Dateline 8211; Munnar

Munnar8217;s blood-thirsty leaches will not daunt an ardent angler. However, the leech repellent available locally, a smelly concoction, is more likely to repel you rather than the leaches who are largely immune to it in any case. But, beware, no part of the human anatomy is inaccessible to them; you are vulnerable from head to foot. The slimy tormentors are particularly persistent during the monsoon when anglers spend more time plucking them out of their limbs and other unmentionable places than fishing!

Another hazard fishermen face in Munnar are wild elephants who turn up with unnerving regularity. Once while fishing I heard something crashing through the undergrowth. Panic gripped me. Apparently, an elephant was coming down to slake itsthirst. Grabbing my rod, I fled undignifiedly 8212; only to find, as I glanced back, a stray domestic cow emerging benignly from the scrub. Breathless, I cursed the bovine even as I heaved a sigh of relief.

There are other troublemakers too. While fishing at a remote lake, a lady saw a stag, pursued by a murderous pack of wild dogs, plunge into the water in a desperate bid to escape. Petrified, she promptly followed suit herself only to be told by her rescuers, as she emerged dripping, that wild dogs have never been known to attack humans!

Anglers should also watch out for the winged demons 8212; bees, wasps and hornets whose collective wrath can be a horrific experience to say the very least. I was attacked once and when I staggered back home with a face that had ballooned alarmingly 8212; thanks to the bees8217; tender ministrations I could hardly be deemed recognizable. A useful safeguard in such an eventuality is to plunge into the water and stay there. However, an angler who tried this ploy was severelypeppered each time he surfaced for a breath of fresh air.

There8217;s also the risk of getting carried away. One visitor got so engrossed in trying to outwit the trout at Munnar8217;s famed Devikulam Lake that he forgot the boatman sitting behind him. It was only when his line was sharply jerked in mid-swing and he heard an agonised cry that he realised he had hooked the poor man 8212; who eventually needed surgical intervention to free his ear of the barbed hook.

Another finicky fisherman8217;s enthusiasm was, quite literally, dampened. He had taxed his ghillie8217;s patience for several hours. Then, trying to free his snagged line, he leaned too far out from the pier and toppled over into the the water, getting an undesired dousing. Quite frankly and insightfully, he reported, in the visitors8217; book, that while the ghillie tried to look sympathetic, it was obvious that he was secretly enjoying his discomfiture.

In Munnar vestiges of British culture linger even in angling. Live bait is forbidden, only artificial flies andlures are permitted. These, being hard to come by, are highly prized. Once while fishing together a fellow-angler produced a multi-coloured artificial fly a perfectly crafted gem. 8220;I8217;ve fooled many a trout with this beauty!8221; he declared proudly. Somehow the fly slipped through his fingers into the grass. Seeing his consternation, I joined him in the search for it. We were scouring the grass on all fours when he let out an anguished 8220;Ouch!8221; Stuck deep in his palm was the missing fly. For once it had fooled a human, and not a fish.

Come to think of it, in Munnar you could well be fishing for thrills and spills rather than trout!