Birds of Kodaikanal - Can You Identify These?

Thanks to responses to this post and independent verification by Mr. RS Suresh (check out his website on birds) of the birds I now have the names of the birds.

***

My recent trip to Kodaikanal - before the appendectomy, thank goodness - was brilliant in more than one ways. My most precious moments were sighting birds on my twice a day walk around the star-shaped Kodai lake, bang in the middle of the hill station.

Unfortunately, I do not know the names of these birds. If there is any one out there who can name these birds, I will be very obliged.

Any one?


Bird#1: This one skipped daintily on lotus leaves looking for insects. How light is this bird?

The bird is WHITE-BROWED WAGTAIL


Bird #2: This looks like a Kingfisher. I am told The Indian Turner looks similar to a Kingfisher. So what is this?


This bird is the WHITE THROATED KINGFISHER

Bird #3: A local 'guide' told me that this is the Nilgiris Wood Pigeon.


This one is called SPOTTED DOVE

Bird #4: And who are you, my dear friend?



Bird #5: Most of these are very difficult to spot. This one was almost invisible. What you see is a cropped image.





Bird #6: This one took off before I could take a snap.



The above three birds are the same - RED-WHISKERED BULBUL

Tiled Roads

Of all states Tamil Nadu is most geared for encouraging tourism. Ooty is in perhaps in decline, but Kodaikanal is not. It is perhaps the cleanest and neatest of all Indian hill stations. While it will take a tremendous effort to reach the standards of say, Interlaken, I must say, given the general Indian standards of public hygiene, Kodai is pretty good.

Roads impressed me most. Most of the roads I traveled on are regularly maintained. Even the hill roads! As I climbed the Hill Road to Kodai I was first amused and then intrigued by patches of tiles on the road - the kind you would find on the side walk of big roads in cities. It took a while but then I realized what was going on. The authorities who maintain the roads do not wait for the whole road to be broken. Since, it would be foolish to haul up a road-roller every time a tiny patch of road breaks, they replace the broken piece of road with tiles. And it works just fine.

Now that is ingenuity for you.

Sound of Silence

Now I am sleeping and now I am wide awake. Just like that.

I try to figure out what happened.
Was it some bad dream?
A noise?
Then I realize ... there is no noise. In fact no sound. No where.
I stay awake trying to listen to any sound from anywhere. Nah!
The entire hill station of Kodai goes absolutely still at around 3 a.m. in the morning.
This happened to me the first two nights I spent at Kodaikanal.
I now know what is meant by 'deafening sound of silence'
I feel like a zen master :-)

Or rather like Kamal Hassan in the movie Pushpak Vimana. He cannot sleep in the 5 star hotel. So he goes back to his room that is next to the cinema hall and records the loud noise. Back at the hotel he plays the tape recorder and snores away to glory.

Have you seen the movie. It was released in the north as Pushpak. There are no dialogs in the movie. It is not required. Unfortunately, it was not a box office hit. I wonder why wasn't it India's official entry at the Oscars. Anyways, click on the above link to know more about the movie. And if you haven't seen it, go ahead and get a copy from the local video library. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Coming back to my experience of total silence at Kodai ... I was disappointed that I did not wake up in the middle of the night on the 3rd and 4th day. I sort of started enjoying the experience. There is a kind of peace in total silence.

Bangalore to Kodaikanal by Road

It has been a dream holiday. Just back from a road trip to Kodai. And in spite of burning a big hole in my pocket by staying for 5 days and 4 nights at the Carlton, I would love to repeat this holiday in about 3 years time. Why? Read on.

The Route
-------------

A search on Internet reveals that there are multiple routes from Bangalore to Kodai. A route that is highly recommended is

Bangalore - NH7 - Toppur - at which point you get off NH7 and take Mettur - Bhavani - Perundurai - Kangayam - Dharmapuram - Palani - Kodiakanal

Personally I prefer the National Highways. So I took the following (slightly longer, but faster) route:

Bangalore - all the way on NH7 to Dindigul Bypass - Vattalkundu - Kodaikanal

NH7 is under construction but it is not like that the entire stretch is dug up or something like that. Throughout the trip there is at least one lane that is operational. So the speeds drop a little but you should still be able to manage about 70 kmph on an average.

CAUTION: You will know when you will need to take diversions to the other lane but you will never know when the traffic from the other side gets diverted to your lane. So, try not to ride on the faster lane. I would advise that you stick to the left.

I would like to think that the NH7 will be fully operational in about 2 years time. I would therefore love to drive down again in 3 years time.

Yeah! I just love to drive my Scorpio over loooong distances.

We covered the entire stretch of the 455km in approximately 10 hours. This included one break for a heavy breakfast and an hour's stop at a field, where the farmer climbed up the tree to get us Tender Coconut Water - no straws.



We managed our return trip in 9 hours, with one stop for lunch.

(I drive slow with kids in the car - never exceeding 100 kmph. Other cars were zipping past me. So it is possible to make the distance in shorter time, say 7-8 hours. The road is that good.)

We took breakfast (onwards) and lunch (return) at Ghar. This chain of eatery belongs to Adyar Anand Bhavan (Who inspired them to shorten the name to the moronic A2B, I say?) Very neat and clean. The toilets were clean and so were the wash basins. There is one 'Ghar' just after Hosur and one after Krishnagiri (as you go from Bangalore to Kodai). Very convenient.

The 'Spicy Spoon' at Sulagiri (where we had breakfast on my last trip to Mahabalipuram) was not prepared to receive visitors at early hours. SO I missed out on their Ghee Roasts.

The Stay
-----------


We stayed at The Carlton. Yes it is expensive. But if you are willing to splurge here's what you get.

(i) A view to the Kodai lake. So you open you eyes and you are instantly transported to heaven.
(ii) Complimentary breakfast and dinner, every day. The spread is sumptuous and you will not need to have lunch.
(iii) A half-day trip to the tourist spots.
(iv) A complementary shikara ride. (If you are staying for a longer time and you bargain you will get another).
(v) The hotel has its own Boat House. No need to stand in long queues waiting your turn.
(vi) And all the other features that a five star hotel is expected to have (Billiards, Bar, Games room, Library ... stop ... this is not an advertisement for The Carlton.)

Recommendation: Ask for room no. 422. It has a huge balcony (none of the other rooms have this) apart from a sit out. So you get two different views to the lake. The room is strategically located and nearest to the lake (as measured by crows). I would prefer this room to the cottages. This room also had a bathtub. The adjoining room (#421) did not.

The stay was extremely comfortable and that is an understatement.

The Routine
----------------

Get up at 6 a.m.
Go for a walk around the lake - at a moderately brisk pace, it should take you about 45 minutes
Have breakfast.
Go visit the tourist spots (On the first day, take the conducted tour. Revisit the places you like on your own) - I loved the Pine Forest. The Suicide Point is breathtaking. Croaker's Walk is hyped.



Have another round around the lake in the evening at a more gentle pace. The milieu completely changes in the evening.
On some days go horse rising. (The rates are fixed by the authorities, so the pain of haggling is eliminated).
Go to the main market, adjacent to the bus stand.
Have dinner.
Enjoy the rest of the evening - late into the night - on the lawns looking out at the now dark lake (a few flood lights glitter - this adds to the charm.)

The Surprise
---------------

What is a vacation without a surprise pack. We had two.

Just next to the Carlton, there is the Kodai International School (KIS). My wife teaches. So obviously she would love to see the school from inside. One evening as we were returning from the main market, we met a couple who became very friendly with us. Turned out that they teach at KIS. They invited us to visit KIS the following day. It was a delight.

Second, one morning when we woke up we saw a bunch of Tibetans / Tibetan looking people at the hotel lawns. There was also a film crew. We were told that this is some sort of Tribal Shooting. By evening it was clear that Surya (non-Tamil cine-lovers would know him as husband of Jyothika who is Nagma's sister; aaah, now it rings a bell), Nayantara, Saroja Devi, and a host of Tamil film stars were staying at the hotel and this was a proper commercial film shooting. I always wanted to see a film shoot. I expected the shoot to be very noisy. It wasn't. It was a nice experience to watch the entire film crew working out. But after a few takes and retakes, it becomes quite boring.




Do not miss these
-------------------

Do not miss out on ...



... the beautiful birds that frequent the lake - the best time to see them is in the morning
... the wild flowers that cling to the rocks on the mountain
... the lotus in the lake
... Danish Display - a curio shop in the main market; they have some amazing stuffs
... Chilli Bhajjis, Home Made Chocolates, Masala Puri and Masala Tea sold on the track round the lake

To summarize, we had a ball.