Mahabaleshwar - Our First Trip

Sat 27th June 2015

So here starts my first travel post. My trip to Mahabaleshwar is the definitely one of the most exciting and thrilling trip so far. Being the first place to visit after moving to Pune it was a magical experience for me and definitely qualifies to be the first travel post. Yes it was MAGICAL, because it is my first hill station experience.

We were a group of IT enthusiasts who recently joined an MNC after pursuing our degrees. We had around 150 freshers divided into 5 batches(Long story...May be another post 😛).

So as every software engineer, even we were the ones waiting for weekends to enjoy and as it is a new place we definitely wanted to explore. As we all were new, there came a proposal for Mahabaleshwar trip. We got 15 people who are interested in the trip.

One of our friends looked after the travel arrangements. We booked a tempo traveler (17 seater). Most of us stayed at Hinjawadi as it was near to our office in Phase II. So we asked the driver to come to Hinjawadi by 5:00 AM. As it was our first trip we all are excited.

Next day morning, we started a bit late as we had some pretty girls who wanted to look more pretty in their first trip 😉. (Just Kidding). We started at around 6:00 AM. As many of us were new and are from different training batches,we even met people whom we didn't even know. It was a great networking time for us.

After 2 hours of our journey, we reached to a ghat road. It was a sunny day and everyone of us were disappointed as the sun is blazing through the windows of tempo traveler. Though we have never been to this place, we heard a lot from native Pune colleagues regarding the weather.

As we are reaching the top of the hill station we could see greenery everywhere. The waterfalls,valley, everything is so scenic. We were almost about to jump to a conclusion that we will be enjoying this shiny day and then a MIRACLE happened. It started RAINING..........

And then we started enjoying. This is the first time that I witnessed a weather change as this. Most of our friends who were sleeping, who covered the glass with jackets/dupattas due to the bright sun are now not even blinking their eyes. As we travel further, the rain stopped and we are covered by a think blanket of fog. As we continue to admire the beauty, we were also worried as we cant see any thing on the road. But the driver was experienced and handled the vehicle very well.

We reached to Mahabaleshwar temple.We got down from the tempo traveler and for sometime we were awestruck by the amazing weather. Later every one of us started clicking pictures, video calls with parents to show how amazing the view here is. To me it seemed as a paradise.

There were a group of temples. In one of the temples,we saw there were small ponds inside with clear water. People of that village use these as drinking water, so we are not allowed to enter into these. Also this place seems to be origin of many other small rivers and all those rivers are offered prayers here.

Later we visited the Mahabaleshwar Jyothirling temple. This place is filled with lots of positive energy. I felt very peaceful. After darshan, we had smoking hot Khanda bajji (Onion Pakoda), vada pav, sweet corn and Tea(mandatory in this weather) in the stalls that are arranged on either side on the way to temple. Also we had many stalls for chikki/woolen clothes/Jam and other stuff. Later we went to see the starting point of Krishna River. It was an amazing experience. There was a temple with deity Lord Shiva and the view from there is amazing. From there we have been to many view points and none of it was disappointing. Some of the view points include Tiger point, Elephant's Head point, Savithri point/Suicide point. Each point has offered us a different view with same beauty. The day is filled with fog and fun.

On the return our driver took us to amazing waterfall spots. Some of our enthusiastic friends climbed up and enjoyed a great view. We saw many people playing music and dancing along the way and welcoming people to join.

As many of us know, Mahabaleshwar is famous for strawberry harvesting. But as we went in June, we did not get to see any of them. January is the best time is what we got to know from the locals. As we had an amazing experience, we are surely gonna come again for strawberry harvesting and all my friends agreed to it. But we made sure to visit the mapro garden and taste some yummy Strawberry delicacies. We also grabbed some Jellies, jams etc.

In three years stay at Pune, this place has been a special one and I have visited 3-4 times. But this first trip seems to be the best one though. The people who came to the trip also made it a special experience. Most of us didn't know each other. But the way we collaborated seems the best. 🙌

Behind the Blog

Hi, I am AA. An IT employee whose happy place in the world is her own home, a Cancerian (which tells many things), emotional, foodie and Harry Potter fan. Overthinking is both my friend and enemy.
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Hi, My name is Ravi Teja. I am a Salesforce technical consultant. Besides coding, I love hi-tech gadgets, playing video games, weekend trips, watching handpicked movies and experimenting with food.
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