Going Places- Part 2
Keeping in continuation with my ‘travel sperm’ entries, this
is the second one in line. Yeah, I have grown up a little since I went to the
places in Part 1. But still, here you will find a lot of things that would show
the wanderings of a young mind and probably will make you laugh. Enjoy them!
Tamil Nadu Trip
My first trip to Tamil Nadu was a religious one with my
maternal grandparents in March 2002. We started from Bangalore and went to
Madurai. Apart from the Meenakshi Temple and a palace/fort which had many
coloured glasses, I can’t recall anything about this place. This was also the
time when we used to go to the STD booth to call home and let people know that
we are fine. Yeah, the time before the advent of mobile phones into every hand.
From Madurai we had taken a bus journey to Rameshwaram and
Kanyakumari. The Pamban Bridge on the Bay of Bengal had fascinated me. How could people build a bridge on the sea? I
had wondered. I had read somewhere that the main temple of Rameshwaram had the
longest corridor. And so, every corridor I saw in the temple, I exclaimed that
it was the longest corridor that I had read about! I was also hopeful of going
to the beach and finding the ‘floating stones’. Yeah, the ones which Lord Ram
had used to build the bridge to Lanka. I was so disappointed when I learnt that
there was no such actual bridge which connected to Sri lanka!! I did buy and
get some of the ‘floating stones’ home! I was elated :)
The trip to Kanyakumari was even more anticipated by me. I
had just recently studied in one of my English lessons about Kanyakumari and
the Vivekanand Rock Memorial. I also knew that this was the bottom most part of
India where three seas meet. So, when we reached the holy spot near the sea, I
enquired why I couldn’t see three different seas. It looked like a normal
beach!! I was disappointed! A motor-boat ride to the Vivekanand Rock Memorial
was the next stop. I always thought the huge statue on the rock was that of
Vivekanand. I was shocked to learn that the statue of Vivekanand was instead
inside the big hall! Haha…
I have been to Tamil Nadu on subsequent trips. One was in
2007, when I was in class 10, to Pondicherry. The place had been amazing, although
I was shocked to see that there was no beach where I could go and stand in the
water! The roads at right angles amazed me. I loved learning the little French
during the trip. Probably the only word I remember now is ‘Rue’. It means
‘lane’, right?
My most recent visit to the state was in 2008. It was my
first long distance train trip alone. My family was at Vellore and during the
Diwali vacation I went to visit them. Although every day used to begin with a
trip to the huge CMC campus, I remember going to some tourist places in the
town including the Golden Temple and the Vellore Fort.
Karnataka Trip
My
very first recollection of anything related to Karnataka is a wooden toy train
which my grandparents got me from Mysore around 12 years back. I still have it
safe and secure in my room. As per my first Karnataka trip, it was to Bangalore
in March 2002. My maternal uncle resides in Bangalore and that is the reason of
my so many frequent trips to the place. On this first visit, apart from
visiting the usual tourist destinations in the city which included the Lalbagh
Botanical Garden, the all-lighted Vidhan Soudha, the huge statue of Lord Shiva
which one had to enter to see the various ‘lingams’ at one place, Wonder La, the
big banyan tree- Doda-alada-mara (I loved saying this as a tongue twister) and
many more which I am unable to recollect right now, what I remember vividly and
one which I looked forward to in all my subsequent visits to the city was ‘Kemp
Fort’. I am not sure if the huge shopping destination exists now or not, but
for a 10 year old, visiting a huge castle was something really huge. I had just
loved it! This was also the trip when I first got to know that Bangalore had K.R.Puram and Delhi had R.K.Puram and R.K.Puram was the place
which housed DPS and which was going to be my dream school 5 years hence! :D
My
next visit to Karnataka was in October the same year with my parents. This was
going to be a week long road trip of places all over the state. So we started
from Bangalore and went on to visit Hospet, Hampi, Badami, Mangalore and many
more places which I think if I look at the map of Karnataka I would be able to
recollect easily. The Jog Falls with the four different falls (Raja, Rani,
Rocket and Roarer) is vividly imprinted in my memory. Then there was Udupi,
which according to my father is the birthplace of the ‘Dosa’. He intended to try the native dosa but due to lack of time
and a dosa-providing restaurant nearby, he couldn’t. St. Mary’s Island was
another beautiful place we visited. ‘Ye
to TV ke beach ki tarah dikh raha hai’,
I had remarked happily. Climbing the 600+ steps at Shravanbelagola and then our
ambassador going out of fuel in the middle of the jungle on the highway are a
few moments which I fail to let go off from my memories.
I
had been to Bangalore for the last time in October 2008. That was a short trip
for me from Vellore so as to catch the train to Delhi. There is still a lot
that remains to be seen in Bangalore and hopefully I shall be making another
trip to the city soon.
Keep
an eye for the next and probably last post in this series which would describe
some of my recent explorations of the places of the country. Till then, keep
filling your fridge with more juices and fruits and beat the summer heat. Tada!
:)
Update: Look here for Part 3.
Update: Look here for Part 3.
Nice post....Kemp Fort is not there now!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
DeleteNot thr? Hmm..I did a Google search and found abt it. It was closed back in 2007. :/
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ReplyDeletethis entry seems exactly like my travel dairy!!! :D
ReplyDeletei went to a south india trip for 21 days with my nanaji n mausi back in 2002(same year!!)!chennai to madurai to rameshwaram to pondicherry to kanyakumari to cochin!(a few places seem to b missing!).using the STD booth and buying a floating stone from 1 of the temples(and learning it to be a coral after coming baq home :D) n yes train on Pamban bridge! each moment brought in a lot of surprise n astonishment in that trip!
n next time u plan to visit pondicherry,visit AURO-VILLE!Its a village built as per the dream of shri Aurobindo n Mother.theres a solar kitchen too!n the solar powered bus!the Matrimandir in the centre attracts a lot of tourists!its 1 of my experiences to be remembered for lifetime. :)
n Karnataka!!!what do i say for this place.. :D hope i visit all the places mentioned above before completion of MBBS! :D
haha...probably we might have met over those 21 days somewhere without knowing who we are or that we are going to meet after 6 years at the same hostel! :D
DeleteYea, the coral thing...(I didnt want to mention it thinking 'let ppl who dont knw be fooled' :D)
Pondicherry- Auroville- I don't knw how I forgot to mention abt it. I did go thr. ZTO the Matrimandir n all. it was raining and it was fun! :)
N all the best for ur Karnataka trip...still almost 3 years to go..u can do it :D
hehe!probably! :D
Deleteabout the corals..i just got too excited to write it!i m sure none of the readers will read my looonnnggg comment and know about it! :D
thanx hope we do! :D as of now its Go Goa!! :D
haha..no problem :)
DeleteEnjy Goa!