There are some things that
words simple cannot describe... When you’re possibly on your concluding
juvenile trip in the wake of your 25th birthday, off to the
southernmost corner of India on an official tour and yet end up visiting a
total of not one, not two, but no less than six cities with some of your
closest friends and colleagues, along with meeting up with some old buddies, then
that’s really something else! Marked by vigorous energy, puerile jokes and a
lot more, this was one experience I’m glad not to have missed out on.
Our journey took us from Panipat to New Delhi and then through Bangalore, on our way to Trichy, where we had a two week IOC-sponsored training programme at the Welding Research Institute of BHEL. Our half-day halt at Bangalore enabled us to pay a brief visit to Mysore, better known as the City of Palaces, which is where our real escapade begun... Returning to a place that I had visited at a very tender age with my family, it felt nostalgic to tread the hallways of the Mysore Palace once again as a young adult. The memories although vague and the recollections inaccurate helped me quietly time travel for a while. There were tonnes of other sites to travel to, but due to a tight schedule the only other place we could visit was the Sand Museum, showcasing complex sculptures ranging from ancient, medieval to modern times, that left us mesmerized.
Arriving at Trichy the day after, I was pleasantly shocked to find a birthday cake awaiting me in my hotel room at 4 am in the morning. I was supremely amazed by the hospitality showed by Hotel Sangam although I was to later discover that the surprise was partly my father’s handy work. Nonetheless, it really made my day and proved once again that there’s truly nothing that compares to having loved ones! After attending classes for the rest of the week it was the weekend that provided us with another opportunity to ramble.
Our journey took us from Panipat to New Delhi and then through Bangalore, on our way to Trichy, where we had a two week IOC-sponsored training programme at the Welding Research Institute of BHEL. Our half-day halt at Bangalore enabled us to pay a brief visit to Mysore, better known as the City of Palaces, which is where our real escapade begun... Returning to a place that I had visited at a very tender age with my family, it felt nostalgic to tread the hallways of the Mysore Palace once again as a young adult. The memories although vague and the recollections inaccurate helped me quietly time travel for a while. There were tonnes of other sites to travel to, but due to a tight schedule the only other place we could visit was the Sand Museum, showcasing complex sculptures ranging from ancient, medieval to modern times, that left us mesmerized.
Arriving at Trichy the day after, I was pleasantly shocked to find a birthday cake awaiting me in my hotel room at 4 am in the morning. I was supremely amazed by the hospitality showed by Hotel Sangam although I was to later discover that the surprise was partly my father’s handy work. Nonetheless, it really made my day and proved once again that there’s truly nothing that compares to having loved ones! After attending classes for the rest of the week it was the weekend that provided us with another opportunity to ramble.
We started early in the
morning taking a few winks on the way, to reach Madurai, also known as the City
of Festivals or the Temple City, at day break. First up was the famous
Meenakshi Devi Temple! The prayers, although offered in an ungraspable tongue,
truly ignite a spiritual vibe within... The towers that surround the temple in
all four directions form an intricate lacework, with a lake at its heart and
gold adorning its pillars. There wasn’t a square inch on any surface of the
layered architecture that characterizes this place, left unsculpted. There were
deities, artwork and carvings wherever the eye would gaze. The entire aura of
the temple left us speechless and spellbound!
After visiting some more of the lesser known temples in the region that I feel share the DNA of the Meenakshi Temple, and having a typically South Indian breakfast served on banana leaves, we made our way to Rameswaram, where legend has it that the Ramsetu was constructed. We were fortunate enough to take a look at the house of late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the highly respected ‘missile man’ and former president of India, who is a shining inspiration to many including myself. We followed this up with a visit to the Rameswaram Temple, where unfortunately photography was not permitted and spent the rest of our time until sundown watching a beautiful sunset at the beach.
For the next few days, after returning to Trichy, we managed to squeeze a few hours out of our daily schedule to visit some nearby tourist destinations including Thanjavur, and the local Srirangam and Rockfort Temples. The uploaded photos I think would do a better justice to these awe-inspiring places, as a picture speaks more than a thousand words, in fact some of which haven’t even been invented yet! As we bid farewell to Trichy I was faced with a unique chance to meet some of my dearest pals in Bangalore and bring the curtain down on a chapter that I felt I had left unfinished due to my unannounced departure from Flipkart a year back. Never the less, as we slowly traced our steps back to Panipat, I dreamily pondered upon the enigmatic expedition we had been lucky to be a part of...
After visiting some more of the lesser known temples in the region that I feel share the DNA of the Meenakshi Temple, and having a typically South Indian breakfast served on banana leaves, we made our way to Rameswaram, where legend has it that the Ramsetu was constructed. We were fortunate enough to take a look at the house of late Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the highly respected ‘missile man’ and former president of India, who is a shining inspiration to many including myself. We followed this up with a visit to the Rameswaram Temple, where unfortunately photography was not permitted and spent the rest of our time until sundown watching a beautiful sunset at the beach.
For the next few days, after returning to Trichy, we managed to squeeze a few hours out of our daily schedule to visit some nearby tourist destinations including Thanjavur, and the local Srirangam and Rockfort Temples. The uploaded photos I think would do a better justice to these awe-inspiring places, as a picture speaks more than a thousand words, in fact some of which haven’t even been invented yet! As we bid farewell to Trichy I was faced with a unique chance to meet some of my dearest pals in Bangalore and bring the curtain down on a chapter that I felt I had left unfinished due to my unannounced departure from Flipkart a year back. Never the less, as we slowly traced our steps back to Panipat, I dreamily pondered upon the enigmatic expedition we had been lucky to be a part of...
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