Boatride at a wedding not held at the Big Temple

The one line thread :- A bunch of guys go on a road trip from Chennai to attend the wedding of the brother of their friend at Tanjore, stopping off at Mannarkudi for a day before attending the wedding.


The Cast :- 20 odd handsome guys between the age of 21-23


The Villain - Earth's rotation that restricts a day to 24 hours and hance very little time


Departure - From CMBT to Mannarkudi, bus boarded at 8 p.m on a Saturday (much to Dil's consternation cos he thought the departure time was 7:15 p.m and he was speedily and panic-strickenly shopping for underwear... not the right frame of mind for underwear shopping... anyway, we reach Mannarkudi at 4 am on Sunday. DD breaks his 21st pair of spectacles on the way.


Plan of action for Sunday - Crash till 8. Breakfast at Prem's joint (Prem is also the Superhost at Mannakudi) at 9.. hearty breakfast at that with Idly, Pongal, Poori, Halwa and a nice cuppa to round it off.


Next we move on to Muthupet. MUTHUPET is a lagoon, a restricted area of mangrove forests and a bird sanctuary. It was also not too crowded with tourists and is 35km from Mannarkudi. The cars drop us off and go all the way back to bring us lunch (Superhost at work). While lunch is being brought. We, the 21, board a boat and set off through the mangroves and to the lagoons. Spotting quite a few birds, unfortunately the our knowledge of Ornithology was restricted to Daffy duck and we did not know what birds we were spotting. One hawk or eagle or kite put on a show for us by sky diving to catch a fish in its claws.. this piece of NatGeo action taking place some 3 feet away from us.. super.


There is also this bat field (Vavaal Thottam in Tamil). Once you reach there you are literally in a scene from a Batman movie with a few hundred bats flying over you, and these are big bats mind you. It was still day hence not so scary.


More boating action while lunch is awaited. Then we dock at this private picnic spot, complete with a cottage and all.. and LUNCH arrives... BIG LUNCH - Lamb briyani, Chicken 65, Fish fry, Mutton Kurma and the tour de force - Crab. OOH LA LA!!! Let me say that one more time - OOH LA LA!!!


Lunch done we set off on our boats to satisfy the sailor hidden inside us all. The sun is in its descendence and the mercury is coming down. There is a nice breeze coming through and all this just adds to the hallucinogenic high that the sumptuos lunch had brought us to. We finally conclude our sojourn to Muthupet and return to Mannarkudi as a temple trip awaits us.


Mannarkudi Rajagopalaswamy temple http://images.world66.com/ma/nn/ai/mannai_temple_view_galleryfull

could be better maintained, i still believe that the big temples should be taken over by ASI like THE Big Temple (mentioned later on) is. We have only half hour of Temple time left so we hurriedly rush through the visit. An insult to the temple, but nothing can be done. We next head to the HUGE temple tank. Lovely setting to sit and while away time, but time is of essence and we rush to Prem's house where dinner is waiting. Dinner is served in the terrace - Chapathi, Upma, Paneer Butter Masala, Ice Cream and a warm cup of milk. All that is left is sleep.


Plan of action for Monday - Early start to Tanjore after hurriedly bidding our goodbyes to Prem's warm and caring family. Our class's tradition of hospitality gets a new chapter added to it in Mannarkudi. Kum's bro wedding awaits us. Reach in time for breakfast. They give extra pooris ( a blessing for those who cant stand Idli and Pongal). The bride and the groom arrive. Most of us are stunned by the similarity in the smiles of the groom, kum and kum's dad. We wish the couple a very happy married life and chat with Kum for sometime and then before we know it we are off to THE Big Temple - Brihadisvara Temple in Tanjore http://usandeep.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/kodai_brihadisvara_inside.jpg.w300h225.jpg The architectural marvel is a sight that will stun you into silence. Thankfully its maintained well, cos of its UNESCO heritage status. We also checked out the small museum inside the temple complex, which contains details of how the temple was constructed. It also put to rest a doubt that we had - that the Vimana Gopuram is NOT a monolith. After getting the blessing from the temple elephant, Velliammal (donated by the thespian Sivaji Ganesan) we leave for our next destination.

Sudden change in plans take eight of us to Trichi to visit our good buddy Kozhi. We land at Trichi at 4 p.m. Trichi is a town that has an abundance of temples to visit. But time being the villain that it is restricts us to one - Rock Fort. We head towards rock fort at 5, great time to take the climb and catch the wind breezing through. But before that we are treated to some lovely Pav Bhaji, Brinjal bajji and delighful home made chocolates, courtesy Kozhi's mom. The view from the top of Rock fort is one that will last in your mind for long. With the river Kaveri and the tall gopuram of Srirangam to one side and the town of Trichi on the other side. Romantic to say the least.

The next day we catch a train to Chennai... the train journey finds me lost in my thoughts of the trip that was one for the ages.