Panchgani – New Years 2015

Prelude:

This was a New Years we just couldn’t plan in advance, as Geet and I didnt know our work schedules given we moved roles towards the end of the year and unclear of how our schedule in the new roles would be. In spite of having sufficient holidays left, we realized a little too late in the year that we could still use them, and then went in search of holiday destinations that was still affordable - and none worked out, obviously!

Flights to Sri Lanka were 30k+, flights to anywhere in India, including Goa and Jaipur were close to 20k, room rates after that was also steep, so going anywhere far just didn’t work out. It had to be someplace closeby, someplace we could just drive to.

And this was when Sagar called me to check on New Year plans, and given we had none, and he was planning to organize one at a Bombay getaway like Panchgani/Mahabaleshwar, it just made perfect sense to tie in with him.

In the next few days, the destination was finalized as Panchgani, since he was able to coordinate with an agent to procure a guesthouse over New Years here. The cohort was also finalized - Sagar, Disha, Nikhil, Mallika, Parul, Shreyansh, Geet and I.

This worked out very nicely as 4 couples for a guesthouse with exactly 4 rooms! 
The plan was on!

December 31:

I flew in from Bangalore on 30^th night after being there with Geet since December 24^th, and it was a much needed relaxed stay at home that I’ve sort of been craving for in the longest time. Geet herself got back on 28^th itself given some meetings she had in Bombay, so I was all by myself, and got to spend good time hitting the gym, watching TV, eating home food, and most importantly, chatting with the people I havent spent as much time as I should have through this year - the 3 generation ladies of Amchi, Mom and Jeethu.

After landing in Bombay post mid night, I went to Geet’s parents place where she was staying, and planned to wake up at 5am in order to get to our place, pack, and leave by 630am along with Disha to Panchangi – this was the plan Sagar and I decided on before I took off from Bangalore, as he said he would be coming with Nikhil and Mallika post lunch on that day (Parul and Shreyansh were to join us from Pune). However, there was a change in plans within those few hours I was in the flight, and this was just a teaser to how fluid the plans turned out the rest of the trip.

So the new plan was that Nikhil and Mallika would come with us in the morning, and Sagar and Disha would leave post lunch. There was no issue with this plan, except that when I connected with Nikhil in the morning, he gave no signs of leaving before 9am. I pushed him to make it 845, and used the time for us to pack and leave peacefully. We slowed it down so much, that we finally made it to Sagar’s place in Hiranandani only by 9am where we were to drop off our car so that Disha and Sagar could bring it, and we were to go with Nikhil and Mallika comfortably in their Civic. But the 2 of them only came by 10am! Geet and I tried using this time to buy some breakfast from Haiko, but eventually got bored to death waiting for them.

However, we finally started from Bombay at 10am, far later than what we intended to, with the only comforting thought being that neither of us were driving, and sat comfortably in the back seat of the Civic. We headed straight to Pune, with only one stop at Lonavala for refuelling the car and ourselves with a cup of tea, and waited at a restaurant called Joshi Vadewala on the outskirts of Pune for Parul and Shreyansh to join us. They made us wait for an hour, which was the second time in the day this happened for me and Geet, and the 6 of us finally made it to Panchgani only after sunset.

Thankfully, one of the caretakers met us at the highway and directed us to the cottage, which would have been impossible for us to find in the darkness, and we got in to check out what was going to be our home for the next 18 hours – or so we thought.

In spite of the long journey, we excitedly began unpacking and setting up the place with the disco lights, speaker systems, laptops with music, hukkah’s and other party paraphernalia we carried from Bombay for this night. And just as we were finishing, Sagar and Disha joined us, barely an hour after we came landed here, in spite of them leaving at 2pm in the afternoon – a whole 7 hours after Geet and I left our house that morning!

Showed how many breaks we took while coming, and how fast our little i10 is capable of going when in the hands of Disha, with Sagar to cheer her on, rather than when in my hands with Geet checking me every time I cross 100kmph.

By about 9pm, the entire place was setup, and Geet wanted everyone to change into their Cowboy costumes, which was decided as the theme for the night. Now none of us were in the mood for it being fairly tired and just wanting to start drinking, but Geet took Parul and they went in to change. The others also went in shortly to change, and only Shreyansh and I were sitting in the porch, preparing the hukkah, feeling too lazy to wear a costume. But once Geet and Parul came out, looking the perfect Cowgirls, we had no option but to put in a bit of effort ourselves. So Shreyansh and I went in to change as well, and all of us still looked under-dressed to what Nikhil and Mallika did, coming out looking like Siamese twins, with Nikhil sporting a fake beard to complete the Cowboy look.

Finally by about 10pm, we had our first drink, which was prepared by me after checking with everyone on what exactly they would want, and carefully laid out all the 8 glasses for everyone. Pretty soon, everyone was drunk, as it really didn’t take much time given how tired all of us were with the journey on that day, and welcomed New Years with a beautiful bonfire that was lit up just a minute before the clock struck 12, and this eventful time was marked with some firecrackers that were set off by some neighbours, which is always a beautiful way to ring in New Years.

So we all hugged and wished each other, took tons of photos, and ate the food that Geet’s mom sent for us, and the one’s prepared by Disha herself at the guesthouse during the time the rest of us decorated the place. So there was Chicken Fry, Chaat Croquettes, Paneer Chilly and Garlic Bread as starters, and then an entire assortment for dinner that was prepared by the caretakers of the guesthouse.

After eating to our fill, we sat playing taboo for some time, which in our drunken state was quite messy, and finally called it a night at 3am.

January 1:

There could be very few New Year morning better that this one at Panchgani when we woke up. It actually began to drizzle, which was the only day of rain as per the weather forecast in a 10 day period from the last week of December to the first week of January. It was metaphoric – rains to wash away not only the mess we created the previous night, but also to wash away an entire year in order to present us with a bright new clean 2015.

We sat in the porch area where there was a seating setup to serve breakfast, which covered the space there was the bonfire and drinks table the previous night. We couldn’t sit there for too long though because of the drizzle, and rushed into the room where Geet and I slept since that one had a dining table inside. Post a heavy breakfast of the best Omelets we have had, Nikhil regaled us with some Hindi songs he sang and played on his guitar, and then got ready to visit Mapro’s, which everyone seemed to know as the must-visit place when in these parts. Geet and I had no clue about this, and we were really glad we were with people who knew this place, as they gave us an experience that was truly worth it.

Mapro’s is a mini amusement park that has been developed by the eponymous squash brand, and has a section where they sample their various squashes that you can try out and then purchase the ones you like (if you feel like), or sit around in their tables that overlook the mountains and order their delicious pizzas and sandwiches, and even take a tour of their factory - a section of which is open to public.  

We did all of this, and sat for a long time on their little tables gorging on the pizzas and sandwiches, and then topped this with something they call Strawberry Cream, which is basically fresh strawberries over a layer of ice-cream, that is then topped with a layer of fresh cream. The entire ensemble is just sinful, and although it looked too big for one person to finish, each of us downed an entire Strawberry Cream on our own. The Sandwiches too were brilliant, which is quite a feat as we know some places in Bombay where they serve killer sandwiches.

While gorging on all of this, we discussed the day’s plans, which were originally supposed to be that Nikhil, Mallika, Sagar and Disha leave to Bombay after this lunch, and the remaining 4 of us drive to Pune and spend the night at Shreyansh’s place there. But the day started out so perfect with the breakfast under the rains, and developed even better to lunch at Mapro’s, that we felt like keeping it going, and agreed to spend another night there.

So Sagar immediately made some calls and arranged the second night for all of us there, and after wrapping up the heavy lunch, we left Shreyansh’s car behind, and the 8 of us took off in 2 cars to see some view points of Panchgani. Nikhil went in circles without really letting any of us know that he is lost, and finally landed at one point that not only offered a brilliant view, but also had surprisingly fewer people given some of the other points we crossed.

Tons of photos later, we drove to the Mahabaleshwar market just after sunset where the girls did their shopping. Sagar, Shreyansh and I left ahead in one car in order to pick up the third and head back to the guesthouse to start setting it up early.

But just when we unpacked everything once again and was beginning to start the party, Shreyansh realized that the silver foil in the hukkah was missing. So he and Nikhil went out to buy them, and in order to not keep everyone bored, I prepared some nice shots for all of us to have, and we did 3 rounds before they came. Shreyansh said he was glad they went back to buy the silver foil, as they realized the cars lights were on, and that would have been a disaster as the battery would have drained out the next day. So everything did happen for a reason, and pretty soon, it was another crazy party, and this time around, people were enjoying it even more given we were not that fatigued with the travel as we were in the previous day, and were generally in a better party mood.

We did play some more taboo, although it got very competitive this time around, and finally called it a night just after mid night, since Nikhil, Mallika, Sagar and Disha had planned to leave very early given they had work on that Friday.

January 2:

The 4 of us still staying at this pretty cottage woke up to another brilliant morning, had some more of their incredible omelets, and started our drive towards Pune. The idea was to hit Pune by around 2pm, break for lunch, and then continue our way to Bombay. However, this day too was to witness another twist in the plans.

By the time we made it to Pune, it was nearly 3pm, and we hit this restaurant called Malaka Spice that gave you this Goan shack feeling right in the middle of the city, with its freshly brewed home beer, large plants across the tables, and food that tasted brilliant. The 4 of us were enjoying it so much, that we decided to stay back in Pune and leave only the next day, which would be the 2^nd time we would be completely packing and unpacking our clothes, and this time around, we didn’t even have a change of clothes as were never prepared for a 3 day trip!

But we still decided to stay back, and had some more beers over an extended lunch that was interspersed with intellectual conversations about marriage inter alia, and then crashed out at Shreyansh’s place in the evening.

We woke up only at 9pm, and got ready while watching Big Boss, and went out to a place called Stone Water Grill in Pune’s Koregaon Park’s Annexe, where Sushant also joined us. It was a really neat place Sushant picked out for us, and not only were we enjoying the drinks and music on the tables outside, but came in and had an amazing spread for dinner, which included Spiced Duck, Pork Belly and Greek Salad.

We ended the night joining the party that had begun at the discotheque outside, and danced around a little before heading back to Shreyansh’s place, to finally close out a trip that started out as a 1-day affair, and extended to 3 full days, where we danced, drank, sang, ate and had an amazing time with friends. A fitting finale to an eventful year, with new hopes for the next one.