Vellore Trip Diary - Part 4

 The second half of the third day was the most interesting one as we got the opportunity to visit the famous Vellore Fort which was just inside the city of Vellore. The Vellore Fort is a 16th-century fort situated in Vellore city  and  once it was the headquarters of the Vijayanagara Empire.  The Fort is famous for its ancient sculptures, scenic and artistic beauty.  It was in this fort where Tipu Sultan's family were held as royal prisoners along with a Sri Lankan King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha.

 The fort is a huge one and has a lake surrounding it which makes the fort more beautiful. There is a Christian Church,  a Hindu Temple and a Mosque inside the fort.  The best time to visit the fort is in the evening time as it would be too hot in the day time. We started our visit from the main entrance and we slowly started visiting each and every section of the fort.

 The background of the Fort gave an amazing view of the Vellore city along with beautiful hills. A lot of people gathered there in the evening with friends and family. Walking around the sides of the Fort gives you an ample view of the lake and the city. The sad thing about this beautiful lake is that a lot of wastes are being dumped on a particular part, resulting in the lake losing its charm and good look.

  The Temple inside the fort, known as Sri Jalagandeeswarar Temple is dedicated to Jalagandeeswar and is noted much for its sculptures and splendid craftsmanship. The Mosque inside the Vellore fort was constructed during the last Arcod Navab's period, while the Church inside the fort was constructed during the early British period. There is also a Muthu Mandapam and a Government Museum inside the Fort which makes it more interesting. The Government Museum is maintained by the Department of Museum Government of Tamil Nadu.

It took around more than 2 hours for us to completely explore the Vellore Fort, but this was one of the brightest experiences for me as far as my trip was considered. Even though we spend more than 2 hours, we could not visit the Church, the Mosque and the Government Museum as we ran out of time. Hope to cover them when I visit for the next time. We had to rush to our room as we had to catch the train to Kerala the next day itself.

Back After a Tiring Journey to Vellore

Last week was one of the busiest week as far as I am concerned. I had to travel to Vellore in Tamil Nadu regarding a admission for my sibling and I had to stay there for almost 5 days. I started my journey on Saturday evening from Aluva Railway station on Kerala Express.  I didn't have a confirmed ticket but luckily we got the berths till Katpadi junction, where we needed to get down. We reached Katpadi Junction at around 3 AM and hired an auto to a lodge near circuit house in Allupuram.

When I left Kerala, the climate was a wet one, but the climate in Vellore was just the opposite. It was pretty dry and hot climate in Vellore and I really felt uncomfortable. The next day we had to go to CMC in Vellore where the admission interview was to take place. We went to CMC's Bahayam campus and the procedures started smoothly.

The food and water was a real issue, as most of the hotels offered foods which we could not really enjoy. And the water offered at all the hotels in Vellore were pathetic. We had to buy bottled mineral water and settle on that. By Wednesday evening the results were announced and we happily returned back to Kerala on Thursday evening.

Al the crappy food items were expensive when compared with the same in Kerala. The only good thing that I felt there is the bus and auto fare which were far better than the fares in Kerala. After spending 4 Rs in the bus, I was able to travel almost around 15 kms. In Kerala we should pay around 10-12 Rs to cover that much distance.

The 4 days that we spend there was one of the most boring one, that I have experienced in the near future. Vellore is not a place where one gets a lot for sightseeing and other time passing activities. The only thing that I saw out there was the Vellore Fort and the Temple inside the Vellore Fort, which were worth watching. We spend around 4 hours in Vellore Fort and at the end we got really tired and headed back to our hotel rooms.

The other major time pass was taking snaps of the places through which I had to go through and I would surely be sharing those pics in this blog very soon.