Kerala By Road : K Achuthan

Onam greetings to you and all. I thought I had sent out the greetings yesterday but noticed this morning that the message failed to deliver.



Glad that you appreciate the places I wrote about. There are many others too, as you probably know.



The striking thing about Kerala as you enter it from other states is the stream of school children, all dressed up smartly in colourful uniforms, neat and clean, and very cheerful and chirpy. This is such a stark contrast to what happens on the other side of the border when one would see children loitring listlessly, often grazing cattle. On the not so bright side of Kerala when you travel around, is the sight of "wine shops" and bars that are over flowing with customers from wee hours in the morning. Not so much in the Malabar side but certainly every where else that I have travelled.



Kerala roadsides also have one of the best garbage clearing systems in the country and it is also relatively plastic free. One would see ice-cream vendors along the road side with a cardboard carton placed next to his vehicle where his clients would deposit the litter. All this means so much less of stray dogs. You cannot escape the countless number of billboards colourfully painted with messages most often announcing a range of footware or wares of jwellery shops. Mammotty and Mohanlal would compete even here for eyeball space. This can be an eyesore for an outsider as this would stand between him and Kerala.



I was amazed to observe some road habits of a Malayalee. An ambulance is given way instantly and even a KSRTC bus does it. This is such a contrast to what happens in Bangalore, specially, when an ambulance is just another vehilce trying to push its way. People cross the roads through cleanly marked pedestrian crossways which never happens anywhere outside Kerala. You very rarely see people squatting to ease by the roadside which is very different from the "pee"ple in other parts who use the road sides as loo's. The roadsigns on the highways are very adequate and also written in English. Despite all this, Kerala roads could turn out to be the least motarable ones when its gets shut down by "bandhs" and "hartals" which are announced in a flash and far too often.



There is no better place in India than Kerala for a traveller when it comes to roadside food. Most roadside restaurants serve tasty food in hygenic conditions and at very reasonable rates. They serve boiled warm drinking water. Tipping is not possible as you are required to settle your bill directly at the cash counter where one has direct access to the owner of the place, if you wish to pay a compliment or otherwise. And yet, you could be at the receiving end if you dare to ask for a spoon to eat as that would mean challenging the culture.



Temples, mosques and churches line the roadsides at such regularity that it made one of my friends to make a "north-Indianish" assumption that this is why Kerala was called "God's Own Country". You will find posters of Abdul Madani, now cooling his heels in a jail in Bangalore, proclaiming that "WILL BE BACK ONE DAY, LIKE A STORM". The road side tea stalls still have those characters that you see in Srinivasan's movies, who sit on that bench and read out from a Malayalam newspaper. In Malapuram district, two wheelers have their number plates in green, often numbered also in Arabic. "Saree Sellers", "Disco Step Cutters" would directly call out the boards that crown the shops selling sarees and the one that is a barber's shop.



So much has changed and yet so little has been lost in Kerala. As I stood by the banks of Bharatha puzha that was flowing from bank to bank, on the same spot that my father had stood in early 1940's to cross the river to get to Tirur to take a train to Madras where he did his MA Honours in MCC, I was completely at peace, like others who live in Kerala. Kerala is ahead in many ways without being in the rat race. "Roads speak our culture", said a board. Indeed it does, especially in Kerala. Travel by the roads in Kerala, and you can take in the warmth of your motherland!!

Masinagudi Adventures : K Achuthan

If you have not been to Mavanalla/Bokapuram near Masinagudi, I suggest you try this place once. As you drive from Gundalpet to Gudalur, after Bandipur and as you reach Thepakadu, there is a narrow bridge on the left that takes you to the elephant country called Bokapuram. On the foothills of Nilgiris (Ooty is 13 kms away if you are ready to take the 36 hair-pin bend Kalhatti road), this place is my favourite mainly because of wildlife sightings.



Cottage 6 at Casa Deep Woods is a place that I have always preferred. This is the one on the fringes of the forest and many a times we have been stranded in it, sorrounded by elephants. We have sighted a sloth bear there and have heard a tiger roar twice from approximately 200 meters away. On one ocassion, we were asked to vacate the room in a hurry at about 8 pm as there was a rouge elephant roaming around in that area. The fellow had killed 2 french tourists about 2 months ago.



I have two friends who live there. Dev Reddy owns Casa Deep Woods and he and his wife Nagina lives in a bunglow next to Casa Deep Wood. Last time when we had a drink with them, Nagina showed us the spot from where her pet dog was lifted away from the compound by a leopard. The other one is Mark who lives all alone deep inside. He once talked of an elephant that had got inside his kitchen "lifting the roof" in search of jackfruit that was kept in the fridge. He could not get out for a long time and gave Mark some very tense time. Read chetalwalk written by his father Dravidar to know more about the place.



We were there in March this year and Dev showed us a newspaper cutting stating that the forest department has declared the whole place as an elephant corridor and the court had ruled that all the resorts must close down. Dev confirmed some time back that their appeal was turned down and Bokapuram will soon stop to be a a tourist destination. We are going there this month for what we think would be our last visit to beautiful Bokapuram.



Kenneth Anderson is a Scottish gentleman who has written few books about his experiences shooting down man-eater tigers in the nilgiri biosphere. In one May when we went to pick up Shruti who was then studying in Ooty, we decided to trail a route that he had written about. With help from Dev who kindly arranged for a forest department guide and jeep, we drove deep inside. There was a certain temple that Anderson had written about and we could locate it. It is abandoned and in ruins but all that was written was there to see. Considering that the book was written in mid forties, things had not changed much. We came across some tribals, the kurumbas, who are traditional honey collectors. That by itself is a story.



Most of my outings have been inspired by wildlife and Neena and Shruti have come to accept that if they need to see me in my elements, they need to be ready for the wilderness. It has not been always fun and thrill....... we have had some very anxious moments too.



Try Masinagudi once. Even a day trip is sure to give you some thrill.

Guruvayoor-Bangalore : K Achuthan

I had a trip of my life. Left Guruvayoor at 6 am, Ponnani-Kuttipuram-Valancherry-Peruthanmlla-Nelambur-Gudallur-Gundalprt-Mysore-Bangalore.



To start with, it was a drive along the coast of Arabian sea. A twist at Thavannur and it took us to the ghats of the Malabar. A little drive away and we were into the plantation area. Madhu, by the way, the best ever breakfast break that we have had was at Angadipuram. They served a vada with dosha.



The road was broken, understandably because of rains. We couldnt have asked for a better mosaic of Kerala. Coast, hills, forest, etc. To say that it was one of our best ever drives would be an understatement. Kerala is truely Gods Own Country.



Between Gudallur and Gundelpet was just forest and we were stopped by elephants..



It is great to drive along such routes if you have a partner who can encourage you to go into the unknown. Neena was just that. . We broke journey at Windflower at Mysore and if you are looking for some good Indian-continental dishes, this is the place. We stayed overnight at his place and took a drive into the Mysore city and Neena could not resist buying a Mysore silk saree.



Altogether a a lovely outing and I recommend you all to drive this way. I know that Madhu does it every now and then I am I jelous of him.