Expedition NW3 2014 - Day 6 & 7

Sunrise in Vembanad lake.

Day 6 - We left for Thaneermukkom bund the next day at 5AM and the sun had risen by the time we crossed Pathiramanal (a thoruth in the Vembanadu Lake) and arrived at the locks on the west side of the bund. The previous night had seen heated debate about the bund and the environmental/health risks it created.

The hayacinth filled locks at Thaneermukkom.

The lock area was filled with water hyacinth and poorly maintained. The lock doors looked old and rusty, an eerie feeling crept in as we got into the south opening, as it was closed behind us. The north opening had to be opened for our release from manmade fresh water to saline, on the other side. We were feeling really hungry and asked for the local Kappikada on the other side of the bund. The breakfast was great with Dosha, Puttua, Kadalakari and boiled eggs, to be sent down with some amazing Kerala tea.

Posing with Souvenir - local palm paddles.

A local shared the availability of palm paddles. We were looking out for these paddles as souvenirs. After buying the same, we headed off to Thavanakadavu. The sun was really hot and as the locals say, in saline water has an even harsher effect. We paddled on and in the distance could hear the hummm of a vessel transporting mined limestone from the backwaters.

The backwaters or Kayal, enroute to Ernakulam.

A thoruth, north of Thaneermukkom bund.

 We reached Thavanakadavu at around 1030AM. On the course of our journey, the land team had collected water samples that people drink for testing at a local laboratory located in Thavanakadavu. The same was handed over to the team with a small session for the locals at the boat jetty about heavy metal contamination. After parking the kayaks at the local 'Pay and Park" we headed to Chertala to rest at a friend’s home. It was 2:30PM when we reached Thavanakadavu and headed off to Ernakulam.

Mattel Shrine.

As we headed north from Thavanakadavu, we hit a small thoruth that had a Chapel -  St. Thomas Shrine, Mattel. The commemorative stone reads : "This Church is sitting on the spot where the Miraculous Cross made be St. Thomas the Apostle of Jesus Christ at Kokkamangalam in 56AD and which was thrown away in Vembanadu lake was found"

The trip to Ernakulam was looking really tough and tiring, for the Kayal would never end. It was 4:30PM when local fishermen gave us the direction to a tea shop located in a thoruth. A thoruth is a true “water world”, where water takes over during high tide, mangroves are the prominent vegetation,  with very less land available for settlement.

Aneese, paddling in to reach the local tea shop.

We reached the Kappikada by the kayak at Mailanthoruth, literally parking it in a small tidal canal, few meters from the shop. After the Chaya (tea) and snacks, we headed north. The huge resort build by Muthoot group in violation of the CRZ(Costal Regulatory Zone) loomed on Kaithapuzha Lake and we felt great that the Supreme court of India had ordered demolition.

We paddled on as it got darker to reach the eastern side of the Kayal opposite to Vaduthala that connects to Chatamma, our destination for the night. It was pitch dark, except for out headlights. There was not a soul for help and we grew concerned on what direction we would take to reach the Ernakulam Sailing Club. Finally, we decided to call Rajesh, the sailing instructor at ESC, and asked him to flash a torchlight, if he can see 3 blinkers to his southwest! It worked and we got our bearing to reach around 8, tired after close to 10 hours of paddling.

Tough day, happy to reach the Ernakulam Sailing Club, Chattamma, Cochin.

The SEED team of Shambu and Vinod, the head of Mathrubhumi, Kochi, Mr. Gopakumar were there along with office bearers of Ernakulam Sailing Club. That night was the best, for the Air-conditioned room we got! There was chivalry in the air, as we pondered, who would like to sleep on the floor :-), something we got used over the past 5 days. Tthanks to Jeyash, we were resting on soft bed with an AC to chill the room. 

Dawn, the lights you see in background are Chinese nets with lamps, that attract shrimp.

Day 7 - We set of early morning towards our next destination, near Bolghaty palace. The tide was supportive as we paddled past the fishing nets and Aroor Bridge. We visited the sailing club near Thevara College.

Apartments in Thevera, Cochin.

 
The water around Thevear college reminded us about Kollam, where human faeces in water was the biggest pollutant. The tall buildings along the waterways looked so good from a distance, but, they were surrounded by foul water. We saw navy patrol on the channel that connected us to Bolghaty.  This channel ran next to the Navy docks and were out of bound. We struggled to head back to our planned route from Thevara College.

Thoppumpady bridge, with its cantiliver opening towers.

We had to go via the longer rote that had fort Kochi on one side and the harbour on the other. As we crossed the iron bridge at Thoppumpady, news arrived about the route being unsafe near Fort Kochi and permissions we did not have from port authorites. We called on the CISF checkpoint near the Port entrance and asked for help. We were advised to avoid the shipping channels and take the western route, sliding along Fort Kochi crossing over to Vallarpadam. We paddled on as a large ship took 180 degree turn in the harbour and prayers on our mind. By the time we reached Fort Kochi ferry point a large Navy Frigate entered the harbour, majestically.

We pulled as far as we could to avoid any attention and held our position for the frigate to pass. After the frigate passed in front of us, we made a dash to cross the shipping channel to the far right of Vallarpadam container terminal. As we passed midway, we could hear whistles and a boat pulled up with CISF officers wanting to know our nationality, purpose of our hanging around the harbour and ID cards. After they were satisfied they let us off and we reached Goshree Bridge on the northern side of Bolghaty.

Goshree bridge, connecting the Vallarpadam Container Sea Port.

We could see the Lulu convention centre construction happening on Bolghaty. There was no place to land and it was 1030 by the time we decided to go near the Railway Container Bridge that linked Vallarpadam. There we found a patch of green, under a bridge tower foundation. We had our breakfast and felt a sense of gratitude to the Ernakulam Sailing Club, who packed breakfast against our wish. There were no Kappikada here to serve us anything, water was running low and so were our drive. This is when Mr Vinod from Mathrubhumi SEED team arrived with 3 bottles of water. A true nature lover and adventure seeker, Vinod knew the mangrove forests of north Kochi well.

Resting from the hot sun, by the embankment.

After having lunch and resting for few hours we left for Edavanakad, around 2PM. The sun was harsh and 2 bottles of water were gone. We paddled on from one thoruth to another and for the first time saw places in Kerala, without a soul to call on. On the way, the single bottle of water was down to drops, the afternoon heat was taking its toll and Edavanakad looked like a place in eternity. The place had no trees and we took refuge by the embankment.

There goes the last drop!

We went on and were fortunate to see a small puppy in front of a thatch, we called for help and our saviour arrived with an offer to fill our bottles. We were so relived; a few hours back, we finished two bottles of water, washing and drinking! Water is a precious resource, use it wisely; was the lesson of the day. This stretch of the back waters has what is called locally as "Chameen Kettu" where prawn is cultivated and attended to at dawn and dusk. With very few trees these thoruths for all other reasons are devoid of human habitation. People tend to them in the early morning, go home and then return at dusk.

Sunset at Edavanakadu, Ernakulam, Kerala.

We were glad to reach Edavanakad at around 630PM, the landscape is beautiful with very less garbage and clean waterways. The "Chameen Kettu" are a wonder by itself. At night, during low tide, the locals switch on bright lights on the banks attracting prawn nymph, they then open the gates to these huge mud tanks sucking the nymph that grow there for the next few months. On certain days the locals call "Thakkam" the grown up prawns make their way out of these fields and are trapped in nets. We were thrilled to see how the locals were harnessing nature in a sustainable way. After the evening session with neighbourhood group and the dinner, we went to sleep in a unoccupied house that had a ceiling fan.  The next day morning was our eight day, the last one that will take us to the finishing point at Kottapuram.

Expedition NW3 2014 - Day 4 & 5

NTPC Kayakulam, at sunrise.

Day 4 - The trip close to NTPC Kayankulam was a challenge for none of the buoys on the waterways would work. We finally got a fisherman who told us the route north and he requested we tell NWAI to fix the buoys. 

The locks at Thrikannapuzha

It was around 7AM, when we crossed the lock at Thrikannapuzha. These locks prevent salt water from mixing with the fresh water that was artificially created, stretching from Thrikannapuzha to Thaneemukkam in the north. These manmade structures are a matter of big debates on the toll they have on nature and the livelihood of people staying along these waterways. One observation we had was that; salt water back waters were more clean and lively - plenty of birds, fish and other organisms. We pulled into KV Jetty, and were disappointed to learn that the local Kappikada would serve breakfast only by 9AM. This is the same Jetty where the seed for this trip was planted some 5 years back, when one of us met Arjun & Kasim, two rice boatmen of four decades working together and the stories they shared.  We decided to paddle further north after a quick tea to reach another Kappikada, close to Thottapally, old canal gate. 

The shores of Thottapally is one of the few places were the majestic green turtles come to nest and deliver an illegal feast to the locals who look forward to the nesting season. After the lunch at the local Ayyapas hotel, near the north side of the spillway bridge, we joined Mr. Saji Chitralayam, who is fighting a lone battle to save these turtles. He accompanied us at the local school as we build awareness and support from kids to save the turtles of Thottapally. 

We said good bye to Thottapally and headed to our next destination Karumadi, were we had a meeting with neighbourhood groups. "Karumadi Kuttan"; as Lord Gautama Buddha is called is a black monolith statue with its left side missing. After the meeting we headed for the local Kappikada - the best part of the trip was the local food.  The food at the local Kappikada, was plain omelette with piping Dosha in Kerala style. When we returned the crowd had left except for a man and his dog. He came in to narrate the story of the "Walking stone lamp" that got me scared. I wanted to leave Karumadi at the earliest and recalled the scary waterways story his grandfather had narrated as a child. We left Karumadi for Alapuzha at 11PM, wanting to paddle through the night. We were all tired and sleep was catching up fast...

Buddha at Karumadi - Karumadi Kuttan

Day 5 - Around 12, sleep caught up as we pulled into a SNDP Karayogam office at Ambalapuza for a 2 hour nap. We started again at 02:00AM and headed north for Alapuzha when, a fisherman shared about a Kappikada near Pallathuruthy. The news came as a blessing as some of us were "sleep kayaking". Pallathuruthy was disappointing, for no tea stall was open and sleep kayaking was becoming a big issue. Our attentions were pulled towards an old frail lady, who woke up at 430AM by our commotion. She asked what we were looking for and shared that no tea shop is open at this time. Nevertheless she asked us to come and sleep in her little half done Veranda and disappeared to come back with 3 glasses of black tea. What could one say at this gesture? We asked each other, how much would we pay for a glass of tea, that we felt was desperately needed...the answer was 500Rs....we told her about our journey and how we wanted to leave for Alapuzha at 6AM. We went to sleep and at 6, she woke us up with another serving of tea. With great reluctance she accepted the 500Rs. we gave her, took a snap with her and left feeling nice that there are poor people with big heart! 

 

We reached Alapuzha at 7:30AM, but were forced to take the longer route as water hyacinth had taken over the small canal from Pallathuruthy. Thanks to the thousands of house boats, the place is polluted. We pulled up at the local library after taking permission from the local union leader, who sounded suspicious about our promise to leave that evening. After the school session we were joined by Mathrubhumi Yathra photo journalist Mr Murali, who wanted us to pose for some pictures in the canal that had boats of all kinds running all over. 

The Sports Authority of India  - Water Sports centre at Alapuzha

We reached Punnmada Kayal (backwaters) to be accompanied by SAI (Sports Authority of India) students in Canoes and Kayaks of all kind. It was just exhilarating to see the effort put in by SAI and Mathrubhumi for this part of our journey. After accompanying us for a kilometre, we were of our own for the next leg to Muhamma. At Punnamada, we entered the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, Vembanadu Lake. This lake is manmade and hence fresh! The water is really bad for the thousands of house boats that ply the lake and discharging waste. The issue was compounded by industrial scale mussels mining for the Travancore Cement factory near Kottayam.  The mussels are filter feeders who can purify this water. The lack of saline water and industrial scale harvest has left them in a bad state; contributing to the poor quality of water in Vembanadu lake. Thanks to protest by the locals, the dredging for these limestone resources happens north of the Thaneermukkom bund. The Taneermukkom bund at the far north, Thottapally spillway on the west side and the Thrikannapuzha locks, make it fresh! Otherwise, the daily tidal motion should have left it saline except for the monsoon, when the flow rivals the tide.

The Vembanad Lake.

 The sea breeze died down and the horizon touched the lake into one endless canvas as the light got poor. A big cloud started forming above us and we were scared for lightning and thunder. We reminded each other to put our hands on the head, in case lighting strikes. 

Calm waters of the Vemband Lake, after sunset.

It was getting dark and a bright light shone from the banks south of Muhamma indicated the landing point. We were met with another request for photo shoot and then headed to the evening neighbourhood meeting. 

This neighbourhood meeting was the best for the passion participants had. Mos of them lived off the backwaters and were thrilled to have Mr. Dayal, a pioneer in organic agriculture who predicted the ill effects of the Thaneermukkam bund, when it was concieved.

The food was tapioca and mussels curry for dinner. We were lucky for the sit out of a house with fan, were we slept. The place smelled foul for the large number of water birds (cormorants) that roosted in the trees. We were lucky again, this time, it was a sit-out of a home that had a ceiling fan(a jet fan, literally, dried us of fluids!)