A trip to the western ghats

I had mentioned that Kerala is blessed with natural landscapes of three kinds. The coastal areas, the midlands with rolling hills merging into one another and the high ranges called the western ghats. The western ghats run all the way from the southern part of Kerala to almost near to Bombay in the north westerly direction.



Legend has it that Kerala was formed when Parasuraman an avatar of Lord Siva in Hindu mythology threw an axe and the land was formed from the seas. Indeed there are indications that many of the land that we have today may have been sea earlier times.



One such indication is that coastal areas have a sandy top soil running into kilometers inland. Another is that in these areas when sand is dug we come across a lot of shells. I am no scientist so these needs to be taken as less scientific. Nevertheless one cannot prima facie deny any more than accept these indications. Yet another of these indications is the names of certain places. Kaduthuruthy almost 30 kms inland translated means the coastal land although the sea is far away which by conjecture may mean that once this place was close to the sea.



From a cultural ecosystem perspective the fact that these topogrpahical features tucked so close together provides an ecosystem biodiversity in such a small area.



Me and Jeff went to a place called Calvary mount on the western ghats on Saturday 15th Dec 2007 and came back on 16th. The first year students of my college were having a camp over there.(More on the camp is available in a separate blogpost.) The place is serene with not so much of cold and not too much of people either. Most of the areas around are hills or forests.



Most importantly the proximity to the Idukky dam system makes the area a tourist spot as well. Climbing the calvary mount gives a view of the reservoir made by the threesome dams idukki , kulamavu amd cheruthoi, of which idukki has no outlet, cheruthomni is opened only in case of excess water and kulamavu is the only perrenial outlet. The rest of the water is sent through underground tunnels to the Moolamattom powerhouse and hte water is left into the Thodupuzha river system. The system provides the Thodupuzha river with water perennially and that too cool water from the ghats. Something so natural and available so close to one's birthplace is much too precious to be left unspoken.

A trip to the rural camp

Rural camp 2007

Rajagiri is unique in many ways and one of them is a compulsory rural camp in the first semester. This gives a chance for the students to work in a rural setting mingling with the rural folk and understanding their life besides providing manual labour to one of their causes.

No need to say that the same doubles up as fun kingsize. I mean in the end of the four semesters one of the lingering memories is the rural camp. This time it was at Kalvary mount near Kattappana beyond Idukki. I shall post a few of the photographs later.

Dreams

The five dreams



I am not going to talk about dreams in the sense of aspirations. But rather a few dreams that I believe are in the form of premonitions and does have a significance in terms of influencing, interpreting or defining my life. As with all dreams time, place, characters etc. may all be jumbled but in terms of its subjective relevance, I have no doubt because they are so powerfully etched in my mind.



Dream 1



A scene of immense terror. Our estate of around 10 acres is the context . I am awakened at night and am trembling with fear. It is made known that a horse is let loose in the estate and everyone is scared. The name of the horse is Ammonia.



Dream 2



Immensely peaceful surrounding. I am in a place where there is an open field. Yonder but accessible is a steep hill climbable too. A sense of immense space and calm and peace. As if all the problems in my life are at last settled. An allusion to a country like Canada is feebly felt.



Dream 3



A wonderful church but desolate. I am the only one around. An atmosphere of slight bewilderment. The church however is solid and is carved or built on a rockbed, a quarry of sorts.



Dream 4



A labyrinth. Of sacks? But it is also a church. With a pulpit from where the priests sermon. It belongs to the Mar Thomites a particular sect with origins in Kerala. A very close knit community. Feeling is slightly one of exclusion nevertheless with no harm.





Dream 5



An immense sense of desolateness in a forest where there is a single house. Almost no one would enter for fear of the haunted



I have some clue that these dreams were premonitory of some of the instances in my life. However it requires some more time before I blog on that.



The recurring dreams



In addition the following are the recurring dreams in my life.



Recurring Dream 1



A sense of flying usually down a fleet of steps wide enough to fly over. A sense of how come I never knew that I could fly?



Recurring Dream 2



Airplane(s). All over. Suddenly I know one of them is falling. A variation is many of them are falling or colliding.



Recurring dream 3



Gadget. Where I find a new application. Never knew that it existed.