Changing Tiruvannamalai

[Guest guest]

dear Group,

 

I first came here about three years ago. I think the pace of change

is pretty fast in some parts of India. It certainly is here.

 

TREE PLANTING

 

One change is the extensive tree planting that has been done over

the last four years. You can see it walking up the path to

Skandasram. We live on the SW side of Arunachala. Here Arunachala is

visible as one main mountain with another much smaller one on the NW

side. The SW side that we see shows the main mountain, then a low

hill with two possible `passes' to the other side, then the smaller

mountain.

 

Kind of like

..o.o0Ô0o (but with a bigger central Ô)

 

This SW side of the hill has a forest at the base, and a tank with a

fallen down temple. Sadhus use it to bathe and wash their saffron

robes, etc. There is a long stretch of forest, all the way along

this side. You can see in the path on this side of the hill more of

the work done in tree planting. Near the tank is a tree nursery

(Arunachala Kattu Siva Plantation), where new tree cuttings are

rooted, then grown to planting size. This morning we walked through

this area, while we were exploring and trying to find a path up and

over the `pass' that is nearest to us. As we got off the main path

on a small path to the hill, we saw hundreds more trees that had

been planted. (We did find a way over, going up a dry waterflow and

down a path. On the other wide if you bear left is what I think of

as the `frog tank', which is a nice place to sit and rest during

giri pradakshina).

 

These trees grow fast, in a few years much more shade for those

walking up to Skandanasram, and on the inner path. I have not

noticed much tree planting on the other side of the hill, where Adi

Anamalai temple is.

 

DEVELOPMENT

 

Tiruvannamalai has become a hot area for property sales and

development in the last few years. There are westerners (like us),

as well as Indians (with Money from Bangalore, Chennai or other tech

jobs, and also NRI Indians living, say, in USA) who are buying up

the land in Tiru and the surrounding areas. The land prices have

gone up, I am not sure, maybe 10X what they were. With these prices

farmers are selling their land, etc. More development, more houses,

roads, lights at night, noise, etc. Having lived in Silicon Valley

since the 1950's and seeing the change from orchards to a mega-

city/suburb, I have seen something like this before. I understand it

but do not like it much.

 

For the last three weeks next to Brindavanam, between it and

Arunachala, they have been working on the property. They must be

readying it for either sale or development. This has consisted of

bringing in a big tractor with a blade on one end, and a digging arm

on the other. They have been digging up big rocks, cutting down a

few trees, clearing and burning brush. In the last days they were

digging a big deep trench. Today they started using the tractor

to `roll' the rocks into the hole. I assume that in a few months

there will be another house, or maybe a guesthouse or something in

this space.

 

When we walk to Arunachala from this house, we come to Bangalore

road where the Pradakshina road turns to the right off Bangalore

road. A new `3 Star Hotel " just opened here. On the walk, and

visible from our house, a new fancy 12-room guesthouse designed for

westerners that will also have a restaurant just opened Thursday. We

may have our kids stay there when they visit us.

 

More people, we hear, come to Ramanasramam each year during the good

season (November through about Feb.). There are not many westerners

visiting during the hot months (March through October).

 

While there is this development, Arunachala maintains the same holy

Silence as always.

 

Not two,

Richard