The Indian rain tree opposite our house.
The ripe
leaves fall off the tree
In the
air, the destination undefined
Yet the
infinite wind blow
To keep it
ground and far.
The
falling leaves seems a blessing
On anyone
under its tree
Perhaps,
because these are mature leaves
Equivalent
to be greeted by adults.
The leaves
depart on a journey undecided,
Gives way
to emerging shoots.
Perhaps,
because it is called Indian rain tree
It showers in golden yellow.
Let’s begin the month (February) colorfully!
Kolam considered
an auspicious and morning exercise for women in general, as they bend down and
connect the dots, they do some math’s blending the body and mind. Due to knee
problems and space for drawing, keep mom away from following the custom, so my
aunt takes care of drawing kolam daily in front of the house as we share the
same gateway. Lately, there was a talk of keeping a maid to do the task daily
on our behalf. Not every day we drew color Kolam; so, it won't be difficult in
general, and many of our neighbors have such maids, who used to draw simple and
same design as Kolam.
The temple called by the name Shri Kailasanathar Kovil has Lord
Shiva is a prime deity and is worshipped in the name of Kailasanathar. The
inscription at the temple says it was built during Pallava King, Nirupathungan,
in the 8th century, and the temple was completely a renovated structure of its
original. And the temple is located at a place called Vasavasamudram, about 80km from Chennai on ECR.
It was a quiet
afternoon, and we drove there after having lunch under the shadows of trees,
surrounded by paddy fields and coconut trees. I could easily smell the
fragrance of fresh paddy grains every time the wind blows on, sending a
nostalgic feel to my senses. The temple beautifully stays in the water on
almost four sides, and the road to the temple is narrow through paddy fields
and village streets.
While I stayed
with the car, others went down to check the temple complex; though the temple’s
main gate and the sanctum are closed, people are allowed through a side gate to
circumambulate the temple. The images on the temple and river were shot by mom,
as I didn’t take my wheelchair, I couldn’t get close, or drove on the little
bridge across the water. I really enjoy the view and sound of birds and running
water off the paddy fields; it’s a wonderful place to enjoy peace.
I haven’t planned to go out during the Pongal holidays esp. to avoid the festival crowd, even though the government had forbidden people from visiting tourist places and beaches during the Pongal holidays to prevent the spreading of coronavirus. I went out on the Mattu Pongal day (Jan 15), and this day is usually crowded on ECR (east coast road), unlike the Kaanum Pongal (the next day), with a peak in-crowd, but the closer of tourist places left minimum vehicles on the road. Only the amusement parks were opened, with a fully loaded parking lot.
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My brother said,
let's go for a ride on ECR, and the idea of visiting the Kadalur check-Dam came
on the way. I came to know about this dam from my cousin-sister, who checked
the dam last year. And I wanted to check the dam then, but the pandemic made it
impossible, and I learned later the recent rain had brought enough water to the
dam to overflow.
It's always a
dream to see water in the Palar river, which often looks dry, other than little
pools of water. The Palar river rises in the Nandi hill of Karnataka and runs
into Andhra Pradesh, and then into Tamil Nadu, for a length of 350 km before
merged at the sea. The dam is about 75km from Chennai on the ECR, and there’s a
signboard indicating the road to the dam (take left) before crossing the
river.
The check-dam is
built at the mouth of the river for about a km in length, and in between
Vayalur-Kadalur village, where the river meets the sea. The road passes through
the narrow streets of Vayalur village, ends at the north bank of the river, and
then a mud road slides to the dam. When we went, there were already a dozen
cars and bikes parked in front of the river, and many people were having fun by
sliding through the spillway and taking bath at the river. Despite the slippery
spillway and rocks around the dam, this seems to be a safe place to relax and
enjoy the bath as a family.
It was noon when
we arrived at the dam, and the sun was shining above our heads, so we could not
get clear pictures of the place as there was too much sunlight. I even couldn't
shoot the flock of pelicans taking flights above the dam site, and they should
have come up fishing at the dam. The water stays up to and beyond the bridge of
the ECR, which is something I have never seen before – the last flood I saw on
the Palar river was in 1997. We quickly moved from there as the sun was quite
sharp on us.
The dam is built in 2019 with funding from Kalpakkam Atomic Station and was opened by the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi K Palanisamy. And the best time to visit the dam is post-monsoon, the only time when the river sees some flow of water.
