| Kodiveri Where you can just be, writes SUBHA J RAO |
Hold your breath! It's the Kodiveri dam. Photo: K. Ananthan
The entrance to the anicut at Kodiveri is a study in stunning contrast. On one side of the bridge, water flows without as much as a ripple. The other side, it gushes with bottled fury. Walk a little further to reach a vast expanse of water, and see it force itself through a layered surface hewn out of a rock face, taking on the shape of two frothy mini waterfalls (thanks to the 4.6 metre drop down stream). Waiting bathers shout with joy under the spray. Onlookers cannot help get wet too, the misty spray enveloping you in chillness.
Time has almost stood still in the breathtaking anicut, built in the 17th Century by a Mysore king who harnessed the strength of his prisoners and elephants to carve through a 20-foot mass of cyclopean stones. The stones have been interlocked with iron-bars and clamps and mortared with lead, none of which you can see when water is in full flow during the monsoons. The anicut was intended to channel the water from the Bhavani Sagar Dam into two canals and irrigate fields. During British rule, some improvements were carried out without tampering the original design. Water from the dam is let into the anicut in the summer months, when the depth can reach as much as 10 feet. During the rest of the year, rainwater feeds it.
It is only recently that people seem to have woken up to the temptations of Kodiveri. Once it was regarded as little more than a great place to eat fresh fried fish and possibly lounge about with friends. Now, it seems pregnant with possibilities. Bobbing in the water on a coracle is one option, though the rate for a ride will depend on your capacity to bargain. The lake is 150 metres long and you can sit back enjoying the grass scented breeze. A nungu-laden palm tree that has decided to make the water its retirement home is an interesting sight and flying fish shoot up as if to sneak a look at the land ever so often.
Coax the boatman into taking you a little farther and you can catch fisherfolk in action, laying nets for the next morning's catch. Go near Akkarai Kodiveri (or the other bank) and you'll be tempted to snap off delicious looking green mangoes that hang tantalisingly close. The fear of an upturned coracle or the possibility of provoking an angry farmer keeps me honest.
Kodiveri Dam is about 10 km from Gobichettipalayam and 55 km from Erode. If driving down from Coimbatore, go up to Sathyamangalam and take the Gobi Road.
Thirteen kilometres later, Kodiveri greets you.
Courtesy: http://www.hindu.com/mp/2005/04/16/stories/2005041601570100.htm
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