Travel to Lonavala

Took a one week trip to Lonavala with my father and mother, in the first week of September.  People go to Lonavala to experience the climate of hill station.  But the rainy season is a different story.  The rainy season in Lonavala is beset with thunder, gusty winds and heavy rains and so it was when we went there.

We stayed in Kapol sanitorium where mainly elderly couples come for a week-long vacation.  Their package is such that rooms are booked for a week, from Thursday to Thursday.  They have a mess which serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.  So pretty much, it is a resort like atmosphere at low cost.

The place is well staffed with helpers to help with luggage and other housekeeping chores including washing our daily clothes and keeping the room clean.

Initially, the room we were allotted had a major issue.  It was on the ground floor and the ceiling in the room was leaking water from the room upstairs.  They had no choice but to shift us to another room which was an AC room in another building.  AC was of no use this season.

Now, a little bit about the place.  There is a semi open main hall in another building with a big seating area, which also houses the office and the keyboard to leave our keys.  All activities, games and bhajans are held here in the hall.  This hall also has a TV set so people can come and watch TV here as the rooms in the non-AC buildings do not have TV in the rooms.

There is a open square walk area next to the hall outside, where 1 round = 75 metres with 14 rounds = 1 Kilometre and people take walks here to fulfil their daily quota of walking.  In the rainy season, this is possible when there are no rains.  I took walks here during the brief periods when rains would stop.  But such periods of no rain weren’t many.

The daily routine in this place is pretty set.

Morning activities begin post breakfast at 10:30 AM.  There are different activities like games, sketching, mind games, spinner etc.  Prizes are given out to winners and some prizes are also given to participants thus to encourage people to participate in the activities.  Every day for the seven days, there are different activities.  The activities last from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM.  Since the hall was partly open and the rains were in full force, it was cold in the hall and sweaters / scarfs / shawls were needed when sitting in the hall.  Across from the hall, there is an open-air library, for reading daily newspapers and Gujarati books kept in the cupboards there.  It’s cold in this library as well so cold weather clothing is a must.

12 to 1 is lunch time.  Post lunch, 1 PM to 4 PM is rest period.  At 4 PM other activities mainly bhajans and garba take place.  All religious activities here are based on Shrinathji.  One day, the entire afternoon was dedicated to Mansi Seva.

5 PM is tea time and only tea, no snacks.  So, snacks that we have packed from home help at this time.  Post tea, some people watch TV, others retire to their rooms, if there are no activities.

At 7 PM sharp, every evening there is Aarti.  There is a mandir with open seating area next to the main hall where the Aarti is held.  The mandir has God LaxmiNarayan and other deities.  Every evening there are chairs kept here for people to sit through the Aarti.  There are handouts given to people so they can recite the Aarti with others.  Some have memorized all the different Aartis.  Others, like me need a handout.  The Aarti lasts for about 45 minutes.  The prasad in the Aarti is sponsored daily by different people.  Post the Aarti, we all move to the main hall for bhajans.  Some people from the audience come over to the front to sing the bhajans.  The inn-keepers for the sanitorium are Mr. Antubhai and his wife, the lady of the house, both senior citizens.  Some of the last bhajans before dinner are always sung by Mr. Antubhai’s wife. 

One evening during the bhajan time, they had invited blind people from a nearby academy to sing songs and play musical instruments.  It was a humbling experience to see them perform.  One evening, they had invited writers and poets from the Kapol gnati who gave expression to their literary skills which was well received by the audience.

Post Aarti and Bhajans, it is dinner time and then we retire to our rooms.  Our room now has a TV, so we watch news in the room, post dinner.  For those persons who do not have TV, they go to the hall to watch some popular programs like KBC.  With the heavy rains, I look forward to snuggle in a warm blanket, sometimes to watch TV, sometimes to read and other times to just get a restful sleep,