Kerala Trip 2018: Chapter 2
The Rise and Fall
You can read the previous post in this series here.
After a long tiring day filled with utter confusion, a sound sleep was all that my mind needed.
Next day,11th August, we were supposed to start the day early, but thanks to peaceful surroundings, that we couldn’t wake up on time. It was somewhere around 8.30 AM. when someone knocked at the door and brought me out of my dreams. A guy had come up with the breakfast and looking at the clock made me realise that we had screwed up. We slowly sorted the things and managed to leave the hotel by 10.30a.m. Just before leaving, we got the details of one of the hotels in Athirapally just in case we decide to stay there for some time 😉.
The weather was lovely that day. Although the clouds had covered the complete sky, there were no signs of rains. To reach Athirapally falls, we had to catch a bus from Athani bus stand to Chalakudy from where we could get the next bus to Athirapally. However, before catching the bus, we thought to buy an umbrella or raincoat to keep us dry over the coming days. Yeah, knowing that it has been raining in Kerala, we had still come with only one umbrella and a waterproof trouser and even those were borrowed 😅. That’s what actually happens when one takes last minute decisions 😝. Not many shops were available near our hotel and the one which was selling umbrellas was quite expensive. So, we decided to move ahead as it is.
Bus stand was just 100m away from the hotel and we got the bus to Chalakudy after waiting for about 5 minutes. Chalakudy is around 20km from Cochin and is easily accessible via the state highway. After the bus journey of 45 minutes, we reached Chalakudy KSRTC bus stand and started searching the next bus to Athirapally. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait much and the next bus was about to leave in two minutes. We two guys and a very old man were only people who were sitting in that bus. This made me a bit suspicious as it meant that either the place was going to be super awesome or exactly the opposite. The bus left from that bus stand but stopped at some other bus stand after moving 1–1.5kms . Later, we realized that it was the private buses stand and people used to board the buses from there only. The bus which was looking like more of a private vehicle a few minutes back, was now completely filled with local people. Since we had some waiting time, Professor Goblin tried to enquire about any buses from there to Munnar or Kochi but was not able to find much due to language issues. Meanwhile, I was searching on the internet for the same. Search results were showing some buses from Chalakudy but owing to weather conditions, we wanted to be sure if the buses were really going or not. After PG, I went to try and find out if we could find any soul who can understand what we’re trying to ask. Somehow a shopkeeper understood, and told that there’s bus in the morning from KSRTC bus stand to Munnar. This meant that we had a tentative plan for the next day in case Athirapally turns out to be a boring place.

Now, it was time to move ahead to our destination. To enjoy the scenic beauty and steady cool breeze, both of us grabbed the window seats. I got the DSLR out of my backpack to capture some good clicks on the way. And while I was adjusting the lens, I realised that I haven’t brought my camera charger 😓. Damn! how could I be so stupid. It was my first 5 day trip, I even got the Zoom lens for this trip but forgot to bring the charger. I was cursing myself but what could be done now. There were two choices, either to hope that we find some people during the course of the next 5 days who have a charger or hold myself from clicking any random pictures and make efficient use of the camera. Sadly, both of them were highly unlikely 😐.
From the crowded noisy roads, the bus started to enter the woods and the scenic beauty just mesmerised us. All of the stress and tension vanished with the cool breeze and tiny rain droplets hitting my face. We reached Athirapally after an hour or so and guess what life had another surprise waiting for us there. Due to heavy rains and increased water levels, authorities had closed the entrance to the waterfall 😕. All we could do was to see it from a distant view point. Just like other visitors, we went to the view point to engulf the beauty of that place.

Now, my mind was like what next ? We had lunch and started figuring out the plans for later half for the day. Although, we were in Kerala we managed to have some good north indian cuisine. The restaurant owner told us that there are two more waterfalls, Charpa and Vazhachal, at a distance of 5kms and I was like great, we got the plan!
Most of the tourists were going via taxi but we being fond of walking and exploring decided to go by foot. Athirapally and near by villages come under the reserved forest area and the complete way to these waterfalls was through the forest, that meant it was going to be exciting. A couple of people warned us of not going into the jungles but no one denied us of walking on the road.
With a full stomach and backpacks on our shoulders, we started moving towards our next stop. Walking through the forest, took me back to the college days when we used to go on evening strolls to nearby peaks. As we were moving along the way, a car with forest officials which was going in the same direction stopped and asked us to go back as it was not safe to go ahead. We tried to convince them but language issues came up again and we were not able to explain them. Dejected, both of us started moving back. We were just a few metres away from Charpa waterfall and didn’t want to miss those at any cost. So, we turned back and started moving towards the waterfall as soon as those guys left 😅. As we were walking, a taxi going in the same direction came and we boarded it in order to avoid any more forest officials.

And a few minutes later, we were standing in front of this. The waterfall was at full throttle and we could feel the water on our face while standing on the bridge. But looks like God didn’t want our happiness to last longer than a minute. A security guard who was standing at the other end of the bridge came towards us and started lashing out at us as if we had done a crime. Though we couldn’t understand much as he was speaking in Malayalam but the best I could understand was that he wasn’t happy with us standing near the waterfall and asked us to go back. Both of us started explaining him that we will go back as soon as we get a taxi back. The guy was quite adamant and didn’t allow to stand there for a minute and disappointed again we had to move back. On way back, we got a bus which was going to Chalakudy and thinking that there was nothing much left to do here, I took the tickets till there. But PG suggested getting down at Athirapally since it will be much better than the city at least and he was yet right again. Also, the point of a bus coming from the other side, rose his curiosity to what could be there at the other end of the forest.
We left the bus at Athirapally and decided to chill out there for some time there. It was around 4 in the evening and we had some snacks while looking at the beautiful Athirapally waterfalls. Post that we decided to take a taxi and try to get to Vazhachal waterfalls. But after continuous disappointments, we didn’t want to face another. To ensure that the waterfall wasn’t closed, we asked the taxi driver about the same but again language issues came in. My friend Nikhil came into rescue at that time. I called and explained to him the situation. As always, he was generous enough to talk with the guy in Malayalam. But not sure where the goof up happened again, the taxi driver took us to the waterfall and it was closed as well 😞. And yet again we were back to the same point. We came back and started looking for the accommodation for the night. Somehow all the hotels were booked that day as well. A group of 50+ doctors had come for some stuff and had occupied the nearby hotels. Roaming on the roads, we started looking out for all possibilities. Most of the hotels were booked and the one which had rooms were quite expensive.

Tired and lost, we went to riverside and sat there to enjoy the scenic beauty of that place. The sound of river and that view of the mountains took me back to the Himachal days. After chilling out for a while, out of the blue, PG said that let’s catch the bus to Malakkappara and I was like Malakka what 😳.
The restaurant where we had snacks earlier in the day, PG had got in touch with restaurant owner who had told him that there’s a bus at 6pm which goes to a village called Malakkappara and meanwhile I was chilling at riverside Professor Goblin was digging Google Maps and had found that there’s some route to Kodaikanal via Malakkappara.
And yet again, with a no plan a few minutes back, we knew our next destination for the day. We started moving back to the bus stop and on the way called Nikhil whose mother helped us in confirming the bus timings by reading the timetable which was written in Malayalam. We reached the bus stand around 5.45p.m and started waiting for the bus. The time passed and it was 6.30p.m and there were no signs of the bus. My mind was like “No God, please no, don’t tell me that the bus has got cancelled”. There were not many people waiting for that bus but the nearby shopkeeper said that don’t worry, the bus will come. And that very moment, I heard some sound of an engine and guess what bus was coming. We boarded the bus and took the tickets to Malakkappara. Though the shopkeeper had told us that we could find some homestays there but there was still a risk as it would be late in the night by the time we will reach there. The route to Malakkappara was via Chapra and Vazhachal, same on which we had been wandering during the day. Since it was a forest area, only KSRTC buses were allowed on that route and that too was less. The journey during the night wasn’t that thrilling what it had been during the day.
It was somewhere around 8.30p.m when I woke from a nap and the bus was almost empty. Other than bus driver and conductor, there were only 3 people in the bus. The conductor asked us where we wanted to get down as we had reached Malakkappara. We tried explaining him that drop us somewhere near a hotel or homestay or a place where we could stay for the night. But the language barrier made it difficult for him to understand. Thank god, the bus driver knew Hindi. He stopped his bus somewhere near some homes and pressed the horn. An old uncle came out from one of the houses and both of them talked for a minute and then the bus driver asked us to go with him. The old uncle ran a small shop and had a homestay. Thanks to those kind gentlemen, because of whom we had got a place to stay for the night. Although it was pretty late, the uncle’s wife was sweet enough and agreed to cook food for us. That was THE best food that we had in the day so far.
There were no street lights on the road and the sky was also full of clouds, so we didn’t have any idea how that village was. Not putting much effort, we decided to get back to the room and take some rest. It already had been a long day full of adventure and we were not sure what else was planned for us. All we knew was that we were somewhere in the mountains and our next destination might be Kodaikanal. Though we had no clue of how to reach there 😉!
You can read the next post in this series here.
Vivek Sharma writes on travel, life and a bit of product management. You can follow Vivek on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
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