The Philosophy of Travel
The urge for travel might be a genetic trait of human beings .The history of human journeys are as old as the origin of the human civilizations .Inspired by the various instincts, Human beings used to travel from the very beginning of ancient ages.The Great human migration,which began from African continent, crosses the country and continent borders and spread all over the globe, then ,by the ages , the human beings aimed the extra terrestrial world and began their journeys to the unknown planets of the universe.The human journeys were motivated by various instincts , some of then were the painful dispersals,some of them were migrations to the lands of promises in search of better prospects , some of them were sacred pilgrimages in search of holy blessings , Yet some journeys had nothing to do with declared goals, they were just the wanderings without any pre determined itinerary .They are the journeys inspired by the curiosity to see the unknown world , to enjoy the beauty of nature , to know the lives of the outside world and to decode the secrets of some
mysteries
of the universe .These humans spent their entire life for travel or
dedicated their life for travel , to them life is to travel , they gained knowledge and attained wisdom through their journeys . They
revealed the unknown parts of the globe to us , and amused the entire civilization with the tales and fables of unexplored world, they
spread the myths and culture of our land to farthest of the globe and
ignited our genetical urge to travel with the travelogues of their
adventure journeys .They strongly believed that the various cultures
of the world should be fused together in order to form a huge liberal
world civilization that will treat the entire human civilization as
the strings of a same garland . They dreamt of such a world and
spread the message global humanity around the globe .
Huyan
tsang, Fahiyan , Magellan,Ibn batuta, Lawrence, Muhammed Asad etc are
the historical personalities,
who led the world travel culture and paved the way for the crazy travelers .Of course, the urge for travel is the genetical trait of
human beings , and this genus contributed a lot to the great idea of
universal humanity .The human civilization still pursue their travels
to the new destinations , they keep traveling together even though
the goal varies .
Travel Trance
Some journeys are to go only
once in life , such itinerary meant just to have a look and return
back and the curiosity of such places will vanish with a first look
itself .Every traveler might have such offbeat destinations in his
nomadic life, which the traveler wouldn't like to visit again.Yet
some trips are to go back again and again , such place will seduce
the traveler with fresh visuals and ethereal feelings, one cannot
depart the place for ever, each returns of the traveler becomes an
interval for another visit .The travels ,which seems like a
pilgrimage might be spiritual wanderings of the traveler .Most
probably , a traveler finds such destinations accidentally or in an
unexpected manner , often a step in wrong direction from the route or
the result of a purposeful deviation in search of a resting place .
I turned up in Masinagudi,
a Tamil forest village , in such an unexpected way of travel.Years
before, inspired by wildlife photography , my travel to bandipur
ended up in masinagudi.The lorry driver who offered a lift from
gudallur , told me about masinagudi and detailed how to get
there.He added that the possibility of sighting animals will be high
at Masinagudi and one can have an economic stay there.Its a place the
so called tourists rarely visiting and for a jungle traveler , it
would be the an ideal place.After getting down at theppakkadu tri
junction, took a deviation in to the right direction and started my
repeated travel to masinagudi.That,later, proved to be one of the
right moment in my travel life.
Some History of Masinagudi
Masinagudi
got its name from the name of goddess masiniyamma.This place believed
to be, once, the capital city of Wayanad kingdom. The myths about
this place is that , several communities were migrated to this place
in order to find an asylum during the attack of Tipu sultan.These
communities included the Okkiliyars, who were farmers; the
Vokkaligas, a warrior community; the Kannadiya Naickers of Lingayath
origin, which comprised of mainly infantry; the Siviars, mainly
palanquin bearers; the Besthavars, which included fishermen,
palanquin bearers, lime burners and kiln workers; the Kurumbars, who
were mainly shepherds; and the Rauths, that made up the cavalry. The
people brought their family deities along with them. Legend has it
that when the army closed in on them, these many different
communities prayed to “Masiniamman” to keep them safe. After the
people crossed the Moyaar River, it flooded, hence preventing the
army from effectively pursuing them. This happened around the present
town of Masinagudi. To show their gratitude, the people constructed a
temple and consecrated the deities of “Masiniamman”, who
continues to be the family deity of these communities in the area.
Wilderness
Masinagudi is an ecological sensitive area, It has of paramount importance in the ecological balancing process of our earth .This is an area ,where human beings and wildlife having a peaceful co existence .This area is the buffer zone of Mudumala Tiger Reserve and the border area of Bandipur National Park .The Moyar river,which is a tributary of bhavani river ,separates masinagudi and Bandipur .The Masinagudi is an integral part of 778.8 sqkm Segur plateau .Segur plateau is an important wildlife corridor which combines the Western ghat and Eastern ghat .This is home for more than 6000 elephants and holds the number one position in nation in number of elephants and tigers.The Segur Plateau is the most important part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, the first biosphere reserve in India, incorporated in the UNESCO's Man and Biosphere (MAB) project. So masinagudi is a geologically and ecologically important place in the region. It is not surprising that this region, which is a hot spot of Indian wildlife, has become a dream place of wildlife lovers and photographers.
The jeep
safari through the masinagudi moyar road is the highlight of
Masinagudi trip .The 10 km long road ends in Moyar Dam area, then
separated into smaller roads and entering moyar's suburbs.The dry
forest ecosystem of this area turned this place as a haven for
wildlife. Just because the geographical
proximity to the Sathyamangalam forest and eastern ghat, this area is
one of the most important elephant corridor in the nation and that is
why elephant herds are a common sighting here , moreover,one can
expect the sighting of tiger,leopard,sloth bear,wild dog,and black
bucks here .Masinagudi is rich in bird diversity .Including the Red
headed vulture and white rumped vulture, which are under the threat
of extinction , this area hosts 260 species of birds .There has been
reports of breeding sites of those vultures. This place has some
reported sightings of very rare Egyptian vulture also .In masinagudi,
one might have a chance to sight stripped hyena, if luck is there,
and this is the only spot in south India,where one can expect the
sighting of stripped hyenas .The hyena population in nilgiri area now
fallen heavily and the population shrinked in to some pockets of
masinagudi.
The
surrounding hamlets like singara,bokkapura,vazhathottam are the
other attractions of the traveller and masinagudi really an entrance
to that hamlets, it opens the door to some heavenly places. E.R.C
Davidar, the jungle man of India,set up his dream jungle home named
chital walk at Bokkapura, where he lived in complete harmony with
wild animals . In this same place Mark davidar, son of E.R.C Davidar
, lived with the company of wild elephants , Mark named the elephants
after Brazilian football stars and his favorite was the giant
Rivaldo.His was the story of unusual bonhomie of man animal co
existence .
The
Murugan Temple at Murugan Hill is another attraction of Bokkappura, a
light trek leads you to a another world of scenic beauty .The aerial
view of forests in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu can be enjoyed here. In
spite of all its unique beauty, people rarely visiting this place ,
just because , one need to have a trek to get this place
Masinagudi, now on the verge of
a major turning point and facing a crucial moment in its history .A
section of people in Masinagudi are worried about the decision to
take over the private land in the forest related to the Tamil Nadu
forest department's elephant development project. Though the
government has agreed to the demand for rehabilitation of homes, they
fear that this step will destroy Masinagudi's main source of income,
as well as the resort and hotel business. The local people sharing
their apprehension over after effects of such actions on the economy
of masinagudi.But there are other sections which believe that the
wildlife and environment of the Masinagudi, which have been destroyed
by illegal resorts, home stays and tourism, will be preserved through
it and ultimately it will strengthen the region's survival.
Authorities say that there is only some restriction of tourism and
they do not want to prohibit it. They have to retain the ecosystem of
masinagudi , that has been collapsed due to the lack of some
restrictions
