Ripples on the brain

I think the main problem with non-mainstream tourist places in and around Chennai (admittedly not many) these days is alcoholism. Actually I have no problem with people consuming alcohol if they weren’t such a nuisance to others. As it turns out, most of the folks in this part of the world consume alcohol just to flaunt and be noticed. The problem compounds if there’s a larger group, for then it turns into a mob with every person considering himself to be all powerful and also going that extra mile to get better noticed than the rest of the crowd. I cannot fathom why liquor cannot be consumed in the confines of one’s home or room.

I have witnessed a lot of such behaviour at college and also at work. In Chennai, especially during weekends, in places along ECR, notably Mayajaal, this is a perennial problem, so much so I that sometimes consider moral policing befitting these people.

We ran into one such boisterous mob during our stay in Le Auroville in Yelagiri. We chose that place based on some of the travelogues and also on the hospitality of the host when we were there. The “resort” actually has very basic accomodation facilities (it was converted from a school) that is definitely not worth the rates charged. However, the host boasted of the “experience” for the price we paid. We were promised of things like strawberry picking in his farm, night safari, bikes to ride around the place, parasailing and so on that really made us choose the place, though we were somewhat apprehensive about the security of the place considering its location.

As it turned out, an unruly bunch of guys turned up at that place on Saturday evening and ruined the whole serene ambience. They were drunk as they drove in. The host told us later that the group had reserved claiming that they were going to be with their wives. I believed that part of his story as he appeared to be a bit shocked to see this huge bunch of guys and enquired them about their wives as they checked-in. This group took over the entire common area in the resort and the campfire in the night. My wife and I were not too bothered till this point as we were more happy visiting places, reading, drawing and chatting away.

It is what happened in the night that left a bad taste in the mouth. As we retired to the bed resigning to the fact that there was indeed going to be no strawberry picking and no night safari that the host had promised, we found a hand in the dark grab the doors of our window and try to open it and peep into our ground floor room. Thankfully, we had earlier asked the resort guy to fasten the boltless door using a rope so that guy wasn’t successful. We immediately raised an alarm and called all the resort guys. At this time, we discovered that the guy had earlier tried to peep into two other rooms. By the time he was in our place, the resort guy already knew that this guy was part of the bunch that I was referring to. In the night, the resort guy offered to turn the bunch away if we identified the offender (he even offered to use his shotgun ). It was obviously dark and the guy wasn’t actually successful. Besides there was a thick curtain in the window and so we just saw a shadow. We opted to stay in the same room as the option of moving to a different hotel in the dead of the night didn’t appear feasible.

What happened the subsequent morning was more bizarre. When we enquired with the resort guy who offered to use even his shotgun against the offender claimed that he actually identified the culprit. But he found that the culprit was so drunk that he actually thought our window was the entrance to his room. This explanation was laughable because that guy had peeped into 3 other rooms including a bathroom window of an adjacent room. As we discovered, this group frequented to this place almost every other week and hence presented a continuous revenue stream to the resort. The resort guy obviously didn’t want to alienate this group.

We decided not to talk with guy any further and left the resort resolving not to let this lone incident sully the otherwise pleasant memories we carried from this place. This was also a lesson for us to choose places of stay. We are better off with rooms closer together than being spread out from a security standpoint and it is better to get rooms in the top floors rather than in the ground floor.

My wife and I went on a weekend trip to Yelagiri in the first week of June. It was a very enjoyable trip for most part. The best thing about Yelagiri is its laid back nature. There are not a lot of “tourist spots”, so you can just go around the place, do your kind of activity - reading, drawing/painting or just walking around/trekking in serene surroundings.

Since we were there during the summer vacations, we had to make some advanced reservations. We followed this travelogue of Ram for all the planning. Our experience turned out be very similar to that of Ram except for the unpleasant stay at the Le Auroville “resort”.

The drive was very comfortable. The roads are amazing, but the traffic discipline, especially as you near the towns like Vellore/Katpadi, Ambur and Vaniyambadi leaves a lot to be desired. Especially at a bridge stretch as you approach Vellore, you can expect a sudden onslaught of slow moving vehicles, two wheelers coming the wrong way. Other than that, from time to time, you need to negotiate the cabs that flout all lane rules and through caution to the winds as they embark on overtaking other vehicles. Those are the only blemishes in the otherwise wonderful journey in the plains.

The ghat roads are pretty good and following some of the basic rules like not following a heavy vehicle closely when driving uphill and giving way to the oncoming traffic when driving down the hill should make that part of the drive incident free. The 14 hairpin bends make the drive really interesting.

A 5:30 am start would be ideal from Chennai. That way Poonamallee can be crossed by sun rise and the highway should be good at that time. A breakfast stop at Vellore would be ideal and it shouldn’t take more than 4.5 hours to reach Yelagiri including the stopover.

We visited a few places like a garden and the lake that are usual tourist places. But what we enjoyed most was the visit to the offbeat places like the farms / gardens on the way to the Swamimalai trek. The one we had gone to had red chillies, beans, different varities of rose, beans, brinjal, tomato and root vegetable plants. The Swamimalai trek was also pretty good. We wanted to do some other stuff like strawberry picking, night safari in the jungle and parasailing, which were promised by our resort guy but not fulfilled. There is one State Horticultural farm close to where the Swamimalai trek begins. Unfortunately, the farm is closed on Sundays which is when the place hosts a lot of tourists.

We found Jackfruit to be very popular here. We ate a lot of them when we were there and also bought loads of it for home. They are a lot cheaper in Yelagiri. We had all our food at our resort and so didn’t have a chance to try any restaurants in the hills. The food provided by our resort was good enough.

Overall we found Yelagiri to be good place for a weekend sojourn.

A good video showing my undergrad institution. Wonderful memories. I don’t know how I missed the alumni meet this year. There seems to be some construction activity on in the campus. Hope to be there sometime this year.