I am not surprised to find myself humming Summer Wine in Mahabaleshwar that all-time Frank Sinatra favourite of anyone born before pop descended on the human race. The connection, of course, is strawberries and in Mahabaleshwar the strawberry imagery is both at the subliminal and the material (eye) level. The summer capital of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency engages the senses not just on the strength of its natural beauty but also because of the charming tales spun around its most favoured points. Nature is extraordinarily munificent here rugged hills, steep and sudden falls, forests crowded with plant life, rivers that flow every which way they please.

Though electricity often plays truant up in the Sahyadris, the fabulous weather means never really having to sweat it out just one of the reasons why Mahabaleshwar is always bursting at the seams with tourists. And to think that till a few years back, it used to officially down its shutters in the monsoons. Today, you could go at any time of the year and be assured of a warm welcome and all the hill-station experience you anticipated.