RGB Monday

A colorful lane on the white town in Puducherry and aka Pondicheery.

Yesterday I traveled to Puducherry, a 150+ km ride after a year, and my last travel to Amrithi Zoo near Vellore in Feb 2020. Visiting Puducherry is an extension ride following the intention of visiting Veedur Dam, near Tindivanam. More detail about the trip will follow in the next post.

Golden Shower

 

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.

RGB Monday

Let’s begin the month (February) colorfully!

My aunt’s another colorful butterfly kolam from the Pongal festival.

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.

An Island Temple on Palar river, in ECR

Following Kadalur check-Dam (click for the previous post), we visited a little island temple on the other bank of the Palar river. If the left before crossing the Palar river on ECR led to the dam, the right after crossing the river directs you to the temple that rested on a rocky mound at about 150 feet inside the river. The temple is connected by a small bridge that covers the distance between the bank and temple.

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.

The time we visited the temple was closed. Actually, we had no idea about its timing or intended to visit the temple until I checked the dam, and I thought of only taking a look at the place, as we went close to the same. I came to know about the island temple through a vlog by My Sutrula, and I really liked the environment and flow of water around it trigger me to visit.

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.

Kadalur Dam – First outing of the year

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.