X-RAY, DEC-2010

It’s been almost a fortnight since 2010 became a history and our jaunt to a dream destination (when I began this write-up) became a reality. But I was still wondering what to name this addition to my love since 2009, the blog. As I was driving to work on a lazy day the X-ray of my right leg, lying on the MDF board, was demanding attention on the rear view mirror. This trip was the first one, so far, which had the capability to reflect exactly my perspective of a perfect creation and so does the X-ray, of our internal condition. I began to correlate and the writing began that evening on an attempt to put before you what it felt like to be away from civilization for three days and as the world transitions into a new year dancing and singing, we sit under the freezing darkness of Upper Bhavani and gaze at the gorgeous black sky studded with celestial bodies millions of light years away. I was wondering why change in a year makes the world go crazy as some of the stars shining up there passed the last phase of their lives millions of years back and their light is reaching planet earth as many years later, only to make a fool out of an ordinary man. Our lives are one of the shortest, yet so complicated and filled with conflicts and chaos. The absolute stillness of this magical place made me think what creation has given and how it’s being destroyed through the ruthless actions of six sensed -------, whose lives will equal the size of a dust, when viewed in a larger perspective –the collective universe. Without wanting to make my vessels more stressed I began to submerge in the imaginary world - a world protected by good elements of the mankind, a world envied by the greedy, a world admired by the responsible, a world looked at awe by me. The photographs above are a meager illustration of this wild fantasy and you would need more than your lifetime to understand and explain her. At least I wanted to expose her and even that didn’t appear to be an easy job as the seamless landscape blended with the natural elements with surgical perfection. A very sharp lens, SLR equipment with the maximum focus points and a high sensitivity full frame sensor, lots of time and creativity and courage to walk through the mist filled pine trees are the least you require to capture the enviable beauty of UB and I didn’t have any of them in abundance. It’s going to be a long time before this part of the natural world will be captured and I begin my long quest with a humble year end celebration - sans noise, sans light, far away from civilization.

Upper Bhavani was on my menu, idle though, for quite some time and it took some rapid decisions to convert that into a beautiful dream. The day I first saw UB illustrated on many of the travel blogs available online, a strong bond was born and it’ll remain so for ever. Untamed thoughts ran through the mind and I visualized from every possible perspective, only to arrive at a false inference. Certain places have that legendary aura surrounding them that it takes more than your sincere commitment and a group of enthusiastic friends to experience that the way it needs to be. Absolute dedication and complete submission is what you need to realize the potential of this disturbing place hidden away in an undisturbed, complicated and virgin ecosystem. Repeated analysis of various travelogues over a period of two years saturated my mind to that extent; I began to lose the concentrated focus. Time induced desperation was one of the major factors to force me kick off this trip and reflect my views online, I would say. When I favored December as the optimum time to pay my dues to this Goddess, friends turned averse for it was a period of freezing cold up there - 2200+ meters above MSL. But as Dec/31 of 2010 was closing in, work and life related anxiety turned my friends from being skeptical to buoyant. As I describe about my friends’ ideology it’s more desirable to describe them too, for they have been an influential source directing my decisions and implementations. I have had a good number of them in the past and had lost more number of them to various aspects of life – job, migration, marriage, tough periods and commitments. The friends who were part of this jaunt and added one more to my beautiful dream were Jeeva, Napolean and Pipa – reminiscent of my unforgettable past. Each of these three have played a significant role in keeping my days far from boredom and each of them have given a shoulder when I looked for one. But it was only very recently they began to appear in my trip plans and I was more than content to compose this year end jaunt with them. UB was waiting to feel our love and I was waiting for the evening of Dec/29, the day we had planned to slip out of town under the cover of December darkness in pursuit of rejuvenation, loneliness, wilderness and beautiful memories through the ever inviting National Highways 4, 46, 7 and 47.

December is a beautiful month for the population south of Tropic of Cancer, for it’s when they get to enjoy the seducing body/mind enhancing temperate weather. It’s a period of extended sleep, occasional vacation, romantic indulgence, afternoon laziness, early morning cravings and frequent steaming tea cups. I’ve always wanted to live under such a moody weather but, god threw me south and made Western Ghats my love. It’s been the general norm of life ever since I learnt fire hurts - all my attainments were through terrible struggle and they never came easy. I was now feeling infinitely content to drive through this cold December night with my last remaining friends, who were still free to offer themselves when summoned, towards a place which had the potential to make us all crave we remain the way we were now. Engine temperature gauge was at its lowest reading ever, as the piper cross cold air intake was guzzling chunks of chilled oxygen rich air and the 1.6L DOHC was returning 17 KMPL. Yet another demonstration of enrichment a cold weather could do to man, and machine as well. Soon, NH4 gave way to NH46 and the night was getting colder and denser with a distant tea shop providing that much needed halt for a relieving tea break. Highways, with no buildings and substantial human activities, are much colder than a comparable town or city and the rapid condensation of water vapor as we exhaled endorsed my claim. Enjoying the shivering air December was dumping we entered in to the warmth of the car to continue with our long drive, 612 Kms west, to reach the Ghats at dawn. Once a sleep inducing 255 Kms ultra smooth double laned stretch between Chennai-Krishnagiri, NH4/46 have become a normal relaxing driving getaways. Frequent visit to destinations in west made us use them extensively and as they say, familiarity breeds contempt (comfort in our case). We still had considerable distance to be covered to reach the next halt and the cold was slowly making me to crave for sleep as we took the right @ Krishnagiri where NH46 meets its big brother, the mighty NH7, ripping through from the north (Varanasi to be precise) through some of the major cities (Nagpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore etc) to quench its long terrain, traffic induced thirst at the tip of Indian peninsula. I’ve always felt proud/ conceited to drive through this manic HW when sun was warming the other side of the planet. It’s super narrow and super fast with trucks dominating the scene and I’ve always concentrated at their front right wheels when crossing them @ speeds in excess of human control. This kind of speed breaks the sleep for few moments but again, familiarity brings in the comfort factor and I began to get less serious until a pair of powerful halogens flashed twice on the rear view mirror. It was an intercity multi axle Volvo speeding its way from Bangalore to Cochin and the agility with which it cut my leading position and disappeared into the truck jam ahead ignited my ego and burnt the sleep. Accelerator was pressed hard until the famous ancient chemistry sign for iron, the iron mark (Volvo’s symbol), was reflected in the rear view mirror and I sped through the night air poor in contrast, consequent of thick fog, until we reached Thopur – the busy stopover on NH7.

When I was thinking how this place used to be 6 years back, the last time I drove over her when she was that mind boggling, single lane and life consuming national deathway with my dear friend D. Ajay Kumar, the rate of transition was just mind disturbing. It was a rare sight to see a car at night time then but now, they were everywhere capitalizing on the safe and smooth roads. Myself and Ajay would struggle to cover the meager 410 Kms then but now, distances twice as much could be covered without a major halt. Those were the periods when we honed our driving skills to perfection and acquired the art of long distance driving without an incident, every time. Iam reaping the benefits now and hope he’s doing the same with his brand new black C200 CGI in the Emirates. As I was comparing the state of this place across two different eras, the tea cup went empty and the engine was cranked to experience that single lane temptation again for the next 200 Kms, hopefully. The last time I drove through the stretch between Thopur and Sathyamangalam, during the Wayanad trip, it was in a miserly state. Now couple of months having been torn on the calendar I expected conditions to be suspension friendly but, it was like a worst nightmare turn real. The entire stretch was ripped open and about to laid with a fresh layer of bitumen; consequently, we were driving over a surface littered with gravels and tyre ripping profiles. I couldn’t hold on, my fear, for more than 3 Kms and decided to go back back to the safety of NH7. It consumed a valuable 45 min to do this 6 Kms and thereafter, it was a blast towards Salem, another prominent hub on NH7. Fog was heavy now and my eyes were closing frequently as lumps of yellow halogens sped by in the opposite lane. It was only a matter of time before I decided to pull over but, the distance ahead retained my instinct till Salem and we reached there in the early hours of dec/30, around 2:30 AM to be precise. The momentum gained from having crossed a major town on the route faded just 15 Kms into NH47, my favourite HW in southern India. As NH46 gave way to NH7, NH7 gave way to its smaller but handsome brother - the killer NH47 at the Salem junction to take us west. NH47 will again meet its big brother at the tip of Indian peninsula, in Kanyakumari, after heading west towards Palakkad, and then turning south to traverse the western coast through Cochin, Trivandrum before entering Tamil Nadu again. It was the playground where I learnt the art of aggressive night driving, along with Ajay, when we used to approach a chain of trucks in the opposite lane @ 140 Kmph without losing a hint of concentration ahead, as their 400W halogens burnt our eyes throughout. Remember, NH47 was a single lane NHW then without the protection of a median in-between it offers now, 6 years later. The drive now was like hearing to your favourite song on the I-pod and I was at ease and eager to reach Chittode, where a diversion on the right would take us towards Sathyamangalam through one of the best country roads.

Cold warped dream engulfed as I was struggling against the extremely powerful tendency to close my eyes and enjoy the prevailing weather, when the morning of dec/30 was slowly emerging over the vast sugarcane fields on either side. Small intermittent villages, interspersed with rich agricultural tracts, were crossed by in an uncontrolled manner as the body was demanding its quota of rest. I held on to the steering with a pair of dry eyes and was expecting desperately for the sun to illuminate the road ahead and dilute the impending sleep. The rich paddy fields, with fog blanketing them in translucent white, created crazy havoc with the first light from the huge hydrogen ball and this added to the existing confused state making me more Kilometer hungry. This part of the state is famous for vast sugarcane fields and the evidence was already there as the road we were driving ripped through them, towards Sathy. The air was cold, aroma was captivating, vision was blurred and the engine was revved as fast as possible to cross the next major town and for that much needed caffeine. Before desperation could take over endurance, we entered Sathy under the spread of extremely soothing early morning winter sun and parked the car safely, away from the fast state highway, to hang around a busy tea shop. It took few minutes to regain a good vision and get the body relieved from an addictive pain and wander through the pages of a local daily. As always, politics dominated the scene and my friend was turning it hilarious with his custom made comments. Crack of dawn offers immense photographic opportunities and I didn’t want to miss those opportunities for I invest considerable energy, time and money to identify and capture such prospects. Breaking the resistance offered by a drained out body, I progressed towards the Ghats on the lonely road through a small reserve forest surrounding the Bhavani Sagar dam. Elation was strong for I managed 5 attractive shots and the satisfaction they spawned suppressed the fatigue. With a good start to the picture parade, I switched on to third gear to wind through the gorgeous Ghat road ahead. There are two options @ Metupaalayam to be considered for reaching Udhagai, one being the traditional Conoor road and the other, more fabulous and less frequented Kothagiri state highway. Though longer than the previous one by 15Kms, it scores high on ambience with lean traffic and a generous cocktail of views and clouds. The last time I drove through was in Nov/2010 under the cover of darkness, deep fog and with an anxious mind overlooking her real beauty. Now it was like watching a gorgeous Iranian woman reveal herself from the traditional Islamic outfit and surprising you with her beauty. With the compelling ambience on either side and up above in the far away hills pulling strong, I accelerated hard against gravity to find ourselves at the District forest office, Udhagai South, Charing cross and procure the entry authorization to heaven, a further 60 Kms up in the distant hills. My conscience was beginning to laugh, unable to bear the test to my average endurance. I deliberately declared that the plan to visit heaven was postponed, and drove fast towards the desolate guest house hidden somewhere between the heaven up and the Chaos we were in.

I had arranged for stay at my Mom’s department owned guest house, isolated from the onslaught of commercial tourism, in a verdant setting surrounded by old world villages and offering an interesting view of the distant heaven. I had spent couple of days here, a decade earlier, when I was 10 years younger with the advantage of 10 years in between, which I cannot claim now, without the passion or the views I dwell upon currently. The tribal research station at Empalada was then a prominent landmark with a good strength of employees and activities. This time around, after a significant period of neglect, it was a ruined building with no sign of official activity making it an obvious iteration of Government’s disregard. Yet another victim to administrative impediment which halts countless projects, throughout our country, on which is dependent an entire section of population. With a huge frown on the face, we entered the spooky enormous guest house to make ourselves comfortable over the next couple of days. After a quick rejuvenation, we called in a 4WD to venture into the forests ahead and get a glimpse of what it’ll be like the day next, when we shove ourselves through the real occasion. The weather was an intoxicating mix of warm sun/ nail bite inducing gust and a walk through the temperate forests along the Avalanche/ Emerald reservoirs was an exhilarating experience. But still I could declare with confidence, an irreversible damage has been done on this fragile ecosystem and the spread of settlements into sensitive sections of the reserve forest only made it obvious. There was so much variance in the temperature during the same months separated by 10 years that it hits hard when you, in your lifetime, see something special lose its specialty not because it’s the norm but because of some avoidable interferences. Nevertheless, this place offered varied photographic opportunities and after a brief stint with the SLR, we made it back to the Jeep just before dusk. Not to mention, the threatening inquiry by the divisional ranger for the public display of a fully loaded camera. Photography is prohibited in these sensitive areas and a strict ranger could impound your camera or pull you up for an inquiry or do both. If you think am making a joke, 14th statement in the 12th photograph would back up my claim. You could ask, what’s the use then?? I would say, as did the ranger, maintain a low profile and never exhibit the camera when you do sense some authority of the enforcement machinery is around. The fact that, area around Avalanche and further up towards Upper Bhavani harbors’ an intricate network of complicated and invaluable Hydro projects would justify the concern of the forest department. With a firm visualization of bigger things to be encountered, we drove back to the spooky guest house to be on our own with 10 acres of haunting pine forest, a bottle of Glenfiddich, a freezing night and no one around. It was the most confused state I’ve ever slept in.

Woke up to a splendid morning on the last day of 2010 and the feeling of leaving behind yet another year of fun, incidents, pains, gains and miseries to the past was overwhelming. 2010 was an important year to my career and an unforgettable one to my personal existence, for many unforeseen events completed their occurrence. It was also one of the fastest years I’ve ever been through and the best ever in terms of jaunts and photography. We begin every year with an optimistic approach only to end it with a sour sting, on most occasions, and 2010 was no deviation. As I was looking into the wardrobe mirror and thinking about the happenings of 2010, morning frost began to shake my posture and disturb my back walk. I wanted to have a cup of hot tea and only Jeeva was strong enough, mentally, to walk out from his thick blanket and into the white hell, the morning frost, and go along with me. We began the long walk to a nearby village for a cup of steaming tea and the body couldn’t grasp it composure for more than a few meters. Finger tips were particularly annoyed by the biting cold, making us tread fast through the fog filled narrow road towards the lower valley, where a village had been built by the estate workers. We managed to identify a warm and cozy, but extremely basic, store which induced warmth to our shivering body. The morning was painted white with fog and it was gripping to watch the native people carry on their morning chores, wrapped in thick blankets and mouths puffing out. Need induced settlements, survival induced needs. It was ridiculous to realize, this same place played a hangout for someone else, with a deep wallet. Panted our way up the hill, through biting cold, to organize ourselves for that much awaited entry into the zone of addiction. As the 4WD was straining its struts and struggling its way through, I was straining my eyes, fighting the sun’s glare, to get a glimpse of the distant peaks housing the most virgin forests in southern India and one of the best collections of fauna. Upper Bhavani is contiguous with Mukurthi national park, Western catchment, Bangitapal and Sispara – the end of lands. This section of the Nilgiri Biosphere reserve is a mysterious tract and requires multiple visits for a better visualization of the mind boggling terrain and to capture all its beauty on film. Avalanche is to Upper Bhavani as Parson’s valley is to Mukurthi; both are gateways to their respective natural heavens. Freedom got curtailed at Avalanche as the forest check post brought the 4WD to a grinding halt. Entry permits are collected here and it’s advisable to ensure a photocopy of the same before you embark. Our wait became indefinite as the District Majistrate was about to spend the night of dec/31 deep inside the forest, in some place detached for that creamy section of the population. It was only the more powerful natural elements of Avalanche that kept our wait far from boredom, as we were eager for that SUV with Government Insignia to pass through the check post and disappear into the “make you go weak” forest tract ahead. It was an experience in itself.

With a powerful long breath I watched the check post go up in air, as the 4WD crawled into the zone of addiction. Like a dream come true it was and I began to run my mind through the various images posted on the web. Weather changed dramatically with just few KMS of driving, density of vegetation transformed from manageable to threatening, light intensity kept varying as the clouds played rugby, pathway transformed from Sadam to Osama and mind set-up from fearing to lusty. It’s a setting which could make you forget everything behind that check post, traversed through few minutes back, and create a whole new world to live in for the next few hours, a world sans people, settlement or anything else to distract your eyes/ears/nose/mouth. But as we progressed, the myth I held to so long was shattered with no traces of leftover. UB’s beauty was nerve bursting that not a D3X-Ami Vitale combination even would do good enough to justify an attempt for the reason that, it’s the ambience which is the real magnificence. It’s intriguing to learn, as we progress towards UB, left to themselves landscapes attain unimaginably beautiful proportions to make mankind go mad. The landscape of UB is of the temperate kind with massive pine forests, stunning Rhododendron trees (Rhododendron nilgiricum), golden colored waist high meadows, extremely thorny impenetrable bush lands and occasional water bodies dominating the scene. Not to mention, the gorgeous white fog blanketing the entire landscape making you lose receptivity and imitate Picasso or, say any artist for that matter. Your creativity is beefed up and the entire life inside the body undergoes a transformation as you stand still and look with awe at that massive fog flow past you, submerging the massive pines behind. This must be one of the few places, which we could force ourselves to believe, where Gods would reside. Unfortunately, where there’s beauty there’s danger. UB harbors a remarkable population of two of the big cats, the master stalker Leopard and the biggest of big cats the magnificent Tiger. A healthy population of Indian Gaur and Sambhar deer, tiger’s favourite, proved this point beyond doubt, as did the ranger’s warning at the check post. The beauty may lure you, but it’s safe to stick to the pathways for visibility is no more than few meters into the grasslands and I learnt it the exciting way when a Sambhar deer fled across the same slope I climbed over for 10 minutes, in as much time as I took for a couple of blinks. One ram would kill you. Enthralled by the flora and fauna of this fascinating region we drove towards the UB EB GH (Upper Bhavani, Electricity Board guest house) hidden deep inside the distant hills. After some 30 Kms from the Avalanche check post, there’s another one which marks your exist from the protected zone and here you got to take the right for UB. Left goes back to Nilgiri via Manjur, Geddai and Kundah and you wouldn’t need a permit to drive through this road. Alas, you have to forego the emotions and pleasure the Avalanche route induces. UB itself isn’t much interesting, other than the unexplained ambience surrounding it and loads of elephant dung just outside the EB residential quarters. Just a thought of night stay in the UB EB GH sent shivers through the spine and it was already decided by my greedy mind to do it in near future. Further past the UB EB GH there’s a spooky narrow road, which remains closed though-out the year and un-motorable for most of the stretch, that leads to the end of lands – the perplexing Sispara – through Bangitapal. Trekking is the best option and to do it with an experienced ranger, a more sensible decision. Return drive was eventless with the big cats having gone for the New Year party, letting the Sambhar herds graze in peace as we passed by them with admiration. The night of Dec/31/2010 was spent under the freezing darkness of Avalanche as the distant howls made me question the meaning behind creation and, its annihilation????

The last day of our year end trip coincided with the first day of 2011, a day warmed by the first sunrise of New Year. Past two days were spent in complete isolation from civilization and we decided to add noise to this pristine trip by making a visit to the city center on the way out of Ghats, departing to our respective homes. Bid goodbye to the security guard @ the desolate guest house and engaged the first gear to take on the 60” slope, as we rolled out of Empalada for the last time. I wasn’t sure how to spend the rest of Jan/1 and was making a bet between Masinagudi and Kodanad view point, as both are relaxing to the tired body and the vehicle. On reaching the city center, friends wanted to procure provisions typical to a hill station – Estate packed tea leaves, homemade chocolates, aromatic spices and oils. It was a soothing experience to do the fragrant shopping and we were done with it in no time. With no idea of further proceedings I was walking, with hands stuffed in the pockets, through thin fog sharing occasional stares with unknown women. It was an erotic time killer and soon we settled for a late breakfast before breaking out of this town to engage with our daily wage earning activities. A sudden provocation made me realize the frustrating uphill drive I’ll have to brave if Masinagudi was to be visited. Dumped the plan before declaring to friends that we’ll be visiting Kodanad, and the fact it was on our departing route made them accept without a protest. Soon we were on the twisty SH15, on our way back home, to visit Kodanad before reaching mean sea level by dusk. SH15 is one of the best state highways in our state and has that rare character attached to its profile - smooth with no surprises all through its journey from Erode till Udhagai. It gives immense confidence to drive at an heart beat hastening pace, irrespective of visibility conditions influenced by the time of day and the region specific fog gathering. The Ghat section in particular is noteworthy for its dramatic views before dusk and mind soothing ambience after that. With stunning views all around and the comfort offered by well laid Ghat roads we reached Kodanad in a seemingly less amount of time, 2 past noon. Kodanad is a quaint settlement on the eastern edge of Nilgiri plateau and as you walk down towards the view point, the manner in which the plateau abruptly drops to thousands of feet below stuns a so-far relaxed mind. You are completely taken aback and in my words, Kodanad is like a strict Dad – initial impressions are frightening but with time, you get acquainted and the relationship builds over as, ultimately, you take control when it gets long in the tooth. Kodanad commands a stunning view of the plains below, through which river Moyar meanders its way through Thengumarahada (where I spent a tender moment of my life for 2 days in dec/2001) towards Bhavani Sagar reservoir, and the magnificent Rangaswamy peak. Rangaswamy peak is a trekker’s paradise and I will bubble with Ego the day, which doesn’t seem to be far away, I conquer it with due respect. Adding to the stunning perspective, were the clouds floating by at an apparently reachable distance and that lonely waterfall gracing the intimidating Rangaswamy peak (photo shots 26 and 40 from top). After an hour and a half of photo session, it was time for that decisive moment – a moment which will see the beginning of our separation, physically and mentally, as the days ahead seem to be a never ending repository of responsibilities and externally influenced commitments. I wish I were all alone all my life but would I be what Iam that way? Kothagiri Ghat was adding to the already manic momentum and gravity was never this delicious ever before, as I punished the steering, struts, lower arms, rims and tires to the maximum possible extent their owner, the chassis, permitted. SH15 facilitated a quick getaway from the Ghats to NH47, through some of the best countryside submerged under late evening Sun, as darkness painted the sky black with exhaustion and desperation taking an upper hand, suppressing excitement and delight. Transition from NH47 to NH7 was quick and from NH7 to NH46, even quicker as white lines merged and massive trucks were passed without knowing they were there. Nevertheless, we reached home during the early hours of Jan/2/2011 whispering, Up Up Upper, New New New Year!!

Upper Bhavani,,, has done the damage………………….

Parameters
Route-Chennai-Krishnagiri-Thopur-Mettur-Anthiyur-Sathyamangalam (If the Thopur-Sathyamangalam stretch is good) or-Thopur-Salem-Bhavani-Chittode-Gopi-Sathy-Mettupalayam-Kothagiri-Udhagai-Empalada-Avalanche-UB.
Best time to Visit – Between July-Sep, if you want to see everything in green and include water as the main character in your photography, Oct-Nov, if you want to brave the wild NE monsoon and get your valuable shots, Dec-Feb, if you want to enjoy that Temperate ambience and when the landscape is at its best, March-June, if you want to hate this place.
Specialties – Ability to transform your soul to a different plane, total isolation, guaranteed rejuvenation, mind disturbing terrain, post dusk spookiness, make you crave to come back again, and again.
What you should do – Get dissolved with the terrain/landscape and carve out your own imaginary world, attempt the Avalanche-UB drive in a 4WD, a perfect shot of the grazing Sambhar and Gaurs, a night stay at the UB EB GH, spot that Leopard right besides you and, if you’re that lucky idiot get stared at by the Charismatic Tiger.
Don’t forget – Your camera, winter clothing, Favorite Alcohol (not inside the forests though), to make love –with the landscape, to use your camera with responsibility (avoid shooting dams/ penstocks), to conquer Rangaswamy peak, a night walk through Charing cross under freezing cold and to pack up all those aromatic spices and Tea leaves.