• The route preferring for the trip would be to travel to Papanasam first, enjoy the Agasthiyar falls and the cascade flow of the river near the temple, and visit the temple. For lunch either get your lunch packed on the way at Ambasamudram [to avoid a detour] or have it at Coutrallam. Enjoy all the falls at Coutrallam and return back.
• Planning for a two days trip, then with the above route of having Papanasam as the first destination can spend some more time there, and then come to Coutrallam and spend time. And for the next day, you can plan to visit the �Fruit Garden Falls�, which has restricted access, as special permission is required. This can be arranged with prior information by some cab facilitators. (Our Cab Facilitator�s details � Hameeda Cabs- Ph. 0462 � 2322186, Cell No. 94431-94971)
• Travel light with very less valuable items, and if having a reliable cab fellow who would stay always near the vehicle, dump the same in it for safety rather than carrying along.
• Avoid weekends if possible, and as one can enjoy more on weekdays as it would be less crowded.
• Apply some oil before venturing for the falls, which would, safeguards your existing hair, and avoid soaps and shampoos.

Start of our trip
We (7 girls with my sister, and all others office colleagues) started off during the mid month of August 2003, which is the best time of year to visit, boarding the Kanyakumari Express at Egmore departing from Chennai in the evening. With full of enthusiasm for the next day ahead, we commenced our holiday munching off a pack of chips, groundnuts and a few interesting rounds of card game.

By 8pm, we were all exhausted and with our appetite already roaring, prepared for the dinner session, which was superb and heavy with each of us packing a little extra for the others, with the list of items varying from tasty idlis, chapathy, aloo parathas, green peas with raw mango, lemon rice, tamarind rice and with sweet curd as the dessert. And before winding up to bed for the day, we played Dumb-C with movie names as clues for identifying ending up by 10pm avoiding botheration for the others deciding to continue the next day on our return journey.

Journey towards our destination
The next crack of dawn for us was by 5am, freshening up ourselves for the day along with hot strong coffee & tea. By the time, the train screeched to stop at Tirunelveli it was 6.30am, about half an hour late than its schedule.

At the entrance, we had our transportation vehicle booked ahead, ready. We hurriedly loaded our baggages and started for our destination Coutrallam through Tenkasi, which was about 52Km, and as we approach the falls at about 5-10kms, one feels the change in the atmosphere with cool breeze blowing. We finished our breakfast of bread, butter, jam and some left idli�s and biscuits during our journey, reaching the place by 8am.

Five Falls
As we approached the Five Falls, we got ready for our bath with an oil massage for our hairs. We were instructed by our driver, Rahman to be careful of our gold and valuable articles (which of course we dumped inside the vehicle) as there were many reports of theft. But with all the enthu when we approached the falls, it was a disappointment, firstly being the crowd [that�s not a big regret as you find the horde at every place] a set of unruly gang of public. And secondly the falls was divided into two with 3 major flow of the falls allocated for the gents and the other 2 very thin streams of water gush for the ladies. And last of all, the place was very very badly managed, with people just squeezing in and out in the same direction creating suffocation, with all possibilities of a stampede to just get a chance of getting oneself a shower of the falls on the head. And people all over using shampoos, soaps and even some were brushing their teeth. We tried to get a shower ourselves, but seeing the outrageous behavior of our people, we just had a nice feeling and rather shower with the sprinkle (�saral�) of the falls and rushed out to check out the condition of the other falls.

The main falls has a separate entrance, and for each falls there is an entry fee of Rs.30/- collected for vans/cars. This falls had a uniform flow of water divided into two sections, and very well regulated with queues maintained and people left in batches to enjoy the falls for few minutes, with strict instructions on the non-usage of shampoo�s at least near the segregated area. Here one can see, siva lingas carved on the rocks between the path of the flow of water. We enjoyed our slot of time under the falls with the water falling on our heads like pebbles. We had good hot bajjis�s after the cool shower. There were lot of shops out here selling herbal products, oils, and variety of fruits. Just at about 10-15minutes of walk, is the honey falls, single cascade of falls where also one can go and enjoy. There is a temple nearby which can be visited of Thirukutralanathar, an aspect of Lord Siva, meaning the lord of the three peaks. This temple is in the shape of a conch, signifying Vishnu, hence, also known as the Sangu shrine.

Near-by all the falls, there are facilities provided for change of dress at a very nominal cost of Re.1- Rs.2/-. But it would be very good if there are places available, which are better, maintained, and would not mind to pay more especially for ladies. Suggest people who have not taken up accommodation can use these, else it would be advisable to change over at that place of stay as the clothes gets dried up fast (recommend to wear such dress materials).

Enchanting Old Falls
Next we headed towards the Old Falls, with on the way wanted to check out the Tiger Falls with our driver�s hint falling on deaf ears. With the loads of zeal, we rushed to get a glimpse of the falls, which was again a frustration, as there was just a small cascade of water flowing, which could not be termed as a falls. We repented to have wasted the amount paid as entrance fees and started for our destination � Old falls, which was at about 10kms.

At the Old Falls, the water was pouring down from a height of 200 feet, but steps has been formed out into the rocks, such that water's free fall is broken at six places, with force reduced when it falls on our heads, and here too there was a partition of the falls.

This place was also regulated with cops, but can be bit stricter, with boards put up for warning and penalties collected for violation for the usage of soaps and shampoos. At this place you had options of booking the change rooms, with locks available. But the main problem at this point was traffic regulation, the people at the entrance who keep track of the in and out flow of vehicles when collecting the entrance fee, can very well judge the facility and manage the parking and smooth surge of movement of vehicles.

Captivating Locale of Papanasam
After a great lunch, we headed locale backwards towards Papanasam where we had plans to go to Agasthiyar falls at about 12kms, with about 2 kms drive up within forest department�s area where the entry is restricted after 6pm. An admission fee of Rs.5/- for each individual and Rs.10/- for the vehicle is collected.

The water at the falls gushes in full force and is very tempting to drench oneself. The place is not that crowded, and we enjoyed it to the fullest with a bite of sweet & sour mangoes. As we go up towards the falls, the view below is superb seen with the temple amidst the flow of the river. This falls is from the river Tamiraparani, small and has just 2 outlets with less facility for changeover in comparison to the earlier visited place.

There is a small temple dedicated to commemorate the event when Sage Agasthiyar was requested to move here to balance the southern parts as all the population had traveled northwards to witness the marriage of God Siva & Goddess Parvati and he witnessed the marriage function live from this place.

As we were going upward towards the falls, we had a view of the river flowing down, with a place as shown in all tamil village movies where-in the heroine�s walk about crossing the river flowing as a small cascade. So we decided to spend more time there rather than at the falls as all of us had changed our clothes, and requested the driver to take us there.

There was a small muddy road behind the Papanasam Shiva temple, where in after a 2 minutes drive, the vehicle halted with 2-3 other groups having parked theirs, and from there we just walked another 5 minutes to reach this beautiful place. The locales around were washing and bathing on the riverside, and the other groups of populace were enjoying their moment in the water. We too got into the water and crossed the small flow of river, to reach this complete cascade of flow of the river, with the path being about a meter�s plain cement path throughout with no slippery points at all, on one side flowing as a cascade and the other end not so deep with small boys plunging in for a swim. The water was cool, clean and pleasant with rocks at places to have a relaxed time if one does not want to venture into the stream. As one walks along this path, when seen from at a distance looks like the person is walking on water. This was the most enjoyable part of our whole trip.

By about 4pm, we winded up and started back to Tirunelveli, of course try to visit the temple, but it re-opens only again by 5pm. The return way towards was a bit of bumpy ride with roads in bad shapes at certain places. At about 19-20Km away from Tirunelveli, there was a beautiful spot with full of lush trees and a small river flowing at the side end of it, giving the impression of a forest, would be a very nice place for a picnic lunch or a bit of relaxation. (Nearby Sun Paper Mills Ltd.,)

Published by Dibbi,August, 2003