Before 13 years, I remember walking near the end of the mukkombu dam with my classmates. That memory made me to revisit this place again to explore more. A place like mukkombu teaches us not only about history but also science, fisheries etc,..
How to reach here?
1. Bus or car: If you are in Tiruchirapalli, you can reach here by catching bus to Karur and get down in elamanur. If you are in Karur, you can catch Trichy bus.
2. Train : I preferred train over bus and particular stop to reach mukkombu is 'elamanur'. Everyday there are 4 passenger trains from Trichy to Karur route.
I recommend train route more as it's pleasant. Mukkombu is maintained well by Tiruchirapalli district corporation. It's a good tourist site to enjoy nature.
What is unique here?
1. Upper Anaicut- Mukkombu dam.
2. Green pastures and garden around the dam.
3. Shops, weather station and games for children.
4. Tamil culture sculptures.
Around 1836, Upper Anaicut- is a dam built by Sir Arthur cotton, a british irrigation engineer. He is inspired by karikala cholan's Grand Anaicut canal (built in 2nd century) in Thanjavur. Mukkombu means three branches in Tamil. Here in mukkombu, river Cauvery divides herself into two branches.
Let's go for one day experience in mukkombu now. I caught train from Trichy and reached elamanur around 10 am. Elamanur railway station is simple one with only 4 trains per day. Outside the railway station, it's an open land with grasses. Then I crossed the road and walked right for a minute to reach our destination, Mukkombu. There are 2 shops near the entrance along with bus stop. Entry ticket is 10 rupees per person.. This place has regular employees to maintain it well. Dams and all gardens are connected by roads. In first garden, I encountered an old man with weighing machine, I asked him doubtedly, 'Can I take your picture thatha?' To my surprise, he gladly accepted my request. Then I moved to the inner part of that particular garden. I found many items to play for children. If you come with family and friends, this place will be amazing to spend a day. Here and there I found arts of tamil culture. In another garden, I found a small train track and also an artificial waterfalls to play. Along that area, there is a shop for refreshments. Be careful for monkeys throughout your journey.
As you walk through bridge, winds almost take you to next world if you are more imaginative. Whatever, be careful about your belongings while you walk in the strong wind. More than the road and dam, I noticed few things, I always think about how people know where is the water in the dam, so I peeped down to know that. There are shutters and scale in the lower part of dam. Almost every part of dam has both. Shutters are used to close the water and directly to control the water level in the dam. Scale tells us where the water level is. Other side of the dam, I saw people walking in the waters with fish nets. After crossing the dam, I found many fishermen with many fishes. There are many places around the dam to catch good fishes. At one end of the dam, there is a flow monitoring system, while the other end has a instrument to know the wind's direction in the dam. It can also calculate the power of wind by its rotations. There is a weather station in another garden with many equipments. There is also a hindu temple nearby along with a place to chill near the waters of the dam. If you are a person interested in weather, physics etc,.. this place is worthy to visit more for your knowledge enrichment.
There are good shops and restrooms here, so you can plan to visit this place if you are near Trichy or Karur. In case you don't have much time, then also you can visit as you can cover this whole thing within one hour if you are a running explorer with vehicle. Vehicles are allowed inside (cars, bikes, vans) Its a good place for family tours.
Being an Indian, I am glad to see this place as it tells us the benefits and development of irrigation of the past which seems to be continuing till this date. Ancestors left us with the best always, it's time to look into our lives, what are we going to leave for our future generations?
