The begining of a Dream

This trip named the Southern Circle spanned Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The trip kicked off on the 6th of June and this day will be remembered as a special day: the day our dream started coming true. The excitement, adventure and the wonderful moments we experienced in the next 5 days will go down as the best moments in our lives. We were (and still are) 5 ardent and adventurous roadies - Vijay Prakash, Ganesh, Senthil, Vimal, Arjun with our four gorgeous bikes. The intended route was Chennai - Kodaikanal - Munnar - Thekkady - Kottayam - Kollam - Thiruvananthapuram - Kaniyakumari - Rameshwaram - Pondicherry - Chennai. But it was impossible for us to enter Kerala from kodaikanal due to some strike in the state so we sketched another route, another circle: Kodaikanal - Ooty - Coonoor - Mudumalai - Mysore - Banglaore - Chennai. The trip was no child's play, we had a few problems with our bikes and an accident too; but nothing could stop us. We endured 1540 kilometers with positive attitude, grit and spirit (no alcohol stuff). I can go on and describe this expedition for pages and pages, but I prefer to keep it short...keep it short with pictures; the photographs below speak for themselves..................

Day 1: Chennai to Kodaikanal

Chennai 4:25 am - Viluppuram 6:55 am - Trichy 11:10 am (lunch) - Dindigul 2:45 pm (Arjun's bike gives trouble) Kodaikanal 5:25 pm.

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Day 2: Sightseeing in Kodai

1.Silver Cascade*, 2.Cocker's Walk, 3.Green Valley View, 4.Golf course, 5.Pine Forest, 6.Devil's Kitchen, 7. Upper Lake View, 8.Pillar Rock, 9.View of Kodai City, 10.Kodai Lake and Boat Club.

Day 3: Kodaikanal to Ooty

Breakfast and Arjun's bike servicing 9:30 am, Leave Kodai 11:15 am, Palani 3:20 pm, Arjun's bike meets with an accident 5:20pm, Coimbatore 5:50 pm, Ooty foot hills 6:55pm, Ooty 9:25pm.

Day 4: Sightseeing in Ooty and Coonoor. Ooty to Mudumalai

1.Dodebetta, 2.Conoor, 3.Mountain Railway, 4.Sim's Park, 5.Lam's Rock, 6.Dolphin's Nose and Catherine's Falls.

Back to Ooty 4:15 pm, Leave Ooty for Mudumalai 6:10 pm, reach Masinagudi 7:50pm , night ride in the forest around Masinagudi and Mudumalai 10:25pm.

Day 5: Mudumalai - Mysore - Bangalore - Chennai

Leave for Mudumalai 6:10 am, safari inside Mudumalai sanctuary 7:10 - 8:10 am, leave to Mysore 10:10 am, enter Karnataka 10:40am, complete 1000kms of our journey 11:10 am, Mysore outskirts 12:20pm, Bangalore 3:40 pm, snack meal 5:10pm, leave Bangalore 5:35pm, Complete 1500kms of our journey 10:50pm, Chennai outskirts 11:10pm, HOME 11:30 pm.

Southern Circle road map

special thanks to Pritish and Christelle.

The Great Living Chola Temples

I had just finished my semester exams and was unofficially declared an engineering graduate. It was going to be a long vacation this time and so I prepared a long itinerary. First on the list was Living Chola Temples at Tanjavur, Darasuram and Gangaikondacholapuram (UNESCO world heritage sites). My blessed mom had planned to visit a few temples down south, she was not going to the places on my list but I convinced her for an extra day's stay so that I could visit the three monuments.

We left Chennai on the 18th of May and reached the temple town of Kumbakonam late that night, after visiting Pondicherry and Chindabaram. Kumbakonam was going to be our base camp, I got a green signal to visit the monuments on the second day of our stay. Darasuram was the first destination.

The temple of Airateshwara (Lord Shiva) at Darasuram was constructed during the reign of Rajaraja Chola II (1146 - 1173) and is said to have take 25 years for completion. The temple is a storehouse of art and architecture, most of the sculptures here are said to have been designed by the king himself.

Inside, in front of the main temple complex is a mandapam; this is called the Muhamandapam because it resembles a huge chariot pulled by horses. The Muhamandapam is supported by 100 monolith pillars, each of these pillars is made out of single basalt rock and is an exhibition of intricate and exquisite carvings depicting the legendary stories of Lord Shiva. The huge slabs that make the roof of this mandapam have fine carvings on them that are considered as special and rare features as they are not found in other Chola temples.

Behind this marvelous mandapam is the sanctum with its five storey, eighty feet tall Vimanam (towered roof of a temple's sanctum/holy shrine). The temple's walls and the base exhibit impressive carvings and sculptures; different poses of Bharatanatyam are splendidly engraved on the temple's base and the walls depict the incidents from the lives of the 63 Nayanmars starting with Avinashi and ending with Chindabaram. It is in fact true that the temple is described as the sculptors dream relived in stone.

One striking feature of this temple is that: outside the temple walls just behind the Nandhi's pavilion, there are three stone panels that produce tones of various pitches when struck. These however are not accessible to the public and are well preserved and protected.

After an exhaustive tour round the temple and painstakingly shooting a bunch of photographs I had an enlightening conservation with the temple guide who was kind enough to brief me on the temple's history and heritage. Finally, I left Darasuram filled with mixed feelings of pride for the country's glorious past and awe for its miserable situation at present.

It was a bumpy ride in the scorching heat to Gangaikondacholapuram. But the splendid view of the temple from a distance made me forget the uneasiness. Gangaikondacholapuram means the city of the Chola king who conquered the Ganga, the Brihadeeswara temple here was constructed in 1025 during the period of Rajendra Chola to celebrate his glorious expedition to the Ganges against Mahipalan. The king is said to have brought back 1000 pots of holy Ganga water and performed the Kumbabhishekam (consecration ceremony).

In the passage that leads to the temple is a gigantic Nandhi facing the temple. The entrance to the temple is from the *1st floor and the stairways leading to each of the entrances are grand and majestic and bear a "stairway to heaven" look. Each doorway is flanked by two monstrous but exceptionally sculptured Dwarapalas (Dwarapalas are the door keepers or temple guards). The Vimanam above the sanctum is 185 feet tall and is abound with marvelous sculptures and carvings of many Gods and Goddesses. The sanctum houses a Shiva Lingam made out of single stone which is a prodigious 13 1/2 feet in height and 60 feet in diameter. Sun's rays constantly fall on the Shiva Lingam from sunrise to sunset through passages in the vimanam, but I was not lucky enough to see this phenomenon as the doors to the shrine were locked.

Like the 63 Nayanmars at Darasuram, the legends of the 16 Moorthys are depicted on the temple walls here. The entire design of the temple is considered to me feminine in styling; like the temple at Darasuram the artistic and sculptural work here is intricate and exquisite and at the same time bears an air of extravagance and grandiose.

The granite and sandstone required for construction is said to have been transported from over 100 km away on elephants. The outer walls (made of these granite stones) were destroyed by the British in 1896 and the granite blocks were used to construct a dam at Lower Anaicut. The temple unfortunately witnessed many wars, it was used as a garrison and fortified cantonment by the Pandyas and later on by the British. The temple has also been looted on many occasions. But this architectural marvel has stood the tests of time and remains a standing accolade to the architects who created it.

I reached my final destination: the temple of Brihadeeswara at Thanjavur after a restless 2 hour drive the next morning. The sheer enormity and grandeur of the temple bewildered me, this temple is considered the grandest and the largest of the three temples and was constructed by Raja Raja Chola I (Rajendra Chola's father). Unlike the traditional Dravidian style, the vimanam of this temple is taller than the two Rajagopurams that form the temple's gateways. It is unfair to describe the vimanam as 'just tall', it towers to a whopping height of 216 feet and is bedecked with numerous stucco figures. The gold covered octagonal dome (Sikharam) that makes up the top portion of the vimanam is made out of a single granite block and weighs 81 tons (81000 kilograms). This block is said to have been drawn by elephants on a specially constructed 6 km long ramp and placed on its granite platform. Another interesting fact to be noted here is that the shadow of the the Sikharam never falls on the ground.

The sanctum below is two storeyed and houses a gigantic Shiva Lingam, its exterior walls are a storehouse of fine sculptural work. In front is the muhamandapam with huge pillared corridors leading to the sanctum. The monolith pillars of the muhamandapam exhibit exemplary artistic work while those of the corridors leading to the sanctum are gigantic and plain. Ceilings and corridors of the temple's sub shrines (smaller temples within the main temple) are abound with fresco paintings; they are an invention of the Cholas and even after 1000 long years, they are still colourful.

Like the temple at Gangaikondacholapuram there are a couple of majestic stairways that lead to the main temple complex. The exterior temple walls are adorned by sculptured panels of various manifestations of Lord Shiva, the 108 Bharatanatyam postures and incidents from the lives of the Nayanmars. Another stunning feature of this temple is its huge Nandhi housed in an ornately sculptured Nandhi mandapam. This is second largest Nandhi in India, It is a monolith weighing 25 tons and is about 12 feet high and 20 feet long. Legend has it that when the Nandhi was first installed it started growing in size, fearing that this would break the mandapam the temple priests struck a nail at its back which consequently stopped the growth. The entire structure exudes splendour and beauty.

I felt highly elevated as I walked around the huge temple complex. The monument's imposing beauty made me wonder the level of artistry and engineering ingenuity that had gone into the creation of such a masterpiece and if we have 'progressed' in the right direction in the last 1000 years.

Madras-Croc Bank-Mahabalipuram-Sadras-Madras

Having a special interest in photography and a penchant for ancient Indian architecture, I was on the hunt for the world heritage sites in South India. Mahabalipuram was one of the places on the list and being right in the backyard of Madras I decided to pay a visit. After several postponements, Anto and me finally kicked off on the 26th of December 2006, immediately after Christmas and on the 3rd anniversary of Tsunami.

This was the first time I was going to Mahabs on a specific purpose other than revelry. Incidentally it turned out to be a great day for a drive. The weather was warm and pleasant but grew a bit hotter by 2 in the afternoon.

Our first stop was crocodile bank. This place was founded by Romulus Whitaker and houses a variety of crocs( Marsh crocodiles, Australian alligators, salt water crocodiles..to name a few) apart from other reptiles and a few species of birds. We were lucky to be in time for the crocodile feeding session which was really interesting to watch.

The next stop was Mahabalipuram, This town is rife with Pallava temples, stone carvings, huge boulders (and of course gourmet restaurants, handicrafts, petty shops and beggars) the chief spots are the shore temple, Arjuna's Penance and the Five Rathas. The shore temple exemplifies Pallavan architecture and is the only surviving pagoda(the remaining 6 are submerged in the sea) that has endured the furies of nature. Arjuna's Penance is the largest open bas relief carving in the world, it illustrates a scene from the mahabaratha. The five Rathas are presumed to be creations of the pupils of an ancient sculptor school and are dedicated to the Pancha Pandavas and Draupadi. There is this huge almost elliptical rock that is fixed mysteriously to the slope of a boulder. There are also several caves with impressive carvings that give them the look of a temple. The hill temple and the light house is a must visit spot.

Leaving the shore temple we gave up the idea of lunch and headed straight for Sadras. On the way we offered a ride to a guy who promised to show us the way to Sadras. He was very talkative and gave us a good dose of "mokkai"; we dropped him off at Vengambakkam junction and drove East towards the sea off the East Coast Road. The road sides were vistas of lush green fields and farmers busy with their daily scores. We reached Sadras after a smooth(kind of) 13km ride.

Sadras was a dutch fort built for commercial purposes and was raided by the Brits in 1818. The fort is in ruins now and is being restored by the ASI. The fort is massive but lacks splendour, the outer walls are almost entirely covered with moss and riddled with irregular holes. The main entrance gate is flanked by two lifeless cannons and the inside of the fort is almost empty but for a huge granary, few creepy chambers and a beautiful cemetery.

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Riders On The Storm

L-R: Vino a.k.a mottai a.k.a thani marthandan and his Bullet Std. Dilip on his Karizma and anto wit his gangsta helmet (Bullet Std). Myself (Yezdi CL-II a.k.a Rocket Queen) on Girish's Thunderbird. Ajay (Yamaha RX-Z*) and Vijay on his Machismo. Karthik a.k.a Surul Pandi is the photographer and Girish is out of this frame simply because he is too tall to fit in and the one person missing is Rakesh who couldnt make it for this trip. Photographed on a location named "parking- View Point" - devil's own east cost road!! [oct 2006]

*contitions apply...HEhE LOL.....

..... it has ben 3 months now since he had given his bike for painting and makeover and only god knows if he is gettin' it back