Mountain Of The Elephants (Aanaimalai In Western Ghats-India) Poem by Rajendran Muthiah

The long folds of mountains
in the Western Ghats has a lasting lure for me.
Through all the passes I have travelled
to dip myself into the gleaming canyons
with teak farms and tea gardens,
with silver falls and rivers,
and with lines of cairns on the banks.
The fear for the elephants
Which block the road in the night
forced us stay at Athirapalli,
the wonder-spot of the scaring water-falls.
We watched the stars over the mountain-tops
and lay wakeful hearing the roar of falls.
The sight of solar orb over the massif,
cheered and freed us from the cold.
Flying drops from the tipping falls
filled our hearts to amaze in that chill morn.

Our car rolled over the dungs of elephants
towards Mudis(Knot of hills) , the navel of the Deccan Plateau.
The rare movement of vehicles
on the worst, single, wrinkled road
between the jungle scrubs
and the silent rough glimpses of the tribals,
made us not to take such risk again.
The thought of honest Keralite guards
applied brakes to our dashing driver
from dashing against the jungle fowls
with his vehicle which has no heart to feel.
The wild boars looked at us
and ran deep into the bushes.
The long tailed black monkeys had no fear
and they hopped from tree to tree
and made us all looking spree.
The trickling streams here and there
quenched our thirst and some friends
collected tiny plants to settle them in plains.
The rain-bearing winds level the terrain
to form fields and tarns for storing waters,
to drive the wheels of Solaiyar Power Stations.
We heaved a sigh on reaching Valparai
where the car mechanics are more with searching looks.
Cartographers draw lines in maps not visiting
the interior awful locations abundant in these mountains.
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