Another day out where land meets water

I have started dreading sundays cuz thats the only day of the week when everybody is at home, the television’s on almost for over 12 hours and nowhere in the house where you can find a quiet corner to sit by yourself. You step out of the house and realization hits that you are in one of the most populated cities of the world. How can you even in your remotest thoughts wish for solitude? This is one question I never failed to ask myself every single day in Mumbai yet I haven’t been able to find my way out of this crowded city.

Global Vipassana Pagoda

By noon I had stepped put of the house with plans of heading to the nearest book store and while away time reading a fiction that I had noticed the day before. Out of the apartment, the coffee shop downstairs got my attention and there was no way i can resist a nice cup of coffee on a Sunday noon when I have all the time to waste away. And that would give me time to think what can I do if not the book store. Basically I had no specific plan how to go about the day and the sun high up at noon wasn’t helping me decide. With a filter coffee in my hand, I looked out and wondered where to now. One hand on the bag, I could feel the kindle lying in there and was about to take it out but then decided otherwise and headed to the nearest bay, Marve Bay. The love-hate relationship I share with water bodies is something I have failed to reason out. Assuming that the water meeting the land would lift my run-down mood on a Sunday, I reached the bay through roads which almost appeared not to be a part of this big city. There it was the Manori creek. I walked on the beach basking in the hot blazing sun. The over-used beach had way too many dead fishes lying around giving signs of a flourishing fishing business happening there. And the crows had probably been having a feast on a daily basis there. The wet sand near the water had bike trails leading up to a certain point where there were a few of them parked. The waiting crowd mostly had the young college going couples and the rest looked like fisher-women heading back after the day’s trade in the city. The college crowd gave out similar vibes of their hunt for some quiet place for themselves and their urge to run away from the city yet not very far. On the right I noticed something unusual for the Mumbai skyline and was told that it is some pagoda near the Essel World. At a distance I could hear a mild drone of something tearing apart the stillness of water and looked around to see a huge ferry approaching the beach. I wondered where is the ferry gonna be parked though I could see people with their bikes waiting here but where is the terminal? The engine groaned louder as it approached this side and the so called terminal was a slightly larger mound of sand where the ferry would make way and put down its plank for the people to get onto it. This temporary terminal probably gets eroded every few months and the next time you decide to visit Manori, the boarding point might be somewhere else. The ferry finally reached, very carefully positioned at the shore, water lapping on its sides and the path made up till the shore. Few waited for the waves to recede back after breaking at the shore so that they don’t get their foot wears wet and I was definitely one of them. But what amazed me was the bikes waiting there were to be ferried away to the other side and the 10-odd bikes disembarking the ferry. I had only seen this happening on videos but never right in front of me in a bay without a ferry terminal. Very swiftly bikes got onto the ferry except few who struggled and got stuck midway until somebody on the ferry pulled it up. The wheels of the bike sliding away in the wet sand and the guy on the ferry pulling it up… the tug of war did go on for sometime. Bikes and people boarded and the engine was back onto its normal pace heading for Manori.

Lately wherever I have been going, I keep wondering what was this place before humans set foot in that particular area only to exploit it. Be it the tunnels in the Konkan railways, Ghat roads on the Sahyadris, or this island the ferry was going to. What was it like before the ferry was used here? Not that I was looking forward to swimming that distance of the Manori creek. Given an option, I would never set foot on that water. It surely had been polluted by the city’s heavy pollutants and reeked of the downsides of our luxuries at the cost of nature. I wondered if the wreckage I saw there was because of the wear and tear of the boats or did the water body decide to come down on them for being a perpetual disturbance on its calmness. Less than ten minutes ans we were there approaching the swamps of Manori on the opposite side of Marve Bay. I was the last one to get out of the ferry after I saw the disembarking bikes at their pace without a plank this time. This time the bikes sort of jumped off to a slightly lower plane and there we were at Manori. I waled around the place and came across an adventure hub. I call it so cuz a small place yet was crammed up with ATVs, Skate boarding, Paint ball, Archery, Zorbing, and there was a huge event area apart from all this. Loud music playing in the background. Oh boy!!! so much for trying to run away from the city and you find a piece of the fucking city everywhere you go. Even this small place wasn’t spared. This surely wasn’t helping my spirits of a dreaded Sunday. More wandering around and things got worse until I decided to head back to the ‘Ferry terminal’ to wait for the approach of the painfully groaning engine to take me back to the city. Right before the sunset I entered the city and the usual humdrum of a Sunday evening was in. The roads were full of families with kids everywhere. I wondered if there was any escape from all the chaos around….

 

And they met….

At the turn of the road

 

there he stood, beaming at her

 

hearts racing, she broke into a smile

 

clouds gave way, sunlight poured in.

 

Slanting rays bouncing on her frills

 

waves frolicking over the breakers

 

feet tapping to her heart’s melody

 

birds chirping away merrily…

 

All traces of anticipation dissolved

 

swept off by a violent gust of joy

 

flaming red shadows of setting sun

 

spread ripples over her calm face.

 

The wait continued

How much more longing could one take

the agitation within, rising to heights unknown

waves constantly breaking at my feet

urging to share the agony of a sore heart.

the wind carried your fragrance

and the clouds your smile

the sun set at the far off horizon

with promises of a better tomorrow.

Appeased by the moonlit night

I lay with my head on its lap

tears trickled down my cheeks

wishing you back now and forever.

 

With the blanket of the stars

I lay in the cold stinging night

waiting for the light of day

that brings you along with it.

 

I waited and waited…

Beside the window I sat staring at the long gravel road

waiting to hear the distant drone of the motorbike

longing for your single glimpse, homebound

secretly wishing for the last night to come alive again.

 

The dark hours get colder and harsher

making me crave for the warmth that we shared

a deeper sense of yearning washes over me

eager to hear your footsteps at the door

 

The smiles and the joys that you shared around

the heaviness in your heart for the misery you saw

the fatigue of the agonizing chilly nights

patiently did I wait to caress the wearied you.

 

 

And this came in as an after thought-

The farther into the night,
the worse the comprehension of lines,
yet stronger the emotion, deeper the longing
and clear failure to voice it out.

 

No less than hooked…

For obvious reasons, I was more than ready to take a second trip with ST. And now that the beauty of stepping outdoors into the unexpected has successfully gotten me hooked, the excitement starts building up the moment “planning” starts. Well, actually with him, there is no plan, just a suggested route which can change the very next minute. The element of uncertainty adds to the joy of travelling with this person. The only thing that we eventually fix is the time and place of meeting.

The night before I was to board the train, I decided to crash at a friend’s place. We head out for dinner, then a late night movie and back home by 2am. With 3 more hours to kill, I went off to sleep. Competing with the sun, I woke up before it did and headed out to take the train to our agreed point of meeting, Kudal (Maharashtra). Kudal is a small station, slightly over 500 kms from Mumbai. Thanks to Konkan Railways, I was there in less than 10hours. The first glimpse of the tiny station reminded me of the simple laid back life of small towns and how overjoyed I was to be away from the fast paced and crowded city of Mumbai. I spent sometime in the station platform waiting for ST to complete his 700km ride to reach Kudal. I was delighted to see this tiny man with a permanent smile on his face  waiting at the entrance of the platform. And our second trip together started. We headed out to Malvan after a brief stop for dinner. In the darkness of the night, under the star studded sky with the moon nowhere to be seen, crossing small hills and vast stretches of land, we headed to the western coast. Stopped in between, switched off the motor of the bike and stood under the stars, listening to the insects from within the bushes. The moon was hidden somewhere in the vastness of the sky, and we stood there feeling like the mere tiny specks in this vast wide world. By 11 pm, we reached Malvan, a small sleepy town, better explored the next day morning. Sat out on the balcony, hearing the waves at a distance, crashing at the shores… deepen the longing to just be there to witness the union of land and water. Early in the morning, the next day, we started walking towards the beach at Tarkarli (8 kms south of Malvan), a glimpse at the beach made my heart race as if my eyes had waited for ages to see the ocean. The first touch water settled my racing heart, overwhelmed by the warmth of the water body. I turned around to see the huge orange disc in the sky, trying to wake up from behind the hills, with a similar yearning to glance at the sea, only to dive into its arms at the end of the day. We walked along the shore with wordless communication and the melody of the consistent crashing of the waves and the new ones forming. At a distance, there were kids playing, the fishermen’s boat parked and very few people walking around the beach. Sat down to watch the enormity of the sea, one who has accepted everybody without any differences and successfully spread the love to each and everyone of us.

After a briefing on how to use a dslr, I laid my hands on ST’s camera. The first thing that crossed my mind was ‘can I just capture the whole essence of the sea and take it home only to hear the melody of the waves and feel the warmth from that distance?’. Fooled around with the camera for sometime, and then we left for breakfast and to explore Malvan. Sindhudurg, being the most famous fort of this region is frequented by tourists, both locals and outsiders. We walked around the fort talking about what more could have been done to save it from being this ruined and what more can still be done to restore the ruined fort as one of the sought after destinations among other things about forts of western India. Amazed at the deceptive entrance of the fort and the view from the top, time went by and we headed back to the main land. Known for its Malvani cuisine, the Malvan jetty posed a beautiful scenery as one of the major fishing hubs of the Konkan region. Back at the room, we packed and moved out for lunch and then to Devgadabout 50 kms north of Malvan. With each passing hour, we felt the dearth of availability of filter coffee in this region or for that matter any decent coffee. Passing through the lovely creeks and rivers and the villages settled on their banks, we reached devgad and went looking for the sea facing fort at Devgad which is known for the sun set views. Discouraged by the consistent winding roads through innumerable villages yet no sign of the fort, we rode back to a small beach that we had crossed after entering Devgad. The horse shoe shaped beach sort of gave the feeling of a private beach to that small town. The sun at the distance was turning into an orange ball, all set to wind up after the day’s shining and welcoming the romance with the water. Ah well, the sun was too shy and didn’t hesitate to hide behind the curtain of clouds before reaching the water. Not being voyeuristic, we decided to let them have their privacy and hit the road to Ganapatipule (110kms north of Devgad). We rode in the darkness, spotting the smallest villages from a far off distance by the flickering lights and crossed over a series of small hills. As put by ST, riding in the night makes it feel like being inside a video game, where all you do is keep going on the road enjoying the uncertain terrain that lies beyond just the road. Visibility was limited to the road ahead and beyond it we crossed hills and plains etc… Stopped by for dinner and moved on. Around 1am, we were stopped at the coastal police check post. Believe me, they have the capacity of making you feel extremely uncomfortable and so they did. The eternal issue of an unmarried couple seen at this hour of the night in most parts of India… How could I have so conveniently forgotten this. Anyway, we ended up buying our way out of it and after almost half an hour we were at Ganapatipule. I don’t even want to think what would have been the consequences if he hadn’t bought us the way out. Being an infamous destination for the local tourists, there was no paucity of the number of places to stay but the problem was finding accommodation at this time of the night. We saw lights at one of those lodges which we wouldn’t have given a second look during the day and decided to inquire there. I waited outside and he went in to ask at the reception (if I may call it so). A minute later I go in to see the room. Not that I cared about how the room would be. I was mentally prepared to lay a sheet on the beach n go off to sleep till the morning sun wakes us up. We came out to the pick up our bags from the bike and that’s when he said “You may not like it but I just made you Mrs. ST to get into this lodge”. I smiled and thought I really don’t care what you made me look like for this one night. I am not really looking forward to coming back to this place again. After a shower, I lied down wanting to sleep but instead let my mind wander through to the police check post and all the unpleasant things of the past and everything else that I had dreaded. I have no idea when I drifted off to sleep but kept waking up every now and then trying to remind myself of the beautiful lazy day we had and the first night ride.

Up by 5.30, both of us sat down talking about the previous night. I had been trying to avoid admittance of the fact that I was indeed disturbed by last night’s incident but then when I was failing to get out of it myself, and that the coming few days might be ruined because of my grim state, I decided to say it out to ST. I m not sure if he was surprised by that cuz the previous night he had probably asked me over a 100 times if I was fine and being me, I had insisted that I was doing perfectly fine. Or may be silently waiting for me to open up and not dig in too much. Around 7 we left for the temple and the beach. We spent sometime there, pretty disappointed by the hype of this place and decided to move onto Mahabaleshwar (200 kms inland). The ride was good except for a patch of almost 50kms of dry heat. The winding roads through the Sahyadris did give a constantly changing view from different points of the ghats. The range looked beautiful even without the greenery that covers all of it during the monsoons. The higher we went up, the beauty of the valley kept amplifying. Mahabaleshwar appeared to be an over crowded hill station even at this time of the year and didn’t really find it suiting our tastes and expectations. So we stopped by for lunch and headed to Panchgani (17 kms ahead) and decided to take a break there for the night. After dumping our bags at the room, we went out to one of the sunset points to see the setting sun but again the sun wasn’t gonna give us the privilege of seeing it go down. And the clouds were its accomplice in helping it hide. The air started getting cold, reminding us of the fact that we were in a hill station. We sat there talking and wishing the sun would show itself. We headed back to the room and called it a night. The previous night’s fatigue was still there, so I hardly took anytime to drift off to sleep.

We were up by 5, again talking about anything and everything under the sun. After breakfast, we left for Alandi (130kms from Panchgani), via Wai and Pune. Once we crossed Wai, and hit NH 4 for Pune, our conversations got scantier and hearts heavier knowing that this day would mark the end of another trip. Not just that but both us equally disliked approaching a crowded city after such a quiet and peaceful time at the small towns and the lonely roads. As we entered Pune, the same level of depression started sinking into both of us but we kept our mouth shut cuz it could be infectious. Later on after exiting Pune, when ST admitted what was going on his mind, I realized we shared the same thought then. We finally were at Alandi, land of the Saint Jnaneshwar. Entered the temple and saw the huge number of followers who keep coming to visit them from far off lands. And got to know that most eloped couples marry here in this temple. Already made Mrs. ST two nights back, we laughed about making it to Alandi in the same trip. ST had been longing to come here since almost 5 years and finally he was here. The joy of being in the Saint’s land was evident on his face though he didn’t say it out much. Lunch break and then Pune where we would part ways not knowing if and when we would meet or take a trip together. Another trip came to an end. Found it really difficult to exchange words or for that matter say our goodbyes. Quietly we went our ways, knowing that we would always long for each other’s company for such trips.

I boarded the bus back to Mumbai thinking of the past 2 and a half days with ST. I didn’t want to cry, not out of the joy of having such an amazing travel companion through the trip sharing such beautiful moments and definitely not out of the pain of the realization that the next trip is so uncertain…

 

600 kilometers in 60 hours

Once bitten by the travel bug, its not just tough but almost impossible to revive from it. You just gotta go where your heart and your imagination take you with them. In all these years, experiences have always been different depending on company, mode of travel and places visited of course. This trip was exceptional in every way.

My companion -Of all the people we meet in a life time, very few of them leave a deep long lasting impression on our minds. You rarely come across people who you can connect with even the very first time you meet them and that is enough to make you look forward to seeing them again and again. We happened to share the same classroom for 3 long years and yet the interaction remained minimal. I always dug myself into fat novels or biochemistry books, so other than exchanging smiles occasionally we hardly talked. We were the back benchers for almost the entire period but totally separate interests and my not so talkative nature limited our interaction to exchange of smiles. But here we are 5 years later taking a trip together. A week back we got to chat online and it was as if we had known each other for ages and that this is a continuation of the conversation we had yesterday… As if there was never a gap of these 5 years… as if we had been close enough in college. We got talking about our upcoming travel plans and we realized we were doing nearby regions almost at the same time. Slight compromise on the dates and there we were deciding on our meeting place. The suggested circuit- Karwar—> Agumbe—> Madikeri—> Hassan and we part. Even before the trip started, I had no idea what to expect. Neither from the places we were visiting nor from the company. ST is an amazing person to sit and talk to but I had no idea how the trip would turn out to be with him. He has always been the kind to rough it out and I have always been the delicately planned travel sorts. Though I knew it would not be that difficult to push myself a bit but wasn’t sure how far could I do it. I was prepared to take the step and let the time spent together decide whether we would look forward to taking a trip again or not.

Friday morning, I was super excited looking forward to board the train in the afternoon. Around 11, ST called up to ask me if I could extend my ticket to Mangalore instead of Karwar cuz he might not be able to make it there before night fall. After the initial couple of hours of extreme humidity and heat in the non AC coach and the non stop suspicious look on and from co-passengers, I started enjoying my train journey. I had always loved train travel but this was one after a really long time. I enjoyed the passing scenery and let my mind wander back to the conversations with ST during college. A part of me regretted not having turned around and talked more. Time went by pretty fast and it was time to sleep. That’s when it hit me, that I wasn’t carrying any sheet either to lay on or cover up. The small yet important misses of an irregular traveler. Not left with any other option, I went up to my berth to sleep. 45 minutes before the train’s arrival, I was up and fresh to hit our meeting place, Udupi.

After all these years, there I see him on his bike… The tiny man with a perpetual smile on his face. We meet up as if we had never fallen out of touch. Talked a bit about college, updated each other about the friends we had been in touch with, among many other things that we wanted to talk about. Freshened up, had breakfast and we were on the road. This was my first bike trip and my spirits were really high. He constantly reminded me of his habit of drifting and I was perfectly fine with it. I had a feeling he would be an ideal travel mate and 60 hours later I headed home with a confirmation of that feeling. We were on our way to Agumbe (60 kms from Udupi). We stopped by the canals and the rivers in between to enjoy the silence all around except the sound of women going about their cleaning business at a distance. These breaks were more for the first timer on the pillion. Gradually we entered the ghats nearing Agumbe and before noon we were at “Dodda mane” (big house) where Shankar Nag had shot R.K. Laxman’s Malgudi Days. Agumbe seemed like a tiny village with empty streets at that time of the day. We entered the house to meet Ajji, the owner of the property. One look at her warm smile, and your heart will melt away. We sat there to talk to her for sometime and then headed out to nearby places after leaving our bags at the house. Barkana falls was close by but unfortunately hardly any water. After a coffee break we went to the ARRS which was closed unfortunately. We ended up parking the bike and sat chatting on a culvert for almost an hour until our growling stomachs appeared louder than our voices. Ajji served us lunch. The more time spent around her, one can clearly identify her capability of selflessly loving people. Post lunch we spent sometime with Ajji’s grand kids (Arundhati and Mayur) and then hit the road to Shringeri (30 kms away), famous for its temple and being one of the major hubs of Adi Shankaracharya, the Hindu spiritual leader. The gorgeous temple stood there with the sun setting in the background and the river flowing beside it. The sculptures on the temple walls represented the 24 manifestations of Lord Vishnu. We spent sometime looking at the setting sun and headed back to Agumbe. It was the evening before Ramnavami (Lord Ram’s birthday). When we reached the Agumbe around 8pm, there were bhajans on the loud speaker from the temple where everybody was gathered. ST left for the temple and I went in to take a much needed shower. Back in the room, after I freshened up, I have no idea when I dozed off until about an hour later, ST woke me up for dinner. And after dinner I again went and crashed. Except for occasionally being woken up by ST out of his concern for my health, I slept peacefully.

Up at 4.15, I looked at the thick fog hanging in the air and the stillness of the whole place. What a blissful state I was in… How I wish I could just stay on at such a place, live on at that pace and simplicity. By 5am we went downstairs only to see everybody up at the table with their morning tea. We were offered sweets as it was Ajji’s birthday and considering my love for sweets, one can only imagine how difficult it was for me to push it down my throat. In half an hour we left for Chikmagalur, leisurely riding through the ghats, stopping in between just to sit and chat, and to avoid the chill air get onto us. The moment we entered the hustling bustling over crowded town, all we did was look for an exit. After the quiet, peaceful and easy morning, the noise of the town came as a shock. Just outside the town, ST was out with his favorite road map. And that is when we saw the legendary “You are here” map. This was the first of many such maps that we would come across in the next two days. 30kms away was the town of Belur known for its spectacular temple. Not that I knew this but ST did. So we went to check out the temple there. The Belur temple blew me away… The delicate carvings on the soap stone were one of the most beautiful things I had even seen. Impressed by Chenna Keshava temple, we went to the twin city of Halebeedu. This temple didn’t seem really of this world… What workmanship was reflected on the stone carvings… We went around the temple by ourselves and I was secretly thinking were these actually done by the humans or was it the result of some alien invasion or was it the house elves??? And above all, these were inspired by the then Queen of King VishnuVardhan. The beautiful natyarani Shanthala. Carrying the splendid images of the temples we visited in our memories, we stopped for lunch at Hassan and moved ahead to Madikeri. After a certain stretch, the roads started to get worse until a point when they became torture for our butts. With time we entered Coorg, the Scotland of India, filled with coffee plantations on the small hills and the weather got colder with time. We continued in our chosen route with occasional stops to ask for directions when unmarked forks came our way. At a point we asked for directions to a truck driver and he suggested we go through a place called Kushalnagar and hit the NH, from there head to Madikeri. Roads are better but it would be a longer route. And all of a sudden ST asks me if I had ever been to a buddhist monastery. I was like why is he asking me this question now? But anyway, I never had been to one, so I said so. Then he says there is a Tibetan settlement in Kushalnagar and if you would like to we can visit the monasteries there. I was taken aback… A Tibetan settlement in the middle of Karnataka? I was kinda excited to go ahead and see it. There it was. Tucked far away from the highway and the crowd, the Golden temple as the locals call it, the Namdroling Monastery. I was awestruck by the magnificence of the place. The place was swarming with monks. It was a mini Tibet in India. I walked into the Stupa and my heart instantly bowed down to the elegant Buddha sitting there with the peaceful look that we so long for in our daily lives. We went to the nearby smaller monastery called the Sera Jey Monastery and crashed at the guest house for the night. We lied on the beds, thinking of the two days that we had spent together. It felt like a real long time as opposed to just the 48 hours. Time had moved very slowly… making us aware of every single moment that had passed.

Again got up to a thick fog hanging around and the previous morning’s chilly ride fresh in my morning, I thought better off a bit late. By 7 we packed our bags and were ready to visit the Sera Jey monastery and then Namdroling again before we hit the NH to Mysore. For almost 50 kms we rode in complete silence respecting the state of mind we were in after the visit to the monasteries and the calmness that Buddha had dawned upon us. As we approached Mysore, the heaviness in our hearts started pulling our spirits down. And I thought lemme take an extra 150 kms to Bangalore. And then we were bound to part ways there. We said our goodbyes with high spirits from the trip and hopes of a next trip soon enough.

The trip indeed was an amazing experience. First the heavenly hill station of Agumbe surrounded by the ghats and the second was the man made paradise by the Tibetans. I wish to go back to that place again to spend more time with Buddha than just half a day. Not to forget, the awesome travel companion I ended up having for this trip. It was a delight to see such a person with a free spirit as if unmarred by the vices of the world and starts everyday as an untouched canvas and as the day passes the painting gets done with the smile that he successfully spreads around. How often do we come across people whose mere presence around is enough for the innumerable wordless conversations that you always wanted to have? I will keep getting reminded of the first bike trip and the exceptional travel partner who drifts about anywhere his heart takes him to. His genuineness, honesty and the feeling that he is totally incapable of hurting anyone… everything put together left me longing for more travelling with him. I might be too quick to judge, but how much wrong can I be?

 

A Beautiful Ending to Another Year-V

The next day I woke up with the rays of the sun rising behind the mountains, falling right on my face through the window. All set for the day, I took the only conveyance available and that was an open jeep. I have no clue what the temperature was but an open jeep wasn’t helping. Till 10am I was covered up in my jacket and stole. For the day, Nasseer was my driver. He was a native of Thirunelly but works in Qatar and was here just during the holidays. We started the day with a drive to the Soochipara Falls which was about 50kms from Thirunelly. The falls was a small one well hidden within the forest and the hills around but being a very well known place, it was extremely crowded.

Spent a good 2 hours in and around the falls and then made my way to Kuruwadeep. It is an inland water body with small islands within it. So a bamboo raft was to take the tourists for a ride from island to island. But the most important part was the drive back from Soochipara to Kuruwadeep. There was a vast expanse of tea gardens. This was the first time I saw any kinda tea garden. The winding roads within them looked beautiful from the altitude.

Tea Gardens

Bamboo rafts at Kuruwadeep

After Kuruwadeep, I visited a Clay museum which had an exhibition going on. This ended my day and hit back to the resort around 5.30pm, in time to avoid the scary dark forest. I got up the next day around 5.30am, as I had to go for the safari in the Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary.

It was chilly outside and misty too. 15 mins on the road in an open jeep, and I couldn’t feel my fingers. The sun was rising at the far east from the within the forest and everything looked dark blue. Until the sun appeared at a distance to make the sky red and yellow and shades of orange.

Sun rising at the far east

Misty roads in the Forest

The misty roads added to the eerie-ness of the dark morning. Almost 2 hours ride in the sanctuary, and spotting of a female elephant, Bisons, spotted deer etc., I headed back to the resort. And now the holiday was over. Since the train tickets had to be cancelled, I had to change a lot of things in my planned holiday. I had to leave a day early in order to make it to a friend’s farm house for the new year party. I left Thirunelly around 10 in the jeep to Mananthavady from where I boarded a bus to Kannur. After a 4 hour long journey to Kannur, I got into a train to get to mangalore. From Mangalore, took a bus to Belagum. The next day morning I was in Belgaum, eagerly waiting for the bus to Mumbai. Around noon that day, I finally got into the bus which had just arrived from Goa and it was full of people dead tired of partying real hard. Reflecting back at the short break at kerala through the 12 hr bus journey, made me contented and happy for having made this journey.

 

A Beautiful Ending to Another Year-IV

As the day at Kannur started, I was reminded of the return train tickets still sitting in the wait list. There hadn’t been any movement, so I decided to check for other options meaning the buses. Booked bus tickets for the return journey and left for the day. First stop was St. Angelo’s Fort. This is one of the forts built by the Portuguese.

Sometime at the St. Angelo’s Fort and the adjacent waterfront, I went to the 4km stretch of Muzzapilangad Drive-in beach. This is supposed to be the only Drive-in beach in Asia. Needless to say, my car got stuck and I had to use some muscle to get it out of the sand.

Next stop was Thalassery Fort, which was used as a base for trading purposes. This fort had a church, a bell tower and a cemetery within the compound but otherwise most of it is in ruins.

The locals suggested that I get to Thirunelly, my next destination before the sunset as the drive was through the forests on the ghats. I started around 3pm for the 140km drive. The closer the forest got, the narrower the roads were and once inside the forests, the roads were narrow enough just to let two vehicles pass on the opposite sides. I wonder how do two trucks manage at such places. The atmosphere was getting colder by every km drive, the sound of the crickets getting louder, the forests getting thicker and denser, until there was no direct sunlight falling but just the daylight above the trees. The drive was awesome till a point where cars had stopped and started taking u turns from there. Since this was the only approach road to Thirunelly, it worried me. I didn’t want anymore cancellations in this trip. To my relief, it was a wild elephant who had wandered around on the road. How much better could it get? The sight of the majestic being was very beautiful but the fear of the driver was justified that if the elephant decides to make us its football for the afternoon, then what? After may be 5-10mins, the elephant made its way into the forest and got off the road. I had no idea about Thirunelly. When I reached the resort, I figured that it was sitting in the middle of the forest which was now the Wayanad wildlife sanctuary. Other than the landline, no other communication device worked from this place. Worse, once the sun set, it was pitch dark outside except for the faint moonlight penetrating through the thick vegetation. If it hadn’t been for the concrete resort that I was sitting in, I couldn’t have been able to sleep at all for the fear of being trampled by one of the mammals freely roaming inside the forest.

 

 

 

A Beautiful Ending to Another Year-III

After meeting with Mr. Punchithaya, I was on a high knowing there are people who are living the life we can only dream of. He mentioned his students who are settled with their careers in other fields but wouldn’t bother to get back to art. Anyway, individual choices. Given a choice, I would have loved to go stay there in his workshop and learn from him. All the formalities done and promising to keep in touch, I made my way to Chandragiri Fort now, which was another 30-45 minutes drive from the Kalagram. I wasn’t sure what to expect at this fort. Once I got off the car there, I could see the ruins of a god knows how old a fort. The fort had its boundary walls intact and three ruined underground passages. Except that there was a small tower from where you could see the sea. It so happens that all the forts in Kerala were built on the waterfront with beautiful views of the sea. The view from the tower was breathtaking. As far as land was extended, all you could see was coconut tree tops. So typical of Kerala!!! The Payaswini river flowed beside the fort joining the Arabian sea at a distance.

Mouth of Payaswini river

Trying to soak in every possible bit of beauty of the north western coast of Kerala, I moved onto Bekal fort and beach, a world heritage site now, was another 10kms from here.

Bekal fort entrance

Golden expanse of beautiful beach surrounding Bekal fort

An extension of the beach

My last stop for the day was Valiyaparamba backwaters which was 20kms from the bekal fort. Almost after an hour long drive, there was  no sign of the backwaters and the sun was setting pretty fast. So I asked the driver to ask someone on the way and there had been some major confusion. There is a small village by the same name so there I was in small village and not the backwaters where I intended to see the sunset. By then I was tired enough not to take any more chances, now that the sun had set and it was getting dark, I headed for Kannur, for the night. The thought of crawling onto a bed after 48 hours was very tempting. Once there in the hotel, after a hot shower I crashed hoping to get up on time for the next day.

 

 

A Beautiful Ending to Another Year-II

Well, after the unending bus journey, with my back literally killing me and me totally famished, the first thing I looked around for was a place to eat. I rushed into the first place I set my eyes on and ordered a dosa. Then reality hit me. I was in the land of coconut trees and every possible dish was cooked in coconut oil or coconut milk as the base. I knew food was gonna be a problem for the next 4 days but right now I could have eaten anything to satisfy my hunger. No scope for any complaints. The second thing about Kerala, for a state with such a huge tourism industry has hardly people who would understand or speak any other language than malayalam. And worse I was in the wrong part of the state. You hardly find tourists in the northern part of the state. So no incentive for the locals to learn any other language. I wish I had learnt a bit of Tamil and Malayalam from my roommates during my under graduation. Anyway, with a lot of difficulty and some major effort from both sides, it was communicated to an employee of the restaurant that I needed a taxi to take me to few places that I intended to visit before I head to my next destination. A taxi was waiting outside the restaurant before I was done with stuffing myself. Very prompt service I would say. My list of places included visiting an artist village, two forts and a beach, and finally back waters to see the sunset on the western coast of the country.

Kanchan Ganga:

I figured it was easier to communicate with the taxi driver through the guy at the restaurant than directly with him. So I told the guy at the restaurant,  Mr. Allahuddin, that I wanted to visit the artist village started by a national level painter, Mr. P.S. Punchithaya. Everybody recognized the artists name but nobody could relate to the name Kanchan Ganga. In fact, one of them said, its a mountain peak in the Himalayas. I looked at that person and wondered what made him assume that I would have traveled in the wrong direction to find the Himalayas. Anyway, after few calls made by Mr. Allahuddin, with slight disappointment he stated that he had no idea where the artist village is. So I insisted on visiting the Mr. Punchithaya’s residence and that he might be able to guide me to his own Kalagram. After Mr. Allahuddin briefed the driver about where I am to be taken during the day before being finally dropped at Kannur, I said my goodbyes to him and thanked him for going out of his way to help me. It was good to see people in the restaurant also making an effort to help me get wherever I wanted to. Never failed to get surprised at the Indian Hospitality. I didn’t have a clue that the most difficult part of the trip was yet to begin. After I got into the car, the first thing I asked the driver was his name. And that itself made me use every possible linguistic skills I had acquired in the last 26 years. Finally got his name. Assuming Mr. Nagesh knew where we were headed, I relaxed a bit and enjoyed the passing scenery occasionally asking him if he needed more specific directions he should stop and ask the locals. Not sure if he understood a word of what I was saying but eventually he stopped and asked someone before entering a supposed village.

Unique to Kerala is its lack of demarcation of where a particular town gets over and where the next one starts. After seeking further direction, the only thing I knew was we were looking for a rubber plantation. Half an hour ride on the thin winding roads within what felt like verandahs of the houses, I spotted a small sign mentioning ‘Kanchan ganga’. Finally some proper direction. We followed the the single route visible and then reached a gate which said Kanchan Ganga and below it ‘Visitors not permitted’. I was a bit surprised and hesitated letting the driver drive into the campus. But obviously I failed to communicate that to him. We went down the winding road through a huge rubber plantation and could see a small house in the valley. Reaching at the house, before I could open the car door, a dog started barking somewhere and I stopped right there. The entrance of the house had sculptures and couple of paintings. The door opened and a couple stepped out. The man not more than may be 40years came out and shushed the dog and asked me to step out of the car. Having that immense respect for any artist, I started with a traditional namaskar and introduced myself. I apologized for having dropped in unannounced and that I wasn’t aware of his residence being a part of the Kalagram. With every word he spoke, my admiration for him kept multiplying many-fold. When he mentioned that in his career of 40+ years, he had traveled around the country and now his son, a sculptor, is continuing on his legacy, I was a bit surprised. A career of 40+ years…. How old is this man? Four months to complete 70! Unbelievable!!! He didn’t look a day older than 40.

After a nice cup of coffee made by his wife, Mrs. Bharathi, and organic banana from his ‘backyard’, and long chat about his time in J.J.School of arts, Mumbai, and looking at his paintings, I happily agreed to walk around his plantation. He owns 15acres of land there where he has a huge rubber plantation, loads of coconut trees, banana plants, cocoa trees, and various other plants with medicinal benefits. With an elaborate system of drip irrigation, all the plants are kept hale and hearty by the attention of the painter himself and 3-4 workers. There is a small waterfall inside his plantation, and he manages to get underground clean water for drinking too. He has a bio-gas plant in there, other than selling almost 20,000 coconuts and god knows how many organic bananas, he processes rubber sap and sells loads of them and coconut choir.

Cocoa fruit

Waterfall within the plantation

He took me to show around his son’s workshop and the rest of the working area. When I finally decided to take leave, I got a ripe cocoa ready to eat as a parting gift.

Most of us would dream to live such a life after retirement. Spend time walking around your own 15 acre backyard, be in constant touch with the nature and draw inspiration for painting. What more can we ask for in life?