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It had been a while I had traveled alone to a tourist spot. Athirappilly (அதிரப்பிள்ளி) falls (I had been thinking it as Athirampally [அதிரம்பள்ளி] all these years) has been my object of fantascy for a very long time... since my college days. But looks like it had been jinxed for me. Whenever we planned to go there, it never materialised. All of a sudden last week I thought of going to Chalakudy, come whatever may, and visit the Athirappilly falls. Infact the plan was more of furtive thing opposed to my rooftop shoutings. Finally the D-day arrived.

Towards Chalakkudy

The bus from Bangalore started at 7:15 PM and tested my patience by inching in snail pace. It took around 10:00 p.m to exit Karnataka after stopping at all the reservation centers. The guy who sat next to me was heading to Thrissur and looked like he had some complications back at home, so rushing for that. He often tried to ease by speaking to me in malayalam and I responded in the same language.

I woke up to the assistant's call for "Thrissur passengers" and I was shocked. I was under the impression that Chalakudy comes first before Thrissur. Thankfully the driver clarified that it will take another "mukkal manikkooru" (45 minutes) to reach Chalakudy. It was a misty morning, Kerala is already blessed with lush greenery, so the mist and eary sunrise just compounded the effect. I was just watching the visuals awestruck. Since the destination of the bus was Kollam, I was dropped at the bye-pass road of Chalakudy by 6:45 A.M.

I am always scared of the autorickshaw guys so just to avoid them I crossed the NH road and walked confidently as if I knew the place already. The first guy who came across was a college goer and I asked him the way to go to the bus stand. He told me to go straight and there will be a junction and the bus stand is few feet ahead of the junction. After I started walking he called me back and asked "Edhu bus stand-lekku ponam?" I said "Falls poganulla bus-ilekku". He said "Ok.. go straight". I already knew that Chalakudy has two bus stations - one for the State Corporation Buses and the another one for the private buses. The buses that go to Athirappilly falls are handled by the private buses.

I went to the modestly small bus station, had my tea at the Neelima hotel inside the bus station itself. I was not ready for a "Vada" breakfast or an oily heavy "pazhampori" in that early morning. I enquired about the bus to Valparai as it was my next agenda. A shopkeeper told that the bus had already left by 6:00 A.M and the next bus will be by 1:00 P.M afternoon. I was planning that I should be ready to catch up that 1:00 P.M bus if I want to go to Pollachi the same day. The bus to Athirappilly started at 7:30 A.M fully loaded with the passengers. I was charged Rs. 22 for the ticket to Athirappilly.

It passed through the streets of Chalakudy which was a modest town with a sizeable Christian population. All the way were the display of Christmas stars and other symbols. If my understanding is not wrong, there was a festival on that Saturday which made all the way to Athirappilly look colourful. I must learn to shed my inhibitions in taking photos in the common places. Since I was so shy, I didn't take the photos of these celebrations.

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