Yercaud

Some simple things in life sometimes leave an everlasting impression......

To Sunny, Pinki, Datta and Baka .....................

........................... and not to forget Gopi and his car.

Warning: Long Post

Prelude:

It was sometime around 20th of May. My covansys mail id was abuzz with a chain of mails from Sunny and Datta. It had 2 buzz words - Weekend and Yercaud.

I asked Keerthi about this place and found out that it was near Salem, and it was a hill station. Whatever! I was tired of chennai and wanted a change. Rest was a big unknown.



25th April Friday: I reached home with some cash, as we had to make for the autogas and advance payment for the car. Pinki was still not home. Suddenly Sunny came home with Gopi, the car keys in his hand. And then it struck me. The plans we had made during the entire week were becoming a reality.

There were 5 of us , Sunny, Datta, Pinki, Baka and I. The plan was to leave chennai for the weekend. Sunny wanted to drive. And we all wanted to go to somplace nice. Yercaud some 350 kms away from chennai was touted to be a poor mans Ooty. Ergo that weekend we were off to Yercaud, 4 house mates and 1 guest.

The night was pretty uneventful, except that while parking the car i damaged the bumper. And as Pinki laughed , he christened it "precision driving".



26th April Morning 5.00 AM: We were supposed to leave at 5 but somehow, Sunny still refuses to wake up. Datta was prompt as usual and even Pinki was up. Baka would leave us midway on our return trip, to Bangalore, so he was giving final touches to his packing (well he was packing).

5.30 AM: We are off on the road, finally. What happened in the half hour is still a blur, but never have seen Pinki so excited in Chennai, not even when he finds alu sabji in the meals in GK restuarant. It took us some time to get on the Bangalore highway, but on it Sunny went on a roll. The car sped off and all us were enjoying the beauty outside, and tormenting Pinki inside. We cruised past Vellore. And we were feeling hungry. We pulled over to a roadside eatery, a fancy one too. What followed was one of the best breakfast we have ever had in chennai. There was something called "Kaludosa" which we tried out along with the standard idli, vada and puri. It was hoever the last morsel we would eat for the next 8 hours. With the stomach full, we hit the road once again. It was at this point we decided to take a detour in the way, to try and reach Hogenakkal waterfalls. For people who still do not know this place , you might remember this for the water project dispute. The water in the waterfalls are touted to have medicinal powers to cure ailments. And yes the song "choti si aasha" from the movie Roja was shot here. We got off the Bangalore highway and faced less easy roads past Krishnagiri. Our destination , the junction of Dharmapuri where a right turn would take us to the falls of Hogenakkal. It was hot and the AC in the car was chilled max. We were burning up a lot of gas , but at that moment we really did not care. The only time i left the car was to ask a traffic policeman for directions. A local man , he could not follow my words in english and it was after some theatrics from me and Datta that we got a hint of the way. It was some tricky driving upto hogenakkal, the roads are not so good, with bumps aplenty. There we also faced one of the wider accepted industries in India, Tourist fleecing. To enter Hogenakkal went went through some 5 checkposts all of them managed by locals , who would not budge until you pay Rs 10 for some local fund. Thankfully due to Sunny's foresight we got a decent place to park the car and thus we moved forward to the falls.



Hogenakkal: The place wasnt so bad, but it was so damn hot that it robbed me of whatever interest I had of the place. It was hot, and crowded to the brim with families skinnydipping in the water at all possible places. We hovered there for sometime, clicked a few photos , and decided enough is enough. It was back to the car enroute to Salem.



Hogenakkal to salem: It was past noon and we were felling the pangs of hunger. Sunny asked a few locals and suddenly we got a short cut to Salem. It was a lesser taken road, between the villages and the hills. The heat and hunger made Sunny go delirious and in one of the hairpin bends we actually skidded on the road like an F1 car. Rarely did the speedometer dip and amidst all the idle banter and leg pulling it was a great ride for all of us.



Salem to Yercaud: It was nearly 4 PM we reached Salem, after Sunny proved to all of us he was no less than Schumi. The next 30 kms had 20 hairpin bends. Somehow driving up a hill station always has a thrill, with the hills on one side and a sheer vertical drop on the other. It is sometimes a treat to stop the car and watch the rain as it falls on the plains. However hunger got the better of us and after a beautiful drive we finally reached Yercaud at 5 PM .

Sightseeing Day 1: After booking into the first hotel we saw, and convincing the manager to give 5 of us a room, it was time for lunch. I do not really remember what we really ate, I just remember i wished i hadnt ordered the soup. Next we were off to pagoda point. Supposed to be the highest point in Yercaud , it was a sunrise/sunset view point. We had no map of the place and while we were contemplating , suddenly Datta found out that the back side of the bill we paid for our lunch had a map of the place. From F1 Sunny shifted to rally mode. The roads in Yercaud are narrow barely enough to allow a car to pass. It was a race against time as the sun was about to set, and after a couple of wrong turns here and there , we did manage to get there while the sun had just set. We did promise that next morning sunrise we would be here.
Post pagoda point, we made a rush for Gents Seat. Another high place on the top of the hills , we could get a view of the entire Salem city from up there. Enroute we passed the Montford school, the very place where Nagesh Kuknoor's film Rockford was shot. Gents Seat was a delight, with a nice chilly breeze blowing the shimmering lights of the entire steel town glittering against a clear sky. The five of us sat down and had pakora with tea while viewing the entire landscape below. The trip was worth it.

Dinner 26th April: We reached the hotel, happy but tired , especially, me and Pinki, after Sunny had made us run while he sped off in the car. Well it was time for some daaru ( I will not go into into the details- Censored stuff.) Post the drinks we became ambitious and decided we would have some continental Khana. What happened next remains a joke for all of us.The items we ordered 1: Vegetable Green Revolution 2: Vegetable Croquet 3: Cheese Sandwich. I was having such stuff for the first time. And the first time it would be.
What we got , made us laugh, more than eat. The green revolution was surely a green revolution on the plate , with rice and green shit and huge pieces of potato on the side. The taste, perfectly bland. The green shit, no idea. And we did not bother to investigate. The Vegetable Croquet was actually a huge cylindrical rod filled with potato and only potato. We christened it "Dudee", post Sunny's comment " Hum aaj dude banenge , menu card main yeh kya hai, hum yeh khayenge" As Sunny gorged on the Dudee, he lamented " Alu khilwa khilwa ke mota karwa denge kya" and then he had one more huge potato from the Green revolution. However I became the joke of the day when the cheese sandwich came. Just 4 slices of bread, no idea whether it had cheese in the middle or not, and some potato chips on the side. Cost Rs.70. Pinki rolled off the sofa, Sunny kept laughing at my face, even Baka did not spare his comments. I was helpless, i didn't know how to react. That cheese sandwich overshadowed everything.

Day 2, 27th April : We wanted to view the sunrise , and for the first time Sunny was the one to wake up the earliest. We hurried to the loo and while we could see the sky turning bright, it was a mad dash to the car and off to pagoda point. We did reach there before sunrise , the first souls , all of us, nearly at 5 AM. It was a nice sight, with the clouds and the mist and Sunny's comments in the background " Dekha , tum log to bas sote rehte ho". After clicking a few and many photos we thought of trying out the rest of the sights. The next target Shevaroy temple. The way unknown. We tried to go there but suddenly at one of the hairpin bends the car got stuck. It was a big scare. While Sunny revved the engine 4 of us guys literally lifted the car from the boulders and set it back on the road. Shevaroy temple was shelved, and we were off to Kiliyur falls . The road was tricky yet again as many times we got down to allow the car to pass through. It was the confluence of 7 hills where we landed at the end. The locals told us the falls were a hike down the hills. Wearing chappals i thought better and sat on the side of the road, near a sheer drop enjoying the view. The rest of the 4 came back, Sunny and Datta firmly on their two legs, Baka crouched, while he was laughing, and Pinki on all fours. I would tell you Sunny's reaction " Bhaakk sala, yeh kya tha. Itna karke neeche gaye , aur kya dekha. ek chota sa boulder aur uske upar just a little tread of water trickling by. " Apparantly the only entertainment they got was Pinki rolling on all fours as he climbed up and down the hill.
There was still some time for breakfast so we thought we would go to the bear caves. It was atop a hilly land and there was no way the car would go all the way. As we took the first step Pinki's bowels gave a red signal. we laughed at him while he trudged along painfully, his face , the classic Pinki pose, gently saying " Abbey wapas chalo yar" . Midway even I got the signal , but I still trudged on. We panted and made our way uphill. Halfway most of us gave up. Sunny was still determined, as he made a dash to the top. Minutes later , he came running back. Bear caves was someones private property ,and he had been stopped by a guard at the gates while trying to enter. Pinki's face suddenly became much better, as he made back to the car in top speed. I followed suit.

Breakfast 27th April: Never knew what we ate, but we ate lavishly. Determined not to repeat the dudee fiasco fro mthe night , we stuck to known bread butter , idly vada and tea. Then we started eating other stuff. 5 people breakfast bill Rs.400. Last nights dinner was Rs.600.

Yercaud to Salem: The drive back was nice, and we were a bit sad on the thought of going back to chennai. However my spirits were high, as we stopped midway to pose for photographs. Suddenly we spied a monkey inside our car, fiddling with Sunny's wallet. We gave a shout and forced it to scamper down the hills along with 2-3 others whom we had not even noticed. We checked the car keys and found it still there. Wonder what would have happened if the monkey had made off with the car keys !

Salem to krishnagiri: A uneventful ride , with the AC in full blast and We were all feeling drowsy Baka was dropped of at Krishnagiri and we sped off. Hunger knocked the bell once again.

Khrishnagiri -Vellore: Pinki got sleepy and started snoring at the back . We stopped Midway for some food . We were out of cash, thankfully i still had some 500 bucks in my wallet.

Vellore - Posting questions to locals we reached the golden temple in Vellore. Sunny said that he had heard it was one made entirely of Gold. It was a really beautiful temple, with a star shaped lay out , 7 gates and an interior palted with gold. As we made our way to the inner sanctum, we found a small pool where people would throw coins for a wish. I opened my wallet and got one for myself . Sunny and Datta asked , so i gave the remaining 2 to them . Pinki was sad as he also wanted one - " Yeh kya mujhe bhi coin do" . Finally the 4 of us together threw 3 coins in the water. One the way back Sunny asked " Pinki tumne kya wish kiya " . Pinki - "Are mujhe wish bhi karna tha kya" . Sunny - " Teri to! you robbed me of my 1/4 wish ... tereko nahi chodunga ". When we reached the car, we saw we had a flat tyre. Next was the fastest tyre change I had seen , and been a part of . It wa 5 mins and we were back on the road. The car cruised on 70 as Sunny remarked it was moving much better now. A dull gloom fell on all of us. Time to hit reality once more as we were nearly back in Chennai.

Marina Beach 27th April 9 PM: We decided to end the trip with a view of the sea. There we were the 4 of us , standing in front of the waves , the roar of the sea a gentle reminder that the trip was nearly over. We lingered on the beach in a hope to prolong this moment a little more, knowing that once we turned our back on the waves it would be a goodbye to a memorable weekend we had ever had.