A short weekend getaway to the Princess of hill stations

A couple of people from our institute and I had been planning to go on a trip for a long time. But such early plans seldom get executed. So on July 1st, we made an impromptu plan to visit Madurai for a weekend retreat. It was already 1055 hrs so we had only about 5 minutes to make sure people are on board before booking our tatkal train tickets. Luckily, we secured four tickets to Madurai. Our journey would start on Saturday, July 2nd and we had to be back by Monday, July 4th. 

We had no idea which places to visit in Madurai. I was aware of nothing but the Meenakshi Sundareswar Temple there. On a quick google search, I found Kodaikanal to be around 120 km from Madurai. So, it was decided that we'd board a bus from Madurai to Kodaikanal as soon as we reached Madurai Junction and return back by the evening.

En route to Madurai. Courtesy: Souvik J.

We boarded the Nagercoil Express (17235) from the Bengaluru city railway station (SBC) at 1700 hrs on July 2nd. The weather was perfect for a train journey by the sleeper coach. It was around 0245 hrs on July 3rd when we reached Madurai (MDU).

Upon reaching the train station, we took an auto to the Arappalayam bus stand and got on a State transport bus for Kodaikanal (Here are the bus timings). The bus journey was a little over 3 hr long. The road was excellent. As we went uphill, the bus took sharp turns at the many hairpin corners, which was exciting and a little terrifying at the same time. Amid the trees and the mist of early dawn, faraway hilltops looked nothing less than magical. About 15 minutes after the bus drove past the silver cascade waterfall, we got down at the Kodaikanal lake at around 0630 hrs. We each had a cup of tea and went on our absolutely-not-well-prepared hike.

Kodaikanal Lake. Courtesy: Souvik J.

Kodaikanal, also aptly known as the 

La Salette Church.

Princess of hill stations is situated at an altitude of more than 2100 m. The Kodaikanal Lake is the first major attraction we encountered. It's a star-shaped manmade lake. We saw a few people jogging around the lake. There were several local stores nearby which had their shutters down at that time. From there we kept on walking till we reached the La Salette Church. People gathered inside the church for the Sunday prayers. From there we kept on walking along a long trail to the Vattakanal waterfalls. It was small but pretty as a picture. 

On our way to the Vattakanal waterfalls

The Vattakanal waterfalls

Our next halt was the Dolphin's nose view point at Vattakanal. We had to trek downhill to reach this place. I should mention that Google Maps proved to be extremely handy throughout our hike. On our way, we met a young guy from Bangalore, who was solo-travelling. Unfortunately, his phone got discharged and so he approached us for help. I was impressed by his courage to travel alone at such a young age. It's a shame that the very thought of travelling solo intimidates me even now. Anyhow, he got our company and I found my inspiration. 

The hike downhill was extremely tiresome. I also had to be extra careful as I was only wearing sandals and not shoes (I know... I just forgot to put my shoes on 😐). But the destination was totally worth the effort. 

Near the Dolphin's nose viewpoint

We could see the clouds hovering above the distant hills. They seemed to be dancing to some wild music orchestrated by the strong winds. As we started moving further downhill, it started drizzling. The whole landscape looked absolutely stunning, to say the least.

Before we knew it was time for us to head back to Madurai. On our way back, we took a slight detour toward Coakers Walk. We then took the last bus from the local bus stand at around 1700 hrs. The bus ride scared me out of my wits. It was literally like a roller-coaster (I imagine that even roller coasters wouldn't be as frightening as our bus ride). We breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the plains. It was around 2030 hrs when we reached Madurai. 

We had plans to visit the Meenakshi temple but now that we survived the bus ride gave us more reason to pay our gratitude to the Goddess (😛). Photography was not allowed inside the temple. As soon as we went inside the temple premises, I was awestruck by the architecture. Even though it was mildly crowded at that hour, I could feel an inexplicable calmness. I believe faith does provide solace to the wandering mind. 

After having dinner at a nearby food joint, we headed back to the train station. The train (NCJ SBC Express - 17236) left the station at 2155 hrs. We reached Bangaluru in the morning. After bidding farewell to our companion (the young guy we met in Kodaikanal - he was travelling with us the whole time) we took the IISc shuttle back to ICTS. 

Surely our visit was short and limited to only a few places, but the experience itself was exhilarating. I am definitely looking forward to visiting and exploring the left-out offbeat places in Kodaikanal sometime again. This trip made me realise that nature's treasure trove has a lot to offer - if only one can gather enough determination and interest to explore them.