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Honeymoon Point in Matheran

Thursday, January 31, 2013

A series of steps from the horse park take you to Honeymoon Point.

From here you can see Mini Echo Point and Malang Point.
View from Honeymoon Point

This point offers an amazing view of the valley. There is a valley crossing setup here, the biggest in Matheran. Sadly it is operated only on weekends. The adrenaline junkie in me had been looking forward to crossing the valley with a camera in my hand. What an amazing feeling that must be!

I don’t know how much it would cost, but I guess it should be somewhere between Rs.250 to Rs.500 as the distance is rather long.

Walkers Tank in Matheran

Thursday, January 24, 2013

A little ahead of Landscape Point, there is a diversion. One road goes to Honeymoon Point and the other to Walkers’ Tank. This is actually a small pond full of dirty polluted water. The horseman told me that they use this pond to immerse statues of Ganpati during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Walkers Tank
There’s nothing to see here other than this polluted water tank.

Landscape Point in Matheran

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

On our way to Honeymoon Point, our horsemen showed us Landscape Point. There is no signpost here to indicate that this is a point. The forest cover has grown so thick here that you cannot see the valley at all. So I couldn't take any photos here. :(

Lumley’s Seat

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Our guide-cum-horseman took us to Lumley’s Seat.
Horses don’t go right up to the highest point, so one needs to walk there. The ground there is made of loose soil, causing it to become slippery. Imagine the conditions during the rains.
View of the hill range and valley from Lumley's Seat
Lumley’s Seat offers a 360-degree view of Matheran. It also offers a beautiful view of Louisa Point.
We then headed off to see Honeymoon Point.


Parrots on a Wire

Friday, January 18, 2013

I was sitting near the windowsill, when all of a sudden I noticed these two parrots sitting or should I say balancing themselves on this wire. The wire runs from  12th storey of my building to the 3rd storey of the neighbouring building. Had this amazing snap taken from my Panasonic Lumix TZ 11

Panther's Cave in Matheran

Thursday, January 17, 2013


Most of us, even those that haven’t been to Matheran, know that Matheran is home to a number of points that offer some amazing views. Few people have heard of there being any caves in Matheran.
If you ask the locals about Panther’s Cave, they will not know about it, but if you ask them about "Waghachi Gufa," which is Marathi for the same, they will guide you to this place.
Panther's Cave
I like to get lost in a place. I believe that it is only when you allow yourself to get lost, when you allow yourself to escape the trappings of maps and GPS and other man-made things that you find just what you are looking for. That is what happened in this case.
This cave is located on the other side of Olympia race course. Behind the podium is a water tank. A path from this water tank leads you to the cave.
Gold Croft is a landmark here. The cave is located very close to the Gold Croft bungalow.
Panther's Cave from the inside, now a Temple
At first glance, Panther’s Cave didn't even look like a cave. There were huge rocks everywhere. Rocks, rocks and more rocks.
Ravi had told us that an old lady who lives in the vicinity always sits there as a self-appointed guardian to the caves. We met her and she told us to keep our footwear outside as there was a temple inside the cave. She also informed us that the cave had got the name, Waghachi gufa, because a tiger used to live there at one time. She added that the cave had been naturally formed; it was not the work of human hands.
We took off our shoes and inspected the caves from the inside. We clicked a few pictures inside and then left.

Journey Neral to Dasturi Naka

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Getting out of a crowded train at Neral was a pain.

I was lucky enough to get a seat in the fast train to Karjat. The plan was to alight at Neral as my destination was Matheran. The next train was after a gap of 50 minutes, so I was sure that this train would be very crowded.

As I suspected, it was. I could not imagine having to travel so far to work every day of your life. And yet so many people have to do it, just so that they can earn a living.

Neha got in at Ghatkopar in the Ladies compartment of the train. We met at Neral at 8:29 am and decided to trek all the way to Dasturi Naka.

We kick-started our trek at 8:45 am at Neral on the road leading to Matheran.

A number of cabs going to Matheran overtook us along the way. The people in the cab appeared surprised to see us walking on a hot, sunny day. More than one of them must have thought we had lost our marbles to even consider walking all the way to Matheran in that heat.

We were supposed to reach Dasturi Naka at 12:15 pm as per our calculation. But the heat and the strain of walking along the Ghats took its toll on us and we had to take many breaks along the way. Our 2-litre bottle of water saved us.

As we walked, the climb began to get steeper and the heat more and more unbearable. We were lucky enough to get a lift from a troupe of people all packed up in a trax. There were 14 people already in it and the two of us added to the already-strained ‘comfort’ levels.

Finally at 2 pm we were at the parking lot at Dasturi Naka. It had taken us 20 minutes by Trax to get there. Had we tried to walk the whole distance, it would have taken us a little less than two hours. The roads right on top were extremely steep; all the vehicles have to shift to the first gear to manage this tricky stretch.

A big thank you to the family who helped us out.

It was a mistake on our part to even consider trekking up the road in the summer. The winter or the monsoon would have been less hard on us. The summer skimmed the cream out of us.

3 Fast Cars and a SUV

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

A few of my favorite cars, all under one roof.  Starting from the left, Audi A1, Ford GT, Lamborgini Gallardo and Audi  R8

Hand Cart

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A Cart is a  mode of transport desiged in such a way that it has two wheels and pulled by domesticated animals. A Hand Cart is pulled by one or more humans. I spotted these hand carts on my trip to Matheran.  Didn't see many takers for it. 

Dasturi naka to Matheran Market area

Monday, January 7, 2013


Having finally reached Dasturi Naka, we raised a toast to ourselves. That is, we had cold drinks and bought tickets to Matheran at a cost of Rs25 each.
From here began the muddy dirt road to Matheran. No vehicles are allowed here. The only way to travel is to walk, or ride a horse or hire a manually pulled cart.
As the railway line intersects the road leading to the market area, we decided to walk on the tracks. There was no mud or dust here, and it would get us to the market much faster. But we were not lucky enough to see the mini train on our way to the Matheran market.
Many people walk along the tracks to reach either the market area or Dasturi Naka. It takes around 30 minutes of brisk walking to reach either of the two destinations.

We checked into the first lodge we saw. At Rs 600 for two nights, it was a sweet deal, offering us spacious rooms that accommodated five beds. That is why I love off seasons.
We took a short nap as we had 28 points, Panther’s Cave and a few water tanks on our itinerary for this trip.

Pay Master Park

Friday, January 4, 2013



Pay Master Park, as the name suggests, is a garden.
I was shocked to see the sad state of this garden.
It had statues of prominent British and Parsi men. Had these statues come to life they would have died of a shock on seeing this garden.
The garden is not maintained well. The flowers and bushes are not trimmed and some parts of the garden have become a dumping yard for used plastic bottles and discarded plastic wrappers.
Incidentally Matheran is air- and noise-pollution-free. If only there was some way to rid it of the littering problem.
We then proceeded to see Lumley Seat.


Photo fo the Day - Falooda

Wednesday, January 2, 2013


I had this amazing Falooda at Badshah at Crawfort Market

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