Kerala Trip - Iddukki Dam

I visited Kerala during the Dassara holidays with my family. We first stopped at Kochi, where we stayed for two days. On the second day of our trip, we went to old Kochi and saw the famous Chinese fishing nets. We had also planned to visit Vasco Da Gama’s house in Fort Kochi, which is located close to the fishing nets. However we missed the place and we realised we had seen it only after we returned to the hotel! (Did you know that the Chinese fishing nets are found only in Kochi and China?)

The next day we left for a place near Thekkady, on the way we visited a small historical town called Kalady. It is historical, as Adi Shankracharya, the great Advaita philosopher, was born here. The house that he lived in, now the Mutt, is on the banks of river Poorna (also known as Periyar). Shankracharya left home at a very young age to become a sanyasi. He travelled around India to spread knowledge about Advaita philosophy. His mother Aryammba also died in Kalady. He established mutts all over India and he died in Kedarnath. Some of the other places in which mutts are located are in Sringeri, Kedarnath, and Puri.

From Kalady we drove to a place called Ramakkalmedu, which is a hamlet near Thekkady. We stayed in a resort called Wind Haven. It was a very nice place and we stayed in a tree house. The place was cosy, except that I encountered some unexpected friends like a snake and a scorpion in the tree house that we stayed in!

We went to the Perriyar Forest reserve located in Thekkady, where we took a boat ride in the river Perriyar. Although we did not see any tigers we saw a few sambar grazing on the river banks.

We also visited the Cheruthoni Dam, which has a large hydroelectricity project. The same evening we went for hiking into a sandalwood forest located near our hotel and also climbed the Ramakkalmedu Top Station to get a wonderful view of the plains of Tamil Nadu.

We left for Bangalore the next day after a short but enjoyable trip.

Comments

The Monica 560 The Forgotten French Luxury Car That Time Forgot

The background This article is about a French automobile company started by a rich French industrialist Jean Tastevin. Jean Tastevin was a graduate engineer of the École centrale de Paris and he succeeded his father in his business which used to manufacture mining and railway equipment. Jean was always a huge automobile enthusiast and personally owned cars from brands such as Aston Martin, Facel Vega and Jaguar. Having owned such cars he always wanted to own a French built car of that quality and class. After becoming the chairman, he renamed the company Compagnie française de produits métallurgiques (CFPM) where he used to sell and rent train cars across Europe. His other company called Compagnie Française de Matériels Ferroviaires (CFMF) used to manufacture and store the rolling stock. This was his day to day bread winning job, however there was a fire burning inside of him to build a car of his desire to compete with the likes of Iso Fidia, Jaguars and Aston’s. Jean Tastevin ...

BSH: The Rare French Kit Car That Left a Lasting Impression

Introduction Imagine stumbling upon a mysterious photo of a rare French race car. That’s exactly what happened to me when I first encountered the BSH. After studying the car's unique stickers and design, I managed to track it down to its origins: the BSH (Benais Saint-Hilaire), a rare and fascinating piece of motorsport history. This article isn’t just about a car; it’s a journey to uncover the story behind a hidden gem from the 1960s and 70s. The BSH may not be glamorous by today’s standards, but it carries a distinct charm—a low-volume French kit car built for motorsport enthusiasts, designed to make high-performance driving accessible to those with the passion but not necessarily the budget for factory-built race cars. The Story Behind the BSH BSH was the brainchild of two passionate engineers, François Benais and Max Saint-Hilaire. Combining their last names, they created the company that would bring this unique car to life. Benais was an engineer with a deep love for motorsp...

Ford almost built a Mid-engined Corvette rival in 1986? History of the Ford GN34

Ford GT40 crushed the Ferrari at Le Mans in the 60’s but 20 years later it was still Ferraris and Porsches winning the sales with highly profitable sports cars. In the domestic market the Corvette was also a great success though it never offered the same quality or feel as its European rivals. It looked like Ford was just letting go of a great opportunity to grab some profits with their own sports car. Two design houses that were part of this project Behind closed curtains Ford's very own Specialty vehicle operations (SVO) decided to work on creating a fast mid-engined sports car that would compete with the other fast European premium sports cars but at the price of a Corvette. The project started in late 1983 with the code name GN34. The project would use resources from around the world with Italian styling, British chassis engineering, European assembly standards and would also boast of the built tough reliability. The full details of this project was never fully revealed ...

Aniruddha's Blog

Search This Blog