SILENT VALLEY

Silent Valley is no longer silent now, Sorry to disappoint you, there's a 
distant traffic noise and some thoughtless drivers blow their horns like maniacs.



Went there 25 years ago and believe me I could hear my own heartbeats. It is still very silent there, your footsteps are so loud, you feel that suddenly your ears have cleared up and become very sharp and you can hear the tiniest noise. But there's great deal of disturbance now.



It is called silent valley because it IS a silent valley. For some strange reason crickets the most noise making insects are completely absent there. Normally they make one big racket in any forest.



I was sitting with the forest officer this time, I nearly had a heart attack when his mobile suddenly went off with a ghastly Malayalam film song. It was so loud that a person 30 feet away could hear the voice coming from the mobile.




This is a 50 million years old tropical rain forest. Been there long before the humans came. the local Government has no respect for its age, as it made an attempt to destroy it 25 years ago.
Shocking ?



All the pictures are taken in and around the silent valley, couldn't post them all. Long story how i reached there 25 years ago, there was no bus service except for a jeep or two there was absolutely no traffic on the road.



These clowns wanted to construct a dam on river Bhavani, as a result the entire 50 million year old tropical rain forest would have come under water completely destroying rich plant insect and animal life.



there was a loud protest from the environmentalists.
During that controversial period, I like a damn fool walked in with my back pack. I had to cross two check posts, deparment of forest, who let me in and the second check post of Electricity department clowns who wanted to build the dam, they wouldn't let me in. they thought I was a journalist.



I am not a journalist, I said
you have a beard
you what ? who says only journalists have beards ? I have a right to grow a beard and shave it off when ever I want and be a musician.
Your beard is wild, growing in all directions, you have not combed your hair in years, you ARE a journalist, I can smell a journalist from miles away. he said.
no fighting, I decided to beg and plead



No reporters, He kept repeating.
I am a school teacher I lied
still worse, no school teachers no journalists, he was adamant
and we have orders, no bearded guys, bearded guys like you are big trouble, they are trying to stop our project. You look like big trouble to us, its written on your face.
Aiyoo !


This is Sherji my friend who took me there this time.

so i went back to the forest check post and pleaded again. they had no problems with me. Those chaps were very nice, one of them said I'll take you inside through the bushes to the forest rest house at your own risk as the area is infested with deadly poisonous snakes. I said fine.
I did not see any snakes.



Finally the environmentalists won the case, the silent valley dam project was shelved after a couple of years of making some big noise. that was a relief.



Stayed at the forest rest house for 2 days, took long treks had good vegetarian food cooked by Velayuthan, sweet chap, still remember his name.



Took me 25 years to go there again. The entire forest was covered in mist, it was like a white semi transparent veil had descended on the valley. Visibility was very poor, couldn't take pictures.



Now there is no problem staying there, the forest is untouched, but the traffic has increased.
room is 300 rupees per head and the dormitory is 80 rupees per head, pretty reasonable I think



Please check Blunt knife for more pictures. I have posted the road to Silent valley there. please click on the pictures for full screen view. You don't see much in these smaller pictures.


Blunt Knife
Travel and Photography Blog

LONER

Come back here
why ?
Be with us
I am with you
Come stand with all of us
why ?
What are you doing there ?
I am counting the trains passing by
We'll count the trains for you, stay with us
I am staying with you my roots are with you, I just want to have a better view of the bridge and the passing trains.
You can have a good view from here too
No its not the same. I get good sunshine and good breeze here.
You'll get knocked off by a strong wind
I'll die, no problem.

Thats my life. Some criticise, some are envious and many are kind to me and want me to enjoy my life. I am grateful to my family and friends for their love and support. I love them too.

Shot the picture from a train, don't remember where I was going.
Going away again to silent valley, leaving in a couple of hours, taking an early morning train.
I'll be back on 29th and reply to all your mail and comments
Love you all.
Owee, Have to pack, traveling light.
Blunt knife

MY MESSAGE OF PEACE TO MANKIND AND OTHER KIND

We have problems here, This is cattle egret in normal peaceful state, I have posted their pictures of the amazing colours of their beak, starts with purple around the eye, turns to orange and then to yellow at the tip.
Please notice the feathers, all at rest. No problems here.
Please click on the pictures for full screen view,
you'll understand the story better.



Ah! tension mounting, Grrrrrr.... don't know what is the dispute, perhaps the other chap has hacked into his account cracked his password and reading his mail ? They both are angry, feathers are up, stiff. Signs of problems coming. Expression not too happy.



Hey Hey Calm down ! Back off man back off ! I said back off !!Whats your problem ?



Hey this is not good, you are raising your claw to attack him.
Now the feathers are outstretched stiff. you can see the anger in both of them. you can see the violence



hey Hey back off ! You raise your claw you are dead, be careful be careful I said.

I am in a boat right under them, this is happening on a twig joining two brances.

How dare you read my mail ?

Mail ? What mail ? who is interested in your trash ?

see see ?? unless you've read how do you know its trash ?? back off ! I said back off !!



You are coming too close, I am warning you I am warning you, stay away man



Look at the feathers on their heads, all up and stiff.
this is when I stood up in my boat to deliver my message of peace

Shanti Shanti my cheeeldren ! Pleeese be peeeecefool, I raised both my hands like a Guru or a Swamiji
'May all beings be happeeee, may all beings be peeeecefool'fighteeeng is not gooood my cheeeldren, calm down be peeeeceful

who is this clown with a camera ? Abey hoye ! Chal phut, get lost
Look who's talking ??, you people are killing each other and you are telling us to be peaceful ?



No no no my cheeeeldren This is not gooood, every body has problames, pleeeese calm down, don't be angreeeee, theeeese problames can be peeecefully settalled. pleeeese give up violaaance.

Ha ! give up violence ? what are you talking about ? Go tell l that to the eagle. go drown yourself with your camera, be useful to the crocodiles, why don't you be their breakfast ? Get lost.

Forgot to post crocodile pictures I'll post them in Blunt knife soon.



One is still sulking, the other is still talking, tell me who is male and who is female ?
I don't know, they both could be males or females. but their feathers are still up they both are still very angry.

Well ! my message of peace backfired, it did not work,
with all the messages of peace we have at hand, things are not looking too good. I have not heard of any swamiji or guruji going to Daffur, somalia Ruwanda Iraq or Afghanistan, they go only to western europe or the US where there are Dollars and Euros.



This is how my message of peace ended. not a picture of harmony. they are looking away, no chance of a meaningful dialogue, you can't bring them to sign any agreement any treaty.

MY LOVE AND BEST WISHES

The waiting is over the day arrives, 28th of May, Guruvayur temple in Kerala. We are all there to be with Nirmal and Sindu, to share their joy, and to bless the couple.

This is a crowd of devotees who come to the temple from far and wide, Guruvayur is one of the most popular temple destinations of India. There are some rules to be followed like removing the shirt before entering the temple.

You can see some people have already removed their shirts, thankfully only men have to do it, ladies can walk in with casuals or designer clothes, no problems there.

It has been a tradition to conduct weddings in the temple for the well being, health and prosperity of the couple. Now most weddings are conducted in wedding halls for the sake of convenience.

Over 300 weddings are performed per day and they have to be performed within one hour of the auspecious time. There is crowd there is chaos, there is confusion, its all a part of the wedding fun. No chaos confusion there is no wedding fun.
One thing great about temple weddings is that there is no difference between rich and the poor, all are treated alike.

Now it is difficult to locate your own people, but all are assembled there, The bride Sindu's brother Ranjith and cousin Unni in the foreground in the picture below.


No hurry, you have to wait, first come first serve. No preferences or recommendations, the bride and the groom's name would be called, it has already been registered, tokes are issued, Our couple is third in the waiting line.

The bride arrives, escorted by Seema, and Mahua. gorgeous she looks.
No make up, simple silk sari, very little jewelry. gorgeous she looks.

Ah! lovely Sindu giving me a smile,
I am here I am here don't worry Sindu.
Believe me I was worried how to reach the wedding Mandap. I am not strong and well built. Here she is escorted by elders to reach the mandap, No worries about the groom, he needs no escort, after all he has been waiting for so long to find a right girl and God is rewarding him with a beautiful lovely caring loving wife, he will wade his way through the crowd no problems.
the ceremony. involves simple wedding rituals, tying of knot, sometimes exchange of rings. the bride and the groom garland each other and go around the deepam 3 times.

Please don't ask me how I reached and where i am standing, perhaps my foot was on some poor guy's shoulder, no one protests, they all know the problems, Some one from behind was supporting me. I couldn't even turn to thank him.

The ceremony is very short , receiving blessings from the priests. All done very fast as more than 200 couples to come. the ceremony is over. Sindu and Nirmal are husband and wife now.
EEEEEEEEEEYAAAAAA !!

I got my girl, I got my girl, his heart is jumping, Nirmal holding Sindu's hands escorting her, now it is his responsibility. Ah! happy couple smiling for me. Now all the relatives will come to congradulate the happy couple.

Groom holding an umbrella, It is his responsibility to protect his wife, here from the rain, luckily it stopped raining for some time.

Members of the family congradulating the couple.

Seema, Mahua, Priya, Chikkoo, The happy couple, Vijay, Ravi. Rest of them are somewhere in the crowd. they all will assemble in the wedding hall close by.
In the wedding hall, the ritual is repeated, for the relatives. After this they all come and bless the couple. no priests, elders perform the ceremony.

Here the Bride's mother is blessing the couple. Lot of people, they all came and individually blessed the couple, only the elders, me too went up to bless them.

the family group picture.

now the most important, there was a long wait and I was hungry, i sat down with my friends Shankar and Asokan.

Rice Sambaar, three kinds of side dishes and two payasams (sweet) I had a second helping of the payasams both were terrific. I had a full tumber of rasam, drank it, don't like eating with rice. I love rasam. After this I went to the hotel room and slept well.

Took some pictures of other brides who got married that day. this is little out of ordinary, she is a walking fort knox. the brides usually hate wearing so much of gold causing discomfort. it is the parents and relatives who insist on the bride wearing this much of gold. Not very safe. She wouldn't know if one piece of jewelry snaps and falls.

Blunt Knife
Travel and photography blog