Saturday, January 27, 2007

6 Welcome to Panagudi

We arrived in Kanyakumari by overnight train at around 7am Tuesday morning. We headed over to the large tour vans waiting to transport us from the station to the hotel in Nagercoil, about two of hours away.

After we freshened up in Nagercoil, it was back to the vans for another short ride to Panagudi where a huge welcoming party was awaiting us. A band, photographers and countless well-wishers were gathered there. And of course, I shouldn't forget the garlands. This time, everyone got one, but the biggest ones were reserved for me and Vivek.

I got to meet the staff at Vivek Hospital. Everyone was incredibly nice and genuinely happy for us.

After lunch, we took a trip to Kuttralam, the local waterfalls, where the water is said to have healing powers. It was amazing how cool and refreshing the water was. I hadn't originally planned to dive in, but I couldn't resist. Actually, Vivek couldn't resist dragging me in. My mom, aunt, and Vivek's parents were way ahead of me.

We had an audience for all this, by the way. A cute, furry, and very mischeivous audience.

Panagudi is located close to the Western Ghats, a large mountain range in India. Without any big buildings to obstruct our view, we were able to see some amazing vistas on our road trip. It made me realize that there are still some incredibly beautiful, unspoiled places in the world.


After the long day, we headed back to Vivek Hospital. It was hard to believe I'd only be in Panagudi for another four days.

4 comments:

Pasug said...

Hi,
saw ur blog.
i am peran of Panagudi Avoodai Nayagam Pillai, near the Vivek Hospital. I visit Panagudi every year. My chithappa Velayutham Pillai is the owner of AVM Kalyana Mandapam near Panagudi Vivek Hospital. Vivek also knows our family. Tell vivek I am machan of Paramasivam [Panchan]. The Kutralam Falls u mentioned is real name is "Kuthara Panchan" Falls. Kuthara Panchan means falling straight.
I also run some websites.
1. www.panagudi.netfirms.com for panagudi lovers.
2. www.saivaneri.org -matrimonaials
see more panagudi news/photos there...
also u can read my blog...

Unknown said...

Hi,

I am S.Shunmugaraj son of your father's friend late Shri Sonachalam Pillai settled in Mumbai. The coverage of Panagudi is very nice.

Regards,

S.Shunmugaraj

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Unknown said...

I have never noticed that there would be a heavenly place in the inner part of panagudi ,yes it about kuthirapanjan falls really a wonderful place to visit .
It takes 7to 8 km from panagudi it is better to take maxi cab or share auto to cover the place without any difficulty .the falls is full of medicinal smell because of the mountains which is of full medicinal use .it is also said tigers lives there,so when we start to kuthrapanjan falls which is somewhat to the middle part of the mountain.each step give us alert because of the terrible noise of the birds ,insects and water that welcome us to give some adventure .after reaching middle part one can forget all his sadness by looking at the beautiful scenary of kuthirapanjan falls .it seems like as we are in a heaven .we can refresh freely without any tortures that we face at kuttralam.we can prepare foods ourself there and can enjoy the whole day . from that point we can view the full frame of the panagudi village which is being with enormous numbers of windmills .it is one of the best place for treking.since now it is not been register as a tourist place ,government had just started their plans to make these place as tourist spot. So i hope u all will also experience the beauty of kuthirapanjan when you get some time to visit there and get blessed with mother nature.i take this as an opportunity to tell one thing please protect nature ,try to unuse the plastic bags when u come to visit such naturous places lovingly
Naresh