MEPPAYUR NEAR CALICUT

Somewhere in 1992 I made a surprise visit to Calicut for some documentation work at the Calicut University. I had noticed some mistake in the totaling of marks and got it corrected by the University. Calicut had changed from what I saw in 1986 but the morning weather was pleasant and I went to my local contact capt. Srinivasan at the Zila Sainik Welfare board and stayed there..meeting Capt. Srinivasan that afternoon..an emotional meeting of having seen him after a long hiatus. Anoop the son of my uncle was studying medicine at calicut at that time and he joined us that evening and we had a stroll all over Calicut.

Few days down the line I went to the home town of Capt. Srinivasan..Meppayur and stayed there for a few days.It was a memorable few days ..the geography of this place was not well known to me then but now I understand it better. Meppayur is a town almost at the foot of he western ghat mountains..no wonder the bus takes a right turn at Koilandy and goes deep inland crossing few rivers in the process and reaching this place.I found a very silent hamlet in meppayur at that time barring few buses that travel into this place occasionally..there was TV which was the only source of entertainment.

Why I chose to write about these events would be a welcome gesture. I just remembered this place out of the blue. What I did the following day was truly an act of temerity. Climb the mountain in the rear of the house which must be few thousand feet and reaching the pinnacle and thereafter having a look at the huge stretch of mountains that looked yonder.What a sight...what I saw ahead was probably  the Karnataka state ahead.

The following day both of us set out early and chose to cross the river by boat..and what happenned there after was amusing having to cling on to the edge of a jeep for some ten kilometers to reach  Koilandy..this was a risky journey in  many ways as the jeep was driven very fast with quick swirls.

So much so about Meppayur..the whole place must have changed now ..a peaceful hamlet with large houses and the serenity of this place is worth tonnes in gold.