Leaving Muhamma at 530AM, we had paddled along the western shores of Vembanadu Lake, crossing the Thaneermukkam bund, we stopped for breakfast. The Thaneermukkam bund holds saline water from entering Vembanadu lake and keeps much of Alapuzha "fresh". The previous day, we witnessed heated debate about the pros & cons of the bund, at the neighbourhood meeting, Muhamma.
After breakfast we paddled north, with the distant din of the barge that was transporting dredged clams. The barge for me symbolized all that is wrong, driven by our greed! The same clams that kept Vembanadu lake clean, were being dredged at industrial scale, to meet the demand of some cement factory, close to Kottayam. In India, development is at the expense of environment!
The mid-day sun was taking its toll, as we neared
Thavanakadavu, west of the temple
town, Vaikom and 16km from Muhamma. It was past 3PM, when after lunch we
headed to the Ernakulum Sailing Association, Panangad; 17Km away.
Around 530PM we halted close to Kaithapuzha lake for tea and relished the
setting sun. The trip to Panangad for some reason took eternity and the dusk
quickly gave way to darkness with no human soul or landmark, to seek direction.
We did not have any maps and initially pedalled
using dead reckoning, and as the night took over, reference points merged into
the darkness. The distant lights just made the destination difficult to decipher.
We poured over mobile maps and GPS to decide our course. It was getting late,
past 8PM and distant lights made our choices difficult. Each of us had a course
that was different from the other and we pitched for choices of the opposite
kind. The resulting tension did add up to a crisis situation and it flashed in
my mind on what the worst consequences could be. The low tide was taking us further away from our destination and thats when we realized, we could not see one of our team members. The location was few miles
east of were a navy
personnel disappeared after he jumped to rescue a civilian. Where
the backwaters meet the sea; currents are strong, the water is deep and with darkness, its amplified! That night, the fear of
having a situation on hand looked real.
Finally we called Rajesh, the sailing instructor
at Ernakulum Sailing Association and requested him to flash a light, for us to home into. It was past 830PM, as we went past Chinese fishing nets and feeling the power of the outgoing tide to reach our destination for the day.
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| Ernakulum Sailing Association, office bearers with Rajesh (Second from left) |
The expereience from Kaithapuzha lake affected us all and lingered for the rest of the expedition. As we set in motion the plans for 2015 with 7 kayakers, Kaithapuzha Lake haunts.
What personalities will each of the 7 kayakers be? How do we ensure that each
of them understand the risks involved and stay committed to the larger team...these are fears that I have as I look back on what was the worst day of
the trip in 2014.
Many a times crisis do bring out exceptional solidarity even among strangers. And I am looking forward to it.
ReplyDeleteIt was indeed a crisis but was a great opportunity to learn many lessons. First of all, we had maps with GPS on our mobiles. What surprised me was your hesitation to accept and follow the route suggested by the GPS. I had to split away and follow GPS maps when you guys started paddling the wrong direction towards Manakunnam, completely ignoring what GPS suggested, and purely following your course insisting that was the correct route. That would have been a disaster. And the end story is, with the help of GPS tracking I managed to reach the destination easily and safe.
ReplyDeleteAnees you are right, we missed an opportunity. Its a learning and are planing to avoid similar situations in 2015.
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