Date: 4th August 2009
Monsoons and that too the ones in Maharashtra and Kerala are very much similar. When they start pouring all hell breaks loose and when they go away, it takes a lot to cajole them back.
I was missing Mumbai very much especially the rainy hikes and treks that I used to go to. One day, Davis Sir, an ex-colleague with my current firm, called and told me about two waterfalls very near to our residences (This place is nearly 30 kms from my hometown) which were quite unheard of but were as beautiful as the famous Athirapally and Wazhachaal waterfalls. He had read about these waterfalls in a newspaper some time back and was as eager as I was to visit these places. Although these water falls were located in a dense forest the threat of wild animals mainly wild boars was to be dealt with after 5pm as that was the time that they would venture out in the open.
I started early enough in the morning at around 7.15 am in order to reach Davis Sir’s house by 8.00 am as none of us had break fast we had a hearty meal of Roti and sabji that Aunty(Davis Sir’s wife) had prepared for us. Davis Sir showed me the article and we both crosschecked what all items we needed to carry. In my bag there was the Tiffin box, camera, water bottle, scribbling pad, a torch (Was that really needed.), Jacket, an umbrella, snacks and some books. I lessened some of the burden like the umbrella and the books at Davis Sir’s house. The time was 8:45 am when we were all done and got into our ‘savaari’ viz, Davis Sir’s Hero Honda bike. We reached the by-pass that leads to Kutanellur by traveling 9 kilometres and passed Maroti chaal junction by around 9:30 am.
We saw the lone board indicating the stopping point for the waterfalls at around 9:35 am. Buses ply between Thrissur and Maroti chaal at a good frequency I would say as we saw many buses pass by. The distance we covered was 23 kilometres. The waterfall at the topmost point was still further 3 kilometres from this point. While we were walking along the path leading to the first waterfall called Ollakayam waterfall we could hear the sound of the water falling down from a good height. We moved in that direction and found the first waterfall. For irrigation purpose, this falls was diverted on the right side to the canal and on the front side to fall along at a good height and form a natural waterfall. We halted for a while over here to take some snaps and rest a while.
Davis Sir put on the specially made socks for protection against leeches and other creepy crawlies. We walked across some dense vegetation and rock patches. We lost track of the path and many a times went across rather difficult obstacles or came to a dead end. We were just following the flow of the river. We finally came to a point where we could not possibly reach the main waterfalls with out crossing the stream. None of us knew for sure if the water current was below danger level or not so, we decided against it. We both decided to leave this particular path unexplored. Thus, we returned with some unfinished business. The return journey was rough as we lost track of the route many times. Finally, we did reach the base by 1:30 pm.
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