The Great Indian Chai Experience: The much-needed nerve-calmer in Lonavala (Kadamb Sahyadri)

This was the first time I was driving on mountains, and I was shaken to the core after the car I was driving, borrowed and unfamiliar, had stopped in the middle of a steep incline and had started rolling back. I quickly pulled the hand break. For a while, my husband Vijay and I, sat still without uttering a word. Then I gathered some courage, started the car, put it in the first gear and slowly released the handbrake while giving it steady race. And thankfully, the car started moving forwards. It was the worst way to learn a lesson, but I did and we moved on. Nevertheless, by the time we arrived at Tiger Point, I was still trembling a little, and wasn't in the best of the moods. Snapping at Vijay at the slightest provocation and dreading the fact that we still had to drive further, I barely registered anything in the fifteen minutes we spent at the popular view point. 

We were wondering whether we should go on or turn back. Vijay suggested that we drive on and if we find that the turns are getting worse, then we turn back. I agreed and we proceeded. Thankfully the trip ahead, right up to Amby Valley, was not so bad and I didn't repeat the mistakes I had made earlier. And by the time we were back at Tiger Point, I was in a much better mood and was on a high with a sense of achievement. But then it was the time to start the descent, and we would have to cross the same spot where we had got stuck a couple of hours earlier. I was getting a bad case of nerves, so we decided to take a break and enjoy the view for a while. 

Right next to Tiger Point is Lion Point. Even though it was off-season, Tiger Point was very crowded so we had moved towards the more peaceful Lion's Point and had continued to walk a little further until we reached a small shack , where a family had set up home and were selling tea and snacks such as Maggi, pakoras, and bhajia. The shack overlooked the Sahyadri valley on one side and a lake on the other. We ordered tea and Maggi and requested the shack owner, a young woman, to deliver it to us little down the track. We trekked down and soon found a rock that offered great views of Sahyadri cliffs and valleys. We sat there quietly listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing. Our Chai and Maggi arrived soon. Till now, we hadn't realized how hungry we really were, and at the first sight of food, we felt blessed. Maggi was nice. The shack owner had taken the pains of chopping onions into it and had put in just the right amount of Masala. 

As for the tea, here is the review:

Colour: dark golden-orange
Temperature: hot
Consistency: light- could have been creamier 
Sugar content: Slightly higher than normal
Strength: Just right
Additional flavor: A dash of ginger



After the much needed refreshment, we started driving back. And thankfully everything went well. We crossed THE point with some trepidation, but once we had crossed it, we felt much braver. And we even gathered courage to scale some more mountains, and even visited Khandala the same day.