Mumbai's Rashna Imhasly-Gandhy has been enjoying the sun slip away in a blaze of orange tinged with yellow and red at Sunset Point, Matheran. Like the hordes of tourists, many from Mumbai and Gujarat, the psychologist-author is wrapping up 2024 at a stunning property co-inherited from her great-grandfather. It is located at the last house on Porcupine Point, now famously known as Sunset Point in Matheran. Said Imhasly-Gandhy, “Since childhood, it has been our family ritual to visit the point every evening to watch the sunset. On full moon nights, as the sun sets in the West, one can witness an almost golden moon rising in the East above Panorama Point. This magical interplay of nature has been a source of unending joy and wonder.”

Uplifting experience

One day before Christmas though, on Tuesday, December 24, Imhasly-Gandhy witnessed something that made her heart sing. She said, “At Sunset Point, a large group of school children, both boys and girls—I learnt they were local students all looking like they were under-12—accompanied by their teacher, had walked up from the valley below Matheran, and were actively cleaning up the litter from various points. I approached their teacher to congratulate him on this fantastic initiative. It reaffirmed my belief that true change begins when we teach our children to care for the environment. Only then can we hope to change the unconscious disregard with which waste is treated in our society.”