[LongDrive lover]

Day 8 continues..

KK Photos - Views from Vivekanand Rock and Our attempt to catch a sunrise from Hotel roof next morning.

That muddy sea water and cloudy sky clearly points out why it was an off-season, and why we got a 1000/- Rs. room in 600/!

No, we didn't go to any sun rise view point. We were satisfied with previous day's sunset, and wanted to leave as early next day as possible! But, as is always the case, got up lil late, it was sunrise time by then, so tried our luck at Hotel roof-top!

PS: Tomorrow, we'll leave from KK! I mean in the story..

[laluks]

Originally Posted by LongDrive lover

And those SLR pics of sea are mind-blowing, but, why you needed a poor chap LDL to provoke (with such poor quality point & shoot pics), to bring this treasure of quality material out of shelf?

BLR-KK in under 8 hrs!! WOW, shows the power and handling of a quality luxury sedan! That's why I never try to catch-up with those machines. They'll take up a sharp turn smoothly at 140+ which if we SUv-walahas try, we'll land up far away in the deep trench!

BTW. enjoyed those pics very much.Thanks

Hi LDL, most of those pics are from my Canon Powershot A80, which is a Point and Shoot camera incidentally. I had him for over 7 years now. He cannot retire. I trust him

Civvy corners very well, and it holds the ground pretty well at high speeds. But like you envy the sedans, I also do envy your vehicle for its capability to go anywhere, where we sedan wallas cry, and plan a lot :(

Originally Posted by MX6

That is his way of showing he is loving your logue LDL!

I post information about those places due to same reason. Because I'm loving your log.

Exactly MX6. I am loving the log, and also enjoying the drive through LDL's pics and words.

Originally Posted by MX6

Incidentally, Kanyakumari was a part of Kerala and Periyar (yes the wild life sanctuary) was a part of TN earlier.

I guess KK was traded for Palghat and not Periyaar.

Originally Posted by MX6

I don't find photos of Gandhi Mantapa. The ashes of the Mahatma are there! You gave it a skip is it?
And incidentally Swami Vivekananda used to swim to the rock and meditate there for hours together. Strong tides and currents didn't deter or even bother him. Hence the name Vivekananda rock. No Tiruvalluvar didn't swim to the other rock. He is supposed to have lived in Mylapore in Chennai.

I loved the Thiruvalluvar part

Originally Posted by LongDrive lover

Very good knowledge again this. Thanks

I think, we visited Gandhi Mantapa. It is on opposite side of that Hall on Vivekananda memorial rock and silence is to be maintained there! It was very soothing. Photography was not to be done inside, but, we took few pics from outside, but they were blurred. Am I talking about the same thing? May be wrong as we visited so many places, so sometimes, a 'Khichdi' of names/places/hotels/incidents, etc, etc is possible.

I am posting one long shot, pl tell is it the Gandhi Mantapa

LDL sirji, the Gandhi place is on the main land. We can understand the enormous things you had to take care, and missing somethings are not an issue - that's what we are here for to help and correct each other.

I got a picture for you from the web. (copy right belong to the owner).]
I am sure you have seen this.

[MX6]

Well, Palghat was ruled by the varmas. Periyar river originates in Sivagiri hills. The river flows in to Periyar lake and a dam was constructed over a hundred years back and the british helped sign a treaty of 999 years on water sharing to kings of Tamil Nadu. The treaty still holds and serves 5 districts of TN.
Periyar Dam is also maintained by TN PWD due to the treaty between the varmas and the tamil rulers!
So periyar goes to kerala. Part of the water from the dam flows to TN (like the cauvery water sharing stuff). Kamaraj annexes KK and Nagercoil (the smallest district) to TN because of Nadar population. Surprisingly, this brings in Padmanabhapuram palace as well in to Tamil nadu though it was the erstwhile capital of the travancore kingdom. The travancore kingdom head quarters was shifted to Trivandrum from padmanabhapuram palace. But the palace is in TN geography now, in the district of Kanyakumari.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by MX6

No Tiruvalluvar didn't swim to the other rock. He is supposed to have lived in Mylapore in Chennai.

Correction! He is supposed to have lived in Mylapore which is now a part of Chennai. There is a difference because AFAIK Mylapore predates Chennai by at least a dozen centuries!

As far as KK / Periyar / Cauvery waters are concerned, I feel you are over simplifying things! Anyway such things will drag this thread towards political discussion, so let us avoid it.

Eagerly awaiting more photos LDL, bring them on!

[laluks]

Originally Posted by MX6

Well, Palghat was ruled by the varmas. Periyar river originates in Sivagiri hills. The river flows in to Periyar lake and a dam was constructed over a hundred years back and the british helped sign a treaty of 999 years on water sharing to kings of Tamil Nadu. The treaty still holds and serves 5 districts of TN.
Periyar Dam is also maintained by TN PWD due to the treaty between the varmas and the tamil rulers!
So periyar goes to kerala. Part of the water from the dam flows to TN (like the cauvery water sharing stuff). Kamaraj annexes KK and Nagercoil (the smallest district) to TN because of Nadar population. Surprisingly, this brings in Padmanabhapuram palace as well in to Tamil nadu though it was the erstwhile capital of the travancore kingdom. The travancore kingdom head quarters was shifted to Trivandrum from padmanabhapuram palace. But the palace is in TN geography now, in the district of Kanyakumari.

I doubt about Periyaar, all these while we were taught it was Palgaht in History.

Nagercoil History, History of Travancore, Nanjilnadu, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu The history mentioned here also talks about Palghat.

I attach the relevant part here

When the states in India were re-organized in the 1950's, under the States Reorganisation Act, the then Government of Kerala gave Kanyakumari district to Tamilnadu (because majority of the population spoke Tamil in the district) in exchange for Palghat district from Tamilnadu.

Some more info from Wiki, as similar to what we studied in history.

Palakkad was a part of the Malabar District of Madras Presidency (during theBritish Raj, until 1947), then came under the princely state of Cochin and Madras state (from 1947 to 1956). It was made a separate district of Kerala when the state was formed in 1956.

The rule of the Travancore royals finally ceased in 1947 when Travancore had to join the independent Indian Union. In 1949, Kanyakumari district became part of the newly constituted Travancore-Cochin state. The majority of the people of South Travancore Taluks (Kanyakumari District) were Tamil-speaking and a popular agitation for merging the Tamil majority areas of South Travancore to Madras State (now Tamil Nadu) was started during this period. The State Reorganisation Commission of India also recommended this. Accordingly, the Indian States Reorganisation Act of 1956 was passed and Kanyakumari District was formed on 1 November 1956 with the four Taluks, Viz., Agasteeswarem, Thovalai, Kalkulam and Vilavancode from Travancore, merged with Tamil Nadu.

Sorry LDL for the OT...

[hvkumar]

Coming at the end of a long exposition, all I have to say is that KK region (till Nanguneri) had lot of Tamil-speaking people, which was the reason why it went to Madras State (later TN). Palghat region was part of Madras Presidency (unlike Trivandrum/South Kerala which were the independent Travancore kingdom), along with North Kerala (Calicut, etc) which were part of Madras Presidency ruled by the British. Later on, North Kerala including Palghat were merged with Kerala. Incidentally, the northernmost part of Kerala (Kasargod District) was mainly populated by Tulu/Konkani-speaking people, and there are still rumbles that the Kasargod region should have been part of Mysore (now Karnataka).

[ampere]

Another manifestation of the exposition:

While in KK, I could NOT have breakfast without the sweet smell of coconut oil!
Influences but-obvious! Imagine Dosa made in coconut oil.

PS: Did I say sweet?

[MX6]

But under british they annexed everything in south india under madras presidency.
Princely state of cochin was made during independant times like the princely state of mysore. Like Kerala was formed in 1956 from the princely state of cochin, princely state of mysore became Karnataka on a day which is still celebrated as the Rajyotsava day. Similarly, the Mumbai presidency started giving way to states. And people started a motion on where city of mumbai should go to. Gujarat or Maharashtra. The Marathi manoos story is well known which annexed Mumbai to Maharashtra. Goa was under portuguese and finally joined India as union territory and was finally assigned statehood.
But Palghat was more under cochin presidency for the fact that the varmas ruled over that place before british annexed it. Tipu came all the way till Palghat and then was opposed by Pazhassi raja. British tried helping the kings of kerala to regain their lost land and tried annexing things to themselves. Pazhassi then joined hands with malabar muslims and tribals of wayanad and surrounding areas to fight the british. So Palghat was still a place considered of Keralites. Being a part of Madras presidency under british doesn't specifically state that it's a part of madras state.

History is blurred here and Pazhassi throws open a lot of facts.
Sorry for all this OT from my side as well. Incidentally, Maruthur Gopala Ramachandran (menon) was a malayali born in Sri Lanka, who went on to rule TN as a cm for long under the name MG Ramachandran or better known as MGR!
But I still recollect that periyar (not the whole sanctuary - the place where the dam and lake are) where traded off for Kanyakumari. Incidentally, there were a lot of people lobbying to get chennai over to AP and Tirupati over to TN! There exists a conspiracy theory that the Tirupati temple incidentally is not a home of Vishnu, but of Lord Subramania or Karthikeya!
But then why bother, Afterall, our country is magnificent. As Subramaniya Bharati explains the greatness of India in one single song. Here's a translation by me as best possible.

We will roam on top of the silver peaked mountains,
And we shall sail ships over all those western seas
And we shall build temples on all those holy places
And we shall proudly proclaim, this is our great country India.

We will build a bridge to the island of Lanka
We shall make roads to Sethu (rameshwaram)
And with the excess of water that's flowing in Bengal
We shall cultivate fields in neighbouring countries

We shall make equipments to cut and drill
And with that we'll dig out things like gold
We shall take them to the 8 directions and sell
And bring back what ever we think of buying in return!

In the southern seas where we farm pearls,
Where merchants from other countries flock
to bring us things which we find sweet
and pray for our support in the western shores

On river Sindhu - on a moon night
In the company of young women from the kingdom of Cheras (one of the three kingdoms flourished in modern day TN)
Composing songs in beautiful Telugu,
We shall play, boating on those waters.

The wheat that's cultivated at the gangetic plains,
Shall be bartered for Betel leaves that grows near Kaveri
In exchange for the poetry of lion hearted Marathas
We shall reward with ivory tusks of elephants from Kerala (chera kings)

The speeches of scholars of the city of Kashi,
to be heard in Kanchi(puram), we shall make equipments.
For the brave heroes of Rajput kingdom,
We shall offer gold from good old Karnataka

We'll make weapons and tools, We'll make paper.
We'll set up industries, We'll establish Schools.
Tire - we will not, drop our heads - we will not.
Truth, we shall speak, Hard deeds - we'll accomplish.

We'll make umbrellas (kudai has another meaning - donations)
We'll make fine armies
We'll make sacks
We'll make iron nails
To mimic the walk, we'll make vehicles
We'll make ships that makes the world tremble

We'll learn chants (mantras)
We'll lean secrets of work (labour)
We'll measure the whole sky
We'll count the fishes in the sea

We'll see the moon in close quarters
We shall learn the science behind the sacred fires

We'll write beautiful works, We'll grow forests
We shall develop the arts, we'll grow plaintains
We'll draw those paintings, We shall make those needles
All the great works of the world, we shall do with enthusiasm.

Look at the way he criss crossed beautiful India and brought out the beauty of diversity and the unity which he cherished. Look at the kinds of outlook he had in what all Indians can and will do.
He died in 1921 at the age of 38. And we have literally lost the plot post independance.
As I stated in an earlier post - his songs rankle my mind
Having made a nice veena, will anyone throw it in dust and allow it to rot?

Sorry for this long OT. But anyone touring TN should and will take a bit of this history with him.

Mods: That one song of Bharati deserve an honorary membership decreed on him posthumously by T-BHP. He literally envisaged the things that t-bhpians are doing now and writing travelogues on, over a 100 years ago!

[hvkumar]

MX6, Travancore kingdom was a separate kingdom during British times, but was "protected". The rest of Kerala went under Madras Presidency, which covered also South AP (till Kakinada) and included Bangalore and KA upto the borders of Bombay Presidency. Therefore, MDS Presidency had people of all languages - Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani and Marathi.

[MX6]

True HVK. I was amazed after I saw the movie Pazhassi Raja which made me start reading on the kings of Malabar, all from north to the south.
I believe Raja Swati Tirunal was one of the kings who was accorded the protection status by the British. He spent most of his time composing those classics (but a debate started by Veena Balachander that those aren't his). When Tipu fell, most of seringapatom (srirangapatna) and regions around came to Madras presidency as well. Interesting to find that Travancore stuck out. Unfortunately, Swati Tirunal didn't compose those as songs, and sang only of Lord Padmanabha.
Speaking of the battle of Seringapatom, there's a memorial for that in Stirling Castle in Stirling, Scotland, for the warriors of Scotland who perished. But I don't want to keep OT-ing so much. LDL will embark on another long drive (to pune this time) and drive his Safari all over me.

Another piece. Incidentally, talking of Pazhassi raja, one can't forget Velu Thampi thalava who was from nagercoil, serving the travancore kings, took a similar path finally to kill himself near Kilimanoor.
I have a friend who's a descendant of Kilimanoor Kottaram. His Kottaram housed the sword of Velu Thampi Thalava for over 150 years.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by MX6

Later MK proclaimed Madras state to be Tamil Nadu to show that there's a country for Tamils (when his brethen were fighting for rights in neighbouring lanka).

Please keep the discussion apolitical. "Nadu" in Tamil does not necessarily mean "Country". It can have different connotations. Haven't you heard of places called "Valla Nadu, Murappa Nadu" etc near T'veli?

Tamil Nadu just means Land of Tamils. And the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is totally different, you can't view both with the same prism!

[LongDrive lover]

OT continues..

WOW!, wow, wow!! This was my reaction to see all this OT this fine morning! Really, loved this discussion, all hardcore petrol-heads turning into Professors! . So, its double bonanza for me! Even after the trip is well over, it continues for me here in its virtual avatar, with all this informative discussion, I am getting a more informed perspective of those places. Though, history has been a dry subject during school/college days for most of us, what with trying to mug-up names and ruling periods of a series of generations of dynasties...and a series of wars I, II and so on.. BUT, when told in this way, or seen by visiting a place, it becomes an altogether different experience. I can still feel, how we felt as if being a part of Tipu and Hyder Ali's 'praja' when the guide explained each incident in detail at those remains of ancient Srirangpatna.

Again thanks to you all for bringing it on. I love this forum for the seer quality, frankness, openness and true-ness. And it speaks volumes about those quality and sharp minds, hearts and souls of its members including you all so .

Laluks ji. Yes, I was talking about a totally different thing, it was not Gandhi mantap what I showed/talked, it was that mandap where Maa Parvatiji had prayers, etc.. THANKS for correcting. Confirmed it with wife, and cursed my stupidity!
All my concentration and disc memory goes in seeing & remembering road conditions, diversions, incomplete flyovers, etc,etc,!!

[LongDrive lover]

Day 9: Moving on from KK

After completing formalities of 'seeing a sunrise' & shooting it, we left KK at 7.30 am to Madurai. Enjoyed the morning coastal breeze and those views (greenery and countless windmills) with open windows. NH7 was superb and traffic was very low! Result! after some initial slow movement due to having a closer look at windmills, etc, I speeded-up. We reached Madurai BP at 10.20am.

Left NH7, went into Madurai city for Meenakshi Temple darshan. Asking locals, reached near temple area through congested markets, but parking near temple was full, kept asking for parking, people including cops, were helpful. We were directed to Periyar bus stand for parking. Though it all was busy road, but, all those one-way roads, actually helped to pass through there smoothly. We reached Periyar bus stand, parked their for Rs. 50/-, had some soft drinks, took an auto to temple, had darshan, crowd was mild, purchased prasada, etc.. and came out. We entered from the east gate, and came out from the west gate! So it meant had to walk around on that hot foot-path for collecting our foot-wears from east gate! Though, auto-man had told something about this, but we couldn't understand Tamil .

No probs. Bhakti gives enough sakti. Were hungry, so had Lunch at a decent restaurant outside east gate side. That was quite a break which included Dosas, juices, ice-creams, etc.

Again took an auto back to bus stand, took out our Tigress and headed for Munnar at 2 pm. had a diesel break on outer side of Madurai city at 2.20pm. Road from Madurai to Munnar via Theni, I think it was NH49 Extension! It was good all along. I was feeling a little dull and sleepy, so took a tea break at 3.20 pm at Aundipatty, just outside Theni. Reached Theni at 3.55pm.

As the hills started at 4.12pm., my wife got a little worried! Routine ladies concerns! Oh, it is so high, so curvy, so steep at times, etc. I told them to enjoy the views without worrying about the route. After climbing some distance, we stopped for a 5 min pits break. Breeze has started to get cooler.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Please keep the discussion apolitical. "Nadu" in Tamil does not necessarily mean "Country". It can have different connotations. Haven't you heard of places called "Valla Nadu, Murappa Nadu" etc near T'veli?

Tamil Nadu just means Land of Tamils. And the Sri Lankan Tamil issue is totally different, you can't view both with the same prism!

Well, I was stating facts there Gansan. I've heard all those nadus near Nellai. Nadu has many meanings in Tamil. Didn't want to make political statements here. Willing to retract if it sounded political.
But I heard MK speaking in my school in late 80s (during the visit of Dalai Lama) when he proudly proclaimed the fact why they renamed Madras state to TN in 1968 under the then chief minister CN Annadurai. MK was one of his protege. MGR the other.
Nothing political. Just historical facts.

If Mods feel that statement was political, they can delete the same.

[LongDrive lover]

Originally Posted by MX6

Well, I was stating facts there Gansan.
Didn't want to make political statements here. Willing to retract if it sounded political.

Nothing political. Just historical facts.

If Mods feel that statement was political, they can delete the same.

Ok Ok. I think we all understand that none of us mean any politics here. So, let's say, All is well!