"A trip to Matheran - निसर्गरम्य माथेरान"

Matheran Hill Station

Matheran is a small hill station of Maharashtra, located on the western ghats also known as Sahyadri Mountain Range at an height of 2625 ft above sea level. Sahyadri mountain range is spread across many states in India from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu parallel to the western coast. This mountain range influences the monsoon in India and plays a very important role for the climatic changes in India.

Matheran is a "Nature's Gem" located in Karjat Tehsil in the Raigad District of Maharashtra. It was discovered by "Hugh Poyntz Malet" in the year 1850 and then "Lord Elphinstone" developed it into a Hill station. Originally it was used by British Goverment Officers for relaxing during the Hot Indian Summer season. They build few Resorts for their long stay during Summer and then it became Summer hill station of Maharashtra.

My love for Matheran started much before I had ever visited it. It was in my school days, not remember much whether I was in 5 or 6th standard, there was a poem in Marathi text book "Nisargramya Matheran". Our Marathi teacher was also an Maharashtrian and had good command on English too, she used to read this poem in Marathi so well that I used to visualize the place as she reads and then she translated in English. It was since that day that I wanted to go to Matheran and have a look at this Natural and Beautiful place. Although I didn't got any such chance till my schooling.

My first visit to Matheran was with my cousins and relatives, it was a family one day picnic. I remember it was early 5am in the morning when we had left for Matheran in Sumo, a private vehicle which we had hired for a day. This was their first time too at Matheran and on mountain picnic in Maharashtra. It was a good start for all from Aman lodge towards Matheran hill station walking on the railway track. Then horse ride to some points and back home, we reached by 10:30pm and all of us were very tired. This was my first visit, but being with many we had not explored entire Matheran because all were tired of walking in red mud and stony uneven road.

End of my first visit but a Beginning of my Quest to explore and live the nature at its best at Matheran. A few years later I had once again got a chance to trek on the hill of Western ghats to "One Tree Hill" a famous point at Matheran. Here we as a Group and myself got a chance to explore the natural beauty of Matheran. After that I had numerous visits to this place, exploring a new point every time and spending my time with nature.

Today I will share a small day picnic with two of my friends to Matheran in monsoon. Matheran has a very soothing environment and a pleasant atmosphere all year around. It just depends on Once choice, how he or she likes to enjoy, one thing for sure I can tell, is if you give time to nature you get rewarded back in some way or the other. Matheran can be visited in summer, monsoon and in winter season too, the best way to enjoy Nature at its best at Matheran is only Monsoon.

It has been long enough since I and Shahina are friends now we have a new friend Shree into our company. Three of us have travelled a lot to different destinations whenever time permits. This was our first monsoon trip which we were planning  since very long time. Before we started our monsoon trip to Matheran, we thought to make it more exciting by travelling on our motorbikes. So three of us started early morning from Badlapaur by 05:30am on our bike to Matheran, I remember it was not raining when we started. Early morning cold breeze and and open land as you come out of city limits towards karjat road, through greenery and road besides railway track we were cruising on our bike towards our destination. Just before the ghat starts, rain started pouring lightly and the surrounding started getting misty. It was just a wonderful experience driving in rain and on the ghat of Matheran, as we started driving on the ghat the rain suddenly started pouring heavily. It was so heavy that we had to stop, so we stopped near a small waterfall which had just appeared after this rain started. 

It was pouring heavily and was hurting us, the droplets were big and force was also very heavy. We rushed to a small shade nearby, where a person was selling corn. We had charcoal roasted corn covered with lemon and sprinkled with chilly and salt, hot corn in rainy season is always a great delight. As the rain slowed, we moved ahead on the zig-zag mountain road. The entire surrounding was super cool, misty and the road was empty just perfect for a smooth monsoon ride towards Dasturi Naka, the end of manmade road. Dasturi Naka is end of road towards Matheran where you can drive, thereafter you can either walk or go on Horse or by Toy Train to Matheran Hill Station.

Finally at the start of a Beautiful Monsoon Journey to Matheran from Dasturi naka, we parked our bikes and had a cup of hot tea at a small canteen in the misty atmosphere of  the beautiful Matheran hill station. It was very chilling out there as we moved towards the entry ticket counter to buy our tickets, just after five steps starts the natural surrounding, red mud and stony uneven natural road of the mountains. Just after a walk of 7-10 mins we reached the Toy Train ticket counter but we decided not to board one, instead opted to walk through the railway track which passes by the valley of this beautiful mountain. The major attraction of every youngster when they come to Matheran is the walk on the railway track towards the top of the hill. You can sometimes see senior citizens too, who are fit and fine and who love the company of nature. So slowly and steadily we moved ahead on the track enjoying the natural forest surrounding, lush greenary and the sound of the raindrops pouring steadily in the silence of the mountains. The not so clear sight of the valley due to the clouds spread across, gives you a heavenly experience all together. As you move ahead you feel the clouds passing by you and feel the chill through you spine, the atmosphere changes constantly on the hills sometimes raining and sometimes clear sky and bright sunlight. 

Toy Train Matheran

When the train passes by there is a different enthusiasm among the pedestrians and the passengers on the train shouting in excitement and enjoying the trail. It was and is always a great experience to climb the hill through the track, I have done it a several times at Matheran and is my favourite activity. One the sides of the track, through passing by clouds, sometimes clear sometimes foggy, view of the valley covered with clouds and the feeling of being on the top of the clouds, just cannot be missed, now finally we reached Matheran hill station.

It was rainy season so the rain started pouring again, we had some refreshment and moved ahead.  Madhavji Point was our first point of visit, it's a small garden just after you finish walking through the streets of the main market in Matheran. It is a well maintained garden, a perfect place to relax with benches placed on every corner of the garden, it has a small fountain which attracts childrens and is lighted every night. At the end of the garden you can see the valley which presents a picturesque view. Then we moved to our next point that is Khandala point, people say from this point you can see Khandala Hill station, we couldn't spot as it was raining. The climate gets very cold at Matheran when it's raining, we could feel the chill but still we were enjoying. 

Do you know why Matheran hill station is called Natural Paradise or "Nisargramya Matheran" ? I will tell you, it is because it's away from vehicular traffic, no concrete roads, natural red mud and stony paths that remind of the olden days, where there was no motor vehicle introduced to the world. Weather changes can be experienced throughout the day, clouds passing by and fog such that you cant see beyond. Silence of the forest, birds chirping all day and the beautiful sound of the waterfall in the silence. It has a large variety of plants that have medicinal properties, dense forest, valley and pure and natural air and water. All of this helps to rejuvenate you health, keeps your mind relaxed away from the hustle of urban life. It was being declared as Eco-sensitive hill station in the year 2003, since then till date it the only hill station of India which has no vehicular traffic.

Coming back to our story, the three of us had explored few of the points, so now we were moving towards Charlotte Lake, the most beautiful point of Matheran. While walking towards Charlotte lake, we missed one turn which led us to a very long road, this road was deep into the forest, densely populated with tall trees, few passing by streams and absolutely silent. Slightest of noise could be heard, we were alone and couldn't spot anyone passing around, suddenly the afternoon turned dark, misty and its started raining heavily. We had just managed to dry ourselves and were feeling warm, but now we were wet again and started shivering, the temperature dropped sharply as we were walking and the silent was now getting scary with no one around. We felt someone was coming towards us but due to the mist we couldn't see, only thing we could here was the steps which we moving towards us. As we came nearby we spotted a dog and were looking at each other and laughing, "khoda pahad nikla kutta" is what Shahina told. After that we were laughing about the incident and walking for a few minutes we could see Charlotte lake and could here noise of people around, the rain stopped and the weather started clearing once again.

Charlotte Lake is a very wonderful and most picturesque spot of Matheran surrounded by lush greenery from three sides and waterfall on the forth side, it is the best place to relax and enjoy for as much as one wants too. This lake is the major source of water for entire Matheran, preserved by a dam built  near the valley. As we reached the lake it again started raining very heavily and the wind started blowing which dropped the atmosphere and we were shivering once again. The level of the water started rising quickly and soon the bridge to cross the lake was closed, so now we were stuck on one side and couldn't cross, the only way was to go back the entire way which we had travelled to reach Charlotte lake and take a round turn to the opposite side. This was going to consume a lots of time so we decided to wait until the water level comes down. Now we had lots of time to spend around the lake, nearest point to the lake is Lord point, so we visited it and enjoyed the beautiful view of the lush green valley and the western ghats surrounding this beautiful hill station, this view can only be available in monsoon. The rain started slowing so we moved towards the lake in hope of crossing it, as soon as we reached near the bridge the rain had stopped ad the water level was also dropping down very fast through the waterfall from the dam. It was a very pleasant sight that we had experienced, the trip was about to get over as we had to reach home before it gets dark. So we started crossing the dam towards the other side and walked towards Matheran railway station. On the way walking it again rained heavily so we stopped at a corner stall where a vendor was selling hot grilled corn. Its always a delight to bite into a spicy and salty hot sweetcorn in rainy season, so we had some. It was really very sweet and spicy and we enjoyed till the last bite. The rain had now stopped and it was sunny once again we continued walking and reached Matheran station, there was still 15 mins. for the train to depart so we decided to click some pictures with " I LOVE MATHERAN" banner just ahead of the railway station to enhance our memories of Matheran.

TRULY Matheran is a Natural wonder, still untouched by Technology and urbanization. A best place in Maharashtra to relax, rejuvenate your mind, body and soul, truly its "Nisargaramya Matheran".