A Very 'Berry' Summer Holiday

As the brief spell of winter in Mumbai disappears, everyone in the city gets busy preparing themselves for the gruesome summer that is going to arrive. ‘Summer is Coming’ becomes the catchphrase and the checklists for saving oneself from the horrid heat makes its way out – fluids and fruits for the body, umbrellas and sunscreens for the skin, loose cotton clothes for the wardrobe and air conditioners on rent for the house. Being a ‘Mumbaikar’ for the third year running now, I am obviously no exception to this. Even though I have spent a healthy summer childhood in Kolkata, which is equally hot and humid, every year, I unfailingly despise the summer blaze of Mumbai and crave to run to the Himalayas for some respite. My friends have often suggested that I plan my summer vacation to the Western Ghats, which is closer to Mumbai, than the Himalayan Range. But I invariably turned the suggestions down, stating that they are not mountains at all! As many would know, the Western Ghats are an extension of the Sahyadris, separating the Deccan Plateau from the Konkan Coast in India. Being an extension of the plateau region, the mountains adorning it are not as high as the Himalayas, lending a rather tropical and humid climate to the surrounding places. It seems obvious that a humid climate is of no help, especially when you wish to escape the scorching sun of the plains. My ideal summer vacation, in fact, comprises of a vision of the snow-capped Kanchenjunga from the Hotel window, hot chicken soup and steamed momos in all meals of the day and long walks on winding roads in the chilly evenings. The Western Ghats, unfortunately, did not fit this picture. Hence, I always gave such holiday plans a miss.

This year, however, my inhibitions were put to rest, when a friend from Kolkata decided to pay us a visit in one of the summer weekends. My girl gang in Mumbai voted that we should head out of town somewhere and the Western Ghats seemed to be a feasible option for our escapade. Among the many places situated near Mumbai, they zeroed down upon ‘Panchgani’ and ‘Mahabaleshwar’ as our preferred holiday destinations. I was left with no choice, but to say yes. We quickly looked up hotel options for our stay and ‘Trip Advisor’ suggested quite a few high rated ones. Many sessions of careful filtering later, we found a place which matched both our pockets and fancy - a place called ‘Shivsagar Farmhouse’. Located in between Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, Shivsagar Farmhouse offered us rooms with complimentary breakfast at a reasonable price and had convincingly high ratings on every travel website. Without further ado, we made reservations with them. Our car arrangements were made with ‘savaari.com’, a website which offers car services, with driver, for trips of varied ranges of distance, at superbly affordable rates. In a click of the mouse, our booking was confirmed. Thus, with our bags packed in a jiffy, off we went!

The driveway from Mumbai to Panchgani is stunning, to say the least. The road winds uphill, with lush green on either side, passing through long dark tunnels intermittently. Our driver, Mr. Vijay Jadhav, was extremely courteous and happily played the DJ, churning out songs from the music system of the car. We stopped in between for some snacks on the highway and picked up knick-knacks for the trip ahead. In about 4 hours, we reached Shivsagar Farm House.

As the name suggests, Shivsagar Farm house is literally a farm house which grows their own fruits and vegetables, apart from providing lodging arrangements to travelers. We could not resist taking a quick tour of the farm, browsing through the fields to spot vegetables of varied sizes, peeking from their leafy abodes. There was aubergine, green chilli, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper and coriander, among the ones we spotted. A large section of the farm was reserved for strawberry plantation, which is their major crop. The hotel Manager informed us that strawberry picking activities happen early in the morning and we could join their staff to help them. It seemed like a plan to us! With the car parked in the parking area of the hotel, Mr. Jadhav gave us a rough itinerary for the day and advised us to freshen up as soon as we could. We did as told, checking in and getting ready for the day. Soon, we headed out.

Our first destination was Rustom’s Strawberry Inn, where we decided to have lunch. The restaurant, run by a Parsi family, serves delicious Parsi delicacies and also offers a gorgeous view of the valley to its customers. The weather was hot, but not too humid and had a pleasant breeze swishing across the place. We wasted no time in ordering some of the popular Parsi dishes like dhansak, salli boti and akuri. We enjoyed our meal in a slow pace, chatting and watching the birds fly in and out of the trees of the valley. Dessert came in the form of the house special caramel custard, which was swiped off by us in seconds! With our tummies full and hearts content, we left the restaurant to begin our excursion of touristy places in Panchgani.

There are quite a few attractions in Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar, most of which are viewing points. Each of these points showcase a bird’s eye view of the valleys of Western Ghats, enveloped by layers of mountain ranges. Since we wanted a relaxed holiday, we shortlisted 2-3 points at Panchgani, taking care to not over burden ourselves. Our list comprised of the ‘Table Land’, ‘Sydney Point’, St. Peter’s School and the Mapro Strawberry Gardens. The Table Land is a vast expanse of plateau formations, overlooking the small villages downhill. It seemed like an ideal place for the Gods to have a tea party, with table like structures extending to faraway distances! The Sydney point, on the other hand, was quite uphill, boasting of a gorgeous view of the valley. An uncanny calmness engulfed us, as we reached the seating area of Sydney Point. We spent a considerable amount of time at both places, unwinding and exploring every corner. The sun was just around the corner, dressed in red, all ready to give up the stage for the moon. We were really hoping to click a photograph, given the beautiful background. Just then, a fellow traveler was passing by and we jumped at the opportunity to ask him for a click! He obliged happily, giving us a lovely photograph to remember that moment. Of course, we returned the favour, by clicking one for him. 

Having watched the sun set, we headed out for the Mapro Strawberry gardens, which is the largest Strawberry farm of the entire belt. We kept the place for last since it stays open even after sun down, something that other tourist places do not offer. On our way there, we stopped at St. Peter’s School. The school, obviously is not a tourist destination, but there was a reason we stopped by there. Music enthusiasts all over the world will most certainly be acquainted with the British band ‘Queen’, who have gifted us many cult classic songs. Their lead vocalist, Freddie Mercury is a favorite singer, songwriter and musician, having inspired me through various phases of life. Many might not know, before he became ‘Freddie Mercury’, he was ‘Farookh Balsara’, a Parsi-Gujarati by origin and he had done his schooling from none other than St. Peter’s School at Panchgani! I was excited as a child to live this fan-girl moment of visiting Freddie’s school and we stopped by outside the premises to click some photographs. Once done, we packed ourselves back in the car and started for the Mapro gardens. All these places are located at a distance of about 4-5 kilometers each, making it easier for travelers to keep as many places possible in their itinerary. As we entered the Mapro Gardens, we were awed at its scale! It has a huge section of merchandise, comprising of an array of items like jams, crushes, health drinks, candies and dessert toppings, made from the fruits they grow. There is also a restaurant and café, which serves all products strawberry! Their specialty is a dessert comprising of strawberries with fresh cream and ice-cream, which absolutely melts in the mouth! It was 9 pm when we finished the Mapro farm tour and reached the hotel. The hotel staff had spread out tables and chairs in the lawn, serving us piping hot preparations of the farm vegetables, along with roti for dinner. Weary after the day’s tour, we were delighted to see such arrangements – it was like coming home. The weather gets chilly in the evening, with cold winds whistling through the trees. We savored every bite of the sumptuous dinner served and finally, called it a night.

Day two of our trip was reserved for some sightseeing at Mahalabeshwar, which was 20 minutes away from our hotel. Mr. Jadhav suggested that we visit the Pratapgad Fort, situated at about 20 kilometers ahead of Mahabaleshwar, which attracts many tourists for its historical background. We were a little apprehensive about exploring a fort in the heat, but Mr. Jadhav assured that it could be managed if we finished our tour by noon. We agreed and started our journey for the day.

The Pratapgad Fort is located atop a hill and is best explored with the help of a guide. Our guide, Mr. Janardan Patil, explained to us that the fort was built by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Maratha’s Great Warrior, to protect the banks of Nira and Koyna rivers from enemy attack. The Battle of Pratapgad, fought between Shivaji and arch-rival Afzal Khan, took place right below the fort, thereby making it a monument of grave significance in the establishment of the Maratha empire. The architecture of the fort is typically stone built, where at every step, there is a provision for soldiers of the home ground to tackle the enemy. Various artifacts and weapons are strewn throughout the fort and Janardan ji took much care to narrate the chilling stories attached with every corner of the fort. There are two major points of attraction inside the fort – the temple of ‘Tulja Devi’, the goddess whom the royal family worshiped and the topmost point of the fort. Legend says that Tulja Devi had gifted a sword and shield to Shivaji, which protected him in many treacherous combats. After a flight of 200 stairs from the temple is the top of the fort. Adorned by a massive statue of Shivaji, it gives a majestic view of all corners of Pachgani and Mahabaleshwar. There are several small shops and establishments inside the fort, selling a variety of food and handicraft items. What stunned us was how the locals had recycled some of the fort artifacts for running these shops. For instance, small fountains were being utilized as grinders to make buttermilk for thirsty travelers! One hour of exploring later, we bid Janardan ji goodbye and came downhill to scout for lunch places. Among the many recommended restaurants, we took a detour to Panchgani to lunch at the very popular ‘Lucky’ restaurant. Their delectable dishes include chicken rolls, bun maska, omlettes and Irani chai. We sat out most of the afternoon there, waiting for the heat to subside. As the weather got a bit comfortable, we ventured out again, heading towards another viewing point called ‘Arthur’s Seat’.

Arthur’s Seat has a tragic story to tell. It is said that Sir Arthur used to sit there and stare at the Kaveri river downhill, where his wife and kid had drowned one unfortunate night. It was rather depressing. The place is, however, popular for one more reason – it has an uncanny characteristic of making light weight objects float in the air. A little boy there was selling small soda bottle caps, which one could use to test this phenomenon. It seemed an impossible thing to us and we bought a bunch of caps from the boy to check. As we tossed a cap into the valley, it flew right up into the sky, in stark contrast to the laws of gravity! We had never seen anything like that before! We continued the cap throwing contest for a while, munching on some snacks and soda being sold in the small stalls there.

Our evening that day was spent at the Venna lake, which is a preferred destination for many tourists to watch sunset. We hired and rowed a boat across the 30 feet deep lake, enjoying the breeze and the view around. We headed back to the hotel after, repeating our dinner of freshly cooked food, over some local ‘Kingberry’ strawberry wine and laughter. Our short trip to the Western Ghats, had officially come to an end.

As we checked out and headed back to the same old city life, we reminisced our favorite moments of the trip. Some voted for the sunset at Sydney Point, while some said that the top of the Pratapgad Fort gave them a holiday high. I, on the other hand, thought that the strawberry fresh cream dessert at Mapro Gardens was all I needed in life. In fact, we made of list of strawberry items that we had consumed in the trip – fresh strawberry juice, strawberry milkshake, strawberry ice cream, strawberry wine and salted strawberries to munch on with the wine! Still, somehow, it didn’t seem overdone. We were now homeward, from a very 'berry' summer holiday.