As planned and arranged earlier, we started on our journey to the south on the morning of December 16, 2007. We reached Kolkata in the afternoon, and since our flight to Chennai was on December 18 evening, we decided to visit the Botanical Garden. We booked a taxi for the day, and it was exhilarating to see the great banyan tree there, which has a total area coverage of 14,438 sq metres, with a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. The garden itself was a very big one, with beautiful flowers, lakes and some medicinal trees. We enjoyed our visit to the garden very much, and came back to the hotel in the evening. Next morning, on December 18, we went shopping and then boarded the flight in the evening to reach Chennai at about 10.30 pm at night. We took a prepaid taxi to a hotel near the Madras Central Railway Station, where we had booked our rooms earlier.

We had also made arrangements for a taxi, from Guwahati itself, through a travel agent at Chennai, to visit all the places as per our itinerary. At about 10 O’ clock in the morning of December 19, the driver arrived to meet us in the hotel with a Tata Indica car. The Tamil driver was a very nice fellow, who conversed only in broken English, but it was convenient for us to interact with him in all matters including meals and sight-seeing. As planned, we first proceeded to Tiruchanur (160 km from Chennai), and visited the Sri Padmavathi Ammal temple there and then headed to Thirumala, temple of Lord Balaji (22 km) in Andhra Pradesh. It was raining heavily that day, so we could not enter the temple. The road to the temple was well maintained, with beautiful flowers planted on either side of the ‘U’turns. This temple stands atop one of the highest of seven hills in a chain. While coming down from the temple, we enjoyed the beautiful sight of the city of Tirupathi.

The next morning, we started for Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram), to have a look at the 7th century Pallava monuments there, and then to Puducherry (Pondicherry), another 120 km away. On the way, we visited Auroville, a town established to realise human amity. There is a golden temple Matirmandir, founded by Mother Mirra from France, who worked with Shri Aurobindo to realise the dream of universal unity through yoga and meditation. It was the Mother who decided and took active part in establishing the town of Auroville as a universal town for all to live in peace and harmony. The decision to establish the town was taken in late 1964 during the world conference of the Aurobindo Society, which was started by the Mother in 1960, and of which she was the president. The town was inaugurated in February, 1968.

In Pondicherry, we visited the famous Aurobindo Ashram, where tourists and locals alike meditate in complete silence. This is a ‘must visit’ for all those who happen to go to Pondy. We also visited the sea-shore temple, which was very beautiful and located on the rocky shore. It was a centre of attraction for the tourists. The clean, beautiful rocky beach of Pondy soothes the eyes of the visitors.

On December 21, we started our journey to Trichi (200 km), where we visited some temples accompanied by our driver, who was barefoot all through the journey. As a matter of fact, it was he who guided and helped us in all matters, including checking in and out of the hotels and taking our meals, while on our way from one place to another.

We then left Trichi for Madurai the next day, and visited the famous Shri Meenakshi temple. It has four beautifully constructed entrance gates on four sides, like that at the Shri Jagannath Temple of Puri, in Orissa. There is a very big Mandapam (marriage hall) there, with one thousand pillars, all beautifully decorated. We visited some other temples as well, like the Shri Murugan Temple, which is believed to be one of the six abodes of Lord Karthik. At Madurai, we also visited the Thirumalai Naick Palace with its marvellous architectural designs, which was built by Thirumalai Naick, the greatest ruler of Madurai.

Next, we left for Rameswaram (160 km). It is very exciting to have a glimpse of the rail bridge below, at a little distance away from the road bridge. After crossing the bridge further south, there is the Ramanathaswamy Temple at the top of a hill, where the footprints of Lord Rama on stone are preserved and worshipped. From the top of the hill, the fishermen’s villages can be seen with fishing boats towed in the nearby sea. Our driver, who had a vast knowledge of the South, told us that former President Dr Abdul Kalam had belonged to one of those villages. In Tiruchendur (220 kms), we visited the Sri Senthil Aandavar Temple, (one of the six abodes of Lord Karthik). In the evening, we went out to a rocky beach where there was a park too. The ambience of the shore, with the cool breeze blowing in from the vast sea in front, was very pleasing. While going to Tiruchendur, we went for a short while to the Tooticorin port, covering an extra 22 kms off the highway to enjoy the beach there.

Next on our itinerary was Kanyakumari, where we visited the Gandhi Memorial and the Sri Vivekananda Rock Memorial, and climbed up the watch tower constructed just on the shore, which offered a beautiful view of the two seas and the ocean. After spending some time there, we proceeded to a place called Courtallam (150 km) bordering Kerala, where there is a temple and beautiful waterfalls. Here, we saw some revellers bathing in the waterfalls. Thereafter, we proceeded to Srivilliputhur (80 km), and visited the Sri Andal and Sri Vatapatra Sai temples.

On December 26, we started on our journey back to Chennai (450 km). The journey took us about ten hours. The highway is smooth and well maintained, which made the journey comfortable. We reached Chennai late in the evening.

Next morning, on December 27, we went to the Marina beach, which is said to be the second largest beach in the world, and enjoyed the natural beauty there. After an hour or so, we went to some of the market places, and then back to the hotel for some rest. That evening, we again went out to the beach, which looked even more grand, with lights everywhere and fishing boats bobbing in the waves. Later on, we drove around the city, which has wide roads and well maintained fly-overs. The driver then reminded us of the great tsunami, which had unleashed a reign of devastation on December 26, 2004 in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu, apart from the tragedy it had caused in the Indonesian coastal resorts and in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Hundreds of thousands of people had perished during this tragedy. As informed by the driver, in the Marina beach, too, some two thousand people had lost their lives . People still offer prayers on the day the incident took place, in memory of those near and dear ones killed in the tragedy.

Early the next morning, we boarded our plane to Kolkata. After an overnight stay at Kolkata, we finally reached Guwahati on December 29, marking the end of a very pleasant and memorable holiday.

Jitendra Prasad Baruah