Encounter with Nature. Review on Lonavala

A lush green carpet of soft grass soaking with rain, with the water slowly rising towards the edge of the grass blades such that the moment you put your feet on this celestial carpet, you feel like being pampered by the best pedicurist of the world. Water slowly washing your feet, soft grass removing the dirt and pebbles rejuvenating the dead skin and along with it giving a perfect acupressure therapy. On top of this the ambience of the surrounding landscape so beautifully designed by cool mist enveloping you, light showers of rain and sweet fragrance of the wet mud is breathtaking. You feel that you are being bathed by Mother Nature herself. The water creeping slowly below the grass moves towards the edge of the cliff and as it nears its destination, it gains the momentum and volume and turns into a wonderful waterfall - A natural Jacuzzi.

For refreshments, we had grilled corn, piping hot onion pakodas and corn pakodas with red chilly powder. We encountered this health club of nature, while driving from Lonavala ahead of the famous Bushy Dam. We went till the Amby Valley, a project of Sahara Pariwar on the top of the hills: bungalows for the rich and the famous. Amidst this picturesque landscape nestled snugly is a cozy and affordable hotel aptly named “Cloud 9”. On the way back from this heavenly abode, we saw a huge waterfall flowing from a hill of considerable height. On the insistence of my daughter, Vainavi, we decided to climb and have some fun in the waterfall.

The waterfall looked very beautiful and it even enticed my mother to venture up to the bottom of the hill. She sat on a rock with her feet dipping in the water. My wife, her sister, her brother-in-law, my two daughters and I went ahead trekking towards the top. It was fun to make way through the stones and slopes; one has to be careful not to step on slippery stones as it could end up in a fatal accident. We reached till a considerable height, where the waterfall had its second step from the top. All of us settled on small stones with our feet dipped in water. We didn't want to get wet sitting directly under the waterfall but as soon as wet sat on the stones, a heavy shower of rain gave us all a cool celestial bath. My daughters looked so beautiful, clutching their knees and shivering in the cold rain.

We had gone for a weekend to Lonavala, ten of us in two cars. We reached this popular weekend hill station of Mumbai, around ten o'clock at night. We had food at Rama-Krishna hotel on the main Mumbai Pune highway, the best for south Indian food, though it does serve other cuisines, like Punjabi, Chinese etc. We stayed at my cousin's bungalow in Lonavala. I love the mint pav wadas, these are available next to A1 Chikki on the highway.