The road of life twists and turns- so does the road to yercaud.

Tripoto
30th Jun 2017
Photo of The road of life twists and turns- so does the road to yercaud. by rover


In Chennai,july is a heat wave. It’s that annoying time of the year in which you don’t even feel like stepping out of your room. But, you don’t have to travel too far to cool off.
Yercaud ,as the name suggests is a perfect combination of lake &forest.
Travelling is fun when you don’t have fixed plans. The only motto was ‘beat the heat'.  When you set the journey to an unknown place,there comes barriers.
Firstly,Lack of time,which forced  to cut short the trip to a single day. 
So we had this simple plan- catch yercaud express(10.30 p.m from Chennai),reach Salem(2.55am ).
Book retiring room in Salem railway station (400 rupees) online in IRCTC website.
But when we reached Salem,to our surprise,after one hour of constant interaction with the railway station authority,we  realised that our rooms didn’t get booked.
Frustrated with the loss of room and the loss of time,we finally decided to use the AC waiting hall(15 rupees per hour per head).
It was better than we  expected.Since it was early morning, it was not crowded. And  Hurray!!we saved 400 rupees.
We left the station ,had breakfast from a nearby restaurant.
We had to catch the bus to yercaud from Salem bus stand which is 20 minutes journey from the railway station. The bus to salem bus stand is available right in front of the railway station.
Salem bus stand was kindof maze playground. The name board on buses looked like puzzles we are unable to solve. It was written in tamil. So we had this awesome idea- to byheart the tamil translation for 'yercaud'. And it really helped. The moment we saw the first tamil letter of this word on a bus's name board,we jumped from our place and ran towards the bus. But the people had better pace than us and they had another awsome idea for reserving seats. Throw your handkerchiefs,umbrella or whatever things you have on hand to any seat. This reservation system is more powerful than anything else. So when we finally got into the bus like warriors in a Warfield, all we could see was these reserved seats with people's belongings. Luckily, 2 seats were empty and we ran to it. Conflict began when a person came and grasped this seat.We didn't respond and continued to sit there which made him angry and scolded us for hijacking his seat. We sat numb.
It was around 9.am.
I think the best part about a journey is when you get to interact with the localites, know the culture and attitude of people. That's why I always prefer to travel in public transport.

Its a long road to yercaud but it's worth it-  There are 20 hairpin bends .We could feel the cool breeze  and the view of lush greenery was soothing to our eyes. This is a perfect place for road trip. It took 1 hour to reach yercaud.
The beautiful view of  yercaud lake took our attention the moment we stepped out of bus.
Rickshaw drivers aslo known as tour guides surrounded us .
Except for the basic information,we didn't have much idea about the availability of taxi in the place. So we thought of roaming around in auto. We had to bargain with all our ability to finally fix this deal- 10 places for 1000 rupees till 5.30 p.m.
We had no other go.
  I think auto rikshaw is more comfortable than car- 5 of us could easily fit in that and we didn't miss any beautiful view.

Raja rajeshwari temple, though small is serene,less crowded and beautiful. This temple is dedicated to Raja rajeshwari,the godess of all gods.So,our site seeing started with blessings from the goddess.

Our next destination was shevaroy temple.The name comes from a local deity, Servarayan.
All along the way,the beautiful scenery soothes our eyes.We got down at some places to click photos.And we reached Shevaroy temple. This is the highest point in yercaud.There are food stalls in the temple premise.  Unlike other temples, we have to stoop to enter and bend down as we walk to reach to the idols.  The idols of Servaraya Perumal and Kaveri amman look adorable and we felt blessed.
The Shevroy hill has a view point which gives a great view of the place. This was the place where we spent maximum time clicking photos. We were literally tired and hungry. All we needed was foooooood.

But on the way ,our guide took us to another place. Even though we were damn hungry,this place made us feel  full.
World's largest Sri chakra mahameru is present here. This place is calm and divine.

We were looking for some affordable restaurants and Eggetarian found to be good option. This restaurant offers omlets,noodles,rolls and various other snacks. We actually lost appetite and didn't want to have a heavy lunch. We ordered the food and  had an outdoor lunch along the lakeside.
Our driver was planning to take us to some view points and we got all excited.

On the way,we saw a very big school which is actually one of the tourist attractions in yercaud. But unluckily,it wasn't open on Sunday. We peeped through the giant walls and got a glimpse of the campus.

Next destination was the Sacred heart church. This church is more than hundred years age.This is yet another calm place and make us feel peaceful.Our driver took us to a series of view points and each one of it showed the beauty of yercaud in different angles.  The famous view points were

Rose garden is located at a walkable distance from this view point. It was already 5.15 and our auto was taken for hire till 5.30 p.m . So we had to rush and couldn't spend much time in the garden. Still, this place gave immense pleasure to us.  The view of flowers bloomed all over was feast to our eyes. We headed to yercaud lake .

It was evening and the sun rays were mild. Wind blowed calmly on us- what a perfect time for boating.
The row boat accommodated 5 of us and it charged 100 rupees. We had a very good time and it was a perfect way to get rid of our tiredness. After a half an hour boat ride,we took a stroll along Anna park.
Our driver dropped us at yercaud bus stand.
The return journey was relaxing. We slept all along the way and reached Salem.
All we could feel was hunger.
We wanted to have a heavy dinner and looking for the places to eat,we found this place...

This place made us feel like home. We were overwhelmed by the hospitality and the food was awesome.  I think its not only the food, the friendly atmosphere and the extraordinary taste of the food made us feel contented.
Everything was perfect and we were all ready to return back to Chennai. The bus timing was 10.00 pm and 1 hour was still left for us.
We sat on the roadside cherished the beautiful moments of the day until there was a light drizzle.
We ran towards the nearby  shop and it started raining heavily. Our bus has still not arrived and we had to keep waiting. The sudden rain blocked all roads and we could see the water level rising on the roads.  The situation made us feel a bit scared. It became worse when the bus driver asked us to walk along the road and reach to another boarding point. It was difficult to walk. Water was overflowing along the road and we could hardly walk.  The rain water took away my chappals too. Bare feeted,we entered the bus. We were all drenched in rain. Even the bags were soaked and no dry clothes were available. We were literally shivering.  Still,we felt happy for getting a shelter from rain.
Yercaud-the road of twists definitely brought twists in our journey too.
The bus suddenly stopped after traveling few kilometers. We didn't have any idea. The bus broke down. And it was still raining.  We had to get down the bus to look for further options. We had no idea about what to do next. Crossing the road was a Herculean task  as the water level has now risen till our thigh height. The flow was turbulent too. But Angels do exist in this world- even in the tough times, there will be someone to lift us up.
And there was this person who gave us strength to cross the road,Made us strong enough to hold hands and beat the rain showering above us.
We found shelter in a nearby shop side. When the tain subsided a bit, we got an auto rickshaw to railway station. All the roads were blocked and we were sitting fingers crossed. Crossing all hurdles,the driver safely took us to the railway station.  We were literally shivering . When a passenger train to Chennai arrived,we suddenly got inside.
We sat in the general compartment. Even if tired to the core,we couldn't sleep because of the chill and shiver. The train ran so slowly that it took hours and hours to reach Chennai.
At the end of the journey we all had mixed emotions -but above all we felt grateful for safely reaching back.
All thanks to the Angel who gave us all strength to face the situation.

Photo of Selvi Mess, Mamangam, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India by rover
Photo of Selvi Mess, Mamangam, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India by rover
Photo of Selvi Mess, Mamangam, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India by rover
Photo of Selvi Mess, Mamangam, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India by rover