It�s the hill station nearest Bombay, yet quite overlooked. At least by the well-heeled Indians. Matheran has never been as popular as Maharashtra�s other hill resorts, Panchgani or Mahableshwar. Or even as Lonavala and Khandala used to be. But I reckon all that�s changing. And The Verandah In The Forest is responsible for that. Matheran is a walkers� paradise, it�s the only pedestrian hill resort in all of Asia. And getting there is so simple.You catch a local train on the Central Railway line from Bombay, hop off at Neral and then chug uphill in a toy train right into the heart of Matheran. Alternatively

You drive down (takes an hour) to a point on the hill from where you can go no further and have to do the Baby Elephant Walk! Trudge along the red mud path or short-cut your way along tiny railway tracks. Or if you don�t mind looking silly, be pulled and pushed on a human rickshaw, a palanquin, or get going on horse back. Once up there these are the only modes of transportation, thank God. And thanks also to people like Jimmy Lord and Mrs. Pilloo Richardson (may their souls rest in peace) both of whom fought tooth and nail, assisted by the powerful pen of Behram Contractor, to prevent vested powers from allowing vehicular traffic into Matheran and in effect ruining the place.

But The Verandah is a new clearing in the forest. The good news is that people like Francis Waciarg and Aman Nath, have entered the heavily foliaged landscape of Matheran. These are ecologically sensitive hoteliers with good taste who have invested in the beautiful albeit neglected property owned by the Dubashes, a well-known Parsi family of Bombay. Lovingly, painstakingly they have restored what was known as Barr House, to its former glory. A view endorsed by a member of the Dubash family, who happened to drop in for lunch and who I had the good fortune of bumping into, right there on the verandah.

It was indeed my pleasure to lunch with a person whose grandfather built the house and to learn interesting little nuggets about the place. Where they played as children, who slept in which room, how bathing water was heated in a huge samovar (which we even discovered standing forlornly at the back of the mansion), how cookies were baked on makeshift coal ovens, where the grandfather stored his aryuvedic medicines and how the monkeys ran away with it! Well, the energetic monkeys are still around and still running away with things. Except now they are smarter. They run away with your smoked salmon, as you sit on the verandah enjoying a good breakfast. Which brings me to the Verandah itself. It is indeed a wonderful place to spend a few, quiet and peaceful days in. The place is charming with just 11 large rooms, each with a name: Sassoon, Petit, Peerbhoy, Chenoy, Elphinston, Shankershet. The dining room is called Malet, he discovered Matheran in 1851 and built the first bungalow there. The bar is naturally called, you guessed right � the Barr Bar!

The food that comes out of the kitchen can be as exotic as homely. That�s because the two Chefs there are the most friendly and accommodating chefs I have ever seen. Breakfast was, for me ,the best meals mmm� the kheema-pao taste still lingers� Subtle is the word that sums up Verandah. Here there is no show of any kind. You are left to do what you want, eat, sleep, walk, find your own space.

The Verandah In The Forest
Barr House, Matheran 410 102, Raigarh, Maharashtra, India.
Phone: 02148 230296.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.neemranahotels.com