The only thing i dislike about my profession is that i get too few holidays and that too are mandated by exchanges. Its a different issue that i overcome this problem by carrying my trading terminal on my laptop, so that i can sit and provide service to my clients sitting in anywhere.
So whenever there is a holiday on a monday, i take an off on friday and plan a trip. If it was Hyderabad last time, this time, it was Chennai. I am always a shrewd planner when it comes to travelling (though i never plan my studies). Why Chennai ? Well, the target was to reach Vaitheeswarankoil around 250kms from chennai on the southern side. Its a place which is famous for nadi jyotishya, where a person's future is predicted thru his thumb impression.
Started off from Mangalore on thursday night by West Coast express to reach Chennai on friday afternoon. My plans went awry when i realised that no bus tickets were available to reach my destination from Chennai. This turned into a blessing in disguise as it gave me an opportunity to travel by bike.
Chennai program itself was a story of strange twists n turns. While my cousin Praveen Anna was told to go to Vizag on the day i was scheduled to reach there and my other friend Gautham had planned to visit Tirupathi with his friends. But luckily their programs got cancelled. Visit straight to their offices on friday and then stayed back at my cousin's house in Anna nagar.
Woke up early (tooooooo early if you go by my standards, let me put on record that i woke up at 4.30AM) on saturday. Reached Gautham's flat at 5.30am. Let me tell u about Gautham Shenoy. He is the only the second person i know who has travelled by bike from Bangalore to his native place (first obviously is yours truly). I had seen him only once before in Karkal during Okli this year. Apart from that, the only interactions we have had is through orkut or yahoo messenger.
We travelled through East Coast Road(ECR) thru Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Chidabaram to reach Vaitheeswarankoil. The road runs parallel to Bay of Bengal, just like our own NH 17. Travelling by bike is really the greatest thing, though its tiresome a bit you can always enjoy nature unlike journey by any other means. Watched sunrise (Dont ask me when did i last see a sunrise), made a "Boni" to a restaurant at Mahabalipuram on our way.
The place is a Nadi Jyothishya industry in itself. I think you can find atleast 200 people who claim to master this art. All you need to give him impression of the thumb, date of birth and a few details which he asks for. The legend is the one's life story is written on palm leaf by Sage Agastya (some say by saptharshi or seven sages) and the astrologer traces the person's leaf thru the means of finger impression and date of birth. I too visited one of them who told some blah blah about my future. The exact predictions is sealed in a cassette (which i plan to throw soon or conceal it at some untraceable place, as it contains a bit too hazardous material) Copies will be given on request to anyone to gets it touch with me (obviously at a nominal 3-digit price, afterall i need to recover travelling cost as well as the amount paid to astrologer). I have no quarells with those who believe this, but i really feel that it was fake. Anyway, let me keep my fingers crossed on the predictions.
Return journey was pleasent. Had lunch at Chidambaram but could not visit the temple there as it was closed and was scheduled to open at 4pm. The route we travelled was the worst affected by tsunami in 2004. All through the journey we could see lot of rehabilitation work done by various organisations both national and international. Reached pondichery (oops puducherry) at 5 and somehow managed to get a decent room to spend our time. After taking rest for a couple of hours, we walked through pondi's shopping areas. There's not much to shop there (except liquor of course which is damn cheap - no use for us since both of us were teetollers and so are most of our friends ). Visited Mahabalipuram enroute to Chennai during our return journey to chennai. This place is famous for its shore temple, is also one of the UNESCO Heritage site in India. The later part of that evening was spent with praveen anna's family.
Food in Tamilnadu is never a problem. You get good breakfast, lunch and dinner everywhere. Visited the famous Saravana Bhavan chain of hotels in Chennai on friday for dinner. In pondi, had our breakfast at Adyar Anand Bhavan. Tried out the Khara Kozhumbu and button idly at Saravana Bhavan. Not only, i took parcel from Saravana bhavan at railway station while coming back. As the saying goes, " while is Rome do what Romans do", I always look out for local delicacies whenever i travel. A lot of local stuff in out of bound for me since i am vegeterian, yet i try to eat local food as much as possible.
Returned back by West Coast Express. Slept most of the way thru the return journey (which i like the most). Where next ? Heading to delhi later this month, so just wait and watch for the next blog.
