So, we were off again to Mahabaleshwar but this time accompanied by some very special visitors. My school was hosting a group of students from France for an Exchange Program and we had decided to take their three teachers for a visit to Mahabaleshwar.
As usual, we set out bright and early, bubbling with excitement, full of plans for the day. It was all about what we could show them and where we would take them.
It was beautiful weather for a Ladies Day out (7 of us!) and the day stretched ahead, invitingly and full of promise.
Our first stop was the ancient PanchGanga temple, tucked away in the hills. It marks the convergence of five rivers – Krishna, Venna, Koyna, Savitri and Gayatri, with the waters of all five pouring out of a ‘gaumukhi’ inside the temple. There is the usual narrow lane lined with shops on both sides, leading to the temple. We realised that our visitors were interested in everything that they saw. The sights and smells that we would have passed by without a second glance, they found colourful and exotic. It was quite a challenge to try and explain (in French!) what a tamarind is, its taste and uses to someone who has never seen such a fruit before. Even the slices of raw mango that were being sold outside the temple looked tempting. As did the ‘nimbu-paani’ and the ‘bhel’ Obviously, neither of them are available in France, so there was no point of reference from where to start explaining.
We wandered around the temple premises, visited another ancient Shiv temple nearby and even persuaded our visitors to sample some of the mango slices.
We headed out to one of the many ‘Points’ that Mahabaleshwar is famous for, and which we avoid because of the swarms of tourists that flock there. But this was our lucky day, because we were able to enjoy the beauty of ‘Elphinstone Point’ without having to weave our way through selfie-clicking hordes. And take a few selfies ourselves, hehe.
We did the usual circuit taken by visitors to Mahabaleshwar, but the old, familiar places seemed different, because we were seeing it from their perspective now. The local ladies who beamingly posed for a picture because their saris looked so colourful, the vendor who tried to tempt our visitors with ‘lassi’ (also a bit tricky to explain to them!), the shops with interesting looking stuff displayed inside (how does one explain what a ‘mithai’ is?!), even the local barber going about his daily business, it felt like I was seeing all this for the first time myself.
But my absolute favorite picture is the one taken by one of the visitors on the way to Panchaganga Temple. It was of a little girl sitting by herself on one of the ledges, having her lunch.
There was so much to see and discover in Mahabaleshwar. Some things made us cringe- like the group of creeps who trailed us around and even made hostile comments when we refused to allow them pics with our visitors. Some had us sighing in despair- like the god-awful traffic jam that held us up for an hour on the way back. But Mahabaleshwar never disappoints. The market-place, the juicy strawberries with cream, the spicy chanas and of course, the beauty of the Western Ghats, ravaged by time and tourists, but still managing to hold up in the face of it all.
Un grand merci à nos amies françaises: for this chance to re-visit and re-discover Mahabaleshwar!
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