Infinity Pool

Tourists call this stream in Vagamon the "Infinity Pool," but the truth is, it only turned into a series of continuous pools after 2002. As tourism in the area grows, if the river's source streams run dry, visitors coming here for a dip will find nothing but empty pools — making "Infinity" nothing more than a hollow label. These rock-pools on the Meenachil's northern tributary only come alive during the monsoon, when the Vazhikkadavu check dam overflows. To the tour operators bringing people here, and to the visitors themselves, this is just a set of pools — with no idea that it's really the withered remnant of what should flow on as the young Thekkoyiyar, past Pullikkanam and Mangalagiri, on its way to becoming a full stream at Marmala — the shrunken stretch of a river that once ran some 90 kilometres. Before 2002, this part of the river had a proper waterfall for most of the year, except in summer. But in 2002, once the Vazhikkadavu check dam was commissioned and its water diverted through a tunnel to the Idukki reservoir via Kulamavu, the flow here stopped altogether — leaving behind just a pool. And with it, the "infinity" disappeared too. 😢