Green Sojourn!

Green Sojourn
Its Festival time as we had celebrated Diwali with lot of enthusiasm. Even the markets reacted on a positive note and Sivakasi Rocket is ruling them now. In India we have lot of festivities, which adds color to the country. Perhaps the only month we don't have color is May. Even this is quoted in a thamizh song from the movie Idayam (Heart). The song goes like this "During April and May there is no greenery (Since the colleges and schools will be shut for Vacation in India)" as sung by some college students in the movie. You can hear the song from here. Nowadays in Chennai it's hard to find Greenery. Lot of green trees is being axed citing development as a reason. Recently for the construction of the new Secretariat building and widening the approach road more than 125 mature trees were axed or to be axed. (You can see the news article in the TOI here). So it raises a question? On what cost we as a country are developing. Certainly there should not be a compromise for Green over Development.

            Coming back, I went on a trip to my hometown Kumbakonam after three long years. I'm hardly 6 hours drive away from my home town and over the past three and a half years I never thought of visiting it once. So I decided to go on vacation there for Diwali. I have been waiting this long for the Green Sojourn and I'm sure I'm now back recharged. Once in my home town I travelled the by-lanes of famous TSR Big Street and also met couple of old friends. There have been a lot of changes around Kumbakonam as well over the past two years. Thankfully it has not lost its green cover.  Two new colleges were started and SASTRA University near the Bus Stand is now a massive structure. I remember the place as a barren land during my college days.

 

           On Friday Last (16/10/09) I had undergone a Green Sojourn to my family deity Madhurakali Amman Temple at Siruvachur. It was green all the way. I should certainly quote about the route. The route we took was once famous route of the Chozha Kings. It was called the Raja Pattai connecting Kallanai (Grand Anaicut) to Poompuhar. The route was elaborately described in the first episode of the famous thamizh novel Ponniyin Selvan written by Kalki during 1930's. The Great Cauvery River (cradle of thamizh civilization) forms the boundary of he road on one side and on the other side it's full of green, green and more green.

There were coconut trees on both sides of the road for some distance, tamarind Trees for sometime, mango, neem, banyan and Arasu (Indian Fig) tree en route. Not Convinced!  Craving for still more! Being October and passing through the fertile Cauvery delta Once called as the granary of South India , there were lot of agricultural activity happening all along the way. We saw paddy fields being ploughed and made ready for cultivation, nursery for cultivation (Narrangaal), neatly laden paddy fields with transplanted crops from the nursery, mature fields ready for the harvest. Further we could also see sugarcane fields, banana orchard and other vegetable farms cultivating brinjal, lady's finger, groundnut, maize, corn and turmeric. Overall it was a wonderful Sojourn and I now have determined to travel along this road very soon again. .

You can view some of the pictures I took en route in Flickr and Picasa

Finally I would like you all who are reading this post to Think Green, Go Green and Conserve Nature.