After a refreshing start to the long awaited South India trip , I was filled with
excitement and anticipation to know what is next. We had planned to explore Kodaikanal today. All of us were up early , had our breakfast and were
off by 9 am.
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| Kodaikanal Lake |
We started our day by visiting the temple first (after all I
persuaded my mother that we will visit temples of South). We went straight to
Kurinji Andavar Temple. It is a temple dedicated to Lord Murugan. In Tamil literature Kurinji means 'hill
region' and Andavar means 'God'. Hence Lord Murugan is referred to as 'God of
hill'.
Lord Murugan is considered to be the most powerful God in the southern
part of the country. This is the reason for the omnipresence of Lord Murugan’s
idols in the southern India.
Lord Murugan is Southern name for Lord Kartikeya –
son of Lord Shiva as per Hindi mythology. This temple is associated with the
Kurinji flowers, which carpet the hill sides and bloom once in 12 years. From
this temple one can have a view of Palani and Vaigai dam. Since the temple is
on a hill , the view from the courtyard is mesmerizing.
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| Kurinji Andavar Temple |
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| Entrance of Kurinji Temple |
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| Lord Murugan Deity |
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| View from Kurinji Temple |
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Our next stop was Chettiar Park. It is almost same as the
Bryant Park and is a horticultural park. The
only difference is that it is built on a slope and is steeper than Bryant Park.
Also you have slides to revisit your childhood memories.
I usually don’t go
crazy like this but here I was all up on the slides. (luckily they were strong
enough to bear my weight). The park is a peaceful place. Details of timings, entrance fees etc. available here.
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| Entrance to Chettiar park |
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| Chettiar park first view |
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| Flora @ chettiar park |
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| Flower standing tall |
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| Closeup shot |
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| Why grow up |
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Post Chettiar park , we headed towards the famous Pine
Forest. This is "THE" place where Bollywood movies have been shot year after year
(usually the song sequences). You get to see a long line of pine trees adjacent
to each other. This place is a visual treat for photographers. We also got
clicked!
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| Pine Forest |
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| Lined pine trees |
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| Close up of Pine trees |
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| Divyam striking a pose |
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Post the photo shoot in Pine Forest, we went to Devil’s Kitchen. I found the name quite intriguing, the
story of this place came out to be engaging too. According to Hindu mythology,
Devil's Kitchen got its name because the
Pandavas used this place to cook their food during their stay here.
Bhima – the
biggest of all the Pandavas used to cook food , and because of his huge body
locals started calling it the Devil’s Kitchen. Devil’s Kitchen is a deep hidden
narrow valley that looks like small dark trenches but are deceptively deep.
The place is popularly
known as Guna Caves after a Tamil movie ‘Guna’ was shot here.
Due to some unfortunate happenings that took place here, the Devil’s Kitchen is
highly protected now, and visitors can see sections of the cave structure from
a distance. There are very old trees also present there whose roots themselves
form a unique pattern which are good for photography.
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| Route to Devil’s Kitchen |
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| Devil’s Kitchen |
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| Weird pattern by the roots |
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| Rich forest near devil’s kitchen |
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Our next stop was the Pillar Rocks - the most famous
tourist attraction in Kodaikanal and this place is the face of Kodaikanal
Tourism. I was waiting to visit this place since the moment I got here. But as
they say , good things are hard to get. The weather took a U-turn and a bright
sunny day suddenly became a cloudy one. Nothing could be seen. I was adamant
that I will not move an inch unless the weather clears up.
After about half an hour,
heaven granted my wish and I saw the first glimpse of Pillar Rocks. These are the 3 granite rocks , made due
to Soil Erosion (Yes Soil Erosion is blessing in disguise in this case!). They
are 500 feet high rocks and have a
striking resemblance to man-made pillars. Below are the images to help you
visualise the beauty of the place.
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| U-turn by weather |
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| Pillar Rocks hidden by clouds |
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| The weather cleared up |
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| Majestic pillar rocks |
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| Up close pillar rocks |
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| Tourism board @ pillar rocks |
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After spending a good one hour at the place, we were feeling
hungry so we sat down to have our lunch (a late one). We were left with a waterfall
to visit on today’s list. So we stretched our legs with ease as we had ample
time in our hands.
After finishing with the meal we headed towards the Fairy
Falls. But on the way we passed through the Golf Course. This golf course is
not opened for public and is a private club. But this didn't stop us from
getting ourselves clicked in front of it.
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| The family at Golf Course |
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| The Golf Course |
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| People playing Golf |
We reached Fairy Falls in no time from Golf course. These
are the falls which have a resemblance to the Elephant Falls of Shillong. Water
falls from a height but the path is cascaded. The water seems to be white as milk because of
the steps in its path.
One has to park the car on the street and walk down the
steps in order to reach the falls. Since Kodaikanal is a forest land altogether
so the falls seem to be hidden in forest and give a very satisfying feel to a traveller.
I just sat in front of it and relaxed till it was time to move back to hotel.
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| First look of fairy falls |
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| Water or milk @ fairy falls |
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| Steep gradient of fairy falls |
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| Clean stream of water @ fairy falls |
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We had a long day of exploring Kodaikanal , and the best
part is that not every spot was covered yet. Kodaikanal – Gift of the Forest
sure has a lot to offer in terms of tourism and sightseeing. We had one last
day in Kodaikanal the next day and we were still left with Coaker’s Walk , a small
trek to Dolphin’s Nose , Berijam Lake and Bear Shola Falls.
My excitement level
was not dying out , so yours should not die out as well. Keep reading till we are
back with the next article!
In case you are planning to explore South India or Kodaikanal, you
can contact us to get a quote for your trip.
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