A surprise holiday always makes
you give some thought to eke out an equal plethora of surprise drives!
And that’s exactly what we did, when the government of TN announced a ‘Cyclone Holiday’ for Monday, 12 December, in anticipation of Cyclone Vardah. Since the next day happened to be Milad un-Nabi, and hence a gazetted holiday, we – a ‘trek-crazy-collective’ - brainstormed the whole of Sunday night and yes! we were quite restive on an otherwise resty day! Soon we were on our toes, planning and scoring out all our options and in no time had our plans afoot! Yep! We’d decided to be outta namma Chennai for a two-day trek through three wonderful hills as part of the huge Eastern-Ghats-chains’-conglomerate.
And that’s exactly what we did, when the government of TN announced a ‘Cyclone Holiday’ for Monday, 12 December, in anticipation of Cyclone Vardah. Since the next day happened to be Milad un-Nabi, and hence a gazetted holiday, we – a ‘trek-crazy-collective’ - brainstormed the whole of Sunday night and yes! we were quite restive on an otherwise resty day! Soon we were on our toes, planning and scoring out all our options and in no time had our plans afoot! Yep! We’d decided to be outta namma Chennai for a two-day trek through three wonderful hills as part of the huge Eastern-Ghats-chains’-conglomerate.
Early next morning - in
the chilly margazhi-eve blistering
colds, on the auspicious day of the Festival of Lights – Thirukaarthigai Deepam – when households are beautifully arrayed in
the agal villakus (lamps) – we
ventured out at around 5 am, nine of us – all geared up, - arrayed in our linen
jackets/blazers to ward off the prospective cold winds, - and got into our
vehicles at 5.10 am sharp - two pretty little hatchbacks!
The rains were incessantly beating
against our cars with all their intensity even as we were ‘inching’ our way
along the Vellore-Bangalore highway, against all odds – in the cold of the
dawny day – making mincemeat as much as possible – of the most awfulest, most bumpiest, most
craggiest, most unevenest of roads – which is sadly nay badly called the
NATIONAL HIGHWAY!!! with Toll Plazas doing ‘daylight’ ‘highway robbery’ at every
40 km stretch – for their ‘excellent services rendered’! Saru, our comic relief
– tells us all that this has been the case with these poor ‘apology for a road’,
for the past five years or more! Never have we seen such pathetic NH anywhere
in the South of India! ‘Anywhere’ promptly underlined! Repeated appeals have
fallen on stone-deaf ears, say motorists on this stretch of the roads.
Bumpy terrains aside, we were
thinking back about namma Chennai, and yes I should admit that, we weren’t in
the least mindful of cyclone Vardah, as we were all of the ‘considered opinion’
that it could be just ‘yet another’ weakiest of Nadas, - the frail cyclone Nada
- that had failed to enthuse the rain clouds to water-starved Chennai, in the
first week of December!
All along the Vellore ‘National’
Highway, we were witness to intermittent thundershowers and incessant rains
pelting our windscreens with gusto and aplomb!!!
As we had already decided, our
first detour for a leeway was for a cuppa coffee at Murugan Idly Shop that was
the only anchor of hope in the troubled ‘National’ Highway!
Four cuppa hot chaais and five cuppa coffees!
After that, we pitstopped only
for our breakfast towards the threshold of the Fort City – Vellore!
A minimal breakfast, and then we
headed straight to the monumental Vellore Fort!
#Vellore Fort - a side view |
Famous for its Vellore Mutiny!
The Vellore mutiny, as history
would have it, was occasioned by military units of the erstwhile Madras
regiment who were seething with anger at the British order forcing them to wear
round hats instead of turbans, and to shave off their beards, remove all forms
of caste markings and jewellery from their person. This order having offended
both Hindus and Muslim sentiments alike, they all rose up in rebellion. The
mutiny, unfortunately, lasted only one full day, as the violent mutiny was
crushed by the East India Company’s military might. From then on, the British
military took full control of the fort and used it as a bulwark and a garrison
until India attained her independence.
#Vellore Fort |
The Fort architecture is
awe-inspiring, and each granite stone speaks volumes to the hard work that has
gone into this huge buttressing of the insurmountable bulwarks, with a huge
moat around its edifice, [that was originally supposed to have had thousands of
crocodiles in it as a reptilic fortification!].
The ‘length and breadth and depth
and height’ of this mighty fortress is beyond compare! Indeed, the Vellore Fort
stands monument to the grandiose military architecture of the past rulers of
India.
At the same time, some of the
sights within the Fort were an eyesore too! It’s really a tourist’s curiosity that
such a piece of ‘ozymandian’ monument which has stood the test of time for
centuries, and curiously under the custody of the ‘Archaeological Survey of
India’ is in a state of disarray and shambles!
Shoddy, water-based acrylic
distempering on stone has taken the sheen away from the cultural edifice at a
couple of places! At some other places where the ancient-hewn-stones have had
their stony frame broken off at the edges, they have been patched up crudely with
the shoddiest of cement and then white-washed all over, to give the blandest of
finishes to such an exemplary architectural marvel of the past, instead of
‘doing them up’ with a fine lime mixture, as is traditionally the case!
The Jalakandeswar Temple inside Vellore Fort |
More so with the beautiful
Jalakandeswar Temple that stands tall within the fort, and an exemplary tribute
to the engineering marvel of yore. Under the garb of renovation, shoddy
plastering and painting have taken the sheen out of this beautiful temple,
which is crying and vying for attention from the ASI!
And nope! We’re neither heritage
activists nor archaeologists critiquing the custodians of our art! Just wonder-amazed
citizens wishing that the pristine sculptures and monuments of the past are
restored to their dazzling past glory!
Well, a question that flit us by
all the time was the fact that, when there are at least a dozen specialist
heritage conservation groups that are doing yeoman service to the architectural
structures of the past, why should priceless Indian art and architecture be
wiped out under the garb of renovation at the hands of naive novices?
The renowned Jalakandeswar Temple inside Vellore Fort |
It's time conservation laws were enforced strictly!
Age-old Banyan trees inside Vellore Fort |
Moreover, tipplers, beggars,
pedlars and parrot-astrologers are a common sight all over the place! It was
surprising to see the way that leads to the Fort Museum, which has the
huge-centuries-old banyan trees lining up the road, filled with thousands of
liquor bottles and tipsy men reeling still under the impactful influence of the
intoxicants!
Is ASI listening?
Well, after the Fort visit, we drove straight past ‘bridges and houses, hedges and ditches’, to our
next hilly sojourn – the foothills of the beautiful Yelagiri Hills.
“WELCOME TO THE REJUVENATING
YELAGIRI HILLS! FEEL THE SOUND OF NATURE!” Places of Interest……..”
Screamed quite an inviting
signpost at the foothills of Yelagiri!
It also gave clues to the two
famed trekking points in store – Swami Malai Hills and Jalagam Parai Hills!
The roads were well-laid and it’s
indeed a pleasure to any driver who is eagerly looking forward to having a steep
drive up the gradient slopes! All along, the Highways department had erected
signboards in black n’ yellow asking those on the downward drive to give ample
leeway for those bound on the upward drive!
We had to cut through at least a
dozen hairpin bends, and interestingly, each hairpin bend has been christened
the name of renowned Tamil personalities of yore!
The first bend was called the
‘Bharathiar Valaivu’ (valaivu = bend), followed by the Thiruvalluvar Valaivu,
Ilango Valaivu, Kambar Valaivu, Kabilar Valaivu, Avvaiyaar Valaivu, Paari
Valaivu, Oari Valaivu, Aai Valaivu, Adhiyaman Valaivu, Began Valaivu, etc. up
along this wonderful scenic highway, the roads were exemplary by all means! It
made our driving a whole lot easier! Kudos to the district admins for the
initiative in giving the tourists the benefit of a ‘memorable drive’ up and
down the hills!
As the village lore goes - bees
and trees are inextricably intertwined – the wild bees of the woodlands atop
the gigantic trees all along the mountain trail were indeed a wonderful feasty
treat to the beholder!
#peeping simians |
Our entry into the Yelagiri
human-habitation-zone was welcomed with waving hands waving out festooned
pamphlets by the number! Young boys by the dozen arrayed in tees, were playing
the hospitable hosts [to the tune of private resorts], by giving us a welcome
smile and gently coaxing us into the colourful pamphlets - aka information
brochures - that detail what’s in store for a tourist! A whole lot of private
adventure avenues have sprung up in the recent past, to curry to the current!
We took a pedal-drive down the chill
lake in the equally chilly and inclement weather, with an overcast sky and rain
droplets pitter-pattering on us all through the pedaling process!
#Yelagiri Lake [30 feet deep..] |
Straight from a beehive... #Jawadhu Hills |
#Nature Park, Yelagiri Hills |
Quite close to the lake you’ve
got a Nature Park that’s an added attraction in recent years! Although it has a
huge enclave beautified with the choicest of trees and flowers, and gardeners
manning the place, and a small entry fee to keep the beautification process intact,
one could find some sloppy and shoddy finish at many places in the park. The
aquarium and the music fountain are dancing for, oops… crying for attention!
Most of the fishes are the yellow mollies, white mollies, red-sword-tails, the
angel-fish, the blue glass guppies, the tank cleaners-aka-scavengers were the
usual ones in store!
And, as parks are ostensibly
associated with lovers, every nook and corner was taken! Thus huge, magnificent
and beautiful trees became ‘forbidden trees’ for tourists like us, as the
cupid-stricken, eros-bitten lovers gave farsighted cold, bland stares and gobbledygook
gestures that signalled even from afarrr and quietly communicated disparaging
innuendoes for all and sundry who trespass into ‘enga area!!!’
The Popian (Alexander Pope!)
ignition reminding us of his immortal lines, “Fools rush in, where angels fear
to tread” made us beat a hasty retreat… and with the NCC commands coming to our
rescue in no time,
Saamne Dekh, Tez Chal….
And here we go! J
On the Swamimalai trek and the
fundas we all had have been twittered by the twitteraties amongst us! Don’t
fail to have a look at them!
… … (cutting things short)
After a day’s time at Yelagiri,
we came down to town, and had our night’s rest at a good resort nearby!
Only now, even as we were glued
to our L.E.D screens expecting yet another weakiest Nada like failure from
Vardah, we were in for a rude jolt. We were witnessing live on our led screens
trees being uprooted by the dozen, - #Vardahfury - a TCS Bus with its employees
on board, toppled in no time, and the whole of Chennai coming to a standstill,
plunging into darkness! All along the trek route we almost had nil
connectivity, and hence we got our newsfeed only at the foothills! Adding to
this news, was yet another devastation that shook us all – MCC’s forest cover
had gone for a toss! Around 450 trees uprooted and an equal number badly
damaged! What a rude jolt!
We immediately rang up our
friends in MCC and elsewhere in the city assuring them of our help and support,
and we decided to return to Chennai rightaway to be of help to our city in her
moment of distress! But but! We were cautioned against coming to the city, as
all along the way trees had fallen in thousands all along the way and that the
city was in complete disarray as electricity supply was down and internet
connectivity was almost down to a zero!
Deepa, who couldn’t make it for
our ‘ghat sojourn’ this time around, managed to send us the message across:
“pls pls don’t ever try coming to Chennai for the next two dayz. It’s awful
here”. TC!’’
Fingers crossed, we all were
praying for the speedy recovery of namma Chennai and its bestest of the
hospitable folks!
#Bhima Falls, Jawadhu Hills |
Also we decided NOT to venture
down to Chennai in the unmotorable roads, and decided that we’d remain for a couple of days more in our
mofussil homestay, planning for some local sojourns around the ghats!
So here we go!
Early next morning on Tuesday, 13
December, after a 90 minute drive, we were right on target cruising on the
lonely yet invigorating beautiful ghat roads up up up… towards the Jawadhu
Hills!
En route we had many delights in
store, and one such fab delight was Asia’s largest observatory – the Vainu
Bappu Observatory – that houses the largest telescope in Asia, and the second
largest in the world. The lesser the light, the better the celestial vision!
Since Kodaikanal couldn’t provide ‘lesser light’ during the nights, astronomers
at last selected this sleepy village which rarely has any night-time
disturbances! [Even during day time vehicle movement is a rarity here!].
Started in 1968 in Kavalur,
Jawadhu Hills, by an astronomer Dr. Vainu Bappu, the location was chosen
because of its proximity to the earth’s equator ‘in order to cover both the
northern and southern hemispheres with equal ease’, the brochures tell us.
After paying a visit from outside
to this monument, [as visitors have to take prior permission to have a look at
this giant telescope], we moved on to the Bhima Falls, one of the scenic
highlight of Jawadhu Hills. The Hills are equally known for their cultivation
of Sandalwood trees since time immemorial, and hence, the Forest Department has
imposed many restrictions on locals trespassing into the ‘protected zone’,
tourists venturing into certain forbidden zone, and shepherds prevented from
grazing their cattle in these protected places!
The unassuming rustic life, that
lacks the sophistication of the city, and filled with the aroma of the herbs and
the ‘enthrall’ of the flora and fauna alike on either side of the hills, are
indeed therapeutic to body and soul alike!
To be contd…
awsom! missed all the fun:-(
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