Roots

Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India
May 25th, 2009

It was a journey back to my roots. I return to Kumbakonam once a year to visit the Temple of my ancestors at Eraharam. Though Kumbakonam, The City of Temples is a large one in itself, it is a part of the Tanjore District.

The City of Kumbakonam was one of the strongholds of the Chola Empire. Dharasuram, Swami Malai, Sarangapani, Someshwar, Kumbheshwar, Gangaikondacholapuram are just a few of the many many temples within and around the city.

I left for Kumbakonam with my grandparents by Rockfort Express on an overnight journey. We arrived at the station by seven in the morning. Our first stop was the Maha Maha Lake in the midst of the city. The venue for the annual mela and the twelve yearly Kumbh Mela. After our ceremonial ablutions, we left for the ancestral temple at Eraharam by a private taxi.

On the way we did manage to grab a bite of the most exquisite Pongal- Vada and then finest brew of Degree Filter Coffee at Seetharaman's, an age old tiffin center in Kumbaonam. It was refreshing. The journey through the large sea of lush green paddy fields always manages to capture my deepest sentiments. A feeling I hold dear to my heart and a feeling of being in my birthland.

We reached the millenia old temple of Shankari Amman, Shri Kanda Natha Swamy and Shri Ayyanar at around ten. The rituals and prayers lasted for about a couple of hours. The base of all the temples was made in solid granite with ancient inscriptions doting all the walls. The shikaras however have been repaired and replaced over the years and the latest one boasts multi coloured deities sitting at various levels on an ever rising spire... The temple is the most inconspicuous small temple complex one might be able to find in the area but it is in the truest sense a scale of the grand temples of Tanjore.

After the visit to our ancestral temple we followed standard protocol and headed for Swami Malai, One of the six abodes of Lord Muruga or Lord Karthik. According to an ancient lore, Swami Malai is the location where Lord Muruga, the son imparts knowledege and teaching to Lord Shiva, his father. The young are never to naive it seems. This large complex is literally built on a massive mutistorey plinth and sixty stairs take the devotee to the shrine of the deity. A large terrace serves as the ambulatory for the temple and this large complex is surrounded by many great hypostyle halls and gateways.

On the way back from Swami Malai to Kumbakonam, we stopped to watch the Bronze art studios of the Local Sthapatis (Artisans). We saw the museum of bronze works and learnt about the Lost Wax Process for moulding sculptures. It was a treat to see the arts being passed down the ages. Only a few privileged families hold the skills and the technology to build such sculptures. It was wonderful...

Once back in Kumbakonam, we passed the familiar sights of the Yanai Adi & the Kudarai Adi, the Mariamman temple, the River Kaveri and the Agraharams. The Agraharam is the place where the Brahmin community lived in the old days. Beautiful long houses built in stone and timber, each with its own courtyard and garden and well... Some of the most down to Earth and comfortable living spaces I have ever seen.

We reached the Sarangapani Temple at about half past half. On the way we passed the great Charriot of the Lord. A large temple whose very shrine was a massive stone charriot. Complete with life size horses and wheels with axles and the carvings were of the most intricate nature. One could almost feel the life ooze out of this megalith!

The Lord nestled in the chambers of this large charriot was gently resting on his bed of the five headed serpent, Aadiseshan. The entire conceptualization and visualization of this mega structure would have been a magnanimous task! Kudos to the Chola Artisans, Artists and Architects...

We left for Chennai at around seven the same evening. These one day visits to the land of my ancestors is always filled with new experiences. There is just so much to see... A month long sightseeing trip may not be enough!!!

Passing Jalori

The Jalori Pass, Himachal Pradesh, India
October 26th, 2008

This article is an excerpt from our week long biking trip through the mountains of Himachal Pradesh. We had just left from our riverside hotel outside Rampur at about noon and were heading out to Manali along the river Satluj. We were six friends on three bikes. The journey was a long one and we did not expect to reach Manali by nightfall.

We had to take a detour from Una, a village just short of Khufri near Shimla. Once past the village we entered a rather deserted strip of half laid road marred by landslides and sheer cliffs. It seemed enthralling and dangerous but this was our best bet at reaching Manali by nightfall.

The route called Jalori Pass touches a maximum altitude of 3233 m above sea level which is the location on the photograph. We drove along the winding paths for hours together before finding a good resting spot by the banks of a tributary. We crossed over the river on a rickety steel bridge that had gone brown with age and trekked for a while to spread our legs and ease our joints. We decided to continue on the path and reached the ascent.

The path was extremely steep and the cliffs would suddenly reveal themselves along the bend making it all the more difficult for us to traverse the terrain. But this is what we were here for. Some good mountain biking! Some experiences on this pass will always remain close to my memory.

The slopes were the major impediment on the route. Infact navigation through some patches was so tough that while ascending we would have to race the bikes to 7000 rpm on the first gear. I think it may have taken us at least three hours just to reach the top most point on the jalori pass which was Sojha. Our hands were tired from holding on to dear life and we were utterly exhausted. We decided to take a break. But it was a risky decision. The sun sets soon in the mountains and the feeble rays of the sun announced the arrival of the biting cold. We had to move on...

Even taking a leak was a great hurdle in the condition we were and we as a thumb-rule decided to stop only once every hour or so! For the task itself took about ten minutes from start to finish. We had to unzip at least three layers of pants to arrive at the thermals and then in the numbing cold... I need not say more... It was a herculean task!

Our target of decent was to reach the small village of Banjar by six in the evening. The decent somehow was even tougher than the ascent! The drastic fall of the incomplete road could not be countered even by the disc brakes on the motor bikes!!! All three bikes were on neutral with their disc brakes jammed and yet we were moving downwards effortlessly! We were scared...

It was one of the very few times we even thought whether it had been a good idea to come this way! en route the decent we encountered a passenger bus trying to negotiate its way along the ascent. The road was packed. We dismounted and pulled our bikes back up the slope! It was not easy. The bikes skid one past the other on the pebble ridden road and the rider had to be helped by two pillion to pull the bike to a suitable patch of flat green. I think now that it must have taken us at least fifteen minutes to pull back!

Once the bus crossed us, it was the limit of our tolerance! We had seen enough and our bodies were screaming for rest. We had to reach Banjar and fast. Manali seemed to be a far fetched thought. We rode like zombies along the rest of the decent which now slowly relaxed its clenched slopes. At last we reached Banjar. Surprisingly we were on time! We rested in a small restaurant and had a lot of the traditional Himachali delicacy called 'Sidu'. It seemed good, but then again anything would have seemed good!



Only after the rest could we gather our thoughts. We decided to stretch our limits and complete the 100 kilometer journey to Manali. And by God, we did it!!!