30th December 2019
Skanda and DJ woke up to a fresh morning with an aim of setting off towards the Vivekananda Memorial. They were fortunate enough to witness the gorgeous sunrise over the beautiful Bay of Bengal as they waited for the counter to open. After they got two tickets of INR 500 each, they were told to sit in a boat that took them towards the memorial. While getting into the boat, they saw many others standing in the lines for tickets from as early as 5 am.
Vivekananda Rock Memorial
Not only is this memorial of immense historical importance, but it is an architectural marvel as well. This is one of the two rocks that are located at a bit of a distance from the mainland. The memorial was inaugurated in 1970 and was built to honor Swami Vivekananda who visited Kanyakumari in 1892 a few days before departing for Chicago for the World Religious Conference. He meditated at this memorial for two days.
Right behind this was the beautiful statue of Thiruvalluvar.
The statue is based on the famous work done by Tamil poet Valluvar and was built in his memory.
After the trips around these beautiful places, the men were hungry and went back to have breakfast at hotel Sarvana. They went to collect their bags and started on their journey towards Madurai at 10 am.
Moving from South to Center
DJ and Skanda were now on the move from Southern to Central Tamil Nadu.
All along the way DJ and Skanda managed to click some beautiful pictures.
It took them almost 5 hours to reach Madurai, with their booking being done at M3 boutique hotel.
| All bookings for this trip were made either while traveling from one destination to another city or while at a previous destination. |
Rich History of Murugan Idly
In the evening Skanda and DJ decided to visit the market around the famous Meenakshi temple to have Murugan Idly. Here they got to know that this idly shop first opened in Madurai and it had expanded into 8 countries since then. After gorging on loads of tasty Idlys they finished off their meal with a drink called Jigarthanda.
Meenakshi Temple
Next on the agenda was the well-known Meenakshi Temple. It is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer size of this temple that has six gates. The renovation was taking place on one of the gates here and they decided to park the Enfield (riding on the same bike) here. They walked on foot to enter into a long line for tickets. Mobiles, cameras, and all other electronic gadgets were not allowed inside and were thereby kept at the security counter. Tickets were for INR 100 each.
DJ noticed people wearing red dresses (Vishnu) and black dresses (Shiv) here. Two areas in the temple belonged to Lord Shiva and the Devi, for which both of them took two tickets. They got to offers prayers to the Devi easily and the priest put ‘tilaks’ on both foreheads. Both tilaks were horizontal; while the vertical tilak is for Vishnu, the horizontal tilak is meant for Shiva.
Sculptures on the inside were very pretty and there was also a museum here. At the time both were there, a live Bharatnatyam performance was going on and they decided to watch. Puliyodarai or tamarind rice was being offered at a price, along with sweet Halwa as Prasadam.
Towards the Bike
After this satisfying visit, the men collected their things from the gate and headed towards DJ’s bike. On their way, they noticed coconut water being given from green and orange coconuts. Both the coconuts have different origins and they tried both, with the orange being costlier.
Compared to North India, the men found the temple complex to be respectably clean, with the shopkeepers playing active roles to keep their surroundings free from impurities.
A shock awaited them as they approached the parking at the renovation area as there was no bike! At 7:30 pm they asked the construction person in the area and he said it has been moved to carry rods inside the complex.
Dinner and Biking Woes
From here the two moved towards their accommodation. They stopped over at a place for Bun Parotta Kadai, a local delicacy in Madurai. Unfortunately, the shop had run out of buns but they were willing to make parottas.
While moving forward, the two stopped at a traffic signal and switched off the bike. Strangely enough, the bike did not start from here. After trying just about everything at 10:30 pm, they saw that the rear wheel seemed to be jammed. DJ tried calling his mechanic in Delhi but to no avail.
By now it appeared as though something had got stuck in the bike’s chain. While Skanda tried to search for a mechanic, DJ tried to start it for about 10 minutes, after which it suddenly roared into life. At a mechanic’s shop, they were told that straps from the tank bag had melted away due to heat from the tank and fallen into the chain. All that was needed was a bit of oiling to get it going again.
At the hotel, DJ got Gobi Manchurian and chapatti without onion garlic.
