TIME OUT
Quiet pastoral charms
AKBER AYUB
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Yelagiri’s laid-back and relaxed feel takes a bit of getting used to, but it is also a blessing for those who want to be left alone.
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Photos: Akber Ayub
SOUL SYNC: In harmony with nature at Yelagiri.
At 180 km, Yelagiri is just a hop-step-and-jump from Bangalore. As a budget alternative to more popular destinations like Udhagamandalam (Ooty) and Kodaikanal, the Yelagiri hills, spread across 30 sq. km at an altitude of 3500 feet, offers the ambien
ce and feel of a hill station with the advantage of being easy on the purse. With temperatures on the plateau ranging between 9°C and 29°C during the year and surrounded by evergreen forests, these highlands, part of the Eastern Ghats, have a moderate, pleasant climate the year round.
These hills may not boast of glitzy hotels or picture postcard vistas but that, you realise, is also a blessing for it means no whistle-stop tourists, rushed holidaymakers or the attendant hurly-burly of a commercialised holiday destination. And that is what gives this place its unique character: A laid-back, relaxed, small town atmosphere that takes a little getting used to initially. No one is in a hurry here. And no touts, vendors or others trying to make a quick buck out of the tourists. No garish trinket stalls, roadside eateries or horse-riding hobos to heckle you. For once, you are left well alone; free to do your own thing.
As for accommodation, the best available is, without doubt, Sterling Resorts. Their own property, a sprawling, swanky resort is half complete on their 34-acre plot on the outskirts; but they have leased a smaller one near the lake that offers clean, comfortable rooms and a multi-cuisine restaurant in a one-acre plot lush with mango and jackfruit trees. The trees provide a thick green canopy all around that you’ll find soothing, especially while lazing in a hammock. A few small restaurants near the lake are worth a try for snacks and beverages if you are not too finicky about hygiene.
Just wind down
If you are looking for leisure activities or sightseeing, you will be rather disappointed. However, trekking on the hills and in few isolated forests is definitely on. Swami Malai, the highest peak, soaring to 1128 ft from Mangalam, a hamlet at its base, takes the cake. Smaller peaks with quaint names like Javadu Hills, Palamathi Hills and others are an easier climb. Start early though and be back before nine, for, once the sun climbs up it can get rather uncomfortable. If you care for birds, you’ll be surprised at the number of different species you’ll find flitting to and fro, their cries echoing across the woods.
Isolated villages on these hills offer a glimpse into traditional lifestyles of the village folks with their , mud-walled, thatched dwellings, shepherding their cattle listlessly on green pastures, tawny village belles tending to cotton fields or the ringing laughter of clusters of women gathered under the stoop of their shacks sorting heaps of ripe tamarind. Quaint temples with limpid lotus ponds and men with their cattle lazing under the shade of luxuriant banyan trees, the twitter of birds — all in the backdrop of undulating hills — complete the picture. Villages like Athanavur, Nilavoor and Kothayoor are worth a dekko if only for their pastoral, rustic charm. You can also pick up bottles of fresh honey from wayside stalls as a memento.
So if you are looking for a quick getaway from Bangalore, Yelagiri makes an ideal destination.
E-mail: akbersait@yahoo.co.uk
Accommodation
Sterling Resorts: 080-22234348
Don Bosco Camping Centre has self-contained rooms, military-style tents and good food, all at very reasonable charges. 04179-245268/245468
There are a number of others, all within a radius of two or three km, offering decent accommodation ranging from Rs.750 to Rs.2000 a night and without advance booking. Taj Gardens (not the five-star chain), Hotel Hills and Hotel Yelagiri are the better ones.
Getting there
Get on to the NH-7, drive down to Krishnagiri and turn left onto NH 46, the Chennai road. An hour’s drive on the four-lane highway will take you to Vaniyambadi; but before you hit the town, take the right and you’re on the Yelagiri road.
Ten km will take you to the base of the hills from where you scoot up the Ghat road for another 14 km to reach your destination.
Also try the shorter Tirupattur–Jolarpettai road off the NH-46, if you don’t mind a detour through tranquil, sleepy villages.
Fuel up en-route, for there is no fuel station on the hills.
Pad up your wallet, because there’s no ATM in the solitary bank here and credit card is unheard of in these parts.
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