Vandazhi visit

My wife’s sister’s children are here on summer holidays, and we had been planning to go on a short outing. A few days leave from office was obtained, but we were still undecided about the destination.

Friday last, my wife suggested, “Why don’t we all drive down to mom’s place in Kerala?” Her rationale was one, great grand-aunt (my mom’s youngest aunt) hasn’t been keeping well and a visit was due anyway, and two, it would be good long drive and an outing for the kids as well. My only doubt was if my parents, who are old, would be cool to the idea of a long journey. When I checked with them, they were only happy about the idea.

My mom’s place is Vandazhi: a small town, some 10 km off the Palakkad-Thrissur highway near Vadakkancherry (different from the similar-sounding Vadakkaancherry.) There was an option to go via the shorter Mysore, Gudalur, Nilambur, Perunthalmanna route. But on second thoughts we decided to go via Salem, Coimbatore. The reason was the better quality of the road. With parents and kids with us, I didn’t want to take a route that wasn’t familiar.

On Sunday morning, at 6.15 we left. Around 9.30 we were a few kilometres short of Salem. We stopped at a shade for breakfast. Around 1 am we were near Coimbatore and had lunch at a restaurant. And by 4 pm we were home. Some 450 km from Bangalore. 

Fantastic road

Good road is basic to comfortable drive. I was thoroughly impressed by the progress on the upgrading of the highway NH7. This was my third drive on this highway: the earlier ones were in 2006 and 2007. I can thus make out the difference. But for small stretches where work is still on, the rest of the highway is so impeccably done.

Smooth, broad National Highway 7.

Silken smooth 6-lane broad roads and plants on the median providing green relief. There are three toll plazas — Rs 25, Rs 48 and Rs 28. It’s worth paying. There is one more coming up. The structure is up, but not the booths. So, that will make it a total of four between Bangalore and Coimbatore. We need to pay for quality. What we as citizens should ensure is that the money thus collected is well utilized for improving the road connectivity.

I was quite surprised by the attitude of truck drivers. They seemed to be very well-behaved as far as lane discipline was concerned. All of them kept to the middle lane leaving the extreme right free. Even when they were overtaking, the drivers made sure to move left to the inner lane, so that faster moving vehicles could overtake from the right. My earlier experiences have been bad. Truck drivers were known to stick to any lane they fancied. There were very irritating occasions when two trucks going side-by-side would be blocking the road. Any vehicle following them would have to wait for one to slow down or the other to pick up some speed and then overtake either from the left or right. Nothing of that sort this time. It left me wonder whether the good quality highways had also instilled in the drivers some discipline. A chain reaction of sorts!

Green difference

There is no need of any sign board to tell you that you have entered Kerala, at Walayar. The unmistakable indication is the green landscape. When they carved the boundaries of Kerala, I don’t know if someone kept this in mind, or it just happened by chance! Even in the peak of summer there is lot of greenery around unlike most other states, except perhaps the southern coastal areas of Karnataka.

Vandazhi

Paddy field in summer. Ahead of harvest, it's a virtual green carpet.

My mom’s native place is no longer a village; there has been lots of development, and I would classify it as a small town with a hospital, medical stores and lots of shops. There are still vast stretches of paddy fields left in Vandazhi. Close to the harvest season around August these fields turn into green carpets, such a lovely sight! The place is still a strong communist stronghold. There is in fact a junction called “Moscow Mukku”: a refuge for communists on the run during pre-independence days. 

An old house by the road, untouched by the wave of modernity.

Many houses are painted pink. Reason unknown.

 

Another one, presenting a gaudy look.

 

Mangalam Dam

Palakkad district of Kerala has many tourist attractions. Since the primary aim of the visit was to call on our ailing great-grand-aunt, and since we didn’t have much time, we could manage only a visit to the Mangalam Dam, some 10 km from our house. It’s an elevated area, a quiet retreat good for picnics and relaxation in the midst of thick forest.

Drive to Mangalam Dam.

Being summer, the weather was hot, and nature wasn’t in its full bloom. Nevertheless it’s a lovely place to spend a day. There is a Kerala government tourism project to develop this area. But like most government projects, nothing seems to be happening.

Inside the dam premises.

Mangalam dam. Right now it's shut down for maintenance.

The dam, built in 1956, stands over the Cherukunnapuzha which is a tributary of the Mangalam river. Around 50 km from Palakkad town, the dam was built for irrigation purposes. Right now as there is no water, the dam is undergoing repairs.

Cherukunnapuzha over which the dam is built. During rainy seasons, the river is full bank to bank.

The dam is situated near a thick forest.

Cut off from e-world

For a good three days I was off internet, not out of choice but by compulsion. My GPRS wasn’t connecting. Initially, I felt odd. After a couple of attempts, I gave up; didn’t bother to even find out why; and was enjoying the freedom from ‘outside influences’. This definitely helped me relax. I guess it’s a good idea for internetphiles like me to go off the e-world once in a while.  

Return

We started back on Tuesday around 7.30 am. Had lunch at Salem around 1 am. Stopped at the Nilgiris at Hosur for snacks at 4.30 pm. We were back home around 6.45 pm.