Munnar –Beautiful people, Beautiful hills
-Ray Saheb Pandey
Kerala is known for its breathtakingly picturesque natural beauty. It’s naturally so because it’s god’s own land. Munnar, a beautiful hill station, is one of them. The name Munnar in Tamil is derived from two words ‘moon’ (three) and ‘Aar’ (river) that literally means three rivers. When we say river, it doesn’t imply big rivers as we are accustomed to thinking of. In fact, these three rivers are three mountain streams. These streams are Kundala, Mudrapuzha and Nallathanni.
Last week, I had had a chance of visiting this hill station, which attracts tourists and nature lover from across the world. Located at an altitude of about 5000feet from sea level, it is 130Km from Cochin international airport and roughly 115Km from ‘Aluva’ railway station.
While traveling by road, one finds habitation on both sides of A M Road, like many North Indian states in plane areas, giving the impression of its high density of population. Most of the houses are small but surrounded by lush green vegetation. As one enters the forest areas, the chilling breeze of the hills produces a shivering yet pleasant sensation. It’s difficult to take off the eyes from serene surroundings of the hills. The roads are zig zag and curvy throughout in the hills. There are plenty of big and small waterfalls, streams and water reservoirs visible from the roadside. The greenery of vegetation especially the tea, coffee and cardamom plantation on the hills and in the valley add luster and beauty to this hill station. One cannot but think and admire the hard work of the people in the area who have undergone such a painstaking effort in planting these valuable plants on such a difficult hilly terrain!
As one moves around the hilly roads of Munnar, the raining clouds on the top of the hills, foggy and poor visibility on the roads and the shining sun in the valley are all visible at the same time and the tourists cannot control but stop and take snaps of these spectacular sights and identify oneself with the nature. Perhaps for this reason, there are very many ‘photo points’ on the road side. Among the rich variety of flora and fauna, it’s a place of an exotic and peculiar flower called ‘Neela Kurinji’, which has the distinction of blooming only once in twelve years! For those who love animals in natural surroundings must visit the Eravikulum National Park (Rajamallai), which is world famous for its mountain goat of the Nilgiri tahr.
Anamudi, in Munnar is the highest peak at about 8840 feet high and is a most suitable destination for trekking. It also offers facilities for paragliding, hand gliding, and hill climbing.
Munnar is basically a hill station and there are many places of tourist’s attraction. The most important being Wildlife sanctuary (Cinnar Wildlife), Cardamom and Coffee plantation, Madupetty dam, Sandal wood Forest, Kolukkumalai Jeep Safari and Tata Tea Museum among many others. It also has a distinction of being one among the highest tea estates plantation. There are several (may be more than fifty) small and big tea estates in Munnar, but the prominent among them are Tata Tea, Harrison Malyalam, AVT Tea, Michael’s Tea and Brook Bond.
Down south, 21Km from Munnar town lies a small village called Chinnakanal with grand resorts and small homes stay in the midst of nature. The people of this village are very hospitable and tourist friendly. You ask a small information and they provide full details. In this village, you can come across all kinds of people. People of high society and commoner of a village life. On the road itself, one can enjoy the beauty of Chinnakanal waterfall. This waterfall is active throughout the year except for March and April months. The pervading Indian culture is most visible in this hinterland when you come across a young lady carrying a young baby in her lap like everywhere else in the Indian villages. But this isn’t all. There is a school named ‘Fatima Matha’, consisting both a primary and a higher secondary section in this village.
The very name of the school provides the fusional aspect of the cultural and religious heritage of the people of the area. This speaks volume of the peace and tranquility prevailing in the region.
Punarnava, a Cultural as well as Ayurvedic Center of Chinnakanal, daily presents a cultural program in the evening. The program consists of two parts, one each of one-hour duration. The first part presents the famous art form of Kerala ‘Kathakali’ (Katha-story, Kali-play). The story is acted out and contains mime, drama, and music among others. The stories are mainly adopted from ‘Hindu mythology’ and Puranas’. The artists start with the various movements of the eyes, which to a novice, is impossible to imagine followed by the depiction of all the ‘Rasas’. The program ends with a dance drama based on a mythological theme.
The second part displays various martial art forms of Kerala called ‘Kalaripayattu’. The masters of this art called ‘Gurruckal’ teach this craft to their students from a very tender age in a place called a ‘Kalari’, a short of small gymnasium school.
Both the art forms are quite entertaining for the visitors/ tourists and a lesson for the professionals. The artists also provide liberty to take photographs of them with the visitors, which one can inherit as a lifelong treasure for themselves and their progeny. Ayurvedic treatment and massages add special features to the tourist’s attraction helping them relieve their body and mental fatigue of the tour.
