We started our vacation by driving to Yelagiri, a small town in the mountains, which lies in Tamil Nadu. It is a very basic place, and it is difficult to find anything to do here. The amenities are basic, but the people are warm and welcoming. And, the Kamat’s outlet on the Highway serves the best, hottest, crispest vadas, I’ve had in a long time :).
Luckily, we had Radio One (Bangalore FM channel here) and our music CDs. There was internet and mobile connectivity too ;-). One advice to anyone venturing to this place by car — Carry your own alcohol, water and snacks. Alcohol is very difficult to find and extremely expensive, and you will have to walk miles to get branded water.
This is a great place where one can just relax; don’t expect to do too many other things here. They really need to work on the cleanliness if they want more people to visit them. And, btw, it is a hill station, yet the weather was almost like Bangalore’s. It seems the place buzzes only on weekends, and on weekdays they don’t even switch on their beverage coolers. So, we had to bring our drinks to our resort’s kitchen fridge to chill :).
We heard that there was this nice 4-km trail which went up in the mountains to Swamimalai. We are always game for a good trek. So, Gurdev and I woke up real early and embarked on this trail on a Tuesday morning. Except for a few villagers at the base, there was not a soul to be seen on the way. We enjoyed the seclusion, greenery and the peace around us. I think, it was a wonderful place to meditate. We were nearing the summit on this mountainous path when we heard heavy thuds. There was a warning sign in Tamil at the base about cobras, elephants etc., but we surely did not expect to see anyone. In the clearing, I saw a huge gray wild elephant who could not see us. The thuds were the sound of his feet. I have not come across a wild elephant, and we did not know how he would react. We suddenly realized that we were only the two of us there. Suddenly, Gurdev caught my hand and we started bounding downhill as silently as we could. We heard the thuds for some distance, but we overran it. I think the wild chap had not spotted us, or did not find us interesting enough :).
We stopped only when we reached a slope where there was a farmer tilling his land. We laughed at our little adventure and made our way back to the car. Though, I must admit that I was a little scared.
So, this was the most exciting part of Yelagiri trip. Oh, I forgot to mention this fabulous Ayurvedic body massage I had at the resort. Amazingly relaxing! The header pic is also clicked in Yelagiri.
We packed our bags and moved on to our next stop Hogennakal falls.
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