NERIAMANGALAM BRIDGE OVER PERIYAR// GATEWAY TO THE HIGH RANGES

                                                            GATEWAY 

                                                                  TO 

                                                     THE HIGH RANGES

                                           NERIAMANGALAM BRIDGE 

                                                             OVER 

                                                           PERIYAR 

                                            Bow and String Arch bridge

                                                       

When I came acros this picture in The Times of India of    8 July 2026, it evoked countless memories.

We were in Munnar. Papa was with the KDHP Co Ltd. He was there from 1948 to 1975. He had the family stay with him all along though he had to enrol the children in Colleges in the plains (as the people in the High Ranges perched on the mountains used to call the land parcels below the hills) to seek higher education. We were all forced to stay in the Hostels after our SSLC though none of us ever wished to leave the comfort of Munnar. Unfortunately, Munnar did not have a College for higher studies. Though the income had been low those days, parents had sacrificed much to ensure that their children did not end up with just an SSLC. The lone High School there was Government owned and it had Tamil and Malayalam medium sections that prepared students to appear for the SSLC examination. 

The beauty was, of the 400-500 students who took the exam, the pass percentage had been abysmally low. Around 40 students would come out succsessful in the examinations with 5 or 6 first classes - 60% or above - at the most. There had never been any top ranks of the state in that School. If I remember right the School had just one or twoIAS officers in its history. Very few from there ever entered the Medical Colleges or the Engineering Colleges. The products from the School were just the run of the mill kind. 

Those were not the days of whole pass. No one ever bothered about the high incidence of failure. Even the valuation system too had been heavily loaded against the students. The evaluation of the answer sheets was on a stingy basis. Today the students everywhere in Schools in Kerala score 100% easily. Our days were different. Even a 50% was difficult to come by.

Neriamangalam Bridge had been a special symbol for us. 

As we came down from Munnar the bridge was visible from high up. Once you cross the bridge the cool comfort of the High Ranges was off. We would proceed to our native places from there in an energy sapping hot weather.

When we were kids as we returned from our native places the ascent up the hills began once we crossed the Neriamangalam Bridge. It was a big relief as we were escaping from the hot climate that had been draining us, so used to the cold weather the rest of the year.

We had to battle Scabies and all kinds of itching while we were at our native homes. It was always a major irritant. What surprised us was the moment we crossed the Neriamangalm Bridge the virulent irritants would begin subsiding. And back at Munnar we found our skin clear of what had been torturing us at our native homes. 

We would be happy at the outcome. However we knew, come holidays, we would have to cross the Neriamangalam Bridge again for another episode of torture and relief. 

We are more than happy to learn that the Neriamangalam Bridge of our solid memories is soon going to have its own twin

 

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