Kallil Temple- Sunday Ride

What all can keep you off biking?

Well, you may not agree with me on nine out of ten reasons that I would put up. But let me tell you this. Injury nails you, man. It nails you pretty bad. That’s exactly the same reason that put me off biking for a long long time.

Ironically, I didn’t get injured by biking. I jumped out of a moving bus and sprained my lower back. That’s it! Freaky, right? Let alone biking, I couldn’t move for a couple of days. One whole week of Ayurvedic treatments nursed me back to health but I dared not to use the bike for a while. But it was not easy to resist the temptation. So, I maintained absolute abstinence from bike forums, blogs and why say more, even FB!

Now, it’s been a couple of month since I have resumed active biking life but it took me some more time to write again asI was so indulged in biking alone and was imbibing the sheer fun of it. Today, however seems to be a good day to revisit blogging as I did a weekend ride so wonderful that I am not able to keep it to myself. Off me go!!!

Holding rich historical and mythological importance, Kallil Temple is situated in Ernakulam district in Kerala, at about 10kms from Perumbavoor town. An ancient Jain hub dating back to 9th century A.D., Kallil was transformed into a Bhagavathy (durga) temple when Vedic religion gained foot in Kerala. This might have made Mahavira, Brahma and Padmavati devi into Bhagavathy. The temple welcomes people from all religions. I had visited this place when I was a kid. Though I hardly reckon any details, I just remember it to be awesome. This ride, I thought, would be ideal as it is not very far off from where I stay and hopefully be an energizing redux to my biking passion.

Check out Kallil temple from the following sites:

Kallil Temple official website

Wikipedia


Route map: Perumbavoor-Kallil-Irumalapady-Perumbavoor
View Kallil Temple-Sunday ride in a larger map




Sunday, 23^rd December 2012.
Though I had planned to set off at 06:00am, I waited till 06:30am as it was quite dark even at that time. From Kaladi Junction at Perumbavoor, I took the MC road towards Pulluvazhy. The state highway is pretty decent, wide and hassle free.

 

Kalady Junction, Perumbavoor



 

The road is usually not busy at this time. As it was the annual pilgrimage season, I came across some vehicles going to Sabarimala, the jungle shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Pathanamtitta district. I even spotted some pilgrims covering the distance on foot! Swami Saranam!

 



Main Central (MC) Road

 



Sabarimala Pilgrims on foot







Hungry People





Immediately after crossing the St. Thomas Church, I took the Pulluvazhy-Kallil Road which goes straight, all the way to Nellimulam Junction. Though this is a village road, it is in pretty decent condition. I met Anandu and Devika and they were thrilled to give me the directions.



St. Thomas Church, Pulluvazhi





Jayakeralam Higher Secondary School, Pulluvazhi





Anandu & Devika











Elegant, both.



With Christmas round the corner, Nelimulam junction, Rayamangalam seemed to have geared up for celebrations. Even the elders who had gathered for their ‘Sunday-special international conference’ were in a merry mood, asking all sorts of questions regarding the bike and all. One gentleman even thought loudly that I was crazy. I too back his thoughts.

Towards right from Nellimulam junction, the road bifurcates; the road on right going to Keezhillam and the one on left going straight to Kallil. En route Kallil, I was tempted to climb the flight of steps to Nellimulam Church. A villager told me that there were 313 steps to the church and that made me focus back on Kallil Temple.  The route is scenic, decorated with paddy fields, plantain crops and irrigation canals.



Nellimudu Junction, Rayamangalam-Gearing up for x'mas.



313 steps leading to Nellimudu Church

Govt. Higher Secondary School, Kallil

I reached the entrance arch of the temple by 07:40am. The guys there told me that I missed the festival by a week. I think I missed the festival for good as places like these are best visited in solitude than amidst a festive crowd. Further, I enjoyed ascending the small yet steep climb to the stairs leading to the shrine.

Even from down below the stairs, one could see the huge monolith into which the sanctum sanctorum is carved into. The whole area was very calm and cool.




Entrance arch of Kallil Temple



Kallil Temple-Main Entrance

As it is a temple, certain decorum is expected from visitors. It’s not mandatory for gents to wear dhoti but they will have to remove their shirts or tees. I felt a bit awkward to enter wearing shorts but no one said anything. However, I could feel some eyes incising my sweaty and tattooed body. I took receipts for some pooja and asked permission to take some snaps. They said its ok but warned me not to point directly at the deity. Well, I dared not to point directly fearing the wrath of the Gods.

The following pics and captions wills give you a picture of the temple and premises.



Sculpt of Brahma [Mahavira(?)]



Note the small holes made in a line on the rock. In those days, it was an ingenious technique to split stones. Wooden cork were driven into the holes and then hot water was poured over it. The rock would crack as the wood expands and split into two perfect halves.

The main shrine of Kallil bhagavathy



The huge monolith above is believed to be staying on one pivot. One can actually see the light from the opposite side. They say that in earlier days the central pivot was clearly visible and the monolith used to stand well above the ground. It seems that it is supported with stones and structures now.

Parsvanath, perhaps.



Inscriptions. Couldn't make out anything.



Nagas

The unpaved trail alonside the irrigation canal beckons..

After spending almost an hour in the temple I decided to scoot. I had spotted a tempting unpaved trail alongside an irrigation canal on the way to the temple. On the way back, I turned off the GPS and decided to take this route hoping that it would quench my off-roading thirst and eventually connect to the Aluva-Munnar road (and it did). This strip turned out to be the highlight of the ride. Here are the snaps:

and the off-roading begins..



By the time I reached AM road, I was feeling very hungry. Being a Sunday, I was sure that there would be some nice breakfast waiting for me at home; and there was! Day made!!

Everyone, I strongly reccomend this route. Its equally good for a short morning ride or a long trek. Other spots like Iringole Kaavu, Paniyeli Poru, Kodanad Elephant Kraal, Bhootathaankettu Dam, Thattekaad Bird Sanctuary etc can all looped-in to this route and can be used as a parallel alternative to reach Munnar. Now, fancy that!!

Do tell me wotcha think..
Signin' off with that for the day, fellow travellers!!



The Good Friday Ride: Aluva-Manjaly-Aluva

Late as usual. But this time the culprit was not me. I managed to reach KAL Hospital, at Aluva, our starting point as scheduled, at 6:30am but Alpho, the doc on duty had locked the duty room for the morning beauty bath. I had kept the bike-lock key, helmet and gloves there and hence had to wait until the shrine was opened. I even called her on her mobile hoping that she would have taken her mobile into the bathroom. Apparently, she did not. As a result, I reached Thottakaattukara, where I was told to meet up with Surej and Rohit my fellow riders, ½ an hour late.

This was Rohit’s first leisure ride since had bought this LA Sovereign bike. But I have to tell you, he was pretty good for a first timer. Surej too was all geared up and full of enthusiasm. So we knew for sure, from the very start, that this would be a memorable ride.

The ride plan was instantaneous and the route selection was spontaneous. We rode all the way to Vedimara and made a U-turn to enter the Nedumbassery route. Instead of taking the Manjali bridge, we did a bit of off-roading to cross the river via a temporary sand bund. This was followed by some more amazing village roads and rides through paddy fields. We reentered NH 47 after passing through Medical College, Airoor and Chengamanad. Rode back to Aluva via the NH and voila! Another beautiful holiday ride!

The roads we chose were in excellent condition. Save for a couple of steep climbs (one near the UC College Auditorium and the other approaching the Chengamanad junction), rest of the route had comfortable elevation only. It is also a very good bike-able route. Thanks for the low traffic (except the NH) and scenic views. We are certainly gonna make another early morning ride in the same route, including some more local attractions.

The Route Map:

View The Good Friday Bike Ride- 6th April 2012 in a larger map

The first couple of kilometers, from the KAL hospital to the Paravoor junction involved the NH 47. Because it was a holiday and because it was early in the morning, we didn’t have much botheration of the traffic. More and more people are being attracted to biking it seems. At least the concept seems appealing to many. Wherever we stopped we had people approaching us and ask about the trip, the bike and stuffs.

Just as we were approaching the steep climb near UC College, we had to stop and wait for the Good Friday Procession crossing the road from a nearby church. This abrupt stop did drain our momentum and the climb got more difficult but we had no complaints for the procession was ‘entertaining’.

The Good Friday Procession

The climb of course is followed by a long downhill stretch of broad and rubberized road. The cold wind howling in your ears and the vacant road will tempt you to leave your handlebars, spread your hands and sing one of your favorite fast-track songs.

Shiny roads and misty skies

This is followed by a very beautiful strip decorated with paddy fields stretching far and wide on the right side. Rohit got excited and rode off. Me and Surej stopped by for a couple of snaps.

Paddy fields waking up to a new morning

Mr. Snappy

Accident prone area..not for us bikers though. We always 'ride safe', right?

Pit Stop

Day Maker Tintu

We then met Tintu, Rohit’s friend and a local star. It was him who informed us about the temporary bund over the river. So we decided to make a small detour. After making the turn at Vedimara to entre the Paravoor Nedumbassery route, we rode to this bund. This place turned out to be the main attraction of our trip. We learned that this bund made of alluvial soil and palm logs is made every year at this time to prevent salt water from the sea entering upstream and there by damaging the crops. Tintu invited us for another visit to this place and next time we will definitely come with all set up for a lavish river bath followed by a delicious toddy feast. The place had a lot of photographic potential but we dared not to get indulged with our equipments as a lot of ladies were around waiting for us to leave for their jalakreeda. We had to walk the bike to the opposite bank as the sand over the bund was very loose.

The Bund Across River Manjaly

Surej & Rohit with Tintu and Vinosh

'Hey Surej..the gals are on the other side!! Damn you, nature lovers!'

Rohit flaunting his Canon D-SLR (and his beer belly :-P)

My Transeo in a pensive mood

Manjali River..up close and personal

Sand stand

Ever tried riding your bike over loose sand? Piece of Advice: Don't. Especially when you have sharp wooden stubs on either side, looking angrily at you.

Watchbird

Very narrow unpaved path with barbed fences on either side greeted us on the other side of the river.  From here began our actual off-roading. We rode through vegetable plantations, we rode besides canals and streams, we rode through coconut tree plantations and finally re entered the Paravoor –Nedumbassery road.

Narrow path + Barbed fences...Tempting!

Termptation wins..way to go tigers!!

Stopped for a 'Jeera Soda' break. Met Stanley who showed us an amazing short cut.

The amazing short cut-Through the vegetable plantations

Missing the dirt path already..

We started getting hungry. It was only then that we noted that majority of the shops were closed and the roads were literally deserted. The Good Friday Effect.

Finally, we spotted a small tea stall and had some yummy Appam and peas curry. 3 sets of breakfast and 2 cups of tea cost us a total of Rs. 48.00/-. Amazing, no?

Phew!! a tea stall!..Finally!!

Glutton Surej and Voracious Rohit feasting on some delicious 'Appam and Peas Curry'.

From here on, we got into small races and fast rides. Sometimes you get this urge to pedal hard. It was beginning to get very sunny too and we wanted to finish the ride before it gets too hot.

Power fields

Scenic

First Biker up

Fancy a Jump?

Tricycle

Kadavu

We reached Athani by around 10:15 am and by 10:30 the ride came to an official conclusion. We bid aiedieu.

A statue at Athani Junction depicting the name of the city. 'Athani' were those tall stone or wooden stands over which travelers with head-loads could put down the weight and relax amid their long journeys.

Surej, Rohit and Rimi Tomy

Me and Surej went for a movie in the afternoon. All the calories burnt during the ride were meticulously put back using a large Alfredo Pizza and “The Wrath of the Titans” in 3D was an awesome entertainer.

In short we had a spectacular 40km ride with some thrilling off-road experience, ate some delicious appam and pizza, saw a good flick and finally we called it a day, a ‘Good Friday’ indeed.