It was the fourth time I was planning a journey to
Pondicherry and Mahabalipuram. In all the previous cases I had to cancel the
enterprise in the final moment. The unexpected holiday of six days - including
weekends, Ramadan and Ganesh festival gave me another opportunity to explore the
Coromandal Coast of India; first time to a Union Territory and second journey
to Tamilnadu in the past one month.
Unfortunately there was no online booking facility for SETC
buses; we had to go to Shanti Nagar TTMC to reserve the ticket. Unlike their
counterparts in Karnataka, Tamilnadu buses have a route number pasted in front
of it for easy identification. You can verify this route number against the one
in the reservation ticket - a very helpful for people like me who can't read
Tamil. Bus came late, but I got my favorite window seat (even though it is not
so useful in the night)!!!
I was not in a mood to talk to anyone, so just looked
outside to the innumerable lamps tearing apart the Bangalore’s night cover. But
the guy who sat next to me was in a good mood to speak and so we started the
conversation by asking some trivial questions. Basically from Cuddalore my
newly found friend had a very good knowledge on Tamilnadu coastal area. He told
me the numerous stories and history of his native district – Cuddalore - former
HQ of British Territories in Coromandal Coast, Pondicherry, Neiveli etc. Time moved too fast? Suddenly bus stopped for
midnight refreshment!!!
We spent some time under the cover of night sky; cold wind
was slowly patting us. After everyone’s dinner was over we again went to our
respective seats; I told good night to him went for sleep. As my friend warned
Krishnagiri – Pondicherry route will be the last one you can think about
sleeping that too in a normal bus. There was no other option as I had to wake
up early in the next day morning to saw the
Mahabalipuram world heritage site.
Finally I slept for some time; when the bus stopped at Cuddalore town in the
next morning he told goodbye to me and disappeared in the night. I decided to
sleep for some more time and by the time sun rises reached my face, we were moving
through the busy Pondicherry roads. After taking some tired breaths for some
time my six tired chariot finally got some rest at Pondicherry bus stand.
Binesh (my friend staying in Pondicherry) already informed
me about the astronomical auto charges.
I was wondering how the auto charges in
Pondicherry could be so high. After all it’s a union territory and because of
the absence of state tax the expenditure for petrol, diesel and of course for
alcohol were low.
Unfortunately it didn’t reflect in the auto charge. Absence
of a proper city bus service only aggravated the problem. As the options are
limited I took an auto to reach Binesh’s room. After sleeping there for some
time we went for breakfast - poori-sabji; the whitish dense coconut chatni was
good. Later we went to the bus stand for our historical Mahabalipuram journey!!!
After searching for some time we got an ECR Express -
connecting Pondicherry and Chennai - from the stand. As the bus slowly started
moving the new city of Pondicherry unraveled in front of my eyes. East Coast
Road or ECR (as it is popularly known) is a two lane road (without a divider)
connecting Chennai and Toothukudi (690km). The stretch from Pondicherry to
Chennai is very much close to Bay of Bengal - I can saw the bluish waters of
the ocean many times during the journey. Even though Binesh was a regular in
ECR road he was not ventured out to the semantics of Pallava architecture in
Mahabalipuram till then. So we both were quite excited about the journey; he
explained me a lot about Pondicherry, about the old town, Sea Bridge, beach,
Duplex statue, about his work and recent experiences.
Because of the closeness to the sea, geography on both sides
of ECR was very much different from other Tamilnadu roads. After crossing salt
fields and Kalpakkam we finally reached Mamallapuram. After getting down from
the bus, took a right turn to reach the heritage site. An ASI officer explained
about the temple and route in his office - after saying a big thanks to him we
started our expedition to the first destination - Mamallapuram (also known as
Mahabalipuram) Shore Temples. Located around sixty kilometers from Chennai,
Mahabalipuram was the second capital of Pallava kings of Kanchipuram. Here we can saw various types of structures - shore
temple, Rathas carved out of big boulders, manmade caves and an open air- bas
relief. These temples were built during the time of Narashimhavarman and his
successor Rajasimhavarman.
It was really hot, without cold water in hand it was
difficult to walk. After crossing Mamallapuram bus stand we took a left turn to
reach the temple. It was good scenery - a stone pyramid like structure across a
bluish ocean and clear sky. We can approach the temple from the left; a group
of Nandi statues looking towards us welcomed us to the shore temple. After
standing in the salty wind for a long time most of the carvings on the sides of
temples were either gone or in the last stage of the decay. The interesting
fact was – the main shrine faces the sea on the east while other structures –
gate, assembly hall etc, lies behind the sanctum. The temple has a shrine to
both Shiva and Vishnu. The main sanctum and one of the two lesser one on the
left are dedicated to Shiva.
We slowly entered the temple from the back and moved through
various stone works in the walls then took a round around the temple. After
spending some more time there we slowly moved to beach. As the time passed we found
ourselves in a furnace like situation – hot sun in the top and hot sand under
the feet. After spending some time on the beach we came back, in fact the
combined heat of sun and the sands forced us to run for cover. Even the cold ice
creams and juices didn’t offer much comfort from the heat outside. We slowly
moved to see the pancha rathas by following the sign boards, but end up in
Mahishasuramardini temple. This temple is on the top of a small hill; from here
the Bay of Bengal looks very nice.
After leaving the temple we started searching
for Arjuna Penance and gravity stone but reached some other monuments. Finally
after moving here and there for a long time under the September sun we finally
saw the gravity stone [also known Krishna butterball] – a big oval shaped stone
sitting in the slope of a hill. You will wonder why it is not coming down – but
it’s still obeying the rules of Physics!!! By this time atmosphere was so hot
that it was so difficult to sit/stand in open areas.
After seeing almost all the monuments near to it, we finally
dropped the search for Arjuna penance and started moving towards Panch Rathas.
On the way, we saw Ganesha mandapa and then so many carvings on a huge rock face
on the right side of the road. Near to the carvings, we saw a pillared hall carved
in to the rock, these columns shows the hard work of Pallava stone masons.
September sun left us very much tired, but we decided to go
and saw rathas. The2RS water packet available all over the place are somewhat helpful
to escape from the hot climate. Finally we reached Pancharathas a structure
close to Bay of Bengal; the entire complex contains five rathas, big sculpture
of Nandi, Lion and elephant. I had to wait for a long time to get this elephant
alone for a photo as all most all the people come there want the same.
After seeing pancharathas we decided to say good bye to
Mahabalipuram and took an auto to reach ECR road. It was easy to get a bus from
Mahabalipuram to Chennai but to Pondicherry it was difficult. Even with the
small number of buses coming from Chennai there were problems, either it wouldn’t
stop or there may not be any space left for us. Many buses came and went, but
we remained there. Finally sun started setting in the west. As any improvement
in our condition was not visible in the pipeline we decided to try the next one,
but Binesh got a gut feeling that the next bus might have some free seats. Unfortunately
it was not necessary that the gut feelings would always gave you positive
results. Anyway after viewing some more express buses, travelling in ‘normal
speeds’, we finally got an ECR express (as they call it) and we were on our
journey back to Pondicherry (of course not place to sit).
As we didn’t have much to speak, I put forward the issue of
Anna Hazare's fast. From Mahabalipuram to Pondicherry we argued, counter argued
so much so that even the snacks (I prefer to call it as mini meal) were not
enough for us. Arguments didn’t change his or my opinion, at the end we were
standing more or less at the same point where we begin but better equipped for
a counter attack.
When we reached Pondicherry we were still hanging on the same
topic. By late evening we reached Pondicherry bus stand; from there we took an auto
to room. Auto driver charged us 60, after bargaining it became 50. The
interesting thing was in the morning when we travelled the same distance they
charged me 60 and when we came back to the bus stand the rate was 40. In the
next day evening when I tried an auto they asked me 70 (later it reduced to
60). Binesh was right, they are charging according to their moods.
Unfortunately most of the time, their mood was not in favour of me.
Sajeev.
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