Southern India Revisited

February 24-27 2013

It is not difficult to see why the British, after discovering Matheran in 1850, decided to build vacation homes on the extensive flat top of the mountain. Matheran translates as ‘Forested Forehead’ and amidst all the barren hills, it is just that; forested, which means there is an abundant water supply. At 807m above sea level, the climate is never as hot as the arid plains, it is not far from Mumbai and the views are spectacular. My only complaint is that during the dry season, when we visited, it is dusty. Returning from a walk on the many forest trails you discover that your feet, pant legs and all uncovered skin has a layer of red dust. I am going to have to pass off my red soled feet as the latest in henna tattoo designs.

We booked three nights, with three pure vegetarian meals per day, at the Regal Hotel. Started in 1935, it was a favourite of the British and is now popular with Indian tourists. There was a large pool that we used all by ourselves every afternoon. Our room was large and simply furnished with a nice porch to sit on at the front. The meals were varied and spicy Indian style, as we like it. A feature I liked was afternoon tea served on our front porch.

We came to Matheran to walk and we were not disappointed. We headed out each of the two mornings we were there in a different direction using a map supplied by the hotel. The path system was extensive and well posted, pointing the way to several lookout points. The views were spectacular of rocky peaks above haze shrouded valleys. A few of the lookouts had zip lines connecting the points but no one was around to offer us a trip to remember, thank goodness. I expect there would be more walkers and horse riders on the paths on the weekends, but we had the paths almost to ourselves on the Monday and Tuesday we were there. We caught up with a British couple, Peter and Anne, from Cheddar on Tuesday, following the same route as we were. We agreed that we foreigners were definitely in the minority in Matheran but that everyone was very friendly.

We returned from our walk on Monday to find our laundry that we had washed and hung out to dry behind our room, in a clump on a chair on our front porch. We realized the monkeys had been busy. Curious George of children’s book fame had come to Matheran. We had asked if it was safe to hang our clothes outside and were told there would be no problem. We forgot to get the monkey’s promise to let things be. All the clothes were there, with new red dust stains, except for the new silk night shirt I had made in Mamallapuram. We reported the problem and the staff searched the property for the missing item without success. I decided to have a look on the other side of the high wall surrounding the property. Sure enough, my night shirt was stuck on a branch high above the ground. Several of the staff came with me to see how to retrieve the errant gown. One man climbed the tree, being careful of its wicked thorns and partially dislodged it. Another man threw a small rock at it and down it came. It was quite dusty but it wasn’t torn. I had to wash it several times to get rid of the red dirt, but it came out almost as good as new. Later I watched a small monkey try to put on a red shirt it had stolen from someone else’s laundry. Any laundry we hung out after that was in the front with us sitting guard.

According to the schedule listed at the Matheran train station there was a train every day at 7 AM and again at 9:50 AM. Tickets go on sale 45 minutes before the train leaves. We were in plenty of time for the 9:50 AM train. With the help of a friendly local Indian man, Farhaan, we found out that the sign in Hindi stated that the 9:50 train was cancelled. It is getting to be the off season for Matheran and a full schedule of trains can only be expected on the weekends. We weren’t the only people disappointed, but we were powerless to change the situation. We did get a short ride on the train. Instead of going all the way down to Neral station, the mini-train shuttles back and forth to the car park. The train arrived from Neral and unloaded people and goods for the stores in town. While men were loading sacks of vegetables onto a cart, a monkey jumped down from the station roof and grabbed an egg from a stack of cartons going to a restaurant. He was too quick and practised for anyone to catch him. About 10 AM the train was full and we started off slowly down the narrow gauge track. It took 20 minutes to reach the end of the line and another 20 minutes to walk to the car park where minivans waited for passengers.

We opted for a shared taxi going to Neral train station i.e. two passengers and the driver on the front two seats and four of us squished in the back seat. Thank goodness the driver was not a race car driver like our driver coming up the hill to Matheran. We were at the station just in time to buy a first class ticket on the ‘fast’ train to Mumbai, and off we went, only 15 minutes late. First class didn’t guarantee you a seat but ray and I got the last two available. By the time we had stopped at a few more stations, it was barely standing room in the car. Almost two hours later we were at the Dadar station, just north of Mumbai city center. We got a cab from there, right to Hotel Colombus, close to the airport. Our plane leaves at 6 AM tomorrow morning so there will be no sleeping in tonight.