Weekend à Khandala

                                           Weekend  at  Khandala..!

                                                                            

                                                                                                                            By Vaish & Amu

Oooh La La......

                                                                                                           

So, this is me, a Mumbaikar (presently!), traveller, explorer, wanderer and finally, a Civil Engineer!! So what am I doing here right? I guess everyone somewhere inside loves to travel and explore, I’m no exception, and even I carry the same genes in me. So, not everyone gets the free time to pursue their interest by travelling, I mean people like me who often tend to arrange some time out on weekends, try to go somewhere close by, especially if you stay in Pune or Mumbai, and if it’s rainy season, the cities have a lot to offer. This article is about one such experience.

As often I used to visit Mumbai before, for work purposes, I normally used to prefer Trains as the journey doesn’t go boring because the views that you get to see on your way just make up for your loneliness in case you’re travelling alone! Whenever I used to go from those specific areas, I always used to feel like getting down from the train and just getting lost in those forests situated in the hills, this heaven that I’m talking about – KHANDALA!

Enlightenment:

To introduce this place where the best time to travel is in the Rainy seasons from June to September mainly, it is a Hill Station situated almost in the middle of Pune and Mumbai hardly 68 Kms from Pune and around 80 Kms from Mumbai. The nearest airports available in the proximity are Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai (87 Kms) and Pune International Airport (77 Kms). For places like Khandala or Lonavala which are well known and also happen to be close neighbors, one can easily reach there, thanks to the numerous options available from either Pune or Mumbai, like trains, buses, cabs or one can even drive down using the hassle free Mumbai – Pune expressway. You just have to decide to come here, even if it’s on the eleventh hour, you’ll just be fine! The main attractions here are Rajmachi fort, Kune waterfalls, Lion’s point, Srivardhan fort and many more. It fascinates the tourists of almost all age groups because of its diversity of options available. Trekking lovers can have their way to the forts, nature lovers can take a halt at any of the points like Lion Point or Shooting Point or the Rajmachi point, this place never disappoints anyone!

Lonavala and Khandala are famous for one of its eatables like ‘Chikki’ a sweet made of Jaggery and Peanuts but also available in other numerous flavors, apart from this the other ones that come along are 'fudge', also a type of sweet and also Jelly sweets. Fudges are mainly preferred from a famous shop in Lonavala called ‘Cooper’s Fudges and Chikkis’ but chikkis, they can be purchased from anywhere in Lonavala from a famous shop chain, all of them with the same name ‘Maganlal Chikki’ all of them being good.

So, talking about my experience here, it was the month of July, the clouds had started pouring regularly now and the weather almost had taken a huge leap turning itself from the most irritating one to the most pleasant one! So taking advantage of this opportunity, I along with my 2 to 3 office colleagues decided to visit Khandala which I like to call a paradise in itself.

Chapter One – The Arrival

It was a fine early morning when we rushed to Pune station for our 6:00 AM ‘Local’ (Train that runs within the city or near city proximity areas) as we call it here, which we mostly prefer as our carrier while travelling because we don’t tend to miss out any chance to have fun and being in a Train just makes you free unless you’re driving and the one driving just has to focus and stay away from the rest. So as we started, amidst all the fun lasting for almost an hour and a half, we didn’t realize that we had already reached our venue. Next, just by getting down on the station and taking a look around you get that vibe that the day is going to be really amazing when you get to see this for your welcomes.

(Khandala Railway Station)

(A View from Railway Station)

The station happens to be just like in the horror movies as a vacant and quiet one with just one person on the Ticket Counter and by looking at whom we feel jealous that he has the best job in the world! Ek to being in a place like Khandala and secondly no hectic work no targets no deadlines, just attend people as they come or ‘if’ they come!

As it was an early morning journey for us, we were really hungry as we had reached the place so we decided to stop by a famous restaurant called ‘Vithal Kamat’ suggested by the people after we asked them on our way out. The beauty of garma garam bhajiyas and chai with a view like this on the outside, Perfect isn’t it?

(View from the Hotel Vithal Kamat)

So finally after settling down and getting a good amount of energy after our breakfasts we decided to head at a well-known spot called:

Chapter Two – The Rajmachi Point:

The Rajmachi point is a point 6.5 Kms away from Lonavala in the direction of Mumbai, opposite to which you get the view of the historical fort ‘Rajmachi’ which also means ‘Royal Terrace’, it was owned by the great Maratha leader ‘Shivaji Maharaj’. At Rajmachi point one can enjoy the scenic views of the valleys and greenery covering it on all sides and also witness the view of the beautiful ‘Kune Waterfalls’.

(View of Kune Waterfalls from Rajmachi Point)

(A scenic view from the Ghats of the Rajmachi Point)

(A scenic view from the Ghats of the Rajmachi Point)

Chapter Three – The Rajmachi Fort:

The famous Rajmachi Fort situated in the Sahyadri Mountains consists of two twin fortresses called ‘Shriwardhan Ballekilla’ and ‘Manaranjan Balekilla’, this fort had played a strategic role in the First Anglo-Maratha War. It has been declared as a protected monument. The Shriwardhan fort was used for official purposes, to keep an eye on the trade and commerce while the Manaranajan Fort was used for leisure and entertainment purposes.

It is always a thrilling experience here for Trek lovers as we had opted for, being one of them. There are two approaches to Fort Rajmachi, one being from Lonavala and other being from Kondivde or Kondhane village in Karjat taluka of Raigad district. We had opted for the first route and our starting point was near to the ‘Della Adventures’. One can get a Sumo hired from the start point which is near to 'Della Adventures' to drop you off at Udhewadi (Rajmachi). We had hired a TATA SUMO and had just preferred the vehicle for a short suitable distance as we were really excited for our Trek. The distance to traverse is approximately 15 Kms and it takes almost 2 and a half hours for anyone to cover the same. The path is plain but rugged with few ups and downs consisting passing from a jungle surrounding the road and series of waterfalls with hill on one side and valley on the other.

It’s almost like you’re on your way to heaven!! It’s a place where all our expectations regarding any Hill station would come true. As you advance your way towards the top, you see various people on the way of almost all ages, the excitement that they carry with them, the small of conversations that you have on your way, you just get separated from your boring routine for a day and enjoy everything that comes your way. Further the Rains, the waterfalls, the dense Trees surrounding you as you progress and finally as you arrive at your destination and realize that you almost had started from the mountain that you are starring which is on the opposite direction, the journey being so full of excitements you almost don’t realize that you have made it to the other end!

Chapter Four – The Wrap up:

Guess this is the part that we all wish shouldn’t have come especially when we are having such a wonderful time right? but as they say, ‘if everyone is rich, in totality, no one’s actually rich’ so we actually realize how exciting the day was, when we start to realize that it is time to wrap it up but the good thing that comes along or at least how I console myself in such situation is by planning another such event in the near proximity of time which keeps you excited! So moving on, as we started our descending journey, it had started to rain heavily and we were all wet again but that’s what we had come there for in the first place and that charged our energy levels even more! step by step, foot by foot the march continued till we finally could see our inception point which also happened to be the beginning point of the waterfall that we were gazing from the other end. It is confusing I know!

EPILOGUE:

My opinion, you have got to give this place a chance and it can be guaranteed that you can’t even imagine the things that you would experience on the way. Some things are meant to be kept a secret and are to be witnessed in actuality because you cannot describe the beauty of them until they happen with you, so I won’t spill them out here, but maybe you could find them out yourself. On that note, why don’t you actually plan a weekend here? Lastly, I would like to advice the readers as whenever you guys visit such a place always keep its cleanliness intact and try not to litter around as the Nature can be best enjoyed only in its natural form.

Travel responsibly

We often get to see at any tourist place that, couple names are written on the walls, it is my sincere request to all to kindly avoid doing such things also stop someone if you see him / her doing so, as our places that we love to visit are also our pride and such things don’t leave a good mark on the visitors and also Foreigners who travel down to our country to explore it.