Kanchipuram - A Divine Tapestry

The unique sheltered Nandi!

The Splendid Kanchi Kamakshi Temple

The legend of Kanchi Kamakshi Amman!

The imposing Varadaraja Perumal Temple!

Heritage structure - Vaikuntha Perumal Temple

The desire to visit the Kanchi

Kamakshi Amman temple and the lure of owning an authentic Kanjivaram sari drew me to Kanchipuram. Kanchipuram is a small town, one and a half hour’s drive away from Chennai. The main attractions here are the temples dedicated to Goddess Parvati (Kamakshi Amman temple- a Shakti Peeth), Lord Shiva (Egambareeswarar temple), Lord Vishnu (Vaikuntha Perumal temple) and the Lord Vishnu (Narasimhan), (Varadharaja Perumal temple).
The ‘golden lizard’ in the last temple eluded us as no one guided us properly.
Legends say that Goddess Kamakshi worshipped a Shivalingam under a mango tree and was rewarded with marriage to her consort Lord Shiva; and also that Adi Sankaracharya enabled the unique, meditative representation of the Goddess here, by placing a divine Chakra before the idol
Though it was Maha Shivaratri, the temples weren’t very crowded. We managed to see three temples in the morning. The temples in Chennai generally close at 12.30 p.m. and re-open at 4.30 p.m. Hence we had to wait till 4.30 p.m. to visit the Vaikuntha Perumal temple. So we visited the sari shops for the traditional, patented, handloom Kanjivaram silk saris.
After nerve-wracking selection (and haggling), as all the saris were equally enticing, I zeroed in on 3 saris. We had made some acquaintances in the Chennai Express, on our way to Chennai, who fortunately turned out to be sari-shop owners in Kanchipuram. Armed with their visiting card, we landed in their shop, much to their delight! Again, I purchased 2 lovely saris. Apart from two for myself, the rest were for my family members. Meanwhile my husband was becoming restless, owing to hunger pangs!
We had lunch at a restaurant that served authentic, three-course, South-Indian meals on banana leaves. We treated the auto-driver to lunch. Alas, I could only eat curd-rice, my staple lunch in my sight-seeing jaunts, thanks to a delicate tummy!
The auto-driver then pocketed his fare and showed us the Vaikuntha Perumal temple, a heritage structure, from afar. More than 2 hours remained, for it to open. We wandered around and bought 3 Tamil DVDs, reasonably priced at Rs. 30/- apiece, from a shop. Then I bought some beautiful metal and acrylic bangles. The wait for the darshan of the Lord was proving to be expensive! Tactfully, my husband suggested that we should start walking towards the temple, as it would be opening shortly.
Again, we had to wait for 2 hours, till the pujari finally made his way there, at 5.30 p.m. I explored the temple’s surroundings and captured some splendid shots of the lion-pillars and carvings on its inner walls. By then, two groups of visitors had come and left, without darshan as the pujari had the key to the sanctum-sanctorum.
My patience paid off! When we paid obeisance to the beautiful idols of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi, I was moved immeasurably. We started our return journey to Chennai, watching illuminated floats of Lord Nataraja and Goddess Durga, in street processions, en route. We felt truly blessed.
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The copyright of this travelogue and photographs is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

Chennai – A blend of the modern and the traditional

The Ashtalaxmi Temple

Historic Fort George

The Stately Government Museum

The Colossal Thiruvalluvar Kottam

Asia's Longest Beach-Marina Beach

Recently, we visited the metropolitan city, Chennai. We were totally enamored by its wide roads, orderly traffic, cleanliness and efficient public transport system. There are very few private travel operators as the Corporation’s buses run regularly and at great frequency, within the city’s limits and also to its mofussil areas.

Since our guest-house was located right near the Parry’s bus depot, it was very convenient for us to go to Koyambedu for the CMBT (Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus) for our sight-seeing trips around Chennai. This 45 minutes’ ride was itself thoroughly enjoyable, as we passed by heritage structures like the Chennai railway Station, Rippon building, etc. The ride over the heritage Harris bridge and with a view of a small island with a huge tree on it in-between a placid lake, was out of this world!
Then we rode over spiraling flyovers deftly constructed for the smooth one-way movement of traffic. We felt as if we were on a roller-coaster ride! The absence of unruly riders, traffic snarls and jams made it a dream ride. We noticed that unlike Pune, there were very few two-wheeler riders in Chennai; thanks to its superb public transport machinery.
The CMBT stand was just too good to be true! An ISO certified Bus Terminus is possible, I realized, only when I saw this certified Depot. The vast, clean and swanky waiting area, with authorized stalls, restaurant, seats, fans, clean toilets and drinking water facilities overwhelmed us. There was a pre-paid auto booth at its entrance and police on duty to handle any enquiries. Stalls sold the subsidized mineral water branded under the former Chief Minister Jayalalitha’s name as Amma mineral water, for just Rs. 10/- . When we entered the Terminus, we saw a counter manned by Health Personnel who attended to needs of the passengers who could need medical aid. This service and medicines were provided free of cost. A security officer was monitoring a dozen monitors of CCTVs, in a booth. Lady police constables constantly shooed away the beggars and vagabonds out of the premises.
A huge, decorated kiosk with a life-size cut-out of the former Chief Minister’s photo beamed at us. It contained the photos and video of her implementing various welfare schemes for the needy people of Tamil-Nadu, such as providing things, cows, etc.
A Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation’s (TTDC) Office was situated behind the kiosk from where we obtained pamphlets regarding the sight-seeing tours conducted by TTDC and also the tariff rates of various TTDC hotels.
Wherever places had been dug up for the Chennai Metro, the areas were neatly demarcated with tin sheets on which strings of lights served as warnings for motorists, in the dark. No rubble lay around.
We noticed that all the buses had their destinations marked only in Tamil, which could be troublesome for non-Tamilians. Women safely commuted, wearing loads of gold ornaments! However, the unscrupulous auto-drivers were a bane!
We saw the Ashta Laxmi temple, with various forms of the Goddess on two levels. The stone-hewn idols were benign and beautiful. Then we saw the Parthasarathy temple dedicated to the Lord Krishna and Lord Balaji with his two consorts. This temple was also ISO certified.
The half-day’s sightseeing tour of Chennai that we had booked, was a whirlwind tour of all the must-see attractions like the historic Fort George, the first Fort constructed by the British in India; that housed a museum, the Government Museum with priceless antique sculptures; the profusely carved Thiruvalluvar Kottam, dedicated to the memory of the poet-saint Thiruvalluvar; the snake park at Guindy, with its collection of reptiles; the Padmanabhaswamy temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu reclining on Sheshnag with Goddess Laxmi beside; and lastly, the famed Marina beach, Asia’s longest beach. There, horse-borne policemen patrolled its shores. We watched the milky waves lashing against the beach with awe.
Later, we visited the Kapaleeshwar temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva. Peace permeated us and our Chennai sight-seeing ended on a blissful note.
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The copyright of this travelogue and photographs is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

Happy Birthday, Dear Irom Sharmila

Dear Irom Sharmila,
Wish you a Very Happy Birthday, Irom Sharmila. I hope that you get an opportunity to end your 14 year old fast, this year. Certainly, you deserve to lead your own life too! When you recently told renowned film-maker Sri Vishal Bharadwaj, that you don't want to be reborn as a human being again, because human beings are insensitive, you were right on target!
Indeed, animals, trees, plants and nature are far more mature,loyal and sensitive than us human-beings, so-called, highly evolved creatures. Only we can inflict sadistic cruelty and brutality on our fellow human-beings, other lesser creatures and nature!
I am sure that you must be sometimes wondering whether your fight for repeal of the draconian AFSPA is worthwhile, after seeing the complete lack of response by the concerned authorities. But your determination to continue your struggle against all odds, is what sets you apart from the rest of the people, who pretend that all is well with the world that they live in!
May your tribe increase!
Once again, I wish you a Very Happy Birthday and pray that your struggle bears fruit soon.
Priya

Women's Day

Do we need a Women’s Day
To celebrate our womanhood?
‘cause don’t we represent all that’s good?
We’d celebrate every day as Women’s Day
Only if we could, only if we could
Make men understand and realize
That we represent all that’s good and nice.
We are the salt as well as the spice
And the sugar that makes men, oh so nice!

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The copyright of this poem is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.