Deshe Bideshe 21 - Yercaud

Shantanu:

We had deliberated much on where to spend our wedding anniversary and finally I zeroed down on Yercaud, a small hill station near Eastern Ghats, about 35 km from industrial town of Salem in Tamilnadu. I chose this place because a) it is cost effective and more importantly b) the train tickets were available. Trains to all other hill stations seemed to be fully booked and some hill stations like that of Kudremukh in Karnataka appeared to be virtually inaccessible. Yercaud is called the 'poor man's Ooty' (Ooty or Udhagamandalam is a beautiful but highly commercialized hill station in the Nilgiris) because of the relatively low cost of living. At around 1500 m above sea level, it is at a lower elevation than either Ooty or Munnar. Also the flaura and fauna in the Eastern Ghats is less varied as compared to the Nilgiris or the Western Ghats. When we did our research on Yercaud, we found that all websites and blogs have a point of agreement - that Yercaud does not have much tourist attractions except for a natural lake and a few panoramic view points, and that a couple of days are enough to give it a dekko. However, we discovered that despite all limitations, Yercaud is beautiful, simply may be because it is less commercialized.

We started on 17th June and flew to Chennai (train seats were unavailable, hence the flight). The SpiceJet flight was delayed by more than an hour and we reached Chennai airport at 8 PM. We booked a taxi at the prepaid taxi counter and then faced chaos. Because of the renovation activities, we had to walk a lot of distance and then there was nothing to indicate the boarding point. At last, with the help of a policeman on duty, we located the taxi stand but more trouble lay ahead. For some reason, taxis were in short supply. We had a train to catch at 10.40 PM so shamelessly jumped the queue and requested the taxi attendant to help us which he did by packing us into one. We reached Chennai central station with an hour to kill. Seating space at the platform was conspicuously absent, where were all these people travelling to so late in the day? Anyway, we found some chairs near the retiring room and partook of our dinner. Retiring rooms offered by the Indian Railways are a dilapidated lot and have obviously not been renovated since the British rail company created them. We had the misfortune of having spent a few hours in one on a previous trip in Delhi and sincerely do not advocate any traveller to use them. Then again, they do come in handy when you need a roof under your head between trains or at odd hours if you are willing to sacrifice other luxuries like cleanliness and privacy.

We boarded the Yercaud express at around 10.20 PM. We had a couple of side berths right next to the door; with troubled insomniacs and sleepwalkers constantly paddling to the restroom, a good night's sleep for us was not to be. There is only one AC-2 Tier on the entire train which was obviously fully loaded. Why doesn't the Indian rail provide more AC coaches when there is a great demand for it while the sleepers go empty! I was sleeping on the upper berth when, sometime during the middle of the night, a hapless and miserable looking Devmitra woke me up. Apparently she had lain awake, not due to any traffic past her berth; rather due to several bed bugs which robbed her of a restful sleep. So we swapped our berths and caught some winks for the rest of the night.

We arrived at Salem duly at 5.30 AM in the morning. Despite the early summer hour, it was still dark outside. Thanks to another travelogue on Yercaud we knew that bus numbers 12 and 13 ply to the New Bus Stand in Salem from where one can get the bus to Yercaud. So we ignored the autowallahs outside the station who quoted really high prices in an attempt to make hay while the sun shone...or at least attempted to and caught a bus no. 12 which was just beginning to move out. The bus trip to the New Bus stand cost us only 4 bucks. We arrived after around 15-20 min, crossed the street, walked through a few fruit seller shops which had opened up early in the morning and reached the bus stand. There were buses everywhere, running or ready to run, but either to Bengaluru or to Erode. After some inquiries we were shown the place from where the Yercaud bound bus would start at 6.15 AM which meant that we had to wait for almost 30 min. The Salem New Bus Stand is not particularly clean. Even at that hour of the morning, there was garbage everywhere but people were oblivious to their surroundings. Anyway the bus came right on time and we started our journey. Bus trip to Yercaud costs Rs. 11 per person. The bus travels through Salem town and then finally hits the Yercaud road which ends up in a hilly winding track. There are 20 hairpin bends on the way and each is nicely marked (16/20, 17/20 etc.) After the first hairpin bend we need to travel a considerable distance before we get the second one but after that, it is a regular affair. The bus was a very ordinary one and we shared our seats with simple rustic people who were going about their business of transporting veggies to the hilltop. It was an enjoyable journey. The scenic beauty around us was nice, but not as exciting as perhaps in Ooty or Munnar.We reached Yercaud at around 8.15 AM, a journey of an hour and a half by bus from Salem.

We got off at what we realized later was the city center. This is recognized by the presence of the lake that this place derives its name from. An auto driver, eager to open his books early, struck a deal to take us up and take us to Grange Resort where we had reservations for Rs. 60 that he claimed was a fixed price. We reached the resort in 10 min (it was around 1.5 Km uphill on the Pagoda road) and were promptly alloted a cottage no. 13 (We do not have any superstition around that number and it looks like neither did the resort guys).

The cottage was spacious & clean and when we requested, the bed sheets were replaced. Famished after the lo..ng journey, we first had a hearty breakfast of Idli and toast and rejuvenating coffee. Thus satiated, we decided to wash off the grime of the road. It had apparently rained at Yercaud the previous night and the surroundings seemed to have a lil' bit of a chill for us newcomers, so we requested for hot water. We were told that hot water was available throughout the day at the flick of a switch, but either we were flicking the wrong switch or were just plain unlucky, but we had to have bath in really cold water...Brrr...it was a bother as we took bath, but it served the purpose of waking us up completely! We then explored the place a bit. Just behind our cottage was a path through the woods which also included a coffee plantation.

We decided to walk down to the town and the lake. The lake was placid with a few boats here and there, mostly paddle boats for tourists. We were in no mood for boating, so we sat down and enjoyed the serenity a peacefulness, a far cry from the hustle and bustle of a large city
We bargained with a local transport agent to provide us a chauffeur driven car for sight seeing the next day. It would cost us Rs 450 (fixed rate) and he would pick us up and drop us at the resort. He arranged for an auto which dropped us at the resort at Rs 50/-.After coming back we made up for the lost sleep on the train. When we woke up it was almost noon time. The sun was overhead and yet the weather was neither too hot nor too cold. It was very pleasant outside, so we took a stroll and discovered a number of jack fruit trees with low hanging fruit. The rains also brought out a lot of snails that set out on the arduous task of crossing the road...sounds silly, I know. The road that would take us a few seconds a couple of paces to step across would be crossed by them in ages, but both of us have been created by the same Heavenly Father...isn't this variety simply mind boggling? The rustic setting was completed by squirrels running intrepidly from tree to tree and many types of birds that called out to us in their own unique voice. We returned to the resort for a hearty meal of south Indian thali and then settled for some more Zzzs.

We woke up towards early evening and decided to seek out a tea shop or what is commonly known as chai wallah. We found one about 500 m away. Its proprietor was Mr. A Veera Raghavan and the tea stall is called AVR tea and real estate (pretty enterprising...tea maker & real estate owner, rolled in one). Stray dogs roamed the area and I could not help but take kindly to them and feed them a biscuit or two on this and our subsequent trips to this shop. We settled for a quiet evening at the resort. Dinner has to be ordered well in advance here as it is made to order. Once we finished our meal, we called it a day.

Devmitra:

We woke the next day and set out for a walk to Mr. Veera Raghavan's tea stall. After our morning ablutions, we set off on the sight seeing trip in the car that we had arranged for the previous day. Our driver Karthik picked us up at 9:30 and drove us to Pagoda Point. This is a view point about 3 kms. uphill from Grange Resort. We were among the first few to arrive here and so found the place absolutely devoid of any other save for the flower & trinkets vendor. This gave us ample time to take in the beautiful view and admire the peculiar vegetation unique to the area. The view from this point is a trifle restricted but the height makes up for this. One can gaze on the verdant spread on the hills as well as the fields surrounding the tiny hamlets below. Most spots in Yercaud are not as covered in mist as other hill stations that are at greater heights, but nevertheless the view is peaceful and resting. From Pagoda Point, we drove first to the Rajrajeswari temple where we had the prasadam of coconut rice and then to the highest point in Yercaud, the Shevaroyan temple. The temple is a narrow and dark cave having the God Servarayan and the Goddess Kaveri inside, which is believed as the Shevaroy Hills and the Cauvery River. The entrance to the cave is a little low and tall visitors should watch out lest they knock their heads on the roof, but once inside, it is a spacious and peaceful temple. After darshan, we walked down to another view point which offered a good view of lush vegetation. Also due to the increase in height, the hills here were shrouded in blankets of mist. This seemed to be a popular spot as it was teeming with tourists, nevertheless the few minutes spent here felt nice.

During the course of our research regarding Yercaud, we were convinced that there were 3 spots that we HAD to visit - Lady's Seat, Gent's Seat and Children's Seat - simply because we found the names really funny! So we headed off to Lady's Seat next. This view point offers a great view of the Ghat road. Also the particular hilltop was teeming with monkeys and Shantanu was fascinated by their antics. Truth be told, even I could not help but be captured by their tomfoolery; there was no telling what these guys would be up to next. One moment, one of them would shower oodles of affection on a fellow primate, the next she would whack him hard for some misdemeanor which we failed to notice. The little ones seemed to be more curious and nimble, they hardly rested at one spot and scampered here and there amid the more languid adults. Having enjoyed the shenanigans of our ancestral cousins, we stepped down and decided to feed on some mirchi bhajjis. For the uninitiated, this is a snack made by dipping tall, thick peppers into a thick batter and frying them in hot oil. This can be found in most parts of South India and are wonderful to bite into on a rainy or wintry day. Unlike the ones that I have eaten at Hyderabad, the peppers here are thicker. We washed down the bhajjis with a cup of steaming hot coffee and were ready to hit the road again.
From Lady's Seat, we drove to the combined view point of Gent's Seat and Children's Seat. The view from here was also nice, albeit at a lesser height. Unlike the solitude and calm that we were lucky to experience at Pagoda Point, this place was crawling with tourists - couples, families, friends, all eager to capture the memory of having visited this spot on film...correction, on pixels. From the view point, a short walk leads to the Rose Garden. This is a vast spread of land home to many plants, creepers and trees. It was fun exploring the entire site, trying to identify the different trees. By the time, we got back to the car, it was around 12:30 pm. We requested Karthik to stop for a lunch break before driving us back to the hotel, but he declared that the terms of our contract clearly stipulate that we could either get a drop till the hotel or till the city center - no waiting time. Further, he asserted, lunch in these parts would be ready only by 1:30. We convinced him to give us few minutes in some hotels around the lake while we asked around and found that he was absolutely right. Faced with no other choice, we drove back to the hotel. We were not very keen on having another heavy South Indian meal and so requested the restaurant folks to supply us with some bread. This must have been a first for the team - bread and butter for lunch in the land of rice, sambar and curds! No wonder they looked surprised!

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and generally taking it very easy. The evening saw us head to Veera Raghavan's stall for tea and some more exploration of the woods behind the cottage. Shantanu found a huge flutter of butterflies of assorted sizes and colors on one of his many escapes. The spread of raw and untouched natural beauty in the form of amazingly beautiful flowers and busy creatures offered a feast for the eyes and it was only with extreme reluctance that we retired to our room as dusk crept in. Despite the enthusiasm and promptness of the restaurant staff in asking for our dinner order, the menu at Grange did not offer much variety and so we settled for Fried Rice and Mixed Veg Curry. Yearning for a change in taste, we decided to explore Kitchen on Call the next day. Apparently this is an On call food service run by a couple settled in Yercaud, the website speaks of delicious treats that they offer. We went to bed that night dreaming of yummy rolls and cakes that we could sample in the morrow.

The final day of our vacation saw us awake at leisure and set out on a walk downhill after breakfast. We first struck a deal with a cab driver for our trip down to Salem the next day on our way back home and then decided to explore the place. On agenda today was a visit to the lake, adjoining parks and a sumptuous lunch courtesy Kitchen on Call. However this was not to be; a phone call revealed that the owner of the deli was on vacation and so they were not delivering that day. No harm done, we thought, as we settled for our second choice - The Lake Forest, a restaurant that we had spotted at the foot of the road that connected Grange to the center of the town. Incidentally this is a Club Mahindra Resort and had advertised an ongoing Food Mela. We worked up our appetites by exploring the Anna Park and the Lake View Garden which lie at the center of the town and offer a good view of the lake. Despite being small in size, these are both well maintained and for a small price, one can spend hours in here admiring the flora and fauna. Of the two, Anna Park was the busier one as it offered rides for children while Lake View Garden offered a chance to find a shady nook and assimilate one's thoughts while gazing out into the pale blue waters. It was close to 1 when we headed for a sumptuous lunch of Malabar Parathas and Chicken Curry at the Lake Forest. Partly ridden by the guilt of a heavy meal but more importantly, because we had nothing better to do, we walked up back to our resort.

In the evening, we were torn between snatching as many peaceful moments as possible in this small town haven and settling matters before our trip back the next day. Dinner was a simple meal of Roti and Aloo Gobi, thanks to the receptionist who convinced the restaurant to prepare a different curry. The next day we bid adieu to Veera Raghavan as well as the resort as we set off on our descent to Salem at 7 am. The train to Chennai was scheduled to leave at 9:30 am and true to its punctuality, we found it delayed by more than an hour when we reached the Salem Railway station. We grabbed a breakfast of Uttappam and coffee before settling on the platform at the station for the long wait for the train. At this point, I was really thankful that Shantanu had booked us on a later flight to Hyderabad even if it meant that it would be almost 10 by the time we reach home. We reached Chennai at almost 5 pm and had a short meal there. The drive to the airport was interrupted by the rush hour traffic, yet we managed to make it with some time to spare. An hour flight later, we reached Hyderabad replete with memories of our short but relaxed vacation to Yercaud.