Seeing Blue in Greens. . .

It was around ten in the night when we reached Kumily, a small town located at Tamil Nadu – Kerala border. We were five in number and we lodged at Kumily. The next day turned out as a pleasant daybreak and we went to Thekkady which is about four kilometres from Kumily and started with boating at Periyar Lake.

We booked the upper deck tickets and I was ready for the visual treat in the lake. The boat started its travel around seven in the morning. The cold breeze blowing towards me kissed my face and I felt the freshness of it on my face. We had hired a binocular which helped us to have a clear view of the distant mountains. I had imagined a climate in the past and to my surprise, I felt the same over there. My brother also enjoyed the climate and he was busy with his camera shots. At a certain place, I witnessed the shadow of the mountains in the water and the crystal clear image remained for a certain period until a snake bird passed by. Meanwhile, we had a discussion about the conflict that exists between TamilNadu and Kerala regarding Mullai Periyar Dam. We spotted some animals namely bison, monkey, snake bird, tortoise etc. There were some trees in the lake where some birds have made their nest on it. The boat returned back and we got back to our hotel to check out. On having our breakfast in a hotel, we started a 100km journey to Munnar.

The hill road was not so steep and it was covered with lust green on both sides with cardamom plantations. On the way, we had a break off at spice garden. I was not interested in it at first but later I was happy that I did not miss it. A guide accompanied us into the garden and he started explaining us the various plantations they had. He started with cardamom. It was green in color and when I squeezed it I could see the seeds in a greyish black color. He then plucked a grass and rubbed the grass and named it as lemon grass. I got the aroma of amurtanchan balm. He showed various plantations like vanilla tree, sambrani tree, coffee tree, pepper plantations, ginger tree and kurinji flower. I have read in news that kurinji flower blossoms once in twelve years. But I did not ever dream of seeing it. History declares that there are seven mountains over there and in each mountain the flower blossoms at different period of time and we were in the mountain where it has blossomed. Then he guided us towards the banyan tree which seemed to touch the sky. We spotted a small lake where elephants come to satisfy their thirst. Near the lake, a tree house was constructed where the security guards make their stay at nights. They stay over there and if the elephants try destroying the plantations, they use crackers to avert them. We climbed the tree top and had a nice view from it. He showed us the sandalwood tree and it was three years old. He added that it would get the fragrance of sandalwood after seventeen more years. We moved towards the rosewood tree and had a glimpse of it. Alas we made some shopping and started towards Munnar.

On the way to Munnar we visited Periyacanal waterfalls where a song was shoot from a tamil movie named “Kovil”. The water was flowing at high speed and was very chill that froze my legs. On moving to other part of the road, the falls were running beneath the road and it was a spectacular view from that point of the road. As we started from there, the roads were covered with mist. Nothing was visible in the roads, and our driver found it difficult to drive, penetrating the mist. We had an adventurous trip for about four kilometers. We reached Munnar around two in the noon. After booking a cottage at Munnar we spot Hotel Saravana Bhavan for our lunch near Munnar bus stand. Though Munnar is located in Kerala, I could not find any traces of Malayalam there and I did not feel that I am in Kerala. The bazaar street was filled with tea and spices shop. As Munnar is a tourist spot you could find many cottages there. Comparing Munnar with Ooty, I felt Munnar to be more beautiful and clean. The population is sparsely populated here and this could be the reason behind the cleanliness. Our visit to Blossom International Park was in the evening and it was drizzling as we were nearer to the park. Our bad luck, rain ruined our happy moments. It started raining heavily and we were under umbrella. Finally we found it difficult to get back to the entrance. We returned back to the cottage and the day came to an end.

During the crack of dawn, we were ready for the next round of sightseeing. We had Kerala special breakfast namely “aapam” and “kola puttu” as we dint find Idly, vadai, and sambar anywhere. Our travel started towards Mattupatty dam which is around thirteen kilometers from Munnar. On the roads, I saw the sun rays penetrating between the trees and the rays where looking like a beam of light from a torch. I have seen such stuffs in photos but I was overwhelmed on a live watch. Wherever you look upon you will end up in a tea plantation. Tata has taken 99 years of contract for tea plantations and they own a school, where the children of employees working in the estate are educated here. We spent some time in the Mattupatty dam and we moved towards a location called echo point. This spot has some water on the base of a mountain which reflects the sound which is heard as echo. After a travel of fourteen kilometers, we reached top station. It is a point which is above 8500 meters from sea level. Vehicles can’t go there after a certain limit. My brother, driver and myself started walking towards the point leaving my mom, periamma and periappa as they feared of climbing the steep area. We three got down to the point. A guide accompanied us to explain the spots over there. We had a clear glimpse of Kodaikanal mountain from that spot. He spotted a tribal village and showed us a path to Bodinayakanur and to our surprise we received Tamilnadu network in our mobiles at that point. He spotted the area where some scenes of the tamil movie “Pithamagan” was shoot. We climbed back a mountain and reached the place where we parked our vehicle. On returning we went to another dam namely Kundalay dam. My mom and periamma were very busy with their shopping activities. I ordered bread and omelet in a shop and the preparation was very delicious. We entered into a tea estate on the roadside and spent some time with local boys who were playing there. A boy named Santhosh said that he was feeling bored to be in Munnar and said that he liked Coimbatore very much though he visited only once. In return I said him that I liked Munnar and this is my first visit. We asked them about their education and we bid bye to them and went to a flower garden where I got good treat for my camera.

It was time for lunch and we need to check out the cottage before 1pm. So, we got back to cottage and vacated from there. We had our lunch and started back our journey towards Udumalpet. On the way to Udumalpet we saw more than twenty falls and finally we reached Coimbatore.The masterpiece among them was the Lakkam waterfalls. To brief the entire trip, we enjoyed the blue (mountains) and white (waterfalls) in the greens. Alas! It was an awesome trip.