Educational Trip to Matheran

Every student from Class 7A & B was up by 6 am on 16th October 2014. One of the few days in the whole year when we wake up without a fuss. Well, we were going on a class trip to Matheran!!!! It was a beautiful sunny morning. We were to leave school by 8:30 am. The yellow buses were parked outside the gate and we hopped onto the bus. The journey had barely begun, when we pulled out our speakers and started playing music and singing songs. We halted near a place near Neral where our bus could no longer squirm its way through the narrow path. So we went in smaller groups in the local taxis that drove us up the hill upto Dasturi point. Our luggage was put on to the handcarts and we trekked for about 45 minutes to reach the grand Hotel Rugby.



At Rugby, we were greeted warmly. Weary and tired after our long journey, we first freshened up, went to the dining zone and had a tasty and sumptuous lunch. We checked into our rooms, relaxed and made the most of our free time. We assembled at the open amphitheater where the participant student delegates of the Save- Sustain-Survive conference shared with the entire group, their valuable experiences.

Our teachers had planned games on ‘Sustainability’ for us.



We played the games where we pretended to be different animals and we had to hop skip and jump our way around, looking for food. We learnt the different ways that animals go around, looking for food.

The stage was transformed into a makeshift jungle where we proudly marched along the path as tigers or roared away like lions or went giggling away and scratching ourselves like monkeys. Speaking of monkeys, there are loads of them in Matheran.



We also played a game of treasure hunt that got all of us logically thinking. We went back to the dining section for some refreshments.

At around 4:30 pm, we left for the center of the town called the ‘Mall Road’ where we strolled down the little pebbled path; looking at the small knick-knacks and food items that were being sold. There was almost everything available there from fudges and sherbets to handbags and toys. Soon the market was bubbling with joy and excitement as we looked around for mementos that we could buy and take back with us to gift our loved ones. We haggled and bargained a lot. Many of us bought hand flyers that really went up very high and many bought the catapults in hope that it would help us keep the monkeys at bay!

Back at Rugby, we had our campfire night, where the students of 7A and 7B put up a short little skit and a few dances. We had loads of fun as we danced and sang around the fire and basked in the warmth and comfort of friendship. Again a delicious dinner awaited us and soon everyone dozed off as it had been a long and tiring day.



We had an early wakeup call the next morning and after a quick round of milk and biscuits we trekked to the Echo Point. It was about a kilometre away from our hotel. We took many pictures and “selfies” together. There was also this really very cute and sprightly dog that followed us right from the hotel till Echo Point. Back from the Echo point after a delicious breakfast we played around rooms and took turns to pack up and get ready for the return journey.



We had our lunch and trekked back from Rugby to Dasturi and boarded the mini vans to reach Neral where our buses were waiting to take us back to Mumbai. We all wanted to stay longer!



The journey back was a lot of fun. The speakers were screaming away and so were we. There was mayhem in the bus, when we all sang together. So this was our mini class trip packed with mirth, elation and euphoria. On reaching Mumbai. we realized we were missing Matheran already, and waiting eagerly for our next class trip together.



-Shaurya Parikh