GLORIOUS PAST OF #MUMBAI -AAREY# COLONY

                   

I believe all Mumbaikars are aware of Aarey Colony. Non-Mumbaikars may not have heard about the place except recently about 4-5 years back when it was continuously in the news, as residents and citizens of Mumbai fought together to save Aarey forest against all odds. Aarey forests are known as the ‘lungs’ of Mumbai. Aarey is known for its lush greenery, with tall trees, grasslands and rocky hills. Hence, cutting down these trees in Aarey only means depriving Mumbai of a vital organ that has been shielding it from increasing air pollution. SGNP and Aarey are the only green cover in Mumbai shielding Mumbaikars from the wrath of pollution.

Aarey Milk Colony came up in 1949 and the milk production started in 1951, by the Govt. Of India. Aarey was the only brand in Mumbai and Maharashtra. During 70’s School kids were often taken by their schools to visit Aarey milk colony to see how the milk was pasteurised and then packed in the bottles. The whole system was automated. I believe it was the first automation in the milk industry. Aarey was also very famous for its picnic spot’s during the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Picnic Point and Chota Kashmir were very popular picnic spots. Later in 1977, the film city was established in Aarey Forest.

We ( meaning people of my group) have been to Aarey milk colony many times and also to Picnic Point and Chota Kashmir but had never ventured into Aarey Forest. We had a longing to explore Aarey forest since 2016, however myself and Rasika were not sure whether it was safe to go there for morning walk. After inquiring with so many people and hearing lot of stories of the haunted New Zealand Hostel and Aarey, still we decided to make an attempt. We (Me and Rasika)made an attempt on 22nd July 2018 morning to go to Aarey. We took a bus from Goregoan (E)station. One can take either bus no. 451 or 452 and get down near Aarey hospital to go to New Zealand Hostel.

Amazing view at Aarey

Aarey Forest

Aarey Forest (also known as Aarey Milk Colony and Aarey Colony) is a rich urban forest which is within the eco sensitive zone of  Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP). It is classified as mixed moist deciduous type forest. It acts as a buffer between SGNP and the city, being one of the few green spaces (spread over 2000 acres) left in Mumbai. On 3rd September 2020, the Maharashtra government declared one fifth of the Aarey Colony, an area of approximately 800 acres, as a reserved forest.

Aarey Forest has an array of wild life and several species of insects, butterflies and birds. It has at least 86 species of trees[and 22 species of birds. There are about 290 species of wild life in Aarey Forest including 5 such species of animals which feature in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). These vulnerable animals include leopards. Aarey contributes about 90 species of Butterflies (including plain tiger, striped tiger, common crow, chocolate pansy, common Mormon etc. 8 species of reptiles ,12 amphibian species, 77 different avifauna (birdlife) species, 6 Species of venomous snakes. Caecilian, rare snake-like amphibian was also discovered in the interiors of Aarey Colony. There are about 5-6 leopards in Aarey Jungles itself. They are different than the leopards of SGNP. There are about 25 different Adivasi communities in Aarey for whom Aarey forest is their means of livelihood.

New Zealand Hostel

We got down from the bus near the hospital stop and walked towards the right side of the road. As it was raining there were few people who had come for morning walk. However, there were few runners on the road and we felt at ease. We started walking towards the hostel, it took about 15-20 minutes to reach the hostel. The hostel definitely is quite isolated place except for the playground where you find youngsters playing cricket or other games. They say that New Zealand hostel is also an haunted place.

We could see that there was some NCC training camp in the New Zealand Hostel. We did not stop there but decided to go further, crossed the playground and as we walked ahead, we came across many private beautiful bunglows. We went still further and reached a small basti. We stopped there and turned back. It was raining heavily and while returning we again passed through the hostel. We could now see that they were serving hot breakfast and tea near the lawns. We went inside and asked them whether we could buy tea and breakfast as we were thirsty and hungry. They said that the breakfast and tea was only for NCC cadets and people associated with them. However, one of the person’s incharge was kind enough to offer free breakfast and tea to us. We were taken aback with his kindness. He must have seen our pale faces and he took pity on us. We can never forget his kindness. He offered us chairs and a table and we had good hot tea & breakfast in the pouring rains. Rasika gave him a full account of the Kargil war memorial as she had returned 2-3 days back from her Leh & Ladakh tour and he was happy to hear about it. For me New Zealand hostel will never be a haunted place as it will always remind me of the awesome hot tea & breakfast we had in the pouring rains.

NEW ZEALAND HOSTEL

Another pic clicked at New Zealand Hostel when we visited Aarey in 2019

Aarey – Safe during the day but haunted during the night

No doubt, Aarey is very scenic and lush green and very safe with no strange incidents or eerie feeling during the day time. However, the same cannot be said about the night time. Aarey Milk Colony is considered haunted and you will find its roads deserted at night………. The strange, eerie feeling………. you get when you pass one of its roads is not new and many people will tell you they have experienced it not once but on several occasions. Many auto drivers refuse to take this road late at night for this very reason.

People say they’ve often heard the cries……. of children or the wailing ……of a woman in the night. Many even claim to have spotted a lady asking for a lift and then disappearing……… . One of my ex-colleague Pranay personally narrated to me about an incident which happened with him at Aarey. He was driving his car in the night while returning from his office. He was all alone that day. He saw a woman ……..out of nowhere dressed in white on the road asking him to stop his car and requesting for a lift. He felt little weird about the woman, so did not stop his car. Later, he turned back………to see what was the woman doing, the woman had just disappeared. The woman had disappeared so quickly…….. that he felt uneasy and little frightened and drove fast from the place. He does not remember…… what happened next except that he was driving very fast. He had also called up his family. He said he only came back to normal when he met his brothers on the way who had come to fetch him. He said that the only thing ………that saved him that day was his sixth sense……… as he felt that the woman was not normal and little weird.

Personally , I don’t believe in ghosts, but the fact that he called up his family definitely means he did see something that frightened him and the fact that his brothers came to fetch him means that when he called them……they felt he needed help and rushed to help him.

A scenic road in Aarey but imagine when you are travelling on same road in the dead of the night, it can be quite eerie.

Another Scenic road which can be quite eerie in the dead of the night.

Rasika covering herself with a raincoat as it was raining heavily .

A Picturesque Pond

After coming down from New Zealand hostel, we did not go to the main road( Dinkar Rao Desai Marg or Aarey Road) but turned to our right to explore the place , we came across a picturesque pond. The place was amazing, serene and beautiful. We continued walking further till the end of the Road. Thanks to the kind hearted soul had who offered us breakfast, because of him we could explore lot of places in Aarey Forest on our first visit.

The Picturesque Pond

The Road ahead from the Picturesque Pond

Admiring the flora and fauna of Aarey

CPDO ( WR)

The road ended on the main road( Dinkar Rao Desai Marg or Aarey Road). On our way we had stopped and asked a morning walker where we will be able to get a good view. He told us that there is another small trek on the other side of the road where we will be able to get good view. As soon as we reached the main road we crossed over to the other side. The junction is known as CPDO (WR) and you will see 4-5 vegetable vendors sitting at the junction and selling their veggies. This junction is just one stop further to Aarey hospital stop( the stop where we got down earlier to go to New Zeland Hostel).

You will see that there is small gate and as soon as you enter the gate there is a place for parking vehicles. Further there is a road going uphill, you have to take the road. It was one of the most scenic road that I have ever come across. It just takes 20 minutes to reach the top, but the whole place is a thick jungle. You feel as you have entered into a heritage forest.

When you are reaching the top, the road gets divided into 2, if you go straight you will reach only the Guest House ( It is a Govt. guest house and is very huge with a vast lawn and big well maintained garden and excellent view) . But if you take the road on the left side you will reach the Guest house and a place meant for yoga. If you take the small kaccha road ahead of them you will reach the top where at some places you have benches for sitting. The view from the top is excellent, one side you can see the full Aarey, the other side you can see Powai, on the left hand side one can see Goregoan, Kandivali and Borivali including SGNP. You can even see a very small portion of the road down below. We have been to Aarey 4-5 times after our first visit. We did not click the pics of benches in our first visit, so posting the pictures of the benches from our later visits. At the top we saw a small trek trail and saw one or two people using the trek trail. Though both me and Rasika were tempted to see where the trek trail ends, we decided not to take the trek trail as we were new to the place and we had already taken enough risks for the day!!

The thick heritage forest of Aarey

Another view of the thick forest at Aarey

One of the old trees in Aarey Forest

There are Benches to sit once you reach the Top. This Pic was taken when we visited Aarey again in 2019( Rasika, Trupti, Saraswati Arti & myself)

The View From The Top near the Benches ( one can see Goregoan and even Kandivali & Borivali (SGNP))

Trek Trail

On our second visit to Aarey forest, we went by car and parked the car near the gate. Saraswati also accompanied us. Again on our second visit, near the top, we saw some people using the trek trail and we asked them where the trail ended. They said that it goes down . Later, we again saw another group taking the trek trail , so we decided to explore the trek trail after them. The trail was very narrow and covered with thick bushes. You can make out from the pictures below, how dense it was. Though it was dense, we continued walking. After some time we lost the voices of the people whom we were following and we were left on our own. We knew that we were going down but didn’t know towards which side we were going in Aarey forest. For a moment we thought we were lost as we could not see anything because of the dense bushes. Somehow with all our trekking experience ( Both Rasika and mine) we managed to reach a spot where we could again hear some voices and later saw some dwellings. It was a great relief for us. If not for the dense bushes, we would have found our way. The trek trail ended on main road( Dinkar Rao Desai Marg or Aarey Road). However, we were almost near the Chota Kashmir ( 3 bus stops earlier to New Zealand Hostel and 4 bus stops earlier to CPDO(WR).

If we had not got the car and parked it at CPDO(WR), we would have taken an auto or bus and gone home after the trek. Though, we were extremely tired after the long trek trail, we had no option but to walk 4 bus stops towards CPDO(WR) as our car was parked there. As soon as we reached the parking place, we had a sigh of relief and drove home.

Trek Trail

Just see the thick bushes it almost covers the Trek Trail

Saras and Me posing in the thick bushes on the Trek Trail

Rasika on the Trek Trail

Modern Bakery

Modern Bakery (which manufactures modern bread and other edible products under brand name “Modern” ) is situated in Aarey colony and on one of our visits to Aarey, when it was raining heavily, we ventured till Modern Bakery. There is a tea stall near the Bakery, where you get good tea and hot breakfast ( please don’t expect fancy tea stall ) The bakery is on the side of New Zealand Hostel and further to CPDO ( WR). Rasika has taken a video of the pouring rain because it was raining very heavily. Will post the video on the blog if Rasika still has it.

On our way to Modern Bakery

Wild monsoon turmeric plant at Aarey

Aarey Jungle

Swayambhu Goan Devi Mandir

We visited the Swayambhu Goan Devi Mandir when we went to Chota Kashmir at Aarey. The Gav Devi Mandir is near the Chota Kashmir. It is just little ahead of Chota Kashmir on the left hand side. It is very famous Devi Mandir and during festivals it is quite crowded. Not only the locals but people from far off places come for Devi Darshan to this temple.

Rasika and Saraswati at Chota Kashmir in Aarey

Garden at Aarey Chota Kashmir

Outside the Garden at Chota Kashmir

The Lush Green Aarey Forest

People reading this blog must be wondering why should they visit the place as it is haunted. I would like to make it very clear that Aarey Jungle is quite safe in the morning and also during the day time and evenings. However, it gets deserted in the night, so please try to avoid the place in the night.

Aarey is the “Unseen Heaven” in Mumbai. One of the most beautiful places in Mumbai, It is a place where nature is at its best. The mountains, the lakes, the gardens and the dense jungle along with its own flora and fauna contributes to Aarey’s uniqueness . On one side you have film city where all bollywood shootings take place and on the other side you have a lush green heritage forest with vast green grasslands for cattle grazing. Just Amazing!!

Aarey is also a heaven for morning walkers, runners, bird watchers, trekkers, Zoologist and Botanist as there are lot of animal and plant species found which can be observed in their natural habitat. Ancient artefacts were unearthed in Aarey in 2016, so it is interesting for the Archaeologist too! It has picnic point, gardens, lakes, boat rides, butterfly garden, and Chota Kashmir for people who are looking for one day picnic and enjoyment with their families.

We are still trying to explore Aarey and there are so many trekking trails yet to be explored. For us Aarey is the unseen heaven in Mumbai and we would like to visit it again and again. Mumbaikars and Non-Mumbaikars you should visit Aarey, you will be surprised and amazed to see how can such a lush green jungle with its unique flora and fauna exist within the concrete jungle of city like Mumbai!!

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