Today when I was surfing through the articles, I noticed this contest "Share Your Adventure" from @ashwinraj. I have never tried writing for any contest before. So, I thought why not give a try. Here goes my story on adventurous trip to top of Velliangiri hills. This article will have my own personal experiences as well as some details about this adventurous place. It was an unforgettable experience beyond reality. Please continue with the article to know why.
About Velliangiri Hills
Velliangiri hills is situated in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu and near Palakkad district, Kerala border. With high spiritual reputation this place is also called as "The Kailash of South". This place has a great spiritual significance in Hinduism and is considered to be most powerful place next to mount Kailash. The path that leads to the top of Velliangiri hills is first a climb on steps initially. Later, the path takes you to a hike towards the forest region staring after completion of the first hill. To reach the top of Velliangiri, a person has to go through 5 hills and 5833 feet height. As this is a spiritual place people are advised only to travel in bare foot. We will also be able to see 90 % of people trekking in bare foot. It is still believed that a highly effective positive vibration of Siddhars are ever present in the hills. Also as a matter of respect to them, people climb the hills with bare foot. For more information about Velliangiri hills, you can check Wikipedia or other sources.
My First attempt ended in Tragedy - A near death experience
After hearing the experiences of people who already completed the trek, I was really excited. After all initial discussions, we created a group of friends who were interested. The team was under the guidance of my friend's father. We had a good planning done by the uncle, senior member of the team. Below was the expected plan.
- Start the trek in the evening.
- Reach the top my mid night.
- Take rest till morning.
- Wake up to see early morning sun rise.
- Start descending.
Yes it was well planned and interesting when we started. We were advised to climb with bare foot. People usually climb with bare foot and a stick in hand called Path Companion/Vazhi Thunai. I has been a belief for me that bare foot makes trekking more easier. Whichever hill I climb, I usually do it with bare foot as I find it very comfortable. We got all the things ready and started the journey. We had good fun initially. We were almost there near the end of first hill. It was already dark. We were split into group of two members and were walking behind each other. I suddenly shouted with a strong voice after stamping on something. My friend who was near came running to check what happened. When we checked with a torch, I was bit by an emperor scorpion.
Though it was not his mistake to bite me as I stamped on it by mistake. My friend immediately smashed it with the stick. I was able to feel the venom flowing from my leg upward. The immediate first aid was to tie a piece of cloth below my knee region tight enough to make sure the venom doesn’t flow above the knee region. Though it helped me run back to the bottom of the hill on my foot, it was not worthy enough to hold for a longer period of time. An ambulance was called by the local people. The ambulance had to travel around 20 - 30 kilometers from Coimbatore city to reach me. I had to wait more than one hour for the ambulance. All the local medications and first aid was made. I was able to feel the venom flowing everywhere in my blood. Numbness was the feeling that I had especially in the backside of my head. My nervous system was completely attached. I was unable to feel anyone touching my head region. Anxiety and nervousness also amplified the effect. I was made to sit in a chair. It was a near death experience. The ambulance arrived and they asked me to get up but I couldn’t feel my legs. I felt the numbness throughout my body. I was slowly lifted and kept in the ambulance and was rushed to a hospital that was around 5 kms towards Coimbatore city. I almost reached the unconscious state during the ambulance travel.
Medication was provided to me throughout the night and I was feeling a little better the next day morning. We had a train to catch in the afternoon. I was able to walk and felt a little better. It took almost 3 months to fully recover and more than a month for the venom effect to come out of my body. I was having several after effects like vomiting and fatigue feeling for nearly a month. But my friends and uncle who accompanied me gave me all the strength and helped me get through this.
Next successful attempt with complete Persistency
When I thought about taking another attempt, I was a bit afraid initially but I had a clear thought in mind to complete the trek at any cost. Let's now forget about the tragedy part. I was able to complete the journey the very next year after the failure of the first attempt. The same team reunited and I made some precautions this time. For all the trek and hike I made it a practice to take with me a very powerful herb called "Siriyanangai". (You can google to know more about the herb.) The herb is capable of reducing the venom effect when consumed after any bite. By god's grace, I have now been to the top twice so far. It was an interesting and adventurous experience. I will now traverse you through the beauty of this wonderful place.
The Route
As I mentioned above, you will have to cross 5 hills to reach the top of the hill and complete the trek. The route comprises of forest floors, rocks and steps. For the regular trekkers, each place has a name. Along the route you will cover the following (Not in any specific order. As I forgot a bit of what come after what):
- Steps to the first hill - Pillayar Malai.
- Then partial rock path and forest path.
- Full forest path.
- Full rock path.
- Skidding rocks.
- Water sources
- Sunnambu paarai/Vibuthi Parai (White stone rocks )
It will be very interesting to travel in the route with bird and insect sounds. If you trek during the night time and especially during full moon day, the trek will be amazing. But be precautious to have a torch light and not stamping any insects/snakes etc.
Water source in Velliangiri Hills
When ascending, after the first hill is completed, there will be totally 3 water sources available. Two sources are a small spring that keeps flowing water in exactly the same frequency. But there spring may not be available on all seasons throughout the year. I have heard from my friends that when they went springs were not available. I was lucky enough to see both the springs. I'm not exaggerating but if you catch this water in a bottle and have a look, it will look crystal clear and transparent. This water is also supposed to have high medicinal qualities. The source of these spring are the water stored in between the rocks.
Third water source is a pond after the 4th hill is completed. The water in the pond will be extremely cold. People usually take a bath in this pond. This water will also look neat and fresh. The tiredness that a person gets after climbing 4 hills, vanishes completely after taking a dip in this water. It will be super fun to take bath as the water will be extremely cold. After taking bath, the last hill climbing was much easier (sure not like walk on a park). The last stretch was a bit tricky as the it was steep to climb.
Path Companion
I have to definitely talk about this. Path Companion is a literal translation of what we call as "Vazhi Thunai" in Tamil. Yes, it is just a bamboo stick. The reason why we call it a Vazhi Thunai/Path Companion is because, it plays a vital role in providing all the support we need during the climb. There will be certain places or paths during the hike which may not be easy without the Path Companion stick.
Once the trek is over, we don’t throw that stick off there instead we take it home and keep it as a remembrance of the journey. I have 2 Path Companion stick in my house depicting the fact that I have completed this journey twice. Some people use the same stick they used the previous time they climbed, but usually people get a new stick before starting the trek. Sticks will be available and can be bought in a shop at the bottom of the hill. We will be able to choose a stick that is comfortable for us. Choosing the right stick is very important. Stick should not be too light or too heavy. It should also be able to bear our body weight and is based on individual preference.
Shops on the way
During the season time, there will be lots of shops on the way. These shops are created by the local people and are only available during the season time. On other off season days, it is difficult to survive inside the forest so they pack-up their shops and go to their villages. The cost of the items available in the shop will be reasonably higher than a normal shop because they will have to include their logistics cost as well. Some of the attractive shops are as follows:
- Ground nut shops
- Tea shops
- Watermelon
- Coconut water
- Lime soda mix
Apart from the ones mentioned above, there will also be few shops with other seasonal food items as well. The most popular and interesting shop is the tea shop and lime soda shop. The tea they provide will be a herbal tea with all herbal ingredients. It will be highly refreshing. Especially the one that is available after the Pond near the end of 4th hill. We will usually have a refreshing hot tea after taking a bath in the pond. It will give all the energy that we will need to complete the last stretch of the trek. The lime soda shops will also help you restore your energy here and there. Lime soda is available in three flavor - salt, sugar and a mixture of both salt and sugar.
The complete trip was quite challenging and a tiring experience. But, there was ultimate enjoyment. What I would like to tell here is that persistency can help you win any situations. In my case, I consider I was given a second chance to go and enjoy the beauty of this wonderful place. Thanks for reading this article. It also helped me traverse through nostalgic experiences that I had during the trek. If you have anything to share please leave a comment.
Thanks for reading the article.