Trip to Bhavani, Pariyur and Kodiveri

Erode

This time it was a different and little more versatile group. I along with Prachi and my friends had been to Erode for spending the weekend and also for my friends to visit our newly built house. We reached Erode on Saturday noon. We had a real Tamil tasting lunch prepared by my mom, which is quite different from the ones available in Bangalore restaurants. Everyone had a small nap before going on a shopping spree in the evening. Jayakumar was excited to find very cheap textile items which are required for their newly built house at Chemmanvizhai, a beautiful, picturesque and green village near Nagercoil. Manikandan could not enjoy the shopping in its entirety, as he had to resolve some official problem at his workplace through phone all the evening. While shopping, we had an opportunity to come 2 temple car processions, which are hardly seen in a city like Bangalore. Our day ended with a spicy and delicious dinner at Uma mess. Uma mess is a small eat out place which I had frequently visited with my school friends. Now I visited with other friends after almost 11 years. The place had changed. It was made little big. Other than that everything was same – the taste, the people (Sudhakar, Prabhu and his father). We had Parotta, Muttai Veechu, Sada Veechu, Dosai, Omlet, Nattu Kozhli fry. Then we walked some 2 km to reach my house, before gulping few glasses of butter milk and going to bed.

Next morning, we three along with Hema, played Badminton for quite some time in the open space in front of my house. Not to say, we were drenched with sweat. Then we got ready for a day’s trip which had planned the earlier evening. We had a very delicious breakfast with Idiyappam and Dosai, which I ate like my only meal of the day.

Bhavani
After the breakfast, my friends Jayakumar, Manikandan, my sister Hema, Prachi and I set out in our Bolero to Bhavani. We reached Bhavani with in 30 minutes of our departure. This is called a sangam in this region, which is actually a Triveni Sangam. This place is a confluence of River Kaveri and River Bhavani. It is also believed that another divine river, which I remember as Amutha merges from below the ground. Unexpected to the size of the town, the parking fee was Rs.30. River Kaveri, where people normally take the holy dip had very less water compared to Bhavani. We did not take bath considering the quality of water and the time constraint. But we immersed our feet and sprinkled some water on our head. The temple seems to have been renovated recently, as it displayed clean walls, pillars and statues. It was quite crowded near the garba griha. Jay, Saks (that’s how Manikandan is called) and I decided to stand in the queue for darshan, while Prachi and Hema decided to wait outside. After we three had worshipped, we were on the way to our car, while we saw a temple elephant. It was not tied to anything. It was totally free, with a mahout sitting nearby. Prachi wanted to get blessed by an elephant, which she never had experienced in her life. But she had to build up her courage by seeing some small kids doing it, before getting blessed.

Pariyur
From Bhavani, we set off to Pariyur a small village 4 km away from Gobichettipalayam. This region along with Pollachi and its surroundings are very famous in Tamil film industry, due to their greenery and vast stretches of agricultural fields with canals. It took us less than an hour to reach this place. There are 2 temples at this place. Usually they are closed from 12 noon to 4 PM. We reached at 11:45. We had to cross a stretch of tarred road, bare footed, from parking to the entrance of the temple, which was heated by the midday sun. Prachi struggled as she was not experienced with such heroics earlier. Though the village was not as green as it used to be in other seasons, the canal at the back of the temple was full with water. We inquired a person there, whether we can bath there. He said in affirmative. He also said that the water was recently released from dam and hence has foul odor and snakes. We had also witnessed 3 snakes in a short time. Hence we decided not to bath here. Inside the temple, in front of the deity there was a lengthy pit, used for “Thee Midhithal”. This is a ritual or a ceremony during festival times in this part of the region, where the devotees run on lighter coal. I explained to Prachi about this ritual, which she could not believe.

After buying some prashad, we visited the other temple just in the vicinity of the first temple. This temple is totally made of white marbles. We relaxed in the courtyard of this temple for a while. We purchased some raw mangoes from an old lady, who had made a small table her shop below a shady tree. We had a few of them and packed some to bring home.

Kodiveri
From Pariyur we set off to Kodiveri, through Gobi (as Gobichettipalayam is shortly called). We munched some parotta, tomato rice, and tasty curd rice as lunch at Gobi. Kodiveri is around 10 km from Gobi. Kodiveri is a check dam built on River Bhavani. Sun was scorching when we reached this place. The first thing we did was to hire a traditional boat called Parisal, made of thatched bamboo coated with tar. They charged Rs.20 per head for a trip in the embankment area. Everyone, except Jay was afraid to some extent, as we don’t know swimming. A very old man with estimated age of 65+ was guiding the boat. Saks was asking all sorts of questions like are there crocodiles in the water, what will happen if the oar falls into water and so. Except for the weather it was so enjoyable. During the final leg of the trip, the old man took us near the place from where the water falls down. Oh god! That was so fearful, except for Jai. Hema even was getting ready to jump out of the boat, keeping her bags down, in case the boat is going to fall down J

Then we went down the fall, to take bath. Hema did not bring clothes thinking that there would not be place to change over. But she was tempted to bath after seeing the place. Fortunate enough were we, that there was a ladies toilet which was dually used for dressing too. After some confusion Hema and Prachi decided to take bath and changed their dress, while we did it in open. First, Hema and Prachi took bath, while we watched over to the things standing in the hot sun. The only bad experience of the trip was to stand in the hot sun. There were no trees or shades near the bathing place. It would be suggestible to take umbrella in summer. Jai, I pity you because of the condition of your hair (I doubt, do you have it). After Hema and Prachi came out, rather made to come out, we enjoyed getting into deep. I would not have dared to go there if Jai was not there. It had right amount of water. Earlier when I had been, it used to have large amount of water and it used to be fierce. Now, though it was fierce, it was limited. It had massaged our back, free of charge. The other major problem earlier was it was very slippery, due to which many people had been engulfed by the river. Now they had provided metal rods for assistance. It was a memorable moment. Later, we gave the girls some more time to bath again in the shallow waters.

On the way back, we ate all country stuffs, which recalled our childhood like Fresh palm (Nongu), maize (Solla karuthu), Green Pea masala (Pattani) and Coconut palm (Ilani). When everyone enjoyed with all this, Jai was deprived of fish, the specialty at Kodiveri, due to lack of company. To prevent boredom on the way back, we were playing dumb charads, while Jai was feeling very shy to act.

To Bangalore
After returning, Jai and Saks again started playing badminton, I while was not ready to get more tired. We had a solid dinner (as it is called colloquially, which means heavy) of Karadosai and Thengai Chuttney. Jai and I swallowed 7 of those, later filled our stomach with some more buttermilk. Saks seems to have been concerned about his behavior restricting to a little food every time. Everyone was sleepy even before boarding the bus to Bangalore. Departing at 11 in the night, we reached Bangalore at 6 in the morning.

All through the trip, I observed Jai as a father figure buying things for others, taking care of others and so. He purchased ice cream for Saks to eat, Corn for Hema and Nongu for me and himself. Hope he becomes a father soon.

Tips:

Erode to Gobi – 35 KM

Gobi to Kodiveri – 11 KM

Erode to Bhavani ~ 20KM

Umbrella – a must at Kodiveri

Gobi – last place to find decent restaurants or Hotels.