YERCAUD IN SALEM -TAMIL NADU

Not many know of a hill-station relatively close to Bangalore which has the trappings of Ooty and Kodaikanal.The hill-station called Yercaud thirty five kilometers from Salem.Salem is five hours journey from Bangalore through the towns of Hosur,Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.

Ooty and Kodaikanal  are on the Western Ghat mountains while Yercaud is on the Eastern Ghat mountain ranges and Salem as a city is in the midst of the Eastern Ghat mountain ranges.Yercaud is thirty five kilometers from the city of Salem ;five kilometers to the foot of the Yercaud hill and thirty kilometers of climb through twenty hair-pin bends.

Yercaud is some three hundred square kilometers and with certain villages around it added could be around nine hundred square kilometers they say. This place is some five degrees less cooler than Ooty during Summer and five degrees warmer than Ooty during Winter..

The key aspect of Yercaud is the Yercaud lake which forms the heart of the place with parks around it and the bus stand is slightly in an isolated corner from the main township.

The city of Salem is basically a Colonial town created and developed by the British.East India company officials evinced a keen interest in Yercaud and developed it on the lines of Ooty and Kodaikanal.Yercaud translates into Yeri and Kaad.Yeri means pond and Kaad  means forest.In some aspects Yearcaud is a temple town of yore which must have been a piligrimage site as some temples are seen at some junctures which transformed into a Hill-station with time.

Any one wishing to visit this place must take care because this isolated hamlet shuts down all economic activity by  8pm if not earlier.It is preferable not to be here in the night if you are a first time traveller as the place is desolate and forlorn.Preferably stay in Salem itself.Make detailed enquiries of warm wear needed before proceeding to this place.

OOTY AND KODAIKANAL

Ooty and Kodaikanal are two hill stations on the Western Ghat mountains almost at similar altitudes of some 6000 ft displaced from each other by some three hundred kilometers ;Ooty closer to the city of Mysore though 160km from it and Kodaikanal close to the temple town of Palani in Tamil Nadu-both these towns developed by the English establishment and is similar in many ways with lakes and parks and boating.

Ooty is called Ootacamund and also Udhagamandalam and has a diverse population base of Kannada ,Tamil and Malayalam population ,though formally set up as a hill station by the English there were settlements here of many kinds since time immemorial largely composing of indigenous people who climbed up and down the hills to this 30 square mile plateu engulfed by hills.Coonor is a sister town of Ooty

From Mysore ,on criss-crossing the Bandipur forests two prominent towns emerge, Gudalur and  Naduvattom. Gudalur is some sixty kilometers from Sultanbattery. Naduvattom basically is a malayalam phrase which means "central circle" and considering that Sultanbattery was earlier called Ganapathyvattom it is likely the rulers of Wayanad had some sway over this place much before; including this place called Ooty, which was earlier called Udhagamandalam the word Mandalam translating to Village from Sanskrit.

In present day Ooty temperatures vary from 18 degree celcius to  0 degree celsius with the days being warm and nights become extremely cold due to the altitude and large trees that surround this place giving an air-conditioning effect.

One of the peaks that arise from the Ooty plains upwards is Doddabetta an isolated hill some twenty kilometers or so within Ooty and rising 1500 ft above it making it an even foggy and colder place.

The weather and largely the rain fall makes Ooty an ideal place for growing tea.Pulverised tea leaves creates tea powder which needs to be cleaned and packed to get tea a drink largely sponsored by the chinese and later adopted by the English.

One of the key attractions of Ooty is the botonical garden. It is a misnomer to call this a botonical garden as it is very much a park developed on one of the hill slopes that adorn this town.It must be some ten acres in space with a glass house and could be seen as a combination of Lalbagh and chikkalalbagh seen in  Bangalore.

The town of Coonor is some twenty kilometers on one of the edges of Ooty and houses the staff training college of the Indian defence and also has a park similar to the ones found in Ooty called the Sims park.Down the hill from Coonor on the Deccan plains is the town of Metturpalayam.

From Metturpalayam to reach Kodaikanal is some 300 kilometers driving through the plains of Tamil Nadu covering fringes of cities like Tirupur,Coimbatore ,Dindudal and Palladam .From Palladam cross the road leads again towards the western ghats to the town of Palani which is a temple town on the foot of the Western Ghats. From Palani it is  sixty kilometre climb uphill to Kodaikanal and  this  stretch is  steep and the hills have many other arteries facing places like  Karur and the like and also has exit into  Keralite  territories.

The night temperatures at Kodaikanal could be even colder than that of Ooty and the place has many parks and hill-views and also houses the Kodaikanal club that was built in the late 19th century.When going to Kodaikanal from Bangalore there is no need for touching Palani as the hills can be climbed from the yonder side through Karur ,which can be approached through Salem and Krishnagiri.