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Originally Posted by narayans80 Am not 100% sure on the Chidambaram-Vadalur section. The ECR until Chidambaram is good. Vadalur-Vriddachalam-Veppur-V Koot Road-Salem is in top shape. Beyond V Koot Road it is 4-laned. |
Updates on this road. And to be frank, this would have been the most beautiful stretch of the route which I travelled. Looks like this route lies in the big agricultural belt of Tamil Nadu. ECR going on the coastal areas had a dried/arid look, but that changed on the Tharagambadi->Chidambaram route. Tharagambadi->Chidambaram section had good roads, but it was narrow with heavy vehicle traffic. One slow moving bus, or worse tipper truck caused a big head-ache to vehicles following it. Skipped the Chidambaram town via a byepass. Some where right after Bhuvanagiri, Google maps rerouted me to what can be called typical village roads. It was via Manaveli, Alambadi, Muthukrishnapuram etc. Narrow road with a water canal on the left side. This was a bus route, but the villagers often gave strange looks to a KA registered car with a wonderstuck driver in it. At a few places real big agricultural fields/farms were seen on the sides of the road with not even a vehicle any where near my own. I took multiple breaks in this section just to appreciate the sereneness of the area. Often I could see a vehicle approaching me from a very far distance. Finally I was led into the NH (36?) coming from Sethiyathope leading to Vadalur. Please note, this route may not be "family friendly" as a family may get worried, and there are also no hotels, public toilets etc.
Vadalur town was crowded, and the wide roads have been encroached and made into a two wheeler parking lot. But from here on till Virudachalam byepass and then further beyond to Veppur the roads were good. Typical SHs of TN with good road and big trees giving shade. At Veppur there was a nasty intersection which had to be crossed and this was also a market area. From there on I was on the "Mettupalayam-Cuddalore road" *. Some where, this road joined with a road coming from Chinna Salem side. And from then own it was the usual "life on the express highway"

. I started from Tharagambadi at 0800Hrs sharp and reached my home at 1600Hrs sharp. This was after taking multiple breaks of around 1 hour.
*: Seems to be a historical road most likely charted and executed by the British. Cuddalore was an important port for the British, and Mettupalayam at the foot hills of a hill station (Ootacamund) which again was a favourite place for their relaxation. The mountain railway would take them all up from Mettupalayam to Ooty.
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Originally Posted by Prowler Danushkodi in those days remained a Ghost town. With proper roads now, the situation may have changed now. The ruins of the town and the local legend kept people away from the island during the night. The local legend used to say that you can hear ominous cries during the late evening. |
The excellent road now leading to the very last point is now going to change things at Danushkodi. On the negative side, local people who used to take visitors on modified jeeps and Mahindra vans across the sand dunes have now made jobless. But on the positive side, I saw lots of eateries opened up in a few spots closer to the end of the road. This road is still blocked between 1700Hrs and 0600Hrs. I reached the Ashoka Pillar area by around 0645Hrs and by 0700Hrs I also found an enterprising local chap who came on his TVS 50 moped with hot tea & snacks.
The whole area still would give an eerie feeling at the night. Howling winds and rough seas would make lots of strange noises in the night. And the sad history of the town would also make the ambience more scary. But today I also saw lots of huts on the sides of the road, many of them with children in school uniforms. Which also means that the area is getting encroached and it is no more a "ghost town". Give it a few more years, perhaps the whole area would get changed.
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The LTTE at that time probably used this haunting to their advantage when they smuggled fuel and medicine to Srilanka when they were active.
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Modern history has been an area of immense interest to me, and so IPKF & LTTE etc had caught my attention quite early on. Danushkodi, Kodikkarai, Vedaranyam etc were the place names which came up quite often when I read books on LTTE. Tiruchi/Tiruchirappali was another prominent city which gets mentioned as well. This road trip I made also made me appreciate the details mentioned in the books. It was now that I checked the maps in more detail, and could easily understand the lay of the land. Danushkodi was real close to Talai Mannar, and Kodikkarai and Vedaranyam was real close to Jaffna, Velvetti Thurai & Kankesan Thurai (all in North Sri Lanka, and LTTE strong hold). And in the 1980s and 1990s this part of Indian coast line would have been more deserted, with lesser vehicles on the road. Good VHF walkie talkies would have been all that was required to maintain communication, coast to coast. The sea becomes a good natural "bouncer" of the signals as well.