Having explored India pretty well, I recently had the
opportunity to explore Lonavala/ Khandala, and now Matheran, in the Maharashtra
circuit. Someone had described Lonavala, in his blog, as a dirty little town
with over-priced hotels. I fully agree with his opinion. And now lets talk
about Matheran. I browsed over a hundred blogs, hotel websites and tour
operator portals to gain an insight on Matheran. Yesterday, I reached home
(Delhi) after a 5-day, 4-night stay in this place. Now here goes:
The Plus Points: Lots
of wooded, shady areas, no vehicular pollution, and the hotel, I stayed in,
Woodlands. I had no great expectations
of Woodlands.. in fact the only reason I booked it was that I could not find
ANY ADVERSE comments about it on the net. In fact the profile and pictures of
itself, which the hotel had put up on the net, were not impressive at all. But
on checking in, I was amazed as to how spacious it actually was, completely
insulated from the filthy surroundings that is Matheran, and how well equipped.
The food was homely, tasty, in generous portions and served with affection and
dedication by the staff. I had heard that Matheran was plagued was monkeys.
Well, a couple of stray dogs, affectionately called Julie and Raju by the
staff, had made the resort their home. These friendly creatures had sanitised
the placed so well that no monkey or its stupid brood could be seen in the
vicinity. Julie, an affectionate tail-wagging creature was in her snarling,
aggressive form, while giving a chase to a huge snake, in front of my eyes. The
dogs would even accompany guests on their walks, so that they would be
protected against vicious monkeys and other forms of ‘nature’, including lack
of proper signages, which invariably caused visitors to get lost. God Bless the
owners of Woodlands. I would request them to put up proper pictures of
themselves on the net, though.
The Minus Points: As a
tourist resort, Matheran has no proper approach. One can book a taxi from
Mumbai, at horrendous costs, although it is only about 120 kms away. Otherwise,
one can catch a suburban train on the central line, bound for Karjat, and get
down at a shabby hellhole called Neral. From here, one can take a taxi upto
Matheran or a ‘toy train’ Both the suburban trains bound for Karjat and the
‘toy’ train are not very frequent, so one invariably wastes a lot of time and
energy in ACCESSING this god-forsaken place, called Matheran. On reaching, one
is besieged by coolies, hotel touts, hand rickshaw pullers and horse owners,
each one quoting double the approved rates.. to reach a hotel. One can take a
horse, but then a coolie will also have to be hired separately to carry one’s
luggage. One look at the broken, filthy paths, littered with boulders, stones,
red soil and covered with horse droppings, made me hire a couple of rickshaws, which
could accommodate me and my luggage. The rickshaw pullers face a terrible time,
pulling the rickshaws over steep inclines, barefoot, over those idiotic,
boulder-strewn paths. Lack of proper signage ensure the traveler, on his own,
was likely to lose his way. And God help the tourist who reaches Matheran at
night..
Matheran has a
‘toy’ train, which I explored. It appeared that the coaches and the engine were
all recently manufactured, from the dates embossed / painted on them. Yet, it
is touted to be 100 years old, included in the World Heritage List or something
– I wouldn’t care less. There are a dozen such toy trains operating all over
the country. The station is close to a market, which has shops selling chikki,
slippers and leather goods of dubious quality, snacks and other sundry items.
The market place, like the rest of the town is dusty, filthy, with a broken
pathway, and horses’ droppings, resulting a permanent pungent odour clouding
the place. The hotels along the main
bazaar (road?) cannot be recommended, due to the incessant clomping of horses
and all pervasive odor of horse droppings and urine, but maybe the hotels, way
down in the wilderness, can offer peace and calm. But commuting from such
isolated hotels to the ‘market’, the railway station or the taxi stand at
‘Dasturi Point” is tiresome and very expensive.
I can only
request the planners, municipal authorities or tourist department officials,
who have a stake in Matheran, not to ensure that the area remains a cesspit
under the garb of environment ‘conservation’. The paths have to be levelled,
with proper tarmac. The area needs proper signages and lighting arrangements.
Other than some birds and destructive monkeys, Matheran has no ‘wild life’ to
name of, so nothing will be ‘disturbed’ if the roads are developed. Battery
operated vehicles can protect against vehicular pollution. Coolies doing
backbreaking work over boulder-strewn paths is a shame and I wonder what
foreigners think of it or write about it. I would say that it only proves that
we are still savages at heart, without regard for human life or dignity. Lack
of development and horse feces strewn all over, is not conservation. It is gross
mismanagement and lack of vision. If the shortsighted stakeholders of Matheran
want to see how forest areas can be developed, let them visit IIT Campus at
Chennai (I would not say JNU Campus, New Delhi, lest I sound north-centric).
Matheran is not a hill station. It’s a woody area on a certain elevation and
needs to be seriously developed, right from its approach to its facilities.
Otherwise there are a hundred such woody areas in India, from Kerala and
Karnataka to Jharkhand. And these places are much better than Matheran can ever
hope to be.