Another long week end, and we quickly swung to action. We revamped a plan which we had to cancel some time back. Last time we had planned a trip to thanjavur and Sri rangam, but due to the jallikattu agitations we had to cancel it.
So we kick started our trip on Sept 3 , uthradam day from palakkad where we had gone for a marriage. Dad and mom joined us in this trip. After a sumptous lunch at the marriage , we started off to thanjavur. We crossed Ramapuram, which was a landmark I had known for its famous idlies. Sadly due to the heavy lunch we had , we couldn't try out the idly. We soon reached Pollachi, a place known for its tender coconut and agrarian produce. Roads had broadened from that of Kerala, and soon we were travelling above 120 kms per hour on a consistent basis. That kind of gave an adrenaline rush to me , and a barrage of questions and threats from my wife and lots of pleading and coxing from my mother to bring down the speed.
Soon we reached Trichy, there were lots of wind Mills. It was really spectacular to see , an entire region covered up in wind mills. I was impressed that we were going the greener way in generating power. We passed through few toll booths and by evening stopped for a tea. Me and Dad had tea, wife and mom had coffee and some cake. We brought some murukku which we planned to munch on our journey further. After driving for an hour or so, the usual suspect arrived. Rains. Every trip we went, we had the blessings from rain gods and this time also it wasn’t different. For half an hour or so, it rained torrentially. Then as if there was a switch to it, it stopped, just like that.
We then saw, few people clad in light brown color dresses, walking bare foot . Eventually we understood that they were pilgrims headed towards poondi maatha church.
 |
| Brihadeshwara Temple, Thanjavur |
By 6.30 we reached Thanjavur, We then followed our maps to the hotel Lakshmi wherein we had booked our rooms. We were pretty impressed by the hotel. But later came to know that, our rooms were in the building opposite to that of the hotel. We reached the rooms. All were a bit tired from the journey, so we took a bath and did some un packing.
We then went straight to the hotel restaurant which was named Nalabagam for dinner. We ordered biryani, uthappam, roti, paneer curry. It took some time for us to get the items and I eventually realized, that service promptness is not a forte of the staff of the restaurant. After the dinner, we decided to call it a day, and sleep so that we could get up early morning for visiting the main places.
 |
| Brihadeshwara Temple, Thanjavur also called Big Temple |
Thanjavur was a name which resonated history to me. Raja Raja chola was a name I remembered from my history classes. So to witness his empire and his kingdom was special to me. We started off pretty early by around 6.30 am. We reached the big temple or Brihadeshwara temple. The temple is a UNESCO world heritage center. It was amazing to know that the temple was a 1000 years old.
I had watched a program in TV some time back about the Kalasam of that temple. The Kalasam or top most portion of the temple is close to 80 ton in weight. It required an elevated construst and 100 elephants to pull that and place the kalasam on top of the temple. Also it was incredible to know that all those majestic architecture was created in 7 years. An architectural marvel in every right.
The temple is 7th largest temple in the world. It had a big nandi statue towards the entrance of the temple. We roamed around and covered most part of the temple. We took few snaps. The early morning light had given a tinge of orange and yellow colour to the atmosphere which set well the ambience and mood in the temple. Once we did the darshan, when we were about to leave the temple, we saw and heard a devotee play conch shell. Once we came out , we all realized that it was thiruonam day(a traditional festival day of Kerala) and to our surprise we heard lot of people talking in Malayalam.
We then headed straight to a restaurant. We went to Saravana bhavan , near the transport bus stand. We ordered Pongal, poori, and ghee roast. Everything tasted really good and I started feeling that best part of travelling around Tamilnadu is having to eat some really splendid food.
After our breakfast, we then headed to Maratha mahal a museum. Soon we realized that we were pretty early and the museum wouldn’t open by 10. We then headed to gangai konda chola puram, which was 1.5 hours from thanjavur. History says that, once Raja Raja chola 1 died, his successor Raja Raja Chola 2 changed the capital from Thanjavur to Cholapuram.
 |
| Gangai konda cholapuram |
We soon passed through the heartland of Thanjavur and eventually reached gangai konda cholapuram. Like brihadeshwara, it too was a marvel of a creation. The only problem there was we had to walk bare footed and it was pretty hot. We roamed around the construct, felt amazed by the artistry and architecture know how of our ancestors. We took rest near a tree shade for a while. After spending some time there, we headed back to Thanjavur. Soon dad came up with another plan. He thought we should visit kumbakonam too. We visited kumbakonam kind of in a rush, as there was huge traffic and narrow roads. We changed our plan and headed back to Thanjavur. We soon reached Thanjavur , and headed straight to sree Krishna bhavan for our lunch.
We ordered 2 thali, for me and my dad. My wife ordered sambhar sadham and mom had dosa. My wife was pretty excited when she saw Kaara kulambu, which she was yearning to have. We had our hearts and stomach full. We then headed to our hotel room for some rest.
After an hour break, we then decided to check out the maratha palace or museum. It was kind of astonishing for me to know that the maratha empire had reached till Tamil nadu. We took an entry pass of 50 rs per person, and explored the museum. We saw ancient swords, relics, books, plates and ornaments used by the raja maharajas of the past preserved really well. There was an Audio – Video visual in a small theatre , which gave a beautiful glimpse on to the history of Thanjavur. We came to know that Thanjavur is known as the rice bowl of Tamilnadu. Thanjavur painting of which I have heard before was also mentioned in the video. There in I heard a story about the maratha ruler, who was eventually defeated by the british. He was asked for one last wish by the british, so he insisted that his vast collection of books, should not be destroyed and be available for the public. It was an inspiring story to hear. We soon saw a library, where in ancient books were preserved.
 |
| Maratha Palace |
After the museum, we went to a small market near by and brought some rice, because we had heard in the audio video library that Thanjavur rice is pretty good. After the museum, we headed towards shiva ganga park. Google maps kind of created confusion as we had to roam around the same alley couple of times, to finally figure out that the park was just nearby. We reached the park. It was a normal park, where in people could stroll or have a leisurely time in the evenings. There were few rides for the kids. Near by the park, there was a small stream. We roamed around the park, there were few deer’s and few rabbits in the park. After spending some time in the park, we then headed towards our room.
Me and wife went out for dinner. Dad and mom preferred to stay back in the room . We ordered paneer porotta, Gobi masala dosa. It was yummy. We brought in parceled dinner for dad and mom. Every one had a good dinner , had chit chat for some time and then we called it a day.
Next day early morning by 5.30 or so, we check out of the hotel. We then headed towards Sri Rangam. Sri Rangam is the largest temple in india, estimated to be around 156 acres.
We reached the temple by 6.45 , soon saw the Raja Gopuram. As soon as we were about to enter the temple, my wife saw a bullock cart, and being the crazy girl she is, she immediately wanted to hop onto it. We stopped the car, she asked the bullock cart guy permission to sit , he looked perplexed. He eventually agreed. She was over the moon, when she got onto the bullock cart. After few minutes’ drive in the cart, she was more than happy. She had ticked off one more from her bucket list.
 |
| Sri Ranganathar swamy Temple |
We headed towards the main entrance of the temple, and headed towards temple complex. My initial reaction was , is this the largest temple in india ? We soon visited the dieties in the main entrance area and were pretty under whelmed, for we had huge expectations. Soon one person, told us to pass through a gateway to another side of the temple. That kind of opened our eyes, quite literally. The temple was huge, we soon walked and walked and soon was taken to a queue. People were waiting in long queues to meet Sri Ranganathar swamy as the main diety is called. There were many halls with pillars encrypted with sculptures of riding horses or different animals.
 |
| Sri Ranganathar swamy Temple, Srirangam |
I kind of felt that the queue system and the way the queue was handled, kind of added chaos to the devotees. Soon we had the darshan, and explored the temple. Its when we started walking, that we realized the magnitude of temple and its constructions. We saw a board which stated, non hindus are not allowed, which kind of saddened me for the fact that more than being the largest temple in india, it gave an immense glance to the rich history of our ancestors.
Soon we headed back to Cochin. We stopped near Pollachi and brought few tender coconuts. Soon we had our lunch at Palakkad and by evening we reached back home.
We were all bit tired, but all were happy and were looking forward to another trip.
