Europeans love for hill stations set foot on Mahabaleshwar

The Ladies of Mahabaleshwar Have strawberries for tea. And as for cream and sugar, They add them lavishly; But Poona! Oh, in Poona, Their hearts are likely to break For while the butter's melting The flies eat up the cake.

- Chinmay Damle

Mahabaleshwar was the summer headquarters of the Bombay government. The rolling spurs of the hill station, crowned by flat-topped summits, commanded magnificent views of deep valleys and possessed natural advantages surpassed by few.

During the season (March to June and October), Mahabaleshwar received an influx of Europeans as well as rich Indians from Bombay and Poona, considerably increasing its resident population. Even if Matheran was closer to Bombay and Panchgani was better connected to the railways, Mahabaleshwar was the preferred destination of Europeans and Indians alike.

Mahabaleshwar was known for its sanatoriums. It also boasted of a church, clubs, library, hotels, post and telegraph office, etc, with a centrally located bazaar where "supplies of every description" were available in late nineteenth century.

The routine of society proceeded at Mahabaleshwar and Matheran very much as in other hill stations in India - morning visits and "at homes", picnics to a waterfall or the river or other picturesque spot in the neighbourhood, fancy-fairs, balls, tiffin parties, dinner parties, and visits to the clubs.

In the evening, about sunset, the whole society turned out to enjoy the evening air and to see and to be seen. The gentlemen were mostly mounted, and the greater part of the younger ladies, whether married or unmarried, were also on horseback.

The hill stations in India were part of the imperial design. Shimla, Darjeeling, Ootacamund, and Naini Tal were the favoured destinations of the officialdom and acted as summer headquarters of the respective Presidencies.

The lives led at the hill stations replicated the social experiences of the elite Europeans and the upper-class Indians at home.