#3: [19-Jul-04]

#1: [09-May-04] (incomplete)

14-Jul-2004 -- After having conquered 9N 77E, we were ready for the next one in Kerala. Seven of us left in two cars from Kurumannu in Kerala. My car had my daughters Susan and Liza and my son Jacob. The lead car had my father-in-law Chacko, with his cousin and nephew.

It was a very rainy day and progress was slow. The lead car with the seniors headed towards Munnar and we followed. We passed through picturesque terrain in the dense protected forest areas of Kerala. Much of the forest would not have been accessible if the confluence fell there. However, we slowly moved out of the forested area and inhabited areas reappeared. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall and took pictures. We moved steadily closer in a eastward direction to the point, and then turned when the distance increased. Fortunately, there was tarmac road up to 300 metres.

We came to a house and struggled to explain what we were doing. We explained that we were not government officials and that we had no personal monetary gain in this exercise. One of the householders suspected us of being debt collectors from the bank who had come to attach their property! Once they were convinced that we were genuine, they became very cooperative. We crossed fields and jumped over streams and finally came to the confluence. We tried for a long time to get 'all zeroes' but got only a brief reading. We took the pictures and then headed back to our car. Celebratory whisky was consumed by the adults.

We then drove back in the satisfaction that all the confluences in Kerala had been visited. We must have taken a slightly different final route to Craig Anderson who visited the area, as we did not meet up with Sivaraman (mentioned in Craig's incomplete report).