Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Atlast into hibernation i go.....



Who doesn’t love to go into hibernation,once in a while?
With the sun always rising-in-the-East and setting-in-the-West type of mundane schedules, nothing like pepping it up with a vacation, ain’t it?

Since my Rajasthan plans toppled and disappeared without a sign, I had to make do with the last-minute travel plan to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani.

The train journey from Hyd to Pune was uneventful (no kids crying and no drunken fights to be witnessed) and was spent in devouring the lip-smacking aloo-palak and rotis I’d made. The next day saw me donning the avatar of TMK (Tol Mol Ke Bol, a nick-name given by A to officially announce my bargaining skills!!) and in order not to let him down, I successfully managed to arrange a taxi from Pune to M’war for 900 bucks (n the rates had started at 1500!)

Day two we started on a 5km trek to the Tableland of Panchgani.
Tableland is an absolutely stunning flat stretch of land running to 6kms and overlooking the valley.
The story of Pandavas being there seems like a load of horseshit; as if people would visit the place only in case it has any mythological references!
Anywayz we took a tonga ride for the entire stretch and my friends were ready to throw me out in case I utter ‘nother word of pity for the horse (poor thing, itz not as if 4 well-fed adults are made of feathers!!!)

Day three saw us climbing up and down hills since we decided to cover all points of importance in Mahabaleshwar. Now what would happen if ppl, whose daily dose of exercise comprises of taking a flight of stairs or walking till the corner shop down the road, start trekking??? Blistered feet and sweat strained photos but in the end, it was all worth it.


Frankly I had underestimated the beauty of both these hill stations and they say that it is even more beautiful during the monsoon. The Sayadhri ranges are beautiful – sometimes they appear dry and dusty and at other times it is filled with lush-green valleys. The Krishna river has never looked more beautiful and watching sunset was ‘nother of those Wordsworthy moments (They flash upon that inward eye … types)



Now coming to food and drinks – I loved every bit of the sweet corn they sell all over the place there –fresh and juicy, u can almost gobble it in 2 minutes (now u know where all those so called ‘American Sweet Corn’ comes from??)
Totally freaked out on the vada-pav, which was served piping hot and spicy. Unfortunately for us, this year the monsoon had affected the strawberry plantation hence they weren’t yet out in the market. And u get these yummy dates which are flavored to taste exactly like sweet-paan and I gobbled so many of them ,not forgetting to bring back boxes of them.
The resort din’t serve alcohol but we sneaked in a few bottles of vodka and had a fun party in the room!

So what r u waiting for?? strawberrys r beckoning...

17 comments:

Sujit said...

wow.. seems like adventures trek!!.. have fun..

Trevor Penn said...

Aha... it's been a long time since i was there last but i very vividly remember tableland... and the cove kinda restaurant there...

the strawberrys, shrewsberrys and figs were awesome and don't they make some of the best chikki around there.. .yummy...

Happy holidays

Anonymous said...

I am sure Panchgani was beautiful..

Anonymous said...

:) now dats a good note to end the year on. :) glad to read ur doings :)

RT said...

oh cool..!! mahableshwar and panchgani are best places to be in Winter..
Talking about food, did you have the jumbo sandwiches in Mapro garden? Totally lip-smacking..!!
And the table land tonga rides are the most amusing with all these young tonga drivers gloating about all yesteryear heroes and heroines, (who probably retired even before they were born) who seemed to have blessed their land. :)

zee said...

the place looks beautiful !

~RAUL~ said...

good good...
and the pic is stunning...urs i mean...

:d :d :D

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@Sujit,
well i wudn't say it was very adventurous trek, but yaa it was a much-awaited break.

@Shank
yup, as with Kandala n Lonavla, M'war also offers yummy chikki :))

@pallavi
i thot u'd have already covered Panchgani on one of those bike/jeep expeditions :)

@zombiee
absolutely!great note to end this yr. on, now i only wish my new yr. party is jus as gud.

@rt
missed those jumbo sandwiches
:((

n these days, the yesteryr. heroes bin replaced by Raja Hindustani n Khiladi

@Venus
i seriously din expect the landscape there to be so beautiful ,it is definetly worth a visit

@raul
u naughty boy, i knew what pictures u were alluding to ;)

FlyingHigh said...

Strawberries? Sweet corn? All the food talk is making me hungry, and I just had my lunch!

I think Aamir khan is honeymooning in Panchgani right now...

I'd like to hibernate myself, it wont happen this year though ;)

anumita said...

Wow!! You lucky lucky thing! When will I go and eat corn and vada pav at these places? Unfortunately dear Aamir has banned anyone else not invited by him, from going there right now.

Unknown said...

lucky u!!! and those are beautiful pics.

Anonymous said...

seems like u had loads of fun...

and heres Wishing you A Very Happy And Prosperous New Year

cherubic_chipmunk said...

'tis bin a long time since i visitd de place but the vague memories of it sends me into raptures...lucky u!!!
n wish u a gr8 year ahead...c ya

~RAUL~ said...

whose pic is it? urs? wow ...amazing...

:D :D :D

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@Shradha
hope u'd gone on long hibernations this yr :)

@anumita
i thot it is the most frequented place by Mumbaites... anywayz u made it up by going for ur picnic.


@shyo
luks like my fotography is seeing a major improvement these days


@sangeetha
much as I hate the myriad problems which are a part of India, it also offers lotza places worth visiting -both in North and South India.
jus make it a point to go into the hibernation mode...

@Vicky
yup i did have lotza fun n thanx for ur wishes,Hope u have a Wonderful 2006

@C_c
so my blog did take u down the memory lane...
Wish U also a Fantabulous New Year

@raul
luks like 'the company' is not giving u enuf work these days :))

~RAUL~ said...

oh don't ask abt 'the company'...its killing me these days... maybe time for me to take the way out !!!

and u did not answer my question...is the amazing pics urs ? 'cause i know someone who looks just like this :) :)

u're rite..no work(as usual !!!)
:D :D

Swathi Sambhani aka Chimera said...

@sita
'am glad u dropped by, so how r u doing??

@raul
heights of joblessness i tell yaa... (yes,u guess it right,tat foto is of my twin sister:))