My Niece : Poorvi

There are very few things in life that can provide you with the same joy as that of watching your 10-month old niece smile at you.

Kodaikanal – Fact file

Kodaikanal is one of the most popular hill stations in India.  Situated at an altitude of about 2,133 m and covering a total area of about 21.45 sq.km this is place that is known for its sylvan beauty.

History

Kodaikanal was known to be a home for various prehistoric tribes. Locals suggested that villagers who used to stay at the base of the Palani hills, moved over to Kodai to avoid confrontation with Tippu Sultan’s forces. It is believed that under the British Raj, foreigners found it hard to survive the oppressive Tamil Nadu heat and used to die as a result of suffering from epidemic diseases.  Kodai was a perfect environment for the Britishers and it was not very far from Madurai, the famous temple city of Tamil Nadu. It did not take long for the Britishers and the other foreigners to adopt Kodai as their new home. The influence of foreigners is pretty evident. As I was traveling from Madurai towards the top of the hill, I found a forest full of pine trees. Pine trees are not usually found in these parts. The only real pine variant that is found in India is the Chir Pine, mainly restricted to Kashmir and parts of Northern Pakistan.

Major attractions

1. Silver Cascade : a small waterfall that you will see as you climb the hills on the way to the top. Ideal time to catch this would be just after the sun rise.
2. Coaker’s walk : This is narrow path that has been cut along the ridge of the south eastern side named after Lt Coaker who built in 1872.  The view of the underlying plains and the city of Madurai that this place has to offer is simply magnificent. IMO, one the most beautiful tourist attractions that Kodaikanal has to offer.
3. Boat Ride at Kodai Lake: Kodai Lake is a man-made lake that is present right at the heart of the Kodai hills.  The boat ride along this lake is a nice experience.
4. Pillar Rock View:  This place offers a nice view point of cloud-covered misty mountain tops on the front side and a few rocks on the other side that have assumed the shape of a pillar. This place is also known as Monkey Point for the huge number of monkeys that you find at this place. I would suggest to keep a close eye on these notorious chaps as to never know what they are upto.
5. Green Valley View: This place is also known as Suicide Point. Not sure if this place has recorded that many suicide attempts but it is an ideal place to commit suicide if anyone is really interested. There is no point of return whatsoever. There is a market place leading up to the Green Valley View which is usually buzzing with a lot of activity.
6. Bryant Park and Chettiar Park :  IMO, Bryant Park  is nothing special and can be skipped.  Ideal time to visit Chettiar Park would be sometime during the morning or evening.
7. Horse riding: for some reason is very popular amongst tourists here.

Shopping

Kodaikanal is famous for its home-made chocolates and also its eucalyptus oil. There are plenty of places where you can get both. My suggestion is to shop for these at the market present near the Green Valley View. Apart from this, you may also want to target Anna Salai , cottage crafts shop, which is run by Corsock (Coordinating Council for Social Concerns in Kodai). They sell crafts made by the developmental groups and the commission charged is used to help the needy.

Final Touches

Kodaikanal is without doubt one of the most beautiful places that I have had the privilege of visiting in my 8 year long stay in India. The place is blessed with abundance of natural beauty and also a lovely bunch of people who are always kind and generous to the tourists. What is significant is the fact that the locals understand the importance of maintaining the natural beauty of this place and take great pride in cleaning up the gardens and planting new trees. Unfortunately, the tourists who visit these places do not share the same sentiment and have not shown the slightest hesitation in littering the parks, gardens and forests with plastic bottles and other garbage.

How to get there

The ideal way to reach Kodaikanal is via Madurai. There are regular buses that are available from Madurai towards Kodaikanal. There are also buses from Coimbatore, Thiruchirrapalli, Dindigul and Bangalore. The closest airport is in Madurai which is about 135 kms away. Kodairoad Station is the closest railway station to Kodaikanal.

Few snaps

Aero India 2009

6 hours in the blistering heat..perched on top of a chair with two friends..stuck in a sea of cameras, lenses and photographic equipment that I have never seen in action before….armed with my own Canon PowerShot G7…. hoping to catch some good pics….beating the dreaded traffic back home….Dead tired but satisfied after watching a good air show….

…is a terse description of what Aero India 2009 was all about.  To be honest, I thought the show could have been organized better.  Standing under the blazing hot sun with no shelter whatsoever was also not ideal. But you can forget about all that when you see the show that was being put up on the other side of that fence.

I personally enjoyed the Sukhoi SU-30 and the Eurofighter flying maneuvers. It was a breathtaking display of high quality flying skills. The Sarang team was also decent and the Suryakirans were at their clinical best.

The crowd that showed up for the event was a nice gathering of cheerful enthusiastic folks. They cheered for literally everything. And Im not just saying this for the heck of it. During the show, a kite, out of nowhere really, decided to put an exhibition of its own flying skills for us as if to say, ” Oh you think these planes are good! Watch me!”. And the crowd acknowledged by cheering and clapping.

Here are some pics from the event. All uploaded on my Flickr page as well.

Press Photos

I got these photos from a friend as a mail forward and I thought why not post it down here.

Disclaimer: Some photos may be disturbing.

1957. The first day of Dorothy Counts at the Harry Harding High School in the United States . Counts was one of the first black students admitted in the school, and she was no longer able to stand the harassments after 4 days.

January 12, 1960. A second before the Japanese Socialist Party leader Asanuma was murdered by an opponent student.

1963. Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist priest in Southern Vietnam , burns himself to death protesting the government’s torture policy against priests. Thich Quang Dug never made a sound or moved while he was burning.

1962. A soldier shot by a sniper hangs onto a priest in his last moments in Columbia.

1965. A mom and her children try to cross the river in South Vietnam in an attempt to run away from the American bombs.

1966. U.S. troops in South Vietnam are dragging a dead Vietcong soldier.

February 1, 1968. South Vietnam police chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan shoots a young man,whom he suspects to be a Viet Cong soldier..

1973. A few seconds before Chile ’s elected president Salvador Allende is dead during the coup.

1975. A woman and a girl falling down after the fire escape collapses in New York.

1980. A child in Uganda about to die of hunger, and a missionary holding onto him.

February 23, 1981. Colonel Molina ve military police seizes the Parliament building in Spain .

The photographer did not expect the scene, and hid the films in his shoe.

1982. The beginning of it all…. Palestinian refugees murdered in Beirut , Lebanon .

1987. A mother in South Korea apologizes and asks for forgiveness for his son who was arrested after attending a protest. He was protesting the alleged manipulations in the general elections.

1989. A young man in China stands before the tanks during protests for democratic reforms.

1992. A mother in Somalia holds the body of her child who died of hunger.

2001. An Afghani refugee child’s body is being prepared for the funeral in Pakistan .

2002. Soldiers and villagers in IRan are digging graves for the victims of the earthquake.

A kid holds his father’s clothes before he is buried.

2003. An Iraqi prisoner of war tries to calm down his child.