Alangayam, the place where my elder brother live with his family is surrounded by hills and greeneries. We a group of seven including two of my brothers and few others have decided to explore the places around. We kicked off the journey around 10 Am in three two-wheelers and reached the main spot called Beema falls in the Javadu hills of Vellore district in Northeastern part Tamil Nadu around 11 Am. Though it's hardly 25 Km from here (Alangayam-Vellore), it took us more than one hour because of the deadly curves and the rocky roads all over the way from Alangayam to Beema falls in Jamunamarathur which is the main village in the Javadu hills famous for it's sandalwood and fruit bearing trees.

From there we moved on to the lake view nearby. The brownish lake water, greeneries and the light drizzle welcomed us and we all were surprised that such a small village has a beautiful lake well maintained and cultured. After spending couple of hours on boat riding and having taken enough photos, we moved on to a place called Kavalur which house an observatory in the midst of a greenish village.

Few pictures
1) Boating
2) My bro's colleague with family at lake view
3) My younger bro Biju at a mango farm
4) My elder brother&family and me

"Kavalur observatory is located in Kavalur in the Javadu Hills of Vellore District. It's located in a 100 acre forest land in Tamil Nadu which is strewn with a variety of greenery of tropical region besides a number of medicinal plants with an occasional appearance of some wild life like deer, snakes and scorpions. Several varieties of birds have also been spotted in the campus. The observatory is at an altitude of 725m above mean sea level (longitude 78° 49.6' E ; latitude 12° 34.6' N). Apart from being reasonably away from city lights and industrial areas, the location has been chosen in order to be closer to the earth's equator for covering both northern and southern hemispheres with equal ease. In addition, its longitudinal position is such that it is the only major astronomical facility between Australia and South Africa for observing the southern objects."
One of the scientists over there demonstrated us the working principle of the 93 inch Vainu Bappu telescope while my elder brother and his colleague enjoyed every bit of it as they are also physics scholars. It's a treat to eyes watching the movement of the doom shaped ceiling moving in line with the celestial objects.

No wonder "Science and Technology" is way ahead than our software! Read More...

We also visited few mango farms and fish farms on the way back home.