It is open season for Matheran as the little holiday spot, or getaway, has opened up for tourists from the weekend. A report cited how locals thanked the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for opening up the venue. Locals like so many elsewhere have suffered hugely due to restrictions necessitated by COVID-19. Getaways have really felt hard done by because these are places that are primarily dependent on people’s mobility, the weekend travellers who really drive the hill station. With this demographic hemmed in by guidelines the life force of the place had literally been obliterated.

Now, there is a glimmer of hope for the people of the land of the red mud and monkeys. Weekenders have been coming back though some may argue that they have been there for months circumventing lockdown measures.