Paruvatha malai, Thiruvannamalai
June 13th 2012
Hi Friends,
My name is Praveen Kumar,
One among the thousands of IT employees dwelling in OMR.
To get rid of normal weekday and weekend activities i was thinking of doing something that i have never done before.It was at this time i came across Chennai Trekking Club through my friend VijayRaj.
When i was seeing the pictures and posts by them i eventually saw one member suggesting a place called Paruvathaimalai near Tiruvannamalai for a day's trek. And while browsing for the same in internet, seeing the videos and blogs related to it , i knew i will be there the following weekend(June 9th 2012).
So after collecting all the statistics to complete my trek i started to SanjeevaParvathamalai.
Before explaining the experiences i would to sum up some stats.
*Bus no 148 reaches Polur from Chennai in 4 hours.(CMBT-uthiramerur-Vanthavaasi-Chetpet-Devikapuram-Polur)
*From Polur bus towards sengam drops u at Maathi Mangalam which is another 20 min travel along the district roads.
*Then the wheels ended there, then the walkathon begins.
I started from Navalur by 5.45 and reached perungalathur by 6.30 by bike and parked it in a safe place, where they warned me to return by 10 or the shop will be closed and i cannot take the bike for that day and has to come again the next day to take the bike with a fee of 40 rupees. Agreed to what they said i walked towards bus stop where 148 was waiting to move and i rushed to take my avourite place in a bus which is next to driver with a complete front view of the road.The first thing i did after getting in and made me comfortable was to sleep for some time. After few short naps and viewing the small small bus stops in the way and taking pictures i reached Polur by 10.15.
The sun was set and seeing the shops nearby i searched for a hotel to have my breakfast . Had some stuf that ll not make me hungry or that ll not make my tummy full.Got another water bottle that ll help my cause, Few energisers like(Glucon +) and came to Polur bus stop and started enquiring few of the few of the locals of how to get to Paruvathamalai.Found a Vazhipokkan called Mr.Krishnan who is around 50 and told me lots of stories of the district and small small hills nearby. He also waited for the same bus as i was waiting . And seeing Chinna Gounder movie climax and Vaanathaipola starting in the shot bus travel of 20 -30 mins. I got down at Maathi mangalam bidding goodbye to him .
One important thing is this is my first trek and fortunately or unfortunately i was going alone. So the first thing that was in my mind was the safety (eventhough i had nothing to be robbed) . So with tons of doubts i started to wak enquiring al the passerby " Vazhila entha prachanaiyum ilala" . The response was absolutely positive and they even advised me to carry sufficient things to complete as the things get costlier as u go higher and higher. I was contented with what i had and had enough three digit money to help me getting things if i needed on the way.Walking for 1.8 miles i reached a temple at the starting place of the hill where i took a stick , which i was told to take , by a person. This was to keep me away from the only animal in the hill beside human. That is our close relative , MONKEY.The temple had a archagar and he tied me a rope . With a stick, Red bag , some nerves and adrenaline i started to move up.
The first path i had to take is to through well built seps. I dint have any idea of how many are there . There are totally 1236 i hope. With excitement as i was going faster, and that was the thing that turned as a giant barrier to me. As i was fast in the beginning it took most of my energy and i had to sit for 10-15 times in the way. Thank god there are around 7 - 10 shops selling waterbottles, biscuits, jiuces, keppakkool , ezhaneer and few other things. So its better to walk to 15 min and sit for 5 min to avoid getting tired soon. It took nearly 1 hour for me to cover these steps. By now i have come 50% of the entire hill .
The secod way. Now comes the hardest path, now i have to cover the way which is not well built, but has many stones that are put in such a way they form a way. so have to step on each stone which are slightly bigger than the size of a cauliflower. As this route is more challenging more number of shops are here . and i had to sit in a small shop run by a women over 50 who gave me two ezhaneer and i enquired about the remaining time and distance i had to cover. I almost disheartened when i heard ti need to travel more than a hour which i never imagined to be that long. After some time resting my soles i was able to gather some energy. Then after walking for sometime i again sat in another place to have some refreshing drink. Somehow after spending 45 min in this path i was over this way also. now i can clearly see the other
small hills in the nearby locality . It was with good sunny so it was not cool or misty. so had clear vision.
The third way started. Other important aspect is, initially i started with fear of place, then the tiredness was bothering me longtime. But now its a different aspect. Excitement back again, cause at this time i was able to see the other side of the hill, it means that the hill is almost covered and the temple looked to me almost like a bunch of grapes hanging for a fox. Now this energy has made me move faster. But it was heartening to see the third route. Roks that are almost half a palm tree height are need to be climbed. They have made it easier by setting up steps circling the rock. The most important factor is steps are at 85 degree to each other. So it was the most thrilling way i had. There were steel chains to catch and climb , it helped . all shops end before, starting of this place. There are 3 to 4 huge rocks need to be climbed in this manner.
The fourth way. 95% of the way is done. Then an interestin way. Two big rocks, but this time we have steps between them. so we need to catch these rocks and step it up. Almost this place resembles a recent famous song from KO(a bit) You can have nice snaps at this place. Then you walk in pathway which is so so scary. almost heart tumbling place to cross. but u can cross it easily is a fact. If u cross this and the temple is very clearly in your sight. And u can get there in five minutes.
Finally we are at the top of a Parvatha Malai by 2.45 . You can see a huge Vel in this place and a meditation centre , and a place where at times u can see some deities performing poojas. Another new temple is being built, which may be completed soon. Then i went around the places and took few pictures of the places. There was another team of 10 people who came for a night stay . Had a chat with those new friends, there were from Vellore. Spending some some talkin with them, we were guided to a meditation place by a deity and he started telling about the pictures of the people . Then they were sharing their experiences about the time they took to come up .
One important thing is, it too 3 complete hours for me go up. It may vary for people, The other crew who were there took 5 hours to come up . Some experienced people may take less than 2 hours. Women explorers may take some different time spans if they doing it for the first time. Suddenly few ppl in their crew wanted to get down. the deity calculated the time for them to get down and he said u may reach down by 8. So better stay there and start going doen by tomo morning.
But i had different ideas. In other way, The words of deity made me think why cant i get down much faster than he said. Mean while my imagination took me to perungalathur bike stand where the stand incharge told me to be back by 10. I sat down and calculated whether it ll be possible for me to reach there in time. Somehow First time maths was in my favour a bit. If i get down by 5 to Maathi mangalam. i can reach Polur by 6. If i get bus by 6 i can reach Perungalathur by 10. This was the thing running in my mind. But the deciding factor is getting down the hill. time was 3.30. that means in 1 hour 30 minutes i should be able to get down. If i should make this happen i should go twice fast as i came up. Then i decided i have 50% chances of doing that beside skipping my lunch. I bid bye to those friends and started to get back to my
downhill shoes.
I came out of the temple and started to get down. i took 30 odd steps and realised that i left my stick in the place where i sat and ran back to pick it up. Now al set for a Ride which has time limit also.
Started to roll back. But a unique barrier . I had some energy cause i rested my soles for 45 minutes . but my legs were trembling . so it was not easy to come fast also. so had to keep my steps carefully. Cause if i miss a step i may land 600 meteres away rolling. But i have an advantage which ll tell a bit later. Had lemon juice in my first shop i saw in the returning way. Then i took my camera and recorded a video for five minutes about the entire trip. Then had a Keppakool in the same shoppe where i had my 2 ezhaneer. Then its time for the monkeys to make some noise. Then i bought 2 Kadal Packets for ten rupees and throwed towards them. Around 15 to 20 monkeys gathered to fetch that. Happy to see their activites and
proceded to walk further. Now comes the my favourite span of trip. The thing i skipped to tell earlier. Now i am at the verge of 1236 steps. No tremblings in well built steps. I took my mobile , put a song of Rajinikanth, with the enthusiasm it gave, i started to run as if 5 dogs are chasing me. One song followed by the other. at the end of 4th song i have crossed the steps. This means i am at plains.
Time is 5. So far, So good. Then as i proceeded towards the bus stop , Stick factor. I went back
for 5 min and handed the stick and a lady over there, she shud be around 60 . She saw my tired ridden face and told me to wash my face, legs, especially back of legs. I was taken aback by her overbound care . Thinking of that great women i took few steps where another group of stopped me. They stopped me and left me only when i agreed to eat some food as a part of their Annadhanam. In one aspect i was very hungry, more than that i had to catch my bus to way back home. But i choose to eat. They gave me more than i needed. I ate as much as i can and the remaining was kept for Bhairavar, a pet dog for the deities of the temple. Then i went inside a temple where saw the idol of the lord Veerabhathrar. Who had a savuku in his
hand and i asked the history why he had it, The Archagar told me the story but it was a bit long so i was not able to concentrate on what he said towards the end, cause Bus waitingla....
I changed my sweat dipped tees and wore a new one and walked thru the village roads where i was given a lift by a local Swami. He is one of the incharge of the temple and while i was eating he was on phone talking to many people for developing the facities at temple. He dropped me at bus stop and i waited for 30 minutes for the bus. finally got one and reached polur by 6.45. Where a big twist was waiting for me. There weer no buses to Chennai at that time and the next bus was by 7.30 . So had to wait for some of the longest minutes. When the bus came it was more shocking that the bus will leave Polur by 8.15 and surely i cannot reach the place before 10. So i decided to lay back and enjoy the unevittables. Rested my legs, Felt the blood rushing to my soles. Mostly busses at this this route at this time are night services so u can almost occupy
the entire 3 seater.
In 4 hours i was in guduvancherry, the next stop is perungalathur, but another twist. i was awake in guduvancherry, but not in perungalathur, Still i got ticket till Prngtr. Suddenly woke up at Tambaram and then realised that i missed to get down . But its also for good. Anyway the shop would have been closed and i had to fine my way to Navalur. Somehow i got down at Tambaram and crossed Tambaram Railway station to Bus stand where a Lord or Fate sent T51 was waiting for me. Its 12.15 when
i got the bus and got down at Shollinganallur by 12.40 . Normally its very rare to find any public transportaion after 12 in OMR . When i crossed signal and walked towards aloft suddenly a White Indica stopped near me. And he offered me a drop till navalur. I was expecting him to aska minimum of 100 to a maximum of 200. He asked just 20 rupees. Ya he was a cab driver who dropped people working in a IT company which is a ETA technopark and returning back. With not much doubt i got into the car without sun screen and got myself dropped at Navalur in front of my residencial place.
It was a treat to my eyes . but i was hard on my knees and soles. Completing my first experience over a hill was truly amazing and it was a great scene around 6 pm, when i was walking towards the bus stop and turned back to look at the hill behind which the sun was hiding and the picture i saw was so memorable and its a special piece of land to me .
I am really thankful to those people who encouraged me durin, pre and post hill times. The bus drivers conductors, Shopkeepers, Passerbys, Friends and more importantly the unknown friend who suggested Parvathamalai .I forgot one.
Yeah. Its You My friend , For patiently read this .
Nandri,
Praveen...
June 13th 2012
Hi Friends,
My name is Praveen Kumar,
One among the thousands of IT employees dwelling in OMR.
To get rid of normal weekday and weekend activities i was thinking of doing something that i have never done before.It was at this time i came across Chennai Trekking Club through my friend VijayRaj.
When i was seeing the pictures and posts by them i eventually saw one member suggesting a place called Paruvathaimalai near Tiruvannamalai for a day's trek. And while browsing for the same in internet, seeing the videos and blogs related to it , i knew i will be there the following weekend(June 9th 2012).
So after collecting all the statistics to complete my trek i started to SanjeevaParvathamalai.
Before explaining the experiences i would to sum up some stats.
*Bus no 148 reaches Polur from Chennai in 4 hours.(CMBT-uthiramerur-Vanthavaasi-Chetpet-Devikapuram-Polur)
*From Polur bus towards sengam drops u at Maathi Mangalam which is another 20 min travel along the district roads.
*Then the wheels ended there, then the walkathon begins.
I started from Navalur by 5.45 and reached perungalathur by 6.30 by bike and parked it in a safe place, where they warned me to return by 10 or the shop will be closed and i cannot take the bike for that day and has to come again the next day to take the bike with a fee of 40 rupees. Agreed to what they said i walked towards bus stop where 148 was waiting to move and i rushed to take my avourite place in a bus which is next to driver with a complete front view of the road.The first thing i did after getting in and made me comfortable was to sleep for some time. After few short naps and viewing the small small bus stops in the way and taking pictures i reached Polur by 10.15.
The sun was set and seeing the shops nearby i searched for a hotel to have my breakfast . Had some stuf that ll not make me hungry or that ll not make my tummy full.Got another water bottle that ll help my cause, Few energisers like(Glucon +) and came to Polur bus stop and started enquiring few of the few of the locals of how to get to Paruvathamalai.Found a Vazhipokkan called Mr.Krishnan who is around 50 and told me lots of stories of the district and small small hills nearby. He also waited for the same bus as i was waiting . And seeing Chinna Gounder movie climax and Vaanathaipola starting in the shot bus travel of 20 -30 mins. I got down at Maathi mangalam bidding goodbye to him .
One important thing is this is my first trek and fortunately or unfortunately i was going alone. So the first thing that was in my mind was the safety (eventhough i had nothing to be robbed) . So with tons of doubts i started to wak enquiring al the passerby " Vazhila entha prachanaiyum ilala" . The response was absolutely positive and they even advised me to carry sufficient things to complete as the things get costlier as u go higher and higher. I was contented with what i had and had enough three digit money to help me getting things if i needed on the way.Walking for 1.8 miles i reached a temple at the starting place of the hill where i took a stick , which i was told to take , by a person. This was to keep me away from the only animal in the hill beside human. That is our close relative , MONKEY.The temple had a archagar and he tied me a rope . With a stick, Red bag , some nerves and adrenaline i started to move up.
The first path i had to take is to through well built seps. I dint have any idea of how many are there . There are totally 1236 i hope. With excitement as i was going faster, and that was the thing that turned as a giant barrier to me. As i was fast in the beginning it took most of my energy and i had to sit for 10-15 times in the way. Thank god there are around 7 - 10 shops selling waterbottles, biscuits, jiuces, keppakkool , ezhaneer and few other things. So its better to walk to 15 min and sit for 5 min to avoid getting tired soon. It took nearly 1 hour for me to cover these steps. By now i have come 50% of the entire hill .
The secod way. Now comes the hardest path, now i have to cover the way which is not well built, but has many stones that are put in such a way they form a way. so have to step on each stone which are slightly bigger than the size of a cauliflower. As this route is more challenging more number of shops are here . and i had to sit in a small shop run by a women over 50 who gave me two ezhaneer and i enquired about the remaining time and distance i had to cover. I almost disheartened when i heard ti need to travel more than a hour which i never imagined to be that long. After some time resting my soles i was able to gather some energy. Then after walking for sometime i again sat in another place to have some refreshing drink. Somehow after spending 45 min in this path i was over this way also. now i can clearly see the other
small hills in the nearby locality . It was with good sunny so it was not cool or misty. so had clear vision.
The third way started. Other important aspect is, initially i started with fear of place, then the tiredness was bothering me longtime. But now its a different aspect. Excitement back again, cause at this time i was able to see the other side of the hill, it means that the hill is almost covered and the temple looked to me almost like a bunch of grapes hanging for a fox. Now this energy has made me move faster. But it was heartening to see the third route. Roks that are almost half a palm tree height are need to be climbed. They have made it easier by setting up steps circling the rock. The most important factor is steps are at 85 degree to each other. So it was the most thrilling way i had. There were steel chains to catch and climb , it helped . all shops end before, starting of this place. There are 3 to 4 huge rocks need to be climbed in this manner.
The fourth way. 95% of the way is done. Then an interestin way. Two big rocks, but this time we have steps between them. so we need to catch these rocks and step it up. Almost this place resembles a recent famous song from KO(a bit) You can have nice snaps at this place. Then you walk in pathway which is so so scary. almost heart tumbling place to cross. but u can cross it easily is a fact. If u cross this and the temple is very clearly in your sight. And u can get there in five minutes.
Finally we are at the top of a Parvatha Malai by 2.45 . You can see a huge Vel in this place and a meditation centre , and a place where at times u can see some deities performing poojas. Another new temple is being built, which may be completed soon. Then i went around the places and took few pictures of the places. There was another team of 10 people who came for a night stay . Had a chat with those new friends, there were from Vellore. Spending some some talkin with them, we were guided to a meditation place by a deity and he started telling about the pictures of the people . Then they were sharing their experiences about the time they took to come up .
One important thing is, it too 3 complete hours for me go up. It may vary for people, The other crew who were there took 5 hours to come up . Some experienced people may take less than 2 hours. Women explorers may take some different time spans if they doing it for the first time. Suddenly few ppl in their crew wanted to get down. the deity calculated the time for them to get down and he said u may reach down by 8. So better stay there and start going doen by tomo morning.
But i had different ideas. In other way, The words of deity made me think why cant i get down much faster than he said. Mean while my imagination took me to perungalathur bike stand where the stand incharge told me to be back by 10. I sat down and calculated whether it ll be possible for me to reach there in time. Somehow First time maths was in my favour a bit. If i get down by 5 to Maathi mangalam. i can reach Polur by 6. If i get bus by 6 i can reach Perungalathur by 10. This was the thing running in my mind. But the deciding factor is getting down the hill. time was 3.30. that means in 1 hour 30 minutes i should be able to get down. If i should make this happen i should go twice fast as i came up. Then i decided i have 50% chances of doing that beside skipping my lunch. I bid bye to those friends and started to get back to my
downhill shoes.
I came out of the temple and started to get down. i took 30 odd steps and realised that i left my stick in the place where i sat and ran back to pick it up. Now al set for a Ride which has time limit also.
Started to roll back. But a unique barrier . I had some energy cause i rested my soles for 45 minutes . but my legs were trembling . so it was not easy to come fast also. so had to keep my steps carefully. Cause if i miss a step i may land 600 meteres away rolling. But i have an advantage which ll tell a bit later. Had lemon juice in my first shop i saw in the returning way. Then i took my camera and recorded a video for five minutes about the entire trip. Then had a Keppakool in the same shoppe where i had my 2 ezhaneer. Then its time for the monkeys to make some noise. Then i bought 2 Kadal Packets for ten rupees and throwed towards them. Around 15 to 20 monkeys gathered to fetch that. Happy to see their activites and
proceded to walk further. Now comes the my favourite span of trip. The thing i skipped to tell earlier. Now i am at the verge of 1236 steps. No tremblings in well built steps. I took my mobile , put a song of Rajinikanth, with the enthusiasm it gave, i started to run as if 5 dogs are chasing me. One song followed by the other. at the end of 4th song i have crossed the steps. This means i am at plains.
Time is 5. So far, So good. Then as i proceeded towards the bus stop , Stick factor. I went back
for 5 min and handed the stick and a lady over there, she shud be around 60 . She saw my tired ridden face and told me to wash my face, legs, especially back of legs. I was taken aback by her overbound care . Thinking of that great women i took few steps where another group of stopped me. They stopped me and left me only when i agreed to eat some food as a part of their Annadhanam. In one aspect i was very hungry, more than that i had to catch my bus to way back home. But i choose to eat. They gave me more than i needed. I ate as much as i can and the remaining was kept for Bhairavar, a pet dog for the deities of the temple. Then i went inside a temple where saw the idol of the lord Veerabhathrar. Who had a savuku in his
hand and i asked the history why he had it, The Archagar told me the story but it was a bit long so i was not able to concentrate on what he said towards the end, cause Bus waitingla....
I changed my sweat dipped tees and wore a new one and walked thru the village roads where i was given a lift by a local Swami. He is one of the incharge of the temple and while i was eating he was on phone talking to many people for developing the facities at temple. He dropped me at bus stop and i waited for 30 minutes for the bus. finally got one and reached polur by 6.45. Where a big twist was waiting for me. There weer no buses to Chennai at that time and the next bus was by 7.30 . So had to wait for some of the longest minutes. When the bus came it was more shocking that the bus will leave Polur by 8.15 and surely i cannot reach the place before 10. So i decided to lay back and enjoy the unevittables. Rested my legs, Felt the blood rushing to my soles. Mostly busses at this this route at this time are night services so u can almost occupy
the entire 3 seater.
In 4 hours i was in guduvancherry, the next stop is perungalathur, but another twist. i was awake in guduvancherry, but not in perungalathur, Still i got ticket till Prngtr. Suddenly woke up at Tambaram and then realised that i missed to get down . But its also for good. Anyway the shop would have been closed and i had to fine my way to Navalur. Somehow i got down at Tambaram and crossed Tambaram Railway station to Bus stand where a Lord or Fate sent T51 was waiting for me. Its 12.15 when
i got the bus and got down at Shollinganallur by 12.40 . Normally its very rare to find any public transportaion after 12 in OMR . When i crossed signal and walked towards aloft suddenly a White Indica stopped near me. And he offered me a drop till navalur. I was expecting him to aska minimum of 100 to a maximum of 200. He asked just 20 rupees. Ya he was a cab driver who dropped people working in a IT company which is a ETA technopark and returning back. With not much doubt i got into the car without sun screen and got myself dropped at Navalur in front of my residencial place.
It was a treat to my eyes . but i was hard on my knees and soles. Completing my first experience over a hill was truly amazing and it was a great scene around 6 pm, when i was walking towards the bus stop and turned back to look at the hill behind which the sun was hiding and the picture i saw was so memorable and its a special piece of land to me .
I am really thankful to those people who encouraged me durin, pre and post hill times. The bus drivers conductors, Shopkeepers, Passerbys, Friends and more importantly the unknown friend who suggested Parvathamalai .I forgot one.
Yeah. Its You My friend , For patiently read this .
Nandri,
Praveen...
