Know What I Did This Summer ? Part 1

I enjoy driving long distances and like to take holidays involving driving. But my kids resist traveling long distances in car and so my driving holiday was getting postponed. Summer of 2008 presented me an opportunity. My kids went off to Gurgaon to be with their cousins and I grabbed the chance to take off with my wife.
I had read about Ashtamudi Backwater Retreat of Club Mahindra and that sounded fun. All reservations for stay in Ashtamudi and enroute were firmed up.

April 20, 2008
A bright Sunday morning saw us taking off in my car.
First stop Trichy. My wife is from Trichy and it was almost 6 years since she had visited the town where she grew up. This was an opportunity to make a few visits.
Driving to Trichy in NH45 is becoming more chaotic, with the four-laning of the highway progressing at a snail’s pace. Roads have been completed in patches and the constant diversions restrict your progress. The increased traffic does not help, either. It took me close to Five-and-half hours to reach Samayapuram, on the outskirts of Trichy.

Samayapuram
Samayapuram is a popular village with a bustling Amman Temple. Devotees throng this temple through the year. It happened to be Chitra Pournami day (Full Moon Day in the tamil month of Chittirai – April / May in English Calendar). That is one big day in the annals of the temple and I got struck in the traffic snarl inside the village. The road is narrow and vehicles on both sides were vying to get the right of way. Result – half an hour of waiting in the hot day. We managed to park our car and waded through the sea of humanity to reach the entrance of the temple only to realize that it would take us a few hours to have a darshan of the goddess. We closed our eyes, prayed in silence and walked back to our car to continue our journey to Trichy.
Taking a right turn into Pudukkottai – Trichy Road towards Trichy, we passed the place where my father-in-law had his business before retiring. One part had been converted into a bank and a library, gym and a Christian Missionary Prayer House had occupied the rest.  It was a Sunday morning and the sounds of singing wafted down from the Prayer house. It was too hot for us to spend much time on the road and after a few clicks of the place to email to my in-laws, we started off.

St. Josephs School, Trichy
Next halt was in St. Joseph’s Anglo Indian Girls School, the pre-eminent convent in Trichy. The school had changed a lot with new wings added. We chatted with the watchman of the school only to know that many of my wife’s teachers had retired. Since the school was in vacation, she could not meet the few who were still in service. We walked through the grounds and my wife reminisced on her school days.
After a few more clicks of the school, we drove thru the familiar roads of Trichy to know the developments there. Some of the buildings had become modern with glass facades and the vehicular traffic had increased a great deal.

Hotel Sangam, Trichy provided us the much needed comfortable, pleasant welcome, after the hot Trichy day. The late founder of Hotel Sangam was a close family friend of my in-laws and my wife had spent a lot of her young days in Sangam. Our wedding had also taken place in Hotel Sangam and we have very pleasant memories of the homely hotel. Some of the older staff still remembered her and enquired about her family.
After a tasty lunch at the and a nap, we chose to have a look at her erstwhile homes. We did not know the new owners and so only an exterior visit.

Rockfort area is always crowded and the streets narrow. So we parked our car in Thillai Nagar and took an auto to Main Guard Gate. Walking through the narrow, bustling, lively streets, we drank in the atmosphere. The cornucopia of sounds and smells of Chinnakadai Veedhi, Malai Vaasal, Clive Hostel area and Vaanapattarai Temple was overpowering. The Teppakulam Tank was full and we wondered if there were crocodiles in the tank still.
Ayyappan Temple in Cantonment is a pleasant place to visit, any time of the day. The calm, serene, green surroundings give a divine feeling. We find some new development every time we visit the temple. We caught up with Mr. Kanakasabapathy, an old family friend, the trustee of who manages the temple and returned to the hotel for a dinner in Cascade, the coffee shop.