In the new Church

Where our car ran out of gas

View from the top of the fort

In the fort

The Goa Trip (Part II)

Our next destination was the Tito’s, a popular disco in Goa. However this time it wasn’t going to be that smooth. The members of our team got separated in the crowd outside Calangut beach and just when it was required the most, the mobile network failed. Practically no call was going through or it was getting dropped almost as soon as it managed to get connected. After struggling for quite a bit we regrouped and went to the disco. Unfortunately it was full and to add to the misery, we had to waste more time as the car parking was about a kilometer away from the spot.

We headed for Anjana beach. After following quite a weird route through half-roads and fields, we reached what looked like a civilized area. A policeman told us to park there. We got out and a lady appeared out of nowhere to ask for a parking fee of 10/- rupees. We complied and set on our journey to the beach on foot. The policeman and the lady had suggested that it was only a few minutes walk, but when we got no sign of the beach even after walking for around ten minutes, we decided to cross check. To our utter dismay, we found that we were still off the beach by over 3 kilometers. As the mobile network was jammed we could not just ask the driver to take the car to us. We had to walk back. Shit!!

Anjana beach was a nice place. The crowd was less. The dark sea ahead with the rumbling sound of the waves crashing on the rocky beach gave quite a pleasant feeling. We took our dinner in a restaurant there. The brilliant location helped us to ignore the despicable food and service. People were somewhat depressed to celebrate the New Year eve on a shadowy beach. Do add some colour to the dark; we decided to go for booze. A few rounds of whisky with the foamy water touching your feet in a rhythmic repetition could have been good enough to forget all the parties going on. Alas! That was not what exactly happened that night. The booze we bought was crap. I do not know what it was but it tasted terribly bad and we gave up. The firework started at midnight and certainly was a good watch for all except for a band of boys whose midnight wasn’t actually what they had planned it to be. Guys got even more down in the dumps watching all the chicks coming out of a disco near-by. Remember the feeling of utter hopelessness “water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink”.
So the first day ended with a note of grief. However, you were soon to recover and enjoy a lot the next day.


Anjana Beach (Can u spot me?)


That is no E.T. That's Sardar in the Restaurant

The Goa Trip (Part I)

We were planning for long, repeating the same old sequence of serious talking for a day and dropping it thereafter and taking up the matter again after a few weeks. In fact, we had talked and forgot about it so many times that nobody believed we were actually going to Goa until the Toyota Qualis picked us up at seven in the evening on 30th December.

We were eight odd souls in total, all working in the same group. We traveled all night to reach Goa at eleven in the morning. We lost a good one hour on our way because of a leaked tire. We spent that hour in a teashop placed in an otherwise deserted place surrounded by total darkness. The shop was playing a song of the movie ‘Nagin’ adding to its eerie atmosphere.

We got in a hotel near Miramar Beach. A nice bath, a good one-hour rest and a pathetic lunch in the same hotel are all that happened before we hit the road again. We went to the Miramar beach first. However, there wasn’t much in there and decided to go to the Calangute beach. Before even reaching the shore of the sea we were stumped by the sea of girls, Indian and foreign, floating all around us. That was fabulous!!

The experience in the beach, I think, was the best part of the tour. We had a ride on the water scooter, enjoyed a long bath in the waves and of course, relished the beauty both of the nature and the people. After having a good time of a couple of hours, we decided to move on.



In front of the hotel





Miramar Beach





Calangute Beach