Life - A travelogue to death

Freedom, as what dictionary explains is “the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints”. Everyone wishes to attain it and when you get it right from your family, you gotta be damn lucky. But when they give you this freedom, they expect you not to exploit it. The company I work for gives me some limited freedom, which they call it as “Freedom with responsibility” and I guess I am inspired by that quote. My parents also have given me the freedom and always insisted to be responsible as well. What I understand is, it’s easy to be a parent, but it takes a lot to be a good parent. I would say I am quiet lucky to get such sweet, noble and caring ‘Amma’ and ‘Achan’ who would let me do anything and trust me in whatever I do. My parents are as travel freak people as me. Or I would make it this way; I got the travel loving DNA from them. Right from a kid I am used to a lot of travel. I had safari the darkest Forest in Africa and visited the great Victoria Falls (largest water falls on earth) with my parents. I remember visiting beaches and lakes often as a weekend trip covering more than 300km a day. I may not tell them in person, but I always wanted to say, “I love you guys more than anything else in this world”.

I called my father on his mobile. As he picked up he said “Hello, UJ Madras”. It‘s how he has saved my number I guess. After the first few casual question and answer conversation like “How are you?”, “How’s job??”, “How’s health?”, he handed over his mobile to Amma. She asked me if I was coming home this weekend. I told her that I and my friends from Bangalore are going for a weekend trip to ‘Yelagiri’. She conveyed the same to my father as well. Out of curiosity (may be because of the name) he asked me “Where is that place?” I started to dump all the info I got from wikipedia as “Yelagiri is a hill-station on the Vaniyambadi-Tirupattur Road, midway between Chennai and Bangalore. Located at an altitude of 1,050 metres (3,500 ft) and spread across 30 km2, the Yelagiri village (also spelt Elagiri at times) is surrounded by orchards, rose-gardens, and green valleys.” I also told him they are famous for Honey and will get some for them and hung up as they wished me and told to take care (Parents you seeJ).

Even though Yelagiri is mid way from Chennai to Bangalore, I went to Bangalore where my friends are so that we all can travel together. The routes if you plan to go are :

• Chennai-> Poonamallee -> Walajapet -> Vellore -> Ranipet -> Ambur -> Vaniyambadi -> Ponneri -> Elagiri Hills.
• Bangalore -> Hosur -> Sulagiri -> Krishnagiri -> Tirupattur -> Jolarpet -> Ponneri -> Elagiri Hills.

We gathered at Bangalore railway station and took tickets to Jolarpett. We reached there in not more than 4 hours. Our first destination was Vainu Bappu Solar Observatory. The observatory is home to the Vainu Bappu Telescope, the largest telescope in Asia. We had our lunch in the biggest hotel in Jolarpett, as suggested by a guy from that locality, which is unfortunately no bigger than a local saloon. We had food and got a bus towards Vaniyambadi and another bus to Kavalur, where the VBO is located. After a lot of twist and turns, our rickety bus reached VBO. We had to Sign the Visitor’s book and keep our belonging in the security room. One of the security officers led us in. There were another two groups who have also come to see the observatory. Out of one group there was a geek looking father and son with their big round spectacles. The father was explaining about the observatory and the latter was listening to it, less interested. We entered into the building which looked like a tomb-ish structure and went upstairs. The wall was cloven with pictures of galaxies and other extraterrestrials. We got more boosted in the hope that we could also see these now. One of the staff in VBO came to us and started explaining about VBO and the largest telescope in Asia. It was weird that the largest telescope was not large enough. He explained that it is not the size of the whole equipment makes it larges but the diameter of the large lens inside it does. He then asked one of the geeks sitting in front of a large computer to switch on something. As he did, the telescope started to move right, and then to left and then in all directions. They switched another button and the upper portion of the building’s crust started to open slowly. We awed it as like we are watching a James Bond movie, where the bad guys are launching the missiles to destroy the EarthJJ.

We were waiting to see the solar visual when the demonstrator told us that it’s cloudy that day and can only be viewed when the sky is clear!! Though disappointed the James Bond scenes kept our faces lit. We moved out of VBO collecting all our bags from the security office. We waited there for more than 3 hours to get a bus, since the bus to this place is very rare, and to our bad luck, the bus got broke down and took more time to reach our stop. We literally slept on the concrete block near VBO waiting for the bus.

We finally got into the bus and headed to Vaniyambadi. We had to stand in the crowded bus the whole journey and had to swing on our hands when the bus takes turns. We met an Engineering student who is doing his final year at a college near to Vaniyambadi, who described how famous the biriyani (South Indian dish made of rice) made there was, and insisted us to try it! We reached Vaniyambadi by about 6 from where we hired a taxi to Yelagiri after several bargaining.

There were about 8- 10 hair pins to reach Yelagiri and it was drizzling. We asked him to take us to some known hotels there for our accommodation. After checking out few of the hotels we arrived at deciding to Stay at hotel “Ashoka” which was a mid size hotel with minimum facilities and a TV. We rested for some time and cleaned ourselves up to get dinner and to roam around the place. It was still drizzling but lesser. We asked the hotel manager to suggest places to go and the best time to visit. He told us that the musical fountain in one of the parks at Yelagiri is about to start so we should move now. We went inside the park taking ticket for musical fountain and went inside. Latest Tamil music numbers were being played and the water was jetting out in sync with it. Some enthusiastic flocks started dancing near the fountain when the beats got faster. I wanted to dance along but the aristocrat inside me restricted me from doing it. After few songs it got boring and we decided to leave. We went to our room with the multi-booze pack we purchased and the food from a roadside shop. Boozed all night and slept in between (can’t specify the time.J )

Jinu woke up early morning by around 5 and started to wake all of us. But every one was making an excuse that let the other take bath and until that time I will rest. We all got ready by 7 and went to the bus stop which is just outside to our hotel. The hotel manager told us that buses are not frequent so if we miss one then we have to wait for long time. We hopped in as soon as the bus came and got down at the stop from where we could trek to Swami Malay (Swami Hills). From the stop we walked between some huts, tracked through a farm to reach the trek spot. This was a 4-5 hours trek and most of it was steps made of black granite stones. The most interesting part is that on the way there were many fruit bearing trees like mango and anar and jackfruit. We plucked as much as we could hold and ate it all the way up. Few farmers were also selling jackfruit which they have cleanly taken it out of the shell. We bought 2 plates for 20 Rupees, which they served in plates made of big round leaves. It was very sweet and we wished to have more, but thinking about the trek and the condition we would be once we reach the height it was decided to go negative.

The pace with which we were walking got decreased with time. The lazy guys Swaroop and Mirshad almost lied down and suggested that they have seen enough from this height and asked us to move further. Scorning them I, Jinu and Arun walked further in the hope that the lazy freaks will follow. The more distance we covered the more we got exhausted. At one point we were in despair trying to move our leg further, when we saw a guy walking swiftly besides us carrying a huge luggage on his shoulder. We asked him how long we have to walk. He replied us “a half an hour more”, which gave us the boost to walk as if 5 bottle glucose was injected in our body. We walk for another 1.5 hours in contradictory to what the stranger said. But then we understood that he used to trek daily which made him cover the whole distance for just 2 hour.

Swami Malai got its name because there is a small temple at the top which is between two big rocks. And the stranger we saw was the priest who came there for the regular pooja. We reached the top and the poojari (priest) instructed us to remove the shoes and come inside for a darshan. We did accordingly and went inside. The poojari offered us some water as he has seen us getting exhausted while climbing up hill. He started his chants and gave us thilak. He then explained that this temple is a very old one. Long back there was only a small idol kept inside the gap between the rocks. He told us that there is a rock behind the temple and there are metal ladder clung on it. He asked us to climb up and ensure that the scenery from there is worth. We climbed up the ladder; cool wind was blowing hard on us even though it was a bit sunny. We took few snaps of the scenery around us. There was a trisul (spear with three sharp pointed heads) kept on top of that rock. We supposed that there might be some ritual happening based on it.

I was really tired by that time and I couldn’t resist myself to lie down on the rock floor. The sky seemed to be near us and the sunlight was forcing me to close my eyes as if it wanted me to rest. Others joined me and we all had a 2min nap there. There wasn’t much to see there, so we thought to leave. We walked downhill and reached at the bottom in half the time it took to go up. We reached the bus stop and had some soft drinks. When we enquired the shopkeeper we got to know that the next bus is only after 3 hours. We waited for a few more minutes and then decided to walk. This place is some 10km from our room. We bought some potato chips and started walking. The sun was at its best as it crossed 11:30 am. To our luck an auto rickshaw came past us offering a ride which we accepted without even asking the fare. We went back to our room and had food from a near by restaurant.

Since yelagiri was famous for honey we went for shopping few bottles for my home. There were many shops in Yelagiri and all had different varieties of honey with different color and taste. We went in a shop where we saw young guy shop keeping. We asked about the price and quality of honey to which he answered us as “there are 3 varieties of honey available in yelagiri – Petty-thein, Malam-thein and Combu-thein”. Thein – pronounced as ‘th-a-n’ in Tamil/Malayalam means honey. Petty-thein or boxed honey is produced artificially by caging honey bees. Malam-thein is a type of honey which is naturally made by wild bees in forest which is not much pure. Then Combu-thein is a type of hones which is also natural and made by very tiny honey bees. Combu thein is the best quality one which is also higher in price. They say, giving a teaspoon of this honey a day to kids is good for their health.

We bought some honey from there and moved to the artificial lake and roamed around for few minutes in the nature park. We took a lot of snaps inside the park. There was an artificial waterfalls setup inside the park and there were many tourists bathing in it. This seemed to be like a caustic remark to the fact that the natural waterfalls had not seen water for 6 years. We vacated the room by 4:00 in the evening and waited for the bus to vaniyambadi. The bus took us to vaniyambadi by 6:00 and from there we got another bus to Jolarpettai. Jolarpettai is the station were we would get trains to both Chennai and Bangalore.

Take care:

• Carry a lot of water while trekking coz its too sweat taking especially those with weight
• ATMs are hard to find so carry enough money with you
• Keep in mind that there are not much restaurants apart from few resorts
• If possible by booze before reaching yelagiri coz you wont get the whatever you wish to haveJ
• If you are planning to buy honey check the price in all the shops or else you may get fooled
• Keep in mind – Don’t expect much cold climate and much scenary. It’s all a place to keep your weekend engaged and away from the busy world.

I can be so sure of this theory because, I hardly knew these mates for 3months and haven’t met them in my entire life before, but now they are my closest friends. So, we all alike minded, same frequency guys had set off to Hoganekkal.

Hogenakkal Waterfalls (A.K.A Hogenekal, Hogenekkal, Hoganakal, Hoganakal,Hogenakal, Hogennekal, Hogennekal, Hogennakal, Hoggenakal, Hoggenakkal, Hoggenekal, Hoggenekkal, Hogennakkal, and Hogennakal), known as the Niagara of India, are not a single waterfalls but a series of falls. The falls situated in the Darmapuri district of Tamil Nadu is about 180 km from Bangalore and 46 km from Dharmapuri.

We reached there early in the morning by, about 7:30. We got

down the bus and freshened ourselves by a speedy brushing anda face wash, as we were pretty sure we are going to have a good bath at the falls. We were tagged along by localities asking if we require a guide or a boatman for exploring the place. We ignored them and proceeded to a tea shop for having a cup of tea n some snacks. We then walked towards the shore where we could get a boat to view the picturesque sceneries all way through. The boat is not an ordinary boat it’s a coracle, locally known as ‘Parisal’ in Tamil and ‘teppa’ or ‘harigolu’ in Kannada. This circular shaped coracle is made of bamboo sticks tied together making an inverse arch structure and coated with tar or some sticky material at the bottom on stretched hides, and believe me its too heavy. We bargained with some oarsmen and finally got into one coracle, with the rate they told us. The bargaining didn’t go well with them…… lol JJ. We got into it carefully as instructed by the rower and took the window seats…. lol J. We coursed though the river flown from the waterfalls enjoying our Mother Nature.

The water was still, since the whole water body was enclosed by big walls of rock(But as we near the falls, the current get increased ). Onthe way we could see Small kids jumping into the 50 ft deep water from a great height. They were fearless, as if it’s a child play. I mean they are children, but it’s not a child play. The oarsman understood that we are from Kerala from the jokes that we made during the travel. He told us that Malayalam film actor Mohanal came here for a shooting and the place they shot is nearby. It was fun when we tried to row the coracle and cracking jokes all the time. The greatest thing about nature is that it teaches us to forget our entire burden in life. We saw lot of small waterfalls flowing while we row though. We halted in a small island where we had our lunch there. Don’t expect a restaurant with buffet there. It was a place where local-ite ladies prepare fried or smoked fish with rice and ‘idly’. But to be frank with it was awesome. We changed our clothes since we would have to take a bath in our next halt. We all wore swimwear’s and again hopped in to the coracle. The rower told us that some places which are restricted cus this entire falls belong to two states – Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Where some of the falls belong to Karnataka andsome in Tamil Nadu. He also reminded us and moreover showed us the place where ‘Chinna Chinna asai’ song of tamil movie ‘Roja’ was shot. While rowing through, along came a mobile eatable shop in a coracle oat where we could buy stuffs like chips biscuits, etc. I wonder there are infinite ways which people make their livelihood.The travel was not at a stretch. We had to get down at a place, walk a little distant, while the oarsman carries the heavy coracle and again row towards the falls

After quite a cruise we finally reached the biggest waterfall that was accessible at the time, unless otherwise we had crossed the border. It was a splendiferous view; the water falling was like clouds falling from the sky. We were all in gay (to all the ill-minded people, I meant happiness in old EnglishJ). After some photo session we then walked around on the rocks to the place where people used to take bath along with an ayurvedic oil massage. There were a lot of masseur’s giving body massages to the visitors. But since we couldn’t find a masseuse we decided not to try it up….LOL…J Just kidding.

Moreover, why should keralites like us take an ayurvedic massage from another state when the ayurvedic oils are been regularly used in our home. We got immersed ourselves in the cool clear water where the currents were medium low enough to get a good swim without getting drowned. For any help our rower was near us, keeping an eye on our bags and dresses.

We stayed in the water for along time playing and pushing each other into the water and taking some snaps [Explicit Content Suppressed]. We then called our rower and enjoined that we shall move on. We all got into the coracle again and rowed back to the starting point. On the way back he showed us some tricks to row the coracle differently, rotating it rapidly but still moving further. We praised it and he got happier. The more we praised the more rapidly he did it. In no more that 45 mins we returned back to the starting place. Payed the money to the rower as fixed and thanked him for giving such a wonderful trip.

We then waited for the next bus from there to Dharmapuri. As soon as it came we got in to it and from there we got a bus towards Bangalore. I then caught a night train towards Chennai from there.

Useful TipZ:

• Carry Snacks and water with you
• Bring a swimwear if you plan to take a bath
• Wear Sandals cuz if you wear a shoe u will have to remove it now and then. And it is guaranteed that it will get wet
• Do not go in the rainy season, because the water level will be too high and the boating is restricted.

Vids:

NXT Destination:

Yelagir hills...

Do Visit for the next one.....

If you are working in IT industry, you would better know the state of working throughout dealing with computers and computers only, the technical bull shit!! This made us learn the theory of – “if you get an opportunity to get out of this hell, make the most of it”. This time we (Me, Arun, Jinu , Abhinay and Aravind) set our destination to Yercaud.

Yercaud, some say it’s called “Poor man’s Ooty”. Hmm… I’m not sure of it though. This place is away from all the rush and the freakin’ people with mobiles attached to their ears. But still lot of visitors comes to see this beautiful place.

Technically, Yercaud is a Hill station near Salem, Tamil Nadu, India in the Servarayan range of hills (anglicized as Shevaroys) in the Eastern Ghats. It is at an altitude of 1515 metres (4969 feet) above the mean sea level. The town gets its name from the lake located at its center - inTamil "Yeri" means "lake" and "Kaadu" means "forest". Yercaud is known for coffee plantations and orange groves. It also has an orchidarium run by the Botanical Survey of India.

To describe about our journey, all my friends were coming from Bangalore and I alone am traveling from Chennai since I am working there. So it was decided to meet up at Selam. I started of by night, booked bus tickets with a help of my friend from CMBT bus station, Chennai. It’s almost a 6 hrs journey to Selam. I reached there in the morning and met ma friends there who also came up to there by bus. It was almost 7 in the morning. We took another bus to Yercaud after waiting for half an hour. The bus was almost full cos there are not many busses that go directly to Yercaud. We reached there in not more that 2 hours throgh all the 18 hair pin roads. Got down the bus and Jinu became our guide. Since he did his college in Selam it was an easy thing for him. We decided to walk up hill which was the most exciting part of our trip. While walking it began to drizzle. We managed some caps and plastic-bag-caps to wear so that we won’t get sick. It was really cool to walk in the drizzle and crack jokes as we walk by. We rested near a tea shop and had some tea and “parippuvada” (for those who are unfamiliar it’s a tea snack made of dal or the kernel of peas).

On the mid-way we had an opportunity to ride the All-Terrain Bikes, which was totally rejoicing. But those people made a big hole into our pockets. It was 200-250 for a ride, I mean just to go around the yard, but if you see those bikes you couldn’t resist yourselves from paying for 2. :D and that’s what we did. After all those biking stuffs we walked a few kms to reach the top, say 8. Walking for 2 Hrs had already made us tired and damn hungry. But still we thought of moving on, see the places nearby and then have a full tummy food. So went to the Pakoda pont, a fascinating view point in Yercaud form where we can see a part of Tamil Nadu including Selam. Took some pics and bough some snacks to put the fire out in our stomach, for awhile. There are other view points like Gents Seat, Ladies Seat, Childrens Seat, etc. I din understand why each place was named like that…. mysterious. There is a water falls nearby but which require trekking quiet a distance. We were already fed up with walking and were in no situation to do it further.

Now after roaming around for 2 more hours we decide to rest and have a good lunch even though it was almost 3:00 in the evening. We hired an auto to Hotel Grand palace. This hotel had good ambience and quiet a good place to rest. We went to the Lounge Bar – “Cloud 9” and had a round of appetizer. It was fun trying out different Cocktails and music that was been played was even a booster. The hospitality by the hotel was appreciable. We ordered for some South and North Indian mixed cuisines. After all the chit-chatting and boozing it was late evening. We went out of the hotel just to feel, how the eve at Yercaud would be. Chilled breeze was wailing on us and we were wearing ordinary cotton shirts and jeans. It was like we were in a room surrounded with AC in all direction. Particularly, if you are a Chennai-ite then it would be felt even worse. However having a couple of pegs of Whiskey and walking in that breeze was awesome (Not advised though, cuz its full of mist and you wouldn’t see a thing). We packed up ourselves around 7 and freshend up to leave Yercaud the night itself. We hired a cab through the hotel and drove towards Yercaud bus station in a hope that we will get the last bus towards Selam from there.We boarded the bus from there and reached Selam around 9.

Here comes the twist towards our trip. When we reach Selam we were thinking of going back toBangalore. But then we rescheduled the trip and thought, y not we go somewhere else since we have 1 more day to spend, the weekend. The next reachable place was Hogainakkal which was in between selam and Bangalore. But the next bus available was at 2 Am after midnight. We took ticket in the next Theater for a boring Salman Khan film – “Yuvaraj”. As planned we got into the bus……..

The story will b continued as my next blog … Trip to Hogainekkal

Tips if you plan to go:

• Don’t expect too much, but its worth for a weekend
• Carry water, enough food with you while trekking
• Carry a torch in case of emergency
• Carry raincoats or caps coz there may be drizzling
• Carry liquor if you are not planning to have it in a 3 star hotel.
• Do not tire you out.