KODAIKANAL- LOST BEAUTY

A pleasant morning with fog making a blurred vision on the road, calm and serene vegetation surrounded by trees, hair pin bends making the roads unstable. We were on the way to one of the famous hill stations of south India, kodaikanal. Earlier we were advised to take up a cab from either Madurai or dindigul to have an easy going. So we took a train from Chennai to reach Madurai and from there we booked a cab to kodaikanal.

On our way through the hills, the plains represented the path of a dry river with a dam on it. It was the manjal river. The people say it creates flood and havoc during the monsoon and remains dry in summer. It had a waterfall too. This seemed to be like a tail of the rat. And surprisingly it is named with the same context.

Three hours of journey ensures reaching the destination known for holiday visits. It began gaining momentum in the British period. The first and the best route for kodaikanal is from Batlagundu. There is another gateway through palani which connects Bangalore, Coimbatore and major cities and towns. Perumal malai is the meeting junction of all the gateways. Kodaikanal welcomed us with the silver cascade waterfall which has its source from kodaikanal main lake.

It was on-season, none of the rooms in  hotels were ready to accommodate us. As it was occupied by someone else. Finally a resort near the museum welcomed us with a room. Finishing our morning bath and breakfast, we began our explorations along with a local guy to guide us on the way. Our exploration first took us to the kurinji andavar temple (a famous murugan temple). We thought the path to this place will be easy to go. Unfortunately it was straight opposite. Steep road with bends for every 100 yards was how we climbed the hill with our vehicle and at one point of time the vehicle stood refusing climb more and more. After a minor repair, it said yes. Finally we reached our first destination. Some of them said it should be a big temple with a huge statue of the lord. But the case was quite different. A small temple with a tiny statue of the lord decorated with flowers and other holy stuffs, made us feel like staying in heaven. Tiny road side shops outside the temple sold key chains and other wooden ornaments.

Then the local guy suggested for a ride around the Kodaikanal Lake. Some of our team chose to go for boating and some of us wished for a cycle sporting. A round around the lake would consume 45 minutes and we made three to four rounds, which was a great fun for us.

We postponed our next set of explorations to day 2. Post lunch we were roaming around the streets near the bus stand and the main market. Fresh carrots and vegetables, chocolates in n number of shops, spices etc were the main attractions of the market. The person along with us suggested to buy chocolates and other stuffs right here. Other shops outside this place do not have quality stuffs and they cost a lot, he said. Bed sheets made of wool was also a main attraction of the market. A person along with us got amazed at the chocolates made of white cocoa.

Day 2, we decided to explore the attractions in the periphery of kodaikanal. Our first thing was guna caves. It was named after the movie guna enacted by kamal Hassan. This cave was chosen to shot the movie. From that time on, it gained the momentum as an important tourist attraction. The next attraction where we visited was pillar rocks. The opposite hill had a rocks structured like built-in pillars. Other than these two attractions there were suicide point, parks, lakes etc. the similar setup of these places were boring for us. Finally post lunch time, we visited the museum near our resort. A beautiful tiny building, a less than 1000 square feet room with details of plant, animal etc species of shola forest were found. By the evening we packed our bags and left kodaikanal.     

Some years back it seemed to be wonderful with a pleasant climatic condition, less number of people and things. But now kodaikanal is changing its face as a tourist destination to a city life. Hence it is polluted and pre-occupied with people. It is no longer a better choice for vacation.    

POINT CALIMERE SANCTUARY- THE UNKNOWN DESTINATION

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A beautiful morning with a sunrise welcomed us when we were on the way to point calimere sanctuary at kodikarai, nagapattinam district. We were advised to take up the left from velankanni shrine by an auto driver. The vegetation in the roads reduced time after time, the broadness of the road shrinked and we were surrounded by water and wet lands on the either side. The roads went even more rugged. Finally after a 40 minutes drive, we found an arch “point calimere sanctuary- kodikarai”. A nearby sign board warned us to drive slowly as the deers and other herbivores crossed the roads. On the way we found a shrine like spot with steps. When we climbed on it, the foot prints of lord Rama was embossed in the stone. The locals say, this particular place has its significance in Ramayana. Before going to rameshwaram, the team of lord Rama planned to build the bridge connecting to Sri Lanka from here. Due to the distance and geographical location it was not suitable to build a bridge from here.

Kodikarai point calimere sanctuary is a hot spot of black bucks. IT was declared as a sanctuary in the year 1967 for the sake of conserving the black buck population. Black bucks are a type of antelopes. Other than that spotted deer, wild dog, wild boar, pony horse and bonnet macaque’s share their space in this sanctuary. There are no carnivorous animals in this sanctuary. Wild dog is the only predator. The workers in the forest department guest house welcomed us warmly and allocated rooms for us. Being a government based guest house, I thought it would not be neat and clean. But the fact was quite different. After a bath and breakfast, we took our ride to the sanctuary with lunch packed up. It should be some where between 11.30 am when we left for the sanctuary. It exactly took 10-20 minutes to reach the sanctuary.  We sited a group of scared male black bucks, gazing around. Usually the male black bucks are black and white in colour and the female looks brown in colour. Snakes also reside in the sanctuary and we found fragrant screw pine frequently. We also spotted wild boar, spotted deer, bonnet macaque and other common animals too.

We sat down for lunch in the anti-poaching squad tents and enjoyed our meal. It should’ve been 2 pm when we started our next half of visit. Luckily we spotted a wild dog chasing a black buck. After some long time we reached a light house that is 50 years old and built by the British. The evening time witnessed heavy winds lashing at us. Finally we saw some pony horses sitting aside and gazing around. They ran away once they saw us.  Finally we reached the sea shore. We stood at the meeting point of Bay of Bengal and Palk Strait. With that our day 1 trip into the sanctuary came to an end.

Day 2 we planned for bird watching.  It should be 7 am when we reached the sanctuary. It was completely a wet land. The first bird that we spotted was brahmni kites and later we saw pelicans, little egret, flamingo and other such birds. Pelicans, little egrets, flamingos are migratory birds that come from other countries. There is a chemical refinery near the wet lands. It pollutes the wet lands from time to time. The helper was so active running from one place to another spotting out the birds with his binocular. We found something that was unusual. It was blue coloured and its hands and legs looked cream in colour. When the helper yelled, there is a bird. The bird raised and proved that it’s a human. It was a woman catching fishes in the back waters.  That morning seemed to be quite pleasant with the presence of beautiful birds.

Then that same day afternoon we visited the MPCA [medicinal plants conservation area]. A person who manages a siddha clinic in that village guided us. He took us to the nook and corner of the place and explained the different set of medicines for all diseases ranging from the major one to the minor. The first herb that we saw was “cithili paalai” it was supposed to be the cure for cancer. Then he showed the leaves of vilva and explained its medicinal values. He further explained the use of other medicinal plants one after the other.

We finished our journey with the MPCA. The next day morning we left the place with all the good things that we saw. It was a memorable journey for us. To get there reach nagapattinam and take up the bus for kodikarai.