Nelliyampathy (நெல்லியம்பதி)

In continuation with my previous blog I continue here - it was my plan to visit Nelliyampathy, a hill settlement - 75km south of Palakkad, after the marriage. I boarded into a hourly bus to Nelliyampathy from the KSRTC bus stand, Palakkad. First 50 kms till Nemara is surrounded by calm paddy fields. Cloudy day it was and refreshing to enjoy the freshness and aroma of the paddy fields. After reaching Nemara, the mountain roads started. Green dense teak forests were welcoming with flowery bushes, scented seasonal blossoms of the trees, tea and cardamom plantations. Sitting near the window of the bus, catching  the sight of numerous waterfalls by the sides of road and listening its crumbing sounds is different from the bus trips  to my office (bus trips to and from C2B Janakpuri is of course unparalleled for me :-)). It was getting colder. That said, Nelliyampathy, spread over undulating terrain at an attitude of a little above 1500m, is set amid some magnificent scenery, and the journey to get there, winding up a succession of spurs above the Pothundi Dam and reservoir, ranks among the most spectacular in the state. It was approximately a 3 hour bus journey when I reached Nelliyampathy.

I and Mr Manu, driver of the jeep ferry, reached the view point. Listening to the perky sounds of Myna, we walked half a kilometer. It was THE view! I can say. The magnificent panoramic view of mosaics of paddy fields in the Palakkad and other towns was breathtaking. (Most views that I have seen from mountains such as Palani, Ajmer Fort, Thirupathi, Mysore were dominated by the buildings, thanks to urbanization).

Just a word of caution: We were just a few foot away from the unmarked exposed ridges encircling the plateau may be lethal in poor visibility. Thought Nelliyampathy is a popular escape yet the forest is neat. Hope it is not exploited in future. 

Manu and I continued to walk towards the Pothundi mountain. God!! it is a beautiful view of the waterfalls amid dense forests (which you will find in the below photograph). It is an excellent place to listen and rejoice with the music of the water fall (while I write this the "Songs of the River" (Album: Music of Rivers) by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia comes to my mind). In front of the waterfalls I could spend 20 minutes because I had to catch the last return bus of the day. As we returned to the ferry it was drizzling - a romantic end to this trip (wish she was with me). Various grey and black shades of mountains and Pothundi Dam made a resplendent foreground to silvery sunset. That was another beautiful Kerala Trip.

Note: I hardly had 2 hours to spend there. But if we reach Nelliyampathy by 8am it is a wonderful place to spend entire day and it has lots of others places around to visit for a complete day. But it lacks decent accommodations.

P.S: First time I missed my lover (obsessive when I am with her), my camera Canon S5 IS. I got to repair her soon.

Nelliyampathy - Recommended.

Few photos here, thanks to my mobile phone.

Waterfalls

On a walk to catch the glimpse of the waterfalls

Bird's eye view of the Palakkad town

One more snap of the Bird's eye view of the Palakkad Town

Rajesh Mottai :-)

On way to Nelliyampathy from Palakkad

--

தூக்கி வினை செய்.

Meaning - Analysis, research and then act

Kerala Trip - Day2 [From Valparai to Athirappilly Waterfalls]

On Day 2 of our trip, we were ready by 8am and had thenir before we started to Athirappilly Waterfalls. On the way it was full of tea plantation estates. Early morning was fitting to watch the green of tea leaves completely dominated by the green before the sun gives different touch to it.  First we came across the Sholayar Dam. On one side of the dam there were calm green mountains and large water body. Far to the eyesight we could see virgin waterfalls silently pouring water to the dam. On the other side of the dam it was marvellous to catch the glimpse of the green on the walls of dam. Seeing the vast drench of gorgeous trees and mountains was fascinating. While it was drizzling, stretching the hands to the sky to finally cushion the head and circling 360 degrees (like Director Bala Mahendra captured beauty of Nilgiris/Ooty in “Kannae Kalaimaane” song) to register the landscapes again and again in heart and to realise what we have done to be in this beautiful planet was an experience of lifetime. At one place we could see a tea factory. And later we had Kerala’s delicious Appam as our breakfast from a home-cum-hotel like. (One Appam costs only Rs.5!! and one Vada costs only Rs.3!! Either trust me about the tariff I mentioned or travel there. But worth travelling).

From Sholayar Dam

From Sholayar Dam

Sholayar Dam

Tea Factory

 

Check post at forest entry point

Large extended family of  jackfruit

Once we crossed the interstate border we were stopped at the check post monitored by the forest officials. Adjacent to the small forest department complex, there were couple of Jackfruit trees. These trees were an adobe for the large extended family of about twenty Jackfruits huddling at different places.  And many of these fruits would weigh close to half my weight (on which I should soon work on).  The roads ahead were guarded on the both sides by the trees of dense forest. The roads were taking at least one bend/curve for every 150m. The roads were narrow and bit pathetic. In a way it was okay for me to have pathetic roads; we travelled slowly in the jungle and enjoyed the depth of the silence in the deep forests.   The atmosphere was terrific and we kept the windows open all throughout the journey. According to our chauffeur, normally we can witness elephants. Due to rain, elephants were not found.

Monkeys

Valley started

Valley of mountains

There were complex networks of shrubs, wild creepers and climbers, tall trees.  Wondering how the botanists keep count of the species available in this forest alone. With the help of grey clouds, sun started playing hide & seek with the forest and provided us numerous shades of green in the forest. We came across a valley of mountains on our right side.  I completely lost myself in the valley. Just observed it. On a grassy mountain, there were footsteps making way towards a factory.  At many places I stopped the car to just click snaps and didn’t worry that it made our journey long. I didn’t need any time compose the frames. I just had to click it, nothing else.

 

Pink flowers smiling

There were creepers, happily decorating the wet huge rocks with smiling pink flowers.  Every one of us enjoyed it. We came across silent silvery lake mirroring the mountains and the trees. We witnessed black monkeys of the forest. Vazhachal Waterfalls and Athirappilly Waterfalls arrived. We didn’t know how the 3.5hours journey went. We never felt bored. It was an awesome experience. One of the best routes for adventures travel in bikes etc. I had a silent wish to travel in an open roof ferry for two persons. Our chauffer didn’t stop at many places because there would be movement of wild animals in the forest. [But another reason is I was stopping at many places to take snaps. Trust me; I limited myself to take snaps because I was consciously aware not to lose the joy of the trip by clicking many snaps). I would highly recommend this trip (Valparai to Athirappilly Waterfalls) to everyone. The road from Valparai to Athirappilly Falls has everything for nature lovers’ viz., trees, creepers, shrubs, green, lake, monkeys, valley, flowers, mountains, waterfalls, dam, delicious food etc.

  Snake (Our chauffeur said that this snake will pluck human eyes. Reminded me of my friends who during school times narrated numerous fictional stories based on this snake) 

Creepers

 

Lake (mirroring the mountains)

 Didn't compose. Just clicked in my camera.

 

(This is not Athirappilly Falls)

By the time we reached Athirappilly it was raining heavily there. The water was flowing at a greater speed. We enjoyed it. Since it was raining we couldn’t spend more than 30” at the waterfalls. I have written more about Athirappilly falls previously here. Now we are in Kerala. On way to Chalakudy we stopped and had our lunch [as wont find much hotels in Athirappilly Waterfalls, I admitted my family to prepare the lunch]. Via Chalakudy we went to Kodungallur. The deity Bhagavathy Amme/Amman in Kodungallur Bhagavathy temple was ravishing, majestic. The deity was ornamented with gold plating glittering amidst numerous ghee lamps (nei vilakku). Next we went to Paravoor Mookambikka temple. The shrine here was admits Lotus ponds. The deity was simple and elegant without ornaments. Now we headed to Triprayar. Sri Rama temple here is the only Rama temple adjacent to a river in the planet. Ghee lamps framing the idol were adding a serene touch to the atmosphere. We were fortunate to go at the right moment (just the last people before the Pooja for which the shrine would be closed for a brief time) to pray for a long time. The best thing about Kerala Temples is simplicity. No archanas (Pooja), no special queues, home like divine feeling. 

With Family @ Vazhachal Waterfalls