After well over a year without a proper family vacation, we headed off to visit the hill station, Kodaikanal. At 7,000 feet above sea level, Kodai is a popular refuge for many classes of Indians in Tamil Nadu who are looking to escape the brutal heat and humidity of summer and we’d been wanting to visit there for sometime, particularly now since the temperature is rising every day. While there are a few different ways and combinations to get to Kodai, but it was the overnight train combined with the 2.5 hour car ride up the mountain that we were most interested. Or, more accurately, that we knew that Kaia would be most interested in.
We arrived at Chennai’s Egmore station at around 9:00pm and made our way through the masses of people and cargo to find our lavish “first class, AC sleeper car”. Traveling with Kaia has certainly changed our standards and this is a great example of this. Whereas we used to (enjoy) traveling on 2nd or 3rd class, non-AC, mostly for the folks that we would get to meet and talk with, the thought of trying to put him down, hoping he gets some rest for a 5:15am wake up at the Kodai station (where there is a 3-5 minute stop only!) is hard to rationalize as being a positive experience. In this way, it is clear that traveling with a small child, while opening up a new world of experience can also close off a number of worlds. It really just is an entirely different trip.
Kaia, expectedly, was very excited to ride the train. I don’t think that he was able to understand that we were going to actually sleep in the train until we got into the berth and we could see the bed sheets and pillows waiting for us. It was really cute to see him so excited and, even though it was nighttime, he was purposefully looking out the window and identifying all the various vehicles and train accessories that we passed by. As he become more aware that we were on this train for the entire night, he was filled with joy—laughing and singing and just so charged up. Of course, as the clock neared 10:00pm, this isn’t such a great thing as a parent who wants to get some sleep!
Waiting for us at the Kodai Junction station was John, the taxi driver. Our friend Rehka, who attended the Kodai International School, arranged for him to be there and drive us up. The travel agent in Chennai wanted Rs.2,800 to set it up but Rehka was able to get us the normal rate of Rs.850. It certainly pays to shop around. The car was a small Tata Indica and while we were all still groggy from the early morning wakeup, the valley was still cool and the rise up the mountain brought the kind of clean, fresh air that one cannot find much of in Chennai. It was really nice. Coming up the mountain we spotted monkeys, groups of pilgrims, speeding busses (even on these winding mountain roads) and, most presciently, folks’ losing their lunch. About halfway up the mountain Kaia started complaining about feeling sick. He said that his “mouth hurt” and his “tummy was ouchy” and then proceeded to throw up, just a bit, on his shirt. We pulled over to change him and them put him in the front seat with me. Sitting in front is supposed to help you focus on an object and calm your equilibrium. But focus on what? The speeding Technicolor busses coming at you head on with each hairpin turn? The throngs of people pushing you out into the other lane on a blind turn? The scurrying monkeys and languishing cows? Yeah, there’s plenty of ways to calm the self. By the time we arrived at our hotel, the sun was out, the birds were singing, and we were so relieved to have finally arrived. We all retreated to the room and took a morning nap.
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