Premanand Iyer

We are a gang of 12 people. And it was June 6th 2019. We were supposed to attend a marriage of one of our gang members at Devakottai around 50kms from Madurai. I along with some members from our gang, met at Bangalore and together we had to start for Trichy by bus. There we had some refreshments planned at a friend’s place, a little sight seeing at Trichy and then we would have started for Madurai. And after attending his marriage, we were supposed to leave for Kodaikanal along with all our gang.

But fate had some other plans for us. Our bus broke down on our way to Trichy at Krishnagiri around midnight on the highway. There were no mechanics available and the conductor announced that there would be another bus which would be coming to compensate for this one. Much to our surprise, the other bus too broke down and we were stranded and it was already 5am in the morning. Somehow the travels had booked another local tempo traveler and we somehow managed to reach Trichy around 10am, all tired and saturated.

We had some refreshments at my friend’s home, had some sight seeing at Trichy and started for Devakottai. After the marriage was over, we started for Kodaikanal. Now the real story starts.

We had some amazing mutton biriyani at Dindugul and started for Vathelagundu, the base of the Kodaikanal hill, in 2hours. We had some masala chai and started again. Now the resort we had booked was not receiving any of our calls and Google maps was showing us some other way. There were 3 cars ,2 of which were much ahead of us. Again, we were stranded. There were 2 diversions, and we decided to take one. After taking the diversion, we arrived at the dead end of the road and as luck would have it, our tyre got stuck. It was pitch dark and there was no network. It took 45minutes for us to take turns and lift the car somehow and we again took a reverse and arrived at the diversion. We took the right one this time, and reached the main bus stand. There, we met our friends who had been waiting for us since long. Somehow we heaved a sigh of relief, and started our hunt for our booked resort.

Since I had a bit more charge and stronger network than the rest, I decided to take the plunge. We didn’t want to be much scattered now, after all this, so I walked in one direction, which was quite secluded and I was already 1km ahead of main bus stand, leaving others behind. I found out our resort but the main gate was locked. It was about 3am in the morning. It was an open forest, and I was amidst the woods. There was not a single soul out there. I kept calling the resort authority but as usual there was no response. Just then I heard some rustling of leaves and I turned around.

Much to my surprise, there was a forest fox, which was just a few steps away from my reach. It had fixed its eyes on me, and neither of us was moving. This continued for some more seconds until finally, it took a step towards me. What next? I could hear my heart beats clearly now. It stood near me for some nano seconds, sniffed and walked past. I stood still like a statue with a chill running down my spine. After it was out of my sight, I got a phone call from my friend, much thanks to the timing(it didn’t ring when the fox was near). Mustering all my courage, I gathered quick steps back to the main bus stand.

I narrated my experience to my friends who were shell shocked on hearing my drastic encounter. I was still not able to come to my senses that a thing like this, had happened. I thanked God for keeping me safe and sound. After this we enquired in the nearby resorts to accommodate some of us, at least the girls, if they had some vacant rooms. Luckily we found one, and we refreshed there and had some sleep. The next day, we scolded the other resort authorities and they informed that they usually shut down the main gate at night, because it was an open forest. Anyway, we had a total refund and completed the journey with our friends with this horrifying and memorable experience of a lifetime for me.