Since there were quite a few in the line I'd got up by a quarter to 5 for the morning chores. Maman had come in from Thiruvananthapuram by the morning train and I was only too happy to hand over the mantle of the yatra's leadership back to him. Since the rest house did not cater for food, we'd breakfast on our way to the venue of our meeting.
It was a disappointing day for us since the participation was poor. Of the seven chosen panchayats only the representatives of three panchayats, alongwith their presidents, had fetched up. The absentees did cite their busy schedule owing to the end of the financial year, over the phone, of course. Consequently, the audience amounted to a paltry 35! Obviously, the programme needs to be more robust and as a first step towards that the panchayats need to get the 'tablet PCs' at the earliest and we've assured them of expediting the process should they stumble upon bottlenecks, if any.
After a quick lunch, we'd set off for Wyanad via Malu-Rajeesh's house to look up the latter's dad who was convalescing from a recently done angioplasty, wherein two stents have been embedded into his system. Wasn't Malu's dad, my younger uncle who's currently with us, thrilled about it like a little kid?
Soon after, we're off for Wyanad. It takes nine hairpin bends from the base hamlet of Adimali, stretched over a distance of about 30 km, that have to be traversed to reach this hilly district, nestling in the Western ghats. Muthachan's follower, Gopalakrishna Pillai sir took pains to show me the first eight hairpins entwining one hill while the ninth straddled the second adjacent hill on which the first hamlet, Vythiri, came into view.
He also narrated the story of the tribal headsman, Kandannamooppar, who'd told the British engineers as to how the highway should be aligned and after getting all the necessary information, the poor man was killed by the Britisher so that the information was not passed on for posterity! His final resting place as well as the tree on which his troubled spirit has been 'rested' have become popular shrines, today!
The rest house at Vythiri got to be the place for our night halt.
Tailpiece.
(a) Natural beauty in abundance.
(b) The absence of a smart co-ordinator is evident.
It was a disappointing day for us since the participation was poor. Of the seven chosen panchayats only the representatives of three panchayats, alongwith their presidents, had fetched up. The absentees did cite their busy schedule owing to the end of the financial year, over the phone, of course. Consequently, the audience amounted to a paltry 35! Obviously, the programme needs to be more robust and as a first step towards that the panchayats need to get the 'tablet PCs' at the earliest and we've assured them of expediting the process should they stumble upon bottlenecks, if any.
After a quick lunch, we'd set off for Wyanad via Malu-Rajeesh's house to look up the latter's dad who was convalescing from a recently done angioplasty, wherein two stents have been embedded into his system. Wasn't Malu's dad, my younger uncle who's currently with us, thrilled about it like a little kid?
Soon after, we're off for Wyanad. It takes nine hairpin bends from the base hamlet of Adimali, stretched over a distance of about 30 km, that have to be traversed to reach this hilly district, nestling in the Western ghats. Muthachan's follower, Gopalakrishna Pillai sir took pains to show me the first eight hairpins entwining one hill while the ninth straddled the second adjacent hill on which the first hamlet, Vythiri, came into view.
He also narrated the story of the tribal headsman, Kandannamooppar, who'd told the British engineers as to how the highway should be aligned and after getting all the necessary information, the poor man was killed by the Britisher so that the information was not passed on for posterity! His final resting place as well as the tree on which his troubled spirit has been 'rested' have become popular shrines, today!
The rest house at Vythiri got to be the place for our night halt.
Tailpiece.
(a) Natural beauty in abundance.
(b) The absence of a smart co-ordinator is evident.
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