In bangalore
1) Brigade Road signal to Corporation circle
2) Corporation circle to Majestic
Outside Bangalore:
3) Majestic to Salem (reached at around 3 in morning Saturday)
4) Salem to Tiruvaanaikaval in Trichy (at around 7AM)
5) Tiruvaanaikaval to Srirangam ( My collegue's uncle lives within the Praakaaram...he showed us the
Srirangam temple for over 2 hours till mid morning)
6) Srirangam to Main guard gate (went to see rock-fort at almost exatly noon-time! It is a wonder the soles didnt develop blisters climbing the final stage of the steps. And finally finally finally! I drank the great Bovonto, thanks to the propaganda by Madamoiselle Pingu... This was the only time when my collegues felt I let them down! They had a sip and they looked at me with the feeling that if they didnt know that a person like me existed, it would be a bad idea afte all... "Glycodin" was the term they kept repeating after drinking it.)
7) Main Guard Gate back to Srirangam (took rest in the afternoon)
8) Srirangam to Trichy main bus station ( junction?)
9) Trichy to Tanjavur (at around 7:30 PM.. only a stop en-route.. no temples)
10) Tanjavur to Kumbhakonam (night stay... no temples, 2-rupees tea early morning at the bus stop)
11) Kumbhakonam to MayilaaduDurai (Sunday early morning)
12) MayilaaduDurai to Vaideeshvarar Kovil (collegue-junta were intrigued by the nadi-jyotisham shown on "maano ya na maano" on Star-One channel. This was the main purpose of the trip. Also, super temple).
13) Vaideeshwarar Kovil to Chidambaram (temple closed during afternoons due to "security reasons".. security my foot!)
14) Chidambaram to Cuddalore (What a ride!!... the average speed must have been around 70 Kmph)
15) Cuddalore to Pondicherry (reached at abt 4:00 PM)
16) Pondicherry to Bangalore (reached at abt 3:30 AM Monday)
The last bus ride was interesting: The main idea was to go to Pondy beach, and start by late evening. But all busses-- govt. and private were full.. There was only one KSRTC bus, starting at the oddtime 5:30 PM. We toyed with the idea of staying back in Pondy, taking the bus to Tiruvannamalai late evening, and then another one from there to Bangalore, but too tired to even think of a break journey. There was no one in the bus when we sat... except for a few gaudily dressed eunuchs. Tense times...
And when the bus started, a few others joined us. The driver promptly informed us that he didnt know the route. So, a Tamizh guy helped him out.. but since the driver didnt knwo Tamizh, my collegue had to act as an interface. This went on till Tiruvannamalai, where that navigator got down, but several other knowledgeable navigators got in, and guided us on. But we were getting hungry and the driver didnt show any inclination to stop anywhere.. and who would come to our rescue but the good ol' eunuchs! The leader of their pack "pressurised" the conductor and driver to stop somewhere in the wilderness around mid-night. So, we had whatever we could find there, and began the last step of the journey. It turned out that the driver didnt know the route to Majestic even after entering Bangalore. Thankfully, the conductor did know. So.. there we were! In Majestic at 3:30 PM on Monday. After a brief forgettable auto-ride, I was back home.
Perhaps I will post some pictures when I get them. Till then, here is a rough route map of our journey:
4 comments:
DUde!! U got too much of a prodiguous memory..recalling every tiny detail :-) Useful for sure, but hope u don't swim around in the channels of ur memory alone!!
well... we kept repeating the sequence of places lest we forget... and one of us is a Tamizhian... so things were not so difficult.
Also, I cant swim... is that more dangerous?
Maybe you should have considered stopping at Thiruvaiyaru enroute to Kumbakonam. Tyagaraja would have been pleased to see you. Your mention of 'Bovonto' reminds me of 'Soma' (packet looked similar to that of Green Label coffee). It was the best drink I ever had, before it was scrapped and long before Tree Top, Appy and Frooty came along.
And if Iam right, even TN bus conductors are not blessed with a money bag and ticket holder. Like their counterparts in Karnataka, they juggle them between their fingers and mouth. (Of course Rajni would not have been born otherwise)
Waiting for photos.
'Tiruvaanaikaval' is corrected.
Well, some of the conductors were juggling... the others had a money bag. May be the times have changed.
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