I truly believe that, a place where a person spends his childhood is the closest to his heart. I was brought up in Panchgani. It has been almost 15 years now that I've left Panchgani, but I still consider it as my home town. I have some of the best memories in Panchgani & recently I went to Panchgani to revisit all those memories.
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| St. Joseph's |
My schooling was done at St. Joseph's. I had the best time of my life in school. The friends, the teachers, the sisters, the school itself was so amazing. St. Joseph's church is more than 100 years old. & the school is on the way to Table Land, Asia's second longest mountain plataeu. I remember, we would often go to Table Land. There was a big giant wheel, horse carts many games and food stalls. This time there was nothing. All the food stalls are now placed on the outside, there is some tax of ₹20 per person. Table Land is now just a piece of land. I found it plain and boring, maybe just because I'm not used to seeing it that way. However, the cave restaurant is still amazing and still the same.
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| Table Land |
Lucky's and Hilltop were two of my favorite places to eat. Lucky cafe & bakery is basically a bakery run by a Parsi family. The sweet and loving family know just how to make their customers happy. I remember their chicken roll was my most favorite food item. & Hilltop which is an ice cream parlour serves some of the best ice creams and fresh creams. Its been almost a year now that I've turned vegeterian & Lucky is closed from 1-4pm I did not visit Lucky and I had a stuffy nose, so I didn't take the risk of eating ice cream.
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| Lucky Bakery |
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| Hilltop Ice Cream |
I even remember that we would often go to the Ghatjai temple. The temple is on a little hill surrounded with trees. The temple is a very peaceful place & one will definitely feel light and free from all worries while visiting the temple. I remember during Navratri, the temple would hold a fair. We would buy many toys from there. Now when I visited the temple, there were not many people there, the surrounding and the feel was still the same. Nothing has changed. The feeling was just divine.
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| Ghatjai Temple |
On sundays we would visit Parsi Point, Sydney Point, Baby Point or Thapa Point. There were these games that we would play sometimes and watch others playing sometimes, but mostly we would go to eat corn. Now all the points are just plain and boring with a few games and activities happening there. Parsi point still has the games and eateries & Thapa point conducts paragliding activities.
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| Parsi Point |
I lived in Panchgani & Mahabaleshwar was our go to picnic place. A big picnic would always be to Mahabaleshwar. On the way to Mahabaleswar are Lingmala waterfalls. I remember that we would go there sometimes for a family picnic. Nothing much has changed at Lingmala, it is all the same. I sat there for sometime recollecting all the memories.
Another favorite place of ours on the Panchgani-Mahabaleshwar route was Mapro Garden. First Mapro was a small place, now it changed a lot. They now have a food mall where they sell all their products and behind the mall is the restaurant. The menu and the taste hasn't changed, just the price has increased. I had the good old classic grilled sandwich.
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| Mapro's Classic Grilled Sandwich |
I remember going to Mahabaleshwar would be either for boating at Venna Lake or shopping at the Mahabaleshwar market. I was first skeptical about going boating, but then I thought, I should go. So I enjoyed a half hour boat ride.
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| Venna Lake Boat Club |
This time I didn't shop, because it wasn't necessary & budget. But as I took a stroll in the market I remembered the time we would shop and play at the local casinos. Mahabaleshwar has these small shops where they sell coins with which you can play these games and if luck favors or if you are an expert can win big. So basically its a local casino.
We wouldn't often visit the points in Mahabaleshwar. But this time I visited as many as I could. The Lodwick Point, Elphinstone Point, Arthur Seat, Savitri Point, Castle Rock Point all give an amazing view of the Sahyadri Mountain range. The 3 Monkey Point is a point from where a part of a mountain can be seen as though three monkeys are sitting on the mountain. Needle Point or Elephant Head Point resembles both a needle hole and an elephant head, thus the name.
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| Needle Hole/Elephant Head Point |
Apart from these some of the many points Old Mahabaleshwar is an amazing place to visit. It has the Panchgana Temple, panch mean five. There are origins of seven rivers, Saraswati, Gayatri, Savitri, Venna, Krishna, Koyana & Bhagirathi. Saraswati and Bhagirathi are hidden so only five are visible. Near the Panchganga temple is the Krishnai temple. This temple is an lovely piece of architecture. A small stream of the river Krishna flows from a gomukh. The temple gives an amazing view of the Krishna River and the Krishna Valley.
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| Krishna Temple |
I was in Panchgani for half day and in Mahabaleshwar for one day. I can spend my entire life here, but i relived all my childhood memories in these two days that I visited Panchgani & Mahabaleshwar.
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| Sahyadri Mountain Range |
These are two places that I would recommend everyone to visit, specially after the rainy season, when the weather is cold yet pleasent and the mountains are covered with lush green grass and waterfalls making it an absolute treat for everyone.
Watch my video on 9 Things To Do In Panchgani & Mahabaleshwar here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR-K3FZc06M
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