Yelagiri Hills

8th Aug - With no tickets for the movie Magadheera, we were in our room laid back in front of television on a Saturday afternoon wishing that we had at least gone out for weekend. When Venky suggested that it's still not too late, it was Yelagiri that popped up in my mind. That's where some of my colleagues have gone recently for their team outing. Sreeni was willing to come along with his friend Baachi.

The plan was to start out on early Sunday morning and it was 8:30 A.M by the time we were out. Getting out of the city through the traffic that just started to surface, we stopped for breakfast at Anand Bhavan near Krishnagiri. This seem to be the only decent place for snacks between Bangalore and Chennai and so was it bustling with people. After fighting it out at the counter and waiting for the food to arrive, we stuffed ourselves with dosas before we hit the road again. It was a pleasant drive for a while before we started to wrestle out for the diversion we got to take for reaching Yelagiri as the GPS failed. After few inquires, wrong turns and a couple of about turns we were on the right road. We reached Yelagiri by 11:30 A.M driving through the ghat roads that offered a view of the world beneath..

Our first stop was at the lake on top of the hill. With the sun right on the top, we avoided boating and whiled away the time beside the lake and in the park that was adjacent to it. All the fun that we had was with the swings and the slides that were meant for kids. Strolling around the park for a while we we out looking for a restaurant with little money in our pockets. Roaming all over for a decent one, we luckily found an ATM that filled our shallow pockets. Walking into Yelagiri restaurant that looked grand from outside, we were to realize that it's just an ordinary one. After lunch, we walked into another park. With Sreeni and Baachi choosing a shady tree for a nap, we rested for a while before taking a walk. When nothing seemed to be of any interest, we started back to Bangalore.

For a hill station, the place didn't appeal to me with the weather being no better than Bangalore's. In fact Bangalore is far cooler than that. It could be because we were there on mid day. Heard it's totally different in the evenings and early mornings. A night stay at the place could have proved better than being there on midday. Anyway, it was a good ride. On the way back, it rained heavily for a while forcing us to move at snail's pace but that didn't last long.

Yercaud is a much better place than this one.