Like a Rock Fort

PAST PONDER

Preface
A visit to Tiruchi is often one of the easiest to think of, when it comes to a short and sweet trip for a weekend getaway from Madras. A Short trip was the order of the day, when my dad used to visit us once in a year for a month, while he was still working in Kuwait. Every visit of his, would be eventually guaged by the number of short trips we manage to take and the number of new things we do.

There was always great excitement when a trip was on the cards, since unlike the US, travelling in India is not a very common phenomenon. There was college, NIIT classes, and a choice of other extra curricular activities that we as kids got into, like singing, instrumental music, or just vetti talk on the Beach. Packing would begin almost a week or sometimes two weeks before the day of departure. My mom would look into the train tickets atleast once a day to make sure everything was booked right, and as the day got closer, this frequency would increase manifold. The ticket would have almost gotten as worn out as the pages of my borrowed DSP textbook.

Striking Contrast
The hotel reservations and local transportation was not even a factor. It would all be decided on the fly. There was plenty of time within the train journey to think about where we would go in Tiruchi. Contrast this to travel within the US, where we need to plan very well in advance on where we are flying to, where we will be staying, where precisely we will be going to within the decided location, how we will get to the places of interest, what other tickets or arrangements need to be made at home in our absence, the notice to be given to the office... blah blah blah.

Despite the long laundry list of things that need to be taken care of, before travelling, there seems to be a greater urge to travel within the US than within India. Hell, I have been to more than half the states within the US, but in India, I have barely been to 5! I don't think of these things on the way to Tiruchi, because I have not even heard of the US from anyone at that time. So, I answer nonchalantly to what I would like to do in Tiruchi. In fact, I can't even think of the options since all of them like temples, movies, riverfronts, relative's home, etc were already exhausted before I got my turn!

Pack Up
I carefully ensure that my video game has been packed for the train journey and my sister gets her books in place for "berth-time" reading. While my mom takes care of the food, my dad takes care of the cash. There are no ATMs or Credit Cards to bank on then. We all set off, after my mom approves that we are all set, having gone down her mental notes of what is required. We usher an auto-rickshaw guy downstairs to take us to Egmore Railway station. Immediately he asks "Enna Maa... orukkaa??" and my mom does not hesitate to give him an elaborate description of what we are embarking on. This served as a good reminder for the rest of us on the modus operandi. After a bumpy ride, with my not too light sister on my lap, I'm exhausted when I get to the railway station. Luckily, we will be on board the "Rockfort Express" very soon.

Platform Number??
Soon, we get to our platform (there are not too many in Egmore). I start telling my sister, as if I were Manirathnam's assistant.."You know?this is where they shot Raaja... Raajathi Raajan indha Raaaja.. kooja in the film Agninakshatram". She nods furiously in agreement and adds a few of her own lines, "this is where they jumped out of the train". We both feel good that we have some great general knowledge on Kollywood! Dad and Mom are busy chatting away and the subject is not necessarily interesting. So, we craft things of our own to discuss. We fight a lot of people to check the reservation list at the door of the A1 compartment to make sure that all our names are there at the right places before we board. Once on board, after all luggage has been stacked away, we begin to relax and let the journey begin! The engine roars and my mom is pleased: "Rockfort naa correct time daan". My sister and I add in chorus: " Besh Besh... romba nanna irukku" (a line from Usalai Mani in Narasu's Coffee). Dad adds: "Gun time.. looks like I can adjust my watch to this time to get in sync with the rest of the world rather than being 10 minutes late!".

Rayil Snegam
The trains speeds through the local metro stations like Purasai, Chetpet, Mambalam, etc. and we can't help but laugh at the slow and unsteady, local trains, which we can barely see. Slowly people begin to start snoring. We curse them saying: "Yerina odaney thoonga poyachu!" Cha! Our style was to stay awake longer, until the whole train has slept and get up after every one of them is up! Tambaram comes and goes and then comes Chengelpet. On the way, some people that are awake, pay their respects from the train to Godmother Adhiparasakthi in Melmaruvathur, even the engine seems to have slowed down in respect. My dad is very fond of getting down at almost every major station, does not want to an opportunity of getting off and getting us something to drink or eat. It does not matter what time of the night it is. He complains that the vendor did not have change and my mom gets all over him for not getting enough change. She proudly exclaims "That is Girijaaaaa".. which means... if she does not get involved, nothing gets done.

Snore Galore
Eventually, we all get to sleep as we get our blankets and towels; my sister still has her book clutched in her hands, I am well buried inside the train provided blanket (a/c coach). My father gets up every now and then, looks out and records the time, so that he can tell us tomorrow, on which all stations he has seen and at what times ;-) Soon, the relatively short journey comes to an end and so does our sleep as we are awoken by the attendant and several coffee/tea vendors that we have touched "Main Guard Gate" and that the junction is just minutes away! We are all excited but somewhat irritated that the sleep ended so quickly! Anyways, we then queue up to brush, mom packs up everything we took out, dad gets us beverages, and discusses the his station chronology. We arrive at Tiruchi junction and my dad is surprised to see that his watch is now about 5 minutes slower. Oh! The train has arrived before time! Wonderful start, he thinks and is pleased. There is a hoard of porters, that get in before we get off at the terminus. We have no need for those guys... its just a short trip!

Announcing the Arrival
Anyways, first stop, Hotel Vasantha Bhavan. Better to arm ourselves for the long day. My dad reminds us, "Breakfast like a king, Lunch like an Emperor and Dinner like a peasant", it is his own version of the phrase, of course. My sister and I go for our traditional favorite, "Onion Rava Dosa", while Dad eats "Idli" and mom settles for "Rava Pongal". We are all offered a 2nd item, which we promptly decline. It is still too early in the morning. Then we stop over at Hotel Tamilnadu, which seems to have been the final choice emerging out of the discussions that my parents must have had while we were busy imaging where Karthik must have tapped his boots on, while shooting for the song in the Manirathnam movie. As we get into our great room at Tiruchi junction, my sister and I vie for the best spots and promptly lay ourselves on the plush
beds. While my dad and mom are left thinking who is going to get ready first.

Day One: Cautious Start
Soon we are all off... and catch a bus to Srirangam. We get very exhausted going from Sannadhi to Sanndhi in this massive temple and we can no longer prostrate to do namasskarams, so we pick and choose our favorite gods to pay respects to. From there it is Tiruvanaikkovil and back to Main Guard Gate, where the famous Ucchi Pillayar temple is located. We decide that this is not the day to climb since we were all exhausted from a long day and a long bumpy ride. In the evening, we watched Kalaingar, a new Kamalhassan movie in a night show at Kalai Arangam, a nearby theater.

Day Two: All Out!
The next day, we were recharged to see more gods, some less famous temples at Vayaloor and Gunaseelam. The latter was said to be the "anna" of Lord Venkateswara, our "kula deivam". It was a long drive to these places and they were not easily accessible by public transportation, so we took an auto-rickshaw. It was a memorable experience, which we could not remember, since our brains were bounced every now and then. Hey! the "only one bouncer per over" rule in cricket, should have been modified for the roads as "Only one bump per kilometer" and that would have made our lives much easier. But no... there were worse bouncers in store than Sachin would receive from McGrath. Worse of all, we could not even duck to avoid it. The driver tried to sverve, but to no avail, it was even worse than meeting the bump head on! After a tiring but enriching visit to each of these temples, we go to Mukkamboo park near the banks of the Cauvery. It was a lot of fun chilling off near the river, that is so talked about in Tamilnadu. It was not the best time in the year, with all the heat, but then the occassional sherbaths and pazharasams kept us excited. It was time to get back and this time it got very late and hence we did not stop by to watch another movie.

Day 3: Declaration

Day three, we were looking forward to, since this was the day we would visit Tanjore and the great temples there. Yes, we had not had enough of temples yet or did not dare to say that we had enough ;-) We got to Tanjai within a couple of hours from Tiruchi junction by luxury bus. The journey was way more comfortable than the bouncy auto ride on the previous day. Despite the heat, we managed to marvel at the Brihadeeswara temple in Tanjore. It was simply amazing and beyond any simple blog description. The Nandhi alone kept us so captivated with its splendour and grace looking directly at the massive Shiva linga, which was adorned with a 16 feet veshti. The temple albeit old, was amazing! The sculptures and inscriptions were all worth looking at several times and we lacked the age or knowledge to appreciate these completely. This was easily the best part of the trip so far! After praying and marvelling, we headed back to the Rockfort city, having decided that we had already seen the best temple in Tanjore. Maybe next time we can see some more. We managed to catch another movie at the famed "Maaris" theaterplex, which boasted of 6 theaters under one roof, a big thing for Tiruchi. The fans here were thronging the theater like crazy. We managed to get tickets in black for Karthik's Ponnumani. But it turns out that the guy selling tickets at an illegal price, cheated us and we landed up in "Little Maaris", where "Ejamaan" was running. Being Superstar fans, we did not mind getting ripped off, and although it was a "pain in the neck", watching the movie from Row S, it was still fun. My mother grumbled every now and then, but was happier after the tea and samosa in the interval!

Day Four: Follow On
Day four was a relatively easy day. We first went to Lalgudi and Tirumangalam village to visit our relatives. There were a lot of enquiries and kids on the streets were wondering whether a minister had come, since not too many cars visit the village. Then they recogonized familiar faces and began describing us to others that did not know us. They would begin reciting tales from the past, on how they had taken care of my dad in his childhood days where he used to roam around naked. Then there will be a familiar note of "enna daa evalavu elachuttey?" or the opposite phrase. The servants will have a field day, cutting coconuts from trees to serve us "Elaneer" a.ka. Tender Kakanuttu, in their parlance. We would then be treated to a sumptous meal before we decide that it is time to leave. There will always be complains that we did not stay longer. There would then be a few tears and a good farewell, with a promise that we'll stay longer next time. My father would always make sure that he gave adequate money to everyone who needed help, but would never ask.

We then went to the Ucchi Pillayaar temple in the heart of the city. It was a good climb up the stairs to visit the great remover of all obstacles. The great sannadhi of Lord Shiva came first and indicated that we had climbed a substantial portion. This inspired us to climb the rest after a brief breather. The climb was truly worth just one glimpse of the Great God Vinayaka above the rest of Tiruchi. We had a tough time debating, which experience was better, was it Tanjore, Srirangam, Ucchi Pillayaar or Gunaseelam. Each one of us had our own favorites. The overview of the city showed us the small but beautiful city of Tiruchi, the Deccan delight. After spending a considerable amount of time there, we headed back to the hotel for some rest before catching the train back to Chennai.

Day 5: Victory - a Home run Trip!
So many things to remember and write about from a trip that has a span of a 4 days!!!! Wonder whether the experience in the US on an equi-length trip, could ever really this diversified. But then anything that is frequent is prone to be a little dilute, so I can understand it, perhaps. Until, next time in 'Past Ponder', have a nice time and keep reading the other articles!


Note: This post was first published in my main memory: "Dynamic RAM", but has been cached here for categorization and completeness.