A TROG# – The Road to Paniyeli -Poru

With us… nothing is planned (cannot be planed for that matter)... We are the “take the world as it comes” people. Friday evening we tentatively agreed on “Poru” as our destination for the next day...The place was suggested by Pali… None of us had heard about this place before…Only thing we knew was…. .It’s after Perumbavoor… So naturally Pali had his disclaimer well in advance… “This is supposedly a beautiful place, where we can have a bath in the river.. And ‘m okay with any other place u suggest…”

As for planning we didn’t miss out on this…. “We will buy Kallu*”. Now the problem with Kallu is we will have to buy it early in the morning, and from people whom we know…So the only solid plan we had for travel day… was to get some Gud kallu…V####h and J####n took the ownership for this task….. (Names are encrypted,for all are "Eligible" bachelors...If some one feels Kallu is not aristocratic enuf :-))


It’s said.. “The early bird catches the prey”... Same is the case with Kallu…
So “the early V#####h got the kallu”… Had it canned neatly…. Corked the can with a little hole in it.. Otherwise it will fizz out just like champagne... when u open :-)

We were a group of five…”the awesome five some”
So by about 10 AM. Pali came to my house and from there we proceeded to J####’s house where S####h and V####h were ready…


Now the million Dollar Question…”Where are we going??…. We will go to Poru…
Ok so... who knows the route.. Well err.. hmm.. no one .. That’s ok.. we will find it as we go…” After all where’s the thrill in going to a place we all know???

We didn’t think much… we all jumped in and set off... “Chalo Poru”… God knows where… and what…

All we knew was we had to hit Perumbavoor first… now that’s 40 kms odd from Kochin… All of us were proud residents of Kochin...But none of us were sure of the roads that led us to perumbavoor... We knew we had to start from Kakkanad…and we did…
But whenever the road forked… we braked…. and asked some one for “The road to Permubavoor”… When u do not know the roads the strategy is simple “Chodichu chodichu Pokam”…

So we kept going and on this beautiful little junction, where we stopped for advice on the further road to perumbavoor… A gentle man…knowing our hopeless situation told…”Don’t u worry ppl … just follow the white marker on the middle of the road… All white markers lead to Perumbavoor…”

We all thought… what an easy way to reach Perumbavoor… We thanked that gentle man for his intelligent suggestion… and accelerated our way ahead….Hardly did we travel 200 mtrs…. I thought I had become “white blind”... for I cudnt see any white markers on the road… Soon I knew… others where White blind too….for they too didn’t see any...by the time we gathered our thoughts we were into an unmarked road…and for the first time that day … we were on the wrong way…had to turn back.. and again trace the white markers… So we never really tried to follow the markers any further… Like this we drove on and finally reached Perumbavoor…and then with the help of locals finally managed to find the road... “Paniyeli – Poru “ about 20 kms from there..


Now the roads were narrow and winding… taking us to the interiors of a beautiful village… Suddenly Pali asked...” What about our food… this place looks like we won't get anything to eat…” .. So we stopped at the first shop we saw. Pali and V####h got and was back soon…Pali has some snacks… V####h… has a strainer in his had…All of us asked together…” what is this for “….A smiling V####h… said... Forgot the get the kallu strained... :-)..

In another 30 mins we were there…”Paniyeli –Poru”...




We took tickets and tried to take ourselves and Kallu inside... But the duty bound guard pointed to a board... that said... “Plastics and alcohol prohibited”… We tried to explain him that Kallu is a non alcoholic beverage…and the volume- wise percentage of alcohol per litre of kallu and all that stuff… He stood his ground… I guess he was drunk :-)…

So we turned back to the car.... one holding the strainer over each glass while the other pouring kallu…. had it as an aperitif… and left the rest... safe in the boot of the car…


We then walked a bit by the riverside and finally reached a place where the water was crystal clear and there was good shade too….




The water was cool, clear and refreshing… all our tiredness was washed off…we spent quite some time in the water..




Had some foto sessions…and the time just flew …



It was great…Nature in its pristine form…no much crowd.. No pollution… only company we had were a herd of cows…butterflies... beautifully colored dragonflies etc…

We finally walked back….decided on coming back again….a place worth visiting again…. Reached the car… finished the rest of the kallu … which was getting sour…and strong… and we started our drive back home…

It was a nice short trip… A day well spent…

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#TROG – read it as a TRavel blOG
*Kallu is the national Drink of Kerala- Slightly alcoholic. A natural juice from the Coconut tree.