Panchgani
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Panchgani, often referred to as the Mecca of Maharashtra, is a small hill-station in the state of Maharashtra, India.
Contents |
[edit] Location
It is located amidst five small hills, from which it derives its name (panch in marathi means five). All these 5 hills are topped by a volcanic plateau which is the second highest in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. These plateaus are known in the local term as "Table Land". These plateau's are part of the Deccan Plateau and were raised by the pressure between the earth plates. Because of this it is also an area of high seismic activity with epicenter near Koynanagar which is famous of the Koynanagar dam and hydroelectric power plant. It is located about 265 km from Mumbai and has breathtaking valleys, winding rivers, scenic mountains and scattered hamlets.
Nestled in the sahyadri mountain ranges in Maharashtra, Running along the Krishna River, is Panchgani. It is about a 2 hour drive away from the nearby Pune city. Panchgani is a small town and plays home to some large plateaux. Panchgani is a thirty minute drive from another sister hill station Mahabaleshwar.
[edit] Culture
It attracts many tourists throughout the year, and many Mumbaites visit it as a weekend escape. Some go further, opening resorts which they themselves own, but rent out during certain seasons. There is a Ganesh Temple at Wai, which is located close by. The temperature in Panchgani is around 16C during the winter and can soar up to 35C during the summer. There are many elite boarding schools in Panchgani and it has been used as a location to film a number of Bollywood movies.
The British set up numerous tuberculosis sanitoriums in Panchgani due to the presence of silver oak trees, which were considered therapeutic.
The main attractions are : Table land, Parsi point, Sydney point. [1]Panchgani now faces immense environmental pressures due to commercial activities, opening of illegal hotels, vehicles and temperature inversion (due to humidity) from various new dams built to store water in the vicinity.
[edit] Schools
It also has about 30-odd schools.
[edit] St. Peter's Boys School
Freddie Mercury attended St. Peter's Boys School in Panchgani where he formed his first band, The Hectics (1958-1962.)
[edit] Kimmins High School
Infact there are students from all over the world in the school.
The school was formed by Miss Kimmins after whom the School was named. The Trusties are from England. Like all the schools have different houses , where students are alloted to different houses , E.g :- Red house , Yellow House , etc ..... In Kimmins the houses were given names Green House :- Ashlin House Blue :- Willingdton Red :- Rinnard Yellow :- Pearsall
Ashlin & Kinnard were named after 2 Matrons ....
[edit] External links
 |
This article about a location in the Indian state of Maharashtra is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
