A trip to Ambasamudram, coutrallam

Digital Drifter

Could be boring for some.....4 days and I havent even completed day 1 here.
:-)

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Shekhar Steel Industries, says the card. If you ever come to
Ludhiana, you should come and stay at our place insist the man
opposite me.

There we are, the missus and self in the train to Nagercoil[1]. Seated
opposite is the person who just gave his card to us and his old
parents. Heading to Madurai and then onto Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari on
a pilgrimage. It appears they have been to various places on the way
down South and appear a bit worn out. Or is it the AC?

The conversation veers from religious piety, pilgrim centres,
language, directions to Meenakshi Temple, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari in
broken hindi(which my missus speaks) and with myself interjecting and
correcting her in English/Tamil while staring moodily out of the window.

After a few hours, we are in animated conversation even given the
constraints of language. The old couple are mighty pleased with my
missus's knowledge of Hinduism even though I keep making snide remarks
at her in Tamil. The three of them have a beautific smile on their
faces as missus expounds on the legends of Rama, Shiva, Krishna in
relation to the places where they have been and where they are going.
She's in her elements now, I see rapid fire delivery, affirmative
nods egg her on and she's on a roll. I don't know Hindi but recognize
enough to let her know I know she's doing it wrong. Not that it
stopped her. :-)

We turn in early for the night after quickly having food. Next
morning, a gray cloudy day and conversation goes on as if nothing
interrupted it. With a confidence that worries me a little, the chap
says "that's why Adi Sankara established religious centres all over
the country, so that people will travel and meet each other"

Madurai. As quickly as we met, they leave to earn their karma and
giving me the card. We know them and yet we don't. Missus muses that
she wants to travel to Rishikesh, Badrinath et al. Ye Gods, will this
ever stop? I quickly buy some hot idlis and pongal from the hawkers
on the platform and we finish breakfast.

We journey on. Train is slightly empty with no one joining our
compartment. Except for the Novell bloke with the laptop, being the
nerd I am, I get into conversation with. SUSE Linux? Nods. Emacs?
No. Vi. Traitor! I think and join my missus after ascertaining that
he's working on GNOME development.

Get down in Maniyachi station and meet my family retainer who knows me
since I was a toddler. Took the local to Tirunelveli station and
catch up with the itinerary plan while looking out of the window for
peacocks. Don't spot any.

Take hired cab[2] to Ambasamudram. Tirunelveli is as I remember it, a
village masquarading as a town. Pass familiar landmarks like Barani
hotel, aryaas and they still look the same as a decade back. Dusty,
garbage strewn and your typically indian town. Quickly escape into
the countryside. With the harvesting going on, the grain being
threshed on the road, sweet smell of straw floods the car. Missus is
bone tired but nods fitfully at the lakes and ponds that I point out.
Point out a few birds and pelicans and excitedly see a strange sight
of a peacock among vultures(?)[3]. Show her a large stand of palm trees
where the driver says a movie was shot. Drat. It's midday and the
photo looks crap; would have been great if it had been early morning
or late evening.

Road is a lunar landscape and missus being pregnant, carps about the
state of roads. I maintain a stoic silence about my native place. We
snake our way past small vilages and towns, Cheranmahdevi,
Kallidaikurichi passing small lakes and ponds some of which are dry
and some with water. There seems to be a few more birds than I can
remember. It takes a good hour and quarter to reach Ambasamudram.
Sankaran had already checked out a hotel near the District Court. Notice
that the Forest Reserve Office is next to the Court. Hmmm... if I'm
going to Manjolai, maybe here's where I need to ask.

Rooms are Rs 300/ for Non-A/C and Rs 500 for A/C. Check both rooms,
find no difference to the bedding sheets and all except that it's
washed but still has mud stains. Toilets are clean. I'll take the Rs
300/ one. Quickly dump our luggage, run a bath and head to the A/C
dining room and have a large meal South Indian style on plantain
leaves. Good attentive service. Phone home and tell them we arrived.
Tell Sankaran to get the car at 1700 hours to go the Coats Viyella
factory and then promptly crash out.

More later, if people want me to continue, that is.



Footnotes:
[1] Train no: 6732

[2] Costs about Rs 300 to go to Ambasamudram. but this was done
through our retainer, so it's on the low side for about 40-45km

[3] Got a snap of it and will try to upload it on Indiamike but I
don't have any photo editing software to make the pics smaller.

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