Date: 14th April 2009
This time around Vishu brought along some real fragrance all together. It was more than a year since I had gone for an outing. The last trip was to Pandav leni. After settling here in Kerala, my mind had been restless as I was missing out on the treks and trails that I used to undergo in Mumbai.
Davis Sir, an ex-colleague of the current organization that I am with joined us for lunch at home and then took us to Chimini Dam in his car. His friend Divakaran and wife were to meet us at Amballur at 2 p.m.
At around 1:45 pm we all made ourselves comfortable in Davis Sir’s Maruti 800. After covering some 9 kms we found Davis Sir’s friend waiting for us at Amballur.
I firmly believe that many a times the route that leads us finally to our desired location offers so much scenery that most of the time we miss out on them. Maybe Davis Sir read my mind and made a stop near a rubber estate and took some group photos. We continued our journey and reached Chimini Sanctuary at around 2:40 p.m. and the Dam Site at 3:25 p.m.
The scene here is so similar to Thekady that one feels like having visited Thekady in an easier and cheaper way. There is an arrangement of stones similar to the tetra pods in Marine Drive, Mumbai through which one has to trudge along so as to reach the river bank. We didn’t have towels handy so we skipped taking bath. However we did sit on the rock near the bank and immerse our feet inside the river.
The scene on the other side of the dam is however different. There is a pump house which pumps out water at such a force that it sends a chill down the spine to even look at that speed at which the water gushes out. Before undertaking this trip I had searched for images of Chimini Dam, and I saw a very nice photo of this very pump house and the setting sun. We however couldn’t wait till sun set.
Soon it was time to bid farewell to the Dam site and while returning back home each one must have been remembering this trip for varied reasons.
