Grass looks greener on the other side

Its rightly said that, grass looks greener on the other side. A person undervalues whatever he posses, and look for a better one. Maybe that's why we try to find a better one each moment, unsatisfied with what he has. There is a small village/town, far off in the Maharashtra- Bangalore border called Satara, where is spent some 5 years. It was love at first sight for me with the place, maybe because i got to learn new things in life and maybe because it was my first time outside of my hometown. However, for the rest, they cursed the God forsaken place like anything and wished to studied in Pune/Mumbai where there was decent crowd. Time took its own course, and i got accustomed to the surrounding. Despite the thousands of curses each day by fellowmen about the place, i was quite happy because of the quite environment. Mahableshwar, Panchagani ...some of India's famous Hill-stations were half an hours journey from my hostel. I used to frequent the place whenever i had the mood too, except for the petrol and extra money for food.

Each passing day, i used to go to college,come back to hostel and thats it. What i like about the place is the small town culture of being down-to-earth nature of the people, despite the fact that they were a bit old fashioned and would warn you if they see you wearing shorts!! It would not matter much to me,as it was quite similar to my hometown Manipur.. the environment, the scenic beauty.. A whiff of the foggy weather in Mahableshwar would refresh everyone's mind, no matter what he had lost in life. there was something magical about the beauty and place. Satara, as a district was large but where i dwelled was rather small. There were three road diversions in the main town center which also had an Effile Tower like "Colgate Palmolive" advertisement.


Satara, as seen on Pune- Banglore highway


There are many places where you can escape from the few but wrongly christened "madding crowd" in Satara. Some of them where one can find solace are...
* Ajikya-tara (old Shivaji's fort)
* Tho-se-garh (wind-farm and waterfall)
* Pratap-garh (in Mahableshwar)
* Mahableshwar (hill station)
* Panchgani (many filmstars had education here)
* Sajjan-garh (top of hill, where you can see the whole of Satara)
* Wai (on the way to Mahableshwar)
* Kas lake
* Sugarcane fields
the list goes endless..


Road to Ajinkyatara



View of Panchgani (Hill station)



The good thing about this place is that, being a small town, things are quite cheaper. One unforgettable thing was Dhabas.. some of the names i remember are..
* Sai Dhaba ( famous for butter chicken and near to hostel)
* Kanse dhaba
* Pankaj dhaba (chicken tandoori)

and all those theatres which i spent watching almost everyday [except for the morning shows :)] Well i guess i am missing the place, i can see the road to Mahableshwar so clearly in my dreams. Even the roads seems so beautiful...lonely, quite and beautiful landscapes.




Road to Mahableshwar through Kas lake


Wish to go there once again and enliven my memories soon. Hope to find a travelling partner for the same soon.