26-Oct-2017 -- Two confluence points in Kerala, India (9N 77E & 10N 77E) were both visited first by the Chacko family in 2004. Both the trips were led by myself. One of the points in Kerala (11N 76E) was not visited, as it was already visited by another group. In July 2017, I visited Aster MIMS Hospital in Kottakkal, which is the main hospital in Kottakkal, and I realized that 11N 76E was less than a kilometre away – what a surprise! And the second surprise was that the building on the original visit picture belonged to Dr Jasir, the CEO of Aster MIMS Kottakkal, who I was visiting! So, we planned a joint visit to the confluence point on Thursday, 26 October 2017 when I revisited Aster MIMS Kottakkal.
Dr Jasir and myself set off from the hospital around 11 am on that day. My GPS (the original one I used in 2004) indicated that we were about 800 metres away. We drove and got to the confluence point within 5 minutes. We parked up and surveyed the geography. Dr Jasir pointed out his building and thirteen years later, the scene looked very different. The road was very busy with buses, lorries, and auto-rickshaws bustling frantically along. We looked for vantage points on the road divider, but decided it would be safer to take the photos from the side. We positioned ourselves as close to ‘five zeroes’ as possible, without being run over and got a reading of 11°00.002’N 76°00.004’E, which we settled for. We got quizzical looks from shopkeepers and pedestrians who helped us take the photographs and then we returned to the hospital, satisfied that the job was done. The changes at the confluence point can be seen by looking at the previous visit photos.
Aster Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) is a multi-specialty hospital in Kottakkal, Malappuram District, Kerala and provides high quality medical care to the population of North Kerala.
Dr Abraham Chacko and Dr Jasir VP