Mahabaleshwar Next

MAHABALESHWAR: highest hill station in Maharashtra

It’s just over a fortnight since our last excursion to Lonavala (ref post of August 9). And today, Shekhawat has come up with a new trip, to Mahabaleshwar. “It shall be a three-day picnic, beginning September 16,” he announced. “The bus will pick us from the Garden at 7:00 a.m. sharp and drop us back here on September 18 evening. We’ll cover all the scenic spots and main points of Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani.”
Anybody observing Shekhawat closely for the past fortnight would have known this was coming. Not for once has he changed his multi-pocket greenish-brown shorts during this period.

Santosh Tyagi

He has many other shorts (and a pair of dark blue track pants as well), but every time there’s ‘picnic’ ticking in his head, this greenish-brown shorts never leaves him. There’s some magic in those shorts which has ensured that all past trips, be it Lonavala or Kerala, Vaishno Devi or Himachal Pradesh has worked out well.
But then, the credit for sowing the Mahabaleshwar idea must go to Santosh Tyagi.

There's magic in those green-brown shorts!

She had visited Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar with her family during the Independence Day-weekend (see post of August 19) and since then has been singing paens over the twin hill-stations. That was just the trigger Shekhawat had needed to get cracking and now, within a week he has firmed up on the programme with Hotel Hill View and his trusted bus operators, Tour India.
The best part about the trip is the economics. Shekhawat has been able to negotiate a fabulous deal with the hotel which should take care of not only stay (in deluxe rooms on a twin-sharing basis), but also meals, sightseeing and local transport – all for a price that would make a Lonavala trip seem exorbitant. The hotel would have also provided the bus from Mumbai and back (as part of its package), but there too Shekhawat has been able to economise by drawing Tour India in. In effect, the Mahabaleshwar trip comes at a price offer that will be hard for any of us to refuse.
No wonder, Shekhawat refuses to shed those greenish-brown shorts!