Trekking at Palamalai (Siddheswarar malai), Guruvareddiyur, Erode district.

                  On 23rd June, 2013 Sunday when clock ticking 4AM in the morning, I woke up with more enthusiasm than what I used to. Soon after I woke up, I called my best friend Navin M Kalloli. At 4.30 I got ready and reached Saravanampatti corner to wait for Navin. He came at 4.50 AM and we started our travel in his silver bullet. We have met Palani at Tidel Park, Coimbatore who had been waiting for us more than 20 minutes. Even in that early morning we could see an unfaded smile in his face. We all set begin our journey towards Palamalai (Siddheswarar malai), Guruvareddiyur. At 8 AM we had reached Bhavani where we had our breakfast. Exactly at 9 AM we had reached foot hills of Palamalai.

Local people advised us to ride the bike till first 3 hills where we can park the vehicle and start our trekking. I was little hesitating to move the bike uphill as I was so interested to trek from the stretch. After some moments passed, we decided to kick start our bike engine and started to move. Later we realized that it is practically impossible to ride the bike in an abysmally bad road condition. So, we got back our bikes to the foot hill and parked it in a local house.

At 9.15 AM we had started our trekking with more energy. First 2 mountains were a little more than easy. From 3rd mountain onwards trek was turned a little difficult. After reaching 5th hills a lady was appeared with porridge, custard apples and jack fruits. She is the icon of old Tamil lady. She pampered us well and collected details like ourselves and from where we are coming etc. She gave us porridge for Rs.5 per glass and too many custard apples for very less price. After had all these food items we restored energy and got ready for further trek.

We could see many agri land, tribal residential area and well at the 5th hill. At 1 PM we had decided to head back to the foot hill. Evening 4.30 PM we had reached the ground. Over all, the entire trek difficulty level was a little more than easy and any person who begins with trekking can try this mountain.

Route: Coimbatore -> Bhavani (Erode district) -> Guruvareddiyur.

After completed the trekking we three went to my home where my grandma prepared a delicious meal. We had started our bike at 6.30 from my home and reached Coimbatore at 9PM.

Please see below some of the trekking pictures.

My own song lyrics

1. கை கோர்த்து, கோர்த்து நீ நடக்கும் போது.............

2. கை கோர்த்து கோர்த்து நீ நடக்கும் போது அடடா ஹே!
3. 1, 2 Repeat

4. சேர்ந்து சேர்ந்து இதழ் பேசும் போது அடடா ஹே ஹே

5. மலரோடு உனை கோர்க்க, தேன் துளியோடு உனை  சேர்க்க,

6. அடடா வேறு என்ன பாட?

7. 1,2 Repeat

8. 4 Repeat

9. மலையாள வாசம் என் மீது வீசும், நீ வந்து சாய்ந்தாலே

10. நீ பேசும் பாஸை, நான் பேச ஆசை, நம் காதல் சேர்ந்தாலே 

11. குயில் போன்ற உந்தன் குரல் கேட்க, வருவேனே உன்னை தேடி

12. பூக்கள் வந்து வந்து பாக்கள் பாடும்

13. உன் கண்ணில் கனவாவேன் ; நீயின்றி விறகாவேன்

14.  1,2 Repeat and 4 Repeat

15. உதட்டோரம் வழியும்  துளி நீரும் கூட, துளியல்ல அமிழ்தம்

16. நீ பார்க்கும் பார்வை, வேண்டாமே போர்வை, சூடேறும் குளிரும்

17. மொழி கூட சிறு வலிதானே ; மருந்தாகும் உந்தன் விழிகள்

18. அங்கும் இங்கும் நீ வரும் நேரத்தில்

19. நீ அறியாமல், உன்னை அணைப்பேனே  

20. முத்தம் வைத்து நித்தம் உன்னை கொல்வேன்.

21. 1,2,4,5,6, Repeat

                                                                - மோகன் கந்தசாமி 

Cochin Bike Riding

I went bike riding to Cochin from Coimbatore on June 1st, 2013.

Distance: Round trip - 400 Kms.

Route: Coimbatore -> Palakad -> Thrissur -> Aluva -> Cochin

Road condition:

Coimbatore to Thrissur road is very horrible. One must be very careful in riding. It slow downs our ride.

Thrissur to Cochin road is an excellent 4 way road. It increase our ride speed.

On June 1st, 2013 Saturday morning 5AM I had stared from Saravanampaati, Coimbatore. I had reached Cochin at 9.30 AM. I reached my friend Desinghu's room. I had visited various places. Please see below.

Visited places:

Chinese fising net:

It is located in Fort Cochi, an island. They have old chinese fishing net model to catch fish. It is completely a unique way to catch fish.

Santacruz Basilica church: It is one of the very old church located in Fort Cochi just opposite to Children park.

Dharmanath Desar Jain Mandir - Jain temple:

It is one of the important Jain religion temple, located in Fort Cochi. It was build mainly because in Cochi a large people were migrated from Gujarathi and following Jainism religion.

Managalavanam:

It is located behind Cochin high court, heart of the city. It is a bird sanctury. one could find many floras here.

Museum of Kerala History:

It is located in Edapally, Cochin. Speciality about this museum is they offer light and sound show to depict Kerala history through wax statue. Very worth watching. They have different painting and dolls in their museum. One need to pay Rs.100/-.

Kumbalangi Integrated Tourism Village: This village has been awarded for maintaing good eco system. People in this village don't use plastics. You can see agreat difference in this villaeg compare to other area in terms eco system.

LuLu mall:

It is one of the biggest mall in Asia. Since I don't hav any special interest in visiting mall, just for its name I went there. A very good mall attracting many youngsters to roam around. A good hangout for younger generation. :)

Chottanikara temple:

This is very famous Bhgavathi amman temple. Many Hindu religion people go to this temple.

I had a chance to chat with one 75 years old malayalee gentleman namely "Suryanarayanan". He spoke very gentle with me explaining various important things abour Kerala and mallu folks. I had a very good time with him.

I met my old Cognizant team mate Aniz and his wife Mehathara in their flat and spend about 2 hours with them.

Monday (June - 03) morning 7.30AM I had started from Cochin and I reached Coimbatore at 12.30PM.

I really had a good time in Cochin which helped me a lot to know many new things.

Special thanks: I would like to thank Desinghu who provided accommodation and came along with me to roam around village in two whole days. Thanks to his roommates Prabhu to prepare a good dinner.

I also thank Udhaya who gave a lot of tips about bike travelling etc.

Rgds,

Mohan Kandasamy