Dry, Hot & Exotic Vellore

Hillocks, dry river, hot sun. If there is a place where you can find it, no wonder almost every part of our country looks the same. But apparently, the first place recognized with such trademarks would definitely be Vellore. 8'o clock in the morning was when we were reaching Vellore. A two and half hour drive from Chennai on the Bangalore Highway by a car is well enough to reach. Vellore is known for its fort built by the Subordinate king Sinna Bommi Nayak, who was a subordinate of Vijayawada Kingdom's Sadasiva Raja, then later of Sriranga Maharaja of Vijayanagar dynasty.

Vellore is not famous for any specific attractions except the Fort and the Jalagandeswarar temple within the fort premises. We took an auto to reach Vellore Fort from our Hotel and it costed nearly 70 Rupees prior to the random 100 rupees bid of the auto driver. A little bit of bargaining saved 30 rupees but still our Hotel and the Fort will be less than 5 kilometers. By 11 o clock we reached the Fort. Covered by a large garden space which is separated by a lake from the fort. The right hand side hand aplenty of water while the other was dry enough to saunter. We walked through a narrow gate entrance and a few yards ahead, we saw steps to be taken to see the entire fort. Entry was free and there were no ticket counters as at other places.

The pathway was literally the protecting wall of the King's paradise. For every 10 meters or so there were small hut made of stone with an iron gate and a large space for soldiers to keep a check at alien entries into the town. The presence of buildings in the present age are definitely stopping the eye sight to go further than the fort periphery and surroundings. Some couples were seen under shelters of trees too, while on the other hand families thronged for their weekend bonanza in the hot sun. The front side of the wall there were guards holding a long sharp edged stick taller than them definitely.

I wondered, if guarding of a fort is quite well known to the enemies wouldn't they simply find-out the loop holes? But the rulers of that era are obviously clever enough, which I realized when there were secret passages to view enemy entries. After a walk of nearly 100-300 meters, there was a view point, from where one can get a broader view of the town and its nearby places. On our left stood the magnificent temple of Jalagandeshwara with an off white paint.

Then we went through similar structures on all the four sides. There were sculptures of Narasimha, Ganesha, Shiva etc. on some places very rarely. At one point, I found a raised platform with a rock that seemed similar to the one where a guilty persons head is chopped off. Then I kept on walking for some distance and found steps to get down and when I wondered what place it was, I knew it is the same place I started from.

Temple will open only by the evening so I went back to my room and came to the same fort by 6 o clock in the evening. So now the time has come for the temple visit. People have thronged to the temple as it was an auspicious day. There were queues to worship. But I cannot wait in the queue for a long time. So I took a quick rendezvous around the temple and found some people curiously looking into something like a well kind of. When I went closer I realized it was definitely a well. The well had small steps kind of thing that was visible to some extent. A group of 10 people got involved in a competition. It was to figure out whether the coins you through into the well falls on the stone steps or not. If it falls on the steps, then you win. If not you lose. I inducted myself as a 11th competitor. Unlikely, 7 out of 11 members lost and the fact is I was among the remaining who won.

Now it is time for dinner. I was not able to figure-out a proper restaurant that is quite well known regionally until, someone else guided me to go for Gyan Vaishnav Punjabi Dhaba opposite CMC Hospital. Gyan Vaishnav Punjabi Dhaba were the first ones to launch a Punjabi Dhaba in a place like Vellore. CMC being a central government entity, entertains many students to students through-out the country to study and the taste bud of those students entertains launching of a Punjabi Dhaba obviously. We had some couple of Rotis with Paneer Butter Masala followed by Pulav and finally Lassi. We walked back to our Hotel that is some 2 kilometers ahead from Punjabi Dhaba.

The next day morning we were heading towards the Bus Stand to take up a bus to Chennai. But meanwhile one of our group member wanted to have a typical South Indian breakfast. So we went to Alankar Hotel (a famous South Indian Restaurant in the Town) to fill our stomach. Then now we boarded our bus to Chennai. On our way, we discovered some dilapidated structures on the top of some hillocks. Some people sitting next to us said that it was a fort. Nothing can be as bad as this. We missed out something. But apart from that we enjoyed our trip, which was not like the usual hill station holiday.

Thiruvakkarai-History Dates Back To 50 Million-70 Million Years Ago

Taking a left before villupuram in the Chennai-Trichy national highway would lead you to one of the most important places that needs to be signified and given a special mention. Many people know this place as a pilgrim centre famous for a 2000 years old temple. But its significance dates back to 50 million-70 million years.

A sultry morning with temperature at its highest all our way, we reached Thiruvakkarai vakra kali amman temple. Many astrologers in daily newspapers and TV channels specify this temple as a vakra nivarthi sthalam. Hence the goddess is named so. When we entered the temple, garba graha was closed with a curtain cloth. The pandit said that it take some 10 minutes to open. By the time when we wanted to stepout
for a while people flocked through the way and obviously not able to move.

The story of the shrine as said by a person in the temple is that vakra kali amman when killing an evil power who was pregnant. She didn't want the baby in the evil spirits' foetus to get affected by that. So she took the baby from the foetus and tied in her ears. We saw the visual of the story in the idol of the goddess. Month of aadi is the time when many people visit this place.

We went to the other sanctum sanctorums in the temple. In the entrance, a huge sized nandi that seemed to be as if a real one is placed. Chandramouliswarar temple differs from most of the siva temples. We've seen lord shiva as a plain lingam, but here lord siva has three faces. Each one representing behaviours like anger, happiness etc. Idol of sandikeshwarar was also quite different and not seen in most of the temples.
Navadhaniya vilakku lighted in the nava graha sannidhi is another uniqueness of the temple.

Temple visit is over. Now we moved forward to see National fossil wood park known as Kalmaram locally. This wood park constitutes trees that's been living for nearly 50 million to 70 million years and at one point of time it transformed into a stone so it gets the name-Kalmaram.

The total area of the wood park is very less. But it is maintained like tiny little forest with ups and downs as well as trees found as a stone.

Beside a banyan tree in the park, there were some broken terracotta horse structures. We thought that could also date back to millions of years ago. But a local person laughed at us and said, we disposed all those some couple of days ago.

Buses from Pondicherry to mailam would drop you at a place called perampakkam from where frequent auto services are available. Thiruvakkarai is also connected to Villupuram by bus.

Ancient Temples In North Chennai

A weekend evening in chennai, hustle bustle streets of parrys corner is the place where we were all set to go to find out something. Being the most congested and busiest part of the city, parrys corner has something to be signified historically.

We arrived at Beach railway station from where suburban trains are connected to tambaram, chengalpet etc. Walking some yards from beach station, we found some set of cycle rickshaws waiting for customers. It should have been some decades before where cycle rickshaws was found through-out chennai.

So we took a rickshaw to visit Kalikambal temple. The significance of this temple is with chatrapathi shivaji. A culvert in the temple entrance acknowledges his visit. Apart from being the most ancient, it can be also be characterized as the most crowded, which specifies the huge crowd in the temple day after day. After worshiping the goddess in between the huge crowd, we stepped out finally after a long struggle. But a presence of divine power cannot be denied in any case.

We then planned to see another temple called Kandha Kottam or kandhaswamy temple near rattan bazaar. Meanwhile hunger quenched our stomach as we were searching for a proper place to settle down and finally concluded to take it up after the second temple visit. But luckily we saw a small shop selling hot Vadas. We grabbed some and by eating it we sauntered our way to kandha kottam.

This temple was built by two people who are claimed to be staunch devotees of Thiruporur murugan. Mari Chetty and Kandapandaram were on the way to thiruporur temple. they decided to rest and move on the next day as it was already night time. That night, mari chetty had a dream that exposed him to a murugan idol hidden in a ant hill near the place where they were sleeping. Conceiving it to be true, they dug up the ant hill that was found near the place where they were sleeping and luckily found a murugan idol. It was brought back to the place where they live and built a temple for lord muruga, which is now called as Kandhaswamy temple.

Even after visiting these two temples we wanted to go for someothers too. Unlikely we are running out of time and need to get back home soon.

Anegundi- Constitutes Historical & Pre-Historical Wonders

It should be 9.50 pm, Lal bagh express from Chennai to Bangalore arrived 20 minutes late. I was supposed to board Hampi express by 10 PM to reach my destination. No announcements and no displays regarding the platform at which Hampi Express. When I was in a puzzled state, an announcement said that the train is ready to leave from platform no. 7. I ran through the foot over bridge pushing down everybody walking through my way and found out 7^th platform and the train that I’m supposed to board. By 9.58, I boarded and by 10, the train left the station.

Next day morning by 9, the train arrived at Hospet junction from where I took an auto to reach talawari katta river crossing that’d take me to a place that constitutes history and pre-history. We could come across this place as kishkinda in the epic Ramayana and Anegundi served as a capital of the Kishkinda kingdom that’s considered as the birth place of Lord Hanuman.

One has to cross Tunga Bhadra River from Talawari katta crossing point to reach Anegundi. A motor boat dropped us on the other side of the River after a 2 minutes ride.

Uramma Hertage Homes, an NGO that encourages rural tourism runs cottages and rooms for tourists. Earlier i booked for a single bed occupancy. Once i crossed the other side of the river, a person from the resort came to pick me up. 

After bath and breakfast, i started to explore. Initially, i went to Nava brindavan that is situated in a small islet  in the Tunga Bhadra river. On the banks of the river where i took the boat to reach nava brindavan, i saw another monument that's also built on a small islet surrounding rocks. The monument was a grave yard built with 64 pillars and it is dedicated to the renowned south indian king Krishnadevaraya. It was built with 64 pillars because, the king excelled in 64 art forms. But reaching that place was arduous. So i took the boat to reach Nava Brindavan. The boat was going through a rock filled path and finally reached the small islet. Nava Bridavan had 9 different types of tulasi placed on separate tulasi mada's. A person asked the men to remove shirts and get in. I tried to get near the tulasi and find-out the different types of tulasi's available there. But i was restricted to go near as it is considered as a sacred one. On the other end of the place i found a tiny little hanuman temple in which had a stone mural of hanuman. 

My next focus was on chintamani, that is considered to be the place where rama came in search of sita as per ramayana. So walking through the other end of the village i reached chintamani. A temple like monument painted in white colour. I was not able to get into the temple as it was closed. So just walked through the banks of the river in which the temple is located and then went to lunch. 

I was in search of a good vegetarian restaurant in the village. So when i went across the roads, i saw something called Hoova Cafe. But the person said, we can only serve you what we have. I said, ok. Because i cannot go in search of another and get the same response. So i was served with rice and dhall with papad. That was quite filling for my stomach and the person charged me 40 rupees.

By evening, i went to pampa sarovar. A small pond filled with lotus is called pampa sarovar and there is lakshmi temple along with the pond. People were awaiting for the pandit to open the temple doors. But i moved out to see Rishi mukha hillock. So walking through the road that leads me to hampi and through a narrow lane lead me to river bank. Only by then i came to know that rishi mukha is in the midst of the river. But no boats or bridge to go to the other side as the river was shallower to walk through.

On the other side, i found a temple that was under renovation. But i was not able to recognize what kind of temple it was. It started to get darker, so i left the place. On the way back to my room, i wanted to go to Anjanadri hill. But i felt tiresome. Hence i ended the day by finally visiting the Ranganatha Swamy temple and Gagan Mahal located in the prime spot of the village.    

Day 1, went on quite sluggishly till the dawn. I had to get early on day 2 and prepare to go for Vali & Sugriva cave as well as Anjanadri hill. Another thing that i came across was Pre-historic cave paintings. Better than all other places, i wanted to see that first. After a hefty breakfast in the morning, i vacated my room and sauntered  through the road that would lead me to cave paintings. A culvert in the main road pointed towards the way that i went. But it was a long walk from the main road. Many people are not aware of this and it is also not protected.

I kept on moving in the same place, everybody passing through that way said, go straight. Finally i got a person who dropped me directly at the place where am supposed to go in his vehicle. It was a small hillock nestled between the agricultural fields, i walked through the single lined path way and found a way to climb up the hillock. A path way formed with tiny little rocks everywhere. I went on till i found a cave like structure, it should have taken 5 or 10 minutes for me to reach the top. A person in that place advised me to take right side after crossing a particular location. Once i crossed that place, there were plains into that small hillock. I found 4 cave structures on either sides.

My excitement was at the core level, i ran towards right hand side where i saw 2 big rocks slanting on each other and forming a cave like structure. But unlikely, there were no paintings in that cave. I ran to the other side, there too i found nothing. Even though my excitements were high, but disappointed to find nil pre-historic paintings. I went exhausted and took some pictures of the caves. Suddenly, a person roaming that place took me to the other set of caves on the other side and showed some red colour paintings, which was the one i was searching for. I was amazed and took some snaps of it. 

Then he made me run to numerous cave like structures and showed paintings made in red soil. A 30 headed snake, tribal dance etc. were some paintings that i saw.  

I wanted to stay back even some more days as attractions are unlimited. For each and every yard you've got something to see and note. But its always important to get back to the groove.

TRANQUEBAR- INVADED BY DUTCH, NOT KNOWN TO INDIANS

I took a bus that connects Mayiladuthurai and Karaikal to reach a destination that is supposed to be the first invaded place in India. Going through the narrow roads with many bends, finally the bus dropped me at Tranquebar or Tharangambadi. 

Dutch invaded and ruled for some couple of years. Ove Gedde Dutch Naval Commander signed a treaty with Raghunatha Nayak, the then king of Thanjavur to carry on trade and build a fort.  When I got down, I experienced the smell of fish and some yards ahead of the bus stop, I saw backwaters. I asked a person walking through that way, “How should I go to the fort”? He said, “This way” and showed his finger towards the right. I walked through that way for some distance. After 2 minutes walk, I saw an old arch completely ruined. The whole place looked like a dutch colony. A school meant for girls and a residential school were on the way and walls of the school filled with the verses of bible. 

Reading it through-out the way, I saw the fort finally. A person sitting in the entrance charged me 5 rupees for entry. Nothing different, a place covered with walls on four sides. The ground floor had prisons, warehouses to store weapons, food etc. Then I went upstairs, to see the governor’s office that was kept as a museum. 

It had photos of Governor’s Bungalow, Fort, Ove Gedde, Masilamaninathar Temple that is situated near the shore and some vessels used by people those days. Weapons used by Dutch people, some stories of war were also displayed.

Then I thought of visiting Masilamaninathar Temple in the shore. But unlikely, renovation works were going on. Hence I was not able to go inside. Nothing else than the fort and temple, I was a bit bored. So I walked down the streets to find out something else and spend some more time. 

The lane opposite fort exposed me to another tiny attraction. It was a private museum that had sea shells and some things used by the people of olden days. Even though nothing great, it was good enough and free entry.

Little bit of attractions, nothing great. But one thing about Tranquebar is that it is the first invaded place in our country. Hence that adds some justice to traverse some different destinations that has not been known to many.

  

Tranquebar is well connected by road. Any bus that goes to Karaikal and surrounding places would land you here. Mayiladuthurai is the nearest railway station.

At The Southern Most Tip Of India--Kanyakumari

          It was a cool morning breeze with heavy winds lashing out. Wind mills on either side of the roads, some revolving and some idle, marked our journey to the southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari. We were in a highway that connected Madurai and Kanyakumari. The end of the high was the southern boundary of India.

          Accommodation is a major concern in this place, to get a decent, pleasant stay we opted to go to Vivekanandapuram, run by Vivekananda Kendra. This place could be identified by a gigantic arch and wonderful  Vivekananda's picture. it  A serene environment, surrounded by trees on either side and walls with the famous quotes of Swami Vivekananda, separate building blocks with the names of Holy Places.

         We booked a 2 bedroom deluxe room for which, we were charged Rs.300. The rooms were big, calm and neat.. After bath and breakfast, we left to Kanyakumari beach. It should be 9 O' clock in the morning. The beach here was so different. It was surrounded by rocks, three different types of sand with red colour, black and normal beach sand. There were islets, coral reefs and lose beach sand. Then we walked across the streets surrounding the Kanyakumari Amman Temple. We made  our plan to visit the temple by evening.

           First we took the ferry from the shore and reached the rock memorial. While coming on the boat, we saw a person explaining the story behind the rock memorial. He said, “It was a day when Vivekananda visited Kanyakumari. He saw this islet and wished to go for it. He asked the boatman and he expected some bugs to be paid. Vivekananda didn’t have money to pay him. So he decided to swim across. He prayed goddess Kanyakumari, swam across the sea and reached the islet. Then he sat and meditated for some time and Goddess Kanyakumari came in front of him as a reward for his meditation”. I  wish I could swim  across. After  10-20 minutes boat ride, we reached the islet. It was large with concrete surfacing, at one end we found a small shrine of goddess Kanyakumari and the other end was the huge meditation hall. The moment we entered, we were impressed by the divinity and silence. None, dared to talk louder and to do something mean. Then we saw, the foot prints of goddess Kanyakumari, very well protected with glass panels.

       we spent sometime in that place, from every side we were  surrounded by the ocean.It was quite difficult for us to detach our selves from that place and move, but inevitably we need to do it,since the next day, we were planning to go to  Padmanabhapuram Palace and other surrounding places.

     Padmanabhapuram Palace just looked like a large bungalow. It was lunch time,we did not like to idle out our time ,our inquisitiveness led us to a new destination with a new story ,before that we wanted to venture in the shops near by to find what was quite novel to be preserved as a souvenir.

     There was a shop that sold  lamps made of sand, bronze and wooden pens etc.A girl working in that shop welcomed us and showed a lamp made of mud. At the bottom there was a small hole. The girl poured some water through it and said, “See sir, you can pour oil in this way for this lamp. It won’t spill and you can put a wig  and light the lamp. What was the cost, I asked. It casted around 30 rupees sir, she replied. I bought it with out bargain since it was so beautiful.  

Later when we came-out, time seemed to be lethargic for us. Surfing our minds to what to do next, a sign board grabbed our attention. It said, “Udayagiri Fort, 3 KM”. We enquired about that place to the local people. They said, it has the Cemetery of Dutch naval commander, Eustachius De Lannoy who later worked for the Travancore Army.

We drove vehicle to visit that place. By travelling through some narrow streets, we reached the fort. It was a sanctuary for Deer protected by the forest department. It was a typical biodiversity park.

After walking a long distance across the place, we found the cemetery of De Lannoy and his family. A board said, it has the cemetery of Dutch naval commander and his family. It was a typical cemetery.

Then we walked ahead  to find our way-out. Meanwhile, we found a Burma Bridge and a Tree House. To walk on the Burma Bridge, the ticket would be Rs.5 and into the Tree house Rs.25. I opted to go on both.

The Burma bridge is  made of bamboo wood and ropes. You have to be careful in walking in this. If you don’t place your leg on the centre point, it would drop you down. We fell twice or thrice and reached the other end by that rope. Then we went to the Tree house.

It was also made of bamboo and a little bit older one surrounded with pest. But still we went through it, wanting to explore how it would be. It was adventurous and scary. We doubted that we fall down along with the Tree House. So to avoid risk, we came down and left the place.

Then when we cam back to Padmanabhapuram Palace, the counter opened and started issuing tickets for entry. Entry ticket was Rs.25 for one person. We walked in with the ticket. The security checked it and sent us in.

The palace was in typical Kerala architecture. The first place that we saw was the large dining hall which is used to serve food for more than 2000 people a day.  Then came the hall meant to preserve the army weapons. The whole palace looked like a large south Indian house. We kept on roaming around the place for sometime. We saw the Kings bedroom, which was large, spacious and a wooden cot with hefty decorations.

A sign board kept near the cot said that it was made of several herbal and medicinal trees. I thought, why should a single person enjoy all these privileges? But there was no time to further think on it. So, we kept moving. A huge portrait showed a real picture of the war lost by Dutch and surrendering to Marthanda Verma. We’ve heard of India losing to British and French in our history lessons. But I felt proud of this man for defeating external forces entering our country. Then I thought, he definitely deserves a specially made cot.

After visiting the nook and corner of the palace, we returned to Kanyakumari to go ahead with our evening schedule of visiting the temple as planned before. So after a coffee and little bit of snacking, we went there. Before we entered the temple, the security guard warned us to remove our shirts. As it is a common thing in temples of Kerala and Kanyakumari. With a little bit of fussing, all the men in our team removed it.

The temple was heavily  crowded that day. After moving slowly in a Q, we saw the goddess. Well decorated with flowers, a red colour saree and jewels. Her nose shined well, with a special type of ornament. One person said that it is a diamond. Whatever it is, she looks divine and our duty is to pray her. Not finding out whether her ornaments are made of diamond or gold.

After that, we started surfing the streets. There were lot of Punjabi, rajasthani, gujarati and many other dhabas of other states. As many people all over the country visit this place, we can find lot of dhabas like these.

With this, we decided to pack our bags back home. To reach Chennai before it gets darker, we wished to start by 7 o’ clock next day morning. The sun rose, we took bath, had breakfast and coffee, vacated our room and we were ready to return home. The same place where we saw Indian land cover ending, was the place where we began our next journey.

KODAIKANAL- LOST BEAUTY

A pleasant morning with fog making a blurred vision on the road, calm and serene vegetation surrounded by trees, hair pin bends making the roads unstable. We were on the way to one of the famous hill stations of south India, kodaikanal. Earlier we were advised to take up a cab from either Madurai or dindigul to have an easy going. So we took a train from Chennai to reach Madurai and from there we booked a cab to kodaikanal.

On our way through the hills, the plains represented the path of a dry river with a dam on it. It was the manjal river. The people say it creates flood and havoc during the monsoon and remains dry in summer. It had a waterfall too. This seemed to be like a tail of the rat. And surprisingly it is named with the same context.

Three hours of journey ensures reaching the destination known for holiday visits. It began gaining momentum in the British period. The first and the best route for kodaikanal is from Batlagundu. There is another gateway through palani which connects Bangalore, Coimbatore and major cities and towns. Perumal malai is the meeting junction of all the gateways. Kodaikanal welcomed us with the silver cascade waterfall which has its source from kodaikanal main lake.

It was on-season, none of the rooms in  hotels were ready to accommodate us. As it was occupied by someone else. Finally a resort near the museum welcomed us with a room. Finishing our morning bath and breakfast, we began our explorations along with a local guy to guide us on the way. Our exploration first took us to the kurinji andavar temple (a famous murugan temple). We thought the path to this place will be easy to go. Unfortunately it was straight opposite. Steep road with bends for every 100 yards was how we climbed the hill with our vehicle and at one point of time the vehicle stood refusing climb more and more. After a minor repair, it said yes. Finally we reached our first destination. Some of them said it should be a big temple with a huge statue of the lord. But the case was quite different. A small temple with a tiny statue of the lord decorated with flowers and other holy stuffs, made us feel like staying in heaven. Tiny road side shops outside the temple sold key chains and other wooden ornaments.

Then the local guy suggested for a ride around the Kodaikanal Lake. Some of our team chose to go for boating and some of us wished for a cycle sporting. A round around the lake would consume 45 minutes and we made three to four rounds, which was a great fun for us.

We postponed our next set of explorations to day 2. Post lunch we were roaming around the streets near the bus stand and the main market. Fresh carrots and vegetables, chocolates in n number of shops, spices etc were the main attractions of the market. The person along with us suggested to buy chocolates and other stuffs right here. Other shops outside this place do not have quality stuffs and they cost a lot, he said. Bed sheets made of wool was also a main attraction of the market. A person along with us got amazed at the chocolates made of white cocoa.

Day 2, we decided to explore the attractions in the periphery of kodaikanal. Our first thing was guna caves. It was named after the movie guna enacted by kamal Hassan. This cave was chosen to shot the movie. From that time on, it gained the momentum as an important tourist attraction. The next attraction where we visited was pillar rocks. The opposite hill had a rocks structured like built-in pillars. Other than these two attractions there were suicide point, parks, lakes etc. the similar setup of these places were boring for us. Finally post lunch time, we visited the museum near our resort. A beautiful tiny building, a less than 1000 square feet room with details of plant, animal etc species of shola forest were found. By the evening we packed our bags and left kodaikanal.     

Some years back it seemed to be wonderful with a pleasant climatic condition, less number of people and things. But now kodaikanal is changing its face as a tourist destination to a city life. Hence it is polluted and pre-occupied with people. It is no longer a better choice for vacation.