Athirapally

I was having the impression that the WCTC vacation would go without visiting any place.Having shown my angry face on my friend on friday(18th June) evening for reasons I never knew(probably frustration for not going out anywhere much),I was convinced that this hols would go as boring as any other holidays.But,I was wrong.Moonar being the initial place for our visit,we ended up finalising on Athirapally falls(or Chalakudy falls as we knew initially!..It was later that we realised that both meant the same location) for our visit on Monday(21st June).

Referred to as the Niagara of India,the Athirapally Falls is situated 150kms from Coimbatore.

Coimbatore-Ukkadam check post-Valparai-Malakkiparai -Sholayar-Peringalkuthu Dam -Vazhachal-Athirapalli.

The roads were perfect till the start of the hilly region;called as the entry point to the falls.Reaching the entry point of Athirapally Falls,which was 34kms from the falls' view,the road was not so good for some 5 kms.After that we had a smooth ride.

The entire river was fenced.We stopped at a place where we found we could have access to river water beyond the fence through an opening in it.We played in the river for nearly 2 hrs.Water in the river was cold and we found it drinkable.

We continued our ride up the hill for some 20 min.Getting an entry ticket for the falls we reached to view the highest point of the falls.We could never go really nearer to the falls due to protective fencing.Frustration crept into us as we felt Rs.105( 5 per person for 6 of us and 25 per bike for 3 bikes)had gone waste.Thanks to my friend who saw the board "This way for a full view of the falls".We went down the hill and found ourselves awestruck!

A video of the Athirapally Falls taken by us :)

Then I knew why this place was preferred by many directors for shooting movies.Nature at its beauty!The river fell down the rocks as two sources of Waterfalls.Standing near the foot of the falls one could get drenched easily within seconds.The force with which it fell threw water drops all over us that even made taking snaps difficult.Down,the Chalakudy river branched into two(as you can see in the video) and in one of those river branches we had played.

P.S: *The song "Enna satham" from "Punnagai Mannan" was shot here.

*Director Maniratnam has a special fascination for this place.Raavanan was almost entirely shot here.Other movies as "DilSe","Guru","Iruvar" and "Kannathil Muthamittal" have songs shot here.

India is sinking!

Bhopal memorial for those killed and disabled by the 1984 toxic gas tragedy.

The hindi words on the wall read "Hang Anderson! ". I thought this was a perfect memorial.

"Keshub Mahindra, 6 others get 2-year jail for Bhopal tragedy"

All get bail by evening;verdict after 26 years; no mention of Warren Anderson.

Either things are beyond my head or apparently, India is sinking! I say this for a few reasons-

*"no mention of Warren Anderson"- Where did this Keshub Mahindra come from?? Even the memorial speaks of Warren Anderson! I feel like asking "How much money?"- yes! that is definitely what I feel. Just by making it to the front page, the apparent meaning was for people to understand how important this issue is! But beneath that, there lies another meaning..which I felt as.. "People! Please awaken yourselves!".

*"verdict after 26 years"- Of late, I have come to understand that Tamil cinema(no other industry i am aware of that much) has presented REALITY(Yeah, I definitely meant that Vijaykanth movie where he gives statistics of the number of cases pending!). This isn't delayed-thus-denied justice; this is just USELESS JUSTICE.

*"All get bail by evening" - this sounded like, 'Mr. Mahindra, just make your presence in the district court.It is just a formality.Your are free to go in the evening.' (sounds better na?) - There is just no Justice in India.

*"2-year jail" - This case could have been left untouched instead of such a verdict.Even a criminal would have asked wtf??

If the Mumbai attacks( 26/11/2008) could get justice on 6th May, 2010( Kasab's death sentence), why can't the Bhopal Gas tragedy (1984) call for justice sooner?

Can only a city like Mumbai demand timely justice? Can't Bhopal?

A cry of 3000+ souls has been left unheard?

Can Justice go any worse?

Can people get corrupted any better?

Where is the country which had seen men like The Mahatma, heading towards?

Where is Anderson??

Many more questions are there to be answered.

I am just another Indian;I can only say.Let us hope.

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