It’s a brand new day! Manoj and Malar are married and we were beginning the next part of our journey. Puneet, Sushan and I hired a driver to take us from Namakkal to Tiruchirappalli for some sightseeing before embarking on a three-hour drive to Pondicherry. After rolling around in bed for another 1.5 hours since being rudely awakened by a phone call to our room at 7ish in the morning and a spot of breakfast, we were ready to go.
First stop was the Samayapuram Mariamman Koil, a Hindu temple in the suburbs of Samayapuram, near Trichy. It is home to the Hindu deity, Mariamman who is believed by devotees to possess incredible powers in curing illness. It was a weekend, therefore the temple is packed with devotees offering their prayers to the Goddess.
There was a long queue to visit the deity inside the temple, hence we didn’t go further. We explored the grounds instead, lined with shops selling all sorts of trinkets from mini deities to masks and even colourful bangles. Puneet, who has a mask collection, bought a scary looking mask that was unique to that temple. The atmosphere was vibrant, and the place was bustling with people. The only downside was the child beggars who kept harassing us for some money. As much as it pained me to do it, we had to ignore them.
The atmosphere outside the temple was equally vibrant. People milled the streets under the scorching hot sun going about their business. Many were on the way to the temple, purchasing jasmine flowers from the vendors nearby. Others were in the shade, taking refuge from the sun and having lunch. We were starving, but we had places to go, things to see…. ON TO OUR NEXT STOP!
The Tiruchirappalli Fort is a historic and temple complex built on an ancient rock. The complex hosts three temples, two dedicated to Lord Ganesh and one only accessible on the way to the top of the fort, dedicated to Lord Shiva. To reach the top of the fort, one would have to trudge up 344 steps. If you think that’s easy, you’d have to walk barefoot on rocks that had been baking in the sun for at least 75% of the journey.
Though there were well treaded on carpets on the floor to ease walking, it still hurt. Coupled with the heat from the sun beating down your back, the floor burning your feet and the numerous steps to climb up, I thought of the troubles one had to go through to see God. But of course, all the pain was worth it once we reached the temple at the top. Magnificent view of Tiruchirappalli, and the perpetual cooling breeze made the thought of going back down the stairs less daunting.
Watching the boys sliding down the poles reminded me of the days when I used to do that as a kid going down the stairs at the overhead bridge. Now why didn’t we think of that sooner?
Before lunch, we’ve had the pleasure of stopping by the iconic Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The Gothic exterior architecture looked amazing. Though I didn’t manage to get a photo, of all the years I’ve been in a Convent school, never once have I seen the portraits or icons of Mother Mary or Jesus Christ being garlanded. This was my first encounter of cross-religion fusion in India.
We were also brought to a busy shopping street in Trichy packed with people. Just there to soak in the atmosphere and to do some clothes browsing. Indian clothes here were waaaay cheaper than in Singapore. It’s such a shame that even if I bought the lovely sarees or lehengas or suits, I wouldn’t have the place or the occasion to wear them. Sigh.
Lunch was at a vegetarian restaurant. The carnivore in me was grumbling because of the lack of meat the past few days, but the thought of trying curd rice, a South Indian speciality cheered me up. I am not a huge fan of yoghurt, but I give exceptions for the curd rice.
I’ve been having bowel problems…. okay, basically, I couldn’t take a dump. For days now. AND DO YOU KNOW HOW UNCOMFORTABLE THAT IS? It made eating anything a huge chore for me because I have very little appetite for any solid food. South Indian food had been very carb-intensive and I preferred my meat to carbs, so I haven’t been able to finish a lot of my food. Hence the curd rice was a life saver.
It was served in a bowl, a porridge-like consistency with a couple of side dishes piled at the side as accompaniments. I enjoyed the green tapioca shoots very much and asked for seconds. I missed eating lemak pucuk ubi at home, and this was as close as I could get. I tried the salty, spicy chilli pickle and again was sold. Of course, I asked for extra papadums with my meal.
Before leaving Trichy, we caught a glimpse of a real life dhobi. Dhobis are essentially India’s equivalent to the modern dry cleaners. Their hands worked like magic, I swear. I always wondered how they managed to get their white shirts in such pristine conditions despite the water quality of the lakes in which they do their laundry. It’s one of the mysteries I will never know the answers to.
We left Trichy at 4 pm and were scheduled to arrive in Pondicherry at 7-ish. The drive was spent listening to more Tamil music blasting from the speakers, Puneet checking if the SIM card we had purchased in Namakkal was finally functioning, but mostly chatting and getting to know one another.
It was my very first time travelling with either of them, and so far it had been great. There are two kinds of people in the world: people you can travel with, and people you just can’t. I am glad these two awesome people belonged in the former category. We had a lot of laughs, learning details about one another, and at the same time I got tips about North India from Puneet who hailed from Mumbai.
While I dozed off in the back seat, the two continued chatting. When I woke up, it was getting dark and Sushan had a mischievous grin plastered across her face.
“What?” I asked.
She laughed. “The way your head lolled about when you were asleep….. I was contemplating if I should have taken a video.”
They hadn’t taken a video. Thank God, I have such great friends.
It was already dark when we arrived at Pondicherry. We took a few minutes to stretch our legs before focusing on our next task: accommodation for the night. Our budget was a total of 2500 rupees (approx. SGD 53) per night to be shared among the three of us. We either stayed in the French quarters, or in the heart of the town where check out was more flexible. After consideration, we decided to remain in the French quarters and after more surveying, we decided to stay in Lotus Hotel.
Our hiccup of the night came in the form of paying our driver. We had agreed on a sum that didn’t exceed 4500 rupees for a two-way trip even though journey was only one way. We had to fork out a total of 700 rupees extra to cover the costs of the tolls going back and their dinner. We demanded to know why the tolls going back cost more than the tolls we paid coming here. They reasoned that they were taking a shorter route back, to which we pointed out that if it was a shorter route back, it should cost us less right? They all but laughed dismissively at that fact. We gave them the extra cash because we were too tired to argue for less. Moral of the story: settle payments first, take photos later.
The room was decent, Sushan and I were to occupy the bed and Puneet had his mattress on the floor. Sushan and I had been quite insistent that Puneet get his own blanket because he slept without one in Namakkal and he slept directly under the aircon. I would have freezed. We had free wifi in the hotel and for the first time that day we got connected with social media. Besides spamming photos in Instagram, we took some time to chat with Ummar and Arafath to settle plans to meet the next day… and our accommodation when we head to Chennai. We were very comfortable in our spots… very, very comfortable.
“Me: Shall we go?
Them: Okay.”
“Them: Shall we go?
Me: Okay. But I need to pee.”
When we finally got off our asses and out of the hotel to find food, we were starving. Puneet and I grabbed a Kulfi, a traditional Indian ice cream. Upon biting into one, I savoured the denseness of the milk, and later the flavours of spices and pistachio. I couldn’t help thinking that Ummar wouldn’t enjoy this. It has only been a day and we were going to convene with them again the next day, I shouldn’t miss him that much… no scratch that, I shouldn’t miss him at all. Puneet proved that point further when we were talking about change and he went:
“Change must come from within.”
I had sucked my breath in frustration hearing that damned phrase. It was something Ummar loved to say and it annoyed the hell out of me. Just when I thought I could spend ONE DAY without hearing that phrase, someone had to ruin it for me. NOPE, Ummar I don’t miss you anymore!
Not many eating establishments were opened that late, and the night market had nothing substantial to eat. Puneet was craving for some Bhel Puri, I desperately wanted meat and Sushan won’t have cakes for dinner. Dinner was a rather pricey affair on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Bay of Bengal. The darkness seemed to spread out forever and it was quite daunting to look out to the sea and trying to focus on something, but there was nothing to focus on.
Despite that, we had a good laugh during dinner cracking the lamest jokes and trying to figure out why Indians have this dish called ‘insert-meat-here 65′. The biggest irony of the tagline below the Chicken 65, is that we needed explaining. We eventually learnt that ’65’ basically means deep fried. Wonderful.
After a slightly satisfying dinner, we hung out at the breakwaters overlooking the sea. The beach at the French quarter part of Pondicherry wasn’t good for swimming. The waves were choppy and large, sharp rocks lined the beach. If we went further down, past the jetty, we’d find a stretch more suitable for swimming.
It had been another long day, baking in the sun and all we wanted was a nice shower… you know, with adequate water pressure. In Namakkal, the water pressure from the shower was weaker than the water that pours out from a watering can, so we resorted to filling the bucket with lukewarm water and douse ourselves with it using a scoop. Imagine Sushan’s delight upon discovering that the water pressure was perfect… and there was HOT WATER. We took queue numbers to shower and by the time I was done and it was Puneet’s turn to shower, he was fast asleep. We should have just let him shower first. Oh well.
