Pretext: (Don’t expect me to
write on
Mahamaham – a Hindu festival celebrated every 12 years in the Mahamaham
tank located in the heart of the south Indian temple town
Kumanbakonam. And taking
dip on
Mahamaham kulam (tank) which is believed to bring good deeds and remove
sins.)
Mornings are meant to be fresh
and traveling during that time would be optimum. And my travel from Ariyalur to
Kumbakonam was appropriate with the mood and the activities of morning caught
my attention. I could see so many students riding in bicycle to school and most
of them were girls. All where pedaling standard bicycles that was given by the
state government for free of cost. It was wonderful to see them, cycling in
uniform in a line or two, leaving no hindrance to the freeway and utilizing the
benefit of government in right way. The free bicycles were provided to all govt.
and govt. aided high school students, from very long time, but who utilize the
most were the students in rural – with schools at distant. I know some people
who have resold their free bicycles (not only cycles, but many freebies) but
seeing these students using things to the fullest make feel same. I believe not
everyone is in need of freebies and people have better things than the
government supplied and the govt. has to realized this and make certain the
freebies are given to people who deserve. And by doing so, the taxation could
be reduced or utilized for other essential.
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| Cheerful yellow blossom, on en-route to Kumbakonam |
On our way we come across many
villages with cafes transformed into mini hotels at the morning hours,
providing basic cuisine like hot Idlis, Vada, Dosa etc… and at one place
someone transferred a plate full of steaming Idlis from their home to their
little shop outside left us with desire. But as we were heading for the temple
town (Kumbakonam) with an intention of taking holy dip at the Mahamaham tank,
parents hesitate to eat at those outlets as mostly aren’t pure veg! Glad we
could find a moderate mess at a village town close to Kumbakonam and parcelled
the breakfast and moved out and settled on a by lane aside a dry channel before
entering the town. The preparation for the big day (Mahamaham) was in full
swing then and many parking’s were created along the way and about 6 or 7 km away from the Mahamaham
tank and we couldn’t access right into the town, but was forced to take the specific
routes designed for the Mahamaham festival.
I put on navigation on the Google
maps pointing at Mahamaham tank before entering the town and many indications
were also kept alongside the roads directing to the tank. But at a distance of 2 km, the road marked as
leading to temple, was blocked and was asked to cover the distance by walk leaving
the car somewhere. The weather was hot and walking through it (in bare footed)
put pause among others. But we decide to move further to find any other route
and as expected the Google maps showed me an alternate way that passes through
little streets. I also noticed the distance gets lesser as we move further on
the route and at last found a parking lot with a distance less than a km to the
tank. Leaving me at the car along with my dad, others went to take dip in the
Mahamaham tank and later my cousin returned, taking some quick dips in few
wells (yes, there are about 20 wells inside the tank and the water level was
sustained to knee) to send my father to partake.
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| Pretty green landscape/field near Sirkazhi |
As time passes into noon, the
weather become hotter and we couldn’t sit inside the car without switched on to
AC. There wasn’t a thing to provide shelter and all cars are parked under scorching
sun opposite to a big marriage hall. The people kept arriving and outgoing on all
major roads leading to the tank and to my surprise my family returned to the
parking lot in an hour and some! I heard from them that people are allowed to
enter the tank from one back and exit on the other. Though the tank was crowded
it wasn’t complaint but the temples around them have queue that extends for a
km kept them away. Going to Kumbakonam and coming out without pictures of a
temple and so make disappointing, but I didn’t get a chance to prove it was a
temple town. Perhaps I could visit Kumbakonam at any other time in future as that
wasn’t the right moment to explore the town and no one could make a way rather
designed by the police department.
I could see ample police all over
the town and many cops were brought from faraway districts like Thirunelveli and
more than 15 gates where created for the Mahamaham to control the crowd. It was
estimated as more than 1 million people have taken holy dip at the Mahamaham
tank on the Mahamaham day – Feb 22, 2016. On our way back to home, we took ECR
(east coast road) via Sirkazhi, Chidambaram and Pondicherry. The roads were
pretty fine except going through many curves and speed breakers creating mild
difficulty, but the scenes on this road make forget those. Near Kollidam
(between
Sirkazhi and Chidambaram), we come across rows of shops selling handcrafts
made of bamboos. Though we were into late afternoon, we couldn’t stop anywhere to
take leisure photos and also on this road we are pleased by the sights of some
pretty green fields making vast carpets of green.
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| One of the many shops that sell bamboo handicrafts near Kollidam (Sirkazhi), on ECR. The shops sell mostly basket swing chairs, rocking easy chairs, stools and fruit baskets all made of bamboos. |
We had our lunch at
Sirkazhi and I
went for tamarind rice unlike others who went for meals. It was something I could not forget, because what
I ate was tasted as my favourite Puliyotharai which is given in temples. It was
a small pure veg. restaurant on the street of
Vaitheeswaran Koil – a well-known
Hindu temple for palm leaf astrology and the Lord Shiva here is referred as god
of healing. We parked the car in front of the hotel and they served me a plate
of tamarind rice at my seat. I ever had Puliyotharai as my entire lunch and I could
still recollection the flavor and the desire for it continue to exist. We had
our evening coffee and snacks at Pondicherry and continue to drive on scenic road,
but it doesn’t look scenic anymore as it was on its transformation from state
to national highway. Ever like before we witnessed number of vehicles coming on
the opposite side of the road which perhaps heading to Mahamaham!
