A seven days of exploration beaten off the track in Tamilnadu

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)

           It all started with a plan to join the family get together which was held on April 27^{th in} the Manna Farm house in Padappai, Chennai. We started our journey from Bangalore with just two sets of dress in our Honda Civic 26^th April at 9.00 am. 

             The explorers were me, my baby (Master. Bezalel), my sister-in-law (Mrs. Karen), her hubby (Mr. Gabriel), and her daughters (Ms. Preena and Ms. Sushina). We were told to reach Chennai after the sunset by my husband as he was having other commitments and there began our exploration mood. We had Kumbakkonam degree Coffee on the way to boost our exploration mood which was a newly opened store. We had the best coffee as we know that anything will taste good when it is fresh.

         We chose the less travelled route to Chennai. We diverted from the highway and took the Palamner to Pallikonda road. There was a scenic ghat section in the midst. We were taken aback on the esthetic aspect of the road. Then after the ghat section we ran across a sign board mentioning about a dam named Mordhana which was 9 km away from our route. We planned to take a look at the dam. On the way, we came across many boards mentioning about the Elephant reserve, there was likewise a warning board mentioning that the Elephants may cross the roads. We expected them, though we were afraid in our inner hearts, unfortunately they didn’t turn up. Shortly we reached the Mordhana dam. It was standing proud and strong over the Palar river which it was enchanting. We went up the dam through the many steep stairs and was amazed on the beauty of the dam built between two hills that are mostly spread with green foliage. We also had a look of a building and many trees immersed in the fresh water. There was a little building on the top with a dome and tiled flooring. An interesting thing about the place is that it lets out different musical tones as we stamped on them and hence we named them as musical dome. We also got a chance to taste the colourful kulfi which was sold there. Without having a heart to leave the place, we continued our journey to Chennai.  

Mordhana Dam

Palar River

Musical Dome

           We had a respectable time at our family reunion, collecting info on our ancestors and felt so lucky to be in such a family. Luckily our family meet got over soon and then we resolved to go back to home. When we were about to leave Chennai, my mother-in-law insisted us to go to Yelagiri if we have time. We never heeded her words as Gabby Anna never ever drives in a hill station. As we were heading towards Vellore, Anna asked us all to wear the seat belt as he is always a ‘Rules Ramanujam’. Keran Annie denied to wear it as she was feeling uncomfortable to wear it having Bezal in her lap. To convince her, Anna said, “Chinna (this is how he addresses his wife), if you put the seat belt, I will give you a surprise”. Except her we all were excited about finding out the deal and started pleading her to put on the belt. Unable to bear our continuous plea, she decided to wear the belt. This incident lead to our successive explorations. Anna disclosed the surprise, saying, “We all are going to stay in GRT residency tonight and will start tomorrow back to Bangalore”. As we all were anticipating something different, our expectations were shattered. Suddenly Annie remembered the words of my mother-in-law and just asked him whether we can go to Yelagiri. He responded that it is impossible and it will never ever happen. Pree, Sushi and I got a dot to draw the line. Once more we started pleading together, saying, “Please, please, please”. Annie also started pleading saying, “Please please please, at least let us see the foot of the hill and come back”. Annan was bit convinced with the idea, then again, she took advantage of the situation and said, “Please Choor (this is how she calls him), let us just drive in just two hairpin bends and then come back”. We begged him a lot and a lot. To convince us, Annan asked about the road at the toll gate, in the petrol bunk and even to the wayward pedestrians. He got the same reply from everyone, “Sir, the road is pakka. It is even safe to drive with your family”. These words encouraged him and at last he determined to accept the challenge. We were all in high spirits. Thanks to google map which guided us throughout the exploration. 

          Annan browsed the names of the hotels in Yelagiri, he came across Sterling Holidays. Called them atonce and booked two rooms and to our surprise the rate was really inexpensive. Oh my god! We came near the base of the hill. All of us were ordered to keep silent till we reach our destination by Annan. He was so tensed that he started sweating (though the temperature inside the car was 22̊C!!), was shivering and he switched on the CD player, which was playing some Christian songs, to wipe away his fear. We started climbing successfully. Soon Annan was convinced about the drive as the road was really so good as informed by others and the important thing is, it had hard shoulders throughout the sides which encouraged Annan to drive all along the way upto Yelagiri. Often Annan started saying throughout the trip, “I am not afraid to drive if there is hard shoulders”. (Unbelievably he had said this sentence 30 times out of fear!!!!!!!). As we crossed each hairpin bend it seemed as if we were getting closer to the clouds in the sky. Though Annan was talking continuously out of fright, we all went on silent as ordered and we were looking up to the creation of God. Annan was driving at 30 km/hr. There was 14 hairpin bends all named after “Thiruvallur Valaivu”, “Kambar Valaivu”, “Bharathiyar valaivu”, “Avaiyar Valaivu”, were a few to mention. There were few monkeys on the way. The route was also less populated and therefore it was easy for anyone to ride.

            

View from top of Yelagiri hill

          

         With the service of google maps, we achieved our destination within half an hr. Annan was shouting at the top of the world that he has achieved something which he didn’t do in all these 45 yrs. He even called his dad and mum to boast about his accomplishment. We Checked into Sterling Holidays. The rooms allotted to us was on the second floor, which disclosed amazing scenes of the nature through the balcony. It was so good that we decided to stay there for one more day.  

                 

               

                         
              As we were tired, we spent that night in the room. We came to know that there was an artificial lake nearby named Punganoor, Nature Park, Government Silk Farm, Government Herbal farm. So we took a thought a visit them the next day. Before we got to bed, Annan asked whether we can have a short walk to the lake in the dawn. Me and Pree liked the idea and we decided to walk in the break of the day. We had a peaceful sleep and I woke up in the morning as the sun began to shine brightly through our window. I woke up Annan and Pree, asked them to get ready for the morning walk. The lake has been just 1km away from our hotel. Guys, you won't believe, the morning walk to the lake was amazing. It refreshed and revived our body and soul. The chief entrance was shut and then we chose a short cut to the lake. We witnessed few washermen washing the clothes beside the lake. Soon we realized that the laundry of all the hotels nearby was done there. Except the washerwomen, there was no one in the vicinity. We loved the walk in the Paveway around the lake.

Punganoor Lake

            

             At that paveway there were so many red ants all around the pathway, but our exploration moods didn’t mind it. We also observed a few birds in the lake. At that place was also an old, torn out building for bird observation. We turned back after a walk of 20 minutes. On the way back, a person entered the Paveway in his bike. We were surprised to see someone riding a bike though the entrance gate was shut. Still, it is a mystery and we never spotted out how he could have entered the lake. The person stopped his bike near us and told us, “Sir, you should pay an entry fee to this lake”. Annan thought that the man was a fraud and replied him that he will pay when he comes back. We headed to our room, where the coffee was ready. Then Annan gave us another surprise that we will head towards Pondicherry rather than to home. Again, we were happy about the plan. Soon we got downstairs to explore the hotel and have the complimentary breakfast. The breakfast was excellent. There was a big swimming pool in the hotel which was about 4.5 feet. There was a section for toddlers, kids play area in the hotel. There was also facility to play table tennis, air hockey, carom, Ludo, brainvita, etc. There were also staffs to teach arts and crafts for the kids but the fees was a bit expensive.

We set out to explore Yelagiri and do some shopping. Unfortunately we didn't find anything too interesting here. So Annan took us all again to the lake area. The same bike person was sitting as the fee collector. He didn’t recognize us. I asked him whether there is any government herbal farm nearby as it was mentioned so in the tourist guide. But he himself had no idea about it, so we dropped the plan of going there. Now the lake was flooded with people. There was so much difference from the lake which we investigated a few hours back. Along the way there was piles of roadside fruit shop which was selling star fruit, jackfruit, raw mango, different sorts of rose apple, manila tamarind (kodukkapuli), orange colored amla and a so called fig fruit (which was tasteless and we had to throw it out). There was a hotel in the area. We had some hot chicken fry and cauliflower fry which tasted good. We also had some cardamom tea. At that place was also an Ayurvedic shop, ice cream shop, sweet corn shop and a snack shop.

As we had just two sets of dress, we had to wander all over Yelagiri for a readymade dress shop. At last we came to a little shop where only a few dresses were available. The price was way cheaper. Opposite to that shop was a college named Don Bosco which was offering limited courses. When we interacted with the students, we came to know that students from all over Tamilnadu were coming there to carry out their studies (never understood why students from far away were coming to that college, but I noticed that all of them were from a poor background). Yelagiri was very hot, so we returned to our room soon.

 The whole afternoon Sushi and Annan spent the day in the swimming pool and we were watching them from the balcony of our room. Then we made screaming Bezal also to take a bath in the swimming pool for a few minutes. We had a quick lunch after the bathing session was over.

Then me, Annan and Sushi went to see the Government silk farm but it was closed. Later we heard that it was never open for the past few years. Then we decided to take a look on the nature park in Yelagiri. At the entrance it was mentioned that there is a musical fountain show everyday at 7pm. I got out of the car and inquired the person at the ticket counter whether there will be the musical fountain show on that day. An elderly person nearby answered, “Yes Madam, it is available on all days, it is also mentioned in the board”. So me, Annan and Sushi returned back to the hotel to take everyone along with us. At 6:45pm we left the hotel and headed towards the nature park. To our disappointment, we came to know that there will be musical fountain show only on the season time and that someone at the counter has given us a wrong information. With a heavy heart returned back to the hotel. We were ready in the morning to check out the hotel. Again Annan was sweating to climb down the hill (infact we would have descended down faster if we did walk through the lane!!) and Bezal was kicking him for going so slow (ha ha ha). 

          Annan decided to reach Pondicherry and we suggested that we might stay in the Kailash beach resort about which we came to know through tripadvisor. It was a very tedious travel and we had our lunch in the evening at 4.00 pm at the Villupuram byepass road as there was no food in all the other hotels which we crossed. Though it was a roadside hotel, the parotta and chicken masala which they provided cannot be compared with those cooked in the three star hotels. We had a blissful lunch at a cheap price. We reached Kailash resort at 6:30pm. It was a heritage themed resort. Even the key of the room was odd!! We also visited the Le Pondy resort which was next to Kailash and it was also heritage themed but the price of the rooms in there was so high that we came back to Kailash.

Key of the room

Kailash Beach

              We enjoyed the beach for an hour. Soon we came back to the room and had breakfast. Annan, Pree, Sushi and Bezal spent a few hours in the swimming pool which was so wide and 4.5 feet deep.

Restaurant in Kailash Resort

Swimming Pool

      In the afternoon we were ready to check out the resort. We heard that the resort was constructed by French people as they love to stay in heritage based resorts. Then we suggested them to change the name of the resort to be more appealing. Our next destination was Velankanni. Annan decided to travel through the east coastal road as it was his aspiration for so long (a road which is constructed along the east coast from Chennai to Tuticourin). As we were travelling through this particular road we decided to see a few beaches which is less visited and which is unknown to many. The first beach which we visited was Gundu uppalavadi beach. Was taken aback on its magnificence. It was an island formed between the distributaries of Then pennar river just before draining into the sea. It was filled with fishermen, boats and lots of coconut trees. The water at the beach was also crystal clear. An unpolluted and unpopulated beach. The most important thing which I had to mention here is that a heap of wastes was dumped underneath a coconut tree. When I got near the tree to take a picture, I was shocked to see many precious items in the stack. We saw many kinds of molluscan shells, starfish shells, sea urchins, coral reefs, etc. The people located there were totally unaware of its preciousness! But, with the exception of a few adventurers and some natives, only birds and animals see this beautiful part of God's creation. However, when we remember that the Bible says of the Creator, "For Thy pleasure they are and were created". (Rev. 4:11), we see that this beauty is not wasted. The One who has included it in His creation has great pleasure in looking on it.

Gundu Uppulavadi Beach

Precious shells on the beach

Some of my Collections

         
        As a part of our exploration we reached the mangrove forest in Pitchavaram. Mangroves are plants living in the coastal areas between sea and land. They are able to tolerate partial submersion in high salinity water, and poor oxygen content in the ground where their roots penetrate. The more God's wonderful creation is studied the more we realize that everything has its proper place in His plan. The Bible refers to a tree to tell us a wonderful thing: "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river." (Jer.17:7,8).

Mangrove Forest

Aerial Roots of the Plants

               We loved the greenery everywhere, praised God for his wonderful creations and headed towards Kodipalayam beach. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach the beach due to the lack of road and so we had to take a U-turn and continue our drive towards Velankani. We had our lunch at Chidambaram.

On the way we stopped in Tharangampadi. We took a picture along with the statue of Bartholomous Ziegenbalg (who was the first to print Tamil bible). We also took a look on the Danish Church built by Ziegenbalg in 1718. As we reached the place very late, we were not able to see the Danish fort which was on the sea shore. We walked gently on the outer rampart of the fort which is now partially submerged in water due to the tsunami. We were able to hear the roaring of the sea when it was clashing with the walls of the fortress.

Submerged walls in Tharangambadi

Ziegenbalg Statue in Tharangambadi

As it got late, we rushed to MGM residency in Velankani. Had a sophisticated stay in the hotel. However we were in a exploration mood and so me and Pree organised the adventures to be made the following day.

In MGM Residency

      After we checked out MGM, we passed through the Velankani church and witnessed the magnificent building. Due to the crowd, we didn’t get out of the car. 

Velankani Church

            Then we reached the beach of Kameswaram. The water was crystal clear. The act which made us regret was that some were disposing the ash of the dead bodies into the sea (a Hindu tradition), which was polluting the sea. 

Kameswaram Beach

Crystal clear water of Kameswaram

           

    Then we headed towards the Naluvedhapathi beach where we perceived the estuary of river Adappar. We also noticed a sea creature which was like ant but with a single leg of crab. As I don’t have proper knowledge about sea animals, I don’t know the name of the creature. There were many green fields near the beach and few women were found harvesting something. When we inquired them, we found that it was ground nut field. We asked them whether they can provide us some but they denied saying that edible ground nuts are available in the shop nearby. Later we found that the kind of ground nut which they were harvesting was used only to extract oil and if we consume it, we will feel dizzy. Thanks to them that they didn’t provide us the same and made our day better. The beach was also planted with many causarina plants (Chowkku maram). Later I read that these trees, which were known to be strong wind barriers, served as barriers against the tsunamis and stopped a large amount of water from reaching the village. It was also noted that there was no loss of life within the fishing community and no psychological trauma amongst the people of the village following the tsunami. Naluvedhapathi was the only village which was not affected by tsunami in the Nagapattinam district due to the plantations around the sea. Then one another old lady crossed us with a basketful of small green round veggy. When we asked her about it, she told us that it was Pinnakkai which is also used to extract oil (which will be used in the lamps in the Hindu temple). Then we started back to another beach. Near the ground nut fields a group of women were separating the ground nuts from its parent plant. Near them was a tree whose branches was bloomed with red flowers and the tree was very peculiar as we didn’t notice any leaves on them. When we asked them what tree it was, they laughed and answered us that it was there as a scarecrow!!!! We also noticed many cashew, mango and coconut trees near the beach.

Naluvedhapathi

Vegetations in Naluvedhapathi

Then we reached Vedaranyam beach which was a famous beach where freedom fighters started their Vedaranyam salt march following Gandhiji’s Dandi march on April 1930. We had to walk for so long to reach the beach as it was a low tide and the sea water had been pulled inside. The sea water was brown in color because the depth of the sea was less. There were also salt pans and salt water prawn culture farms near the beach.

Vedaranyam Beach

Vedaranyam Salt pans

Then we set out to Point Calimere beach (Kodikkarai) which is the apex of the Cauvery delta river and marks a nearly right angle turn in the coastline. We were grateful to the google map which revealed us these destinations. But the beach was very impure due to the scattering of the ashes of the dead bodies by the locals. It was also impure due to the phytoplanktons and hence the water appeared dark brown coloured. 

Point Calimere Beach

There was a wildlife sanctuary and bird sanctuary near the beach. As we were tired after travelling continuously for a week, we were not interested to explore the sanctuaries. There was a light house nearby. We also noticed an air force camp in Point Calimere. We were very hungry that we started eating Bezal's cerelac!!! It tasted like manna as we were that much hungry. We didn’t find any hotels nearby so we had to search for a nice hotel for so long. After a very tedious travel, we had our lunch at a roadside hotel in Adhanur. We thought that our exploration was over and so we headed towards Bangalore. As it got dark we had to stay somewhere on the way and so we booked two rooms in Ideal river view resort, Thanjavur as we didn’t get room in any other place due to the long weekend on May 1,2 and 3.

The resort was so good, placed in the outskirts of Thanjavur. We booked a river facing room. It was a scenic spot from our room which had a big balcony. To our luck a grand magic show was organised in the resort on that day and we had a clear view from our room. We enjoyed the show and were lost in our minds thinking whether it was a trick or some black magic. I read in the resort’s brochure that bicycle will be provided in the resort if we are interested to enjoy the nature. So me and Pree decided to have a look at the place nearby in the morning. It was a nice exercise for us, it refreshed our soul. 

View of the river from our room

Cycling

   Soon we had our breakfast and returned back to Bangalore with a heavy heart but we were missing our cosy beds too that we wished a lot to reach home soon. Thank God that we didn’t face any difficulties while we were in the travel. Bezal was sleeping almost on every tourist spot that paved way for us to explore some more places.

         In His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land." Psalms 95:4,5.


I thank Annan and Annie for encouraging me to write this travelogue. This is in fact my first post in the blog and I dedicate this to them on their 14th wedding anniversary on 07/05/15!!!