A Weekend with friends in Panchgani, Maharasthra

Times change. Circumstances change. For the last five years I was lucky to have gone on a number of trips with my childhood friends. The time between graduation and marriage is the best time for trips. Young and free, rough travelling is the thing to do and we did many. Over time some friends got married and some went abroad for studies and work. In all probability the rest will get married next year. I too was to leave for Canada for studies. All of this meant the likelihood of trips will drop drastically. With that in mind we planned to have a good trip before we part ways for the time being. So we decided to go on a weekend trip to a Hill station near Pune, as a couple of our friends live in Pune.

Panchgani is a pretty little hill station sitting at an altitude of 1200 MSL. Having a rich history of people of Mumbai and Pune settling here from the times of British, it is an education hub as it features a number of top class boarding schools.

On a bright Saturday afternoon , my friend P revved up his Baleno and off we started for Panchgani. There were 5 of us. First off, Abhishek, who had an epic journey when he missed his train at Hyderabad and took a flight to Mumbai and then a train to Pune. Then Bhanu who came from Bangalore. The two Pune residents were Deepanjan and P. And yours truly.

The drive was event-less and we only stopped when we reached our Hotel in Panchgani. The road was nothing much to write about as it was littered with dhabas, restaurants and hotels. Bhanu rightly commented that it was over commercialized killing the joy of a good ride through the mountains. Our hotel though was a different story. Built in the 1920s, the Mount View Heritage Hotel sits at the edge of a hill offering spectacular views. The hotel itself features victorian architecture and had this warm and cozy atmosphere about it. There was on old Mercedez Benz sitting in a rundown garage nearby and it only added to the charm of the place.

We checked in to the hotel and were pleasantly surprised to see our room. It was much better than what I had in mind. Featuring the classic British dimensions of the time, it featured a high ceiling with support plinths holding up two ceiling fans. The walls were bare with two windows at the front side and two at the rear. A small door led to the room. Four beds were spread over the room with two of them double beds. The room can be booked for 6 persons. A small door at a corner end led to the washroom. All this classic look was a perfect setting for a horror movie.

Well, we got fresh and went outside for a walk in the neighborhood. We had no set agenda and the only thing we wanted to was to have a good time. We strolled around aimlessly. Deepanjan was the  photography enthusiast in the group and he stopped every now and then to take a pic. Sometimes the far off mountain views interested him, other times a butterfly sitting on a flower. With his stopping and starting we moved along with a gentle pace on the road which ran hugging the slope of a hill. The views were spectacular. The air was cold and the overall mood quite pleasant.

We saw a high hill ahead of us where a number of people were headed to and we casually turned our walk in that direction. We sauntered on the winding road leading to the top. The sun was setting down and the blue skies were slowly turning to orange turning the whole area into a delightful mosaic of different shades of colours. It felt wonderful. Friends and a good location. What more can one ask for?

We reached to the top and found out this was called the Sydney Point. It was almost dark now. The views all around were astounding. There was a DJ playing the latest hit numbers of Bollywood which,personally for me, spoiled the overall mood. We sat here taking in the views and the atmosphere. We left the place when it got totally dark. By this time the lights of the town were shining brightly against the darkening sky.

We strolled back to our hotel, meeting a street vendor selling strawberries on the way. Over a pack of strawberries he informed us that the property adjoining our hotel belonged to Amir Khan, the Bollywood actor. Trivia always interests me and this was a good one. For a brief period of time we were the neighbors of Amir Khan.

Later we went to the town for dinner. There was a main street lined with all kinds of shops. There were the usual Kirana, medical and hardware stores. A couple of Bakeries and cafes were what interested me. One, the Roach bakery was the oldest one in town and it displayed this fact in bold letters. It was established in 1902 making it almost 116 years old. Another small cafe with old and withered chairs inside wore an old world look to it. I was tempted to go and have something there but there wasn't enough time so we moved on. Later, back in the hotel room, while flipping through an informational booklet about Panchgani I found that Panchgani is steeped in history. It is actually a treasure trove for trivia hunters. To list off two which intrigued me, One - In 1939 when the Soviets invaded Poland, a lot of Polish people were sent to other countries and some of them made their way to India with an uncertain future. Fortunately for them, Jamsahab of Nawanagar came to their rescue and took them all under his care. Now for the connection, he sent a number of polish students to Panchgani to study. Second- Freddie Mercury, whose actual name was Farrukh Bulsara, studied in one of the schools here.

Coming back, we went to a restaurant and took some chicken dishes back to our hotel. Reaching our room, we settled around the dining table in front of our room and had a hearty meal. Cold weather and hot meals.And friends. Always a super combination.

The next day we woke up leisurely and checked out of the hotel. The day was again pleasant. From Panchgani we drove to Mahabaleswar and did a round of boating in the lake there. From there we moved to the Mapro Farm where we bought some stuff and had some light lunch. From here we started our journey back to Pune. We retraced our way to Panchgani, stopped for a bit on the tableland there and reached pune by night. After a quick dinner in one of the subway outlets we parted ways and returned to our respective places. For the first time I felt a bit of sadness while leaving as I knew I wont be around for the next 1 year and wont be going on any more trips with these guys.

Quick Facts
Panchgani
Altitude 1200 MSL
Distance from Pune - 100kms

Return to Pondicherry!

A couple of years back I had the time of my life in Pondicherry doing scuba diving with my friends Abhishek and Bhanu. We returned again this year with one more friend swatchit joining the party. This time there were no plans for scuba diving just chilling out.

The others had arrived a day earlier and were fast asleep as I arrived early morning. Abhishek was the only one who was awake and he guided me to the hotel. As soon as I entered the room I gave a mighty kick to swat who was sleeping on the floor.This woke him up instantly. That's how you greet friends when you are meeting after a year esp when they are coming from abroad. After a lot of trading insults and swear words we were done with the pleasantries.

Next we decided to go to the beach and have a look at the sunrise. But to our disappointment the sun skipped the rising part and suddenly revealed itself in between the clouds. Dejected we just started to stroll aimlessly. After a short walk it began to rain. We ran from one building to another dodging the raindrops and finally reached our hotel. After a refreshing bath and a light breakfast we went off in search of a fish market. Yeah, a fish market. Because swat wanted to see one. I don't know what got into him but he was whining like a kid when we did not want to go. So to placate the kid in him we started off on our rented scootys. We zipped past narrow lanes, through some truly off the beaten paths to finally reach what we thought to be a fish market but which turned out to be a jetty. It was packed with small fishing boats all round. Though the sight was beautiful the whole place reeked of fish. We strolled around here for some time and left to continue our search for the damned fish market.

At around 11 am we realized we had to check out of our hotel and check in a different hotel.This was because of the unavailability of rooms. The afternoon was taken by this activity. By 2 pm we were well settled in our new hotel which was quite comfortable. We had our lunch in the hotel itself and soon departed for a swim in a nearby beach. We spent the next 3 hours here swimming and just lazing around. It was fun. Later we went back to our hotel and the evening was spent in just lying in the bed and just chilling. We ordered some pizzas and cold drinks and did nothing else other than talk and joke. When good friends gather time flies past. We drifted off to sleep around 1 am late into the night.

The next day morning it was abhishek who woke us all up insisting we go to Auroville. I was against the idea as I thought there was not much to see and do there. Bhanu was of the same opinion. But abhishek won the day and we went off to see Auroville. After an hour's ride and lots of walking we finally had a glimpse of Auroville. Though it was magnificent, like I said before there was not much to do for a bunch of guys not much interested in spirituality. We left the place with abhishek avoiding our angry gazes all the way back to the hotel. Mid way we had one of the most memorable lunches ever in my life in a hotel called Junior Kupanna. Memorable not only because of the delicious food but mostly because of the company I had. I remarked that this may be the last time we all meet as bachelors as it is highly likely that abhishek and bhanu will get married soon.

As I had a bus to catch in the night we just went to the beach and spent the evening strolling and just aimlessly strolling around. We ended the trip like we started it. Without a care in the world! 

Here is a video of the whole trip.