The moment our trekkers' collective 'collectively' decided and
agreed upon a coastal zone eco-tour for our ‘trip of the month’, spanning the coastal zone of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, we were promptly
whatsapped an extensive list of to-do’s by our 'concerned' tour coordinator Ms. Deepa that
included packing good footwear – water-shoes and sandals included - swimwear,
sunscreen lotions, sunglasses and hats, with handy towels and of course some
good snacks that can keep your appetite on check!.
Geared up thus, we were ‘on the go’ on
a dawny-dawny delightful morn this last Monday, mazing our way through a dazzling
array of beautiful villages and hamlets that dutifully gifted us all the way through, with their bountiful surplus reserves of rich,
breezy and spotless air, which proved therapeutic and invigorating in every way, all the way!
Well, we meandered our way through beautiful
bridges, bungalows and beaches, all along our coastal drive through hickety
hedges, vulnerable ditches, bullock carts chugging away on the roads, cattle
with sparrows perched regally on their backs grazing in the sylvan meadows and
yes… added to all these was the charm of having a cuppa hot piping coffee and local
delights from the village chaai wala who gave you the local taste in all its toothsome grandeur.
 |
| through the mangroves |
After a four-hour scenic drive with joyous
pitstops at regular intervals, we finally reached our first eco-tourist locale
– the delectable Pichavaram Mangrove forests of yore. These mangrove forests
are - wonder of wonders – the second largest mangrove forests in the entire
world, next only to the mighty Sundarbans, and interestingly, in these huge backwaters here that take in water from the ocean during the day
and let out water during the evenings, watersports, rowing, canoeing are quite
popular.
When you go on an Eco-tour, especially
to such an awesome locale, the most important thing you’ve got to look out for,
is the guide – a person who could interact with you as a good long-time friend,
giving you all the required information on the ecological marvels that are so unique to the place, and the factors that have contributed to the
preservation of the locale. And this guide would obviously be one amongst the locals, who abounds with knowledge of the lore of the mangroves, the tides, the flora and the fauna, the water currents, and what not!
Lady luck was so kind enough to smile on
us all - ‘ecotourists’ – and blessed us with such a wonderful guide in one Mr.
Rajavel! He said that he would take us even into the depths of the mazy
mangroves where even the motor boats aren’t allowed, and we said yes quite
enthusiastically. Yes, one word of advice to prospective ecotourists is – go
for the row boats, and avoid at all costs the motor boats! The motor boats don’t
take you into the deepest parts of the mangroves, to admire nature’s delight,
places within the pristine mangroves where even sunlight can’t penetrate. One is reminded of Atwood's 'Journey to the Interior' here, and i guess almost every line and every phrase in this delightful poem would sure remind us of these mangroves here!
Our guide was patient enough to answer
all our questions – childish ones included – that we kept popping up to this pavapetta soul in such timed regularity, and he also proceeded to tell us that,
when the Tsunami waves engulfed the coastal regions of India with such enormous
ferocity in December 2004, the mangrove forests were not at all affected by the
tsunami onslaught – thanks to its ecological balancing! This natural saline
backwater lake that covers around 6000 acres, has some of the richest
biodiversities in the world, with a variety of bird species, insects, reptiles
etc, it seems!
Once we were more quite deep into the thickety forests, almost more than a ‘kilometre
deep’ inside the mangroves, with just the stillness of the air and the twittery
prattle of the birds, the insects and the watery 'creeps' for company, we asked him to stop rowing our
boats, and in the still, solemn quietitude, or solitude, preferred to enjoy the ‘awesomeness of God’s grandeur’
splattered across this wide spawny forest within the saline lake, inhaling the pristine, pure and therapeutic air of these amazing mangrove forests!
Actor Kamalhassan’s Dasavatharam and a host of other famous
movies were also shot here, said our guide, and when one of us pointed out that
the water was as clean as could be, without any filth or plastic water bottles
or wrappers, or food left-overs anywhere in sight, he said that, the locals
with help from the government have taken this initiative to keep the mangroves
as clean as could be, and even if some people carelessly threw away their pet water
bottles, we take pains to collect them and thus do our part in keeping the
mangroves, this lovely ecological treasure house sporting such an amazing biodiversity, as pollution-free as possible!
At one point far far away from human settlements, deep into the mangrove lake, he pointed
towards the sea and said, from this location, it’s just a kilometre to the sea!
We were quite thrilled and excited, and asked with curiosity,
‘Does that mean, we can row all the way
down to the sea waters, in this self-same boat?
Oh no! these boats are meant only for
the lakes, and only for rowing, not for fishing in the high seas!
Oh!
Yes! These boats do not have high
pointed bows that are used to cut the waves when entering the sea!
That’s surprising anna! Could you tell
us more on that?
Oh Yes! long back, before rowing caught
on in in full swing here in Pichavaram, I too was a fisherman! We used to set sail early in the
afternoon, when the tide was low, in motor boats, fitted with an additional
engine – and that’s solely for our safety reasons, packing the required food for our
long haul deep into the sea! Thick into the night, farrr away from the land,
where there’s no scope for any kind of direction, we spread our nylon fishing nets
with floatlines attached to small fishing floats - as far as possible, because
fishing gets better only as darkness creeps in!
Once you’ve got the feel of the line
and sensed it, you have to pull the line back, and you’ll have all sizes of
fishes up on your net.
Now, even as you drive back, you’ve got
to simultaneously keep sorting out the fishes based on their sizes, and also
make sure that the other aquatic species like the octopus, shellfish, squid,
and other edible sea creatures that get caught in the net, are carefully removed
from the nets, and thrown back into the sea.
On your return from deep sea fishing, you
might not land at the same place where you started, especially if there’s heavy
mist or snow formation in the morning, when you can’t even see what lies just
ahead of you. Many times we’ve even landed quite as far as fifteen kilometers
away from our starting place and then make our way home from there!
Is it worth the adventure on the
monetary front? we ask him, with curiosity intact!
Yes it is. Each of us nets around
Rs.6000/- per fishing sojourn, which is a bargain for us! But considering the
risk factors involved, if you’re game for the high seas, then it’s all yours,
he said.
Now, we ask him about the eco-tourists
and other holiday seekers who visit this mangrove forest, and he said that, all
the fifty boats here are on contract with the government, and on weekends we
have around 1000 tourists and that keeps us busy all day. But today being a
Monday, a working day, your group is the first of the lot since this morning,
he added.
We were delighted to see a few
fisherman fishing in the saline lakes, and sensing our curiosity, he said, these
nets are for the prawns and the little varieties of fish that you get in these
waters!
When we were almost winding up on our gentle 'row drive' down the marvelous mangrove swamps, we asked him, why isn’t
Pichavaram not on the Tourist radar as yet?
Now his joy turned to a deep sigh, and
he added,
Brother, believe me, we have the best
eco-tourism locale in the whole of India, unpolluted, and in harmony with
nature. Many coastal zones have taken these mangrove saplings from here and
started planting them along the length of their sea lines, after seeing the
enormous ‘saving grace’ of these mangroves here! This haunt is better than many
lake drives, but I feel the government could do more to popularize the aura of
these mangroves! he said.
After a long labrynthine leg of a tour
into the pure, pristine and serene mangrove forests, we had to bid adieu to our
guide, and also to Pichavaram.
Our next destination on the coastal
drive was Tharangambadi, in Karaikal, Puducherry. The name ‘tharangambadi’ literally
means ‘place of the singing waves’, a Danish settlement, which has also housed
the Danish governor’s palatial residence for over 150 years. As Poppies were to
Calcutta, Pepper was the main hub of business, and the Danish Fort Museum that
stands tall near the seashore, has quite a few interesting archives that date
back to the seventeenth century where palm leaf manuscripts were popular, and
copies of the treaties signed between the local rulers and the settlers were
some of the other relics housed in this museum.
Coincidentally, Bartholomew Ziegenbalg,
the first protestant missionary had also landed in this place, and his memorial
stands tall at this place. His memorabilia are all up for viewing at the Danish
fort museum and in the churches that line the sea shore of this little coastal
town.
After a wonderful day well spent in and
round Tharangambadi, we headed straight to the coastal town of Nagore, which
houses a wonderful monument – the Dargah built upon the tomb of the Sufi Saint
Hazrath Nagore Shahul Hamid who is referred to as ‘Nagore Andavar’ or the ‘god
of Nagore’. The five minarets that stand tall around the Dargah are an architectural
marvel, with a sacred water tank which pilgrims frequent for a holy dip.
After a satisfying visit to the Sufi
Saint’s Dargah, we drove on next to Vedaranyam. The place shot into
international fame, during India's freedom struggle, when Shri C.
Rajagopalachari, launched a salt march in Vedaranyam parallel to the Dandi
March launched by Gandhi in 1930 to protest against the sales tax levied on
salt extraction.
The Kodiyakkarai Wildlife Sanctuary,
the renowned Ayurvedic Medicinal forest, and the lighthouse were some of the
eco-delights for all of us. Also, if the southernmost tip of India would be
Cape Comorin in Kanniya Kumari, the easternmost tip would be Point Calimere!
After a refreshing day at the sandy shores all along, and as many pit stops as
we could possibly revel in, we headed to Velankanni for our lodgings that we
had marked days ahead! In the evening after visiting the Shrine Basilica and
having a wonderful time shopping at the sandy shores, we had a therapeutic
relaxing aqua-therapy in the swimming pools for hours, before plunging headlong
into our dinner!
Early next morning, we started as early
as we could, on our next long sojourn - Rameswaram, where we had a lot of
delights in store!
En route we had pitstops at places
where prawns and fishes and the glimmering salt pans were being reared near the
sea shores in huge hectares, a visual treat to all of us.
By 9.00 am we reached Ramanathapuram, where
we had our breakfast, and then from there Rameswaram was just a one-hour drive
away.
The roads were highly motorable, and
that indeed added to the charm of a highway drive! We took care not to indulge
in road rage (races) and that we will stop – when we find good coffee shops
ahead! J And we
followed this practice sincerely all through our ecodrive!
Rameswaram is an island! That houses the
famous five icons!
The famous Ramanathaswamy Temple
dedicated to the god Shiva,
The architectural marvel in the Pamban
Bridge,
The delightful Rama-Sethu Bridge,
The Scenic Danushkodi Roadway,
The grand Memorial to a legend – Dr.
APJ Abdul Kalam.
The Pamban Bridge is India’s first sea
bridge, 106 years old, and an architectural marvel of sorts – that connects the
Pamban Island with India. It really is a feat that stands monument to the
engineering capabilities of Indians even centuries ago. We all were there at
the adjacent road bridge that was constructed in 1973, admiring this marvel
that was built right into the sea! It was 10.15 am by our watches, and the
Highway Traffic police too were very obliging, and surprisingly very polite and
dignified in their behavior. They politely asked us to park our cars at the fag
corners for other vehicles to pass through – as many tourist buses, cars and
taxis were standing the length of the bridge to watch the pamban bridge. One of
the vendors there told us that a train is scheduled to pass at 10.30 am. What a
stroke of luck for us! We’d been waiting for that! At 10.35 am we could hear
from a distance, the faint honking from the engine of the Rameswaram Express which
was chugging along at less than 10 km speed through the sea bridge, honking at
regular intervals. A medium sized ship along with many huge boats were patiently
waiting their call on either side of the sea bridge for the double-leaf bascule
to open up after the trains pass through. Interestingly the small boats easily sneaked
themselves underneath the sea bridge without much ado or any waiting
whatsoever!
After being awestruck with amazement
and admiration at the Pamban sea bridge, we made our way to the famous Ramanathaswamy
Temple dedicated to the god Shiva. According to legend, Lord Rama worshipped
Lord Shiva, here on return from Sri Lanka, to absolve the sins created during
the Ramayana war at Sri Lanka. Reminds me of our Assam sojourn – a state known
for its wonderful centuries old Shiva temples. You may want to read about it
HERE.
The Ramanathasamy temple looked
majestic with a new dazzling coat of golden yellow adorning its rich gopuram. The long corridors within the temple
and the intricately done paved way to the Shrine resembles a uniquely patterned
chessboard’s structure which is famously known as the Chokkattan Madapam.
From here, we ventured out on the third
leg of our itinerary at Rameswaram – the newly laid Danushkodi Roadway –
spawning around 14 kms that reaches out till land’s end – is a motorist’s
delight by all means. Since the roadway was opened as recently as in October
this year, we were doubly lucky to drive down this wonderful stretch to the tip
of land, from where Sri Lanka is just around 20 miles away.
Since the shoreline here is way too
deep, it becomes all the easier for the fishermen to get their boats to cut
through the waves without much of a heave-ho! Coastguard helicopters were seen
flying high above us at regular intervals, as this point happens to be the
international sea border. Local tourism thrives there, and merry-go-rounds even
touching the sealine by local hire vans was a delight for the tourists. Some
drivers even took the tourists on a thrill by touching the waves on their merry-go-rounds
that had the tourists shrieking out in a cry of joy-and-terror rolled in one!
 |
| to the tip of land... @ Danushkodi |
After a wonderful time at Danushkodi,
we drove down to yet another memorable place - the Memorial of Dr. Abdul Kalam
that’s coming up at his resting place in Rameswaram. Although construction work
is going on in full swing, one could see hundreds of youth raring to go and pay
their obeisance at the memorial, and taking back with them memories in camera
clicks.
To be contd…
No comments:
Post a Comment