Travel + Leisure

TRAVEL + LEISURE / MARCH 2016

dances with fancy footwork, and then guided to
our air conditioned buses for an excursion.
In a world where speed is everything, a train
journey has a way of slowing you down. Sitting
in the Gateway bar with a drink in hand,
I watch the world whiz past the large panoramic
windows...it’s alarmingly diff erent. Besides,
the personal touch is also unrivalled: my butler
Stallone anticipates every need, from crack-of-
dawn wake-up calls to cold towels and fruity
mocktails after an excursion.

DAY 1: The staff escorts me from platform 18
of Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai,
to my carriage called Tirth. I walk through the
carpeted length of wood-panelled corridors with
portraits of kings and old maps, to reach my air-
conditioned twin-bed cabin, done up in pleasing
shades of beige and gold, silk blinds, soft pillows
and duvets, special stationary, and a small study
table tucked under. En suite is a bath with shower,
fl uff y towels, toiletries, bath robe, and slippers. As
the train trundles out of the station, I interact with

my co-passengers who are an eclectic lot from

diff erent walks of life: a boisterous stamp dealer

from Britain, a young CEO from Belgium, and

a retired British couple from Windsor who had

learned about the train from their Indian doctor.

After an early dinner, we retire to our rooms and

begin to accustom ourselves to sleeping with

sudden starts and whistles of a train travel.

DAY 2: After a breakfast of fl uff y white egg

omelettes and fresh fruits, we alight at Nasik, the

holy city on the banks of Godavari, also known as

the wine capital of the country today. Our guide

Chitra dressed in bright shades of orange and

purple, leads us along the banks of the river.

Nasik means ‘nose’ and the city got its name from

the nose of the mythical Ramayana demon called

Surphanaka. Sadhus in saff ron robes, hawkers

selling religious paraphernalia, rock salt, herbal

remedies, and mounds of local raisins, dot the

banks. People bathe in the Ghats and perform

religious rites, some fl oat small baskets of fl owers

and diyas to fulfi ll a wish. The two-hundred-

year-old homes in Panchavati with stained glass

and wooden trellises carved with dragons and

monkeys (home to large sprawling joint families

in the past) become ageless protagonists of the

moving time. We move over to the Grover Zampa

vineyard where plants bursting with purple grapes

drape red slopes, and have the sommelier guide us

through several rounds of wine-tasting.

FROM LEFT: The

New Palace

Museum in

Kolhapur, built in

the Indo-Sarcenic

style; Meals On

Wheels: a fresh

Caesar Salad;

Pretty girls in

local garb form

the welcome

committee at

Ratnagiri.