After the usual tourist rounds at Marina Beach, its idly stands and balloons we went to Fort St. George, My son, who was all of 10 years at that time, thoroughly enjoyed taking his photo beside the huge cannon. The ladies in our group, including me, had our one-point destination etched out in our minds...Nalli, Kumaran and Pothys and we were in no mood to be distracted from our focus. So after packing off the boys and the kids, to the hotel, we made a headway to our Moksh.
The next evening, saw us boarding the Nilgiri express, our destination -Mettupalayam, the gateway to Ooty, in expectation of cooler climes. Early next morning, saw us at Mettupalayam station. The early morning mist, the steam from the blue Nilgiri Passenger train, the inviting aroma of hot coffee, the blue mountains beckoning us, the quaint and very clean platform with almost a doll-house like feel, and the much awaited bite in the air, made me fall in love with the place, instantly.I loved Ooty from the first glimpse that I had of it. It is like any other British Summer destinations in India, but had retained its native flavor. The Ooty Botanical Gardens, The Ooty Lake and the Doddabetta peak ,the highest peak in the Nilgiris, and its telescope, which provided a 180 degree view of the Nilgiris captured
my interest. However, the feeling that stuck on to my senses were those of the musty smell of the British era "Chellaram" shop, which sold from toothpaste to tobacco and toys, as well as home-made chocolates, the heaps of spices like cardamom, and black pepper lying on the road, waiting to be sold, the shops selling different oils, like clove oil, cardamom oil, the rolling tea gardens on the way to Coonnor, where I had the tastiest and sweetest pineapple, that I have ever had in my life and in Sim's Park where, there were many 'Rudraksh' trees. To put it briefly, I must say, that Ooty, has the power to seduce every sense in an individual.
Our next stop was Madurai, the temple city. on the banks of the river Vaigai. The Cultural Capital of Tamil Nadu, once the capital city of the great Pandya rulers, boasts of the World-Renowned Meenakshi Amman Temple.The temple complex is dedicated to Lord Sundareshwara, as Shiva is known here, and his consort Parvati, or Meenakshi. The temple complex has huge water tanks, and is resplendant with mighty stone pillars and magnificient Gopurams. The intricate figures carved out on the pillars and the gopurams depicted scenes from our epics and were an array of colors. Each figure, is painted in a different color, suited to that character. Madurai is a great place to bargain for bell-metal lamps and figurines.
One frivolous/important observation, I must add in here. each of the places, that I visited in TamilNadu, offers different variants of Dosa, inherent to that place.
We took the Vaigai Express from Madurai to Villupuram. We reached, Villupuram, when, dawn was breaking, it was still quite dark, and we had to wake up an old porter to help us carry our luggage. As we crossed the tracks, and exited the station, I noticed a small temple, decorated with small electric bulbs, constant chanting of shlokas, in a deep baritone, made me feel very peaceful at that hour, when the world was still sleeping. Fragrance of jasmine flowers and agarbatti was seeping into my senses. It was an ethereal feeling as we took a tempo traveller to 'Matri Sharanam" the rest house of the Pondicherry Aurobindo Ashram.
Written by: Jayeeta Sinha Roy
Photos: Jayeeta Sinha Roy
