Poomala - The Scintillating Greenery

The colour green has a lot of meaning in our world. I'm not talking about the religious side, but The Scintillating greenery of the mother earth  that is disappearing day after day. That's where poomala dam comes in.

Poomala dam is as green as it can be. What to say, even the water is covered in plain green colour on some seasons. Poomala dam, one of the oldest dams built by the British, has now become an evergreen spot for nature lovers. Monsoon may not be the best time to visit this place, yet the experience was beyond our expectations.

The main attraction of Poomala Dam is its lush greenery and calmness. It is not one of those places where you can enjoy with a lot of friends, but a place where you can detach yourself from the busy life and relax a little bit. Poomala dam is situated just 15 kms away from thrissur town. We boarded bus to mulankunnathukavu, the nearest town of poomala dam. Thanks to modern technology. Google maps made it easier for us to reach poomala dam without any trouble. We were hoping for a pleasant evening, but The sky was cloudy and there was drizzle . Silly me, What could you possibly expect on a monsoon season? Even then, the scene was marvelous. The main attraction of poomala dam is its lustful greenery. There is a road provided around the dam. We walked down the road enjoying the scenic beauty.
When we reached the dam, there were a few people swimming in the water taking no account of the warning sign provided by the authorities. The drizzle was then turned into a heavy rain. But guess what? We kind of enjoyed it. If you are ever to visit thrissur, don't forget to spend a few hours at this place. Especially on spring season, while the sky would be clear and of course the nature at its best.

The place is ideal for relaxing and meditating. And for families this would be a great picnic spot.

Read More

No comments

Vilwadrinatha Temple - An Experience That You Will Never Forget

I've been to many temples, but this place was definitely a whole new experience. I'm so sure because I kind of live near Guruvayur and I find no interest in that place. in fact, i haven't been there for almost 8 years.

people from all around India rush to Guruvayur because the Guruvayur temple is famous. where the pilgrims go, the other pilgrims follow. So Guruvayur has become a busy place where people stand in a long queue for a long time to have a glimpse of a famous idol. After the visit, most people tend to go shopping and all. the noisy and polluted environment has taken away everything that makes this sacred place a temple. It has happened with a lot of temples in and outside of Kerala.

What thiruvilwamala offers is a different story. my college was near where thiruvilwamala vilwadrinatha temple is situated. I was staying in a Hostel nearby and came to know about this temple. eventhough i had no interest in visiting the temple, my friends took me with them. The temple was just a walking distance away from our hostel. taking a 15 minute walk, we reached the place by 6.00AM. The temple is situated on a hill top, The kovil is situated on the rocks itself. To my surprise, the Temple was almost deserted. Other than the shanthis, the only people there was a monk, looking about 90 years old and a middle aged man, who was completely immersed in meditation. The sun was sneaking up the mountains and there wasn't any kind of noise. just absolute silence. the whole environment was full of positive energy. then we entered into the temple. inside the temple, there is two shrines, lord Srirama's shrine facing west and Lord Lakshmana's shrine facing east. We were near the east shrine, and it was about to open after poojas. there was a man playing the instrument Idakka. the rhythmic tune made my mind melt into the surroundings. It was such an experience. the only sound is the tune from Idakka and gradually anyone will melt away in the moment. my mind went completely blank and i felt peace. After receiving prasads, we got outside. 

The temple is quite old actually. may be around 1600 years. It is believed that Parasurama himself started the temple. Another interesting fact about Vilwadrinatha temple is that it is one of the rare temples in India to have Lord Lakshmana's deity inside the kovil.  Vilwadrinatha temple is also famous for the Punarajani, which takes place once in an year on the day of Guruvayr ekadasi. Punarjani noozhal is a process in which a person has to sneak and crawl through a cave called punarjani guha. it is believed that after the Punarjani noozhal he/she will be freed from the cycle of rebirths. 

We just visited the cave, eventhough it was locked. the cave was on the other side of a big hill. So we had to climb the hill. The view from the top was great. We returned having a look at the punarjani cave. 

The vilwadrinatha temple left me a remarkable experience and i felt so relieved that These kind of places still exist. So next time you are on a pilgrimage, consider this place. it's not about the prayers and all, but the marvelous experience.

Rakshasappara

sun sneaking up through the peaks 

view of Nehru college on the way to Punarjini cave

HOW TO REACH

Vilwadrinatha temple is situated on the border of thrissur district.

you can reach thiruvilwamala either by taking a turn from lakkidi kootupatha on ottappalam - palakkad highway or from thrissur town, wadakkanchery-chelakkara-pazhayannur-thiruvillwamala

there is also a local railway station, lakkidi just a few kms from the temple.

Read More

No comments

Dhoni Hills-A must Visit

Okay so it was our last day of our vacation.The college re opens for the second year classes soon and we knew that all the record writing , assignment writing exams labs We and all miseries are about to return.Before we get back to that machine like life we wanted to have a last day of celebration.Me and my friends gathered around and several ideas were discussed.That's when Dhoni trip idea struck.We knew very little about Dhoni.We knew the place was fun with hills and waterfalls.I have also heard many rumors about the place concerning elephants that went wild and causing destruction to the nearby place.We really liked the idea about exploring this natural beauty and decided to visit the place.

                                           The trip was planned and executed and such a short notice that we did so many little errors.Mainly about the food and water that we did not take along.We gathered at palakkad town stand and from there we got direct bus to Dhoni.The bus journey roughly took around 45 minutes and we reached there at around 11pm.The bus halted at a distance from the entrance to the forest.We inquired about the bus which would take us back to palakkad and found that next one is at 5pm only.This gave us enough time to enjoy ourselves at Dhoni.The place was literally deserted with only about handful of people that we met here and there along the way on out trecking.We came around the first waterfall in less than 700m distance.It isn't really a waterfall but rather a stream of water moving at very high speed.But it was a good indication of the beauty that awaited us ahead.We enjoyed ourselves at this place for a little time.The water was surprisingly cooler than we expected.After enjoying ourselves here we moved along to the main waterfall.After another 500m we started climbing the hill.Here the path was well maintained with stones laid out in order for easy climbing which proved to be really useful for both climbing by foot or vehicle.About 3-4 km trecking was there and it took nearly 3 hours for us to reach thee top.The path used to get steeper and steeper at each turn and we were nearly completely exhausted by the time we reached the top.We were both hungry and thirsty.But the sight we saw at the top nearly recharged us to the full.The breathtaking waterfall was an incredible feast to our eyes.We dived to the cool water without a second thought.The  cold water splashing to our face was really a experience.There was a pool like place formed due to the particular alignment of rocks there.We had a good bath there and as the place was at the top most of the hill we could see the whole forest and Dhoni town from there.The experience made us forget our exhaustion hunger and thirst.We were fully recharged and we felt very fresh and energetic.The place has very beautiful forest and unique species of butterflies.The cool water is guaranteed to make you feel fresh and that feeling will last for another week irrespective of how difficult your life is gonna turn out.We reached at the base of the hill much faster than it took to get  to the top.Both because it was downhill and we have used several shortcuts which was easy to use as we were descending.We reached just in time for the bus which took us back to the town.
                           This trip has left me very fresh and recharged that others wondered why i was looking so thrilled when the vacation was going to end the busy life was about to start.The place is ideal place to visit on vacations and specially on monsoons because swimming in the natural pool under waterfall when it's raining is another once in a life time experience.You should however be cautious and should take all precautions and be equipped with all safety gears because 7 deaths has been reported at Dhoni hills.There is also a warning sign included at the entrance to waterfalls. So next time you plan on a trip do not hesitate to choose Dhoni as it is a must visit for all nature enthusiasts.

Read More

No comments

Marottichal waterfalls - The wildness & beauty

Have you ever wanted to break away from your busy and pressurized  daily life? Because i always wanted to. Then i came to know about this amazing place called Marottichal from one of my friends. Our college had reopened and we needed some refreshment. so we set our trip to Marottichal.

Marottichal has two amazing waterfalls namely Olakkyam and ilanjippara. what's so special about this place is that it is still not listed by kerala tourism board. so that's a good thing i guess. the forest and the waterfalls still haven't lost it's virginity. it is as wild as it is.

we set our journey on june 29th, while the monsoon is at its best. me and my friends gathered together at thrissur municipal bus stand. we relied on public transport as there are direct buses to marottichal stop in every 45 minutes. marottichal is from about 20 km from thrissur town. and it took nearly 1 hour to reach marottichal by bus. as i've mentioned earlier this place is still not listed in the tourism map. so there is no single board showing the entrance path to the falls. we had to ask for the entrance path to the people living nearby. 

unlike from other waterfalls like athirappilly, there is no paved path or anything. it is just the raw forest around you. we had to find our way to the tops where ilanjippara waterfalls is located. olakkayam waterfalls is located on the way to the ilanjippara falls. we had an open bath at the olakkayam waterfalls, and played in the water for sometime and moved along. the trekking to ilanjippara falls, which is located on top of a hill was very exhausting. the trekking is about 4km long and we had to climb slippery stones and cross small streams on the way. i was wearing shoes that wouldn't last on wet and muddy terrains, so ironically i had to climb the hill carrying my shoes in a plastic bag. apart from that everything was well executed. we had our lunch on the way to the top, which we brought earlier from thrissur town as we knew there wouldn't be any restaurants nearby.

on reaching the top, we were welcomed by the breathtaking ilanjippara waterfalls. all our tiredness vanished within seconds, having a glimpse of this beautiful sight. there were only a few people there, so we could enjoy the maximum. we took bath right under the falls. there isn't many places in kerala where you can have a bath like this.the water was so chilling and it smashes down on the body. it indeed was a refreshing experience. the rocks were damn slippery. we kept falling over and over again. honestly i had the best time in my life.

A natural water ride

A natural water ride

For all those who want to visit Marottichal, the best time to visit would be on or just after the monsoon, when there would be plenty of water and don't forget to take food and water with you.

Read More

No comments