Bangalore - Vaideeswaram Kovil - Velankani

One fine day, Kevin, Wilfred and I were having a heated discussion about the nuances of the subject- Statistics. One conversation lead to another and it finally ended with Wilfred saying "Yes, apparently even Sanjay Dutt (the actor) also had his future read from a leaf" (we could never really figure out how we arrived at that statement!). That my dear people set us on a 1500 km long journey, using trains, buses and auto rickshaws, which saw us, travel from Bangalore to Velankani and back.

When Wilfred had finished saying that most singular statement, I soon realised that the 'leaf' he referred to was actually a palm leaf. This takes us to a place called 'Vaideeswaram Kovil' (Kovil=temple), situated in Tamil Nadu and famous for ‘Nadi Joshiam’. Nadi Joshiam (literally translated 'vein astrology) is an ancient form of astrology which can look into your past, present and future based on inscriptions written on palm leaves dated back a thousand years!! You can get more information here:

http://www.nadi-astrology.org/

This piqued our curiosity, Wilfred the sceptic, Kevin a believer and I who just couldn't say no to an adventure, unanimously decided to travel to Vaideeswaram Kovil over the weekend.

On the evening of Friday the 18th of January- Kevin and I rendezvous at Bangalore City Bus Station; a preliminary research by me ruled out trains as a mode of transport. People advised us to head towards a place called Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu and then proceed to Vaideeswaram Kovil. So here we were at the bus station trying to get tickets of one of those 'luxury' coaches- the reason- Wilfred warned that he will definitely puke if it was not a comfortable ride. We could find none, but we were directed to another coach station and that would be our best bet. Very soon Kevin and I reached the other station and found that there were buses to Salem departing every 10 minutes. Wilfred was all this while attending his MBA class and it was around 8:30 PM when he called us. We updated him on the prospect of taking a 4 hour bus ride to Salem in a not so comfortable bus. Thankfully his Dad overheard our conversation and informed us that there is a train heading to Salem at 10 PM and was sure about it. That indeed turned out to be true! Kevin and I caught an auto rickshaw to Cantonment Railway Station, we reached just in time and were welcomed by an exhausted Wilfred who had purchased the train tickets (Beware: Bangalore’s Autorickshaws can bend and break all laws of physics and traffic rules, please use the word ‘faster’ with extreme caution). 

It was 10 PM when the train left Bangalore and we reached Salem at 3:15 AM- we got unreserved tickets; the compartments were crowded and with no place to sit left us with only one option- TRAVEL STANDING and we did, ALL THE WAY TO SALEM!

The video below was taken when we left Bangalore. (In the video I say that we are off from Coimbatore!! I have no idea what prompted me to say that! Must have been all the running around, anyways, you can observe that the compartment was packed with people helping themselves to every available free space) (video).

The numbness in our legs soon vanished when we stepped off Salem railway station at 3:15 AM, early in the morning of 19 th January; we hailed an auto rickshaw and headed out to the bus station. Exhausted and hungry by the train journey, we settled ourselves into this small hotel called 'Hotel Ajmer' and feasted on freshly cooked Parotas, Omellette and Curry. Raiappan the cook, on seeing the cameras that we carried, requested for a photograph to be taken and we obliged, and they were all too happy to let me handle the cooking!

After washing the scrumptious ‘late supper- early breakfast’ down with tea, we finally walked into the bus station and Wilfred was in for a big surprise- none of the coaches were of the comfortable type, and he has a known history of throwing up on bus rides. But he was ready for this kind of situation and had bought medication that would help him prevent an ‘outburst’; he popped in one of them and was getting mentally ready for the bus ride while Kevin had his own way of dealing with scenarios such as these.

Our next stop was a town called Chidambaram, the bus left Salem at 5 AM and the sheer joy of finally getting a place to sit was overwhelming, we slept and the world ceased to exist. Around9 AM, we stepped off the bus at Chidambaram, refreshed by the few hours of sleep on the bus, and like any other tea lovers, we rushed to a tea vendor for that booster shot! We were still one stop short of Vaideeswaram Kovil, after boarding another bus and forty minutes later, we finally reached our destination.

As with any other tourist destination, be it, a holy land or a party land, you are first welcomed by touts. A young chap who was tailing us ever since we got off the bus, said that he can offer a good deal on well furnished ‘air-conditioned’ rooms to rent and we followed him, for we no longer wished to burn under the searing hot sun. Within a short walk we arrive at ‘Shanmugam Lodge’. A bargain was struck, and the three of us settled into this one room. Wilfred reached out for his wallet to remove some cash, but 5 minutes later, he was still searching for it. After confirming that neither Kevin nor I were pulling a joke on him, the gravity of the situation sunk in -cash, credit card, driving license and important contact numbers, all lost or stolen. We came to the conclusion that the wallet must have slipped out of his pocket or his pockets were picked while on the bus, either way, the wallet would remain untraceable.

Calls to the bank were made reporting the lost credit card and he was requested to lodge a complaint with the local police. Luckily for us the Vaideeswaram Kovil Police Station was just a stones throw away from our lodging. The friendly police men soon registered a complaint and they took upon themselves the task of writing it and with due permission we were allowed to take photographs of the proceedings!

We were taking leave when one of them astonished us by enquiring whether we had money for the journey; if not, then they would lend us some. We politely refused the offer and left the station.

As the setting sun ushered in a cool evening, we found ourselves entering Vaideeswaram temple. As our bare feet touched the chill stone floors laid out hundreds of years ago, one feels diminutive with what lay ahead of us. Huge stone pillars rose from the ground supporting a ceiling at least 15 feet above us, there were more rows and columns and the only visible mark of the modern age was the coat of decorative paint adorning these pillars.

After walking for 100 feet or so, we entered the main temple complex walking past a giant wooden door. It opened out into a vast area with even higher ceiling than before and more pillars. But what caught our immediate attention was the docile yet massive creature guarding the entrance; it was the temple’s elephant. The mahout taking care of the elephant was standing beside her, with a stick in his hand! I am sure the stick would be effective on people rather than on an elephant. Kevin took an instant liking for the elephant and bought some goodies to feed her. Each took turns and in return for the goodies, the elephant blessed us- it involves its trunk making a soft impact on your head.

We proceeded to the inner area of the temple, the sanctum sanctorum. Lord Shiva is the presiding deity of this temple and up ahead we could see puja being offered to the Lingam, we offered our prayers and continued to explore the temple. One of the chamber lead us to an open courtyard and this vast open area with no people around seemed to have some kind of an effect on Kevin, he desired to practise some of his Karate moves. So here was Kevin, practising his kicks, twists and turns on the very ground that the King himself would have treaded upon!

A surprise was in store for us at the end of the day; a man calls Wilfred on his cellphone and tells him that he has found his wallet lying on the floor of a bus, under his seat. Everything intact sans the money, but that was relief enough for Wilfred, couple of days later in Bangalore, Wilfred would be reunited with his wallet which the Samaritan couriered.

Back at Vaideeswaram, the day came to an end but our adventure had been extended to accommodate one more place- Velankani. Situated on the eastern shores, this church was built by the locals many years ago after the miraculous apparition of Mother Mary and the infant Jesus to a local boy. In the year 2004, on the 26^th day of December, a huge wall of water out at sea, headed towards this holy place. People unaware of the impending danger went about their usual life- people praying at the church, vendors selling their wares, kids playing cricket on the beach and within a few horrifying seconds they were all washed away- The Tsunami had struck.

On the 20^th of January, after a good breakfast, we once again found ourselves at the bus station which was marked by nothing more than a bunch of people standing together on a stretch of road. Our bus headed to Nagapattinam and from there we took another one finally going towards Velankani.

The hot, humid climate and the smell of salt in the air was enough to herald the arrival of the destination. After some searching around, we found a comfortable lodge; a short break later we headed out to the church.

The collection of photographs will speak for themselves now.

That evening we headed back home. A bus took us to Tirchy in the early hours of the morning and once again we found ourselves feasting on Parotas and curry. Our next mode of transport was a train taking us to Erode, then a bus to Salem and finally a train back to Bangalore. 

Once again on our journey back to Bangalore, we found ourselves in an overcrowded train.

On 21^st day of January our journey came to an end. It ended the way it began- we travelled back to Bangalore, standing all the way, in a crowded compartment.