Now-a-days, I rarely wake up early in the morning. So on a rare occassion when I did wake up - that too on a saturday morning!!! - it was time to do something. Question is what to do? there aren't many options. Shall I do couple of rounds of walking from one end to other end of Chamravattom bridge? Or go to Beeyam Lake? or to sea shore? Thinking consumed a lot of time and finally just left and hoped that something would come up along the way. Scooter cruised through Tirur - Camravattom highway. Darkenss of night slowly moved away. Paddy fields near IMCH hospital became clearly visible. After a while I reached Chamravattom bridge and slowed down to stop there. Since there was time, thought of going to Ponnani beach via Karma road.
I was waring an open-faced helment. Hence, cool breeze from Bharatapuzha started creeping in to eyes below visor. Karma road is one of the beautiful roads in Malappuram district. Heavy vehicles are prohibited in this road. What make the trip amazing is that one side of the road is bordered by Bharatapuzha, which is very close by and extends till Ponnani harbour junction. This road is mostly for tourism and most people stop somewhere to enjoy the scenery. I too did stop at couple of places to view the calm river. Many on the road looked like regular walkers and runners.
Finally, I, reached Ponnani beach. Left the scooter at entrance and walked towards the waves. There were a number of people catching fish there. Later I came to know that fish caught by guys using fishing hooks command a premium because they dont use ica and fish are very fresh. I walked up and down through the beach without wetting my legs. At one end stood Ponnani Lighthouse, whose building height is relatively small. Two guys were using bait and catching fish near the shore. Another old guy was sitting on a rock and looking at sea as if he had something to say to the ocean. There was nothing much toso I got back on my scooter. This time towards the estury.
As I stopped the scooter and started walking there were a number of plastic sacks filled with seashell. There weren't many people on this side; so I moved forward. After a while I could see the breakwaters (pulimutt) made using concrete tetrapods. Long ago when I came here, there only rocks. Now the breakwaters have been extended and strengthened. Tetrapods offer good defence against waves that continuously hit the breakwaters. These four legged structures, interlocked together, allow the water to pass through the gaps, while breaking up the force of incoming waves and restricting water movement. I climbed on top of them and jumped from one to another to reach the end of breakwater. At the end these tetrapods were covered with green alge, making them wet and sippery. I found a good spot on top of one of the legs, which was dry, and sat there. This place is also where legendary Bharatapuzhaa, whose waters are Key to Kerala's cultural wealth, finally reach nirvana.
Similar to Ponnani side, there is a breakwater on the other side - Padinjarekkara - as well. There one can easily walk all the way to the end. I sat on this side and watched small and big boats entering and leving the harbour. Numerous people go out to sea every day throught his channel to Arabian sea in search of fish. When they return, there is a huge market at the harbour waiting for the catch they bring in..
I sat there idly for a while, waves were continously hitting the tetrapods below me and clouds were making beautiful formations above me in the sky.
Bharatapuzha
I was always confused about where actually Bharatapuzha starts. On Google maps, Bharaptapuzha is displayed all the way up to Thirumorthy Dam in Tiruppur dstrict of Tamilnadu. However documents says, Thirumoorthi Dam is on Palar river. Well, I think we can confidently say that, headwaters of Bharatapuzha starts from eastern slopes of Anamalai Hills. Here we have Kadamparai River and there is a dam called Kadamparai Dam on it. However, we can't say that its the primary headwater. Primary headwaters might be Aliyar river, which starts from Anamalai hills. Aliyar river has two major dams - Upper Aliyar and Aliyar Dam. You can see Aliyar dam if you are travelling from Pollachi to Valparai.
These also include some of the most amazing hydraulic engineering systems in South India. Here, water taken from Parambikulam group of reservoirs (Sholayar, Tunacadavu, and Parambikulam) are routed via Contour Canal. There is also a secondary feeder system which feeds Aliyar river. This split happens at Sarkarpathy power station. These Contour canal system is very important in manipulating Bharatapuzha's head waters. Under natural conditions, rivers feeding the project, such as Sholayar and Parambikulam, flow westward draining in to Bharathapuzha and Chalakudy river systems and then flows onward to Arabian sea. However through Canals, Tamilnadu brings in massive water volumes to Sarkarpathy and route it towards eastern Thirumurthy basin.
If we leave aside all waters diverted through canals from Thrumurthy and Aliyar basins, we have waters from Palar and Aliyar, which meets at Ambarampalayam (near Pollachi). Uppar river also joins this river system. Now, the combined river flows westward and cross Kerala border. Here it is called Chitturpuzha. Further downstream, its called Kannadipuzha. At Parli, Kalpathipuzha joins Kannadipuzha and from here onwards, the river is called Bharatapuzha. Note that, Kalpathipuzha has tributaries like - Korayar, Varattar, Walayar and Maampuzha rivers. Later at Mayannur-Kuthampulli, Gayatripuzha joins Bharatapuzha. This river crosses Shornur, Pattambi areas and joins Thuthapuzha at Irimbiliyam-Kudallur. River continues to flow westward and drains into the Arabian sea at Ponnani.
Sajeev