Did you miss the adda at Shibu uncle's house? Hurry of to the Travel section of my blog and get updated!
Hasta la Vista Varkala! Thekkady, here we come. We hit the road nine in the morning for the Periyar Tiger Reserve. The entry to the reserve closes at five in the evening everyday hence, our priority was to reach our destination before time.
The journey was going to be five hour long and we were going to climb an elevation of 3000 feet ASL. Hence, a ride on a serpentine road up the Nilgiri awaited us. Our driver, Bijoy had told us before we had started that the road was going to be rough. Much to our dismay, Bijoy didn’t quite understand what we asked and we didn’t understand what he gave in reply. But the man was humble, always smiled in return and seemed to promise a good ride; fair enough. So, after a few moments at the cliff we left off for our journey.
It was Eid on that day and we had crossed many open slaughter stalls by the road the previous day, customers crowding around a man chopping pieces of meat deftly. A queue stood waiting on the steps of a mosque, a festive glory surrounded them.
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| Varkala Cliff |
I sat beside the
driver and was hence bestowed a daring job of staying awake at all times and
keep Bijoy awake in turn. I wasn’t aware that I could get drowsy in the middle
of our drive, however "cradle like"
journey it would be. My eyelids wouldn’t stay put and I would often find my
mother tugging at my shirt or my father calling me from the back seat trying to
wake me up. At half past one we reached a small town named Ranni where we stopped for lunch. The river Pamba flows through this town and we crossed it by a bridge.
The celebrations were in the air in the restaurant when we ordered the only thing that could be served immediately. Chicken roast, rice and raita. Image of chicken roast is supposedly a dry chicken preparation. Well, hold tight onto your seats to behold the Roast chicken of Kerala- fried chicken pieces swimming in a thick gravy which tasted much like Chicken Chettinad. The chicken was succulent and I took a spoonful of the gravy after I was done with the chicken; hot and tangy. The cold raita which had cucumber, onions and pieces of green chilly in it suited best with the side dish.
The drizzle had changed to a shower. Strong winds blew the
drops down the road we were going to drive upon, densely covered by trees on
both sides. The wiper was having a tedious time at the window, oscillating to
and fro constantly as the rain drops impinged like small solid balls on the car window. Tiny worms of water squirmed out of the
wiper’s reach to the top of the glass as the car sped ahead.
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| Valanjamkanam Water fall |
We passed clusters
of tall trees with slits on their trunks and a plastic bag wrapped around it. Agarwood. No infection like the one these trees get is a boon! The disease leaves the tree filled with an aromatic resin that is widely used for incense and perfumes. The resins were collected in a container attached below the
slit itself. The plastic helped protect the incision from the rain.
It appeared as if the trees had raincoats on- yellow, blue and red. Besides, climbers with big leaves hung from the trees, giving them the appearance of men and women clad in shawls bidding us farewell as we moved on.
It appeared as if the trees had raincoats on- yellow, blue and red. Besides, climbers with big leaves hung from the trees, giving them the appearance of men and women clad in shawls bidding us farewell as we moved on.
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| Agarwood |
The serpentine hilly road began with not much notice, and
with increase in the jacketed trees on both sides. The driver let the car speed
on the twisting road and with every few kilometers we rose higher in the hill
and the road got narrower. The stepped hills made their appearance as we rode
and bent round the corner, gradually dissolving in the mist. The clouds which
we had seen from the plains below were drifting to the road beyond us forming
an opaque white screen disabling our vision and forcing the driver to slow down
and become watchful.
The clouds had surrounded the road and the hills. The never ending evergreen patches that could be seen down below were cut off by the ominous white. The roads were narrow and hair pin bends were frequent. Our car blared its horn at every vicious bend that came, slowing down because cars suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind the curtain of the cloud. One false move and the car could go off the hill into the abyss. The wild trees of the forest on the other side continued crouching over the travelers. Our friends who had been on this road before us had shared their sightings of elephants on the way. A rare sight in itself, elephants stroll down to the road from the forest.
'Ask the driver if we will see elephants' my mother whispered to me for the hundredth time.
The clouds had surrounded the road and the hills. The never ending evergreen patches that could be seen down below were cut off by the ominous white. The roads were narrow and hair pin bends were frequent. Our car blared its horn at every vicious bend that came, slowing down because cars suddenly appeared out of nowhere from behind the curtain of the cloud. One false move and the car could go off the hill into the abyss. The wild trees of the forest on the other side continued crouching over the travelers. Our friends who had been on this road before us had shared their sightings of elephants on the way. A rare sight in itself, elephants stroll down to the road from the forest.
'Ask the driver if we will see elephants' my mother whispered to me for the hundredth time.
I don’t think that Bijoy really understood when I asked him if we would get the opportunity to see the big eared creatures because he just smiled and shook his head. Yet, we had our eyeballs tethered to the windows for a lucky glimpse.
Alas! we weren’t as lucky as our friends.
The car sped on the coiling hill road to Thekkady where something awaited for us. What's it going to be? Stay tuned for the next chapter to know.
