Useful Addresses :India
Kashmir Fishing
For information on licenses and equipment dealers contact the Director of Fisheries, Tourist Reception Centre, Srinagar. The Chief Wildlife Warden’s office is also here and can give details on visiting Dachigam National Park and the wetlands. The TRC also has camping equipment on hire and booking offices for bus journeys, Indian Railways (from Jammu) and Indian Airlines.

Himachal Pradesh
Trekking Agencies
Chandertal Tours can be contacted c/o Robert Newbury, 20 The Fridays, East Dean, East Bourne, Sussex, England and through Himalayan Folkways, c/o Roop Katoch .Paddy’s Treks and Tours Pvt. Ltd.; 12/14 Sarvapriya Vihar, New Delhi – 110 016 .Mountain Travel India, 1/1 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi 110055 . Both Paddy’s Treks and Mountain Travel India operate throughout India.Other operators in Manali include Himalayan Adventures, Mayflower Guest House and Trans Himalayan Expedilions .

Rlshikesh River Rafting
Himalayan River Runners, F-5 Hauz Khas Enclave, New Delhi 110016.

SlkkimPermits
Foreigner’s Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Loknayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi.

Information
Sikkim Tourist Office, New Sikkim House, 14 Panchseel Marg, New Delhi 110021.

Shillong Per Mils
Foreigner’s Division, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, Loknayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi.

Information
State Tourist Office, Meghalaya House, 9 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi 110013.

Restaurants :India
Restaurant information for places not listed here appears in the description of the area in the main text. The best place for food is often in the hotels (see pages 269-284).

SRINAGAR
Rice is the staple of the Kashmiri diet, and is eaten with mutton, chicken or fish. Typical vegetarian dishes are dam alu (roast potatoes in gravy) and chaman (fried paneer in a thick sauce). Meat dishes are the sign of hospitality, and at a wazwan or banquet only one vegetable dish is generally served. Meals are washed down with quantities of Kashmiri tea. Real Kashmiri food is available in Kashmiri homes but Ahdoos on Shervani Road and Wazwan at the Tourist Reception Centre are popular places.

LEH
Ladakh’s cuisine revolves around Tibetan momos (steamed dumplings) and tumpka (chow soup) washed down with butler tea. The local brew is the barley based beer chang. Many of the local restaurants serve noodle based meals.

Hote :India
Hotel information for places not listed here appears in the description of the area in the main text. What follows is only a selection of what is available. Most hill stations have a relatively short season during which it is often difficult to find decent accommodation on arrival. It is advisable to book in advance. The ’season’ for most stations are the hot months of mid-April through to mid-July which coincide with most local school holidays, the Dussehra holiday period in October and in a few places, Christmas and New Year. However, during the off-season discounts, often substantial, are available everywhere.

Unfortunately, almost all hotels feel it is necessary to have satellite TV available so travellers don’t miss the next episode of their favourite soap-opera, the latest news from the BBC or the current test match.

JAMMU
Asia Jammu-Tawi, Nehru Market is the town’s better hotel.
Hotel Jammu Asliok, opp Amar Mahal .
Hotel Green Top, Patni Top . A modern hotel with facilities including separate lawns for each ground floor room and separate family huts.
Hotel K C Residency, Residency Road .
Hotel Jammu Premier Pvt. Ltd., Residency Road .
Hari Niwas Palace Hotel, Jammu Tawi .

Ponmudi :India
Ponmudi is another would-be hill station which certainly qualifies for its views of the ghats in southern Kerala. It is around 1,000 metres (3,281 feet) above sea level and only 65 kilometres (40 miles) from Trivandrum. A trip to Ponmudi gives you a chance to see the hills, without losing much time from a beach-orientated holiday. Kerala Tourism arranges day tours of Ponmudi on weekends and holidays, but if you don’t enjoy a conducted tour, there are frequent buses from Trivandrum and you can stay overnight in Ponmudi at a cottage in the Ponmudi Tourist Complex (Reservation Authority: The Manager, tel. 89230).

The Periyar Tiger Reserve at Thekkady :India
Periyar Tiger Reserve functions partly as a sanctuary and partly as a hill station for the plainspeople of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Periyar they find hills and boat trips on the 26-square-kilometre (ten-square-mile) reservoir on the Periyar River in the centre of the park. The sanctuary, founded in 1934 by Shri Chithira Thirunal, maharaja of the former Travancore state, is one of the oldest in India, it was enlarged after Independence and in 1978 declared a reserve under the successful Project Tiger. Most tourists who visit Periyar, however, would be very lucky to see one. The park covers 777 square kilometres (300 square miles) at altitudes of between 900 and 2,000 metres (2,950 (o 6,560 feet). Nearly 40 percent of the area is tropical rainforest and much of this is out of bounds to tourists. Around the tourist area in the vicinity of the lake there is moist deciduous forest with grassland on the lake shores. The grass attracts gaur or bison, elephant, wild boar and the largest Indian deer, the sambar, to the shores. Black Nilgiri langurs swing in the trees next to the lake. Birds like darters, cormorants and kingfishers are common. The Brahminy kite is the most frequently sighted bird of prey. In the treetops you can hear, and if you look carefully see, the hill rnynah or grackle, a much more attractive bird when out of a cage.

GETTING THERE
The nearby town of Kumily is connected by bus with Munnar, Cochin, 200 kilometres (124 miles) away, Trivandrum, 270 kilometres (168 miles) away, and Madurai, 140 kilometres (87 miles) away. Kumily is only four kilometres (two and a half miles) from the park headquarters at Thekkady. Its main street is lined with spice shops selling locally produced cardamom, pepper and other spices at cheap rates.

Munnar :India
Munnar, at 1,652 metres (5,420 feet), is a small town surrounded by the Annamalai Hills (or elephant mountains) and tea estates. It stands at the confluence of three rivers – the Muthirappuzh, Nallathanni and Kundala. Moonu in Tamil means ‘three’, and aar ‘river1. The town serves the needs of the tea planters and plantation workers. It has little to recommend it architecturally. There’s no ‘wild west Swiss’ style architecture, simply shack-like shops and low, red tin-roofed bungalows. Neither is there a tourist office nor any restaurant worth mentioning. The three most conspicuous buildings are the airy Mount Carmel Church, the multi-coloured Subramanya Temple and the green concrete Munnar Mosque. Their high position and proximity makes Munnar an advertisement lor communal harmony. For the planters the most important building is the regional offices of Tata Tea, a large, yellow building which previously served as the company’s railway station.

BACKGROUND
Until the second half of the 19th century, Munnar was part of an inhospitable and inaccessible area of thickly forested mountains. Its sole inhabitants were a tribal community called the Mudhuvans, expert hunters and gatherers, who practised slash-and-burn cultivation. They still retain their cusloms although the pressures of modern life are eroding them. Officially Munnar belonged to the Poonjar chiefs, the rajas of the state of Travancore, which together with Malabar and Cochin forms the present-day state of Kerafa. The first European to venture into the area appears to have been the Duke of Wellington when, as Colonel Arthur Wellesly, he marched across the ghats to fight Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, in 1790. With Tipu’s defeat, though not at the hands of Wellington’s column, British influence in Kerala became supreme. Malabar was annexed from Mysore and the rajas of Travancore and Cochin were subject to British interference.

Kerala :India
Most visitors come to Kerala for its magnificent beaches and backwaters. But less well known are the Southern Ghats, hills rich in cardamom, pepper and tea plantations, and which have the highest peak south of the Himalayas Anaimudi – standing at 2,694 metres (8,839 feet). The main tourist offices will tell you that there are three hill stations in these hills Munnnar, Pirmede and Ponmudi as well as the hill wildlife sanctuary at Thekkady. In fact all but Thekkady are small settlements offering little in the way of tourist facilities. However, the views of the ghats and the plantations are a reward in themselves and especially worth seeing if you prefer to keep off the well-beaten tourist track. The hills are accessible throughout the year although very wet and misty during Kerala’s two monsoons, the southwest and the northeast (late May-early November).

Kodaikanal :India
Kodaikanal is the second of south India’s major hill resorts and is variously known as the ‘Princess of Hill Stations’ and the ‘Switzerland of the East’. It is also the sole hill station in India to have been founded during the British Raj by Americans. The Palni Hills in which it stands form part of the southernmost part of the Western Ghats and rise to over 2,000 metres (6,562 feet), with steep escarpments to the north and southwest. Kodaikanal itself lies in a shallow basin, and from its southern rim are dramatic views of the mountains descending to the plains. Until recently, Kodaikanal, which has a population only one quarter the size of Ooty’s, was a haven of quiet surrounded by eucalyptus, conifers and shola forest, with neatly terraced hillsides providing all the fresh fruit and vegetables the inhabitants could eat. As at other resorts, the last few years have seen a tourist boom, bringing throngs of Indian tourists in the peak season between April and June. That means an excess of buses at the most popular points and crowded bazaars. Even so, Kodaikanal retains its character and on Sunday mornings the valley resounds with peals of church bells, a sound you
will not perhaps hear in any other hill station in India. The climate is milder than that of Ootacamund and the best months for avoiding tourists and walking the hills are January to March. From June to November the station is subject to the two monsoons which hit it one after another.

BACKGROUND
Kodaikanal might never have become a hill station were it not for the American Madura Mission, which was founded in 1834 in the temple city of Madurai. Within ten years of its founding, six missionaries had died and, in 1844, those remaining were afflicted with ‘a fearful attack of cholera’. To preserve the lives of their staff, the Mission considered sending them on sea voyages to Jaffna in Sri Lanka, where the mission had originally begun its work. But taking note of the fashion of the Raj they decided instead to send missionaries to the hills. The mission members at first visited the closest hills to Madurai, the Sirumalais, and several of them never returned. They died because the hills were not high enough to safeguard them from disease. So the Americans turned to the Palnis, which had been surveyed by the British in 1821 and thereafter more or less ignored. One man who had been to Kodaikanal was an Englishman, Mr Fane. He had built godowns (storage sheds) there in 1844. On his advice, the Mission chose Kodaikanal for their retreat from the plains, and he helped them with materials to build their first houses.

Yercaud :India
Yercaud, at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet), stands in the Servaroyan (Shevaroy) Hills above the city of Salem in Tamil Nadu. The first proper hotel in the station only opened in 1971. Until then Yercaud had not been a tourist resort but a town famous for its schools and surrounding coffee estates. Yercaud is still comparatively more peaceful and cheaper than the major southern resorts ot Ooty and Kodaikanal, bul every year the influx from the plains is growing larger. For the time being, its population of 35,000 gives it the atmosphere of a large village. The climate is also particularly pleasant; residents say with pride that they never need to use a fan. The most popular seasons are February-June and September-November, while late November and December tend to be cold and misty. Around April there are the pleasant showers which bring the coffee bushes into blossom.

BACKGROUND
The name Yercaud comes from two Tamil words: yeri or lake and kadu or forest. The spot was discovered by the British in ihe 19th century. Coffee was introduced into the Servaroyan Hills in the 1820s but the first house in Yercaud wasn’t built until some 20 years after that. The first motorable road to the settlement was completed as late as 1900. The economy of ihe area is dependent on coffee ,\m\ (here are 17,000 estates, mostly small. The majority of the estates are owned by local people, although before Independence they belonged to English, Scots, Welsh, French and German, as well as Indian planters. One West Indian planter is still remembered by locals. He was an ex-boxing champion by the name of Mr Terry. The mixture of nationalities in the community led to an exceptional camaraderie. Everyone could be a member of the club where tennis, bridge and other games were and, to a lesser extent, are still played.

The cool climate attracted a number of Christian denominations and the sight of nuns and priests is not uncommon. They run the two prestigious schools – the Sacred Heart Convent for girls and the Montfort School for boys.

Coonoor :India
Coonoor, 1,858 metres (6,096 feet) above sea level, is the second largesl hill station in the Nilgiris. with a population of 45,000. It lies on the eastern side of the Dodabetta Range at the head of the Hulikal Ravine. It has a climate which is slightly warmer and less wet than that of Ooty, and has its share of period churches and boarding schools, its own branch of Spencer’s and a golf course.

The town, much of it having grown in an unkempt fashion, is divided into two parts. Sim’s Park is in upper Coonoor and was named after the Honorary J D Sim, a member of the Governor-General’s Council in the 1870s. Many plants that cannot thrive in Ooty’s climate do so here. The park is also the location of the prestigious Coonoor Fruit and Vegetable Show which follows the Flower Show at Ooty.

Picnic spots around the station include Lady Canning’s Seat, about three kilometres (two miles) away, named after Countess Charlotte Canning. Lamb’s Rock, five and a half kilometres (three and a half miles) away, looks down a precipice onto the railway line below and the surrounding forest. In the distance you can see the town of Mettupalayam, from where the steep climb to the Nilgiris begins. Further along the road to Lamb’s Rock is the path to Dolphin’s Nose, a distance of 12 kilometres (seven and a half miles). The climb to this rock is worth it lor the view oi the Katherine Falls and the Coonoor Stream. Another picnic spot is Law’s Falls, named after the man who constructed the Coonoor Ghat Road. It lies about five kilometres (three miles) from Coonoor on the Mettupalayam Road where the Coonoor and Kateri rivers meet.

The Droog, or Pakkasuran Kottai, is a peak which can be reached after a three-kilometre (two-mile) trek from the nearest road. It’s said that the great opponent of the British, Haider Ali of Mysore, built a fort here. It is also said that you can see the sea from its heights. There is little evidence remaining of the fort, and even if you can’t see the sea, the view of the plains is exhilarating.

Ootacamund :India
Wotkymund, Whatakaymund, Wootacamund, Wuttasamund, Ootacamund, or nowadays the official Udagamandalam are some of the names which over the last two centuries have been given to the Queen of the Southern Hill Stations. The name that has stuck, however, is the short form of Ootacamund Ooty. Ooty stands 2,240 metres (7,349 feet) above sea level in the Nilgiri or Blue Mountains which unite the Western and the Eastern Ghats. The Nilgiris are the highest of the southern ranges, but are much less precipitous than the Himalayas, the characteristic landscape around Ooty being expanses of rolling downs with deep green woodland or sholas in the folds of the hills. Nowadays the open grassland of the downs has been planted with large areas of eucalyptus and exotic conifers.

The undulating countryside allows Ooty to spread over 36 square kilometres (14 square miles), and maintain a population of some 80,000 people. The climate ranges from 25°C (77°F) in the summer to near freezing in the winter, although it never suffers the severe cold of Himalayan stations. The only season to avoid is the monsoon, when you can often see nothing but rain and mist. The peak tourist season is between April and June, both in Ooty and her sister hill stations of Coonoor and Kotagiri.

BACKGROUND
Ooty was once the pasture land of the Toda community who believe that they have been on the heights of the Nilgiris since their gods placed them there in the distant past (see page 242). The Indian rulers of the Nilgiris did not try to subdue them and the new European settlers knew nothing of them or their land until the beginning of the 17th century. It was then that Fr Jacome Ferreiri set off to explore the mountains which reports said were the homeland of a lost tribe of Christians. These Christians were said to be descended from the Syrian followers of St Thomas the Doubter, who brought the Gospel to India and is buried in Madras. After a perilous journey, exhausted and half-frozen with cold, he reached a spot not far from the site of Ooty, to be met by 1,000 Todas wrapped in shawls, anointed with ghee and blissfully ignorant of St Thomas or Christianity. The priest distributed pieces of looking glass to the ‘amiable but vague’ tribes people and left never to return.

Madikeri :India
If you want to explore an area as yet undeveloped for tourism, Kodagu or Coorg is ideal, and its capital Madikeri, or Mercara, 1,220 metres (4,003 feet) above sea level, is a good place to start. Arriving in the district from the dusty countryside of Mysore is like entering an enchanted land. Range upon range of forested hills stretch into the distance. There are rosewood and sandalwood trees, and deep in the shade are thousands of hectares of coffee bushes, black pepper vines, the celebrated Coorg orange trees and near the beds of streams, cardamom plants. The valleys are brilliant green with paddy which produces small-grained aromatic rice that is the staple diet of the Kodavas. The best time to visit Kodagu is in April or early May, before the monsoons, or in late November or December when the temperature drops to 10l>C (50°F).

BACKGROUND
The Kodavas, or Coorgs, have been ihe majority population in Kodagu since at least the ninth century AD, the first time ihe area is mentioned in historical records. The 1870 Gazetteer of Coorg describes the Coorgs as ‘tall, muscular, broad-chested, strong-limbed and swift-fooled. Men of six feet and above are not uncommon. Their features are regular, often distinguished by an aquiline nose and finely chiselled lips set off by a well-trimmed moustache.”

The Coorgs of today still fit that description, and they preserve a separate identity from other Hindus. They are enterprising and well educated and maintain tbe ancient martial traditions they have had since the earliest days. Practically every family has one man serving in the armed forces. Until recently the Coorgs were exempted from the operations of the Indian Firearms Act, a privilege which goes back to the British Raj. Hunting is a favourite and fitting pastime for a warrior race, and traditionally both men and women would take part. Venison and wild boar are considered delicacies, and alcohol and meat are essential ingredients for a Kodava feast. The importance of arms is clear in the ancient festival of Keilpodhu in September when guns, knives and hunting implements are cleaned, polished and offered for worship.

Amboli :India
Amboli, the closest hill station to Goa, is a small settlement perched 690 metres (2,264 feet) up in the Western Ghats. It was developed as a hill station by the British political agent, Colonel Westrop, after the opening of tbe Ghat Road from the coastal town of Vengurla, now in southern Maharashtra, to Belgaum. Of Amboli in the 1880s it was said, ‘the ghats swarm with wild beasts, but the jungle is so dense that it is almost impossible to drive them from their lairs.” Even today, there is some forest around Amboli. Amboli is on record as the wettest place in Maharashtra, with an average of nearly 750 centimetres (296 inches) of rainfall a year, falling between June and October. At this time, the hill station is wrapped in mist. In other seasons there are fine views of the Konkan coastal belt. Because of its size and distance from Mumbai, it is quiet and peaceful.

GETTING THERE
Panaji, the main town of Goa, is only around 90 kilometres (56 miles) away. There is one bus a day from Panaji to Amboli, but several from Panaji to Sawantwadi on the way to Amboli. From Sawantwadi, there are frequent buses to Amboli between 6 am and 6 pm every day. The nearest airport and railhead is Belgaum, 67 kilometres (42 miles) away in neighbouring Karnataka state. Regular buses also run from Belgaum and Kolhapur, Pune, 390 kilometres (242 miles) away and Mumbai, 549 kilometres (341 miles) away in Maharashtra.For details of where to stay in Amboli, see page 281.

SIGHTS
You can either walk or take a scooter-rickshaw to explore the area around Amboli. Among the main viewpoints are Mahadeo Gad, a natural fort, and Temple View, Shirgaonkar, Sunset and Sea View points. Amboli is one of the few hill stations from where you can really see the sea. Excursions include another former fortress Narayan Gad a distance of ten kilometres (six miles), and Nagattas Falls, also ten kilometres (six miles) away.

Mahabaleshwar :India
Mahabaleshwar is the largest and most popular hill station in western Tndia. At 1,372 metres (4,501 feet) above sea level, it also has the most spectacular views.

The name is a combination of three Sanskrit words: maha, bala and ishwar, meaning ‘God of Great Power’. For centuries it has been considered a holy place. The hill is the source of many rivers including the Krishna, one of the main rivers of the Deccan. From at least as early as the 13th century, local rulers contributed to the building of temples in Old Mahabaleshwar, around the source of the Krishna. Shivaji and his mother visited them in 1653 to seek advice from a learned Brahmin. The hill was also one of the first territories he acquired and nearby on the Par Ghat, which the British called Corkscrew Pass, he built the Pratapgad Fort. After the British defeated the last Peshwa in 1818 they restored the hill and the fort to the 24-ycar-old Raja Pratapsingh of Satara, a descendant of Shivaji.

The first Briton to set foot in Mahabaleshwar was Sir Charles Malet in 1791. However, General Peter Lodwick, who arrived in 1824, was the first to try to popularise the hill as a sanatorium. The raja of Satara, encouraged by a series of British residents, began to develop the site and invited the governor of Bombay, Sir John Malcolm, there. Malcolm visited the hill in 1828 and in the same year it wyas officially announced that a sanatorium would be built. The next year a treaty transferred the hill to British territory. The raja insisted that the new station be named after the governor and for some years it was known as Malcolm Peth, a name now restricted to the bazaar.

Panchgani :India
Some 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Pune and 277 kilometres (172 miles) from Mumbai, Panchgani is a small hill station 1,335 metres (4,380 feet) above sea level on a ridge of the steep Parasni Ghat. On the hillsides stand tall trees, known locally as ’silver oaks’ but completely different from the silver oaks of the Himalayas. Below lies the Krishna Valley and the huge reservoir formed by the Dhome Dam. Panchgani takes its name from the five (panch) hills, or alternatively villages, surrounding it. It was ‘discovered’ by John Chesson in the early 1850s, and developed into a small civic station with a large Parsi community. It was from ihe beginning a satellite station lor the larger and more prestigious Mahabaleshwar, and remains so today. This is resented by proud modern residents who campaign against the stepmotherly treatment meted out to the station. Panchgani generally only fills up when Mahabaleshwar is lull, which happens quite often during the peak months. However, Panchgani is in one respect much better than its neighbour — it is in the rain shadow and only has a fraction of Mahabaleshwar’s monsoon. Hotels are therefore open throughout the year. The climate has made Panchgani an educational centre with almost as many boarding schools as hotels. It also attracts the moneyed classes of Mumbai who are beginning to build second homes on a scale which has made Lonavala into a glorified suburbia. There are signs that such construction may be controlled in Panchgani.

GETTING THERE
Frequent buses run from Pune and there are regular Maharashtra Tourist Development Corporation buses from Mumbai. You can also hire cars and taxis from Pune. Locally, ponies are also available for hire.

Pune :India
Pime, known to the British as Poona, is the nearest city and railhead for the hill stations of Panchgani and Mahabaleswar. Now a fast-expanding city with a population of more than a million, Pune retains the atmosphere and some of the architecture that made it a favourite bill station of the Raj. At 598 metres (1,962 feet), it hardly had the height to justify this position, but the surrounding hills and a pleasant climate helped to make it the western military capital of the Deccan. The government of the Bombay Presidency made Pune one of its two summer headquarters.

The city has the distinction of not being ‘discovered’ by the British. It was the main town of the Maratha hero Shivaji’s original estates. When he came to Pune as a teenager the town was in ruins.

Although Pune can no longer be considered a hill station it is still worth a stopover, for it has several interesting sights. The ruined Shanwarwada Palace of the Peshwas was built in 1736 and, although destroyed by fire in 1827, it still maintains a certain dignity. At the eccentric Raja Kelkar Museum you can see the recreated bedroom of the legendary Maratha lovers, Peshwa Bajirao 1 and his sweetheart, Mastani. The hilltop Parvati Temple, built in 1749, is where the last Peshwa is said to bave stood to watch his troops being defeated by the British. The Pataleshwar Cave, an early rock-cut temple, is also worth seeing. The Aga Khan’s Palace in Yeravda is where Mahalma Gandhi and his wife were imprisoned during the Quit India Movement; his wife, Kasturba, and his secretary, Mahadev Desai, died there and the simple marble memorials mark the spots where they were cremated. Other sights include Shinde Chhatri, the memorial of the Maratha Mahadji Shinde; the Sarasbag and Bund Gardens, the latter on the River Mula-Mutha on the way to Yeravda; and the ashram of the late controversial godman, Osho Rajneesh. Pune also has one of the linest turf clubs in the country with regular race meetings.

There are many good, reasonable hotels. The most convenient for the railway station, and one of the best and biggest in town, is Hotel Amir on Connaught Road (tel. 621840, fax. 021 2-623094). The Blue Diamond (tel. 625555, fax. 0212-627755) on Koregaon Road offers five-star luxury.

Lonavala, Khandala,Karla :India
Lonavala, 625 metres (2,000 feet) above sea level, and neighbouring Khandala are not as close to Mumbai as Matheran, but are far more accessible. As long ago as the 1850s they had become favourite retreats for the wealthy inhabitants of Bombay. Lying on the busy Mumbai-Pune highway, every hotel is packed most weekends most of the year. Even in the monsoon, when other hill stations are deserted, Lonavala and Khandala are full of holidaymakers from Mumbai,oaked to the skin and enjoying the rain. So if you want to go \o these towns, visit during weekdays. Between January and March, however, the crowds are slightly reduced. Both towns, but Lonavala in particular, are being transformed by an enormous amount of construction — mainly weekend bungalows for the rich of Mumbai. Despite all this, the surrounding ghats are still comparatively untouched and these with the Buddhist caves of Karla, Bhaja and Bedsa, are the main attractions.

GETTING THERE AND AROUND
There are many trains from Mumhai’s Victoria Terminus to Lonavala and fewer to the small Khandala station. The ghat section of line before Lonavala makes the journey worthwhile in itself, especially during and immediately after the monsoon when the ghats are their greenest. Regular buses also ply from Mumbai to Lonavala, a distance of 100 kilometres (63 miles), and Khandala, a distance ol 96 kilometres (60 miles). There is a frequent local train service between Lonavala and Pune, a distance ol 64 kilometres (40 miles), as well as a bus service.

The Maharashtra Tourist Development Corporation (MTDC) runs buses from the station to their holiday resort near Karla and the caves. They also arrange conducted tours of the area from the station, bul rather than wait for one you may prefer to take an (unmetered) taxi or a three-wheeler. For a list of hotels, see page 279.

Matheran :India
Matheran is situated 800 metres (2,625 feet) above sea level amid dark green jambol forest. Its eight square kilometres (three square miles) cover a hilltop in the Sahyadris, or Western Ghats and is the closest hill station to Mumbai. It is unique in that no motor transport is allowed within its area.

Matheran was ‘discovered’ by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the collector of Thane district in 1850. He was camping below in the village of Chowk and climbed up via the spot now known as One Tree Hill. He returned by Rambagh, and on the way down, took some water from a spring on the hilltop. The hilltop still bears his name. He later built the first house at Matheran, The Byke.

Lord Elphinstone, the governor of Bombay, visited Matheran in 1855 and chose a site for the bungalow still known as Elphinstone Lodge. His patronage made Matheran a popular resort. A kuccha (rough) road up to the resort was completed in 1855 but it was the mountain railway, opened in 1907, which made it easily accessible. The British built two churches here. The Anglican church of St Paul’s is, like the Matheran Club, no longer in use. The Roman Catholic church, however, is still active and the most popular school in the station is St Xavier’s.

By the turn of the century, the British were moving further afield for their holidays and the resort was dominated by affluent Parsis and Bohra Muslims from Bombay. Their hold began to weaken at Independence, although the Parsis still own some of the best hotels. Their clients, however, are mainly Mumbai-based Gujaratis.

Mount Abu :India
Mount Abu, 1,220 metres (4,003 feet) in the Aravalli Hills, is the sole hill station of the desert slate of Rajasthan. The nearest of the great Rajasthani tourism centres, Udaipur, is 185 kilometres (115 miles) away and Abu remains slightly off the foreign tourist route. Its visitors are mainly Indians and during the season it is well patronised, especially by honeymoon couples.

The name Abu is variously described as a corruption of Arbuddha, hill of wisdom, or Arbuda, the name of a powerful serpent who rescued Lord Shiva’s mount, the bull Nandi, from a chasm here. Legends surround the town. The Nakki Lake is said to have been excavated by the nails ol the gods, and the great Hindu sage, VashishL is believed to have performed a sacrifice here which led to the birth of four Rajput warrior clans whose descendants ruled large areas of India. For centuries, Mount Abu has been a pilgrimage site and its most remarkable attractions are its beautifully carved Jain temples, nearly a thousand years old.

The British added a chapter to Mount Abu’s long history by making it a hill station. They had no hill retreat in Rajputana, as Rajasthan was then called, until 1845, when the government leased Mount Abu from its Rajput owner. The station was built principally lor the British Resident of Rajputana, and in 1847, for the first time, 60 Britons escaped to the hill from the plains. While the British built private bungalows, and a polo ground, the Raiput princes constructed palatial residences.

Mount Abu has a cooler climate than the plains and stands among great granite outcrops, surrounded by scrub-covered hills. It is worth visiting all year round but the peak seasons are March-June and September-November.

Pachmari :India
Madhya Pradesh is one o{ the largest, least densely populated and least known states of India. It hardly ever made the national news bulletins until the Bhopal gas disaster gave worldwide notoriety to its peaceful, lakeside capital. If you want an unusual holiday, try exploring this state which has more to offer than the famous tourist centre and temple town of Khajuraho. Bhopal is only a short flight or an eight-hour train journey from Delhi by Shatabdi. From Bhopal it is a mere 210 kilometres (131 miles) to Pachmarhi, 1,067 metres (3,501 feet) above sea level in the Mahadeo Hills of the Satpura range.

Madhya Pradesh has many hills but only one hill station — Pachmari. The plateau on which it stands may once have lain at the bottom of an ancient sea. The name means ‘five dwellings’ and refers to five caves near the centre of the hill station where the five Pandava brothers of the Mahabharata epic are said to have spent their exile. The settlement was created as a sanatorium and summer retreat for the British in the then Central Provinces in the 1860s. It was discovered by Captain J Forsyth, when he was sent to explore the forests of the Satpura range in 1862. Forsyth was a remarkable man; an environmental zealot, who explored the forests of central India. Despite his lack of formal training he became an expert in local natural history. Unfortunately he died young. He wrote of Pachmari: ‘Everywhere the massive groups of trees and park-like scenery strikes the eye, and the greenery of glades and wild flowers, unseen at lower elevations, maintains the illusion that the scene is a bit out of our own temperate zone rather than of the tropics.’

Forsyth’s memory, however, is not honoured and the spot from which he first laid eyes on Pachmari, Forsyth Point, is now called Priyadarshini after the late prime minister, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi. As far as names are concerned, Pachmari has cast off the imperial yoke much more thoroughly than most hill stations. Bishop’s Squeeze, Piccadilly Circus and Hog’s Back have been Sanskritised and Irene, Helen and Kitty, not to mention Lansdowne, Malcolm and Frazer, have all been officially banished. Luckily for Saunders, he has just about survived in the renamed Sundar (Beautiful) Pool.