L.Malayur is one of the remotest hamlets with only about 80
houses nestled atop a hill of the Sirumalai range near Madurai.
It is located on a hill range running parallel to the Paalamedu – Erranayakanur
road which joins into the Natham-Dindigul Road.
The initial ‘L’ refers the nearby mother village, Lingavaadi
– an ancient village nestled between the hilly terrains of Sirumalai and
adjoining Alagar Malai range.
The peculiarity is that L.Malayur is totally cut off from the
rest of the World as there is no road connectivity at all to this hamlet. You
cannot travel even by cycle to this
place.
One has to strenuously trek the steep jungle path of rubble for more than an hour to reach this hamlet.
The villagers trek for every practical purposes down and up
the hill almost daily.
So is the kids who trek and walk to reach their school in Mulayur village down the hill on the
Paalamedu-Erranayakkanur road.
The residents are farmers. They farm guava,
mango, gooseberry and flowers and sell in the Natham market.
They cannot use modern tractors or mechanical tillers as such implements can not be transported but could only be parachuted or perhaps heli-dropped!
The villagers are simple, naïve and cordial. Perhaps that is
the very reason they are left out by the Political administration
outside their World!
The enthusiastic Secretary of the energetic young group, ‘Vaa
nanmbaa’, Saravanan invited me for the group’s interaction with this village.
The young group interacted with the youth of the village.
They felicitated the students in the village by gifting notebooks, stationery items and play materials. Vaa nanba has arranged a permanent medical
outreach facility by tying up a Madurai based pharma company with a girl in the
village who has a nursing qualification.
The air here is serene and in its purest form……
But perhaps nothing is unmixed…
The trade off against the pristine air is perhaps the rest of
the (polluted) World…..
Choices are amazingly sharp and steep..…..
Recently they have started using horses to transport goods up and down the hilltop.....
Recently they have started using horses to transport goods up and down the hilltop.....
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| Adjoining Sirumalai Range of hills |
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| Reaching the plains atop the hill |
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| villagers do not wear footwear beyond this point as they consider their lands as devine |
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| farming atop the hill range |
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| generations of organic farming and richness of the soil...... |
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| the main source of water... |
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| Saravanan tries his hands in drawing a bucket of chill water........ |
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| organic fruits...... |
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| birds eye view of the village |
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| the traditional manual farming tools |
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| they prepared lunch for us |
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| he is the only master degree holder in the village |
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| a variant of the modern chess - an ancient Tamil mind game 'goats and tiger' - surviving still |
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