This past month, I went on vacation to India. I came away with mostly positive emotions. I am writing this when I am still reeling from homesickness. Everything there looks green inspite of the heat and humidity . Change seems to be everywhere and most of it is for the good. The dynamism is something different and it is not only restricted to the metros.
I lost quite a lot of my weight during this trip inspite of my mom's best efforts to feed me stuff I havent eaten in ages. I went in the month of may to chennai. Even if it is not the hottest place, it is hot enough to wish for year round rains. As the song from Gentleman goes 'April Mayilae pasumaiyae illae.......' . That song was sung in an entirely different context but one can appreciate it keeping the weather in mind.
I went to places in and around chennai randomly given my procastination. I still managed to cover places I wanted to see with some exceptions.
My first trip was to St.Thomas Mount. I always wanted to visit it ever since I came to know it had some historical importance attached to it. Once you reach the entrance to the church, it is very easy to go up as the way up is paved and has places to rest. But once you go up,there is not much to look at. It was a disappointment that was somewhat mitigated on seeing a painting in fort st. george museum that shows a pristine mount with a clear view of the village that was chennai at that time. That doubting thomas was killed on top of the mount in 72 AD wasnt enough to hold my interest to me anyway.
The fort st. george museum is very well maintained even though they could use some guides. Most of the visitors had to browse through the museum and make of the artifacts what they could. Places like St.Thomas Mount seemed to be so different from what they are now. There were even items from french period of occupation of Fort St.George. The official letters written by Robert Clive were another treat. Looking at them, I couldnt help wonder how someone like him, down and out when he landed in india, could transform his life and go on to establish east india company as a force to be reckoned with. Like those international cricketers making their career against india with a bang even if they were nondescript players before in their respective countries. Or as they say in tamil 'Vandharai vaazhavaikum tamizhagam' (Providing livelihood for all comers).
The government museum in Egmore is another treasure trove of historical pieces. It has sculptures and scripts dating from asoka's period(B.C.) to around 11th century AD. They have different complexes for stone sculptures and metal sculptures. The metal sculptures are housed in that rarity of a government space, an airconditioned room. They have done a very good job of putting all the metal sculptures inside glass casings knowing very well the propensity of visitors to touch and spoil the sculptures. The stone sculptures get no such protection. It was a pathetic sight to see valuable sculptures lying around as painters whitewashed the walls of the museum and generously dripped the paint onto the sculptures. Then there were the confiscated pieces from thieves and smugglers. The museum administrators in their infinite wisdom have put them all in the open backyard behind the museum almost as if inviting a thief to have a go at them again. All said and done, it is still a worthwhile effort to have all these marvelous sculptures in a single place even though they can do a better job of maintaining them from the spoiling hands of visitors/maintenance crew.
Senji fort lies between chennai and tiruvannamalai. For a fort that is sorrounded by paddy fields and generous water sources, it is really hot. The fort complex is actually a ring of forts built on rock strewn hills sorrounding Chennai Tiruvannamalai bypass road. The main ones are Krishnagiri, Chitradurg and Rajagiri. The initial construction seems to have been done by Kone chieftains and after they relinquished their hold, it was developed further by Vijaynagara empire, Adil Shah and the british. Militarily, attacking the fort head on is suicidal given the approach steps are at an incline and turn at right angles every 10 steps or so. There are enough outer rings outside each fort to provide the defenders with a very clear view of whoever is attacking the fort. The forts dont have as much visitors now except for young lovers who seem to be intent on leaving their mark on history. Given the way the forts are constructed, I am sure the testament to their love scribbled on the walls of the fort will die much earlier than the fort itself. Krishnagiri and Chitradurg were smaller forts compared to Rajagiri. Rajagiri seems to have been the main fort. The inner fort is at least a mile inside the outer fort. On way to the inner fort, there are granaries, gunpowder dumps and different temples. If the granaries were a sign of the prosperity of the kingdom, they should have been mighty rich those days. Getting to the top of Rajagiri fort is a challenge in itself. It is very steep compared to the other two forts and walking up in 100 degree heat and humidity is tough even with bottles and bottles of water and soft drinks. Some of the surprises along the way were a tank in the middle of ascent to the top. Whoever designed the fort was really paranoid. From the top one has a clear view of everything down below. There are the watch towers which lead to lower rings around the fort through underground passages. There are mortars that look out from the top of the fort to the fields below just in case the farmers get any ideas of self sustenance.
As a sign of the changes in ownership, the structures on top of the fort vary from solid rock structures to cement and concrete structures. Krishnagiri fort has a temple and a mosque on top of it.
The respect indians in general have for monuments in their history was illustrated when I asked for a way to get to the top of another fort behind Chitradurg. He wanted to know if I wanted to go there and smoke whatever drugs I carried with me.
I wanted to visit mahabalipuram to see the new complex that was supposed to have been unearthed by the tsunami. For lack of time, I didnt get to see it. I saw only a portion of the sculptures and that itself was impressive. To have had the imagination to sculpt them out of rocks by the sea was itself commendable. Because it is a world heritage monument, mahabalipuram seems to be getting much better conservation treatment. They have guards posted at the entrance all the sculpture complexes so the visitors remain honest.
The one mistake in my visit was my visit to kutralam which is a system of waterfalls supposed to have medicinal value because the water in it gathers medicinal plants as it flows through the mountains nearby. It is a seasonal waterfall and when I visited it, the season hadnt yet set in. So, I had a good look at the sides of those hills which would be blanketed by water come june or july. All I got in return were blisters and swelling in my foot from indiscriminate walking. I should have realised the season was not in when the bus I was travelling approached the towns around the falls. If the season has started, the area has a cool breeze that makes it wrthwhile just to walk around. When I visited the place, it was hot and dusty not at all like when the falls are full of water.
That mistake in scheduling cost me the time to visit badami which houses the ruins of chalukya dynasty from 6 - 8 century AD. Maybe next time.....
