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On a May 1st , since it was a holiday, I was wondering where to go when one of my friends suggested the Velliangiri Hills. Although I was clueless about the region, I decided to visit the place along with my two friends. The only fact I knew about the hills was that it would take one whole night to reach at the top.
Velliangiri Hills is a part of the Western Ghats 40 kilometers west of Coimbatore and is one of the four hills that surround the Attapady plateau. To get there we got into a bus plying from Gandhipuram to Poondi. We got down at Velliangiri next to a Shiva temple. There were people selling bamboo sticks for a rate of Rs.20 each. These sticks are used to trek the mountain. Though it is not compulsory, we bought some sticks. It was only after we reached there, that I realized it was actually a pilgrimage centre. A Tamilian whom we met there told us we must not wear our shoes while climbing the ‘sacred’ hill. We were half through the journey when we realized there was no such rule.
When we decided to go trekking, we hadn’t expected it to be so tough. Visitors are allowed on top of the hill only during the ‘Chaitra Pournami’ month according to the Tamil calendar. This means you can visit here from February to May. Visitors are not allowed to climb the hill during rainy season.
This place is a sacred place for the Tamilians. Velliangiri comprises of 7 hills and Lord Shiva is supposed to reside in the seventh hill. The devotees take ‘vratham’ just like they do at Sabarimala before climbing the sacred hill.
There is a Siva Temple on top of the hill. Young women are prohibited from climbing the hill. Just like Sabarimala, only small girls and old women are allowed. Before you climb the hill, take care to buy some food and a few bottles of water. Although you may buy water at the top, it’s costly. We can’t blame them for that either. After all, carrying water to the top of this steep hill is indeed a very difficult task. Use of plastic is restricted; so, take care not to bring any disposable plastic bottles. The visitors’ bags are checked for the same, before they are allowed to climb the hill. The time taken to climb the first hill is comparatively more. Trekking is very difficult since the climb is steep. As you move up, there are springs on the way which provide cool and fresh water which can be used for drinking.
We had started our trekking at 11 midnight. By the time we reached on top, it was 7am in the morning. We spent some time there and quickly started our journey downhill. By the time we reached at the base, it was 1PM!
When we began our journey, we had thought it would be easy. But soon we learned it the hasr way. There is a long way winding uphill through the forest in the hill. As we moved up, it was getting colder. We had carried with us, only an extra T-shirt which didn’t help much to counter the cold weather.
As I said before, the Velliangiri Hills comprises of 7 hills. Each hill has a name like Valukku mala, Muduthatti mala, Chandana Mala, Kumkumamala, Kaithatti mala and so on. Some gets their names from the color of the soil on these hills.
We climbed all the seven hills. Since it was cooler as we climbed up, the trekking was getting much easier. By 4am we had completed climbing the fifth hill. Then we decided to take some rest on a large rock there. But the weather was too cold to sleep for a longer time.
We were tired and just wanted to complete our expedition as fast as we could. So we drank ‘chukku kaapi’ and continued our trekking. By 8am in the morning we reached the top. We took some photographs and started downhill at 8.30 AM.
By now, the sun was shining brightly overhead and for the first time we could clearly see the place. The greenery around was refreshing to the mind. There were some beautiful rocks on the way. It took us 5 hours to finally get down. But we visited the temple and had our lunch there. The ‘kovil’ provides ‘Annadaanam’ or free food for the devotees here. Finally, we came back to Coimbatore.
