Ponniyin Selvan and Kodikkarai

It's been ten years since I visited Kodikkarai (aka Point Calimere), yet the memories are still vivid in my mind. Furthermore, the novel I am currently reading, Ponniyin Selvan, has a lot of connection with the place in its second and third volume, which overlaps with the time of my visit, precisely ten years ago. 

Ponniyin Selvan is a renowned classic historical novel in Tamil written by Kalki, which needs no introduction if you come from Tamil Nadu, the southern state of India. As captivating fiction, the novel tells the story of the greatest king, Raja Raja Chozan. I love reading this book, or more accurately, I enjoy traveling through it, and Kodikkarai is one of the key stops on this journey; that transports me through nostalgic memories and into a thousand-year-old fantasy. 

At the pristine shore of Kodikkarai

I envisage a dense forestation once in the already widespread scrub forest of Kodikkarai,  home to many blackbucks and chital deer, wild horses, boars, and foxes, where the courageous Vanthiya Devan follows the insane girl Poonkuzali, who tricks him and saves him from quicksand. 

Kodikkarai is a vast network of backwaters that includes the Great Vedaranyam Swamp and the Cauvery Estuary; it opens up to dry evergreen forests, mangrove forests, and wetlands where quicksand is common. 

Based on their discussion in the book, I can imagine how wild it should be to have tigers and leopards in the Kodikkarai forest a thousand years ago. They used to say that where there are deer, there will be tigers, but now in Kodikkarai, the deer are safe from everything but the cunning foxes. 

The 9th Chola lighthouse ruin was surrounded by water during high tide.

While I sat along the pristine and powdered sand shore of Kodikkarai, besides a half-cylindrical ruin of the Chola's brick and mortar lighthouse, I had no idea that I was sitting at a historical landmark of the Chola dynasty. And that our Ponniyin Selvan (Raja Raja Cholan) arrived in Sri Lanka from here.

About a thousand years ago, the Chola lighthouse was a tower-like structure where firewood is lit atop the tower to indicate the ships and warn about the shallow seashore.

Ponniyin Selvan is a 5-volume novel, and I've finished the first two and am now reading the third, which seems to be more intense and all pointing towards Kodikkarai; my imagination is taking new sights and vistas of the shore. The Kadikkarai coastline is shallow for a few kilometers and has stripes of sandbanks to keep ships away, and only tiny boats can access. 

It was a magnificent sight to see hundreds of birds take off and land on a sandbank by the sea, as well as a herd of deer leap across a long stretch of ground and disappear into the bushes. It was a scene that struck my mind's vision like a flash of lightning forever. The forest department permitted safaris within the forest up to the Chola lighthouse to watch the wildlife.

Kodikkarai is a nearly right-angle turn in Tamil Nadu's coastline in the delta region of Nagapattinam. It houses wildlife, a bird sanctuary. Kodikkarai is a 10-kilometer drive from Vedaranyam and takes us past extensive salt pans on one side and woodland on the other. 

A white heron taking off

Every winter, millions of birds from all over the world visit Kodikkarai, and it is popularly known for the Greater flamingo. During our trip to Kodiyakkarai, we stayed at the forest guest house, close to the forest and the new lighthouse. And the suite allotted for us is named "Flamingo."

It was a beautiful experience to see deer and peacocks casually roaming around the guesthouse, and the rattle of peacocks was a rhythmic way to wake up in the morning. Since the guesthouse had a tile roof, we heard knocks at night, which was nothing but peacocks who enjoyed a stroll on the roof. 

Unfortunately, I could not share many photos from Kodikkarai, as I have saved the photos on DVDs, my new laptop doesn't have a DVD drive. Some of these photos are from my archiver, and those remained on the hard disk I have many photos of the wildlife, the beach, and the forest to share with you, but you'll have to wait till I buy an external DVD driver.

Indian Golden Jackal and Its Relevant!

Foxes and Jackals have become an endangered species in our  Indian subcontinent, and I remember seeing a Jackal (in wilder) only once in the Kodiakkarai scrub forest, aka Point Calimere.  I have been to many wild forests, but nowhere I could see a Fox or Jackal. It seems the foxes have almost lost their habitation, and who could be responsible for that other than us, the human beings? 

Man hunted foxes/jackals for their skin and flesh - believing to have medical values is used in traditional medicine is one of the reasons for the foxes to disappear from the forest. And those who hunt foxes are called Narikuravar (fox tribe) in southern India, and they sell things made of fox body parts, esp. they make necklaces with fox tooth hanging.

But they stopped hunting fox/jackals after the Indian Wildlife Conservation Act (1972 as amended to 2005) forbids the hunting of all wildlife; they were prohibited entry into the forests; thus took alternatives such as selling beaded ornaments to survive. But beyond that, habitat loss is the main reason for the fox/jackal to become endangered.  The conversion of grassland habitat to agriculture, industry, and increasingly bio-fuel plantations have drastically affected its population.

There is an attitude of comparing fox/jackal trickery and ingenuity with people among us, who are very sharp, specific, and self-centered. There's a famous story of The Fox and Crow told in various versions (and ours was "granny's vada"); to praise the trickiness of fox, but the moral of the story was to never deceive anyone cunningly for our benefit and don't believe everyone's word.

There is also a superstition in India that waking up on a fox face or hearing a jackal howl means good things will happen. And there are much folklore, mythology, and literature relevant to the jackal's cunningness and religious beliefs.  So whatever it is, preserving a dying species is everyone's duty, and those living around the forest need to be more responsible, emphasizing the same.

The golden jackal I shared here was shot at Amirthi Zoological Park, near Vellore. The Park has a nice set of dens, that too a colorful one - paintings of trees resembling the walls of the kindergarten - covered by a partial dome-like cage. When we visited, a lone jackal was roaming outside the dens - there are two separate dens, what I guess was there must be at least a pair of jackals -  right now, only one is available.

The Golden Jackal, believed to be a social animal that lives either as pairs or packs like wolves, is native to Southeast Europe to Southeast Asia. Comparatively, a small size wolf, "the jackal possesses shorter legs and a shorter tail, a more elongated torso, a less-prominent forehead, and a narrower and more pointed muzzle. The golden jackal's coat can vary in color from a pale creamy yellow in summer to a dark tawny beige in winter."

"The genetic studies indicate the golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago, towards the end of the last ice age. Golden jackals' habitat in valleys and beside rivers and their tributaries, canals, lakes, and seashores feed on foods ranging from fruit and insects to small ungulates."  (courtesy wiki)

Skywatch Friday: Sunrise and Contrail

Gaja, a severe storm or cyclone that was threatening the coastline of Tamil Nadu for nearly a week, had landfall near Nagapattinam, creating havoc at the early hours of Friday (today). Above 250 km away from Chennai, the coastal districts is at severe damage of properties and lose of countless trees, but the precaution efforts taken by the state and district authorities really need to be appreciated and I believe it is because of their efforts the worst has been prevent. Actually, Chennai was predicted to be the destination of Gaja, but nature decided to be kind toward us giving away the trouble to other part of the state. As I have been to the places of Gaja, I could imagine what kind of destruction the areas face and Vedaranyam being the eye of Gaja is isolated from outside world and it is surrounded by natural saltpans and forests that should be faced heavier. I was really worried about the Kodiyakarai; the Point Calimere wildlife and bird sanctuary, which is home to number of blackbucks, wild horses and migratory birds, including flamingos. Hope the nature wasn’t disturbed heavily.

Coming to the post, I would like to share couple of skywatch shots from the other day morning, when I waked up earlier than usual. Though it wasn’t an actual sunrise but for me the sun just came above the trees and building to bestow its tender waves on me that sense a lot to me. You could presume form the images that it was shot from balcony using iPhone and few minutes later a jet crossed the sky and its quick enough to pass and I could only get the contrail as proof. It was a pleasant morning for me and waked up earlier left me more time for reading and other activities. I wish I follow this pattern, though I’m someone don’t wake up before 8 am this should be a trouble. lol

Linking this post with Skywatch Friday

Vedaranyam – Renowned for salt and struggle

During my visit to Point Calimere (Kodiyakarai) we landed at Vedaranyam for temple visit and to time pass while waiting for the Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary to be open by afternoon to enter. Vedaranyam is a coastal town, about 50 km southeast of Nagapattiman in Tamil Nadu along the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. The town Vedaranyam derive its name from the temple here called Vedaranyeswarar Temple, with Vedaranyeswarar as presiding deity, is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The 7^th century Saiva canonical work, Tevaram (written by Tamil saint poets known as the Nayanars) mentions this place as Tirumaraikadu, meaning the place where Vedas, the oldest scripture of Hinduism, originated.

Vedaranyeswarar Temple Tower (click photos for enlargement)

Vedaranyam is also a historical town and according to the inscriptions found in Vedaranyeswarar Temple, Vedaranyam has been a part of the Chola Empire under various reigns (from 871-1120 CE) until before it falls during 13^th century CE while under a power struggle between Pandyas and Hoysalas. The Cholas had been profuse throughout their reign granting to the temple, which continued even during the rules of the Nayaks of Thanjavur. The Vedaranyeswarar Temple is a part of the series of temples built by Aditya Chola (871-907 CE) along the banks of river Cauvery to commemorate his victory in the Tirupurambiyam batter. The temple has a five-tiered gateway tower and a central shrine, holding the image of Shiva in the form of lingam.

Salt Pans of Vedaranyam

Being under French and British regime, like many other places in pre-independence era and a part of Nagapattinam region, Vedaranyam is renowned for salt and struggle! Producing around 500,000 tonnes of salt every year, Vedaranyam stands next to Tuticorin in quantum of salt produced in Tamil Nadu. Thanks to the advantage of Great Vedaranyam Swamp with total area of about 349 sq.-km stretching parallel to the Palk Strait and Point Calimere wildlife sanctuary to extreme east; Vedaranyam has five fresh water channels from river Cauvery draining into the swamp, that obtain continuous source of fresh, saline or brackish water during the southwest monsoon and dries up in summer, contributes to salt extraction.

Salt Pans along the way to Point Calimere from Vedaranyam

The swamp is also filled by two periodical high tides that occur during the full moon days of summer. The saltpans spread over 11,000 acres between Vedaranyam and Kodiyakarai has small, medium and large salt manufactures that employ around 20,000 people. Aside salt manufacturing, fishing and salt water prawn cultivation is also primary activities of Vedaranyam. During the British period, salt from Vedaranyam has been transported to Nagapattinam port though a 52 km long canal since road transportation has been limited between these two towns then. Vedaranyam is a place that earned name for supporting Dandi March, one of the prime protest lead my Mahatma Gandhi against sales tax levied on salt extraction.  

Vedaranyam Beach

While Gandhi launched the Dandi March along India’s west coast to protest against the tax imposed by British Raj for salt extraction, his close associate and later India’s first Governor-General C. Rajagopalachari carried out a salt march in parallel, to the event on the east coast starting from Tiruchi to Vedaranyam. His group led by 100 volunteers was arrested by the British for collecting salt directly from the sea on the coast of Vedaranyam on 30 April 1930. There is a Salt Sathyagraga Memorial Stupe on the way to the Vedaranyam beach, built in memory of the salt march that sent Rajaji and others to six months imprisonment. Equivalent to Raameshwaram, taking bath in Vedaranyam beach is also believed to drive away sins! 

Brahminy Flight Show

It’s not a regular flight show that happens during national events, where air force planes fly at a terrific speed and display their daring feats. And fighter jets adorn the blue sky by releasing colorful smokes and creating various symbols. And coming down very close to ground and take off vertically into the sky. A stunt that never been stunning and delight seeing flights at touching distance. But the flight you see here was pioneer to airplane aviation and had been inspiration for man to build his own wings to fly.

It’s a flight over stunning blue sky and close to sparkling sea. A pleasure watching it peacefully took off into the sky and leaving cheerful lighter movements rather heart throbbing dare feats. And like a patrol aircraft, the flight flies over the Danish colony while spy for prey. 

This kite doesn't need any permission to fly and no one could ban it as threaten to lives. It flies fearlessly very close to land and on ocean surface, seeking its prey. Takes off to untouchable high and fly unlike many other birds flapping its wings frequently. The Brahminy Kite you see in these pictures are captured during my last year visit to Danish Fortat Tranquebar and this kite had constantly looped around the area and sometime coming close to sea. Gave me some wonderful opportunity to capture the bird at near distance and it was first time for me then to shot on birds of prey.

I think the Brahminy Kites are a resident of Nagapattinam distinct of Tamil Nadu, whereas I know Point Calimere is home to number of this species, they are well spread around the area. I found a bunch of kites  at Point Calimere Bird Sanctuary and the bird can be easily distinguish from other birds of prey as adults own a contrasting white head and breast. I also saw the juveniles who are fully browner. The Brahminy kits are no different in size compare to Back Kite and until browsing the net I though it as an eagle! 

Low flying kite

Landing over ocean terrace 

Pondicherry Beach

One late morning we passed the Pondicherry beach while letting us ahead to Point Calimere in Nagai District; the beach looked deserted during that day of the time last March. Guess it was a weekday, and being sunny no one were left around and the way it looked (neat and clean) impressed to shoot few shots. This was the beach shaken up during the Thane cyclone that struck couple of months early to our visit then, seems taken a quick recovery to our surprise and it looked even better than our early visits.

My first time to the Pondicherry beach was at the beginning of this millennium and that time it was only rocks left behind the corridor platform and we could enjoy the drizzle splashed by waves while sitting on the platform. Now the beach was extended into the sea, creating a corridor on the seawall to keep away the erosion and building some sand area for beach visitors. This was my third time in the beach to just pass unlike early spending some time, the beach left quite with no sound of splashing waves and sight of some sea birds at distance.

The Promenade beach, as popularly known as Pondicherry beach on the Beach Road is one of the main boulevard of the city, where one could find heritage buildings and offices of the Union Govt. including the State Secretariat.  The beach extends for 1.5 km along the shore, has the statue of the father of the nation – Mahatma Gandhi – is the center of attraction.  The four-meter tall statue was beautifully adorned by eight granite pillars, surrounding a shrine like shelter.

Being close to the old harbor, the beach holds a pretty sight of the pier extended into the bay. And the old lighthouse on the beach lane, opposite to the Mahatma Gandhi statue is a wonderful old tower installed by French East India Company in year 1836. This old lighthouse was the first modern lighthouse on the Coromandel Coast, served the mariners for almost a century and half before proudly become a monument under the Union Territory Administration – a fitting tribute to its valuable services.

The old lighthouse

Bay Watch

It’s not a kind of Pamela Anderson run to rescue in red swimwear those struggles for lives drown in the water offshore! Lol. But it’s just a beautiful beach watch, facing the Bay of Bengal against the Danish Fort of Tranquebar in Tharangambadi, which I visited last March while heading to Point Calimere.  You might familiar with one of the fabulous ocean picture on my header with a blue yacht sailing across the sea…

A beautiful blue yacht,
beneath the blue sky
over the blue sea

It’s been some time I wish to check the place and what impresses me next to the still growing strong marvelous Danish Fort is, the Beach with impressive hues of green and blue. Situated 272km from Chennai on the ECR, the elevated courtyard of the fort from ground gives a stunning view on the sea with layers of blue green on surface. 

Beach boys

There were sights of yachts sailing across frequently and some boys playing on the gushing waves that reaches out the broken walls and rocks of prevention erosion, while they throw hook for fishes. Thanks to my Canon SX220 HS to giving me the opportunity to capture the pretty blue sky and the ocean, which retreats while the noon sun was striking hard beside the cool breeze caring off.

A Brahminy Kite or Red-backed Sea-eagle flight over the sea

More on the Fort and travel details soon…

Pleasant stay at Point Calimere

The dusk turned more darker when we reached the Point Calimere, cause is not alone the arrival of night but the power cut that shutdown all aspects of this last shore (Kodiyakarai) and the only visible through candle lit light. Point Calimere is a worst experienced place for us to go through the power cut which hold to every half an hour including the regular power cuts of 3 hours in morning and afternoon… the nights are more unwind for us inside the guest house and the only source of light was the inverter that light a single bulb in each suite.

First we landed at the Velliman illam, which is on the main road, to only move gladly to Thambusami Illam knowing there were no suites available at ground floor which turned gladder than regret to enjoy the isolated guest house away from the activities of man. Except the power cut, Tambusami Illam is a pleasant stay guest house where we enjoyed the cool sea breeze throughout the day blowing outside under the veranda and portico surrounded by trees.

The forest guest house looks glorious in the red tiled roof and painted in pale white with bordered red, splendor by the sight of peacock which is always there! When we reached this place following the government vehicle in guide of my dad’s ex-colleague from Nagapattinam Collectorate, who helped for us in booking this guest house and appointed a person to take us around… it was pitch darkness and had no idea what happening around except a blink of light from the elevated lighthouse at next compound.

Only the next day morning we get to feel the real enhance of this guest house holds around. The sight of frequent peacocks across the compound is a treat for eyes and sense to behold the beauty almost clear and near and with bloom of red hibiscuses and fall of rip leaves blend it more wonderful.   Also called as Flamingo guest house, it has two rooms naming Flamingo and Pelican and a common dining hall, we took refrain at Pelican and my uncle’s family at flamingo.

Thambusamy illam is a century old building built by a sea merchant called Mr. O.A. Thambusami Pillai who later donated the building to the government which took renovation in year 2000 to accommodate official visitors to Kodaikarai. The sign board and rock inscription on the wall claims the heritage and the rooms are spacious and facilitated without replacing the original doors and windows and also has open air meeting hall and umbrella sit-outs which are maintained unusable. Lol

The guard who is appointed to take care of the guest house and visitors is so friendly and soon become familiar to share his knowledge about this place and general thoughts on things. He claims that Point Calimere is nothing but refers to the Point of southeast and Calimere is the name of who discovers this place and the seashore of Kodiyakarai is the northern part of Palk Strait that stretches across the Gulf of Mannar between the India and Sri Lanka, which is 43km from here via sea and during the war in Jaffna the sound of explosions were heard clearly claims the guard.

Point Calimere – a note on lighthouse and sea sand

Among the many beautiful things that come across our travel to the Point Calimere last week, the British lighthouse in Kodiyakarai scrub forest is one awesome sight at the edge of southeast Tamil Nadu. I waited for long time to visit this swamp island surrounded by salt pans, bird and wildlife sanctuary is home to many species of birds, animals and shrubs is a best place to experience the wildlife inhabitant.

British Light House

Built in 1890 by the British in the Point Calimere is a 16 m round cylindrical tower with lantern and gallery; the lighthouse is painted white and lantern dome in red, said to white flash every 10 seconds. As a replacement to the 1000 years old Chola lighthouse which remains as ruin with only the bottom left today latter shatter to tsunami and recent thane cycle has forced to footstep into the sea.

Chola Lighthouse ruin

The Chola lighthouse is erected 1000 years ago during the regime of Raja Raja Cholan and what remains now is the broken bricks and mortar on the ever so soft sand shore. The British lighthouse is old among the other lighthouses which flash could be seen up to 15 nautical miles.

Isolated at a pristine beach, Point Calimer

The entire trip to the Point Calimere was enjoyable and the route after Cuddalore was new for me to unexpected curves and bend of plenty but still enjoyed the winding road and come across cities and villages. The time we took to explore the places were unfavorable and its heavy sunshine during the day time and at same time very pleasant in evening and at dawn. The Point Calimere beach is isolated and the virgin beach sand is so soft and exotic to foot stand on… may be I feel it as I unmemorable when I last foot at sea sand. Wow

Action squirrel with new Cam

Here’s a series of action by squirrel captured with my newly bought Camera, Canon PowerShot SX220 HS! It’s a quite impressive camera with quick burst and 14x optical zoom, it captures the distance objects crisp and clear to put me at great surprise and rejoice. I am enjoying it indeed :)

I really missed a good deal that comes in hand while getting this camera and I don’t want to miss the chance by paying little more on it where this model is on near closing its business represented by the latest models in its series. I’m quite content with the quality of pictures from this 12 megapixel point and shoot camera with features almost double than my currently corrupted with lens, Canon PowerShot SD850 IS.

I really wished for a camera with more zooming and light weighted and while studying on this format I find canon sx220hs getting prior in many area and even though its zooming is less compared to its similar feature based on brands Nikon, Sony… Canon is much better at picture quality and high speed shutter which I lack during low light with previous one. Moreover the design and the way of handing the camera want me to go for it with least disappointment with weight adding few more grams and battery that runs out sooner than the previous one… glad both the cameras hold the same batter for me to use one as spare while traveling.

Back in action, the cute lil squirrel was very active running here and there on the compound wall feeding on the idly left over and it doesn’t stop a moment for me until few seconds of munching… the camera acted too smart and fast capturing the squirrel never ever so clear nearby me! I’m ahead to go out testing and experience the various shooting modes it holds along extending my road trip on ECR further to Point Calimere.