Yelagiri in summer. Review on Yelagiri

Where do you head for summer vacation? (no points for guessing!) – a hill station. Agreed. A quite reasonable answer. This year when I was scouting for destinations I came across ‘yelagiri hills’. The photos in the internet looked attractive and the descriptions appealed. It looked quite motorable from Chennai and quoted to have moderate temperature which quite suited my family which has an infant(these two factors clinched the deal).

I zeroed in on the location and gathered support from a couple of like minded couples. We decided to visit the place during the ‘may day’ (anyone noticing the pun?) weekend. Just a few days before a friend made a passing comment ‘going to yelagiri in summer? It would be hot only’ which struck me as odd but I chose to ignore. Mistake number 1. On May 1st we started our trip happily in the morning. By the time we reached the foot hills it was almost noon. The ghat road ended as soon as it started which should’ve struck as odd. I did not notice. Mistake number 2.

I was able to climb the ghat road with the ac in the car on. Again I did not notice. And that small deed did not help me in noticing that the weather outside has not changed much either. The big ad boards for my resort screamed about the big swimming pool in the resort. A swimming pool? In a hill station? This too did not strike as odd and by this time the gods had stopped smiling. I disembarked from my car in the car park and was perplexed by the scorching sun. When I enquired the manager at the resort he coolly (the only thing that had any passing relationship to ‘chillness’ during my stay but it did not know it then) replied that the weather would turn around by 3 pm. 3 turned 4. Day turned into dusk and then to night. Nothing changed. By 10 the situation turned from bad to worse. It was uncomfortably warm outside.

The cottage was nice but the electricity was sporadic which did not permit the aircon to function. The rooms were really hot and we could not open the windows lest all sort of flies and crawlies find their way merrily inside. The kids were refusing to lie down and I started panicking. Angry howls, fiery retorts and suppliant pleads lead to the same answer: cant help the weather, cant help the irregular electric supply and cant help the crawlies either. Which meant only one thing – suffer in silence. And we did. By the time it dawned it dawned on our heads that there was something basically wrong with yelagiri.

First and foremost it is not a hill station. No sir, by no means. You may say that it is located at a slightly higher altitude. That’s all. End of the story. While it does not have the advantages of a hill station it definitely has the disadvantages of both a hill station and a land station. From frying pan into the fire(that’s how I would describe the trip from Chennai to yelagiri). Some genius coined these idioms. They must have experienced yelagiri in summer. The resort had lots of open space for kids. They had the audacity to charge Rs.400 per head for adults and Rs.200 for kids for bed coffee, breakfast, lunch and dinner which would have cost them Rs.250 at the max with a decent 20% profit margin thrown in(I believed that the government has enforced Rs.20 meals in all hotels!). And that was compulsory.

Add to this the charge of Rs.3500/- per cottage the package looked appropriate for a three star facility but the only stars that were visible there were up in the sky. I have to admit that the food was decent. But that, by no means, justified the cost. Back in Chennai a top- end caterer would have provided those for Rs.300/-. But in yelagiri? That was daylight robbery. There was not much to see either. The lake was not more than a village pond and as poorly maintained. The nature park was good but the music played for the dancing fountains? Horrid, if you want me to say something decent. Our plans to have a perfect family get-together went haywire as we neither could stay inside for lack of electricity nor roam outside for fear of sun-stroke. The kids had a whale of a time though, splashing in the pool, playing in the play area and roaming in the lawns unmindful of the hot weather. But the weather spoiled the peace of mind. We had to cut short the vacation and the manager of the resort kindly obliged us though we had reservations for 3 days. You should plan during September to February sir were his parting words. It took my max effort to smile politely. Friends, let me warn you in capital letters (if you have not got the message yet) – YELAGIRI IS NOT A HILL STATION. AND IT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR VISITS IN HOT MONTHS. LET ALONE SUMMER. Still if you insist on going I would advice the months of dec, jan and when the met department predicts a state-wide hurricane.

NB: I drove down faster this time. When I reached Chennai it felt like Ooty. The only good thing about our visit to yelagiri!