Exploring Bombay's Catskills

Bombay during the monsoon is either rainy or hot and muggy and most Bombayites with some means seek an escape in the hilly areas surrounding the metropolis.

And what a metropolis it is: it takes an hour just to get to the outskirts, where a new middle-class suburb is going up (still interspersed with fields and sheep-herding peasants). On the way you pass through many slums, shabby roadside stalls and finally, the project-type high-rises of Navi Mumbai, or New Mumbai in the native language of the state of Maharashtra.

Soon after you leave this multimillion city, however, the landscape changes to lush greenery and mountains in the distance. Our path lay along a multi-lane regional highway, only seven years old, that could rival I-95 and has made travel considerably easier (our 7-year-old guidebook warned us about armed robberies along the way--a necessary rite of passage for any new road--but things have quieted down since).

The resort town of Lonavala where we went is about 2 hours from Bombay, depending on traffic. Because of its proximity to the city, it's been overdeveloped (and overtrashed--see the picture with the ineffectual penguin trash can) but if you step a little away from the main road, the views are like the Scottish Highlands. Many people come here to do hiking, or, at this time of year, monsoon hiking, possible because the rain is always warm.

There are also two Buddhist cave complexes, Karla and Bhaja, that date back to around the 2nd century B.C., with imposing, cathedral-like temples hewn into the rocks. In the center of each is a stupa, with an umbrella base on top signifying Buddha's presence. And in the more elaborate and better preserved of those temples, there are majestic rows of columns in the shape of lotuses, each crowned with a pair of elephants carrying a couple on top. The local visitors don't care much about these Buddhist sites, though--a Hindu temple was built abutting one of the cathedrals, the bell-ringing and incense reminding us that while one religion is obsolete in India, the other is alive and well.

Our trip was a bit dampened, though not by the rain, but by the other guests at our hotel. For Misha's post-birthday trip, we splurged on a place that cost $100 a night, meals included--quite steep, mostly because of its proximity to Mumbai. Our next-door neighbors were a group of rich college kids from the city who threw a wild drunken party with booming music deep into the night. We complained twice and were told, slurringly, that "we have to adjust." The hotel manager was not about to help, either--apparently, he's of lower class and status, would not be listened to, and could even incur problems if the guests happened to be somebodys. So, as Misha says, in typical Indian fashion, we were offered to pack our stuff and move buildings... at 1:30 AM... It was quite an eye-opener to me that there are no enforceable hotel laws here, and, once the guests pay--always in advance--there is not much the management can dare do to them. Try to kick them out and a mafia don might gently rap on your door the next morning--and who would want to deal with that?