Mahabaleshwar reflections...

As for some of my reflections about our trip... (nothing against or for anyone, just random thoughts that still linger in my head):

• All along the way I saw houses/homes of people in such remote, God-forsaken places, with practically no modern facilities that we often think life would be impossible without. Yet people did live and did appear quite contended and happy too. No electricity (that implies no fan, no light after sunset, no a/c... imagine that in the heat of the summer), no phone lines, no supermarket and malls, no grocery stores, no schools,... Having got accustomed to living all the while in an office with light, fan, net, computer I was feeling so jittery without these just for two days. And here were people living blissfully, what if even totally ignorant of the very existence of these things.
• Willy had all along planned the route and the locations for our visit. However, relying only on the internet or tourist map was of no great help. The best I felt was to ask people along the way. That way we got to interact with people and listen to them, mostly in their own language (Kannada or Marathi). Though of course, not all who directed us were right! But it was worth it.
• The hard work of the fellows working at Mahabaleshwar: the various tourist spots we visited, the cottage where we stayed, and especially at the hotel where we had our meals. Very pleasant and at their jobs. Of course, had they been smarter than that they would not have ended up as waiters and house-keepers! But where they were they did their best.
  
• Then there were the tourists and their kids... that was a view in itself! People from all over the country for their own interests and enjoying themselves in so varied a degree. Some kids more worried about the cricket match or the cartooon programme being aired on the hotel TV than the food set before them; parents trying to get their children to stay put in one place while they bargained for a pair of attractive footwear (something totally out of the world for the children!); people looking out for what others are ordering for meals at the restaurants; the elderly keen to be getting in and out of the caves and mountains along with their grandchildren but unable to do so and therefore sitting and keeping guard over their belongings; the confused mother who is pulled in two different directions by her two kids just because each one sees what he wants in two different shops!