Red Hills

As the clock loudly ticks,

some weird signals the mind picks.

The auspicious time is near,
for it's gonna be THAT year!

The day has come for us to cheer:

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

LOUD AND CLEAR......................

My friends penned this ditty for me. It was ‘that’ time of my life; approaching like doomsday. The incessant leg-pulling (good-humoured though it was) started taking its toll. You know how there are times in your life when you behave irrationally? Well, this was one of them: my impending 30^th birthday. The rational me would have said “Bah, it’s just another number, just another day. How is it going to change my life from today? It’s not the end of the world!” The irrational me said “Sigh….turning 30. There’re so many things that I wanted to do. So many things that I still want to do. Time’s running out. I’m turning old & grey…..Sigh!” Suffice to say that irrational me won the battle. I wanted to run away & not face this day.

To cheer me up, K planned a ‘surprise destination’ trip & decided to whisk me away for the weekend (luckily, it was a long weekend too). He knew that a trip would always cheer me up, no matter what. When he told me about the plans, it did make me look forward to the day quite a bit! And, after probing about my ‘surprise’ destination & discovering it, I was thrilled to bits. I had wanted to go there ever since I had read about it, 5 years ago. Yippee-yay! This is how I turned up at Red Hills.

The name ‘Red Hills’ is quite a misnomer. Nestled in the Nilgiris, the panoramic views with a predominantly blue hue do make you realise why the hills are called just that….the ‘Blue Mountains’. I arrived after a longish drive from Bangalore, to the most beautiful views of Emerald Lake; seen right from the home-stay.  I spent the evening sitting on the bench at the edge of the lawn, looking at the lake as the sun set. We chatted with fellow-guests & our hosts, who suggested that we trek up to the top of ‘Red Hills’ behind their house, the next morning. That sounded like a nice way to begin my birthday so I agreed. 

And so began my unusual birthday the next morning: no phone calls (my service provider had no network there), no e-mails wishing me, no lunch or dinner reservations at gourmet restaurants. Just whiffs of fresh air, a fabulous view with my morning cup of tea, orange cream biscuits to go with it (I’d forgotten what they taste like!) and Moby, the friendly German shepherd, wanting to play with me. Soon, with Vinod, our guide, we set off on the trek. We walked uphill, stopping to admire the view every now & then. Okay, I admit it…..it was also to catch our breath but the splendid views gave us an excuse to do so without feeling too ashamed. Moby had refused to let us go & had joined the three of us for the trek. His enthusiasm was infectious! He would run ahead of us, then pant & turn around to check where we were. Usually, we would be lagging behind so Moby would go & stand at the edge of the rocks & admire the view in silence. After we’d joined him, he’d do the same thing all over again. It was funny to see a dog so fond of views & that made me laugh.

An hour & a half later, we had huffed & puffed our way right to the top & the view took our breath away; as if we already didn’t have enough trouble breathing already! We flopped down on the rocks to enjoy the visual feast. What you see from here is a view of the Emerald Lake, one of the 7 to 8 Lakes in this area, which are man-made. The water from all these is used to generate electricity. All the land here is owned by the Tamil Nadu electricity board & there is no development allowed here. That's why it is so lush, clean & green. 

We tore ourselves away after a while & began our descent. A hot lunch awaited us & we dug straight in. After a refreshing afternoon nap, it was time to assume my favourite perch on the bench; to watch the evening theatrics over Emerald Lake. That night, our host Banu baked me a yummy, hot pineapple cake…she’d found out that it was my birthday. The staff gave me a bouquet made with flowers from the garden. A fitting end to a lovely day! 

The next day began without any specific agenda & a lot of rain. It’s nice to have days like this, when you don’t have to manically plan every hour. After breakfast, the rain thinned out & we felt like walking for a bit so we ambled down the slopes from the house to the banks of the Emerald Lake that we saw every day. I lay down on the grass and slipped into a state of oblivion and would have definitely fallen asleep as well, hadn’t I consciously tried to stay awake. The evening saw us heading out to Porthimund. If you thought Emerald Lake was secluded, wait till you see Porthimund! I’d been told about the beautiful sunset at this lake & I intended to stay until then. Unfortunately, fog & a heavy cloud cover played spoilsport; it did give the lake a very ‘Lord of the Rings’ feel, though. Our guide suggested that we drive around & visit the Porthimund Dam. We watched some deer swim across the lake & then drove to the dam. While we were watching some Sambar deer graze at the distance, the sky started to clear & we made a mad dash for the lake. 

 

We were lucky this time & the sky stayed clear until sunset. It’s true; the sunset over this lake has a very ethereal quality. We sat until we could see no more and made our way back to the resort. Driving back slowly at night, we were on the lookout for any animals that we could spot. As we rounded a curve, we were startled by a huge Sambar standing right in our path. The deer too was startled by us & jumped over a 6 feet high embankment in a trice. I had never seen one the size of a cow & to have seen it jump that high was a big surprise too!

We left the next day, for Bangalore. We stopped in Ooty for a while; to pick up fresh veggies that just begged to be bought….so unlike the mournful ones you see back home. Also, who can leave Ooty without yummy chocolates? Off we trudged to Modern Stores, to stock up on the loot. And then, there was that last pit-stop: the pizza. All done & dealt with, I drove away whistling a tune in my head. I drove past Emerald & Avalanche Lakes; both so bright & blue today, unlike the grey two days ago. The colours reflected my mood as well; I felt like little miss sunshine. All was well with the world again!

Red Hills is one of those simple destinations that doesn’t try too hard. It doesn’t give you too much ‘to do’. It’s just there for you, to uplift your spirits. This holiday refreshed me enough to write this fitting reply back to my friends:

My birthday, dear boy,
To you seems to bring great joy.

You say: "Lo behold,
Raji's grown so old!"

My age you may mock.
But dahlings, let's face it, I rock!

Do I feel different? Nay!
Feels like any other day.

I'm still as fit & fine,
as I was at twenty-nine.

In the years to come you'll see,
how sprightly I can still be.

Now that I'm thirty this year,
There's nothing else to fear.

And as for my ticking clock,
It can go take a walk!

For information & tips:

http://nomadandabag-guides.blogspot.com/2013/01/red-hills-information-tips.html

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