As I told you, me and a friend of mine went to a falls in Kerala called Aathirapally. We stayed at the one and only hotel there, owned and operated by the KTDC. We only stayed one night there, but that was a very eerie experience for me.
When I say, eerie, don't start thinking on the lines of ghosts and ghouls. No..., the eerie feeling I got was due to the pin drop silence I encountered there. This was all the more pronounced when my friend went to take a bath. He didn't take much time to finish his bath, but each minute felt very very long for me. Saying an hour or infinity maybe more poetic, but somehow sounded like crossig over into bullshitting for me.
I finished my bath first and went out to sit in the balcony for some fresh and cool air as it was quite warm in the room. As I spent most if not all of my life in cities big and small, I never had the chance to encounter such silence before. No screeching tyres, no impatient drivers honking away mindless of what is going on around them, no sms'es or missed calls on the cell. Not even the sound of a cricket for crying out loud!
I tried to concentrate to pick up the even the hint of a sound, any sound, but couldn't. Even the roar of the river, which was a constant companion to us through the day, abandoned me then. I felt so alone there that it was almost scary. I tried to call up some friends of mine using my trusty BSNL cell phone. But even that, which has range in every remote corner imaginable, didn't have enough range there.
Thankfully, my friend finished his bath by this time and came out. We chatted for about 2 odd hours about anything and everything and then turned in for the night.
I don't know, maybe it was just the state of mind I was in at that point in time. If you went there, you might not feel the same thing.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Athirapally & Vazhachal
A couple of weeks back, me and a friend of mine went to the Athirapally / Vazhachal falls located in Chalakudi, Kerala. We took the Chennai - Aleppy express and reached Chalakudi station (half an hour late) at about 7.30 am. After breakfast at the local bus stand, we set off to the falls in one of the private buses that ply between Chalakudi and Athirapally.
The fact that one of us knew Malayalam, the local language, helped us immensely in the journey. We made camp at a KTDC motel up there. We later found out that this motel, with just two rooms, is the only such place in Athirapally. Thankfully, as the tourist season was just starting, we were able to get a room there for the day without prior reservation.
After having freshened up, we made our way up to the falls which was about 1 km from the motel. Based on the input from a friend of ours, we'd decided earlier that we'd visit Vazhachal falls on Day 1 and Athirapally on Day 2. We took a private bus from Athirapally to Vazhachal. The bus made the 5km journey in under 20 minutes and at 1 pm we were standing in front of the forest officer trying to explain why we hadn't obtained tickets from Athirapally itself to visit the Vazhachal falls. Yes folks, you have to get tickets at the forest office in Athirapally to visit the Vazhachal falls!
Fortunately or unfortunately, we hadn't arranged for our own means of transportation up there. And as the next and the last bus of the day (or so we were led to believe) back to Athirapally would only come after an hour or two, the option of going back to get the tickets was ruled out. So, after convincing the forest official that we would go back to Athirapally and get the tickets we entered the Vazhachal falls area. The falls itself was beautiful and park was neatly maintained. We walked around the falls for a while and finally found a suitable spot near the water and due to the heat, promptly fell asleep. We were woken up half an hour later by a surprised security officer of the park and were asked to move away from the water. He added that he didn't want us becoming another "statistic".
Having been so rudely interrupted from our reverie, we walked a bit up stream where the water was a bit cleaner. Due to the heat, I decided to take a dip at a place where the water formed some sort of a small rapids. I got into the water, and despite the heat of summer, brrr was it cold! It was a struggle between me and the water of the rapids, me trying to hold on to some rocks and the water trying to wash me down stream. My friend who had the camera with him tried in vain to get me to face the camera. It's not as if that I wouldn't have posed, but I just couldn't hear a word he said over the roar of the water. So after some 20 minutes of struggling with the water, I decided to call it a day and climbed out.
A forest guard, with whom we had struck up a conversation, told us that there was a bridge about 1 km from the falls and a dam 3 km from the falls. He also mentioned that there was a good chance of seeing wild elephants from that bridge. We were excited by the idea of seeing wild elephants and decided to walk at least to the bridge and try our luck. On our way to the bridge we saw a few wild squirrels and stopped to take pictures of it. Having taken it, and feeling proud for having managed it, we walked on towards the bridge. A few meters down the road, we saw people coming hurriedly towards us. The guy in front said that he'd just seen some wild elephants on the other side of the river and as I had a camera asked whether we were interested in taking photos. Having heard this, we began to run to the spot where they'd seen the elephant. We went down a bit towards the river with him, but unfortunately we missed the elephant. At that moment, we rued ourselves for having spent those few minutes to photograph the squirrels.
Having reached the bridge we decided to start walking back as it was getting late and we had to walk back all the way to Athirapally. The conductor of the bus in which we came from Athirapally had claimed that the next service of his bus at 2.45 pm was the last one back to Athirapally. Somehow, at that point, we believed him. And as going back to Athirapally by that bus would leave us only very little time to explore Vazhachal we'd decided that we'll walk the 5km back. We didn't know that he was pulling our legs until we got back to Athirapally. But the walk back was very enjoyable and we inwardly thanked the conductor for forcing us to walk back.
On our way back we came across the "Chapra falls" which had run dry as it was summer. On some crazy notion we'd decided to climb it. We'd made it quite easily to the half way point, but felt that it'd be dangerous to go all the way to the top. So we stopped there to take a couple of snaps. At this point a police jeep came along. I was afraid that they would scold us for having dome something like this. But luckily they just sped along. Maybe the fact the falls weren't that slippery at that time due to the lack of water caused them to ignore us. We went off roads at 3 or 4 places and saw some absolutely beautiful sights because of it. Slowly but steadily, we reached Athirapally at about 6. Just as we reached, a bus coming from Vazhachal overtook us and stopped at Athirapally. It was only now we realized that the conductor was pulling our legs... :D.
We sat at a view point watching the Athirapally falls until the moon came over them. This was truly a sight to behold. We then walked slowly back to our hotel. Having lived in a city all my life, I felt very odd at the almost eerie silence that encompassed us at night. Imagine, no TV, no horns, no screeching tires... nothing. We couldn't even hear the roar of the waters which was constant all throughout the day. Pin drop silence! We sat in the balcony till 12 or 1, chatting about anything and everything, and then turned in for the night.
As we'd to vacate the room before 11 am on Day 2, we settled the bill and went with our bags packed to Athirapally. We swam for a while in the lake before the falls. But we ended up bumping our legs against the rocks quite often. So in the end we just sat there in the cool waters. This was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the day. Having finished our little dip, we made our way down to the base of the falls. We sat there for quite a long time just enjoying the spray of water from the falls.
There were a lot of interesting / enlightening chats and conversations we managed to strike up with the forest guards, but that's for another blog.
The fact that one of us knew Malayalam, the local language, helped us immensely in the journey. We made camp at a KTDC motel up there. We later found out that this motel, with just two rooms, is the only such place in Athirapally. Thankfully, as the tourist season was just starting, we were able to get a room there for the day without prior reservation.
After having freshened up, we made our way up to the falls which was about 1 km from the motel. Based on the input from a friend of ours, we'd decided earlier that we'd visit Vazhachal falls on Day 1 and Athirapally on Day 2. We took a private bus from Athirapally to Vazhachal. The bus made the 5km journey in under 20 minutes and at 1 pm we were standing in front of the forest officer trying to explain why we hadn't obtained tickets from Athirapally itself to visit the Vazhachal falls. Yes folks, you have to get tickets at the forest office in Athirapally to visit the Vazhachal falls!
Fortunately or unfortunately, we hadn't arranged for our own means of transportation up there. And as the next and the last bus of the day (or so we were led to believe) back to Athirapally would only come after an hour or two, the option of going back to get the tickets was ruled out. So, after convincing the forest official that we would go back to Athirapally and get the tickets we entered the Vazhachal falls area. The falls itself was beautiful and park was neatly maintained. We walked around the falls for a while and finally found a suitable spot near the water and due to the heat, promptly fell asleep. We were woken up half an hour later by a surprised security officer of the park and were asked to move away from the water. He added that he didn't want us becoming another "statistic".
Having been so rudely interrupted from our reverie, we walked a bit up stream where the water was a bit cleaner. Due to the heat, I decided to take a dip at a place where the water formed some sort of a small rapids. I got into the water, and despite the heat of summer, brrr was it cold! It was a struggle between me and the water of the rapids, me trying to hold on to some rocks and the water trying to wash me down stream. My friend who had the camera with him tried in vain to get me to face the camera. It's not as if that I wouldn't have posed, but I just couldn't hear a word he said over the roar of the water. So after some 20 minutes of struggling with the water, I decided to call it a day and climbed out.
A forest guard, with whom we had struck up a conversation, told us that there was a bridge about 1 km from the falls and a dam 3 km from the falls. He also mentioned that there was a good chance of seeing wild elephants from that bridge. We were excited by the idea of seeing wild elephants and decided to walk at least to the bridge and try our luck. On our way to the bridge we saw a few wild squirrels and stopped to take pictures of it. Having taken it, and feeling proud for having managed it, we walked on towards the bridge. A few meters down the road, we saw people coming hurriedly towards us. The guy in front said that he'd just seen some wild elephants on the other side of the river and as I had a camera asked whether we were interested in taking photos. Having heard this, we began to run to the spot where they'd seen the elephant. We went down a bit towards the river with him, but unfortunately we missed the elephant. At that moment, we rued ourselves for having spent those few minutes to photograph the squirrels.
Having reached the bridge we decided to start walking back as it was getting late and we had to walk back all the way to Athirapally. The conductor of the bus in which we came from Athirapally had claimed that the next service of his bus at 2.45 pm was the last one back to Athirapally. Somehow, at that point, we believed him. And as going back to Athirapally by that bus would leave us only very little time to explore Vazhachal we'd decided that we'll walk the 5km back. We didn't know that he was pulling our legs until we got back to Athirapally. But the walk back was very enjoyable and we inwardly thanked the conductor for forcing us to walk back.
On our way back we came across the "Chapra falls" which had run dry as it was summer. On some crazy notion we'd decided to climb it. We'd made it quite easily to the half way point, but felt that it'd be dangerous to go all the way to the top. So we stopped there to take a couple of snaps. At this point a police jeep came along. I was afraid that they would scold us for having dome something like this. But luckily they just sped along. Maybe the fact the falls weren't that slippery at that time due to the lack of water caused them to ignore us. We went off roads at 3 or 4 places and saw some absolutely beautiful sights because of it. Slowly but steadily, we reached Athirapally at about 6. Just as we reached, a bus coming from Vazhachal overtook us and stopped at Athirapally. It was only now we realized that the conductor was pulling our legs... :D.
We sat at a view point watching the Athirapally falls until the moon came over them. This was truly a sight to behold. We then walked slowly back to our hotel. Having lived in a city all my life, I felt very odd at the almost eerie silence that encompassed us at night. Imagine, no TV, no horns, no screeching tires... nothing. We couldn't even hear the roar of the waters which was constant all throughout the day. Pin drop silence! We sat in the balcony till 12 or 1, chatting about anything and everything, and then turned in for the night.
As we'd to vacate the room before 11 am on Day 2, we settled the bill and went with our bags packed to Athirapally. We swam for a while in the lake before the falls. But we ended up bumping our legs against the rocks quite often. So in the end we just sat there in the cool waters. This was a welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the day. Having finished our little dip, we made our way down to the base of the falls. We sat there for quite a long time just enjoying the spray of water from the falls.
There were a lot of interesting / enlightening chats and conversations we managed to strike up with the forest guards, but that's for another blog.
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