The Visit to the Malampuzha Dam- An Adventure-in- the- Waiting

      

On my maiden visit to Palakkad (the Gateway to Kerala, literally translated as ‘The Milk Forest’), we planned a trip to the Malampuzha Dam (about 6 km from the Railway station). 

 This dam was meant to collect the rain water and the natives of the city, I was told, would get jittery if it were not filled in the monsoon.  

This year’s monsoon being what it was, Palakkadis rejoiced at the revival of the monsoon in September.  Finally, their drinking water needs for the next year were being taken care of.

          We were ‘warmly’ welcomed by the rains in Palakkad.  It rained off and on during the day, but we hoped it would be bright and sunny at the dam site.  I was particularly looking forward to the Rock Garden, modelled after its more famous namesake in Chandigarh and the garden modelled after the Brindavan Gardens near Mysore.

          Destiny had something else in store for us – while the journey up to the destination was pleasant, the rain gods reminded us of their presence with a bang.  That was actually a blessing in disguise; so, we pursued a course of action, which we would not have thought of otherwise- to get an aerial view by taking the ropeway route.

          I never travelled much, but, in any case, wasn’t a stranger to rope ways. But, it was there that I was in for a not-so-pleasant surprise – unlike the operator holding the car till the passengers got in, here we were made to stand in position to be able to sit on the open car, when it approached us, after which the operator would shut it with a glass door and lock it.  The aerial view was wonderful, but the glass played host to tiny droplets of water (the rain gods, as I told you, wanted to ensure that we should not forget them) so we couldn’t videograph through it.  It was only on the return journey that I noticed a small gap between the glass and my feet and barely managed about five minutes of footage.  Here it is!!
http://youtu.be/Jpq0W_ieuSY

          Getting off the cable car was even more adventurous.  The operator would expect us to get off with the momentum, which I was utterly incapable of.  Even in my teenage, I never took the ‘risk’ of jumping in or out of a moving city bus; now where was the question of jumping off the cable car, at this age, and that too after having achieved a distinction in lower body injuries?  Finally, the exasperated operator armed me out of my car quite resourcefully, without getting me into further injuries.  It was good that I was not aware of the adventure-in-waiting.  Otherwise, would I have ventured into the ropeway entrance in first place?

          This is all I have to share with you on my visit to Malampuzha dam.

          More travelogues are in the pipeline, so keep watching this space!