MANGALYAPAARA
As it has been a regular feature of going on short trips after coming to Kerala, an article in a local daily was the source for my next hunt along with my friend for a new destination named Mangalyapaara in Thrissur Dist. The article appeared somewhere in October, 2009 when the rains were still very much active. When myself and friend Davis did finally give Mangalyapaara a visit on a pleasant Sunday morning in end January 2010, we found it very much to our liking.
We started from my friend’s house in Pudukkad at around 9:45 am. We went to Thrissur via Kuttanellur, Mission Hospital, Chembukavu and further traveled on to Viyyur about 3 kms. away from Thrissur.
As we did not know the exact location of the place, we checked out with an acquaintance of my friend at Kolazhy and got a rough idea from them about our destination. Although they had not been there ever, they knew of two routes going there. They informed us that a dam has been constructed at Poomala near the site we were heading to which was worth visiting. There were even home stay villas over there, they told us.
The first route was the one going to Athani on the Thrissur-Shornur road and a right turn from there to go to Poomala from where Mangalyapaara can be reached. The second one will lead to Poomala from Thiroor which is nearer than Athani. The dam had not been included in our original itinerary but nevertheless we decided to cover it as well.
It was 10:50 when we found ourselves on the right track with little bits of information collected from the locals who surprisingly did not know much about the place we aimed to visit. After nearly travelling 1.5 kms from Kolazhy, we found the right turn at Thiroor and taking the zigzag route, we reached Poomala which lay about 5 kms.away. We travelled some more distance and having drawn blank got the help of a local who seemed to recognize the location from the photo we had shown him. As per his direction, we finally reached Mangalyapaara at 11.30 a.m.
Though we had been forewarned that the place is barren and there is nothing worthwhile to see, we didn’t regret the visit. The site was once used for quarrying with the abundance of hard rock available there. The large pits thus formed now presented themselves as large and deep ponds giving the site a wonderful panoramic view from atop the hillock half encircling the area. The green vegetation on the other half side was a real treat to the eyes and the camera.
The other side of the road which cut across the hill, presented the pinnacle of the hill and we enjoyed the view from there which was enchanting. There is quarrying activity going on here also. As there was no shade in the entire area we returned to our earlier view point and had lunch over there. By around 12:30 pm we decided to return to the main road and resume our journey to Poomala Dam. While making our way to the spot, where we had parked our bike, we enquired with a local if this particular area was frequented by tourists to which he said that monsoon attracted more visitors than summer. There was another spot close by where lots of films had been shot. But visiting there was not worthwhile in this hot season and we decided to visit Poomala Dam keeping the shooting location pending for the rainy season.
Enroute to Poomala Dam, we passed by a rubber plantation where two machines were seen installed amidst which reminded me of the ones we see at Sugarcane juice stalls. The machines are used for making rubber sheets. Rubber milk collected from the tree in cup like structures is poured into trays and mixed with Formic acid and the resultant spongy like substance obtained is passed through this crushing machine which removes the liquid part and the sheets thus formed from the other side are collected and are left to dry by hanging them on a clothesline. This is a new interesting information for me. After half an hour journey from Mangalyapaara we reached Poomala Dam. This is a small dam and a recently constructed one too. We didn’t linger too much over there and around 1 pm we started our return journey and reached Thrissur by 2 pm. I returned home having seen a new place and learnt something new.
