Trip to Athirapally Falls.....

Come Come weekend and here we are off again on a new trip...This time around our team leader put forth a place...Athirapally falls just about less than 70kms from ernakulam....We hired a toyota qualis to accomodate 8 of us....
(P.N.The eigth member is the photographer!!!)
The toyota qualis was just adequate for al of us...we left ernakulam at 9:30hrs....we took to the highway which was quite broad enough for our toyota to zoom....we reached chalkudy and had breakfast then we headed to the falls...the road was excellent...
it had been ages since i saw such excellently laid roads(being a civil engineer!!!)....after zooimng around across steep turns and twists(where the toyota never reduced its speed)we finally reached the athirapally falls....
magnificiant site from the view point.....we quickly moved into our shorts to get wet in the chilly water..........first we went to the place where the water fell from almost 80 feet high....it was beautiful with the sun just at the tip of the rock cliff....we had couple of photo sessions....One of friend back in office told me its the same falls in the bollywood movie GURU where aishwarya dances for one of the hit song....There were two mainstream falls occuring one was right ahead of us, the other was at the end wit a bigger stream of water flowing down.....These falls reminded me of my environmental engg. sessions where they said these falls work as natural treatment for water purification...when the water falls down from a height,it takes air along with it(oxygen),which gets mixed up, thus getting the water oxigenated, oxygen which is required for various organisms from minute bacteris to aquatic life....
Then we had to climb the cliff through the forests to reach the top of the falls where people had a safe area to take a dip in water..I was really surprised to find it wasn't dirty at all..The government has banned plastics around the vicinity and taken utmost care that picnikers dont mess up the vicinity..We found a good place to dip ourselves in the water..We cried in excitement when we got into the water..We almost went exploring the place..I think december/january is the best time to be here, because the water is just right not overflowing nor scanty..We had some photo sessions after that...finaly we decided to head back...there were good places nearby which are good places to visit as well..We skipped it since it was already for lunch....We came to the mainstream highway to have lunch and then we suddenly decided to go to Cherai Beach...
Cherai beach was a bit crowded since it was a weekend...but it was good to be there....
It reminded me of the Mangalore beaches...Besides residing at Kochi, the nearest best beach is Cherai which 26kms away from Kochi....People say
that a majority of the sand has been washed out by the tsunami..We started searching for our sapce there as well..since it was too crowded...finally some of them settled down some them went to dip their legs in the salty water...Then we decided to play kabbaddi..We were exactly 8 of us, so divided into 4 each in a team...n started playng...which attracted many people nearby to watch our play...it was fun...Here are the winners(except the guy too much excited behind us...he couldn't take, to be a loser!!)....
and here are the losers....but i feel the losers get all the credit....because without the losers the winners simply just don't exist...finally after the sunset we headed back to our cab....and then bak home!!

A train trip to Kanya kumari....Southern most tip of the Indian Peninsula!!

A new year 2007 brought in lotta things.New resolutions for the new year..new hopes...etc etc....well i spent my new year at kottayam...wher v went out for dinner accompaning me were my aunt and my mom along wit my brother.I m meeting my bro after a long time since he comes home only twice a year..It was gud to see him back...but he hasnt changed an inch n length or width.he is the same....
This post is just to brief on my trip to kanyakumari...or cape comorin(as named by the firangees since they cudnt pronounce kanyakumari)..For further info chk out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanyakumari..My friend unexpectedly planned a kanyakumari trip just before the weekend started.So i checked on the internet for the the train schedules to kanyakumari from ernakulam.The train timings to kanyakumari were odd either very arriving early at ernakulam or reaching late at kanyakumari..so v thought of going to trivandrum n then going by bus.So we planned accordingly.....Kerala Express THEORITICALLY was scheduled to be at the station by 9:50 but arrived at 10:40 and then reached trivandrum at 15:30 instead of 14:40.We had taken a second class ticket and got into the sleeper coach unfortunately we were intercepted by the TC and had to pay an extra amount.
From trivandrum we did not get a bus directly to kanyakumari so v had to catch a connecting bus to Naroor, which is small bus station close to Nagercoil, the capital of kanyakumari district..We reached Naroor at about 17:30..there were still 20kms to kanyakumari from there which we had to finish in one hour inorder to see the sunset...I was watching the sun out going down slowly amongst the coconut trees...for once i thought of some force that would hold back sun for a moment till we reached kanyakumari...so that v cud see the sunset.....but the bus a typical ashok leyland(ferrari's in cochin for ur kind info!!!) with its muttering engine cudnt make it before 19:00 at kanyakumari....but kanyakumari in the evening is equally good...streets are well lit and the whole of the kanyakumari is within a span of half a km...we had a strolll across the streets with vendors selling all their artifacts which are well known in tamil nadu and the coastal strip especially the shells over which they carve out a name or one's family tree!!!....
we then went to the temple from where v cud see the statue of thiruvalluvar near the viveknanda rock memorial..flood lights gushing over it n the midlle of the sea...
Then v thought of filling our stomachs since we skipped our lunch in the train n dint have ne thing for tea as well..there were couple of stalls which were frying fresh fish....was really tasty....but nothing can beat our "Fort Kochi fish cuisine".....then v settled down in a lodge for the nite since v were very tired by the train journey...and then v had to wake up early,so that it wudnt be a blunder not to watch atleast the sunrise after coming so far!!!.....next morning v got up at 5:00, the sun was scheduled to awaken at 6:10....by 6:00 v got to the streets and then got on top of the view point newly built by the local government....

Slowly the crowd started to accumulate....in addition to tourists there were pilgrims who had visited sabharimale...kanyakumari is one popular pilgrimage stops..The princess Kanya Devi is a virgin goddess in here....The sand here is in the form of food grains(a local lore), technically coarse grained structure....not fine.....There's a story about it...plz chk wikipedia for further details....
Finally the sun shows up betwwen the clouds, we hoped to see him come out of the horizon,above the water...ne ways it was beauty to watch it....n then just like in the movies of the gret star Rajinikanth or Rajkumar...People standing behind us started whistling and clapping as if a hero has emerged out to show off his strength n mite....truely the sun does that by fighting the dark like true indian hero...

We then had a walk towards Triveni Sangam...place where the 3 seas meet....the arabian sea,bay of bengal and the indian ocean...i heard many people say that the waters are different(in color) but i found the water to be the same...and then there were some indications of the advent of europeans as well....
According to legend St.Thomas , St.Francis Xavier were responsible for the spread of christianity n the southern part of India...besides the popularity of the kanyakumari temple n the vivekananda rock...ther are churches situated in the backdrop of kanyakumari...
one of renowned "OUR LADY OF RANSOM" church is in the tourist hit list....but i dint visit it since i dint have time.....
At about 10:00 v got tickets for the ferry which tokk us to vivekananda rock and thiruvalluvar statue...the sea here s much rougher than the seas n cochin since there was no breakwater to stop the powerful wrath of the waves...the boat kept swaying strongly and we were strictly asked to sit...and water was splashing in....finally we got down at the vivekananda rock...
which is said to be the maintained by the tamil nadu government at an high cost and truely it is very clean place....it has a mandap which has statue of vivekananda and then v are navigated into a maditation room...the ambience in there is excellent for meditation. Then v cliked a couple of pics.From vivekananda rock,the wind gushes in strongly which s really was amazing....farther down the beach we could see wind mills tapping the power....Then v went to Thiruvalluvar statue...
Ther was no enough space to have glance of the poet's face from his foot....the area is very congested and they are still building it....u can see the statue properly from beneath wher u catch the ferry.....or from the shore(kanyakumari)
Then v thought of visiting the wax museum which boasted of a repute similar to the british wax museums....we came acros many eminent personalities like dravid,sreesanth(cricketers),politicians like rajiv gandhi which i liked the most..some tamil and malayalam actors...then m.s.subhalaxmi,mahatma gandhi...the speciality of the idols was that even the nerves on the hands were being skillfully brought out by the artists.....
Finally v decided to head bak home(cochin) so as to catch a 16:00hr train at trivandrum to reach cochin before 21:00hrs...which we did admist a packed general compartment with the bengali daily wage workers probably heading home in the Howrah Express...
It was memorable trip, never to forget in my whole lifetime visiting the southern tip of the indian peninsula...and then we made another resolution...that we would visit the northern most tip of India together!!!!

Christmukaaa........

I would rather start my first post describing the 2006 christmas....well the title christmukaa happened to be ther because we usually see a Popular TV series called the O.C. every evening after office.well it's one of the characters creative idea of calling christmas as chrismukaaa...to keep the festive season lively...i guess!!!
I left for mangalore on the 21st after a great party arranged by our company n one of the reputed hotels...it was huge christmas n new year bash...and it was hard to recognise each n everyone...i happened to see many unknown faces....
Christmas n kinnigoli was fun...as soon as i reached i found our crib director Santhu(Santhosh) slogging hard with it....well he had planned a big one this time...really big one...well then there were two other helping hands then...and he expected me to help as well....but i absconded from his site.....not for more than two days...i really felt sorry for him, seeing him workng alone....Finally the C-eve v finished the crib amidst brisk competition among my uncle's friends to bag the prize...
It was after a long time i went to church in the evening....when people al over the world have midnite masses and return home at the wee hours after the celebrating the birth of christ....v the exceptions hav the mass at 8....i generally avoid evening masses(not the midnite) bcoz v the youth feel v r strong enough that v dont need ne divine power beside us till v really need one....we generally are the last ones to enter the church, that renders us to sit outside n v hav our own sermons going on outside...
......
Finally the mass gets over....then v distribute cakes....and then v conduct Housie-Housie....well it was fun to see people playing it....and we auctioned cakes sponsored by some renowned bakers of our townSome of the pictures of the crib n the star of our church
The star was about 20 feet high...My friends have taken a lotta effort just to straighten it up....

Since there was nothing else to do i headed back home...i came back to the crib which was lit brigtly with our eclectic style of lights...I had bought a new mobile phone wit camera..so i took some pictures of the crib at about 11:45...and then was tired for the day...headed straight to my bed...the next day i wake up i get to hear that v escaped a conflagration bcoz of the crib.....one of our fascinating ideas with the crib was to replicate a pot containing charcoal just like a fireplace which in ancient times was used to ward off the chilly nites....v had wrapped a 60W bulb with red plastic sheet which brought the red fury of the fire...soon after i left clicking photos the bulb must have been heated up for a long time since evening, it had a melt down like the chernobyl reactor...the immediate impact was to the cardboard on which it was placed...thanks to our friendly nieghbourhood always awake 24x7....our neighbour(Master!!) wakes up at 12:45 to see the fire when everybody s sound asleep, and then bang our doors to put out the fire...thanks to him watever it is he saved us from a major fire mishap.....

This is the whole crib image..a bit blurred since it was taken from a mobile phone..
I was very exicted with my new mobile...i always longed to have an ipod...with the new sony ericsson i was busy downloading and loading music into it on the christmas day...and watchn the kids dance for the christmas function which was scheduled for the evening...
And then i head back to my place of work....as usual i see many foriegners in our train...i am happy for my country to some extent to hav become globalised...i see foriegners travelling just like us in the sleeper coaches(youngsters generally travel by II class) and indians dont mind being with them....no awkward looks...no stares...etc...bcoz i read a lotta blogs by foriegners who visited kerals telling me that Indian people seemd to act as if they were some untouchables....but as far as i know i havnt seen ne thing like that till naw....may be i gotto explore more......
Thats it for naw till the new year...m bak at my cabin....