Vaction in Kodaikanal

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A 7 day vacation in Kodaikanal

Author: Vijay Chidambaram

Hai! My name is Vijay and I live in Chennai. Chennai, though a
very pleasant city in many other ways, gets intolerably hot in
summer. This year, Chennai recorded the second highest
temperature in two years! We were melting in our clothes. This
is why, we shouted with joy when my father told us he was taking
to Kodaikanal (a hill station) for a leisurely summer vacation.
Our father booked the tickets through the Internet, for our
railway journey. On May 11th, we started off our railway journey
to Kodaikanal. My father explained that our train would stop at
Kodai Road, from where we would take a taxi to Kodaikanal. Our
train started from Chennai at 8pm on May 11th. Early next
morning we arrived at Kodai Road. The air was fresh and
deliciously cool. We took a taxi, an old Ambassador car. We were
informed by our taxi driver that the journey would take 3 hours.
On the way, I relished in seeing the beautiful scenery –
tree-covered hills, village folk, and the morning sun. It was
delightful. After a while, my younger brother and I began to get
bored. My brother took out the walkman and began to listen to
film music. I took out my trusted book, Pearls, Girls and Monty
Bodkin by P.G.Wodehouse. After reading for sometimes, I put away
my book. I told my mother that I was hungry. We stopped at a
roadside restaurant, Sapeet At Sapeet, we had light breakfast.
It was a wonderful place, with domestic rabbits, lovebirds and
fish. On the fish-tank was written,

Spin around twice and drop a coin into the tank, Like for so
many people before you, Your wish will come true! I was amused
by this little verse and peered into the tank. I could see all
kinds of fish, and also, two coins! After the driver finished
refilling the diesel tank of the car, we once again set off. As
we traveled to Kodaikanal, we came across many little towns. As
we started climbing the mountain, the air began getting cooler
and cooler. As we climbed the hill on which Kodaikanal was
located, we had a panoramic view of the plain below – entire
towns, lakes, wide fields, they were all visible. The taxi had a
FM Radio, and we listened to the songs chosen by listeners,
thinking about the poor taste of majority of the listeners.
Finally we arrived at Kodaikanal. We saw dozens of Kodaikanal
natives, rushing about, clad in woolen sweaters, going about
their daily lives. In Kodaikanal, we stayed in The Kodai Resort
Hotel, which was a three star hotel, located centrally in
Kodaikanal. My father had booked rooms in the Kodai Resort
Hotel, through the internet. The check-in time for most hotels
in Kodaikanal is 9 am. After we checked into the hotel, we went
to our rooms, which were quite cozy. After bathing, we went to
Coaker`s Walk, which was quite near the Kodai Resort Hotel. It
is long walk at the edge of the mountain. It gave a birds-eye
view of the plains below. However, there was mist over the
plains and this spoiled our view to a great degree. We returned
to our hotel and had our lunch. Then, we went to the Bryant
Park, which was also quite near our hotel. We brought a Frisbee
at a shop near Bryant Park. We had no idea how many hours of
joyous play the Frisbee would give us. The Bryant Park was a
large park, about the size of a football field. All kinds of
pretty flowers grew there. There was also a great deal of empty
ground, where many people where playing Frisbee. The park was a
place, where the tourists and natives of Kodaikanal relaxed and
enjoyed their leisure. Big families came here and relaxed on the
lawn and played Frisbee. It was a grand sight. From the Bryant
Park, we went to the Kodai Lake. The Kodai Lake is a magnificent
man-made lake. It is star-shaped and has three main boat-houses.
We went to the boat-house nearer to us and rented a row-boat,
with a native doing the rowing. We went for a full round. The
boatman took us around the lake in his boat, showing us the
grand Carlton hotel, which was the only five-star hotel in
Kodaikanal and also the only hotel in Kodaikanal which had its
own boat-house. The boatman also showed us the Sathya Shree Sai
Baba temple, where the Sai Baba was staying at the time. Because
of this, Kodaikanal had more than the normal amount of tourists.
We finished our boat-ride and alighted at our boat-house. Then,
my brother and I went horse-riding. There were a number of men
there, who took people horse-riding for a fixed amount. We went
for a full round on a horse, for one hundred and sixty rupees.
The trainer of the horse would ride on a cycle, holding the
reins of the horse and nudging the horse with a stick. It was a
queer experience, riding on a horse. I had never before ridden
on a horse. I swayed from side to side and had a sensation that
I would fall off. But as the ride went on, the swaying stopped
and I found myself enjoying the experience. By the time we
finished our horse-ride, night had come on and we went to Hotel
Austoria (which was recommended to us by the horse trainer) had
our dinner there. The food was superb and I enjoyed my meal. The
idlis and dosas were just like mother made! After we finished
our dinner, we walked home. There were no autos and very few
taxis in Kodaikanal. So we decided to walk home. However,
Kodaikanal’s roads were sloping, uphill and difficult to climb.
So, after a strenuous bit of walking, we arrived at the hotel
and retired for the night. Thus ended our first day at
Kodaikanal. On the following days, we visited a great deal of
places and ate at a variety of hotels. We visited the Tibetan
shops where Tibetans were selling Mats, sweaters and bags at
fixed prices. Along the Kodai lake, men were renting out cycles
at 10 rupees an hour. I, my brother and my father rented three
cycles. My brother and I rode alone, while mother sat on the
cycle with father. We coasted along the lake’s circumference,
enjoying the breeze and the scenery. It was fun. However, the
second time, we rented the cycles at the time when Sai baba came
out of the temple and so the roads were congested with people
and cars. To escape the crowd, we got down from our cycles and
rode on the pavement! We visited the Kodai Astro-Physics
Observatory and the nature museum in Sacred Heart College. When
we visited the Observatory, it was cloudy and therefore, we
could not see anything with the telescope. We only visited the
museum inside the Observatory grounds, which had pictures of
stars and comets. Personally, I found the astro-Physics museum a
bore. The Sacred heart museum was much more interesting. It had
preserved butterflies, insects, stones and a numismatic
collection. There was also the skeletal frame of a number of
animals. We visited the Silver cascade falls and the Liril
Falls. The Silver Cascade was a beautiful falls, with mountain
water falling down the mountain from a great height. The Liril
Falls faded in comparison with the Silver Cascade. There was
very little water and the waterfall more like small rapids! Our
driver explained that the original name of the falls was Pambar
Falls and that since an ad for Liril(a soap) had been shot
there, it had been renamed Liril Falls! We visited the Moir
Point, The Upper lake view and the Palani view. We also visited
the Berijam Lake. It is a beautiful lake. In order to view this
lake, one has to get special permission from the forest
authorities. We also visited the Neptune-Cool Rapids. In order
to see the Neptune –Cool Rapids, one has to trek into the
forest. It had been my first trekking experience and I enjoyed
it immensely. The rapids themselves were unimpressive, but the
trek was very nice and enjoyable. We also visited many villages
on the outskirts on Kodaikanal, like Manampahur. In Manampahur,
we visited the Sheep and Rabbit Farm and saw Sheep grazing the
grass on hills. It was a beautiful sight. We also watched
Rabbits. The rabbits grown there were of the German Angora
variety and were huge. It was very nice, to touch the fluffy
coat of these rabbits. We went to the Kurinji Andavar Temple and
the Chettiar Park. Both were nice places. There were many
varieties of roses in the Chettiar Park. We also visited the
Pine forests. There were pine trees everywhere. As we started
entering the Pine forests, a man who was selling carrots warned
us, “You won’t get anything to eat there for hours. Come on and
buy my Carrots!” Every night, there was a campfire in the hotel
park. We would go there and sit near the fire and warm
ourselves. It was a treat to watch the campfire. Every couple of
minutes, it would send up in the air, fresh sparks! Thus we
spent every night and soon it was the 18th.On the morning of
18th, we packed our bags and checked out of Kodai Resort Hotel.
It had been a delightful vacation for us. All of us felt like
staying on at Kodaikanal for a few more days. However, as the
saying goes, all good things must come to an end. We traveled in
a taxi to Madurai and from there, caught the Pandyan Express
that night and on the next morning on 19th, we were back in hot,
polluted Chennai

You can find many more travelogues like these at
http:vijay_chennai.tripdo.com

About the author:
The author is a student in Vana Vani Mat.Higher Secondary
School, Chennai. He is 15 years old. He can be contacted at
vijay03@hotpop.com