A Trip !!

Here I'm ...fighting against the tide..quite literally! Boy, that was tough!

Well, I went to Mankayam again last week :) . It's funny, it was never meant to be, but it still happened. There's something about me and the place. To me it's the most astoundingly spectacular, awesomely wonderful waterfall in the world. That is, I haven't seen all the others.
But then, this is one which I know every nook and cranny of. I know the dangerous parts as well as the safer ones. Waterfalls and pools are risky business. A bit of a strong current, potentially life-sucking pits, slippery rocks..you never know how it can happen.

This place has two or three stages. I would count only two of them; so you get two stages of waterfalls. One is big enough but the pool at the bottom is shallow. Swimming is strictly okay here. The other fall is further up and way bigger than this one. People have died here. Or so I have been made to believe. It's every bit possible. There's a bit of a channel connecting both the falls- an intermediate one cut in the rock face and having a short but powerful fall in between. Enter it and you are gone. It's good only for a photoshoot. The authorities, wherever they are, have done a good job of keeping it off the ordinary traveller by means of rails. Normal souls can rest in peace.

The other fall- I guess it's the one known by the name of Kalakkayam- is the real deal at this place. A fall from a height of 30 metres or so, an outstanding pool of water at the base-pure and unspoiled water- and a relatively safe dive and swim make this one a class apart from other 'dangerous' falls. Haha, this one's no better. I had seen her only during the summer. Last week, I got to see her in full splendour during the monsoons. Majestic. And every bit as dangerous as a snake queen.

The pool, when I had gone there in the past, was relatively shallow. At some places, it was more than 6 feet deep. That was the story a year and a summer back. Now it's all different. It is more than the depth of 2 full grown men or quite near. I didn't want to risk going near the bottom. I care for my safety goddammit!! The current was swift and all the sand at the base of the pool had been washed or eroded away by the swirling waters from high up the hillock. The bed of rock, which was covered by sand when I saw it last time, was devoid of any layer of sand at most places. I got to know of the effects of erosion first-hand, long since I learned about it in my Geography textbook at school !

Last time, I had ventured into the well-like pit at the base of the falls. The force was quite okay then as was the depth. I could slide into the pit from the top of a rock; the rock surface was flat,sloping and slippery. No friction. The feeling of sliding into the pit along with the gush of current was akin to that rush of adrenaline which you get when on a particularly exciting water slide at an amusement park. It was unbridled fun, by the truckloads. The pit was about 10-15 feet deep back then. With the force of the water, one would go deep down and also come up without any particular effort, all in a matter of a few seconds.

Now,I didn't venture that far. The force of the fall was thundering. With the thunderous fall and all the erosion, I shudder to think what could be the depth of that pit or the chances of anyone getting out of that one alive. To think all this lay in front of you, just a few feet away, is mortally scary!!

Hmm.. That's all about it I guess. The trip was good, planned and executed by a few stoned minds on a lazy monsoon afternoon. The tapioca and beef we had for lunch atop the rocks was sumptuous. More so because of the state of hunger that everyone had been in since morning. It was a great experience. There would be no cloudbursts or flash-floods as I had feared. All the strategies that we had discussed if, a flashflood came rolling down, were unutilized thankfully. I have lived to tell the tale. Okay, this is a strange post. I didn't know what exactly I wanted to write in the first place. Strange are the ramblings of a sleep-deprived mind. Yeah, I'm one. It's obviously because I sleep very less.