At Munnar (BH:D66)

October 8, 2011

Sunrise viewed from the balcony of our room was spectacular. As the sky gets broad strokes of red, orange and grey, Pallivasal waterfall roars loudly. Since the resort hadn't woken up, the only other sound was a whistling bird. The sun ascends like a magical golden droplet. The mountains stretching as far as the eye could see resemble a crumbled bedsheet. One sunrise is inconsequential for the geological forces that twisted them up. Misty clouds shift between the ranges. Despite the rising sun, the mountains refuse to give up their white blanket.

Murugan had promised to pick us up at 6:30 am. But 33 drivers in a dorm,including some all night drinkers, with only two bathrooms, meant he was delayed by fifteen minutes. We set off on the sightseeing mission. Right outside the five star resort, Jose (pronounced in the mallu way not the Hispanic way) runs his tea stall. Murugan had eaten dinner there.Turns out Jose supplies chapatti and chicken curry for the 5-star buffet we had the previous night. Dramatic escalation in the cost once the dishes make it through the gate of the resort. 

Munnar (3 rivers) gets it name from Madurapuzha, Nallathani and Kundala. Of these, Nallathani has been reduced to a canal. The original plantation workers and settlers are all Tamilians though the town is very much inside Kerala. Announcements and notices are in Tamil.Munnar has been declared a linguistic minority region.

Seetha lake falls which is couple of minutes drive from the resort, supplies drinking water to the area. There are clear signboards requesting tourists not to pollute. Yet the area and the edge of the tea estate on the downward side of the road are covered with litter. Plastic and paper utensils, cans and cola bottles. Yesterday, on our drive upwards, we had noticed some groups parked on the small meadows by the road. They had come fully equipped for cooking and eating. Later at the resort, I noticed the open boot (dickie) of a tourist bus from Karnataka. There were enough steel utensils in it for a bachelor apartment. Cooking gas cylinder, stove and a bucket full of dried twigs even.

"ee uploadinginte kozhappam, ivaru same spotil downloadum cheyyum!" (the problem with this uploading is that they download at the same spot) remarked Murugan. Some of these tourist groups have no qualms about defecating at the same spot where they had been eating a while ago. 

I read online later that Munnar used to produce 20 tonnes of waste a month two decades ago. Now it is 25 tonnes per day. Our species has the habit of leaving a mess wherever we live. Agriculture and domestication of dogs have been positive fallout of this. But gone are those days of biodegradable waste. At the current rate, there will not be any pristine natural beauty and fresh air to enjoy here in a couple of decades. It will become just another "ritual" tourist spot where one can meet other harried tourists trying to carve another notch on their travel post with the visit. The good thing is that we are creating a generation of children who won't miss any of the natural bounty. When all your looking at is an LCD screen it doesn't matter if you are in congested Mumbai or the misty Ghats.

Few kilometers down the road from the Seetha falls, a viewing location. Nobody else on the road. Clouds and mist have hidden the far away mountains. Otherwise,according to Murugan, Idukki hydel power project and Ramakalmedu wind farm can be seen. We were overlooking Bison valley.No bisons in sight. Isolated human dwellings on the mountains. A lush paddy field at the bottom. 

"It must have been a river long time back," the old geology student in Achan came alive at the site. "No, I have never seen a river there," said Murugan with the authority of a native. "Not your life time. I am taking thousands of years," Achan clarified.

Later during the day as well, we could make out small shacks and sheds built in the forest on the mountains forming national parks. Murugan became vocal about the forest encroachment. "First they will plant two bananas; then coconut trees, then a small shed with four stumps and a plastic sheet roof will show up. It will soon transform into a small shack and before you know it, they will claim a couple of acres of land as their ancestor's." 

"Sometimes fully grown coconut trees are uprooted, transported and replanted to show that they have lived their for long," Achan joined in. 

At the Harrison Malayalam estate, a cloud refused to reveal the plantation workers village at the bottom of the valley. We got out of the car to admire the view. Naturally, we wanted to taste young leaves in the plants nearby. "It is very high nicotine and has traces of cynide," Murugan continued the warning as we were busy spitting out whatever we had chewed. At a turn of the highway as it winds downwards by the side of the estate, a quick brown fox appeared in front of the car. It was in no mood to be photographed and ran into the jungle bordering the estate. Down the road, we met a lot of lazy dogs.

As we neared Munnar town, Murugan showed us the engineering college and a posh resort where Bollywood stars stay during their visits. "It is still old British equipment that is used in the labs of this college," said Murugan, "in a way it is good. Once you know how to use the old stuff, it will be easy handling the more convenient new ones." 

Small break in the town for tea and some snacks. There was a deep fried banana "bonda". "Indians invented zero and round things like bondas"

Our climb to Top Station around 20 kilometers away took us through Maattupetty, Kundala dam and Devi Kulam. Maattupetty has a beautiful dam lake. It is home of the famous for the Indo-Swiss cattle project. Murugan claimed that he has seen cows as big as elephants. He asked us to keep a watchout for bisons and elephants on the road. 

We halt at a turning. Murugan asked us to go look at the trees growing from the downside slope.The branches had huge bee hives hanging from them like stalk-less jackfruits. The tribals in the area harvest and sell the honey but we were advised against buying those from the road side because they would be adulterated with jaggery and sugar syrup. 

Kundala dam is rather small. A bunch of boys were brushing and getting their horses ready for the tourist rides. One of them got the horses to gallop pretty fast. Future stunt dupe in south Indian cinema. Amma wanted to get some bread omelette. There was a small shack which sold breakfast dishes. The three signboards around the shack was a smorgasboard of spelling mistakes. You could have 'Omblet' or 'Aamblate' with 'kadamam' tea or go traditional with 'thosai' as it is pronounced in Tamil. 

There were boating services available. Recently, this spot was in news for a murder. The wife of a honeymooning couple had asked her lover to wait at a secluded spot near the dam. She brought her husband there. The lady and her lover murdered the hubby, dumped his body and returned home. Since we knew this story, we were looking at all the couples suspiciously. Some boys were selling something called 'tree tomatoes'. "Best for diabetes" was the sales pitch. 

Mattupetty and Devikulam markets were barely waking up when drove through. All the shops sell homemade chocolate. Even in this age of ubiquitous cellphone camera, plenty of young men offering to sell 'instant photos"

When we reached the outer perimeter of 'Top Station', a water fight was in progress. Not the sexy kind with wet tshirts but the real kind which will be the fate of majority of our planet very soon. Some woman had removed the plastic pot another one had kept under the public government tap. The de-poted one was furious. She challenged every other woman from the nearby homes for a verbal duel. All the houses had shops running from their front end. Quail eggs, guaves, gooseberries were the main merchandise.

By this time, BSNL has the courtesy to text me that I had crossed over to Tamil Nadu and roaming charges will apply. 'Top Station' is private property (of Tata of course) but by charging Rs 15 per head they were making good business out of the view. The proper view station required climbing down couple of hundred feet. This meant climbing back up as well. So the sign at the entrance warned heart patients and those with blood pressure against the adventure. As we began going down the steps, a group of young men crossed us, coming up, sweating and heavily panting. Amma proceeded to give a short lecture on the unhealthy life style of IT professionals. 

The view was worth way more than the fifteen rupees. The majestic Ghats forming the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Small multicolored squares of vegetable cultivation in the valley. A road zigzagging on the central ridge of the mountain straight ahead. Atop, hidden partly beneath the clouds, the first plantation and factory. Absolutely stupendous human effort getting there and setting it up. The rope way and old train station that helped in that construction now survive only in bits and pieces. No mountain is too tall before the lure of profits. We climbed back up from the viewpoint in three stages taking totally 15 minutes. 

By the time we got back to the car, the water fight was resolved. A granny shopkeeper was trying to sell boiled quail egg to the little boy in a Kannadiga tourist group. "muttai saapitta thaan valibana vara mudiyum"

From Top Station to Vattavada, the border village of Kerala, famous for vegetable cultivation. Murugan was planning to take the road from Vattavada to Marayoor. But the forest officer at Pampadum Sholay wild life preserve had other plans. He refused to let the car through. He said there is no such road to Marayoor and the farthest we can get to is Koviloor. Murugan came back to the car fuming. We would have to turn back. The other road "Kochi Kodaikanal" was also closed. There was board that said that it is the highest highway south of the Himalayas. Only for marijuana planters, I presume! 

Amma went to meet the forest officer with her ID card. He clarified that if we took a detour into the forest without a proper guide, he would lose his job. He took Amma's word that we were law-abiding citizens. The check post gate lifted. We were on our way through the jungle road. Mostly tall eucalyptus trees which are harvested by Hindustan Paper mills. Some "not-so-proper" looking side roads leading into the forest. 

Amma claimed that it is thanks to the self-less work of some environmentalists that at least this much forest is presevered. Murugan disagreed. He said there were "proftable" business operating inside the forest and it was in their business interest to preserve the forest cover. As if to prove his point, a brand new Mercedes SUV, appeared out of nowhere and continued on the road! We met a forest guard who discouraged us from any trekking. "There are leeches this season" he said. Leeches, indeed!

The forest officer turned out to be right. The road connecting Koviloor and Marayoor was closed. "You can go walking" said a villager sitting under the lone flagpole that stood for 'downtown' Koviloor. "Where can be buy some vegetables?" Amma asked. An toothless old lady laughed heartily, "Who will sell vegetables in this sun?! Come in the evening!" 

We retraced our route back to Munnar town. A family of Nilgiri langurs were playing on some branches by the road. Quick lunch at heavily crowded Sharavana Bhavan and on our way to Muniyara via Marayoor. 

Eravikulam National Park falls on the way. Hundreds of people were waiting in the queue to get into the park safari bus. Lot more monkeys on the road in this route. They carefully watch the vehicles and have been habituated to people feeding them. When we slowed down to negotiate a potholes, couple of them came leaping towards our car full of hope. Any hope of seeing wildlife on the road was dashed by the constant honking of the vehicles passing by the twisting turning road. Even after seeing each other, some drivers tap a couple of cursory horns. No self-respecting wild animal was going to come around this cacophony.

Aanamudi, the tallest peak in south India, looms into view. 

Murugan's cellphone rings. He pulls over and checks the caller id. It is his brother. "We are having a fight over inheritance. If I talk to him now, I will get angry and won't be able to drive," Few minutes later, phone rings again. He pulls over and picks up. It is his sister-in-law. "I am driving now, will call later in the night!" Apparently his relation with his sister-in-law hasn't soured.

The route to Marayoor took us through the Talayar estate, another one among the 24,000 hectares that form the Kannan Devan plantations. Smell of fresh tea while passing by the factories. Lot of picnickers at the Lakkam water falls. Numerous falls in the area. Murugan said there was a shop that used the constantly flowing cold water as its refrigerator for cold drinks. Even in the presence of such brilliant water falls, there is a market for cold Pepsi!

At different points during the trip, we bought guavas, oranges and gooseberries from boys who were selling them by the roadside. Wild gooseberries are hardcore in their bitterness and the subsequent sweetness. Guava is a gamble. Some sweet, some ripe, some sour. When we stopped by for oranges, a few other cars also stopped. Murugan said this is common. Seeing a KL registration number Kerala car stop, all the other mallu cars coming that way also stop to check out what is going on. Murugan told us not to eat the orange right there. He said the sweetness settles into them only later once they have been warmed up the in plains. So we saved them for the train journey back home.

Marayoor is famous for two things: sandalwood and jaggery. Tall metal fences have been erected on either side of the road to protect the sandal forests from illegal lumbering. Well, the fences also prevent common folk from finding out what kind of dealings happen in the forest. Murugan remembered that there was a sandal stump somewhere on the roadside that a few drivers had maintained so that they could give tourists a whiff of fresh sandal. It is the old core of the stem that has the sandal scent. The stump hadn't relocated. Even more surprisingly, it hadn't been stolen. Fresh sandal smell is quite addictive. The forest provided wonderful shade on the road. Half harvested sugarcane plantations took over from the forests after a couple of kilometers. 

We had to stop couple of times to ask for Muniyara's location. Murugan remembered that it was in the campus of a government school. The school also hadn't moved. 

Beside one of the classs room buildings and behind a lab, the neolithic dolmens. A remarkable sight! 

Huge flat pieces of granite, broken from the nearby rock formation, fitted together to form four walls and a roof. It is said that these dolmens were burial sites. The Adi Chera tribe inhabiting this forest had used it for their royalty. But the name "muniyara" implies that Jains and Buddhist monks might have used it centuries later as monastery rooms. Murugan said that a rock tank was shaped around the source of the Seetha lake falls and there were 'muniyaras' even on top of that rock. I sat inside one, barely large enough for one person to lie down, wondering how many had sat there before me and how far back in time. 

Sun was setting by the time we were back at Munnar. Heavy traffic. Brief stop at the Kannan Devan outlet to buy tea powder. The climb back to the resort guided by high beam headlights. Increased heart rate. Thankfully no mist. It being a saturday night, lot of youngsters on motorbikes, overtaking on the narrow road. "After couple of hours, all of them will be fully drunk or stoned!" snaps Murugan as yet another motorbike speeds past. "They want to use our headlights to see the road better," he complaints, "some day I will turn off my light and let them fall into a pothole!" I don't think he has the heart to do that.

7pm back in the room. Lot more activity in the resort. More guest, I suppose. Bellboys in their yellow tshirt uniforms appear rather busy. There is a bonfire organized outside the reception area. Very loud music. A few people shuffling their feet while decideding whether to dance. 

While showering, I notice that the glass window of the bathroom provides a clear view from the balcony of the adjacent building. If someone had seen me showering, apologies in advance for the nightmares!