Returning to Childhood

Exactly 2 weeks from now, I was in a different world with the same people that I am now, but doing something different. Not far from the gregarious metropolis Mumbai is place called Matheran. My friend asked me what it means I deciphered the word and gave her a literal meaning, ‘the forest on the forehead’. ‘Matha’ as in forehead and ‘Ran’ meaning forest. I don’t know if my answer was correct but nonetheless I told her and she bought it, confidence can do wonders huh!

It was a last minute plan like all our plans and a result of a flop plan ‘A’. trust me there is a reason why plan ‘A’ fails, and a good one. We were scheduled to go to my grandmother’s house. A village on the outskirts of the city and on the verge of breaking puberty and entering town-hood.

But, didn’t happen. Somewhere am glad it didn’t happen, of course I made a sad face and promised a visit to my grandma for the next month. So plan B was made within 2 hrs. One of my friend’s family friends lived in a village at the foothill of Matheran called ‘Neral’. It’s a nice serene village with rivers, farms and spacious village homes. We had decided to stay in one such house and laze around, relax; gossip and simply spend time TOGETHER for 3 whole days. The day we were supposed to reach the house of our host had turned into a night. 3 lone girls on a not so familiar railway station, at such an ungodly hour (8pm). Our minus scoring with our host had started right away. After the dinner and some formal chat in the verandah a new quick plan was formed, to go to Matheran. Instantly our host offered to send his daughter with us so that we would have someone who knew the place well, with us. We agreed, only to realize later that this was our time a vacation for JUST the three. Next morning the we told her off as politely as we could, while she was getting ready to go. Point minus 2 strike. Somehow she seemed okay about it. So we left at 10 am, almost an hour late promising to return by 5pm.

Super excited about this vacation and not believing that finally it was gonna be just the 3 of us. We reached the Aman lodge station from where on it’s a 1 hr walk up to Matheran, 2 if you stop at every other tree and stone to click predefined random pictures. The time we reached Matheran and the time they started the toy train after the monsoon break was the same. It was fun to witness the celebrations and firecrackers and a beautifully decorated, bride-like train.

At the entry to Matheran you can find plenty of horses and their owners pelting you to take their services, they are pretty much like taxis at airport waiting for foreigners. There is a thin line between off season and peak season for this tourist spot. Most city dwellers treat it as weekend get-away. So nothing, absolutely nothing is rightly priced, forget about cheap. The only free thing here was the spirit of this place and loads of free oxygen. Matheran is a perfect example of tourist friendly forest, with defined footways, proper railings and eating stalls and signboards at places the only thing lacks is toilets and water coolers, even water is expensive here. Riding an 18 hands, bright white, royal horse was fun, but it came with and equally royal price. But we were determined to have fun. The horseman showed us some lame tourist points but what we wanted was a little adventure. ohh yess we got plenty of it later.

The last point was the echo point, just as we thought our trip would end sooner than expected my friend spotted a red tshirt flying across the valley, ofcourse there was a man in it, or may be a woman, who knows and who cares. All that we cared was there was valley crossing happening in the vicinity.

Most sports and fun things are shut during the monsoons for safety sake and also cause the area is really cut off from the main world in the sense of quick transport. We left our horses and took to walking and exploring the place at our own pace and in our own direction. Finally we reached the spot. A trekking group had put up the equipments and selling people the sport of valley crossing. 250 rs for a thrill of 30 secs. Like I said we were determined to have fun. After asking the poor fellow more than dozen questions and forcing them to click our pictures with the ropes (well we all needed a proof of this one!!) we literally flew across the valley. They were the most FREE 30 secs of my life. It was like hiring wings from a bird. It was too good and too short a moment. The moment I reached the other side I wanted more. We all did. A wide smile split across our faces reluctant to leave.

Nevertheless we kept moving, spending another 250rs for another 30 secs was out of question. Wandering and clicking more random pictures, collecting dry leaves and trying to spot rare birds we got lost in the woods. It wasn’t the cleared footway anymore but a real jungle beneath our feet and crooked branches across our faces. Thankfully we weren’t the only lost, the group who crossed the valley after us were also there but equally lost and cracking jokes about it. That’s the fun part of being lost with strangers; you are both trying to be strong and dependent on each other at the same time. Finally after 10 mins or so we reached the main track and started walking back to the Matheran station. Hungry, short of money, but still happy and wanting for more adventure, we were past our 5pm limit. We packed extremely tasteless and overpriced sandwiches to catch the last toy train available. We missed it. So we went back to the market had some PROPER, yet again tasteless and overpriced food before we set on foot again. Just to realize that the one we missed was 2^nd last train, NOW we missed the last train. So on foot it was for us. Tired and hungry again we set out halfway down the hill and we were tempted to take up a room in a lodge spend the night in this beautiful jungle and set out at earliest next morning. MONEY was our only glitch. So once again with perking ourselves we started downhill. The sky had turned sepia. Soft thundering noise started to fall on our ears. The scene was breathtaking and the best part was we were in it. Right in the middle. Soon it started to drizzle, kind of happy about it; honestly we all wanted to spend the night there. The drizzle became a bit stronger and so did the lodge rates. In a desperate attempt my friend requested a group of odd 11 strangers to accommodate us for the night in their rooms, ofcourse politely enough they rejected. At that she remembered a lodge she had stayed in last trip, he had no rooms, he sent us to a ‘Hira bai’ by the way, by now the sky was pouring. Hira bai sent is to her daughter in law. 3 puny girls stranded in rain, with no luggage as such, looking for a room only for the night. For any other bargaining would have been out of question. Not for us. We bargained! And bargained pretty well, honestly we didn’t have enough money and we had planned to keep the local temple as our last resort. Thankfully we got the room. It was a warm, clean room with a clean loo, tv and home delicious cooked food. It rained pretty much the whole night and the electricity was cut too. Candle light dinner, gossips and chats in that dark strange house with thundering outside and occasionally snorting horses, perfect set up for friends to have a great time and watch funny pictures clicked in the day. God I must say I hadn’t laughed so hard for no reason in a really long time. Minus point 3 strikes. Our host was probably pulling his hair by now for promising my friends father to accommodate our vacation. 3 girls stuck in the rain staying in some random lodge, not a good impression for them.

The next morning, as we had promised the owner, we paid the amount and left before 8am. We set out on foot once again. Clicking pictures, posing, dancing on tracks, standing in front of the toy train, getting mad looks from the motor man. In those moments of not having bathed, eating without brushing our teeth and carelessly fooling around was our childhood in front of us all over again.

Further ahead while dancing and goofing we spotted a patch, off the road beyond the secured wall, a patch of lush green and soft sunlight, a patch full of butterflies. Black, blue and orange. If chasing butterfly is a must do activity in childhood, I am glad am still a child, for that is what we did for a freaking hour or more. We chased them, clicked their pictures and oh yesss, caught them! Held those tender wings in my hands, and then felt the soft tickle of their wings against my palm as I set them free. It was the most perfect morning of my life ever. Quite literally dancing in the sunlight and on dried leaves we finally reached the end of our happy 3 day weekend. I don’t know what was the best part of this trip, being with my best buds after a long time, being in a forest after a long time, being open to adventure after a long time, letting someone build a bad impression and still doing as we wished, after a long time……frankly I think it was all of it, especially being a child and being happy after a reallllly long time.

I wish life was just an account of such mini vacations, ofcourse without brooding us with the account of cash we spend on them: P