Day 9: Hill Roads, a Bull Press & a Lab Named Tyson

The morning began fresh. After breakfast, packed up and set out for the next destination — Panchgani, a hill station near Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats.

The first stop came quickly, a simple tyre pressure check. With that done, the drive began properly. Had either Pune Expressway or an old highway as the options for the route. A quick check with a local, chose the old national highway. On paper it may not seem like the faster option, but with time in hand and a curiosity to see what the road offered, it felt right. Looking back, it turned out to be one of the better decisions of the day.

The Kolhu

Once out of town, something unusual caught my eye. Along the highway stood several setups of tents with a bull going. round in circles. The sight felt almost out of place at a time when electric machines do the same work everywhere, faster and without ceremony.

Curiosity won. I stopped at one.

The vendors were making sugarcane juice using wooden grinders powered by bulls walking in slow circles. The juice runs down and is collected in a pit dug into the ground beside the setup. The vendor explained that the entire structure used no metal parts. According to him, locals prefer the taste of juice made this way. The metal components in electric machines, he said, leave their own trace in the flavour. Here, there was nothing between the cane and the glass except wood, rope, and the bull's steady pace.

Everything about it felt complete in itself. The waste went back into the soil. The bull did what it had always done. Nothing in the system that did not belong there.

I could not resist having a glass, even though travelling alone on a long trip usually makes me cautious about roadside drinks. It tasted exactly as he had described. After that short stop, the journey continued.

Through Maharashtra

The next halt came near Ahmednagar at a Café Coffee Day. A familiar sight, the first known brand stop since the Starbucks at Jewar toll on day one. Ordered coffee and an energy bar for take away, and back on the road.

This route has no shortage of places to eat. Small dhabas and eateries appear regularly and reliably, so finding food is never a concern. The landscape changed as the kilometres passed. Countryside roads opened up with green fields on both sides, and slowly the Western Ghats hills began appearing in the distance. The road surface improved noticeably.

Taking the turn toward the Khandala-Lonand road changed the entire character of the drive. Hills stretched across the horizon. The weather was clear with a few clouds, though a light haze sat over the valleys. The scale of what was around was clear enough and I was wondering what this palce must look like in the monsoon or in the quieter winter months just after the rains, when the green is deepest and the haze is gone.

As the kilometres passed, something quieter ran alongside the drive. The deeper the route went into the country, the more its people became part of the experience rather than just the scenery. Their routines, their pace, the way systems function at every level without announcement: a roadside eatery, a village pump, a fuel station, each one doing its job as if it has always known what it is for. Nine days in, that observation was no longer new. It had simply become true.

Panchgani

Reached the hotel around 5:30 PM.

At the entrance, the first welcome came not from the staff but from Tyson, a two-year-old Labrador, chubby in the particular way that well-fed, well-loved dogs are, who arrived at the car before the engine had fully stopped. Had read about him in the user reviews on the travel site while I was looking up the hotel the previous night. The caretakers Niranjan and Shabbir appeared a moment behind him. It was off season and I was the only guest.

After checking in, had a cup of tea and a bowl of Maggi outside with Tyson stationed nearby in a state of permanent optimism. The calmness of the place settled in slowly. Hill driving demands more than flat highway does: the constant small adjustments on winding roads accumulate through the day and the quiet of Panchgani was exactly the right thing to arrive into.

Stepped out later for dinner at a nearby restaurant. A short walk in the cool hill air once  back, the kind of walk that earns the sleep that follows.

Before turning in, the caretaker mentioned a place nearby worth visiting in the morning before heading to next stop, Goa.