Falls Tour of Tamil Nadu organised by TTDC

When I read the Advertisement given by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation about the 4 day tour of Water Falls in the state, my happiness crossed boundaries as I was just looking out for such a tour to be with nature and to be myself. I asked at least a few of my DTEA friends if they were interested to join me for this tour. My family members were just not interested to go on this tour in Non-A/c coaches! Though my friends evinced interest none could make it happen due to pre-occupation. I decided to go with the tour all by myself. This tour was by a 20 seat er non-air conditioned bus which set out on 1st October,2009 at 8.30 pm. The drivers of the Bus were expert drivers who knew the routes well. The Bus halted for relief at about 7am while proceeding towards Kumbakarai falls at the foothills of Kodaikanal. The halt was at the roadside and the facilities for toilets were far from satisfactory considering the number of buses and tourists present at the site! The guide was quite fair enough saying that better hotels having good toilet facilities did not allow TTDC to halt at their premises as the tourists would not spend for eating at their outlets! Anyways, the bus proceeded ahead and we reached Kumbakarai and were quite eager to see the falls! It was a bitter disappointment that there was hardly any Falls and all that we could see was small little ponds of water and small stream lets gathering strength to flow! The afternoon heat and the absence of Falls did dampen our spirits but we were hopeful of seeing some better view of water falling from a height at the next destination which was Suruli which was bordering Kerala. The moment we came near the spot, there was a noticeable decrease in temperature and the climate became cooler. Here, we were not disappointed as we could see a lovely water fall and all of decided to get into it and derive pleasure by standing underneath the falls and allow the water to massage your body. It was fun as you will get some ideas from the picture that is appended.
We had our night halt at Madurai at one of the T T D C's hotels. The single room that I had was nothing less than a 3 star hotel suite and it was neat and clean with fresh towels and soaps provided. The only draw back that these TTDC hotels have is that you never know if they would serve you the food that you ordered with the room service? This happened with me too as I fell on my bed like never before and never even woke up to realise that the food that I ordered never came to my room!!

The next morning We set out on our 4 hour trip to Courtallam. Your heart knew no bounds of Joy seeing the mighty Courtallam falls which was a wonderful sight to admire and relish. After a good oil massage of your body which costs Rs 200/-, all of us jumped into the huge crowd already assembled there to take bath at the falls. The water pounded each and every possible place in your body. within minutes, there was no trace of oil on your body and it was such a lovely feeling. We felt so hungry after this 1 hr of bath. Lunch awaited us at the Tamil nadu Hotel and we all ate as if we had just arrived from Ethiopia!!

We proceed to yet another falls near Courtallam popularly know as Papanasam where a holy bath is believed to relieve a person of all his sins and clear the way for his Mukthi or in other words, there will not be a re-birth for the person! The falls though weaker in strength gave us immense pleasure and joy and probably each of us thought that we have attained Moksha or the ultimate?

Next came Mani mutharu which was about 1 1/2 hrs of journey. This is also popular place as the government has built a huge dam to store water. There was security around the area and our group had to register themselves to go further to have a look at the falls. This place was as amazing as the courtallam falls and was surrounded by scenic beauty of nature!

We reached Kanya Kumari around 9pm to halt for the day and rest by night! The 5am darshan of Goddess Kanya Kumari was blissful. Mythology says that Goddess Durga vowed to kill Banasuran, the demon before marrying Lord Shiva who was known to the world as sundareswarar. The marriage could not happen since Goddess was focused on killing the evil-Banasuran and thus the marriage was called off! The food items which were prepared for the occasion was thrown on the sands of the beach and that's probably the reason that even today you find particles that resembles food grains on the beach! The place which is otherwise known for its Sun Rise and the Sun Set and the merging of the mighty Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the ultimate Indian Ocean was overcast with clouds and light drizzle leading to disappointment amongst the tourists who wanted to witness the sun-rise spectacle. On a clear day, one can see the Sun Rising from the East-Bay of Bengal side and setting on the west-the Arabian sea side and people throng to see this spectacle from all corners of the country and elsewhere.

We proceeded to Tiruparappu adjoining the borders with Kerala. After nearly 2 hrs of journey we were absolutely delighted to see a wonderful Falls. The falls had murky water and I was curious to know the reason as all other falls had clear water? After trekking a few hundred yards, I found a river on top of the falls and on either sides people were taking bath and washing their clothes!! no wonder, the water was pale and had been beaten by the in-humane approach! Its the sheer size of the population that is challenging the authority in every sphere which takes away the lustre and beauty of mother nature. Its time that our people are taught about conservation of rivers and its utilities for the future generation to exist. I tried to explain to a few as to why they should not use soaps and other detergents while taking bath specially in rivers and falls lest they should turn "False" in the years to come!

The 20 hour journey back to chennai helped our minds to determine the number of bones that our body comprises! Nevertheless, it was worth the visit and my thanks to the Tamilnadu tourism that they could take me so near to reality and nature.