Naresh and his father were at the Bangalore city railway station at 7am waiting for the train to come to the platform. When it did they soon found their seats and made themselves comfortable. Naresh sat by the window. The journey started as the train moved off to the sound of the whistle. Naresh thrilled! The train first passed through all the residential and commercial areas. Very soon they had passed the tobacco factory on the left. After the houses became smaller and fallow fields began to appear. Naresh tried to locate things he knew. On the left before the vineyards, there was the NGEF (new government electrical factory) first, after which they came to the ITI or the Indian telephone industries factory. Here the land was all cultivated, with fields of millet and groundnut covering he flat land on their side of the railway track. As they passed Malur he spotted tile factory on the right. They stopped at Bangarpet where they could see the railway line that went to the Kolar gold fields curving through the fields on the lefts. When the train moved out of Bangalore it went southeast. The land was still flat getting dry although the fields still had groundnut and millet growing on them.
They stopped next Jolarpet where they halted for quite a while because Jolarpet is a large junction. This time the train moved off in a northeasterly direction. Naresh could see hills in the distance but the train never came very close to them. Remember that the train was traveling southeastwards. This is because the railway does not run due east but goes south to avoid the spurs of the Eastern Ghats.
When they reached Katpadi, Naresh found that the place was quite hot unlike his hometown, Bangalore. This is because Katpadi is at much lower altitude than Bangalore.
After leaving Katpadi they could see flat land again. This time the fields of millet were interspersed with fields of paddy wherever irrigation was possible, and the Palmyra trees in other places. When they stopped at Arakonam, Naresh could see the workshop where engines were repaired. At Chennai Central they had wait for few hours before they got the next train, so Mr. Parkas took Naresh to the beach. Naresh enjoyed playing in the water and tried to catch the little sand crabs. Back at the station, he found Chennai hotter and stickier than ever because of its humid climate as the city is close to the sea.
The next lap of the journey was by another train traveling north. As the train moved slowly out of the city, Naresh could see a part of Chennai harbor with some ships at anchor, through the window. At Ennore, a few kilometers away from Chennai, they passed the salt works. Here sea water is pumped into factory where the salt is extracted from the water and purified. Naresh also saw salt pans made of sand when sea water gets evaporated by the heat of the sun. After it is well tried, the salt is gathered into piles and it is then collected and stored.
The train was moving on the coastal plain with the sea on the east and the Eastern Ghats n the west of the railway tracks. So they could see the flat land covered with paddy on one side and coconut palms on the other side. Here the coconut palms were planted all along the boundaries of the fields. As Naresh traveled father north he found that the color of the soil had changed from red to black. The fields or rice continued but now they could so see fields of sugarcane. Just past Ongole, the railway line came so close to the coast that naresh could see the ea. And now he found himself on the railway bridge over the river Krishna.
He looked down to see the river far below. The surrounding land was still flat with rice, sugarcane and tobacco growing on it. These crops all need lots of water, alluvial soil and bright sunshine which are amply found on the wide coastal plains of southeast India.
The next interesting stop was Rajamandry. They reached it after crossing the river Godavari. As the train sped towards the northeast, the land was still flat but now far away to the west; Naresh could see the blue line of the hills forming the Eastern Ghats. At certain places the train ran quite close to the coast, close enough for Naresh to se the sea.
Chilka Lake was the other interesting landmark on their journey. This is a large lake on the right of the track. It is big that naresh thought it was part of the sea. The next long halt was Bhubaneswar which is the capital of Orissa. Soon after leaving the town they passed the river Mahanadi. Then a strange thing happened! There were no more hills, no more coconut palms! Just plain flat land as far as the eye could see- full of rice fields. This was part of the vast Ganga plain. Here was Kharagpur, made famous by its engineering collage and industries. This is where you would change trains if you wanted to go to Jameshedpur and Mumbai. At Kharagpur station, Naresh noticed that tea was served in little throwaway earthenware pots.
Now that they were heading for Howrah, Naresh was a bit tired, in spite of having seen so many interesting things. It was two days and nights since he had left Bangalore. As the train neared Howrah he could see the famous Howrah Bridge. He knew immediately that the long journey was near its end. Soon they were at Howrah station. Naresh had never seen a station as large as this. At Howrah, Mr. Parkas got a taxi to take them to new Alipore. As the next crawled along Howrah Bridge, Naresh felt it move like a big spring. Looking to the right, Naresh could see the docks and the big ships at anchor. Once crossed the bridge, the taxi moved quickly and soon naresh was at new Alipore where he had a refreshing bath and a hot meal to celebrate he end of a long journey.
Suresh and his parents were at the central bus station at 7 am. To get he bus for Mangalore .after all the passengers were seated, the bus was ready to leave. It was now 7.10 am. The bus moved in a north westerly direction out of Bangalore. Suresh saw all the shops and hoses that lined the street but these did not interest him. After about 30 minutes the huge buildings began to thin out and Suresh could see more of open spaces. When they moved on to Neelamangala the house had thinned out considerably. As the bus was AC bus, it did not halt here. Moving away from Neelamangala in a westerly direction Suresh could see fields of ragi and groundnut on either side of the road. These gave way to irrigation fields of rice and some sugarcane with an add coconut palm here and there. This continued until they reached Kunigal.
Kunigal is a big town with many houses. On the left of the road before the bus-stop, they passed the stud farm. But Suresh could not see the horses seven though he craned his neck as they were far inside, away from the noisy road. When the bus stopped at the bus station Suresh and his father got off and ought and bought some bananas.
Soon they were off again in a westerly direction towards Chennarayapatna which passed by at a great speed. Suresh saw fields of millet whiz by. He was very interested when they passed over the bridge that spans the river Shimsha –of course it was not a long one as the river is in its stages here, and then began the coconut plantations. There were tall coconut palms on their side of the road. So the roads were quite shady. At certain places there were great piles of tender coconuts by the roadside ready for sale. Suresh wanted to buy one as he was thirty but the bus did not stop. It just sped along! As they neared Chennarayapatna the people looked out of the windows on the left, in order to see the hillock of Sravanabelagola with the huge statue of Gomteswara, the Jain saint on top of it. But the bus was moving so fast and the hill was so far away that Suresh could not get even a glimpse of it. Before they reached Chennarayapatna, they saw more plantations of coconuts between fields of rice. When the bus family stopped Suresh was to get down and buy a tender coconut, which he really enjoyed.
Now they were again on the move. This time they moved in a north westerly direction towards Hassan, along the roadside there were more coconut palms but there were also fields of paddy, caster and ragi. As Suresh kept looking through the window, he got more and more excited to see hills in the distance. They were coming to the end of the plateau on which they had been traveling so far. That is why he could see such long distances on it. When they reached the hills, his view would be limited but interesting. He was impatient to now when they would reach the hills but he was told that he would have to wit for some time.
Suresh and his parents went to a nearby restaurant for their lunch. While they were away, fresh water was poured into the radiator inn preparation for the dangerous hill road ahead of them.
The bus passed over the bridge, this time across the river Hemavati, tributary of the river Cauvery. After, this bus began to climb slowly. They were leaving the plateau and entering the ghat section. Suresh now found that the vegetation was also changing. He soon began to see coffee plantations. They were getting near Sakaleshpur. This area has very heavy rainfall and so coffee and cardamom plantations are found there. There are coffees curing works too, some of which can be seen from the road.
As the bus moved west Suresh saw that they were climbing a steep hill, leaving of coffee and cardamom plantations behind there. He could see scrubland ion other side of the road. His father reminded him that they had been traveling on the Deccan plateau but were now crossing the Shinadi ghat which is part of the Western Ghat. As they moved on Suresh noticed that the vegetation also began o change. Soon there were huge trees around them and the road began to swerve and cure round the hills. The leafy branches of the trees provided a lot of shade. To the right of them they could see the hills grow higher and higher. As Suresh looked at these lofty trees his father told him that area was noted for its teak tree. Teak is a very voluble wood and is cared for by the forest Department. His father showed him a teak tree with a long trunk and a tuft of large leave on top. Really, a very uninteresting tree for a boy like Suresh as one could not climb such a tree. Among the teak trees, there were also ebony, rosewood, cedar, bamboo and sandalwood trees growing wild but they were protected by the forest department. As the climb became steeper, the trees grew taller. The competition for sunlight made he branches on the sunlight side grow bigger. Some of the more gigantic trees are the gurjan, poon and Indian copal, which grow to a height of about 60 meters.
Suddenly the road stopped going up and Suresh looked out of the window on his left. There he could see a beautiful valley with a mass of trees tops and far beyond that he saw a haze of blue. The bus stopped for some water again before it began its downward journey. Once again they went round and round the hills but this time the hills were on their right and on the left lay the valley. The road descended quite steeply. Soon Suresh spotted a little stream that grew larger as it moved down. The steep road showed him how high they had really bee. Since the Deccan plateau is also high the hills did not look so huge when they were climbing up. Soon the stream was far away and quite large now. Suresh later found out that he had been watching the beginning of the river Netravati.
Now the bus had left the Ghats and was slowly descending to the plains by the coast. Once again there were plantations of coffee on both sides. Later these changed to fields of paddy on the right and plantations of betel, pepper, areca nut and cardamom on the left. This in turn gave way to groves of cashew nut. They were back now on flat land! The road was higher than the area below where lots of paddy was growing. Soon they came to a huge bridge where the river crossed over from the left to the right of the road. There were rice fields as far as the eye could see and Suresh could make but cashew nut trees, with their distinctive –shaped leaves. The road slowly wound in out of the little villages until they reached Mangalore.
Syam, Pavan and Naresh had just returned from a school tour Goa. They lived in the same neighborhood and their families were on friendly terms. Everybody has got together at Naresh’s house. The three friends were eager to relate their experience to their parents. Their parents were equality keen to hear all about the trip.
Syam, Pavan and Naresh all shouted together, `let me tell you first.’
`Now’ said Mr. Anand, Pavan’s father `One at a time, please. Naresh, you start first.’
Naresh- it was the most exciting time of my life! I had never seen so much water before.
Syam- what interested us that the most were the beaches of Goa. From the beach, the sea stretched as far as the eye could see. Far away, at the end one could see the sky meeting the earth.
Pavan: - that is the horizon.
Naresh- the golden sands of the beaches were wonderful. We’d lie down on the warm sand and almost drift off to sleep. Then suddenly we’d find the water coming up to our toes!
Syam- we had read about the ebb and flow of the tide, but seeing it was quite something. We could actually see the water slowly creeping up the beach. And, at low tide we could see it receding backwards.
Pavan- I have started a collection of sea –shells. I did not know there were so many different kinds. So far I have many fans –shaped shells, a few cowries’ shells, but only one conch shell. I don’t know the names of quite a few of the shells have collected. I will go to the library and try too finding out.
Naresh- if you put a conch shell to your ear, you can hear the sound of the sea.
Pavan- actually, you can hear the same sound if you put an empty teacup to your ear!
Naresh- we found crabs on the rocks. They cling to your toes and it’s very difficult to throw them off. We also found some starfish and jellyfish on the beach. I wanted to see a sea-horse, but I could not find any.
Syam- we swam in the sea everyday. At first, the waves rushing at us scared me. But when I got used to the rhythm, it was very enjoyable.
Pavan- there was people doing wind –surfing and water –skiing, but our teachers would not allow us to try out these water sports.
Naresh- what we enjoyed most was building sand –castles. We had carried spades and pails with us. We used these to build our castles. We decorated them with sea shells. If you dig a hole in the sand you suddenly find a pool of water!
Pavan: - that gave us the idea of building a moat around the castle. But then we needed a drawbridge. We didn’t know what to do.
Syam- Naresh does come up with bright ideas once in a while. She used an empty biscuit packet to make the bridge.
Naresh- before leaving the beach everyday, our teachers made it a point to see that we cleared away all our trash. They pointed out that we wouldn’t enjoy visiting the beach if we found it littered with debris. So they made us pick up everything before we left.
Syam- we even had pick up trash left by others. That was most unfair!
Mr. Anand- these beaches are our heritage. I am happy to see that you such good teachers, who make you aware of your duties as citizens.
The western costal region of India extends from Rann of Kutch in Gujarat up to the Kanyakumari. It covers the Konkan coast the Malabar cost. This region lies in maharastra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Goa and kerala.
At the southernmost end of the western coastal region lies Kerala. Thiruvantapuram is the capital city of Kerala.
The people of kerala are known as Malayalam. Kochi and kozhikode are the important cites in this costal area. Large numbers of coconut trees are grown here. Coconut oil, coir products and handicrafts are the coconut products, which are grown here. Widely used all over kerala and elsewhere.
The people of kerala are all literate. Onam is the important festival of the people and it is celebrated with traditional food and boat races.
In the courtyards of village homes the women are busy, though dawn has barely lighted the sky. The women have already been to the river or nearby temple’s pool, called a tank, for their baths. Their dark hair still shines with moisture as they bend over big cooking pots. They are watching for the first big bubbles to force their way to the top as the new rice comes to a boil.
Kovalam beach is an important tourist place. Kath kali is a well-known dance style in this state. The abode of lord Ayyappa is a famous pilgrim center in sabarimala. Sankaracharya was born in Kalady in Ernakulam district.
Kerala is known as the land of spices. Ginger, pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cardamoms are grown here.
The smallest union territory of India is the Lakshadeep islands. It comprises of twenty islands in the Arabian Sea. Only ten of these lands are inhabited. Bitra is one of the smallest of these islands, which has a population of least people. Kavaratti is the capital of Lakshadeep. The main occupation of the people is fishing. Coconut is the major crop. Coconut, banana, papaya, breadfruit etc. grow in these islands. Most people speak Malayalam.
Balaram is most famous picinc place.
You are reach by bus or taxi or by train.
It is far 2 miles from the station.
It is near to palnpur.
It is 75 miles far from ahmedabad.
There is lord shiva temple there it is 5000 years old.
There is greenary forest all around this palce.
There is also some smalland very old mountains and lakes.
Gangasagar lake is famous because it is originating fom the holy rover ganga.
This is not very deep lake and tourists take bath and enjoy it.
There are some small restaurants which provide indian food and also provide tea,coffe,cold drinks.
For stay there ,it is provide rooms.
Most of young children like it because provide outdoor games ,take bath in gangasagar lake and enjoy whole day.
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