Dakshin Mahayatra: 11/18/24

8.30am-5.30pm

140 km

5 waypoints

6400 to 2400 ft

All right, this might have given you a numerical grip of today's travels. But, believe me, this tells nothing.

This tells nothing of the pure sensual delight of a travel in the hills. As we left Gudalur today morning, after our usual dosas, the air crisp and biting, windows down, our GPS took matters into her own hands and we surrendered to her directions - go where you might - while we sat with silly grins on our faces as scenery after scenery flowed across the fantastic movie screen called Nature.

Though some of our routes were on busy routes, a lot were, thankfully, on practically empty ones, where we were given a private show, be it the morning sun hitting our eyes like a strobe as we travelled on dappled mountain roads, or miles and miles of super-green paddy fields floating up from infinity as we topped a rise, or a lake backed by mountains that slowly faded layer by layer - each one of them drew an involuntary "ooh!" from our lips. Many are the moments when we got up to go, keeping in mind the timeline, but sat down again at the wayside or lakeside, the spot desolate but not solitary, so full of the beauty of Nature that humans missing from the scene was a blessing rather than a cause for concern. A day like today lifts my spirits much much more than visiting a temple, library or museum ever could.

Jain temple at Sultan Bathery (10.30 am)

This was practically on the way to Wayanad and the name intrigued us. It seems when Tipu Sultan was waging war on the Mysore rulers, he used a Ganapathy temple in this town as a storage or battery for his ammunition (some sources say the Jain temple was used), and an adolescent lisping Brit sargeant had recorded the name of the town as "Sultan Bathery". The Jain temple itself is 13th century, and shows sculptural influence of the Vijayanagara dynasty. The maintenance by ASI is commendable, as approved by various romantic couples passing time there.

Pookode Lake (12.00 noon)

We veered left towards Kozhikode from our as-the-crow-flies route to Wayanad (see map above), and peeked into Pookode Lake, which draws its name from a fish species pethia pookodensis found only in that lake. We saw another amazing phenomenon, where small pink flowers were sprouting on the lake surface, practically invisible when standing close by, but turning the water pink when viewed from far, like on the far side of the lake.

Although a working day, the was fair amount of touristy crowd, though no Volvos, thank god!

Lakkidi viewpoint (1.30 pm)

A few miles from Pookode Lake, this lies in ambush around a bend, and suddenly the ground falls away to reveal a green valley, sometimes clear to the far distance, sometimes hazy, as it was today. Philosophers do say that your viewpoint should not depend on the view, but the physical world is, unfortunately, dependant like the dickens.

Lunch at Taj Family Restaurant, Lakkidi (2.00 pm)

I beg your indulgence for engaging in this luncheon description, for it was both pleasant and unpleasant at the same time. Panna wanted a chicken mandi (another name for biriyani) and the waiter offered a 50-50 mandi with fish as well, which interested me too. This is why communication trainings are such money-spinners, because the mandi arrived with a huge grilled hamour sitting on top. The chicken seems to have lost its way somewhere between the kitchen and our table. The fish was actually great, but seeing the bill bottomline made me feel that it was a swordfish, not a hamour, trying to dig its way out again!

Banasura Sagar viewpoint (3.00 pm)

BS is a lake in Wayanad, created by damming up the Banasura river. Our GPS showed a viewpoint that led us down a little-used, mossy, broken track for half-a-mile. I am a sucker for little-used, mossy, broken tracks. Dekha jayega, is my usual refrain, at which Panna purses her lips and clutches her seat cushion tightly. In this case, the risk was worth the reward, as it took us right down to the water. The surrounding mountains were performing dance-of-the-seven-veils, and the sun was turning the water blue and green and all between. We just sat there and didn't want to move.

Banasura Sagar Dam (3.45 pm)

Not far from the viewpoint is the largest EARTHEN DAM in Asia, spanning across one side of the huge lake. We took the bus for the 1 km ride to the top. The scenery was magnificient, and I could imagine that the sunset across the lake waters would be an amazing spectacle as well. However, we wanted to reach our farmstay before the sun turned down the dimmer switch and prepared for the night, so we trundled down in the bus again and drove the final stretch for today.

Wayal Wayanad Farm Resort (5.30 pm)

The last hour of driving through mountain roads with the sunlight slanting more and more and getting redder by the minute threw up all objects in our path in golden bas relief - the white coconut trunks, the paddy shoots, the tea leaves, the untidy hedges bordering the black top roads - you name it, Midas had it.

Our farmstay was very cute, with the styling of a Kerala house. For us, an added bonus were the expanse of green fields in front, and the muted honk of traffic on a road far away.