Summary
Stay: Hotel Grand Palace Stays, Chidambaram (near the Chidambaram Railway Station)
Nearest Airport: Salem, Trichy (~ 170 km)
Places Visited: Pichavaram Mangrove Swamps, Veeranam Lake
Link to Google Maps:
Speeding down NH 45 in the rain, we were happy to have had such an easy exit from Chennai. Though we still had houses and the occasional industrial building alongside, it became very scenic, very fast. My dad gave me the wheel at Chengalpet, just between the oh-so-beautiful Chengalpet and Madurantakam Lakes.
It was great fun driving along the NH 45 while being battered by intermittent, but very heavy showers. It was great fun…while it lasted. We had planned a road trip of Tamil Nadu - little did we know that this would include a trip to Mars. The stretch of state highway between Panruti and Cuddalore was (and probably still is) the worst road I have ever come across. In fact, one wouldn’t want to even call it a road. It was a multiple-choice stretch of potholes. All the meteorites that should have been deepening the Atlantic had instead been resurfacing this 20 km strip of land with an accuracy that would have put American UAVs to shame. Never before have I had a back-ache from driving a Hyundai Santro! The poor car behaved brilliantly though, quietly putting up with all the torture – and this was only the first day of an 8 day trip… God knew what lay ahead!
We pulled through however, and after a minor adventure (we got lost) at a temple en-route, we reached our hotel in Chidambaram at a decent 9pm. Our hotel, the Hotel Grand Palace Stays, was functional and clean. The staff were friendly though the kitchen had only the most basic food and we had to fight to get our share of free water bottles! On the whole however, it was a good option – convenient to get to and well-suited for a two-day stay. In fact, situated right outside the city station, the hotel is perfect if you’re going to Chidambaram by train. The next morning, we decided to take it easy and started out at 10 am. Our first halt was the Pichavaram mangrove swamps, half an hour’s drive away.
We reached there without trouble, and booked ourselves on a 1-hr tour of the mangrove swamps. The ticket office there tried tempting us with the slightly longer and more expensive ‘Dasavatharam Fame Canal Tour’ – a tour of the parts of the mangrove swamp that had been made famous by the blockbuster Tamil movie, Dasavatharam, but we resisted the temptation! We learnt a lot of fascinating facts about these wonderful plants and how they survive and even thrive in the harshest of conditions. Our initial misgivings about the boat, and the fact that none of us were great swimmers were rapidly allayed when the boatman told us that this vast swamp, with its mangrove-lined canals and islands didn’t get deeper than a few metres! We were told that the Pichavaram mangroves had protected the villages and cities behind by taking on the worst of the tsunami in 2004. In fact, in the cyclone that hit them, a week after we left, a lot of the mangroves were destroyed, and the swamps clogged up.
Half-way into the trip however, we realized that making a late start had been a big mistake. The mangroves and the swamp were wonderful, tranquil, and it was great being able to go right up to the trees….but it was hot. The sun was blazing down on us, and we were mighty glad we had our caps on. It would have been a lovely tour, beach included, if the day had been less sunny, or if we had started out at 6 am!
That evening, we went to the Chidambaram Nataraja (Siva as the god of dance) temple – a massive, awe-inspiring granite structure. Like most other temples built during the Chozha times, this temple is more than a 1000 years old. As soon as we walked through the towering entrance gopuram, we saw a giant idol of his steed Nandi, the white bull – a statue that is said to be second only to the Nandi at Tanjore. The idols of Natarajar and Krishna in the sanctum are beautiful –one can stand there for hours, just looking at them!
The next day we were to drive to our next halt in the erstwhile French port town of Karaikal. As this was a short journey, we decided to include a detour to the temple in the town of SriMushnam – a temple for Lord Vishnu, when he appeared as a boar, to rescue Mother Earth from the demons that had kidnapped her! We then planned to head back to our route along the famous, yet little-known, Veeranam Lake, lying just west of Chidambaram.
I still remember the feeling of thrilled excitement, when my father said we should include the Veeranam Lake on our itinerary. It sounds innocuous, but to a Chennaiite, especially to someone who lives close to the city’s main water-works, that name has a special significance - for this is the reservoir that supplies this big, thirsty city with more than half its water.
Lying within the basin of the great Cauvery river, on one of its northern branches called the Vada-varu (literally meaning North River), the lake fills up every year during the monsoon season. Originally called the Veera-narayana-puram Lake, it was built by the Chozha prince, Rajadithar, around 1000 years ago. The lake is said to have 74 sluices and legend has it they were the inspiration for the 74 ashrams of Sri Vaishnavism (a branch of Hinduism) that now exist.
We drove along the lake bund for a good half hour, stopping on the way for a stretch and a snack-halt. It was lunch-time. There was a cool breeze and the sun kept playing hide and seek behind the clouds. The only sounds we could hear apart from the occasional car, were the gurgling waters of the canal, the cries of lunching birds and the whispered conversations of a few people dotted along the bund, having their packed lunches.
It was shortly after, on this drive, that we saw The Tree.
| THE TREE |
| How rare it us, especially for us city-folk, to see in its undiluted maturity and majesty, something that has had its full share of space, air, water, nutrition and time to grow! This tree stood there on the canal bank, its arms spread out wide like a fantastic space-ship, yet looking like it had been there by that canal since the beginning of time, and would stay there until the end. One of its arms reached low to the canal, its leaves almost brushing the surface of the water, as if reassuring itself that a drink was available when it wanted one. I could picture school children swinging from its branches and jumping into the water in its shade during the summer vacations. I could hear the cuckoos and parrots that would nest there in spring. I could feel the breeze as it made its way through the leaves and around the branches. Yellow flowered bushes had grown around it, like kids gathering around their beloved grandmother for treats. I could picture the waters in the canal flowing gently into the lake, before being forced through sluices, into pipes that would take it on its long journey through northern Tamil Nadu to thirsty Chennai. I took my picture and then just stood back for a while, relishing every moment of this idyllic scene – the lone tree, the canal, the bund and the road with gravel strewn on the side, village folk strolling alongside a cart in the distance, and in a strangely harmonious contre-temps, a four-wheel drive vehicle speeding across the stillness. Oh, to drive in India! |
It had been a magical day so far… and we looked forward to much more of the same, as we headed on to our next halt – Karaikal!
| ERI – KATHA RAMAR TEMPLE |
| As an aside here – for those interested in temples – the temple of Eri-Katha Ramar (the Ramar who protected the bund) on the banks of the Madurantakam lake is a must-visit for anyone with a day to spare in Chennai. Apart from having one of the most beautiful statues of Rama (an avatar of Vishnu) and Lakshmana (his brother) that I have seen, the temple has the distinction of being one of very few temples where Rama and his consort Sita are actually seen holding hands. The story, behind his name and the temple is equally fascinating.
The temple was built during the Pallava Era and is estimated to be more than 1500 years old. The story goes thus: during the British times, the collector of the region, a Colonel Lionel Blaze, was worried when two parts of the tank bund started giving way during the monsoon. The tank was immense – 13 sq-km, and a complete breach would devastate the town. The Colonel noticed that the temple nearby had a pile of granite stones, and he instructed his men to use those stones to repair the breach temporarily. The priests protested however, saying the stones were meant for the construction of a new shrine for the residing goddess, Janakavalli Thayar (another name for Sita, as the daughter of king Janaka). The Colonel, furious, asked the priests why their gods did not save the bunds themselves, and walked away. That night, it poured, and it poured. The waters kept rising and the Colonel went out in the torrential rain, to inspect the lake bund. He was shocked by the force of the rain and the wind, and the choppy waters in the lake that soon threatened to reach the level of the breach and flood the town. Just as he had given up all hope, and was turning back, he saw something very strange – he saw two tall, fair warrior princes, each with a bow and arrow, pacing up and down the far side of the lake. He stared, blinked, pinched himself and stared again – and they were still there. Confused, he dismissed them as eccentric, foolhardy wayfarers, and went back home, sure that he would wake up in neck-deep water the next morning. Morning dawned, and lo and behold! The town was still safe! Dazed and disbelieving, the Colonel ran up to the bund and couldn’t contain his joy when he saw that the waters had stopped just short of the breach… Madurantakam had been saved by a miracle. Feeling magnanimous in his joy, he ran into the temple to apologise to the priests for his rudeness and tell them what had happened. He was asked to wait, as the priests were performing their daily pooja to the deity. They finished their pooja and whipped open the curtains…and Colonel Lionel Blaze almost fainted in shock. The priests asked him what was wrong, and he told them – he told them that the idols he was seeing before him, were the very picture of the two men he saw on the lake last night, pacing up and down with their bow and arrows… The priests went ecstatic with joy and told him that these two idols were none other than Rama and Laxmana! They cried out “Oh, you lucky soul, we are delighted for you! Priests and sages spend decades upon decades, doing penance in the forests and the mountains, for a single glimpse of Him, and you see Him, in all his glory, not just in a vision, but protecting you and your village! Glory be to Him, and to you!” And thus, did the Rama of that temple attain the name Eri – Katha Ramar, while Colonel Lionel Blaze, of good fortune, also had his name immortalized in the stones that tell the story of the temple. (To learn about how Madurantakam got its name, visit - http://kshetrapuranas.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/the-english-miracle-madhuranthakam/ ) |
General Information
- Hotel Booking Tip: When contacting a hotel to book a room (not just in India, but anywhere), always insist on a room with a good view – you have nothing to lose, and in my experience, it often gets a much better room than you would have got otherwise!
- Hotel Review for the Grand Palace Stays, Chidambaram:
- Location – Next to Chidambaram Railway Station;
- Tariff – Rs. 2250/- per day for an AC double room, inclusive of a very decent complimentary breakfast (as of 15 Dec 2011).
- Rooms – small, but clean and functional.
- Staff – very friendly, though they do expect you to buy mineral water bottles!
- Eating - There is room service, though the restaurant has a limited selection for vegetarians and more or less closes down after 7 pm.
- We did find a very good vegetarian restaurant within 15 min walking distance, called Sharada Ram, behind the petrol bunk near the main bus-stand.
- If you’re going to the Pichavaram mangrove swamps, aim to be there by 6.30 am, as the sun is out and blazing by 9 am! Regular bus services run from Chidambaram to the Pichavaram Boating Centre. The boat trip costs Rs. 140/- per boat per hour, for up to four people, + Rs. 30/- per still camera
- Pichavaram can also be done as a day trip from Pondicherry (70 km away).
- There are no toll-fees on the East Coast Road beyond Pondicherry up to Tuticorin. Except for the Panruti – Cuddalore stretch of roads, all the roads we drove on were excellent and an absolute treat to drive on.
Superb write up (right up to Day 4). Am re-living every moment of that wonderful trip. Eagerly awaiting the next post.
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