Matheran and Mumbai

Thanks to my brother ... my Pune trip has always been very eventful and memorable. When I step out of Hyderabad, leaving behind an un-happening life there, I look forward to Pune and specially Ashu for excitement and "life". And this is not at all over the top :)

We had some good sea food on Saturday night and pledged to leave early in the morning for M

atheran to catch the toy train. And as expected, we both could leave only by 8:30AM instead, so no toy train for us. But who cares!. 

We had a leisurely breakfast of many dry and delicious vada-paavs and yummy bread-pakoras along with tea. And we started for our nearly 120km drive towards Matheran! This is the first time I am in Pune during summer time. The coolness was missing and all the land around was all burnt and dry. Yellow grass and black soil with hazy western ghats silhouettes gave it a very sad look. We took the old Pune-Mumbai highway till Khopoli and get off onto state highway towards Karjat (Karjat is the place where Jodha-Akbar was shot). After struggling through a very bad and patchy state highway and an unusually steep climb, eventually we reached Matheran which is around 800m above sea level.

It was sensible of us to opt for horse-rides instead of covering it on foot and we got a good deal as well. I anyways get charmed with anything distinctly related to armed forces; and guns and horses are quintessential part of it. So it was a very regal feeling riding my horse Ansh by myself most of the times at Matheran. Ashu was on his horse called Recap, which was smaller in size but very obedient unlike mine. We covered five points there and it was more or less the same view from each of it. Had loads of fun there and finally got back to have some snacks and off to our car. Coming back to main highway, we were in a dilemma whether to go to Mumbai at 7PM, which was still a sweet 100km away or come back to Pune and have a good sleep. But as much as a rebellion can be, Ashu put his foot down for Mumbai and we headed north for City of Dreams.

We reached Mumbai city around 8:30PM and went straight to Juhu beach. This city sure is live and cosmopolitan. It was already late in night and the city was wide awake, alert and happening. The chutzpah charmed me yet again! Leopold Cafe was our idea for dinner but just couldn't locate it and later learnt it was supposed to be in Colaba. Juhu was dirty but full of life! A "masala Thums-Up" quenched me before we set our feet off for a decent place for dinner. Roaming around here and there for nearly and hour, we parked the car and barged into Pizza-Hut for a quick grab. An amazing pizza and a polite waitress was worth the money and time spent there. We started back at around 11:30PM from there and rushed towards Chembur and Sion before catching up the expressway back to Pune. I jumped on to the wheel after crossing Mumbai and had all my prowess come into play on a superb expressway and deceiving ghat turns. It usually takes 4 hours to reach Pune from Mumbai but it was a mere 2.5hrs which makes me feel good. Out of touch for sure but not rusted ... Ahem! We reached Pune before 2AM and straight off to bed after a long and a very happy day. The out-lander within me was happy and I was at peace with smile in a tired body!