East of Western Ghats
East of Western Ghats
The name western ghats conjures Kerala in everyone’s mind. There is an interesting portion of its East side in Tamilnadu generally missed. The monsoon clouds get blocked in Kerala side and the rain just trickles in drizzles on ease side. To see this, one must get down at Dindigul by train and follow the ghats via Sembatti,Vattalagundu, ghat road( Kodai ghats start fom here),Devadanampatti, Periakulam, Theni, Bodinayakanur( Bodi),Kambam, Kumili etc. There are roads to cross the Ghats at Kodai to Munnar ( Not for public use, controlled by the Army), Bodi to Munnar, Kambam to Thekkady.
Dindigul town is 5 kms from station( Rs 20/- by auto). Good food at Balaji Bhavan next to bus stand (including special like Horlicks mysore pak, Appy cake etc).You can visit Gandhigram Rural Institute ( take bus no.9). A few kms from Gandhigram is a village called Chinnalampatti famous for sarees (popular with all old ladies of Tamilnadu including my grand mom Rukmini).
You notice anywhere in Tamilnadu that every non- veg hotel is “ Madurai Muniyandi Vilas Military hotel”, every bakery is “ Bangalore Iyengar Bakery”. I feel our best B-Schools should do research on this Brands instead of Coke and Pepsi. One in five STD booth is owned by Tmt. Kalavathy .B.A.( Who the hell is this Kalavathy ?).I found one barber shop with rickety chair in Devadanampatti called Belgium Hair Designer, next to a tea shop with Netaji ‘s face painted saying INA General Tea Shop ( there are still Nethaji’s followers after 60 years).
Kannappan , the betel nut vendor’s daughters marriage invitation in the form of wall poster, inviting all and sundry for the wedding ( What generosity!). On the bus side, there was a poster for the sorrowful death of Parvathammal with the heading “ Kanneer Anjali ( Tearful Homage)”. On the bus to Kumbakarai falls, my co-passenger, Ibrahim told me his story of escape from Saudi after two Saudis were killed in a car accident with him as driver, going into hiding, escaping to Mecca, getting duplicate passport from Indian Embassy as lost in Haj, thus escaping sure jailing for life there. The bus conductor, Krishnan from Theni told me that his one son was doing M.S. in computer Engg in Karaikudi and the other son is doing M.Sc Maths in Gandhigram. He has managed all this with his Rs 8000/- per month salary.
The beauty of this route is that there no heavy rains like Kerala and left over rains provide cool atmosphere with greenery all around. ( most of the tamil movies are shot in Bodi). I personally liked Kumbakarai falls near Periakulam, Vaigai Dam, Teni, Bodi. The best way is to stay at Theni ( I strongly recommend Hotel Sri Lakshmi Sai, 1315, Peiakulam road, Near Taluk office, Theni 625 531 , phone 250046, 250846 Cost Rs 450 for A/c double room with TV etc.), travel to Bodi, take the bus to Bodi Mettu via Korangani. Bodi Mettu is at 4500 ft elevation with views of Bodi on East and Munnar on West. The sheer height of the ghats at Bodi is exhilarating. The green fields, white winged herons with misty mountain backdrop, is any photographer’s delight. Trekkers would enjoy this area, surrounded by nature. Further on Thekkady road, you can enjoy Suruli falls.
Best time to go is October , as soon as monsoon stops.
K.Jayaraman(Jay)
The name western ghats conjures Kerala in everyone’s mind. There is an interesting portion of its East side in Tamilnadu generally missed. The monsoon clouds get blocked in Kerala side and the rain just trickles in drizzles on ease side. To see this, one must get down at Dindigul by train and follow the ghats via Sembatti,Vattalagundu, ghat road( Kodai ghats start fom here),Devadanampatti, Periakulam, Theni, Bodinayakanur( Bodi),Kambam, Kumili etc. There are roads to cross the Ghats at Kodai to Munnar ( Not for public use, controlled by the Army), Bodi to Munnar, Kambam to Thekkady.
Dindigul town is 5 kms from station( Rs 20/- by auto). Good food at Balaji Bhavan next to bus stand (including special like Horlicks mysore pak, Appy cake etc).You can visit Gandhigram Rural Institute ( take bus no.9). A few kms from Gandhigram is a village called Chinnalampatti famous for sarees (popular with all old ladies of Tamilnadu including my grand mom Rukmini).
You notice anywhere in Tamilnadu that every non- veg hotel is “ Madurai Muniyandi Vilas Military hotel”, every bakery is “ Bangalore Iyengar Bakery”. I feel our best B-Schools should do research on this Brands instead of Coke and Pepsi. One in five STD booth is owned by Tmt. Kalavathy .B.A.( Who the hell is this Kalavathy ?).I found one barber shop with rickety chair in Devadanampatti called Belgium Hair Designer, next to a tea shop with Netaji ‘s face painted saying INA General Tea Shop ( there are still Nethaji’s followers after 60 years).
Kannappan , the betel nut vendor’s daughters marriage invitation in the form of wall poster, inviting all and sundry for the wedding ( What generosity!). On the bus side, there was a poster for the sorrowful death of Parvathammal with the heading “ Kanneer Anjali ( Tearful Homage)”. On the bus to Kumbakarai falls, my co-passenger, Ibrahim told me his story of escape from Saudi after two Saudis were killed in a car accident with him as driver, going into hiding, escaping to Mecca, getting duplicate passport from Indian Embassy as lost in Haj, thus escaping sure jailing for life there. The bus conductor, Krishnan from Theni told me that his one son was doing M.S. in computer Engg in Karaikudi and the other son is doing M.Sc Maths in Gandhigram. He has managed all this with his Rs 8000/- per month salary.
The beauty of this route is that there no heavy rains like Kerala and left over rains provide cool atmosphere with greenery all around. ( most of the tamil movies are shot in Bodi). I personally liked Kumbakarai falls near Periakulam, Vaigai Dam, Teni, Bodi. The best way is to stay at Theni ( I strongly recommend Hotel Sri Lakshmi Sai, 1315, Peiakulam road, Near Taluk office, Theni 625 531 , phone 250046, 250846 Cost Rs 450 for A/c double room with TV etc.), travel to Bodi, take the bus to Bodi Mettu via Korangani. Bodi Mettu is at 4500 ft elevation with views of Bodi on East and Munnar on West. The sheer height of the ghats at Bodi is exhilarating. The green fields, white winged herons with misty mountain backdrop, is any photographer’s delight. Trekkers would enjoy this area, surrounded by nature. Further on Thekkady road, you can enjoy Suruli falls.
Best time to go is October , as soon as monsoon stops.
K.Jayaraman(Jay)
posted by Jayaraman @ 10:25 PM
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