A few weeks ago, during a casual chat over coffee, I mentioned to Ram, a professional friend of mine, that I’ve been contemplating buying a small piece of land in the Nilgiris someday and eventually settling there. Nothing concrete yet—just a thought that keeps coming back.
He casually replied, “You should come to Bodi. We have ancestral farmland there.”
Bodi? That name caught me off guard. I’ve travelled to places like Thekkady, Munnar, Madurai and Dindigul, but I had never heard of Bodi. Later, I learnt that Bodinayakanur is also known as the Cardamom City. Slightly embarrassing, considering how close it is to places I’ve visited before.
He suggested a weekend trip—partly to show me their farmland and partly to see if the place suited what I had in mind. And since I enjoy travelling (whatever the exact definition of a “traveller” may be), we decided to go.
The Drive
We drove from Bengaluru to Bodi via Dindigul. Even though we started early, Bengaluru traffic lived up to its reputation—it took us nearly two hours just to get out of the city.
The rest of the drive was relaxed, with a few stops for breakfast, tea, and lunch. Near Dindigul, we stopped at VENU’s for their famous mutton biryani. It was good—Ram thought it was exceptional. Let’s say expectations play a role in taste.
We reached Bodi around 8 PM. Our stay was already arranged, and dinner was waiting—local non-vegetarian food, home-cooked by Ram’s childhood friends. Add a few drinks, and conversations naturally get longer.
Since the area is close to forest land near the Western Ghats, elephant stories came up. There had apparently been sightings of a rogue elephant in nearby villages. People even track elephant movements through a WhatsApp group, updating others whenever one strays into farmland or residential areas.
As the drinks flowed, the stories became more animated—mostly about close encounters with elephants. I’ll leave it to you to decide how much was fact and how much was storytelling.
Before I called it a night (around midnight), one of them suggested I visit the nearby Chokkanathar Temple—a very old Shiva temple, currently dilapidated and under restoration.
Around Bodi
The next day was spent visiting nearby areas and my friend’s farmland—mostly coconut and cardamom plantations. It was calm, green, and unhurried. We wrapped up early that evening, again with simple food and easy conversations.
Chokkanathar Temple
On the day we were leaving Bodi, we woke up early to visit the Chokkanathar Temple. The drive was pleasant, with the mountains of the Western Ghats around us. It was cloudy, and the low-hanging clouds made the drive even better.
The temple is located amidst mango farms—this entire region seems full of them. At first glance, the place felt quiet and slightly eerie. Since the main structure is under restoration, prayers and rituals are currently done in a temporary shed nearby.
The stone structure itself looks very old—possibly over a couple of thousand years—and stands as a reminder of the strong Shaivite presence in this region. I tried looking up information about the temple online, but couldn’t find much. There’s no clear record of when it was built, by whom, or its historical significance.
Locals believe the temple is connected to the Meenakshi Amman Temple and that Goddess Meenakshi visited this place, but this seems more like a local belief than documented history. The temple is not currently under the Archaeological Survey of India; restoration appears to be managed by local bodies.
That said, in a country like India, not everything runs on documentation. Faith, belief, and stories passed down over generations often keep such places alive. And for the people of Bodinayakanur, that seems reason enough.
I don’t know yet if I will buy land in Bodi. But I left with something more valuable — the sense that there are still places that don’t try to impress you.
They simply exist.
And sometimes, that’s enough.