A Trip to Vellingiri Hills

A Trip to Vellingiri Hills 14.01.2009

It was 5 am when I got up and it was very cold in the morning even though I had a bath in the icy water. We , santhanam and me moved to Vellingiri Hills at 6 am by bike because the bus to poondi from ghandipuram starts at 6.30 am and Janakaraj joined us from gandhipuram. We parked our bike in Ghandipuram and planned to have breakfast but it was 6.30 am and we feared of missing the bus to Poondi, Vellingiri. We had waited until 7 am but we did not get a bus to Poondi, the information we had got about the bus timing was wrong and the bus has gone at 6 am so we got into a bus which is going to eesha yoga center near poondi. We had a tea and few biscuits for breakfast from the eesha yoga bus stop then we walked nearly 2 km to poondi. I had seen elephants feces on the way and janakaraj told us a number of horror stories while we are heading to the temple, he is a devotee and performed one weak fasting (avoided non veg. , alcohol and other bad things) for the Vellingiri God. Poondi is the entrance to the holy vellingiri temple and we got 6 oothappam for lunch from the hotel near to the temple. There were a number of monkeys around the temple and on the way to the temple also.
We heard a number of stories about the Vellingiri Hills, we planned to stay there for a night and enjoy the sun rise and sun setting, so it was very much necessary to get best information about the place. Our enquiry helped us to meet many persons and they told us it was a group of seven hills and very steep, we have to climb the concrete steps. one of our friend told us that there is light all the way to the top of the hills and another told us that we have to climb and to climb down each hills before reaching the seventh hill, another person gave us that it is thai month (Tamil Calendar) and very cold season so that the gate man would not allow us to climb up the hills. I have searched internet also to get clear information about the hills and the temple but failed. The lady working in the hotel in front of the temple also told us that there is a Mandapam at the top of the hills where we can stay at the night and they are providing lunch and dinner also. I had got a smell of goat fetes and I asked about that smell to Janakaraj, but his answer was very much interesting that that people near hills and forests grow goats because its fetes smell can avoid the snakes from the surroundings. I was amazed and thought to confirm it from those people. So, I asked the same that why the people grow goats near forest, whether it is to stop snakes entering the houses or not, but the lady given me another astonishing answer that the goats can stop elephants coming their places, I was surprised and asked why the elephants fear goats, she told me that she don’t know and she asked the same question to another old man sitting near to our table. That old man gave us somewhat clear answer that goat eats leaves and bushes here and there like elephant and it raze the field, so the elephants think that these little goats got the same power as those elephants.
Santhanam and Janakaraj told me to keep our chappals in our shoulder bag because it is prohibited to enter the temple with foot wear. Janakraj and santhanam gone inside the temple and I entered to the first step of the vellingiri temple to climb the vellingiri hills. We three climbed each and every steps of the first hill, after climbing nearly 50 steps I felt tired and exhausted, because those steps are steep and vertical. We had seen a number of people climbing down the hills and calling us “saamy, is the temple near here?”, because they were tired after climbing up and down the seven hills. The important thing here is that those people calls themselves saamy, but not names. Saamy means god, it is the lesson to learn from here, each and every one is saamy. I think it was nearly 100 steps I have passed when I got a bamboo stick from a little child for fifteen rupees who had climbed up and down those hills. It was too difficult to climb up the hills for me with the stick, so jana asked that stick and he commanded us to climb fast. But it was a new experience for me but for other two was not, they belong to Nilgiri hills and they got much experience on climbing hills. I told jana to climb fast and I climb with santhanam very slowly, Jana mocked me and I told him that, he is like rabbit but me and santhanam like tortoise. Jana gone fast and we climbed very slowly. When we asked those people climbing down the hills about when they started their journey, those young people told us that they had started to climb it yesterday night 11 pm and climbing down now , they were at first hill when we met. Those replies slowed our pace and many negative thoughts came to my mind to stop my journey. But, when we met a grand old man who was very fast and climbing down and I asked him “saamy when did you started your climbing”, he replied “saamy, this day morning 6 am”. It was very much surprising and we calculated the time, that these old man took only 3 hours to climb up and climb down the hills but those young people take much time, if this old man can took only 3 hours then why can’t us. We got much positive energy and climbed with these positive thought in mind. Janakaraj disappeared from our sight and we slowly climbed, firs hill ends with a white dot temple (vella pullan koil) and steps ends here, second hill ends with a stream, we collected water from that stream, third hill ends with another little stream, we walked through the hills with bare foot. We also seen a stream When we reached at the fifth hills, which is known as “theertham”(sacred water), we seen a number of people collecting this sacred water in a pot to take to their home. Finally we saw a shed where an old samy distributing “kanji” to the people who are climbing the hills, it was the starting of the seventh hills. Samy told us to climb the seventh hill before having “kanji”, seventh hill was very steep than other hills, when we reached at the middle of the seventh hill we met jankaraj climbing down the hills. He was surprised when he met us that he thought that we could not climb the hills and we could have stopped our journey at the first hills itself. We climbed the to the tip of the seventh hill and I saw a siva lingam and his son vigneswara’s idol in a cave, people are offering flowers, coconut and agarbathi (aromatic sticks) there. It was too cold and I had put on my sweater when I reached the tip. When we turned around we saw some people are burning something to avoid cold and we moved to them. I asked about the poojari, and then a saamy with a Saffron Color told us that anybody can perform pooja and the particular poojari come only on chithira month. That saamy with Saffron Color gave us biriyaani in a leaf of areca nut and hot tea at the top of the hills. It was 1.15 pm when we reached the seventh hill. I saw kerala border and siruvaani filtration center from the top of the hill. It was a great and gorgeous experience for me, at the top of a hill, truly it was a great achievement, which gives a lesson for our life that we can achieve anything when we decide to achieve that, some people score very fast and some people scores very slowly, the important thing is the determinaton and perseverence and finally the mind to work to achieve the goal. A great experience which we cannot express in words, it is the feeling of mind, it may vary with person to person, like a flower is creature of God for a poet but it is a medicinal flower for a botanist, or it may be an expression of love for lovers.
The lesson I learned is that, "God" is simply a feeling of our heart or mind, the shiva lingam at the top of the hill is simply a "stone" for athiest but is a "God" for a believer, after struggling with the odds on the way to the top of the hill we see not the "GOD" but the feeling of "meeting the GOD". Another intersting thing I learned is that the similarities of the hill climbing in my religion, during HAJJ muslims climbs few hills near Kaaba and runs between hills, this similar things we can see in Sabarimala, Vellingiri hills, Palani hills etc., It shows that the "GOD" is simply the feeling of our mind. Another thing I learned is that I can achieve anything when I determine to achieve it.

We climbed down and met janakaraj at the middle of the seventh hill where he was waiting for us to have lunch (oothappam), which was in his bag. After the oothappam, jana and santhaanma had “kanji” from the shelter. While us climbing down jana collected some soil from the sixth hill and theertham (sacred water) in a pet bottle. I felt that it was very difficult to climb down the hills than climbing up, we took rest in many places during the journey to valley and searched fruits or flowers to eat because we felt hungry and very thirsty even after having a lot of water from the streams. Even though we climbed down the hills without any problems but with a lot of confidence on our capacity to achieve any type of hard situation. It was 5.25 when we reached the starting point, entrance kovil (temple).
I got a number of doubts about the pradishta (god of that place) at the vellingiry hills, because the people who climbed it uttered “hara haro murugaaa…” while it was known as the southern Kailasam. I asked the swamy in front of the temple gate about why the people utter “hara haro (for murugan)” while it was a place of shiva lingam, and this temple has also not placed shiva’s shila and linagam but placed shila of vigneswaran. He replied me that this place is not constructed by man (with a reference to Eeswayoga Shiva lIngam Center) and it will stand without any disturbance whole the life of universe and muruga and vigneswaran are sons of Shiva, they chanting and pleasing their sons as they have pleased Shiva by climbing up the hills.
We saw a bus waiting to go Gandhipuram and heard it was the bus before the last bus and rushed to that bus with a hope of getting a seat because we were too tired to stand a minute. It was like sands in the sea shore in the bus, no place to stamp our foot even though we got inside and somebody pushed me inside from the footboard. I stood near a pole and saw a few of the passengers are like us climbed the hills. After 20 minutes I felt something unusual inside my head and I recalled the same when I got fainted in hospital after returning from Delhi in 2003. It was precautionary information so I called Santhanakrishana very loudly but he was in front of the bus and did not hear me. So I requested a seat from a Anna who was sitting near to my pole by telling that I am going to be fainted. But, he refused to give me seat to take rest. I called “Santhanaaaam” very loudly and I felt darkness around me and I fell down. Fortunately somebody near to me caught me and helped me to sit in that seat that I requested and that Anna also cooperated with me. After a five minute I offered back that seat to him but he told me to take rest until I feel comfortable. But Before reaching to Gandhipuram, a man with liquor disturbed me asked a little space to sit and I gave him a little space but he occupied my seat slowly. When I reached Gandhipuram I rushed to the Cool bar to have a fruit juice and then to a medical shop to have Glucose Powder to regain my power. I felt pain on my knees, things and on my chest, even though we reached the room by bike at 9 pm. After having bath and massaging with oil on our foot and other body parts we slept for a better day to leave Kothagiri with a plan to write a book on Badagas Festival.