Gavi - Mangaladevi
2-4 May 2015
I was planning for a Mangaladevi temple its open only on
Chitra Pournami day which falls in April - May
In fb saw a post " Gavi 2 days trekking, Mangaladevi,
so called up the organiser Tree Club and enquired about the trip and infomed
that we have reach Pathanamthitta, and join them for the trip, they also
informed that Shaju Chetan is also coming from Ernakulam for this trip.
So packed up necessary items for the trip and catched the
11.40 pm train the Thiruvalla, reached at 1.45 am at that time no bus to
Pathanamthitta, got a a container lorry 12*8
it was about 25 kms fromThirvalla to Pathanamthitta, but due to the
heavy load
it took about 1.30 hrs to reach Pathanamthitta, Tree Club
came by 4.30 and we had small nap in
KSRTC bus stand, by 5 am
I called up Shaju Chetan who has neary in a hotel, went there and had
our morning rituals and moved to KSRTC for the bus to Gavi
Day 1
bus timings from Pathanamthitta to Gavi 6.30 AM 12.30 pm
by 6.15 a KSRTC ordinary bus came to the stand all rushed in
to have their prized seat, and we also got our side seats and at 6.30 am bus started our journey to Gavi, by about 7 am
bus halted for breakfast, conductor informed you have 15minutes and for
people who are gettingat Gavi should buy food, because there is no shops at Gavi.
The bus moved Chittar, Seethathodu, Angamuzhi, Kakkad Hydo
Electric Project Area, Kakki Dam, Anathodu Dam, Pamba Dam, Gavi
The 1st half of the journey was very nice good tarred roads,
and most of the places we can see elephant dung, and after that it was as ride
of a life time, because virtually there is not roadonly stones and bus was always moving at about 40-50 the
people on either side have the taste of branches and we can hear the rattling noise caused by the branches brushing the bus, even the
footboard was touching the ground at some places, the bus halted for a brief
stop for relaxingafter moving thru 3-4 Dams and dense forests, cardamom
plantantions, KFDC workers colony was near the road the bus driver halt for a
few seconds and honk
is horn because this bus is the life line of this workers
because there is no public transport other than this by 11 we reached Gavi.
At Gavi the travellers coming thru the bus are not allowed
to roam around or go even for the boating, its only for people coming thru
package,there is a view point, Sabarimala temple and nothing else
Tree Club guy informed me that he could not contact the
local person who has assured the stay at Gavi and trek, he tried again from Gavi,
but no chance so plan B option is go to Kumily, Thekkady, but we are not
interested in this we have come for Gavi
- Mangaladevi, with the help of Shaju Chetan we got our rooms KSEB inspection bungalow near Kochu Pamba, jeep
ride to IB and lunch with Chappathi
& fish curry as we haven't slept the whole day, we had a
nap. Tree Club informed that we will be going for a trek,
but it was raining when we were ready for the trek, so a name sake trek to hill
behind the IB,it was very misty and we could spot a group of Sambar deer (
malav ) spend some time there and moved back to IB.
Small feed back session and next days programm, the local
contact also came, he appologized, and informed that lack of phone connectivity only BSNL have range there and in some areas only, came to
know that their temple festival is also falling on the dates we arrived, so he
was busy with friends / family , he announced that tomorrow a jeep will come and
pickup us for the trek at 8 am ,
rice & sambar for dinner end of the day
Day 2
All was ready break fast with chappathi & egg curry and
waited for the jeep, but till 10 am
nothing happened and the local contact came and informed that jeep was not available due to temple festival, so again
plan B, we will walk 10 kms, it was not a trek but on the road waived the
morning bus from
Pathanamthitta on the way but the driver didn't budge and we
have to walk all the way to Meenar KFDC colony in the pretext of seeing Meenar
dam,on the way the local contact said we will not reach the bus
stop we go to the dam, so we had our lunch, Chapathi & egg burjee.
So we have to walk back to the bus stop, suddenly it was
about to rain, informed the Tree Club that it would risk to walk back because
on the way nothing was there only trees, so informed that local contact
to arrange an auto so we can reach the bus stop, the rain started and we
boarded the auto and he drop down at Gavi, and waited for the Pathanamthitta
- Kumily bus reaching here at about 4.45-5.10 , bus reached at 5 and moved to
Kumily reached there at 6.30 - 7 .
Our room was booked at hotel Taj just opposite to the Kumily bus stand
had a shower and took dinner, masala
dosa
near our hotel.
So many jeeps for Mangaladevi with jeep pass parked on the
bus stand, local enquiry revealed that queue started from 4 am barricades and lot of police were present for tomorrows preparations and
that night also heavy rains. We planned
to get up at 3.30 and get ready for the queue to catch the jeep to Mangaladevi, people told that only thru
jeep we can got to the temple.
Woke up at 3.30 and had a shower and waited for everyone to
turnup and few of them from our group already was in the queue and we went to
queue at about 5-5.30 and waited for a long time and meanwhile the
police announced and due to rains in the mountain jeep was struggling to go up,
so
people can go by walk its about 10 km to the temple, so I
was not willing so waited for the jeep and after a long wait 5-6 jeeps came and
got our jeep to the temple, police will fill the jeep with 10 people
the driver will move the jeep away from them and let some more people in our
jeep 3 were again filled, ie 14 people
The jeep moved from Kumily bus stand and after 10 minutes it
stopped and 1st check point, frisking of
plastics bottles, at the next point we have to get down the jeep and show our bags not plastic bottles, and anything in
plastic packs will be opened and given back to us in paper packing, next we
have to go thru the metal detector there also thorough search of bags, jeep
will come near this point and we have to board the jeep
As it had rained evening and night the road was very slushy
and the commander jeeps had a tough time moving the steep climbs at one place
there was a traffic jam for about 30-45 minutes only vehicles was
coming down from the hill and all were frustrated in the jeep, meanwhile people
are waling thru
on both sides of the
name sake road, with leech attack.
Finall we reached the temple top its about 1 hr jeep ride
and the next queue for the temple
darshan Kerala Forest Tamilanadu Forest
After the darshan we moved to have the prasad it was pongal
rice, this was hauled here in by tractors and most of the food was wasted and
outside temple it was all paper plates and foods just thrown around, waste
bins are provided but no one cares to put in that. After having the pongal rice we moved to
catch the jeep to go down, again a long queue for this, we waited
for about 1 hour, but could not get any jeep because most of the jeeps coming
from Kumily will load on the way so no one can get in from top, so the last
resort was the hang on the backside of the jeep for 1 hour, no way I came down,
and the jeep stopped, far from the entry point to the forest, and there
was a short cut to reach the Kumily bus stand
back home by bus Kumily – Kottayam train - Ernakulam
