“Da, isn’t a while since we have gone for a trip” said Ratheesh, let’s go for one trip, he quizzed. We all readily agreed.
We started off morning around 8 am from Pattukaran’s (Rakesh) house at poothotta in his car. After an hours journey at the outskirts of Thodupuzha, we took a break at woodlands hotel, had our breakfast. We had ghee roast and poori bhaji. We then headed straight to Ilavizha Poonchira. The folklore on Ilavizha Poonchira which was based on Ramayana was that Panchali(Draupadi) during her vana vasa period once had come to this place and was about to take a bath, so Lord Indra removed all the trees in that area so that no one would peep behind the tree and watch Panchali taking bath J.
The road was a difficult one to drive through. Our car was struggling to pass through this difficult terrain. Luckily a jeep named ‘St Thomas’ came to our rescue. Another bunch of 4 people joined along with us to Ilavizha Poonchira. The road or the path was a very difficult one, only a jeep could have gone. We all felt happy to have met the jeep driver at the right time. Soon we reached the top spot. It was completely foggy. It was a great experience. Slow drizzle along with small dew made the place and environment extra ordinary. We took time to click few photos. We walked and explored the place, only to find a police wireless station nearby. Then it started raining heavily, and we all got drenched. Soon we returned back to the place where we had parked our car. We bid good bye to the jeep driver and continued our safari in our ford Eco sport.
We continued our journey to Wagamon, the climate was really great, small drizzle, and light fog added to the beauty of it. We passed through Wagamon, where ever we found a great place, we would stop and click pictures. The conversations we had, the rustic roads made the journey entertaining. By 3 pm we had reached Kattapana. We stopped there to buy few items for our night party. Booze was always in the card, when four friends join J. We had small snacks and headed towards Ramakkelmedu.
After an hour of drive, we reached close to the Punarjani resort where we had booked our stay. We thought we will visit the statue of Kuravan & Kurathi on the hill top first before checking in at the resort. We parked our car at a very scenic spot and had a word with the guard at the tower towards the hill. He said the wind is comparatively less today and we might get a good view at the top. We all enthusiastically climbed the small hill. We saw the statue of Kuravan & Kurathi. We roamed around the hill. The chilly wind, the panoramic view of all the places around the hill, and a small drizzle made the climb all worthy. We took photos, and had an ice-cream. We headed down, and travelled to the resort.
Resort was an upcoming one, so the facilities weren’t that great, but the location of the resort was really good. 25 acres of lush green land, where they had vegetables, coffee and other condiments.
We were escorted towards our room, it was a nice room. We 4 took a bath, and were feeling very refreshed. Even though fan was available in the room, there was no need for it, as it was already cold.
We waited for some time for food, during which we continued our conversation. Once our food arrived which included Vegetable masala curry, Chicken curry, Gobi Manchurian and chappathi, we pounced on to it. Once the food was in, it was time for us to booze. We continued our conversation and our drinking continued till late night. Then we all slept off.
We woke up around 8.30 am, with a big doze of hangover. I had lots of water, and then brushed, had a shower under very cold water. Once we all took bath, we felt refreshed; we headed towards the cafeteria at the resort. We had a very good breakfast of idly, sambhar and chutney.
We returned back to the foot hills near the Kuravan & Kurathi statue, this time our aim was to climb on to the nearby hill. This hill was comparatively bigger and steeper than the previous one. I had set eyes on this hill, yesterday itself and I wanted to conquer it. First we did a feasibility study on how to climb the hill and the initial findings were that we won’t be able to do it. We returned back to check with the forest guard, who said the way we tried were the correct path and we should try again. Infused with vigor, we started off again. This time we continued and reached to one of the top spots. 2 guys stopped there, and I along with Ratheesh continued further. After much struggle, we reach hill top. It was windy and small drizzle of rain was always accompanying us. That kind of gave us that extra energy to reach on top. It was a terrific view. On one side was the lush green Kerala, and other side was the fields of Tamil Nadu where we could see lots of wind mills.
We stayed there for some time and climbed down, 2 of our friends were waiting down near the car, and we then headed to the wind mills. We were arguing on which would be the ideal place to fit in a wind mill. We stopped near by a wind mill which was not turning. We had assumed that there was no wind and wasn’t very impressed at the spot we stopped the car, but once we came out of the car, we all knew we were all wrong.
It was very windy, and the rain added to the chaos. Small drops of rain had now gained momentum with the wind. We were all thrilled, for this was an experience we were all having for the first time. The extreme wind channelized between 2 hills was constantly headed towards us. We could assume what a tornado could do. We enjoyed those moments, literally cherish those moments. We have been under the sun, in rain, fog but wind was a truly different experience.
We then headed back to Kattapana. The roads were curvy and slippery, mist and fog added to the mystery of it. We stopped at Kattapana, and had a great meals involving sambhar, a sumptuous yellow curry made from curd, pappad, lime pickle.
We continued our journey to Idukki. We stopped at Cheruthoni and walked towards Idukki dam. The majestic arch dam stood there with all its might. For a month long period around Onam festive season, the dam was open to visitors, we had been lucky to have reached there at the correct time. We awed at the brilliance of British engineering. We discussed about Mullaperiyar dam and the issues around it. After a 2 km walk around the dam, we reached the cave. We continued and took rest for a while. We returned back, with a great feeling. We all felt pretty happy that we were able to cover lot many places in a 2 day trip. Around 5.30pm we reached at Thodupuzha and took a break, had a tea and continued back home.
We reached back around 8pm at Ernakulam and bid good bye promising each other that soon we would head for another trip.
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