15 Things I Miss About the UK

I was sure I’d miss the UK the moment I left it. One week in at my sunny and stunningly beautiful new home across the pond, I knew it for a fact – and now almost half a year later I still miss Old Blighty. Of course most of what I miss has to do with my friends and the life I had built over my 4 years there. But my daily interactions with the outside world have made me realise that I miss quite a few things about the country that has given the world Wodehouse, wickets and whinging. As someone with a natural aversion to lists, here is a list of the 15 things I miss most about the UK, in no particular order. Feel free to rub it in by suggesting quirks, habits or characteristics I have missed.

1. English

I currently live in California where everyone speaks Spanish or American. The cliche that the Americans and the English are ‘differentiated by a common language’ is visibly true here and I miss the language I have grown up with as an Indian. It has been ages since I picked up a Wodehouse book but he remains the first author I look for when judging the quality of a new library. To be fair, many English words I did not know until I moved to England and in many ways these are what I miss the most. Crisps, Faff, Waffle, Whinge, Suss, Tosh, Bollocks, Cheers (a word as ubiquitous as Bitte, in German) are just some examples. Gosh it felt good to say those out aloud! And I miss bin-bags. An equivalent word for these doesn’t exist in the land of trash-cans. My next item on the list is closely related to this one – something that is so apparent I felt it deserves a special mention.

2. The letter ‘u’

Humour, colour, vigour, rigour, succour, fervour.  To this under-appreciated letter, I say - I dread the day I’ll forget u! And on a similar note, I’ll throw in defence, offence, sceptic, practice, inflammable and the classic - aluminium.

3. Pubs

What better motivation can a man have for walking over multiple hills with muddy shoes, tired legs and a wet raincoat than the prospect of arriving at a friendly local that opens just for his group of tired hill-walkers, with a log fire and tall, cold pints of local ale, while the weather outside continues to be grey, wet and an excellent topic for conversation? Our hill-walking society was after all also known as the extreme pub-crawl society. And not to forget, pub quizzes. Monday evenings aren’t half as entertaining without the mandatory underwhelming but fun pub quiz!

4. Public Transport

In California there is one train line along the coast – admittedly stunningly beautiful – that goes from San Diego to San Franciso which is the greatest public transport achievement in this state, one of the most friendly for public transport in the US. The US of A simply does not do public transport to the extent that the UK does. To be fair, the UK is helped greatly by the fact that it is 1/30th the size of this humungous landmass. Still – and despite its exorbitant fares and underwhelming efficiency – I miss National Rail. At the very least I’d have something to whinge about!

5. Pancake Day

I don’t mind that the Americans smile at the drop of a hat and don’t believe in Easter holidays but I cannot excuse their total ignorance of Pancake day. I refuse to allow the only day that celebrates my favourite dish (who cannot like pancakes?!) to be lost in a marketing driven random-relative-day oblivion. Pancake day – you shall not be forgotten!

6. Grumpiness

Can’t have it all good, now can we? I sorely miss the grumpiness that goes with grey weather – My smile-muscles feel over-worked for no reason. By nature I am confused by unwarranted cheerfulness and as I am fast finding out, I am in the world’s worst place for a natural grump. Ah well, I’ll keep calm and smile on for as long as I can!

7. Tea

Though grown anywhere but in the UK the English love for the stuff is legendary. And as I realise in this uncivilised land of iced-coffee and coke drinkers it is black tea that is sorely missed. I’ve given up being a reverse-snob and hankering after PG Tips. Earl Grey or English Breakfast would do just fine thank you very much. As long as it’s black and I can choose whether to add a dash of milk to it.

8. The Weather

Yes OED, I am aware every place on earth has its own weather. But I still assert that no other country in the world lays claim to the weather as a topic of conversation, discussion and debate quite like the UK. I say this especially since conversations about the weather in the UK are not limited to the English. Anyone staying anywhere in the UK will inevitably start relying on his/her knowledge of the local weather systems for anything from deciding what to wear to a filler in an awkward conversation. No other country in the world, I am willing to bet, has companies encouraging weather-wise consumers to bet on the ‘chance of rain tomorrow’ for a free packet of crisps!

9. Charity Shops

Gosh, I almost forgot to mention these uniquely British and endlessly delightful dives. I haven’t seen charity shops anywhere else in the world (except for one chain in Norway, but that doesn’t come close). A charity shop is a treasure hunt venue, a haven of randomness, a Pound-land and a good cause all rolled into one. As someone who ordinarily can’t stand shopping I cannot fathom why they don’t exist elsewhere!

10. Queues

While the English cannot lay sole claim to this polite habit they definitely are alone in the efficiency and severity with which it is practised. Nowhere else have I seen a two-person queue. And nowhere else have I seen the common sense practice of forming a common queue for multiple counters. I don’t get it – why isn’t this a universal standard?!

11. The Food

OK, I am sure this will raise a few eyebrows. The national food for vegetarians in England is curry, followed closely by pizza. But I am realising, the longer I am away that there are items I’d eat in England that I definitely miss. Sticky toffee pudding, bread-and-butter pudding, pies and gravy, hash browns and – this is certainly not English, but I am yet to find it/someone who knows about it here  – Halloumi. Oh, and to all my friends who promised me that the US is the land of the curly fries I regularly killed my heart with at uni – I am still to see any. Thank heaven these people know of cheddar!

12. The BBC

Not always appreciated in the UK, the BBC still brought me the best of English humour, drama and documentary. Black Adder, Yes Minister, Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, Sherlock, Silk and David Attenborough are a few examples. Yes, I can VPN into BBC Iplayer in today’s connected world, but I still miss the luxury of having Paul Merton’s face appear on TV when I switch it on (Apologies to the Dr. Who fans – I am not yet fully English).

13. Brevity

I learnt English in India and brevity in England. It is, in my opinion, something unique to the English. The contrast here in the US is stark. The Americans are like the Italians of the English-speaking world. Take the following example: A train driver in England announcing a delay would say (grumpily):

“We’re waiting for a train to pass us and may be here for 10 minutes. Sorry for the inconvenience.”

In the US – at least on the one train-line I’ve been on the extra-cheerful announcement would go thus:

“Hey folks, our train’s been held up at a signal, and we are waiting for the oncoming train, which is the south-bound, to pass us. They have been delayed by 10 minutes, and as I said, we will have to wait for them, and so, we’ll be held up here for like 10 minutes. In the meanwhile, enjoy the view, and just to remind you – the cafe is open and serving drinks, so feel free to come here and buy food and drinks while we’re waiting. Thank you.”

14. Cathedrals

My favourite city in England and favourite get-away from PhD woes in Southampton was Salisbury. Less fancy than Winchester – and arguably less pretty on the whole – but what drove me there repeatedly was its cathedral. A magnificently long and high structure with a large lawn and a quaint Cathedral Close, it never failed to give me peace of mind. And I miss that. I miss being in a country where having a cathedral used to be necessary for becoming a city. The cathedral also figures in Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth – a great book I would recommend to anyone even remotely interested in cathedrals or in that corner of the world. Why have we stopped building such wonders?!

15. Marmite

As the last item (for now) on my list I’ve added the most “English” thing I know of. You could not be more English than if you were a sandwich with a thin layer of Marmite on butter. But who am I kidding - I can’t stand the stuff. Maybe next time.

The Great Indian Tatkal Experience

Act 1

7.15 AM. The parrots and cuckoos had started calling, and the morning newspaper had just landed on our driveway, but the house was still slumbering. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and cursed, “Pick up, you lazy ass!” I waited six rings, put the phone down and went into the kitchen for coffee prepared by woken-solely-for-this-purpose-mum. Typically, my phone rang, out of earshot, and I missed my friend’s call. After playing cellular hide-and-seek for a wasted 10 mins we finally got to one another.

Me: Dude, you do realise we don’t have tickets for our Chennai-Nagpur train tomorrow?

VK: Of course. Tatkal only, no option.

Hm. Should we postpone? … Actually, no, scratch that. Fine. Tatkal. The window is 8-10 right?

Yeah. Cool, I’ll come over to yours at 8, I’ll bring my laptop as well – you have wi-fi right? We will need at least two log-ins to get the tickets.

Ahem… dai, this is why I called at 7.15! I told you yesterday – no internet at home, broadband’s down. I’ll bring my laptop to your place, that ok?

Nope.

Eh?? Wtf? Why not? No… don’t tell me….

Yep. Sorry. Power-cut times at my place are 8-10 this week… Hold on, I got it – dude, we’ll go to your dad’s office. You have two computers and printer, and all that. Sorted.

Gaaaahhhh…nope. Dad’s office is in the same zone as you – 8-10, no power. Haha. I would laugh if this weren’t true.

Nice. Kinda screwed. Ok, internet parlour.

Yes – only option. Aiyo, been ages since I used one! I think there’s one nearby, though it may not be open this early. We might have to scout. Listen – I’ll get my bike, and pick you up in 10 minutes at the end of my street.

15 minutes.

Machan – its 7.30 now. By the time we find a parlour and log-in, it will be 8. We need to be in the tatkal booking system at 8. Cya in 10, bye.

Fine, fine…goodness! Cya.

Act 2

7.45AM. I dodged early morning joggers, cyclists, cows, proud Tata Nanos and water tankers, with VK riding pillion, looking out  for an internet cafe. My hunch about the first one was right – it was closed. In fact, very permanently closed. VK said he knew one near our ice-cream/chat shop guy, but we didn’t find any there. We drove through the streets behind the temple, but no luck there either. We finally found a shopping mall on the main road and were directed to an internet parlour. Yay!

Me: Hahaha, ahhh, hilarious.

VK: Crazy fellow, what’s up?... Oh.

Hehehehe, the irony! A candle-lit, power-less, internet parlour. We are soooo screwed! Goodbye holiday plans!

Machan, chill, let’s find out.

VK (to a forlorn, sleepy looking man who looked every inch the owner of an internet parlour facing a power-cut): Excuse me, when does the power come back on?

Internet guy: 8 am.

VK: Phew! Thank goodness! It’s…7.52 now.

Me: Good, I need sustenance. 8 minutes – there’s a chai-wala next door.

5 minutes, a chai and a banana later…

Dude – we better go – there’s a queue building to get into that parlour!

Gosh, looks like all of Kilpauk has descended here.

Yeah – it is tatkal time after all!

Act 3

8.01 AM. With trepidation we join the ridiculously long queue to get into that tiny parlour. We look around, spot two free PC’s and grab our seats. One, in a corner, barely has place for me to stand, but what the hell, needs must, and all that. Sigh of relief. We boot up our computers, and fish out our IRCTC (online Indian railway reservation) log-in IDs and details.

VK: You have a credit card, right?

Me: Yeah, yeah… borrowed dad’s  – first let’s get into the IRCTC system.

Me: Yes! Woohoo!

VK: Booked??

Haha, very funny. But I have logged in, and selecting trains. You?

Not good. My… computer….just crashed.

Whaaaa? Crap, I’ve been logged out. Must be the whole of India booking tatkal tickets right now. Gaaahh.

Random Guy (sitting next to me): Hi. You are booking tatkal as well?

Me (glaring at potential competition): Yes. Where are you going?

Random Guy: Bangalore. You?

Me: Ah good. Nagpur. Have you logged in?

Random Guy: Yeah… ive even selected my train, but the page is stuck on the user details form.

Me: Ahhh. You’re ahead of us! VK – we need to catch up.

VK: Yeah, yeah. My computer’s still booting up. Give me the passenger details, meanwhile.

10 minutes of silence punctuated by mouse-clicks, frantic keyboard taps and frustrated sighs.

Random Guy: Damn. I got to the payment page, entered my card details, and it crashed!

Me: The computer?

Random Guy: No, no, the internet. Have to log in again now. Torture. You? Any luck?

Me: Hmm, I keep getting stuck on the user form details. Its already 8.20, I don’t even think there’ll be any tickets left after 8.30.

VK: Boo, yeah! Sid, credit card, quick! Grand Trunk Express okay with you?

Me: Dude! Yeah! Hell, I’ll be happy if we can get there sitting on the roof. Stud! You got it? Here, take card, go, go go!

VK: Passenger details, check. Card details, check. Proceed to payment. HDFC Gateway….waiting…not looking good…yeah! Done, and done! Four berths – Grand Trunk Express, tomorrow evening 19.30, booked…. I. Am. The. Man. (he does a little victory jig)

Me: Awesomeness! Yeah! (to Random Guy) Any luck, mate?

Random Guy: What, you guys got your tickets? Man, no, I had to start all over again. Bangalore sector is the worst.

Me: Yeah – Bangalore is terrible. Keep trying!

VK and I make a victorious exit and head straight to the nearest restaurant for a well-earned breakfast of coffee and masala dosa. We had just emerged victorious from a trial that millions of Indians go through everyday, a trial where victory is by no means guaranteed, and on which holidays, businesses and journeys depend – the Great Indian Tatkal Experience.

Spotted!

Date: December 7th 2012. 
Time: 4.15 pm.
Location: Somewhere in the Kanha National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, Madhya Pradesh, India
Atmosphere: Tense 

Manchan, our driver had stopped the jeep and switched off the engine. We were the last vehicle in the convoy and all the other vehicles had gone back. The sudden silence was deafening. All of us stood up and peered into the dense green foliage around us. I shivered as a chill breeze found its way through the trees. We stood in attention, not saying a word, all our senses directed outward towards the jungle around us. Our guide for the day, Sukhender, had heard what we thought was the alarm call of a spotted deer and we had stopped to try and locate it. Two whole minutes went by and slowly our ears started picking up the sounds of the jungle - the faint cracks in the bushes 20 m away as a male sambhar deer grazed; the occasional mating call of a langur on a tree somewhere to our right; the mimicking call of a drongo sitting almost above us....and then - there it was! From somewhere to our left and ahead we heard the alarm call of a deer that had just seen a predator wander too close! It was distant, yet sharp and clear and even though it wasn't meant for us it managed to send a second shiver down my spine! The sambhar stopped its grazing and stood up fully alert, its ears twitching, nose sniffing...

On Sukhender's sharp instructions Manchan started the engine and we raced off down the road in the direction of the call. We sped on for a couple of minutes before he stopped and switched off again. Once again the jungle waited...and so did we... there it was again! This time the call was much closer and more insistent. Two parakeets suddenly took off screeching from a nearby tree jolting us out of our concentration. We shook our heads and went back to peering into the bushes. We knew our predator was close, but we had no idea where. We had stopped at the verge of a large open grassland with dense forest to our right. In the near distance a herd of barasingha (12-antlered) deer stood, most of them in full alert. The calls came again, and again, this time taken up by a herd of spotted deer behind us, each new one sharper, more insistent and increasingly urgent as the unseen predator came ever closer. Two langurs on the sal tree immediately behind us suddenly started screeching and shaking the branches they were on, causing leaves to rain down on us. Our guide barked orders to the driver, said "Start, start the vehicle! Reverse it back a 100m, do it now!!" Manchan revved the engine and we sped backwards on the road to a spot we had been just 5 minutes before, as the alarm calls and screeches kept coming. We were all standing, peering out of the back of the jeep, our heartbeats racing, wondering what we were going to see, when Sukhender shouted, "Slow down, Manchan, there it is - a leopard! A leopard!" We all gasped as the jeep came screeching to a halt, less than 30 m away from a magnificent specimen of a leopard that stood stretching luxuriantly, lazily to its full length, right in the middle of the path, absolutely unconcerned about all the noise and fuss! We gaped in fascination admiring the animal, as he looked up in what was possibly a mixture of irritation and amusement at this strange noisy green animal carrying four human animals! A full-size male, we had evidently disturbed him on his evening saunter! As we watched, he turned around and slinked off down the path away from us, looking back every time Manchan reversed the vehicle to follow. And for a whole five minutes we - very much the outsiders, got to follow and watch the leopard in his territory, as he walked off into the forest, pausing every now and then to scratch the bark of a tree, and once, even pee on a stump, as he marked territory!

We had to cut short our gaping as we were the last vehicle and had to be back at the park gate by 5 pm. Manchan floored it on the way back, but we were sated for the day and didn’t complain. Instead we re-lived what was easily the most memorable half an hour of our entire holiday so far! It wasn't just the fact that we had seen a leopard - a sighting that was in fact more rare than a tiger sighting, in the Kanha jungles - but the remarkable, unforgettable build-up to it - the excitement of the chase - the intense waits, hearing and locating the alarm calls and speeding ahead to where they came from, the gradual but inexorable build-up of tension, not just in our jeep, but in the jungle around us, as all the lesser animals stood up, called and screeched in DEFCON 4 mode, and, best of all, the majestic, almost anti-climactic fashion in which the leopard that was the cause of all this excitement, sauntered out on the path, stretching, yawning - and peeing! - and otherwise absolutely unconcerned about all the commotion and fuss around him! We spent three more days at the park, and though we didnt see any other predators, we had some thrilling close encounters, and almost every ride we took, we immersed ourselves in the jungle... and the primeval excitement of the chase!

General Information and Tips:
Getting there:

Kanha is most easily reached by taxi from Nagpur in Maharashtra, or Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. Though Nagpur is slightly farther away, I would recommend it as it has a much better choice of good, clean hotels to break your journey. Having said that, the Marble Rocks (Bheda Ghat) near Jabalpur - a remarkable natural formation of marble and limestone cliffs on the Narmada River, near Jabalpur are a worthy destination in themselves. See MPTDC's Marble Rocks Hotel at Bheda Ghat, for accommodation options.

Stay: 

MPTDC (the Madhya Pradesh state govt Tourism dept) run the Bhageera Lodges and Log Huts - the only accommodation within the core forest sanctuary. This is where we stayed and I would highly recommend the place, for its excellent location, wonderful food and friendly staff! Prices are rs 1100/- bed for the 8-bed Lodges and around rs 6500/- per two-bed room at the log huts.

General Tips:
1. Best time to see the jungle in all its glory - November-Jan, after the monsoon and before the dry season. Best time for animal sightings - summer - when the animals congregate at the water holes!

2. Take a pack of cards. There are two safaris per day - 6 am to 12 noon and 3 pm to 5 pm, which means you are free from 5pm onwards everyday. Do not expect to have communication with the outside world of any sort, while within the sanctuary - it was absolute bliss for the four days we were there with no mobile reception, or any other link with the rest of the world!

3. MPTDC offer online booking of park safaris (Rs. 2200/- (1 indian, 2 foreigners + guide charges) and Rs. 1800/- for the vehicle per safari). The best option for first time visitors would be (depending on your time) to book a couple of safaris for the first two days, and make the other bookings when you get there, depending on animal movements!

4. Carry a torch! Especially if staying at the Bhageera log huts. The place can get very dark very quickly - and you do not want to be wandering around in what is essentially jungle, with no light - commonsense, and the park rangers definitely don't approve!

5. Most important: Do not go to the sanctuary to see a tiger! Go there for the jungle, for the experience - that way you appreciate and enjoy things you would otherwise not even notice!

Nantes – A City of Surprises

Place: Nantes, France (located 50 km from the coast immediately south of Brittany)

Region, Department: Pays de la Loire, Loire Atlantique

Airport: Nantes Airport (also served by Rennes Airport with train connections from the city of Rennes)

Railway Station: Nantes is a major railway station connected to most important destinations in France

Places and Things to see: Museum of the Machines of the Isles of Nante, Nante Cathedral and Castle, Guerande town and salt pans on the Britanny coast

Dates: 6th April 2012 to 9th April 2012

NOTE: Pardon the lack of accents in names – I wasn’t sure where they should go and rather than mix them up, thought I’d be fair and drop them all!

EPISODE 1 – NANTES

When my friend Marine invited me to visit her in Nantes, I had to look it up on Wikipedia. If there is one word to describe Nantes, it is unassuming. And if there were two, I’d go with unassuming and happening. It isn’t a ski resort, it isn’t Paris; it isn’t the Cote-de-Azure or the Rhone valley, but it is, nonetheless, full of pleasant surprises. The city made good on the slave trade before such things became passé. It now boasts a magnificent cathedral, some beautiful residential apartments and a quaint castle and city centre.

The evening I arrived, Marine and I took a lovely walk along the Loire river from the city centre towards Nantes University.

We were five of us the next day – Marine, Camille, Renin, Aurelie and me, and the plan was to tour the sights of the city. I had three and half days in France and as it turns out, there was a lot to do!

EPISODE 2 – THE MUSEUM OF THE MACHINES

The most remarkable attraction in Nantes is, by far, the Royal De Luxe theatre company’s Museum of the Machines of the Isles of Nantes. This museum is unlike any I have ever seen. The company, founded by Jean-Luc Courcoult, is a street theatre company that give performances world-wide. In fact they have just been performing in Liverpool to commemmorate 100 years of the Titanic. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-17806029 The museum is the brainchild of two inventors, François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice. It houses fantastic structures and automata (machinated animals and plants), such as the now world-famous wooden elephant. Built out of ‘tulip’ wood and as high as a three-storey building the elephant is actually fitted with gear that allows it to walk and run, eyes that open and shut, and a trunk that flexes itself, and even sprays water out its nozzle at unsuspecting passers-by!

The museum workshops are a fascinating journey into the world of gears and hydraulics, as the men and women there aim to replicate the natural world to the best of their ability using simple mechanical equipment and principles and some truly remarkable workmanship. Their current project  - called the Heron Tree project - involves a giant tree, 35 m in girth and 40 m tall, built of steel, with potted plants revegetating its branches. The tree will have mechanical ants, bugs and caterpillars that tourists can ride, and two giant herons nesting on the highest branches that periodically circle the tree, carrying passengers.

Yet another project is the Underwater Carousel - a giant carousel show-casing the creatures of the sea. The carousel when finished will have two levels – surface and deep sea, with different real and mythical creatures inhabiting each level and a bathyscape that will travel between the two!

We came out of the museum wonder-struck, marvelling at the creativity, ingenuity and effort that had gone into these projects. We took a walk back to the city centre, where my friends pointed out a wall on a small traffic island that seemed to have fallen from the sky. The wall, as it turns out, was part of a massive street theatre performance put on by the company last year where the history of Nantes was presented in the form of a story –  a young Mexican girl and her dog who came to Nantes during the slave trade years. The painting is a fascinating medley of characters and instances from real life and imagined stories. One can stare at it for hours and still find something new!

It was looking at this painting that I learnt that Nantes is the city of Jules Verne, the author of one of my all-time favourites – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Little-known fact!

I later learnt that the Underwater Carousel in the Museum of the Machines was actually inspired by him.

We ended the day in slightly more sedate fashion as we made a short sortie to the very quaint erstwhile fishing village (but now posh arty settlement) of Trente Mille, one of the islands in the Loire river.

EPISODE 3 – CREPES AND A CARNIVAL

No write-up about France can be complete without a mention of the food. Despite my misgivings about vegetarian food in this meat and seafood-loving country, I had some very memorable meals in Nantes!

The night before the ‘day of the museums’ dessert at Renin’s flat was the very French course of bread and cheese with some excellent red wine (I assume the wine was excellent since it was selected and served by the French!).

The next day, dinner was at La Quimper, a creperie that my friends had promised me would be very special. It would be remiss of me to talk about food here without first giving a bit of the history that goes with it. In the days before World War II and the Vichy, Nantes was a part of the unofficial region of Brittany (Bretagne). In fact, a Duchess of Brittany who would later become Queen of France hailed from the city. However, Nantes was separated from Brittany and became part of the Pays de la Loire region during the War and has remained separate since then despite demands for reunification.

The point of this story is that the crepes of Brittany are different to those in the rest of France. Nantes, historically being of the same region, also lays claim to the ‘Bretagne’ crepes – and that was what we were going to try this evening. I have a weakness for pancakes – especially the savoury sort. I do not know if these were the genuine thing, but the crepes I had at the La Quimper restaurant in Nantes were oh-so-delicious, and come close to being the tastiest sort of pancakes I have ever had!

And there was more to come, for dessert!

It being Easter, we finished our dinner by ten and got out onto the streets in anticipation of the Nantes Easter Carnival. The events don’t stop in this city! The theme of the carnival this year was children’s folk and fairy tales, given an adolescent/teenage twist (a slightly weird Red Riding Hood in stockings, for instance). By my friends’ accounts, the carnival wasn’t as good as usual, but I had a marvelous night, keeping time to the chants and songs that welled up every time a float went by, and trying hard to keep my head and clothes confetti-free!

EPISODE 4 – THE COAST AND EASTER CHOCOLATES!

The next morning we piled into our cars and made our way to the medieval town of Guerande on the French Atlantic coast. Well, the town used to be on the coast and indeed prospered while it was there, until falling sea-levels due to the retreat of the ice age meant that it gradually kept moving away from the coast! The town and its walls were however preserved in almost pristine condition and remain a must-see sight today.

Close-by are the salt-pans of Guerande, where salt is collected ‘organically’ adhering to traditions that are centuries old, refined with the help of modern science and technology. The guided tour of the salt-pans was in French, but my friends Camille, Renin and Aurelie very helpfully translated all the interesting bits for me, giving me a fascinating picture of good old-fashioned salt-making!

We headed back to Renin's flat where we had been hosted very kindly the past two nights, and were treated to some delicious home-made tartiflette and, as it was Easter, fruit and chocolate fondue!

Before I knew it, it was Monday morning and time to leave. It had been a short weekend but a whirlwind tour and it couldn’t have been any fuller! Having made plans to meet again in France, we said our good-byes. My Easter was made complete at the Rennes Airport with a complimentary Easter egg at the check-in counter! 


Before I close off this post, here are some pictures of the people that made this trip so great :)

Until next time… Au revoir!

TN Road Trip Chapter 4–Days 5,6,7: Rameswaram, Dhanushkodi and back to Chennai

Summary

Stay: Hotel Sunrise View, Rameswaram

Nearest Railway Station: Rameswaram

Nearest Airport: Madurai (~170 km)

Places Visited: Dhanushkodi, Pamban Rail Journey

Temples Visited: Thirupullani, Rameswaram and surrounding temples

Link to Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212985503433779843671.0004b7e3434283774e98a&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=11.609193,78.881836&spn=5.841001,10.821533&z=7

This last chapter on the Tamil Nadu road trip is going to be as much about names, as about the places they belong to.

At last…we were on our way to the ancient island city of Rameswaram whose eastern tip Dhanushkodi is just 20 km from Sri Lanka. This is where the Ramar Sethu (meaning “Rama’s bridge”, though known to the modern world as Adam’s Bridge) is said to have been built by King Rama and his army so they could cross over to Lanka to fight the demon king Ravana. This is also the place of the relatively new-born structural wonders of the Pamban road and rail bridges, spanning nearly 2.5 km across the sea, that connect the island to the Indian mainland. This is a place full of ancient legends and modern stories, and we were understandably quite excited as we set off from Karaikal on the last leg of our Tamil Nadu road trip.

Knowing we would be taking the East Coast Road all the way down from Karaikal, I once again took the wheel. It was, unsurprisingly, a delightful road and a delightful ride! Wonderful scenes of water-filled paddy fields with peacocks, kingfishers, storks, cranes and egrets, that we sped past; quaintly named sea-side villages; and the not-infrequent fauna on the road that we slowed down for!

The most delightful name we had come across on our trip so far was a few days before between Chidambaram and Karaikal, called Shang-oli-kuppam which translates roughly to “the town of the sound-of-a-conch.” We didn’t stop there, though we did stop this time in the equally delightfully named Manal-mel-kudi (Settlement – on – Sand) for a mid-day cup of chai. Stratford-upon-Avon, take that!

The road kept darting in and out of sight of the sea and we had a very smooth ride right up until the temple town of Thiru-pull-ani, where we visited the temple of Lord Vishnu in the form of Rama, resting before the launch of his final assault on Lanka. By the time we reached the road bridge across to the island the sky had darkened with lashing rain and gale-force winds, and we kept imagining the choppy sea that lay 80 m beneath our feet as we made our way across the 2.5 km long bridge. By the time we reached our hotel, Hotel Sunrise View, in Rameswaram however, the rain and wind had died down though we did hear that train services had remained cancelled that day due to the strong winds. We made sure there were no cyclones in the offing and booked, conditional on the weather, a jeep ride to the ruined settlement of Dhanushkodi at the tip of the island.

After a good night’s rest we got up the next morning to be greeted - as promised by the name of our hotel, by a sunrise over the sea! The sea was flat as a board with scores upon scores of fishing boats gently rocking away, waiting to go out into the waters of the Palk Strait.

The name Dhanushkodi literally means “bow-tip” for that is exactly what it looks like when viewed from the air. Until a morning in the spring of 1964 this was a thriving town on the trade route between India and Sri Lanka. If you wished to travel to Colombo from Chennai in those days before air-travel you would take the Boat Mail. This train service ran from Chennai to Dhanushkodi, where, as the name suggests, you would transfer onto a ferry that would take you to Talai-mannar in the Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka, where another train would take you all the way down to the capital city Colombo. On that morning in 1964 a cyclone, generated locally in the region struck the town with no warning. Normally sheltered by Lanka, this was a region that had never seen a cyclone before in living memory. That morning the two seas on either side of the town churned, and rose in fury devouring the town, and its beach, giving the inhabitants no chance of escape.

Needless to say, the railway line was destroyed and the service halted. The ferry and train services though restored were soon discontinued due to the separatist movement in Sri Lanka in the 70s. All that remains there now is the ruins of old English buildings built during the Raj.

We soon realised why we needed a four-wheel drive Jeep to take us to the tip – the road pretty much vanished as soon as we reached the ruins and no other vehicle would be able to make it across the sand!

Our jeep plodded along until we reached, verily, the tip of India, the meeting point of the waters of the Bay of Bengal to the north and the Palk Strait to the south; and one end of Adam’s Bridge, a strip of sand reefs, rocks and stones that formed a shallow, under-water ridge connecting India and Sri Lanka. The waters were a sparkling blue and the sands white, looking for all the world like the islands of the Maldives.

I will take a short dip into India’s great epic Ramayana, to give context to the next picture. Legend has it, that Lord Vishnu, came down to earth as King Rama to rid the people of the menace of the demon king Ravana. Ravana being proud and vain, kidnapped Sita, the wife of King Rama and held her hostage in Lanka. To rescue her and vanquish Ravana, Rama journeyed all the way from the kingdom of Ayodhya (near present-day Delhi) to Dhanushkodi where he built a bridge to cross over to Lanka. One of king Rama’s greatest devotees and advisors was the monkey god, Hanuman (also known in Tamil as Anjaneya, or the son of Anjana). He not only journeyed to Lanka as Rama’s messenger, to convey a warning to Ravana and a message of hope to Sita, but also advised Rama on matters of warfare and strategy. As this was the place from where Rama, his brother Laxmana, Hanuman, and their army left for Lanka a temple was built here for Hanuman in the erstwhile town of Dhanushkodi. The temple stood right on the tip of the peninsula with the idol of Hanuman facing toward Lanka, praying and waiting for the successful return of Rama, Laxmana, Sita and their army. During the cyclone of ‘64 this temple was washed away with the rest of the town. However, by a miracle the idol of Hanuman was left intact in the sands, right where he stood looking towards Lanka in prayer. Known simply as the '”Dhanushkodi Anjaneya”, he stands there to this day, an idol no more than 2 feet in height, open to the elements and with a single shroud of cloth as protection, more than 40 years since the cyclone!

We spent a good half an hour at the beach, wading in the warm waters and drinking in the expanse before us, all the time wondering how it would have to those living here, to see a cyclone appear out of nowhere! We finally tore ourselves away and headed back to Rameswaram, for the next item on our agenda – a rail journey across the famous Pamban Rail Bridge. When we got to the station, we were pleasantly shocked to find that the ticket from Rameswaram to Mandapam by train cost us all of two rupees. We selected our window seats and awaited departure. The train left on time and after a couple of stops, trundled on to the approach to the bridge.

I am now going to let the pictures do the talking…

This is what we saw below us, standing at the door!

And these piers in the water are the remnants of the old bridge, built by the British, that was also destroyed in the 1964 cyclone.

 

It was an exhilarating 15 minutes, and I was reminded once again why I love the Indian railways.

Still on a high after that journey we came back to Rameswaram by bus and went to the main Siva temple that gives the town its name. The story goes that Ravana, despite being a demon was a great devotee of Lord Siva. Thus, Rama after killing him, installed a temple to Lord Siva once he got back to India and prayed for his forgiveness. Thus the town gets its name, Rameswaram (meaning the abode of the Lord Rama prayed to). The temple, like most other famous temples in Tamil Nadu is a massive granite-structured complex, with long, wide corridors all around, adorned by majestic pillars with marvellous stone carvings on all sides. It is one of the holiest sites in India for devotees of Siva and Vishnu alike and is the centre of a thriving, bustling pilgrimage town. The temple houses 24 different wells, with waters from several underground rivers, and pilgrims bathe in the water from each of these wells, to cleanse themselves of their sins.

After praying to the main deities in the temple, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a night’s rest, before starting our journey back to Chennai via Karaikal.

We were glad that we had decided on Karaikal as our night-halt as the resort was very comfortable and nice, and it was a good stop strategically, being almost exactly mid-way between Chennai and Rameswaram. On our way back from Karaikal we stopped off for a couple of hours at the Danish fort in the seaside town of Tranquebar. The Tamil name for this town, Tharangam-padi means “Singing waves”. We wandered around this wonderful 800 year old fort, along its ramparts, and inside its rooms, enjoying the rhythmic pounding of the waves, and learning a bit about the adventures of the Danes in pre-British India.

We could picture the cannons firing away as the Danes spotted other European colonialists trying to take over their patch of land!

Our trip almost at an end, we headed back to Chennai barring a brief stop-over in the town of Pondicherry for a sea-side cup of coffee. It had been an absolutely wonderful trip, exceeding every expectation we had and throwing up quite a few surprises in terms of places and experiences along the way. We felt happy and recharged with our holiday, and happy to get back home – as there were so many more places to travel to, see and write about!

General Information

1. Hotel Review: Hotel Sunrise View, Rameswaram

• Tariff – Rs. 1300/- per day for an AC double room
• Location – Rameswaram town, very close to the east gate of the Temple.
• The hotel is well-maintained with decent, clean rooms – and insisting that we get a room with a good view worked, as we were given a room with a sea-view! The hotel did not accept card payments.
• Eating – there is no kitchen / restaurant, though they do offer a catering service with food from the restaurants nearby.
• We found a good vegetarian restaurant called Shanmuga Bhavan, around 15 minutes walk from our hotel.
• The hotel organises jeep tours to Dhanushkodi at Rs. 1000/- per trip. These tours include a tour of the main temples between Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi

2. We were told that very early morning (3.30-4 am) and anytime after 5 pm in the evening were the best times to visit the temple during the festive season in December-January.

3. The rail journey is a must-do for those visiting Rameswaram – even if you are travelling by bus or car!

4. There is a Gulf of Mannar Marine Biosphere tourist centre on the mainland in Mandapam, just by the start of the road bridge. They organise glass-bottom boat trips, for coral and sea-life viewing in the Palk Strait from April – September. They do normal boat trips upto the rail-bridge and back in other months, though there is no coral viewing then as the waters are too muddy. The charges for the coral viewing trips are around Rs. 600 - 800/- per group of 8 people.

TN Road Trip Chapter 3– Days 3 and 4: Karaikal and some delightful roads

Summary

Stay: Holidays Farms and Resorts, Akkaraivattam, Karaikal

Nearest Railway Station: Nagapattinam (~20 km) (the Karaikal Railway station was in fact inaugurated when we were there, and it should be possible to get there by train via Nagapattinam)

Nearest Airport: Trichy (~ 164 km)

Places Visited: Point Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary, Vedaranyam (see post Wetland, Wonderland)

Temples Visited: Thirukkanapuram, Nagapattinam, Mannargudi, Vaduvur

Link to Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212985503433779843671.0004b7e3434283774e98a&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=11.609193,78.881836&spn=5.841001,10.821533&z=7

This time, I am going to let the pictures do the talking. Well, some of it. It was dark by the time we reached the town of Karaikal – our second night-halt on our Tamil Nadu road trip. Our resort, the Holidays Farms and Resorts, was in a place called Akkarai vattam, on the outskirts of the town. The signposting for the resort, as our luck would have it, was only for tourists coming from further south, which meant we missed our turn-off on the first go! We reached the place however, and were delighted with what we saw. After a very warm reception, we were led to our room – I call it that, though it was more the size of a house – on the first floor of a stand-alone block. It was clean, brightly lit, and best of all we had balconies on two sides! The place was so nice, and the beds so comfortable after a day’s driving, it took us a while to convince ourselves to get up at 4.30 am the next morning for our trip to the Pt. Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary. Our excitement at the prospect of going there prevailed however, and after a pleasant dinner, we were mentally prepared for our early start the next day! The trip to the sanctuary was wonderful – in fact so good, there is a separate post about it on this blog (Wetland, Wonderland)!

The next morning, having finished our visit to the wildlife sanctuary by 10 am and feeling very pleased with ourselves, we proceeded to drop in at a few of Lord Vishnu’s abodes in the vicinity. Time being a luxury we had, we decided to take the rural road from Vedaranyam to the junction-town of Thiru-thurai-poondi, a town that was so central to our trip we must have crossed it atleast five times! Those roads – for the next two hours, were by far the best stretch of driving we had in our trip. Delightful, meandering, narrow country roads that wound their way through small villages, across paddy fields, around mango and coconut orchards, occasionally crossing a delightful brook…and all along, the quiet of the countryside! We had by then seen for ourselves the beauty of the Tamil Nadu countryside, and yet, however much we saw, we kept thirsting for more!

In the next two days at Karaikal, when we weren’t lazing around in our room or taking in the breeze on the balconies, we were standing on the road, outside the car, drinking in the fresh air and the lovely greenery around us. For a city-boy like me, the paddy fields seemed to jump straight out of the movies! In fact, on our way to a majestic temple in the quaint town of Thiru-kanna-puram, we were treated to a glorious sunset over the fields.

And when the sun wasn’t setting over them, this is how they looked!

We also passed a number of lovely lotus and lily-filled village tanks that were an absolute treat to the eye after the hyacinth-filled lakes of Chennai…and they had pond-herons hopping about!

To cut a short story even shorter – those two days of driving around the towns and villages, visiting the various temples, were a wonderful, and rather unexpected, treat! I’ll close off this post with a relaxing close-up of a paddy field…for the next chapter takes us to our final destination on our trip -the breath-taking views of Rameswaram and Dhanushkodi. Stay tuned!

General Information

1. Hotel Review: Holidays Farms and Resorts, Karaikal
• Location – Akkaraivattam, Karaikal – the turn-off is just opposite the ONGC complex
• This was easily the best hotel we stayed at on this trip, and we were glad we had booked a night here for our halt on the way back – both in terms of the hotel and also because it was more or less half-way between Chennai and Rameswaram.
• Tariff – Rs. 3000/- per day for an AC family room that accommodates 3.
• Staff – very friendly and responsive
• Eating – the restaurant is a multi-cuisine restaurant with a good selection. The food however is very spicy, even for Indians, though they tone it down on request!
• We learnt that the resort is very popular for official (political) do’s and functions – so book early to make sure you get a room.
• The people in charge are helpful – so if you have any questions about local sight-seeing, ask! It was on their advice that we decided to make an early start for the Pt. Calimere Wildlife Sanctuary.
2. Road tip – do not expect to find toilet facilities! We often found ourselves on long stretches of road that alternated between paddy fields and tiny villages, with no restaurants / hotels / dhabas in between.

TN Road Trip Chapter 2 – Days 1 and 2: Chidambaram, Sri Mushnam, Veeranam Lake

 

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:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212985503433779843671.0004b7e3434283774e98a&ie=UTF8&t=m&vpsrc=6&ll=11.609193,78.881836&spn=5.841001,10.821533&z=7

 

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

1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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
4. Pichavaram can also be done as a day trip from Pondicherry (70 km away).
5. 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.