KOLLI MALAI
Hi,Welcome back to my blog.It has been few months since I blogged a single word and here i am back with something interesting this time.It is about Kolli malai or Kolli hills where I happened to visit few days back.Kolli malai is situated in the district of NAMAKKAL which is the adjacent district to Salem.
My parents and I set off from Chennai around 7 30 am via the Chennai Bangalore Express
Highway.Thanks to our Ex Prime Minister Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, who had initiated with a vision of constructing proper highways for our country,called Golden Quadrilateral, which the current Governments are trying to finish up .I could reach Krishnagiri within 3 and a half hours and from there the shift to the traditional!!! Indian highways via Salem till Senthamangalam was really challenging and troublesome which just has one lane for us and one for oncoming traffic respectively,.
You would be giving credit to it if you call it BAD.Many places have no surfacing at all and even those places which have surfacing have huge pot holes(barrel holes if you could call them.;)).The consoling factor was that the Golden Quadrilateral was being extended or connected till Salem by acquiring lands and demolishing illegal encumberances and occupancies on the way.In another year or so the Salem - Bangalore connection should be over.The lorry and the bus drivers are so inconsiderate.They overtake at all wrong places possible without caring a bit for the oncoming vehicles or drivers.I really wonder what the highway patrol police do and also wonder what happens to the exorbitantly high toll amounts that they collect.Nevertheless,that is Indian traffic system for you and even in four laned highway the people who travel on the wrong side are really the ones who have devilish mentalities I suppose because they have no clue how big an accident could occur because of their sheer selfishness.
Hi,Welcome back to my blog.It has been few months since I blogged a single word and here i am back with something interesting this time.It is about Kolli malai or Kolli hills where I happened to visit few days back.Kolli malai is situated in the district of NAMAKKAL which is the adjacent district to Salem.
My parents and I set off from Chennai around 7 30 am via the Chennai Bangalore Express
Highway.Thanks to our Ex Prime Minister Mr.A.B.Vajpayee, who had initiated with a vision of constructing proper highways for our country,called Golden Quadrilateral, which the current Governments are trying to finish up .I could reach Krishnagiri within 3 and a half hours and from there the shift to the traditional!!! Indian highways via Salem till Senthamangalam was really challenging and troublesome which just has one lane for us and one for oncoming traffic respectively,.
You would be giving credit to it if you call it BAD.Many places have no surfacing at all and even those places which have surfacing have huge pot holes(barrel holes if you could call them.;)).The consoling factor was that the Golden Quadrilateral was being extended or connected till Salem by acquiring lands and demolishing illegal encumberances and occupancies on the way.In another year or so the Salem - Bangalore connection should be over.The lorry and the bus drivers are so inconsiderate.They overtake at all wrong places possible without caring a bit for the oncoming vehicles or drivers.I really wonder what the highway patrol police do and also wonder what happens to the exorbitantly high toll amounts that they collect.Nevertheless,that is Indian traffic system for you and even in four laned highway the people who travel on the wrong side are really the ones who have devilish mentalities I suppose because they have no clue how big an accident could occur because of their sheer selfishness.
Coming back to my travel,I had reached the foothills of Kolli hills around 1 30 pm via Salem Rasipuram and Senthamangalam.The journey up hill was not very tough for me probably because of my driving experience and confidence.Lots of people were scaring me about the huge number of hairpin bends along that path.Officially there are 70 hairpin bends and unofficially there might be 70 more but I didnt find it very tough after having driven up till Munnar where there are no railings even for steep and dangerously deep places.(TN Goverment is better in such things although I have nothing personally against Kerala
overnance).I was shocked to see that the names of hairpin bends had been changed to just
numbers.Previously they had names of Tamil poets like Valluvar,Elango,Bharathi,Avvaiyaar and also the names of Tamil Kings and Kadai Ezhu Vallalgal(7 Generous kings like
Adiyaman,Kaari,Paari,Oari,Aayi,Aari etc).Probably the change has been done in order to rename all of them after currentday local politicians...who knows....
It took an hour and a half for me to reach Semmedu which is supposed to be the biggest town uphill and that is where the hotels and Government guest houses have been built.This place also has the statue of King Val vil Oari who ruled this area in ancient times.But we headed straight to Arappaleeshwarar Temple ,an ancient temple of Lord Shiva and had a great and satisfying darshan there took a very narrow and scary jungle route to Kollippaavai(also called as Ettukkai Amman) temple,a local deity whose name has been given to the hills.It was again a dangerous walk inside the jungle along a rough path but after reaching the temple we felt so divinely ecstatic and heavenly.Along the path there were deities such as
Karuppanna Saami etc.The preist had just left as it was a sunday and he had no expectations of visitors around sun set time.My mom really enjoyed the temple visit despite her arthritis problems and the struggle she had in climibing up and down the rough jungle paths.Then we drove down to Semmedu again.
The Government guest house was denied to us because it was supposed to be given to the relatives of some local politicians that day (Arasiyalla Idhellaam Sagajamappaaa......),so we had to stay at a private hotel which boasted off as Nakshtra Vidudhi(Star hotel).As far as I could see only sky had stars that night.For the amount they charged there was no faclities in the room.It had indian style toilet, dirty floors and walls and a small portable TV which was tuned to only one Channel (ie) the one owned by the political party the hotel's owner belonged to .This was really shocking to us.The owner probably, was showing his loyalty to the political party this way I suppose. However,we hit the sac earlier than usual.
The next morning we drove to various places .Firstly that day we had drove down uphill to
Seekkuppaarai (Suicide point) which was 3kms from Semmedu from where I saw the greatest view till date.It has a semi circle view which is absent even in Ooty ,Kodaikanal or Yercaud.After that we drove downhill ,crossed Semmedu again and went into Herbal forest from where herbs are collected for Siddha medicinal remedies.I was told that in ancient days Siddhars used to collect herbs from there.I then drove down further downhill towards Soalakkaadu (9 km from Semmedu)view point which was too misty.Nevertheless the view was awesome.
Our next destination was Vaasaloor patti boating house,an artificial lake and a boating place which has been constructed for tourists.It was 4 kms uphill from Semmedu.The place was awesome but the boat was too badly designed .It was a boat probably designed for Amitabh Bacchan,Raghuvaran,Napoleon or Satyaraj.The pedal was not reachable even for me who is taller than average.My dad had got low back pain trying hard to reach out to the pedal.On our way we saw horticultural farm and headed towards the hotel where we stayed.Accidentally I met my friend and film director XYZ(prefer to keep it concealed) who
is staying there along with his team of assistants,for script discussion of his next film script.I have sung great songs in his movies and hope to sing in his projects in future as well.
We packed up and left back to Chennai and reached the same day.It was a memorable trip.Kolli malai is an awesome place but if developed infrastructurally without damaging the specialities and uniqueness of the place.,it can be a tough compeition for Yercaud as far as tourism is concerned.
