Sadhuragiri-Part 5

Aravind and Anand pose for a snap. Pic taken by Senthil.


Then the terrain became even more rocky and dangerous. Occasionally, we also met people coming in the opposite direction. At one point, Senthil disappeared mysteriously. For 5 minutes, we stood there and were shouting. Later Senthil called us from the top. So he was waiting there thinking we were all lost! Amusing! Anand wasn’t really happy with Senthil.



Mountains! Pic taken by Senthil at Sadhuragiri, Watrap.


Then came a scenic location called Korakkar cave. It is believed that Korakkar siddhar stayed in this cave. The water in this place was tasty! Wonderful! There was an another location a few meters away. It was more like a small pond. It had a lot of fishes too. While climbing down the next day we took bath there. Then we carried on with trekking. For a while, I felt like a Spetsnaz soldier in Afghanistan in the 1980’s as the terrain proved to be really interesting.



Pic taken by Ramesh.

I could see various different types of insects, fireflies, giant lizards, lot of dogs and monkeys too. The vegetation was also good and the entire forest looked enclosed. The sunrays penetrated only slightly. Thankfully, there wasn’t any rain around. Otherwise, things would have been really tough. We came across various idols in various locations in the hills. We reached the hilltop at around 16:00hrs. Prabhu, Anand and myself took rest in a small room, while Ramesh, Senthil, Aravind, RK and Nishant were chatting outside and they were still energetic.



Vazhukku Paarai, pic taken by Ramesh.

Then the news came. The lunch was ready! I woke up instantly and rushed to the spot. Ramesh surprised everyone by sponsoring for snacks. He bought a big pack of Karasev. Fantastic! I didn’t know about it earlier. Otherwise, RK could have used the big packet as a pillow in train(as he didn't bring pillows). Rice was hot and tasty. I think it was raw-rice. “Kootu"(as in Tamil) or side dish was excellent. All top five-star hotels would fail if compared to this dish. Take my word, it was that excellent. I would be failing in my duties if I don’t appreciate the cook! Karasev was like a feather in the cap! Million thanks to Ramesh for such a good note of friendship. Ramesh was in full form and energetic always throughout the trip!



The gang poses for a snap. I was wearing shorts after 5 years I think. I use to wear only dhoti's/lungi's. This trip has brought some changes indeed. Senthil(red shirt), Anand(blue shirt), Prabhu(orange full arm), Ramkarthik(behind me), Professional Porikki(shorts). Pic taken by Ramesh.S


Thankfully, since Aravind had booked for a room earlier, we got an accommodation easily as there were only a few rooms there. We need to pay Rs.100 to the Government for using that room. We were very tired and soon we were lying on floor. We took rest for an hour. Then we came out to see the pooja and had a nice darshan of Santana Mahalingam. Then the fun started. We weren’t willing to sleep. Anand, Ramkarthik, Prabhu, Senthil were playing cards. Aravind preferred to sleep. Ramesh and Nishant were listening to plays and tamil dramas. Since I didn’t know to play cards I just watched them.


Anand poses with the gang as we climb Vazhukku Paarai.

A sound was coming from somewhere. “Kee Kee Keee. Kee Keee”. What was that? We were stunned for a couple of seconds. We listened intensely. It was actually Ramesh laughing like Tamil comedian Madan Babu. He and Nishant were listening to Tamil Comedy King S.Ve.Sekar’s drama “Kadhoola Poo” in their mobile headsets. Funny! Ramesh is one awesome guy. We were also amused by his laughter tone and we continued to laugh. Soon the entire room was filled with laughter. The cards were spread and the game continued. Prabhu lost the first game. Then Ramkarthik lost the second one. Then Senthil taught me how to play. I was thinking of playing Mangatha. But since it was a divine hill I didn’t want to suggest such things, especially when an austere, "disciplined?" guy like Aravind was around!


Anand and Prabhu

We slept at around 2200hrs. There was a special pooja conducted in the morning and few members planned to get up early. But I wasn't the one among them. I did get up-but the weather was too cold. Nishant was wearing some sweaters and headscarfs. He looked like a terrorist in my opinion! I was lazy to get up at 03:30hrs to see the pooja. Senthil, RK and Nishant got up and went to see the pooja. They came back after half an hour. We all got up at 06:00hrs and we were ready by 07:00hrs. After seeing, Sundara Mahalingam temple we started to climb down the hill. The people uphill were very kind and they even gave us breakfast of upma. They never treated us like outsiders.


Probably a place where siddhars sat worshipped Lord Shiva?

Since we were to see temples down hills near Madurai we didn’t see Periya Mahalingam, which was at least 2-hour climb away from our room. We started our return journey at 07:45hrs. We had bath at the falls near Korakkar cave. It was loads of fun. Splashing water on everyone, shouting, cracking jokes. Happy moments were treasured in pictures, videos. We then had our breakfast. We reached down hill at around 10:30hrs. I walked fast to reach the entrance first, but something different happened.