A trip to Vellingiri!!

It was the evening of 31st of May when we suddenly, at the drop of a hat, decided to go to Vellingiri. A place belonging to the God of Destruction, Shiva. It was 7 pm when we started our journey to Poondi temple. It was a road with no lights and it was on one side very dangerous and exciting. So the right word to put is, we were 'pumped up'.We reached the temple and from there it was an awesome 18 km journey to the top of the hill and back to the temple. We started out with minimum amount of resources(most of us didn't even take our sweaters).We were a group of 6 friends and set out to the forest. Normally, it would be crowded on the day of full moon. So we decided to set out at an odd time. We reached the temple at around 8:30 in the night and started to trek after buying sticks for each of us. At the beginning, we made fun of the sticks that we bought, but it proved out to be something important for us at the end as the terrain was too steep and slippery.

At around 9:15pm we reached the second stage of the mountain and we were hungry. So stopped at a place were there was a stream of water coming right from the top of the hill, after traveling through the rocks. This water is called as sunai(சுனை)or ootru (ஊற்று) colloquially.

Sunai(சுனை)or Ootru (ஊற்று)-Indicated as Sivaneer(சிவநீர் )

We stopped there and had our dinner. The water from the sunai was as fresh as it can be. It was natural and cool.To get water of this state we need to spend a lot of power for purifying and cooling. But it was available for us through nature itself. With a torch, which we had to crank for power, in hand we started the journey to the top of the hill consisting of 7 stages. The first three stages were full of steep steps. We heard the sound of animals like that of the wild boar, in the middle of the first three stages. We were afraid a bit, but we had a guy in our group who was howling in order to drive off those animals. In fact the howling of his was more threatening than to that of wild animals. The fourth and the fifth stages had no difference, two having the same kind of terrain more or less.

The third stage of the mountain!!

As we reached the fourth stage, we started to experience a cool wind rushing through our bodies and we forgot all the tiredness. The air had enough capacity to absorb a lot of moisture from our bodies which made us comfortable. But as we progressed to the fifth stage the wind started becoming more cold. We needed more clothes than what we had. We sat, then and there, because the terrain was so steep that we had to wait for a moment. But as we sat, we took a look at the beautiful Coimbatore city with all lights of the city lit up at the night. Now as we started to ascend the mountain it was too cold and the city below was getting clear indicating that we were closing in to the top of the mountain. As we reached the fifth stage, the moon guided us, making the presence of torch absurd. We met three people, who started before us and stopped at the fifth stage. They told us that at the end of sixth stage there would be a tent made by Isha yoga group. So we decided to go till that tent and take some rest to witness the sunrise in the morning. After a chat of half an hour about their whereabouts and after showing our candid characters, we started to move towards the sixth stage. I felt like I lost 2 pounds already :). The sixth stage was plain for a moment and started to descend. It started becoming so steep that we had to use our sticks to avoid falling from such a height. The last thing that we needed was to take a person through the path we traveled a few hours ago. We could not even imagine how we came till this stage. It was really a perilous journey. Then we stopped at a place which we misconceived as the Isha yoga tent and suffered the whole night with cold winds blowing and with no bed spread or any sweaters.

The tent that we missed!!

When we woke up in the morning and started to travel we realised that it was not the Isha yoga tent in which we were sleeping but a tea shop. Just a walk of 1 min would have led us to the tent which was fully covered with no space for the wind to enter. We felt bad for having missed a comfortable lodging .
In the middle we noticed that even in that hill there was too much of littering. People coming there put their cups and other plastic items there itself. We thought of cleaning it up but it was little impractical for us we didn't have time as well as proper bags to put in. We made sure not to litter up anywhere. You can take a look at the picture below.

Full of plastic wrappers and cups!!Why do we do this?

Then we started to the top of the hill and the seventh stage was the toughest of them all. It was so steep. We thought of reaching the top before sunrise but unfortunately we were able to reach it only after the sunrise.

The sun rose before we reached the top!! This is what we could get

But anyway we reached the top. Once we reached the top, it was a view that we won't forget for a long time to come. It was amazing to see the sunrise. Though I thought that we could have seen it much clearly from the terrace of my house, it was something that is not easy to get. Mountains all around you and the city in the middle. It was truly amazing.

We went to the temple at the top, which was a cave. Then after having been for half an hour at the top, decided to start our descent. We started taking pictures only after we reached the top. We then slowly but steadily continued our descent. We reached the third mountain and as we came down we wondered how we had come through this path. It was treacherous indeed.

This is the sixth stage. It is called the Vibhoodhi malai(விபூதி மலை )

But the fun we had was unlimited. We were having this great feeling of having achieved something. We continued to come down and we at last somehow reached the second stage. Our knees were already tired and it needed a lot of rest. The stick made us look like old people but it was quite a support. At last we were able to see the temple and we were like " Ah, this is wonderful!!"

"Ah, this is wonderful!!" The temple at the bottom.

We somehow came down and reached our house. For two days our legs were unmovable. Then slowly we recovered. But the memories of the journey will remain forever. It is something quite nice to remember. At last we reached our homes safely after a thrilling journey in the afternoon of the 1st of June.