CHITTAR - An ideal retreat from city chaos

               It was way back in 2012 we’ve gone for a trip as a family for the last time. Since then we couldn't do another since all of us were located in different places, with me alone coming home at every weekends and staying with Dad. That Friday I planned not to go home that night, instead postponed that to the next morning. That’s when my sister, who is back home after completing her graduation, called me and asked to go home that night itself and said, ‘Let’s go somewhere tomorrow.’ ‘Alright’, I said and started thinking of the destination for the next day. I was not interested in those distant regular family destinations then, since I wanted to save those bigger trips for some time later when mom is also back at home. So I searched for some nearby getaway spot. Chittar was the place suddenly came to my mind. I’ve heard about this place a lot, but never been there. While checking in Google maps, to my pleasant surprise, I found the place to be just 30kms away from our home.  I got excited at the same time felt sorry for myself for not visiting the place yet, which is barely an hour’s drive from home.

              After breakfast, I along with dad & sis left home the next morning with our destination being Chittar dam. Actually there are two dams separated by 7kms – Chittar Dam 1 & Chittar Dam 2, with Chittar 1 being the smaller of the two. These dams now in the Kanyakumari district of TamilNadu were built as part of the Kodayar System Major Irrigation Project, to serve the irrigation for agriculture in various parts of Kanyakumari and Thiruvananthapuram districts, which where under the Travancore state then. The dams are currently under the control of the Tamilnadu State Electricity board.

            We turned left from Vellarada and continued along the neatly laid tarmac of the SH3 road. After a couple of miles we entered a mesmerizing landscape. Grassland, rivulets, rubber estates, bordered in the background by mountains and forests, started showing up. I controlled the temptation to take my camera out, saving that for the return journey after covering the destinations first. We finally reached the first spot, the Chittar Dam 2.

  We found an almost rusted iron gate, and it looked like the entrance of an abandoned bungalow. After enquiring with the locals we confirmed that we are at the right place. We went inside and walked on the dirty road towards the dam. There were no proper walkways or lights or any such amenities needed in such places. Some construction works were going on, and I hope they will be coming up with these basic amenities very soon. Despite all these, we walked forward and finally reached the reservoir. The reservoir, the jungle, and mountains behind, together presented a beautiful spectacle before us. The reservoir was dried out in many places because of the heavy summer, but that had not affected its beauty.  ‘Photography is not allowed here’, warned the security guard on seeing the camera with me and asked me to leave it back in the car. I was really disappointed not being able to capture the gorgeous views into frames. But no worries, as long as the Moto G4 is with me, which itself is a decent shooter. After spending half an hour we left the place.

            A few more kilometres into the road and we reached the first of the two dams – the Chittar Dam 1. The walkway here too is just a dusty track which simply leads to the dam. Here again I got the warning, ‘Photography not allowed’. Till now I couldn’t figure out what’s the reason for this… whatever.., leave it and let’s move on. The reservoir here too had little water, but the view is simply breath-taking. The panoramic view of the thick green vegetation and narrow streams surrounded by the Western Ghats, from the top of the dam is quite alluring for any photographer. In a few minutes my sis found a small path which leads towards the water in the reservoir, which appeared more like the banks of a shallow river than that of a big reservoir. We spent some time in the banks of the water occasionally dipping feet in the cool water, totally indulged in the exquisite nature. Let the pictures do the talking…

          As the sun was getting hotter we decided to depart. Just as we entered the highway a green sign board caught my attention. ‘Pechipara Dam’ -  5kms, it reads. We decided to make it 3 dams in a row, and continued towards the Pechipara Dam. In a few minutes we reached the spot, the largest dam in Kanyakumari district, according to a local resident. Contrast to the two previous dams, this place looked more organised and maintained. One common thing however is, ‘Photography prohibited’. 

On reaching the top we were welcomed by a tall pillar, a memorial of the European chief engineer of the dam, Mr. Humphre Alexander Minchin. The dam was built in the latter part of the 19^th century, during the reign of the then Travancore Maharaja Moolam Thirunal.

          After climbing all those steps to the top, we were a bit disappointed on seeing the closed gate towards the walkway on the crest of the dam. The water level here too is very low. After spending half an hour in the dam’s vicinities we left the spot and started the return journey.

Few pics of the dam…

          On our way back I brought my camera into action, clicking some nice pictures. We stopped the car a number of times in between, just to capture the beautiful landscape into the frames. 

We found a few small hotels serving homely food, but were not interested in trying one since we were gonna reach home in just an hour. The midday sun was at its brightest and hottest, seemed on a hurry going to the west, while I drove back to home, feeling satisfied on completing another trip with the family after a long time, missing mom though…!