Kerala’s Most Beautiful Place Munnar | South India | Kolukkumalai

Everyone knows about the beautiful mountains of Himalayas and North East but have you ever seen these beautiful mountains of South India? These mountains of the Western Ghats of India are so special and high that it is the same place where the tea grows at the highest altitude in the world. From the World’s highest tea plantation to the highest peak of the South India, from pleasant weather to beautiful waterfalls, everything is here.

This is the Kerala’s most beautiful place, Munnar. Situated on the highest mountain of Western Ghats Munnar is spread across a height of 4,500 feet to 8,800 feet. And despite being just 100 km away from the Arabian Ocean, the weather here is such that during winters the temperature goes below zero degrees.

And because of this special weather, Munnar is home to the some of the world’s most special teas. These lush green mountains spread far and wide are the Tea Gardens which gives a new identity to this landscape of Munnar. As soon as the light of sunrise falls on these small mountains here, they all start shining like gold Seeing these mountains covered in fog right in front of my eyes was like a dream for me.

These beautiful tea gardens are spread over Correction *130 million square meters* of Munnar which also includes many beautiful villages. And among those a beautiful village of Munnar exists. Surrounded by tea garden This is “Suryanelli”.

You can see some beautiful huts right in the middle of these tea gardens of Suryanelli. As soon as I saw these huts I started roaming here to know about them. This is a lovely village near Munnar and you can see in a very different way some houses have been built here in the shape of huts.

And yes, these are some concrete houses with tin roofs but they are built in the shape of huts and looks very beautiful. And on their tin roofs you will see some plants, there is also some soil kept up there and some sacks of soil are kept and plants have grown on them and all the houses have this same type of paint, that is why I came here on this side. All the doors of the houses are similar and painted in the same way, I don’t know why?

I will ask about it as I want to know what all this is. Just right behind this there is a beautiful mountain view, this place is full of greenery, It is a very beautiful village. Namastey!

(Greetings! ) Hindi or English? Tamil.

Only Tamil. Your house? My house.

So why did you put these plants on the roofs? Mumbling in local language. Plants?

Mumbling in his local language ( Difficult for me to understand). Laughs! Are these your houses?

That one is yours. Okay. Why you have put these plants on top?

Mumbling again in her local language. Why? Trying to explain the reason in her local language.

Fertiliser? Why? Laughs!

So, just now I have made a very unsuccessful attempt to talk to people here because they don’t know either Hindi Or English, not at all, but the people were very nice and they tried to answer me at least but let it be, we will see and try again. There is a problem in having a conversation because our India is so diverse that while In the North, Hindi is the common language, here in the South, Malayalam or Tamil becomes the common language. And even if you go somewhere in your country or abroad and you also know another language, then by interaction you can get a chance to know about new places and other cultures.

And one such language which helps you to meet other people not only in India but also outside India and that is English. Yes, I know that most people know basic English but they have a little trouble in speaking it but there is a solution to this problem That is “Duolingo” which is the world’s most popular and free language learning app It’s Intermediate English Course can help you to level up your English very easily like a game. If you just practice or should I say play on “Duolingo” for 10 minutes daily then just in few days you will be impressed by your own English.

Well, after some time, I got the answers to all of my questions. This is your house? Yes!

They are all quarters. Quarters? My wife here is on duty.

Okay! Your wife works here as a tea worker? So, this is basically the quarters for tea workers.

My house is there. Okay Okay! Can you tell me why every wall is painted with blue colour?

It’s because of HML company’s rules. Ohh company’s rules. Okay!

But it looks good, very very nice. And why there are plants on the roofs? The weather is windy here and it adds weight to the roof.

So, it acts as a weight. To protect it from wind so it won’t blow away. Laughs!

Okay Okay! Where are you from? I am from Delhi.

Delhi. So, in these houses those people live who keeps these beautiful looking tea gardens as beautiful as they are, they maintain them so well they look so beautiful only because they work hard in these gardens from morning till night. It takes so much time to maintain them that the tea garden’s companies provide them beautiful huts here in which they can live and look after the tea garden, so it means it takes too much dedication to maintain the tea garden that they have to leave their homes and live in these huts.

After learning about all this I decided to visit the tea gardens up close. So, the tea gardens that are near the houses in which I was roaming earlier are so beautiful, I mean it feels like that all your senses are opening up, walking here in these tea gardens. hearing these nice sounds of flowing water, singing birds and when looking at such beautiful sights through your eyes or this cool breeze on the face, I mean now you can feel all your senses that is how refreshing the walk is here.

Amidst these tea gardens beautiful waterfalls also flows But I did not expect that I would get to drink tea from these same tea gardens only, which this family offered me with great love. Tea? What do we call this tea?

Black Tea? Black Tea. Does aunty understand Hindi or English?

Ahh No, she understands and speaks Tamil only. The tea is very nice, nice. The way they welcomed me and the way they served me tea, I mean I had tea at many places before but along with tea they have served me so many things.

What is this? It is Sev( Snacks). Sev(Snacks).

I had met them in a very basic way but they treated me like a special guest. Very nice. Milk?

Is this milk cake? In Malayalam it is called “ Paal Halwa”. Paal Halwa (Pudding).

Okay, Okay! So, there are very beautiful tea gardens and the people who looks after them are also very hardworking and very kind-hearted people who live here in suryanelli. The reason I came to Suryanelli was to see World’s highest tea plantation “ Kolukkumalai”, but there is no paved road from Suryanelli to Kolukkumalai, so you have to pass through these tea gardens only, and the only way to travel is by taking this jeep safari.

This one-hour-long off-road route is so difficult that the drivers here call it a full-body massage. Well the route will be difficult only because from above you are going to see a view of heaven. So, if tea is grown at the highest altitude anywhere in the world, it is only here in India and that too in Kerala’s Kolukkumalai, the highest tea plantation in the World.

So, at this moment, you can see tea gardens around me or behind me. there is no other tea garden in the entire world located higher than these. These beautiful tea gardens, which are chatting clouds are at a height of 7,000 ft, on the border of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

And these tea gardens are surrounded by huge mountains. And from the top of these mountains that is from the highest point of Kolukkumalai, You will get to see a view that you might have rarely seen anywhere else. These uniquely shaped mountains with the clouds moving around them create such a sight that no matter how much you look at it, you can never get enough of it.

Although Kolukkumalai is the world’s highest tea plantation, but from here I can see world’s best view. In fact, This mountain in front of me is very unique. I have never seen a mountain like this before, it is very beautiful.

No doubt, it was a very beautiful sight but now I want to show you a mountain higher than this but before going there I saw this beautiful waterfall on the way. “Chinnakanal Waterfall” . This waterfall does not seem very big when seen from road, but when you observe it from a distance, You can truly appreciate its height.

This beautiful waterfall flows in the middle of the road and making it more special because it’s easily accessible without the need for trekking. After passing through various forests and the villages of Munnar, I reached a beautiful peak. which is not only the highest peak of Munnar but also of the entire South India.

“Anamudi” . The peak, standing at 8,800 feet, is higher than the Shimla and Manali town. that is, there is no higher point than this in India except the Himalayas.

And because of this, this peak is also called “ Everest of South India”. Surrounded by beautiful tea gardens and forests, this peak stands proudly in this entire area. And it got the name Anamudi due to the shape of this mountain.

In Malayalam, “Anai” is called “Elephant” and “Mudi is called ”Head” because the shape of this mountain resembles the shape of an Elephant’s head. And its top is not made of soil or a tree, on its top there is a huge stone, it is like a very huge rock, because there is no soil, no tree, whatever water, rain occurs, it flows by forming streams and waterfalls, you can see waterfall flowing down that looks so beautiful and really enhancing its beauty. And emerging from this stunning peak, you can see a stream that forms a waterfall and then a river that flows from from that waterfall right in front of you.

And seeing all of these together, it couldn’t be a more perfect view than this. Some beautiful houses are also situated along this river. These houses with green roofs blend in completely with the greenery around and from a distance, only the smoke coming from them is visible.

Similar to the houses in Suryanelli, there were some weights on the roof, But here grass was also placed on the roof. After speaking with the locals, I discovered that the grass helps to prevent the tin roofs from getting too hot in the sun. And following the smoke I reached the kitchen because even today in these houses food is cooked on a wood stove.

These huts were also the homes of the tea workers who look after these beautiful tea gardens. After coming 2,500 kilometres away from my home. what’s different here didn’t impact me as much as similarities did.

Thank you! Namastey! (Greetings!

). What do we call Namastey in Tamil? Namaskaram!

(Greetings! ). Even though “ Namastey” has changed to “Namaskaram” or “Vanakkam” “Vanakkam” but saying it with folded hands has not changed.

The tea may have turned into black tea by the time it reached here, but having it together has not changed. Nice, Nice, Very Nice. Even if the language is different, what matters is to hear it once with a smile.

Okay, Bye! I’ve realized how much of a difference it makes when we focus on what we have in common rather than what’s different. Because when you think in this way, you become like everyone else, and then everyone becomes like you.

Because there is no harm in being different but there is harm in creating differences from everyone.