God's own district in God's own land

It was strange. The car was coming around the bend. That is not strange. What was strange was that it was coming in reverse. I was about to take the turn when I saw this car coming around the bend. I turned to Gayathri and told her that this driver must be crazy as the car passed us, still in the reverse mode. Gayathri being more perceptive told me that the driver of that car was trying to say something to us. So I slowed down and did the same maneuver that he had done earlier, which was to come in reverse. I got on level with his car and heard him say something in Malayalam. I could make out that he was saying something about 'Aane', which sounded very close to the Tamil word 'yaanai', which means elephant. So most probably there was an elephant up ahead on the road !! The person sitting next to the driver got down. He was a typical Malayali, wearing a dhoti and sporting a beard. He moved forward with his body bent slightly and looked around the bend as kids do when they are playing hide-and-seek. He started saying something in Malayalam and I have no clue what he was saying but from his excitement I could guess he has sighted the pachyderm. A few minutes later we sighted the majestic tusker as he was climbing the hill. It was a great sight and one which I had least expected. Does add to the excitement of travel, doesn't it?

We had started that morning after breakfast at Chilligere. We had crossed the Tholpetty sanctuary and were proceeding towards Mananthavady when this incident occurred. Needless to say Gayathri and the kids were terribly excited. One the elephant made his way up, we continued on our way. I had initially thought of going to Calicut and I have heard that the ghat section leading to Calicut or Kozhikode was a lovely one. I was a bit upset that I would be missing driving on that section. I needn't have worried for the route I was to take was as lovely as any route that I had taken in this region.

Wynad is a district which adds to the great beauty that is Kerala. This is not the typical Kerala of backwaters, palm trees and coconut groves that we regularly see in the ads. This is a hilly and forest terrain. I had been to Vythri a few years earlier and had a great time there visiting places like Pookod lake and Soochipara falls. This time I was in another part of Wynad. The Tholpetty sanctuary, Kuruva islands, Tirunelly temple etc. Seeing the beauty that abounds in Wynad all I can say is that this is God's own district in God's own country. If anyone of you has not seen Wynad do plan a trip. It will definitely be worthwhile.

We got to Mananthavady, on the way buying slippers for Harini, who had lost one slipper earlier that day. Till Mananthavady the road is good and after Manathavady it becomes great. I am not talking about the condition of the road, which was good. I am talking about the ghat section. As you start climbing down you go over multiple hills and the ghats seem unending. Added to it was the fact at some places you had a canopy of trees where no sunlight would enter and at other places you could see tea plantations. This road which leads you to Talaserry is a joy if you love the hills. I was thrilled but Gayathri wasn't. She kept on asking, "When will this end?". I wanted it to continue for a long time and my wish was granted !!!

We had lunch at Talaserry, at a hotel which had outdoor service. It was hot and we were sitting by the sea. The waters were sparkling and we could see lot of boats and ships around. From there we went to Kannur, on the way we went to a beach where the sand is so tightly packed that we can drive our car there. It is also called a drive in beach. We stopped for some time at the Kannur beach. It is a nice beach and there were quite a few people though it was around 4 o clock. I guess the beach would get crowded later in the evening. From Kannur we started for our final destination, Nileswaram. We reached there as the sun was setting.

We checked into the Nalanda resorts, just outside of Nileswaram. It is a nice resort on the banks of the Nileswaram river. It sits bang on the NH17. Nice tidy rooms and good food. Being on the banks of the river is good and bad. Good because it makes for a lovely scenery. Bad because of the mosquitoes and other insects which bite !!! The service is slow. Infact I should write it as, the service is sloooooooooowwwww. It can really get on your nerves but the staff is so polite that you cannot kick them on their rear, which you so much want to do !!

The next morning we took the boat ride on Nileswaram backwaters. The boat was the traditional one you see on Kerala backwaters. The boatman rowed it with the long pole. It was an excellent one hour on the river wherein we got to see a lot of bird life and schools of tiny fishes. We saw the cormorant, kingfisher, some eagles and parrots. It was a bit hot that day and though I wanted the boat ride to last longer I was vetoed 3:1 by the women and we returned back to our room.

Evening saw us going to the Bekal fort. It is a nice structure and the view from the fort is great and you can see the typical Kerala scenery of the beach and the swaying coconut trees from here. You cannot go to the beach directly from the fort. You need to get back to the main road and then get to the beach. The Bekal beach was quite deserted and there were quite a lot of pebbles in the sand here. We stood in the beach for some time and watched the sun dip into the ocean and the sky changing its mood rapidly. We were back for a nice dinner at the resort.

I checked the map to see which was the best route to take. Initially my idea was to proceed till Mangalore via Kasargoad and then take the highway to Hassan. When I checked the map I saw that there was a deviation which I could take before I reached Hassan and this would lead me to Jalsa and then to Sulya from where I can go to Kukke Subramanya. Since Gayathri is interested in visiting holy places she was all for this route. The route turned out to be a nice one with the road twisting and turning and lot of coffee estates and forest area on the way. We reached Kukke around lunch and luckily before they close the doors of the temple. After the darshan we had lunch there and started for Hassan. The first twenty kilometers were hell with practically no road being present. It was an offroading experience. The road got superb around 5 kilometers before we hit the foothills of the Shiradi ghat. From there on till Nelamangala it was a great drive. As usual, from Nelamangala till home was a typical Bangalore drive, which you generally forget in a hurry. Thus ended our winter of 2005 trip.