Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Catch it on the run

Tired of baking in the summer heat and waiting for the rains to arrive? Chase the monsoon, offers M. RAGHURAM

PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.

Hard rain Travelling in the monsoon is an experience that cannot be easily forgotten

It is a drama that is played out every year. After a long cruel summer, the wait begins for the first dark clouds of the monsoon to float in and soak the parched earth. Now you don’t have to wait for the monsoon to reach where you live, you can chase it. And one of the best places to do it is the rain-soaked district of Dakshina Kannada.

When the heavens open up in a few days over Mangalore, there will be a different kind of tourist in the city. They will come from Panjim, Mumbai, Cochin, and even from places as far away as Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra, central Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The trend has gotten bigger after new immigrants to the city have spread its monsoon fame back in their hometowns. Local tour operators are just beginning to realise the potential of this phenomenon.

Travelling in the monsoon is an experience that cannot be easily forgotten. The sheets of rain, the dark clouds, fresh sprouts of greenery and the blissful weather is great mental and physical therapy, says monsoon chaser Ritvik Rajguru from the Chambal district of Madhya Pradesh who has chased the monsoon twice from Mangalore to Panaji and Mangalore to Kochi in his Scropio. Rajguru works for a private fabrication company and found his adventure in the rain quite a refreshing one. Driving through the rain for six to eight hours was a whole new experience with grey pillars of water lashing the windscreen.

Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts get nearly 4000 mm of rains every year and the showers are very heavy during the first 45 days between June 15 and July 30. The north Indian travellers enjoy this period for adventure and many hire taxis to just enjoy being driven around in the rain.

Rajasthan-based businessman Kanayya Lal and family finds the rains in Mangalore an invitation to visit the city every year. He supplies Rajasthani handicrafts to various outlets here and uses the monsoon period for his business trip. He comes with his family and after a quick visit to his clients goes on a pilgrimage to Subramanya, Dharmasthala, Kollur, Sringeri and Udupi, all in the rain. “Some of us do carry a running nose or a sore throat back home but the fun we have is unlimited.”

“The fun will be double if the roads are good, we do not want any flat tyres or broken suspensions,” says P.C. Sethi who was with the Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers. He often visits Mangalore and its surroundings again for pilgrimage. He went monsoon chasing up to Gokarna on National Highway 17, he remembers the roads were not all that good between Kundapur and Bhatkal which slowed his travel. There is yet another class of monsoon chasers – on two wheelers. A group of techies from the local IT companies in packs of four travel through Shiradi Ghats up to Hassan in the rain.

“Tourist traffic during the monsoon is not adequate to promote it as a full time activity,” says Ravi of Globe Tours and Travels. The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry which is looking at all facets of tourism for developing Mangalore into a tourist hub wants operators to take a hard look at monsoon chasing as new tourist theme.

Other options include trekking expeditions in the monsoons, camping and allied activities in the Western Ghats.

The General Thimmiah Academy of Adventure, Kirthi Adventure Institute and many more such groups organise activities.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail