Travel Dream: 2018

COASTAL TREK 2016 – 2017

Route – Cuddalore To Point Calimer, Tamil Nadu.

: REPORT :

SUMMARY DAY SCHEDULE.

8^TH JANUARY TO 19^TH JANUARY

1^STDAY : Start from Hwh -Puduchery Ex. At 23.30 hrs.

2^ndDAY : On TRAIN

3^rdDAY : We reached Puduchery at 9.00 am. Reached Cuddulore by bus at 11 am. Meet Police Station Night Stay at College Baranda.

4^thDAY :At 6.30 am. trek started from Silver beach,Cuddulore. Reached Portnova at 4.30 pm.Night stay at Portnova fish wholesale market meeting room.

5^thDAY :6.30 am. Started by a Tata Ace car and reached Nagapattanam, because the beach is not approachable so we took another Tata Ace and reached Thrumullaivasel beach. Trek start from 11.00 am to 4pm. Then again by car we travelled to Vanagiri Coastal Police Station. Night stay there.

6^thDAY : 10.30am We started our trekfrom Vanagiri. At 11.30am we reached Trangabadi Port area. Then by bus travelled 6km to Chinnurpet. From there sea beach was 3.5 km and we had to avail Police van and travelled by village road. At 12.00hrs, we started trek. At 4.45 pm, we reached Karaical, then by car Velangani Marine Police Station at 8.30pm. Night stay there.

7^thDAY : 10.30am. we started trek from Velangani. Here Sea beach was not approachable for trek After 10 km, at 1.30 pm we took a car for Vederniyam Marine Police Station. Night stay there.

8^thDAY : Started trek at 7.00 am. After 9km we reached a river mouth. Waiting for boat but there was no boat available, we had to head back 5km. for reaching the road head we again took a car and reached our final destination Point Calimer At 4.00pm. This was the end point of our trek. Back and night stay at Vederniyam.

9^thDAY : By the 6.15am we start by bus, we reached Puducherry at 2.pm.

10^thDAY : Rest day at Puducherry.

11^thday : At 12.30pm we boarded the train for Howrah station.

12^thday : At 10.45pm we reached Howrah.

MEMBER LIST :-

1. SUJIT KR. RIT ( LEADER )

2. SUJOY MONDAL ( DY. LEADER )

3. CHANDAN ADHIKARI ( QUATERMASTER )

4. DEBIPROSAD DINDA

5. AMAL MUKHOPADHYA

6. PROSENJIT BAURI

7. MILAN ROY

8. RUDRA PAUL.

9. SOURAV GHOSAL

10. SONU SWAIN

11. ANUP BAURI

12. MILANKA SHEKHAR SUR

13. JAYANTA MONDAL.

OUR ROUTE MAP

We trekked 120km approx.

We used vehicles for 60km approx.

REPORT DETAILS :

8^thJanuary : We all 13 members gathered at Howrah station at 9.00 pm. We all met on 18no. platform. We were flagged off by Ujjal Roy and Bijay Dutta with their good wishes. Ujjal Roy gave his valuable advice in front of the participants of the coastal trek.

He handed over to the Leader, a gift pack for the team.

As per schedule time, the train left Howrah for Puducherry.

9^thJanuary :The whole day, we spent in train. For some time, we discussed about our total trek plan which was given by the Youth service dept.

10^thJanuary :We reached Puduchery station at 9 am. After taking a group picture we left the station for bus stand for Cuddolore. On the way we had our breakfast.

In the meantime, the Leader and Dy. Leader informed the police station, Puduchery about our program. At police station, we came to know that only Tamil Nadu Coastal Police has the authority to grant any permission regarding coastal trek. We trekked 4km from Puducherry station to bus stand for Cuddolore. Cuddalore is located at 11.75°N 79.75°E. It has an average elevation of 6 m (20 ft). The land is completely flat with large deposits of black and alluvial soil inland and coarse sand near the seashore. The sandstone deposits in the town are popular. The Pennayar river runs north of the town, while Gadilam river runs across it. Cuddalore is situated at a distance 18 km (11 mi) from Puducherry, temperatures range from 37 °C (99 °F) in January to 22.5 °C (72.5 °F). Being a coastal town, historically, Cuddalore's main industry was fishing. Although Cuddalore was once a port town, the shipping trade has now moved to larger centres. Cuddalore also hosts the heavy chemical, pharmacological and energy industries in SIPCOT. We reached coddulore township bus stand, here we came to know that we have to change bus no. 7, it takes half an hour to reach Cuddulore sea beach.

We reached silver beach at 12.30pm. The nearby beach police station didn’t entertain us with our program, they suggested us to meet with, DSP OR DFO for that. We met the DFO.From that office we were sent to Coastal police station,Cuddalore.

They went through the letter from the Youth Service Department and asked us for ID proof & Particular of all the members. After that they faxed the letter to the DSP Coastal police. Then the duty officer told us to wait for permission reply fax from DSP office. In between, we met again with our other members, those who were waiting for us at silver beach. We had our lunch with local Rice and Vada. After one and half hour we went again to the coastal police station. After 5 hrs. waiting the Sub Inspector told us that our permission was granted, but we were to be under custody of marine police always coz the beach is a protected area. That’s why always we are accompanied by police personnel for our safety and security. The Sub Inspector duty officer told us to report at the police station tomorrow morning at 6.30. He would arrange Police personal for us. Then we tried to get shelter at different schools, colleges and IMA house at nearby beach. Then we met the College Principal and the school Head madam but they said sorry. Now the sun was down towards west and the street lights were glowing and we were worried about our shelter. In the meantime, we noticed that one of our members left our stove in the bus, so the Leader and Dy.Leader had to rush to the nearby market by auto to purchase a stove. The auto driver suggested us that it’s a very safe place to take shelter in the College veranda. He showed us a broken wall through which we could easily enter the college from the backside. We made our dinner of Khichudi and entered our sleeping bags, tired.

11^thJanuary : at 6.30am, sharp, sujoy reported at the police station but Mr Provakaran SI. Had already reached along with two police personnel at Silver Beach. Now we officially started the first day of our coastal trek from Silver Beach, Cuddalore. After 5 kms. we reached Devanampattinam at 8.30am.It’s a fishing harbor on Gadilam river.

After walking 3 kms. through village road we were at the main road for bus coz there was no ferry service there. So we had to negotiate this area by bus. Within 20 min. at 9.30am.we were at Periyakuppam, 10 km. Had some breakfast of local food, Idli, available at rupees 5 / piece. At 10.15 am. We were again at sea shore.

After a 4 hr. long trek we took a break for some light food and tea, at Kumarapettai village at 1.30pm. Also we were waiting for another Police personnel who would now take charge of our team, Mr. Sarvannan (Police man). At 2.30pm. we again started our trek to Chinnur. At 3.30pm. we were at the bank of river Vellar, wide and no ferry service, so we again had to walk up to the roadside for bus to Port Novo. From here, by a Tata Ace, we reached Paranga pettai fishing port at 4.30pm.

Parangipettai historically called Porto Novo ("New Port" in Portuguese) is located on the north bank of the mouth of the Vellar river at a distance of 30 km from Cuddalore. The first iron and steel industry in India was constructed in Porto Novo in the year 1830. There we took shelter at the wholesale fish market meeting room for the night stay. There was also a light house. With the help of Mr. sarvananan we got some parantha for tiffin and collected some k oil and chicken for dinner. At 11.30pm we rolled out our mattresses.

12^thJanuary :Early in the morning, Mr. Sarvannan arranged a Tata Ace for us to negotiate the Vellar river and the mangrove forest area called Pichavaram mangrove forest and another river, Kollidam no ferry serviceWe reached Tirumullaivasel at 11.00 am. We used two cars, one up to Chidamvaram break down on half way no stepni and another to Trirumullaivasel. Here we had our breakfast with Parantha. Here we met with intelligence bureau police; they asked us a lot of questions although the marine police accompanied us. We satisfied them with all our members’ ID proof documents and the letter from our Youth Service Deppt., Govt. of West Bengal. After that we crossed a river branch named Uppanar by boat,and then we put our foot on a very nice virgin beach.

It was full of new features. Within 6 km we crossed two villages named Meelamoovarkarai and Keelamoovarkarai. Here, police personal Mr. K. A. Goramoorthy was waiting for us. After a 5km trek we reach Savalikuppam. Here had some cold drinks, temperature was 32 degree so it was too hot. After that we faced a river branch Of Uppnar (no ferry service) and by bus we reached Nyakarkuppam; here we changed bus to travel 5km to the sea beach Puthukuppam. Here we visited Museum at 4.30pm;

it is said that a big village sunk under sea, 5km under water here. A temple, 7 stories high, went underwater. The beach was full of boulders, protected from the land erosions by sea waves. The beach was restricted, so we had to follow the road. We walked through a boulder dam. After 6 km we reached another branch river of Kaveri; we crossed it on foot. The water level was up to thigh level. After another 5 km through village path we reached Poompuhar. There Mr Gajanan SI. Marine police was waiting for us, with his Police van. We boarded his Police van and reached Vanagiri Marine Police Station at 7 pm. Here we made our dinner own with fresh Prawn. Lights went off today at 11.00 pm.

13^thJanuary :Today we started late as marine police SI Mr. Gajananan reached office at 10.00am. and without his permission we could not move on the beach. So we started at 10.30 am. At 12.00 noon, after crossing a nice coastal area, approx. 6 km., we reached Thrangambadi fishing port at mouth of River Uppanar (no ferry service).

After a Trek through the village road for 4km we got a bus route for Chinnurpet, where Puducherry state Marine Police was waiting for us. Bus route was along the coastal line, near about 4km, so they gave us a lift to the coastal line; then we started our trek again at 1.30pm. We came across Mandapathur, Kottucherymedu, Kazakudimedu, Karaikalmedu, Kilinjalmedu, and then Karikal beach, known as tourist spots with lots of new features in the last 13 km coastal line. The area had a blue sea with beautiful lagoons were there. But the beach is restricted due to Snake prone area. Here we came across Arasalar River, which was not negotiable. After 3km,there were another two back water areas with muddy beach according to the information of Marine Police; they could not leave us for that risk zone; another river named Kaduvaiyer with a big basin area and a few more branches was not negotiable. So, they suggested us to go by bus up to Kalankonniand then continue the trek through cost line. We accepted their suggestion and decided to go to Valankonni, Karaikal beach by bus road, 4km; the police personnel arranged a vehicle for us. We reached the road head but it was Pongal festival time and that’s why we could not get local bus for Valankonni; at 6.30 we decided to hire a car for our own. The police arranged a Bolero van for us to Valankoni Marine Police Station. We reached there at 8.30pm; here we got into a trouble, shortage of drinking water due to unavailabilityof drinking water. Everywhere in Valankoni drinking water is available by either municipality home delivery service or you have to purchase 20 lit. jar for use. So, we had to go to the market to purchase drinking water and some chicken as we had skipped lunch today. Light went off next day at 12.30 am.

14^thJanuary :As per our daily routine, we started early in the morning at 6.30, but the marine police official joined us as late. We dialed him up at 7 and we came to know that he will come at 10. Consequently, we had to start late. Without Marine Police we could not move on, as per strict order; so, we took our breakfast and we started at 10.30, morning. As per their information, we could only walk by coast for 6km after which we would get river Vellaiyar; it has man height depth, fast flow, full of snakes. So there is no question of trying to cross it. We also could not get any boat for crossing. At 12.00, after 9km walk from marine office we were at the bank of river Vellaiyer, really it was not negotiable, so without wasting any time we again started walking for bus stand, it was 5km from coast line. Within mid-day temperature was 31 degrees, too hard to walk through village road. One of our members, Jayanto was suffering from loose motion due to the hot and dry climate. Debiprosad was suffering from high temperature. Due to shortage of local buses we hired a bolero max van for Vedaranyam. It was 38 km. As per marine police, the area was full of mangrove forest, full of saline back water. The soft muddy beach was not possible for trekking.

Another risk factor was snakes. That’s why we were bound to take this decision to negotiate by car. At 3 pm we boarded the Van for Vedarranyam and reached there at 5 pm. After reaching there we accommodated in a ½ room shared with another Police personnel already over there. Room was in a too bad condition, without electricity, without drinking water; we arranged drinking water in 20 lit jars from market, we could not get any k oil in our 3hr hunt in the market and some other places. So we took our dinner at bus stand with Parantha, on request, in a sweet shop as all shops and markets were closed for Pongal festival over there. Our members took shelter for night we were passing our night at open air roof the room was full of Mosquitoes. No light or fan over there.

15^thJanuary :Early in the morning, our members collected some koil, we had our breakfast with bread and banana. Now we were ready to touch our end point, Point Calimere, (10° 17′ 16.08″ N, 79° 51′ 54.36″ E ) also called Cape Calimere, is a low headland on the Coromandel Coast, in the Nagapattanam district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

It is the apex of the Cauvery River delta, and marks a nearly right-angle turn in the Coastline. The forests of Point Calimere, also known the Vedaranyam forests, are one of the last remnants of the dry evergreen forests that were once typical of the East Deccan dry evergreen forests Eco region. The Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, with an area of 24.17 km^2. The sanctuary includes the cape and its three natural habitat types: dry evergreen forests, mangrove forests, and wetlands.

It was 21km from marine police station where we were staying. This coastal line is restricted area, the area under Kodaikarai Reserve forest, flat beach with full of muddy, bushy jungle, with wildlife. Main barrier is a number of poisonous snakes. It needs prior permission from DFO, Nagapattanam to cross this area. We had no information about this. This area is under control of Coast Guard and Indian Navy. As because it is only 60km, by boat, to Sri Lanka from here, as per local information. So, marine police didn’t like to assist us for trek in this area. They said they could only allow us to point Calimere beach by car and that is two hours journey. So we became disheartened; we had no other way for trek to reach point Calimere. So by the help of marine police we arranged a tata ace van for up and down from Vederranyam police station to Point Calimere. Also there was no shelter for us. In this situation we decided to start for our end point after lunch. As per marine police official one police person would always be with us, all the time for the entire trek. We started at 1 pm and reached there at 3 pm. A 20km journey, mostly off road, through Kodikarai reserve forest area. Finally, our 13 members’ team reached at Point Calimere. Our dream came true. We spent 2hr here, enjoyed the success. Here is a light house and Tsunami alert station under control of Indian Navy, which is open for visitors from 10am to 5 pm. After paying the entry fees you can entered the place. Nice place to see the total area from the top of the light house. (Our fees considered )Our members also enjoyed this.Then we came back to Vedaranyam police station and spent our night in open air. At 11.00 pm we faced some rain with wind so we were late tonight to sleep. After 1hr the rain stopped and we took rest in roof under open sky.

16^thJanuary :Today, all members were ready to start at 5.30am. It was a rainy morning; we reached bus stand for 6.15am direct bus for Puducherry, 160km, 6hr journey. We had our breakfast at Valankoni and we reached Puducherry at 1.30pm.Puducherry( 11.911082°N 79.812533°E) lies in the Southern Part of the Indian Peninsula Puducherry is one of the most popular tourist spots for National and International tourists. Puducherry was the residence of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) and the Sri Aurobindo Ashram still operates from Puducherry. A unique experimental city Auroville, the brainchild of the Mother, whose inhabitants are drawn from all parts of the world is situated on the outskirts of the city. There are several temples, churches, monuments, parks and mosques which attract tourists. We were try to accommodate us at Sri Arovindo Asrom but with out prior booking Its not possible to get room there. We arrange our accommodation at bus stand near by hotel. Its now 2.30pm so we have our lunch at hotel with south Indian Biriyani, with Smbore. Any way its not the Moughole dish which we known its conventional test. After fresh some of our members went to Arovindo Asram near by beach. Few stay at hotel Jayanto was sick due to his stomach upset. Some of us arrange. Dinner for night. At 9.30 we gathered at meeting room for our postmortem meeting of our program. All members were happy for this nice and successful program. After meeting we had our dinner with egg curry and rice. Light off at 11.30.

17^thJanuary : Complete rest day. Members enjoyed the day roaming around the visiting places at Puducherry. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram is a well known spiritual ashram in India, with devotees and seekers from India and all over the world flocking to it for spiritual salvation. Its spiritual tenets represent a synthesis of yoga and modern science. The Ashram was founded in 1926 by Sri Aurobindo Ghose, an Indian freedom fighter, poet, philosopher, and yogi.
MirraAlfassa (also known as ‘The Mother’) was spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who was born in Paris and was so inspired by his philosophy that she stayed on in Pondicherry. After 24 November 1926, when Sri Aurobindo retired into seclusion, she founded his ashram (Sri Aurobindo Ashram), with a handful of disciples living around the Master. With Sri Aurobindo's full approval she became the spiritual guru of the community, a position she held until her death. The Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, which she had registered after Sri Aurobindo's death in 1950 continues to look after the institution. The idea of Auroville or the "City of Dawn" was conceived by ‘The Mother’.
It is open to the public daily between 8 a.m.& 12 noon and 2 p.m.& 6 p.m. Children below 3 years of age are not allowed into the ashram and photography is not allowed. Some of the Ashram’s facilities like the Library and the Main Building (during collective meditation) can be accessed, only after obtaining a gate pass from the Bureau Central or some of the Ashram Guest Houses. It is located on 12, Rue De La Marine.
Auroville (City of Dawn) is an experimental township which is situated 8 km north-west of Pondicherry in East Coast Road. It was founded in 1968 by Mirra Alfassa (also known as The Mother), the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo. As per the Mother's vision and guidance Auroville was designed by the French architect Roger Anger.
Pondicherry Museum has a gallery with sculptures and has the remains of archaeological findings from the Arikamedu Roman settlement.
The Botanical Garden is located south of the New Bus Stand. The gate leading to the garden is reminiscent of French architecture and it stands out from its immediate surroundings because it is in the middle of the old Tamil town.
18^thJanuary: All members got ready for journey home. We reached railway station at 11.30am with our packed lunch of fried rice and chicken from hotel. As per railway time table, the train was to depart at 12.30 pm from Puducherry for Howrah.
19^thJanuary : As per schedule time, train reached Howrah station 10.40.pm.

SIGNATURE :

( SUJOY MONDAL) DY. LEADER.