THOTTI PALAM

THOTTI PALAM:-  Mathoor Thotti Palam ,Hanging Trough is claimed as the tallest as well as the longest trough bridge in Asia, having a height of 115 feet and a length of one kilometer. It was constructed in 1966. This is situated in Mathoor, hamlet of Aruvikkarai revenue village in Thiruvattar Panchayat Union. The bridge has been constructed at Mathoor across the river Pahrali (also called as Parazhiyar)  the trough canal on the bridge carries water for irrigation from one side of a hill to the other side of a hill. The trough has a height of seven feet with a width of seven feet six inches. The canal is being shouldered by 28 huge pillars. By the unrelenting efforts of late Thiru. K. Kamaraj, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, this canal was constructed as a drought relief measure and for the development of agriculture in Vilavancode and Kalkulam Taluks. The District Administration has recently put up a staircase from top to the bottom of the bridge and also built a children’s park here.
Road route from Trivandrum is-
Trivandrum-->  Thuckalay and from Thuckalay----->  Mathoor.

PANDI PATHU -Worst weather turned us back

               Pandi pathu

                                                       Most of our team members are of the opinion that Pandi pathu is the easiest trucking station ever trucked by them. We six people planned to truck pandipathu .Four of team members have already been there for more than three times. Me and another one was visiting for the first time. We started early in the morning from Thiruvananthapuram, reached Vithura by 9.30 Am. There Varghese chettan (forest watcher ) was waiting for us. In Vithura we saw one of our team members friends and they told us that the weather conditions at Pandipathu is not so good.

  

                                                           Varghese chettan headed our team from there and we bought rice,vegetables,meat and other food items for our one day stay at Pandi pathu. From Vithura we hired a jeep and started our journey.

                                                             By 11am we reached the base of pandipath (top division -3) from there we started our walk with our luggages first half Km is steep climb and after that the path became much easier, But  leaches attacked us  in hundreds ,every one was bleeding from there  feet . By 12.30 pm we reached a building at the top of the hill ,by covering a total distance of 4.5 kms .  By nearing that building we understood that the weather has  been totally changed .

                                                        

                                                              The building and its surrounding were fully covered with mist and fog heavy wind was blowing towards the building . we cannot even stand freely on the outside of the building,high speed wind will blow you off from your feet. I cannot imagine such a weather in a place just about 50 Kms from the heart of Trivandrum city. Only possible thing was to stay inside  the shelter wearing woolen clothes.

                       

                                                          By evening, wind began to blow from the opposite side and We just got a view of the near by hills. Beautiful place with lot of greenery. I just got a wink of it. We six people stayed in that shelter for about 24 hours trying to survive in  cold, eating food prepared by Varghese chettan. 

                                                             We just covered 2 kms  of surrounding area, but cannot see anything beyond 10 meters because of heavy mist. According to me that was a failure trip but experience of such a weather  will not get even if we pay lakhs. In our return journey by next  day after noon I decided in my mind that I will come back here another time to see this wonderful place in clear light.                

Top division Three -Pandipath base

Isolated forest building in the midst of heavy forest 

Forest building -another view

Surrounding area of the building 

                                                    
                           LAKSHADWEEP

                                                    
                               KAVARATTI
                  
                           Organized by the environmental organisation in our office we planned to visit lakshadweep.Started on 11/05/2011  7 am in the morning from Thiruvananthapuram  and we reached kochi by train. From kochi we embarked our ship M V Kavaratti which is a huge ship and that was our first time journey in ship.Tickets are classified as I st class II class and bunk class. All classes have very good accommodation facilities but toilets of bunk class is sub-standard.
                                          
            Seven members of our team got tickets as 4 first class and three second class .Tickets and permission to visit lakshadweep should be booked through the administrative e office in kochi. Thus our journey to Kavaratti started by 5 pm in the evening. Very good experience of traveling first time in a ship. Interior ,Deck and cabins of the ship is neat and tidy.Top class food in I st and II nd class canteens. You will get the announcement for food before half an hour every time in each and every corner of the ship. We went to the deck of the ship in the night and view of the sea through the side of the ship with wonderful lightnings of the ship is an exciting and stunning experience.By 10 Am in the morning we reached near Kalpeni islands. Boats from the island came to carry passengers from the ship. By 2.30 Pm ship neared kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep.
  
                                        Mr Musthaffa, the president of an environmental club at Lakshadweep,who is also our sponsor,waited at the jetty with his car. Then we went to his house took our tea and snacks and then visited the Museum and Desalination plant which supplies fresh water to all the natives of lakshadweep .Water from wells are pure but high amount of calcium contents,  which caused kidney diseases to the natives and now sea water is purified and supplied through taps. Kavaratti is not a hi-tech city .Only looks like a small village in Kerala. No heavy vehicles are seen only bikes and cars roads are narrow and concreted.                    

                                     we had our food arranged by our sponsor, by two days of time we tasted all most all variety of food in the island except fish.Most of the food items are made of milk..Meat mostly of chicken and mutton, no beaf.


                                   By 5.30 Pm we planned to swim in a beach near Kavaratti Boat Jetty .Swimming there is like swimming in a lake, no waves, bluish  clear water.


                                    Next day morning By 8 Am we went to another beach and there we started our journey to the mid sea in a glass boat and after that Snorkeling and Scuba diving.Snorkeling is a very good water sport,swimming with Goggles and an air tube attached to your mouth you can dive deep into the sea and see the wonderful world of Corals .I cant never explain that scene in my words and I doesn't  have a waterproof camera to take those shots .But I personally suggest that you must be a good swimmer for enjoying these things without any fear.Even though all of us moved for snorkeling for more than one and a half hours. we proffered  more time because of that wonderful sight of corals just in front of our eyes through crystal clear water in mid sea ,one must go through at least once in a life time.


                                 By 4.oo pm we prepared for our return journey by 4.30 pm we embarked M V KAVARATTI, the huge ship and enjoyed our return journey.

                                          

        LAKSHADWEEP ISLANDS

                    KAVARATTI

M V Kavaratti 

The ship is described officially as– “The Motor Vessel Kavaratti, 700 Passengers cum 200 T Cargo Vessel built for the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Islands… The all-weather passenger ship, m.v. Kavaratti, built for the Lakshadweep administration by Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam, has made ts maiden voyage to the islands in the first week of August, 2008.The Rs.173-crore ship, the largest passenger vessel ever built in India, is 120 Meter long and has a speed of 17 Knots. The ship can carry 700 passengers and 200 tons of cargo. The ship has world-class facilities like a 152-seater cafeteria, 100-seater dining hall, Recreation room, gymnasium and a very large airspace to enhance passenger convenience on-board. The ship is fully Air conditioned by centralized air-conditioning system and has been built to world class standards. The ships have cafeteria, snack bars, doctor on call, entertainments and upper-deck promenade. Ship facilities include three independent galleys, halls, recreation place with a swimming pool and a helipad.”
The passengers stay on the ship till they reach the island group, and at every night; and of course while returning to the Kochi port. The travelers board on smaller boats while going to visit the individual islands, and return in the same manner to the ship before sunset.

 

Me 

in front of M V Kavaratti

Second class cabin

Neat and tidy 

High quality bathroom facilities

Side part of the ship 

life boats are hanged here

 

Me and Sajeev

The Titanic

Anchor of the ship

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a Vessel to the bedf of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current.

Front part of the ship

The front of a ship is the bow. It is the point of the ship which is most often in forward motion.
It's called the bow.

Theater inside the ship

Mr Sajeev -photographing the deck of the ship

Ship- Bharatseema

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Ship (Inside )

Mr Sreekanth,Saji and Hari

in Deck

View of Kochi from ship

Vallarpadam

Food -inside ship

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Sunrise -view from ship

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A boat nearing the ship for taking passengers to Kalpeni

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Kalpeni  Island

(a distant view)

Moving away in boat

Towards Kavaratti 

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Jetty

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Main Jetty Kavaratti

A small park in Kavaratti

Entrance of  Kavaratti

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House of Mr.Musthaffa-we stayed here

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A small variety of coconut seen in lakshadweep