29-Feb-2004 -- After the excitement of two successful confluences (12N76E & 11N76E) yesterday, it looked like we would have a busy schedule today as we were going to attempt three confluences (11N77E, 11°N 78°E & 12°N 78°E) before returning to Bangalore in the evening.

After reaching Coimbatore yesterday evening, we picked up Ranga, a friend of Jagan and Nath and reached our hotel. We planned our day over dinner and decided to meet the next morning at 0730 hrs. As scheduled, we met for breakfast and then checked out of the hotel and headed towards 11N77E which lay about 3.7 kilometers from the hotel. It was pretty certain that the confluence lay well within the city. We were all wondering if we’d wind up with yet another confluence on a road.

The confluence lay to the east of the city and as we navigated there, we entered a residential layout called Krishnasamy Nagar. It did not us take too long to reach a point about 15 meters from the confluence on one of the roads in the colony. We got out of the car and started walking in the direction the GPS indicated the location. We came to the gate of the home of Mr. Anantharaman (74-75, 30 Foot Road, Krishnasamy Nagar, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore 641 045). We caught the attention of Mr. Ananthraman’s father and explained what we were doing. Mr. Anantharaman also joined us and after hearing about our quest, invited us in and gave us permission to walk to the point. We found 11N77E just outside his front door! I took all my readings and photographs as the rest of the team chatted with Mr. Anantharaman. The time was 0915 hrs and the altitude recorded was 394 meters. He invited us in for a cup of tea. Over tea, we talked about DCP and he evinced a lot of interest in what we were doing. He also mentioned that in his experience only people from Bangalore go after such offbeat pursuits. We assured him that there were a lot of like-minded folks around the world who were visiting confluences in many countries everyday. We also told him that we also have some very active confluence hunters in Hyderabad (Praveen Goggi & Chandra Dasaka) and in other cities in India.

After spending a pleasant 15 minutes, we thanked Mr. Anantharaman for his hospitality and bid goodbye. He wished us the best of luck for the next couple of points we aimed to cover and also expressed a desire to join us on the next confluence hunt we undertook in that part of the country.

The highlights of visiting this confluence were that it was our first in Tamil Nadu, our first inside someone’s front yard and the pleasure of making a new friend!

Note: Also known as Kovai, Coimbatore is the second largest city in Tamil Nadu and one of the fastest growing cities in India. Situated in the foot hills of the Nilgiris, it is known for its pleasant climate, peaceful atmosphere, cosmopolitan outlook and private enterprise. Cotton textiles, electric motors, pumps, automobile spares, iron steel and aluminum castings form major exports from Coimbatore. Here are two sites that provide information about the city: http://www.coimbatore.com , http://www.coimbatore.net