College Trip 2k19

Three years later, once again we planned for a college trip.! It’s all started in planning for a meet-up with a movie NGK @ AGS.
Later, the plan got cancelled due to un-avoidable reason’s. But the cancelled movie plan is the seed of our Trip, College Trip 2k19. Last trip in 2k16, we explored the Beauty of Kerala. This time, we decided not to plan much and decided to visit Kodaikanal-Coimbatore-Coonoor-Ooty.

In this trip, we 6 we’re had same character’s but different behavior’s. 

Giri : The President. 

Arun Kumar : Treasurer. Angry Bird.

Prasanna : Person who never gets satisfied while taking photography.

Dhatchana Moorthy : Lover Boy -> Social Person. Small boy who keeps updated with his social media account’s (Instagram, FaceBook, WhatsApp) by posting photo’s whenever we had some session’s.

Vignesh alise Turbo : Kumbhakarna.

Augustin : Bathroom Boy. PC Sriram, who is always behind the camera in every good clickzzz.

We booked the train ticket’s prior in advance. Pre-Booked Train Ticket Details are as follows..

08-08-19 (Thursday-Night)   

Chennai to Dindukal - 12631 (Nellai Express) - 7:45pm - 2:40am.

10-08-19 (Saturday)

Dindukal to Coimbatore - 22667 / 22669 (Coimbatore Link SF Express) - 3:00am-7:20am

12-08-19 (Monday) 

Coimbatore to Chennai - 12674 (Cheran Express) - 10:40pm-6:20am 

8/8/2019 

Since it was a Thursday, it's a working day for all of us. We all 6 had Office / College. Therefore, we all planned to meet-up directly @ Egmore Railway Station itself. 

Arun Kumar, our Treasurer, came late as it was a Thursday, he use to visit Sai Baba Temple regularly. When we 5 reached Egmore RS, Arun was @ Perambur RS only. We ringed him, he lied saying he is in Park RS and on the way. Here itself the arguement starts like a kid with full of fun. After 20mins, he arrived Egmore RS, 8th Platform, with a small backpack and a carry-bag of shoe’s. 

All arrived station, train came, we get inside the train. 

Still there was around 30mins left for the departure. So, myself and Arun went outside the RS for purchasing some things like 2 Buns, some inners for Prasanna (as he forget to take), 2 Bottle’s of Sprite and Mountain Dew Juice. Here you people will ask why we need to get some Buns. Bcoz, it’s small boy Dhatchana Moorthy’s Birthday. We made the bun to be replacement for the cake instead. Before 3-4 mins of our train’s departure, we caught the train. 

The train started to leave the Egmore RS, we started celebrating Dhatchana Moorthy’s Birthday by cutting the bun. 

We also celebrated our Turbo Ranger Vignesh’s birthday which went in the previous month. 

At the same time, we had video call with our college professor, also our care taker in all aspects, Mrs. Mehaboob Subahani Mam (MMS-M)😍. Our mam wished Dhatchana for his Birthday. She also conveyed her greetings for our safe journey and enjoy the trip.😇

Myself with Mrs Mehaboob Subahani (MMS-M) 

Picture : 23 February, 2020

Location : Chennai

Later, with our care taker’s blessing’s, the trip moves on in full pace.! 

When the train crossed Tambaram RS, we started to have our dinner. We all brought individual food items like Augustin brought Lemon Rice from his home, Turbo brought Chapathi with Kuruma, Myself some Snacks.etc. While having our dinner, TTR came. Since all our hands are full of food ( in the mid of meal), TTR saw us and took attendance by calling the names individually. At last, he validated by asking a random person’s ID proof (to check whether any person has been swapped by any other person who was not in the ticket). He asked for Prasanna’s ID proof and making some fun. Later, he left our berth place. We resumed our dinner and to our surprise, we didn’t waste any.

Nearly 10 pm, train stopped @ Villipuram RS. Myself and Augustin re-filled the water bottle’s in that station itself with RO water, which was good and jus Rs.5 per liter. 

Then, we entered the train. All fall asleep as all were feeling tired after 4 continuous working days. We reached Dindukal RS around 2:45am. 

It was raining continuously and freezing chill. We opted common Dormitory Waiting Rooms, which cost Rs.20 per person, per hour. We opted this for 2 hours, till 4:30am. Turbo Vignesh was the only person, sleeping in the room. We also kept our luggage's in the waiting room along with Vignesh. Since it was a Common Dormitory, there is an uncle who was snoring soundly and sleeping. We, the other 5, was outside the Dormitory Room, roaming in the rain and chill climate. We had some tea inside the RS itself, which was not much good.

9/8/2019

And around 4:30am, our pre-booked Car arrived the Dindukal RS. It was a Toyoto Innova car. Before leaving the location and starting the car, we spotted a good Tea Shop jus outside the RS. We had a good Tea / Coffee and kicked-off the journey towards Kodaikanal. 

The journey was nasty in the early morning, with Ilayaraja Music, Raining along the way. 

The driver was good and decent enough to handle, with full knowledge of Kodaikanal and it’s surroundings. We were discussing about that current day plan. When the car was crossing Batlagundu, we were searching a decent tea shop again, before starting to climb the Kodai Hills. We got a jus at the corner of Kodai Hills diversion, which was decent enough. The tea shop also had some collectin of cookies, chocolates, biscuits, chips, cakes.etc. We had lemon tea, which is usually good to have before a hill journey. It was sun rising time, when we started to climb kodai hills. It was drizzling around, with nice collection of music, with freezing chill climate outside. What’s so ever we need. It was around 5:30am, when we stopped the car at a corner and walked outside to the chill rainy kodai hills.

Around 6:20am, the day light same and at that time, we reached Mayilaadumparai, which is a mid-point in-between Manjalar Dam and Kodaikanal. We paused the jouney for a while as the view from Mayilaadumparai was amazing..!!

Around 7am, we reached the entry point checkpost of kodaikanal, where the Silver Cascade Waterfalls is located nearby. The tollbooth charges for car is Rs 60 and including same day return, Rs 85. We paid the toll charges including return, and entered in. It’s jus 100m distance from the toll to Silver Cascade Waterfalls. As it was post heavy rain with light drizzles, the waterfalls looked gigantic for us with forcy water falling down. Public can’t able to take bath in this waterfalls, but for it’s view, it’s very famous in and around Kodaikanal. Simultaneously, our small boy is updating his social media status (Instagram, Facebook, as well as WhatsApp).

Around 7:30am, we reached Kodaikanal Center. We had our breakfast @ very famous 4-Start Restaurant HillTop Towers. Once after completing our breakfast with  with Ghee Pongal, Medhu Vadai, Sambar Idly.etc., we resumed our journey towards Top Attractions in Kodaikanal. 

We reached the forest range checkpost around 8:15am. But the checkpost will open by 9am only. Since we had some breathing time, we jus parked the car on the road and started walking down the roads. There was people enjoying campfire in that freezing weather. We all joined them and had some relief from the chill for 5-10mins. 

Then we explored the forest in and around as we noticed some strange things like coming across Elephant’s Dung, a huge gigantic tree fall bcoz of wind.etc. 

It was 9am, so we resumed the travel from the check-post and started visiting the top attractions. Around 9:10am, we reached Moir Point, our first attraction. The view from here is @ it’s best. One of the must visit place in kodaikanal. This popular destination with a watchtower offers scenic views of the the valley and mountains. 

It was around 9:40am, when we visited our 2nd spot, The Pine Tree Forest. With its enchanting beauty of densely grown Pine Trees forming a perfect background, this place is must visit for everyone who likes photography. Scenes from various movies have also been shot here. The forest is also an ideal place to go for long walks, admiring its unique beauty and enjoying its peaceful atmosphere. 

By 10:10am, we reached the famous Guna Caves. The cave, named after the popular Kamal Hasan-cine-star acted Guna in 1991, had been a major attraction for tourists to the Kodaikanal hills. However, it was closed to the public for the last 10 years due to the increase in the number of suicides by love-couples. It contains a small and old watch tower, which gives us good views of kodai valley. The way to reach the Guna Caves from the main road is a 1/2 km walk into a dense forest, which gives us quite peaceful experience. 

By 10:45am, we reached our final attraction in the forest range road, The Pillar Rocks. Before reaching the spotz we came across a beautiful scene. Hilly region school children's walking with raincoat and umberlla. It looked amazing and wow..😍

Like our previous spots, Pillars Rock too is famous for shooting movie scenes like RAM.etc. The Pillar Rocks are 400 meter long boulders naturally positioned in a particular order that has become a lovely picnic spot for friends and families. Also constituting a beautiful mini garden, this place has is said to have a rich aura of affection which makes them visiting them one of the most wonderful things to do in Kodaikanal. The breathtaking view of the surrounding hills and villages from these rocks is not something you'd like to miss when you're here. Don't forget to get yourself a plate of potato and onion bhaji from outside the mini garden.

It was around 12 noon, when we reached Kodaikanal Boat House. Since it was a monsoon week at it’s peak, with heavy rains and strong wind blowing across the South Western Ghats, many places in and around kodaikanal has been locked-down like Boat House, access to Poombarai, Vattakanal Waterfalls (Where we planned to take bath), Coakers Walk, Gundar Falls, Upper Lake View Point, Bryant Park.etc. 

But the cycling around the kodaikanal lake was available. It cost Rs 50 for an hour rent. Be careful while availing the cycles. There are 3-4 cycle rentals shop and only less number of good cycles are available. Many cycles had bend pedals, noon-working breaks and without bells. Also the seat comfort varies. We rented 6 cycles (each 1) for 1 hour. Our Treasurer, Arun took a cycle and driven it for 100meters, but felt uncomfortable while riding. So he went back and got good alternate cycle. We all started riding with fun and enjoyment. 

Empty roads around the kodai lake, rain drizzles, college friends, what’s more required for fun and enjoyment.? It all started here, when I halted in-between 2mins restroom pause, augustin looted my cycle, which was the good among all other. We we’re swapping cycles in-between. We had mango’s in a small road-side shop. 

Almost after 1hr 15mins (we took extra 15mins than allotted rented time), we reach back to the starting point. It started to rain heavily. We bought Masala Groundnuts (jus opposite to the boat house entry), which tastes @ it’s best in that rainy climate. It was freezing chill and all got wet. We marched towards the car, got inside. Our car driver kept the AC higher to make us feel warm. It was like even the car glasses turned out to be green in color, on keeping the AC much hot, in-order to feel us warm.  

After that, we returned back towards Dindukal. While on the way, though it was raining and wind was blowing strongly, we visited Kurinji Andavar Temple. Then we witnessed the gigantic view of Manjalar Dam. The dam look so wider in size and the view was jus amazing. On getting down the kodai hills, for lunch, we halted @ local famous Meenakshi Restaurant, which offers very nice South Indian foods (around 2:30pm). Meal cost Rs 120, which was too good and worth the money. 

We resumed our travel towards dindukal and finally reached and got rooms for stay around 4:30pm, after 30 minutes of search. We searched a good, decent, bigger and a budgeted one as it was less than 10hrs of stay. Hotel Vales Park offered us for a room @ terrace, for Rs 1.6k for 6 people. The room was bigger and as expected,also walk-able distance to Dindukal RS. We settled the car @ Rs 5k for this kodaikanal trip. 

It was a nice break for us in the room, after exploring kodaikanal for a day. All had their own time, myself listening to music, Augustin doing prayers, Turbo Ranger Vignesh sleep mode, Prasanna accompanied him, Treasurer Arun calculating budget, and Small Boy Dhatchana as usual online in  Media’s.etc.

It was aroud 8pm, when we went outside for having our dinner and getting cash from ATM. We had a nice dinner in an local shop, after which we got some banana’s too for digestion and instant energy. 

Later we returned to room, watching Television. It was the time when Ooty’s Avalanche received 1000mm rain withing a shortest span of time. Roads to Ooty were blocked due to flood and landslides, all the drama’s were going on. We had alternate plans too, if ooty becomes inaccessible. With hope on our hands, and expectations in our heart, we left Dindukal and got the train to coimbatore around 3am.

10/8/2019

We arrived Coimbatore Railway Station around 7.30 am. Arriving Coimbatore, we didn’t notice any major impact here bcoz of Ooty Rains. 

Since Ooty was inaccessible and people are restricted to enter ooty by the govt., we swapped our pre-booked rooms @ Hotel Tamilnadu, from Ooty to Coimbatore. We got a room, which looked like a separate house with 2 bigger rooms, fully furnished, air-conditioned Suite Room along with a bigger balcony. We took some rest @ the room, then departed to Marudhamalai Temple around 4 pm. 

We got a bus which was an hour of travel. On reaching Marudhamalai footpath (which is the last stop), we got down the bus. We left our Flip-flop’s near shops down the foothills and started walking the marudhamalai hill to reach the temple. 

The temple wasn’t crowded much, we climbed the hills, had good dharshan of Lord Muruga, climbed down the hills and the time was jus below 7pm.

It's also our luch to witness GOLDEN CHARIOT of LORD MURUGA during our visit..🙏

Prasanna had some trouble in his eyes, while walking down the hills, some wooden dust particle disturbed his eyes. But it doesn’t turnout to be anything major. We did some small shopping and returned back to Coimbatore around 8:30pm. For dinner, we got a good option, as there was a Police Mess located jus back side of Hotel Tamil Nadu, where we stay. Its is the cheapest and the best for youngsters to have food.

We enquired about the current status of ooty whether it is still inaccessible and how about visiting the tourist spots over there. We got negative feedback, but it is possible to visit Coonoor. We we cancelled the plan of Ooty and resumed with the plan of Coonoor. Back to our rooms, Augustin got coconut oil and did first aid to prasanna’s eyes. Prasanna fall asleep. We, other 5, started playing cards in another room. We didn’t notice the time as the fun and joy filled and hidden the time from our eyes. Turbo vignesh slept around 11pm. We, other 4, still playing cards. 

Around 2:30am, we 4 went for nearby tea shop, had some good tea. It was a nice experience at that time, surrounded with my guys.!

After that we came back to our rooms, slept over at 3am.

11/8/2019

Next day morning, we waked up around 5:30am, getting ready for to visit Coonoor. We postpone our breakfast as we will be climbing the ooty hills, having food before is not recommended. 

We got TNSTC new govt.bus to Coonoor. Ticket costs just Rs 80 per head for Coimbatore to Coonoor. 

The bus started taking the Mettupalayam-Ooty road. Near the foot hills, the bus stopped for a break and resumed again. 

The way along the roads were damaged heavily. Roads got some landslides, electric wires cut-down, floods in all adjoining narrow hills.etc. 

The experience was unimaginable and after 1.5 hrs of hill road travel, we landed coonoor. Reaching coonoor, the first this we did was finding a good budgeted restaurant for having our breakfast. Completing our breakfast around 10am, we got a share auto (big auto) along with the driver Mr. Prabakaran. He was very decent and friendly to us. 

At first, we came across Lady Canning’s View Point,which is also known as Bakasuran Malai. The location had 3 great different histories..

1). Bakasuran Malai is a historic hill located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Coonoor, where there is a fort believed to be present inside the hill. Archaeologist analyzed and found sculpture words written in a place, in which it was found that there are 100 doors / walls present to get inside the fort. They also found 99 doors but it’s difficult to open. The 100th door is still in search. 

2). The fort was used as an outpost by Tipu Sultan in the 18th century. It contains a tunnel, which directly links with Mysore Palace.

3). The mountain shaped like a sleeping pregnant lady. She is believed to be Catherine, who suicide herself as her father (king) killed her lover. Catherine is believed to jump from the top of a hill, near waterfalls, which is not called as Catherine Waterfalls.

The next spot is the Dolphin Nose. Here, we can witness the Catherine Waterfalls clearly There is also Telescope available, which shows us 3 views. One is Catherine Waterfalls, followed by Forest Tribe House, and Kodanadu Hills View Point.  

Some Fun Clickzz...😂

Later, we visited Lamb’s Rock, which offered us great views of Ooty Valley. It has a view of the Coimbatore plains, tea estates and coffee estates. We’ve to walk for 500meters inside a little dense forest region. Here, we can witness a panoramic view of Coonoor, the tea and coffee estates, lush greenery, thick forests covered by clouds and the plains of Coimbatore under one roof. It is undoubtedly a nature of delight for experience seekers.

Later, while on the way back to coonoor, we came across the guesthouse of kollywood cine-stars like Vijay, Simran, Vivek, Ajith.etc. 

At last, we reached Coonoor’s famous Sim’s Park around 1:30pm. We had our lunch in a local road-side shop. Myself skipped my lunch, instead had some nice fruits like apple, plums, and my favorite Pear Fruit. While having them at the shop, myself along with the shopkeeper notices a big flying squirrel which came in search of some fruits. The shopkeeper lady itself came in front and fed the squirrel with her shop fruits. 

Entering Sims Park doesn’t cost much, Rs.20 per head. 

With 1000 plus species of colourful and vibrant flowers, the Sim's Park is a well-maintained botanical garden where one can enjoy nature at its best. An excellent and delightful visit for fun seekers, sightseeing lovers and photographers, the Sim's Park lets one spend some quality time amid lush greenery. Spread over an area of 12 hectares of land, the park is mainly divided into 4 sections as a small Lily pond, a rose garden, a boating area and a flowering plants area. It boasts of an array of trees introduced from different parts of the world and has walkways lined up with beautiful flowers. Other highlights of the park include Handsome Ornamental tree, Queensland Karry Pine and Rudraksha Tree.

Completing our visit to the famous Sims Park with Photography, Boating, Exploring unknown trees and flowers, we left the place with memories. Last but not the least, when a person visit coonoor, the first thing people use to ask was Varky and Cookies. And when it comes to Varky and Cookies, it’s none other than National Bakery, Coonoor Market Center, Coonoor. It was around 4:30pm, we left to the National Bakery, purchased all our needs (Varky, Cookies, Sweets and Chocolates) for individual’s friends and family. National Bakery is the famous traditional one people look for, when it comes to Varky and Cookies. We also had some Varky and Cookies, along with some sweets in the bakery itself. 

Post purchasing our needs from Coonoor, we got the return bus to Coimbatore. We completed our dinner @ the same Police Mess, went to our rooms and planned for the next day, played cards and slept.

12/8/2019

Next day morning, we all woke up late. We checked out our rooms, kept our luggage's in Hotel Reception, had breakfast @Police Mess itself and left for Karunya University. 

We didn’t get bus for a long time, almost after an hour, we got a bus which is much crowded. 

@ Karunya University, we visited Bethesda. Augustin and Prasanna, explained us in detail about the history.

Our Caretaker, Mrs. Mehaboob Subahani mam, can't leave her students alone during a natural calamity. She called us back this day, enquiring about us and to see how we are enjoying the trip. 😇

Later, we also completed our lunch over there, which cost cheap and tastes good, nice and Delicious (worth the money).

Then we planned to leave to Isha. We got and Big Auto and spoken for Rs.600 including waiting time and dropping us to take the bus to Coimbatore. Isha Yoga center is such a nice and calm place about 40kms away from Coimbatore, ideally at the foothills of the beautiful Velliangiri Mountains. At the entrance of the center you have the Adiyogi Statue to see and then enter the premises of the Isha center. There is bullock carts for ferrying people just near the statue to the center. At the entrance there is food court where you can have some nice South Indian food. The place is crowded on weekends and it is nicely maintained. It gives nice views of the great Velliangiri Hills.

Panaromic View Of Adiyogi Location :

Adiyogi :

Velliangiri View :

NextCMofTN :

#ThugLife@Isha :

After 2 hours of visit, we returned in the same auto and get the bus to Coimbatore. We reached Hotel Tamil Nadu, Gandhipuram, utilized common restrooms and they allowed us to keep our mobiles in charge and wait for some time in the reception area. Post 6:15pm, 5 of our guys went to Coimbatore’s famous grocery shop, Shri Kannan Departmental Store. Myself listed down my requirements and asked the other 5 (who went to the store) to get me the items and went alone to see my friend’s sister who became mother recently. We met @ Fun Mall, Coimbatore. Then, returned back to Hotel Tamil Nadu, we got our luggage's, completed our dinner at the same Police Mess and left to the Coimbatore RS. We got our return train to Chennai, Cheran Express, on-time. 

Thus, we all’re back to our routine job. In this trip, the plan got executed really well, except the 1 day plan @ Ooty. Instead, we’ve visited Kaarunya and Isha. This is the best example for whatever the situation is, and however the plan goes, if we are surrounded by our friends, it will always be fun-filled and full of laughter’s.

Years Might Change. Friends And Friendship Never And Ever.!

About Kodaikanal :

Kodaikanal is a hill town in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, @ Dindukal District. It's set in an area of granite cliffs, forested valleys, lakes, waterfalls and grassy hills. Its name in the Tamil language means "The Gift of the Forest".[3] Kodaikanal is referred to as the "Princess of Hill stations" and has a long history as a retreat and popular tourist destination. At 2,000 meters above sea level, the town centers around man-made, star-shaped Kodaikanal Lake, bordered by evergreen forest. Rowing boats can be hired, and hikers and cyclists follow the 5Star-shaped Lake Road path around the shore. 

      

Destination Facts:

Location : Dindukal District in Tamil Nadu.

Altitude : 7000 ft above sea level.

Languages spoken : Tamil, and English.

Weather: 15 °C, Wind Speed at 5 km/h, 83% Humidity

Avg. summer temperature: 19.8 °C (67.6 °F).

Avg. winter temperature: 8.3 °C (46.9 °F).

Sex ratio: M 51% F 49%.

About Ooty : 

Ooty (short for Udhagamandalam) is a resort town in the Western Ghats mountains, in southern India's Tamil Nadu state. Founded as a British Raj summer resort, it retains a working steam railway line. Other reminders of its colonial past include Stone House, a 19th-century residence, and the circa-1829 St. Stephen’s Church. Its 55-acre Government Botanical Garden lies on the slopes of Doddabetta Peak.

Photo Credit : Augustin RajKumar

Altitude : 7500 ft above sea level.

Avg. annual temperature: 14.4 °C (58 °F)

Weather: 16 °C, Wind Speed at 3 km/h, 73% Humidity

Climate : Subtropical Highland

District : Niligiris District