Kodaikanal…..and biting blankets
…after a month a Sadhana Forest we are ready to get on the road. We have a bus ticket bound for Bangalore on monday and a hostel awaiting our arrival.
Last week we went on a 6 day impulsive excursion with two american guys we met at the lodge to Kodaikanal- 12hours ( 8 hours on the decent) south west and 7000ft up. We took a semi-sleeper bus for around 5 pounds and the journey went smoothly…apart from an hours drop off waiting for a transfer we had no idea about. We were woken at 5am and scurried off the bus at a place which could of been anywhere….we were given chairs so it looked liked we were in for a wait, so we cracked open some peanut butter.
Climbing up the mountain road to Kodai actually took my breath away. Ive seen beautiful sights before but at 7am looking at the lush green forrested mountains above and below the snaking road, for a breif moment i actually didnt breathe. Waterfalls cascaded from the other side of the valley and clouds drifted just metres away blocking views momentarily.
We had considfered staying in Vattakanal so unpon arrival (after a breakfast of iddly and REAL dosa) we jumped in a taxi van and drove away from the entrance of the swish hotel we had been dropped infront of. As we drove bumpily down what i would later learn was Vattakanal Road, one of our american friends requested to stop at what he was almost certain was the small house of a man he had stayed with on a previous trip. Strangely/luckily since this man David didnt live there himself, he was at this house feeding his dogs he kept there…and even more strangely/luckily he remember our friend.
After a breif inspection of the house- 3 small stone rooms with a kitchen, bedroom with a double bed and a double fl0or materess, and a storage room- we were happy to stay foor the tiny price of 2pounds a night and the sweet chai(tea) which the elderly indian man with a variation of a handlebar mustache made every two hours when we were home. On offering him some boiled egg one morning – he accepted politely- we learnt that normally he doesnt really eat breakfast , or lunch, he starts the day with grass and beedie follwed by chai and beedie every 2hours.
We walked the 3km to Kodaikanal and Green Valley View ( a valley not green but a mass of white cloud blocking EVERYTHING- you could of been at the end of the world) most days. Passing the trees, monkeys and endless stalls and shops selling oils, spices and chocolate – a novelty up in the cool mountanis with the promise upon purchase that it wouldnt melt for 40days. We in turn were passed by locals, taxis a few scattered tourists and clouds that brushed our faces.
The weather and enviroment was such a contrast from pondicherry and auroville. We were still in the same state of Tamil Nadu but we had replaces the flag like stripes of red earth, sparse but green trees and blue skies with lush green grass, dense trees and cooling white clouds. The evenings in our small stone dwelling reduced us to wrap up in wollen blankets agaainst the cold…and also the mystery biting creature- in our tired state we concluded it could of been the blanket. It was pretty sharp. Though the ridiculosity of the biting blanket and the awarness of teeth kept us awake with laughter and angst.
We ate a lot of iddly – rice flour balls served cold for breakfast with various sauces and cooked for ourselves – a rare change from the mass meals prepared at the lodge. The jounrney home ran smoothly…to smooth as we arrived in Pondy at 3am and were forced ( but lucky enough) to hail a rickshaw back to Sadhana. But we had the jounry down the mountains fresh in our mind. It had been noisy and colourful with the fire works of dwaili, and exciting and invigorating if you include the 5000 large fire crackers set off with out warning at our feet while waiting to board our return bus. We were bombarded with shells and force to take cover behind the wall we had been sitting on….maybe we should of moved when the indian men started to unroll a supisious long thin red strip over 4 metres long…passing right by us…..or even before that when they appeared with a large red box with warning signs on…..but we had done as the locals did and sit by…..idle and trying to fit in….the result was loss of hearing and bags covered with ash and shells…
Tags: india, Kodaikanal, Pondicherry, Sadhana Forest, Travel
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