Chennai Express - Derby Green, Ooty

30 May 2014

5 PM: 

The last day of our stay at Ooty promised to be fun packed. And so it was. 

The last Friday of the month is celebrated as Traditional Day. Today was no exception. 

It kicked off with some local athletic games - Sack race, Lemon n Spoon

race, hopping race, etc. Kids and adults were all participating.

It was then time for the much awaited adventure activities. The trainer worked tirelessly and got all of them successfully completed.

The fun didn't seem to end. There was still Tug-of-war, kabaddi, pot breaking for all. 

The 3 days at Mahindra's have passed off very swiftly. They have occupied everybody in their activities so much that we have had no time to move out of this resort. Kids have forgotten playing on their electronic gadgets and card games. 

The weather has remained very pleasant throughout. A little sunny during the day and getting cooler as sunset approaches. 

Even as I write, a light drizzle has just begun outside. I can suddenly hear a clamour outside my room. 

9 PM: My daughter had called frantically "Dad, there is a rainbow in the sky". I rushed bare feet out and realised the reason for the commotion. 

Adorning the blue sky, was a magnificent crescent.

I was spellbound by the beauty of the arc. Spotting a rainbow has always been a task all these years. And here it was right in front of my eyes. It gradually disappeared into oblivion. 

What more could we have asked for? 

A Cultural night with a traditional Badagas dance

ended the most memorable Club Mahindra stay. 

This was our first visit to Tamil Land. The more we travel our country, the more we realize how diverse our cultures are. Like all other natives, even Tamilians are divided by numerous clans and tribes each having their own rituals and customs. Over a period of time we tend to forget that we are Indians first. Do we need to emigrate to foreign land to realise this fact??

Chennai Express - Ooty

28 May 2014

10 PM: After a nature hugging stay at Yercaud, we had now proceeded to Ooty, our main attraction of the trip. 

It was a 5 hrs drive. The roads once again didn't give us any reason to complain. Flanked by coconut trees, we reached the Ghats of Ooty. The hair pin bends were 14 this time. They led us through the Nilgiris - The Blue mountains or The Queen of Hills. Negotiated well and the journey pleasant, we finally made it to the outskirts of Ooty. Before reaching Ooty, we passed through a town called Coonoor. There is a toy train managed by the Nilgiri Railways that takes you from Coonoor to Ooty. Though we didn't experience a ride in it, it seemed similar to our Neral- Matheran train. 

Ooty, also known as Ootacamund or Udhagamandalam, was just like a small town cum hill station. There wasn't anything special about it. 15 minutes later, our opinion had changed. 

We had reached Derby Green, Club Mahindra.

It was heaven on earth. Our minds were blasted away by its beauty. Overlooking the race course,

this sprawling Mahindra property was teeming with a highly diversified flora. Perfectly maintained as always, this resort would definitely rank amongst the best. The hospitality was as usual top notch. Once the kids were out of the car, their target was the Fun Zone. 

It was lunch time. The buffet spread was  lavish to say the least. Rasam is a staple part of the South Indian meal. It's supposed to have good digestive value. We spent the remaining part of the day at the Fun Zone playing Carrom,

table tennis, basketball, and cricket. 

It had become quite gloomy and post sunset the temperatures seemed to have dipped quite sharply. 

Around the bonfire, the guests were entertained with some foot tapping music and musical games. A fire show by a staff member was simply breathtaking. 

It had started to drizzle and the temperatures further nosedived. We somehow finished our dinner and rushed to the warmth of our room. 

The dilemma now was whether to spend the next 2 days in the comfort of our resort and take part in the various activities organized by them or hop onto a car and move to the various guided tours in the Nilgiris. The selection was made by the kids and we had decided to stay put at the Green Derby.  

29 May 2014

9 PM: Whilst the kids were busy with their schedule in the morning playing balloon games, answering a quiz show, and hiking upto a tea plantation, we decided to roam around the market place and get a little shopping done. Home made chocolates and Eucalyptus oil were amongst the specialities at Ooty. 

A brief trip to the Ooty Lake

was mandatory. Fully commercialized, this lake is the major attraction at this hill station. 

An Ayurvedic massage and steam at our Spa was relaxing and refreshing. 

A carnival show

and a game of Housie ended the day's proceedings. 

Chennai Express: Yercaud

26 May 2014

9 pm: The morning breakfast was typically South Indian with Pongal, Onion Konda and Kesari amongst the never tasted varieties. 

A visit to the Pagoda point - a scenic view point was again meant for photo shoot only. It is also called Pyramid point. The name is derived from piles of random stones in a pagoda or pyramid formation made by the tribals.

A 30 minute boat ride on the Yercaud lake was a very pleasant experience. The sun had decided to stay behind the clouds which allowed us a stroll in the Deer park too.  Nothing much to rave about, this turned out to be just another photo shoot. 

The afternoon siesta, after a heavy lunch was highly refreshing and gave us the impetus for another walk in the evening at the Anna Park and Lake View Park.

A special mention needs to be made of the latter. It has been beautified with a variety of flowers that definitely merits a visit to this spot. However, it's a pity that the surroundings are highly unkempt and littering is rampant all around. 

"Quality of life depends on forest conservation". 

27 May 2014

7 PM: The morning was spent at the resort playing Carrom, table tennis and a game of cards.

A visit to the Shevaroy temple atop the Shevaroy hills, amidst a few rain drops, was a perfect way to begin the day's sightseeing. It is the highest point in Yercaud. It is believed that God Shevaroy protects the 70 villages in and around Yercaud.

The Lady's Seat was next. It overlooks the ghat road and gives a good view of the hair pin bends.

The Genetic heritage garden

houses a children's park and plenty of view points. This is one of those few places that has been well maintained and cleanliness paid attention to. The locals call it the "Rose garden".

This part of the country seems really cut off from the rest of India. The culture and traditions are vastly different. So also is the language barrier. Having travelled widely throughout the country, this tourist destination seems the least interested to enhance its reputation of being one. 

Chennai Express: Yercaud - an Intro

26 May 2014

8 am: After a stressful last few months, it is time to relax and move on. But, would that be possible? Only time will tell. 

We caught an early morning flight to Bangalore, which seemed like the best option to reach our Mahindra resort. After an unprecedented holiday rush at the Mumbai airport that made us wait for over an hour at the check-in, we finally boarded and took off on schedule. 

The Kempegowda Bengaluru airport, it's milieu and the surroundings are simply awesome. The exit road from the airport is breathtakingly landscaped. Just greens and greens around and maintained to a nicety. 

The drive to Yercaud took us close to 6 hrs. But time flew. Admiring the roads and surrounding greens with plenty of coconut and banana trees, the journey never seemed unending. 

A special mention has to be made of the last leg of 20 km from the city of Salem to our hill station.

The Salem- Yercaud Ghat road had just begun and my Google maps showed many winding roads to the top. There were 20 hair pin bends and all were numbered at the bend. No one felt motion sickness at any point of time during the drive. 

We reached Lake Forest Hotel, a Club Mahindra associate resort. It wasn't a typical Mahindra property. It had a rustic feel to it. Rooms were non AC. The weather becomes very pleasant after 4pm. There was no play zone and the kids were already talking about Ooty, which was next in the itinery. However it was a very Eco friendly place. All the wood used in this Hotel was recycled from old buildings and not an ounce of fresh wood purchased from the market. Not a single tree was cut to accommodate this hotel, they still grow in the corridors, bedrooms and bathrooms.

We went for an evening stroll in the market place. Yercaud is a very small town that needs to improve on its upkeep, if it wants to tap it's potential of a tourist destination. It's located in the Shevaroys range of Eastern Ghats at an altitude of 1500 mt. "Yeri" means Lake and "Kaadu" means Forest. 

We tried the Chilly Bhaji (bhajiya), the raw mango, the jackfruit and a very sweet coconut water. We had skipped our lunch and the tidbits were to tide over the crisis till dinner. 

The dinner didn't let us down. It seemed like a Mahindra buffet with a South Indian flavor to it.  The Rasam was the pick of the lot. The Southies seem to have a very spicy palate. But any change from the routine was highly welcome to us. 

It was time to crash on the bed. But the Mumbai-RR IPL qualifier was a deterrent. After watching the first few overs of the Mumbai innings, we decided it was a lost cause and hit the sack, only to realise today morning that we had missed a blinder of a match.