By Shraddha C. Sankulkar
80 Kms south-east, from the city of Mumbai, is a tourist hill station named Khandala. Just on the outskirts of the hill station there is a rock structure that looks like a pointed nose jutting out of a mountain top. During the colonial times in India, everyone would associate it to the 1st Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, because the rock structure resembled the long pointed nose of the Duke! The Duke was a renowned British figure in those times, as he had first served the British army and then became the Prime Minister of United Kingdom on two occasions. Khandala was then a place where mostly British officers, wealthy Parsi community people and the other elite class of Bombay use to unwind from their regular matters of urban life.
Khandala continues to be a well-known destination even today, where many people admire its natural beauty. Just 2 hours drive from Mumbai, most people visit it on weekends, just for change of weather, few others visit to discuss business deals, some for nature trailing and many to just unwind in midst of nature. The town also has historical and strategic significance too. The extension of the railway route from Mumbai (then Bombay) to the city of Pune happened via Khandala. The civil engineers that laid the railway tracks were mostly British. There was a prison at Khandala where British Prisoners of War from the 2nd World War were kept in strict custody.
Given the connect of the 1st Duke of Wellington with the town of Khandala, one hotel deserves a special mention. ‘The Duke’s Retreat Resort’ established in 1991, now rebranded as ATHIVA Resort and Spa, is located on a hillock and due to the elevation, the views from the hotel room offers an aerial view to the Old Mumbai Pune Highway that is seen winding till far. The resort’s restaurant and bar named ‘Empress’, offers Indian and Continental cuisines, to the guest who relish good food while admiring the mesmerizing view of the valley and the mountains around. The monsoon and the winter months of India, are best to unwind in the arms of Khandala, but even in the other months, the fresh cool air and the white streams of water seen at distant backdrop, transports one’s mind in a magical blissful trance. Given today’s climate change global crisis, structures like the Duke’s Nose, acts as a symbolic reminder to the oxygen starved urban folks to take good deep breath of fresh air of Khandala, and then return back with a rejuvenated spirit to make the best of what urban life has to offer.
Photo Courtesy: Shraddha. C. Sankulkar
