Beauty on the Streets (A Portrait from Kerala)

What a beauty! If she had been born in a Rich Family she too might have been in Movies -- maybe...
India has lots of such beauties on the streets, losing their innocence, losing their childhood in their search for Hunger..

Selling India ?

Or India Sold them off- The Poor?

63 years after Indenpendence! And So much Money Floating Around...

India will never change till 5% people keep 95% wealth of India to Themselves.

Catch those who do not PAY taxes,

Catch those who stash away money in Swiss Banks,

Catch the Corrupt

NGOs and Individuals may be doing their bit to uplift the poor, but unless India as a Nation Changes its mindset and catches the Money in the Black Markets, nothing will change and by that time such Poor Girls will grow old and die of hunger.

Kochi or Cochin Part-2

Some more Photos of Ernakulam th city and the Marine Drive. Earlier Post is here

Cochin Kochi Ernakulam

As like in my earlier posts I would like to host some basic information in form of text and PDF files here in my downloads section, but I am not getting time. I will post them later when I get time to first locate my papers! These are from my pending collections that I had promised to upload long ago after my travels.

Kerala is a fascinating place and I have been to that place quite a few times during my stay in South and have lots of memories associated with each place I have visited... ....

For details about Kochi or Cochin which is also sometimes confused with Ernakulam pls see this link below.. it seems to be a good one. Ernakulam is the Station Name and the District name. Aiport is named Kochi. The main area is called Ernakulam and the old city or the area after you cross the sea is Kochi. For the photos of Fort Kochi which the particular spot that is famous for  pls visit here.


http://www.cochin.org/

A Weekly market on the Hills near silent Valley, Kerala

Silent Valley- Kerala

Sairandhri Vanam, meaning the forest in the valley, as referred to in the Mahabharatha and the River Kunthi give a mythological dimension to the National Park. The Silent Valley is seldom silent but it has an inexplicably unique character about it, what with the dense forest, the music of the birds and its quitet majesty.With an area of close to 90 sq.kms, the park is situated in the north-eastern corner of the Palakkad district. It rises abruptly to the Nilgiri plateau in the north ......

It is a rain forest of wordly fame. You can read more of this on the links given below separately or as hyperlinks to the words/ sentences.

How to reach Silent Valley?
You can reach from Coimbatore or Palakkad District in Kerala of Kochi in Kerala by road.

Where to Stay at Silent Valley?
There are not many good places to stay here. I did not notice any except the Forest Deptt rest houses - two numbers only near the park. There may be a few resorts hidden away in the hills.  But after lots of research I found the one I stayed at Malleeshwaram lodge. It is in the Attapadi hills before Silent Valley.  This is the best if you want a taste of nature. Read about it here. Just be prepared to stay in huts with no electricity. You will constantly hear the singing and chirping of birds and may be lucky enough to see hornbills. I was not!!!! I missed!! Does not matter if Silent Valley is actually 45 mts away because there is no place to stay near Silent Valley exactly except for the rest houses of Forest Deptt.

The Govt Site is here

The Wildlife Warden, Silent Valley National Park, Mannarghat. P.O. Palakkad – 678 058
Phone: 04924 222056/ 04924 253225 / Email: mail@SilentValleyNationalPark.com

Here are some pictures of the Valley. For pictures of the Lodge where I stayed please wait for next post here.

Slideshow

View Larger Map

Foods of India- Kerala

This one is Puttoo- a coconut grated and rice powder mixture steamed into a compressed form. Very tasty!! Eaten with Banana and honey or like this with Gram Curry.

This one is Rice Flakes and Coconut Grated eaten with banana. This is Indian Reply to Cornflakes!!

Silent Valley's Frog

The frog thought it was camouflaged!! It sat still like that!! Of course I was disturbing its habitat. poor guy!!

Yes this is a picture from the Great Silent Valley of Kerala, Palakkad District. Unfortunately I did not see any Lion Tail Macaque or Nilgiri Tahr or King Cobra or anything else! But what do you expect when a bunch of cackling women are around you or you are in a group of men who are only interested in talking!! Yes. Unfortunate but true. Indians rarely know how to behave in a forest. They will make all sort of noises instead of finding pleasure in the noises of the Jungle. So if you have to go to a jungle, always book your own jeep and trip in advance with the Forest Deptt. And talking of forest deptt if you really want to see something you need to go into places where they normally do not allow, Hence you must know someone in the Forest Service. Then you have made it! You can live with the tigers and all.

Silent Valley is called silent valley because of the absence of the Cicada the most common insect of the jungles and hence absence of their sound.

Silent Valley, Kerala

For official information go here

How to reach?

To Reach Silent Valley, Kerala, drive down from Coimbatore via RS Junction inside Coimbatore towards Anakatti and then Goolikadavu and then Mukkali and finally Silent Valley. Mukkali is where the Forest Office is.

Distances:

Chennai -Salem= 350 kms (4 hrs to 7 hrs depending on max and min speed possible)

Salem-Coimbatore= 150 kms (3 hrs since the last 60 kms is a single road and so your speeds becomes slow on this stretch.)

Coimbatore- Goolikadavu= Takes 2 hrs. i.e. 60 kms.

Fort Kochi (Cochin) and Chinese Nets

And here is a flash slide show of different photos of this place.

And here are my photos of the setting sun at this place

Sunset at Fort Kochi, Kerala

Fort Kochi (Cochin) Sunset.

I have a backlog of photos to be posted here! Simply not getting time. But in a way it is good because I am travelling and more I travel more photos I get. So all my promises of photos made earlier are all pending while next I go to Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam and Araku Valley. After that I will post the photos!! I am now tired of travelling!! Ha!

Here are my photos of the Chinese Nets at this place.