As has become wont with us over the years, the tour for December had become due. The endeavour has been to visit hot places during December and cold ones during June. During winter hot places could only be in the south of India. Since, in south, we have seen most of the places, the choice was difficult. While two of us had seen Madurai and Rameshwaram, Aditya had seen neither. And, none of us had seen Kodaikanal, situated in the Palani hills of Tamil Nadu State. So it was decided to visit Madurai, Rameshwaram and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu, apart from a visit to the friends and relations at Bangalore en route to and from these places.

Madurai
We started from New Delhi on 4.12.2010 and reached Madurai in the morning of 5.12.2010. A friend at Madurai had arranged a vehicle. The Madurai city is spread along the rocky banks of the river Vaigai. The 5th December was dedicated to Meenakshi temple and light and sound show in the evening. The Meenakshi Temple complex is a city in itself - one of the largest of its kind in India and undoubtedly one of the oldest too. The temple grew with the contribution of each dynasty and victorious monarchs, into an enormous complex extending over an area of 65000 Sq m. Lord Siva in his incarnation as Sundareswar and his fish-eyed spouse, Meenakshi, are enshrined in this twin temple. There are four massive gateways enclosing these two shrines. Even a casual visitor is fascinated by the numerous paintings and sculptures.
A striking feature of the temple is the astonishing structure known as “Ayiramkaal Mandapam” or the Hall of Thousand Pillars and each pillar features high, ornate, bold sculptures that look life like. View from any angle, these pillars appear to be in a straight line, an architectural masterpiece indeed. In the outermost corridors are situated the matchless musical pillars carved out of stones. When tapped, each pillar produces different musical note. Now a days no one is allowed to touch these pillars.

In between during day time we covered Alagar Koil, known as Azhgar Kovil in the early days of the Sangam age and located at 21 km north east of Madurai. This temple dedicated to Vishnu is at the foot of the Alagar Hills. The Vaishnavite temple is famous for its beautiful sculptures and exquisite 'mandapams'. According to Hindu Mythology, Lord Vishnu came to this place from his heavenly abode to give away Goddess Meenakshi in marriage to Lord Sundareswar. From here we went to another shrine nearby, dedicated to Karuppannaswamy, the God of Kallars. There are finely carved eighteen steps, which are an object of both worship and amazement. The place is also known for its holy springs called Silamboru and Noopura Gangai. No one knows the source from where these perennial springs originate.

Rameshwaram
Next day we started early morning for Rameshwaram, situated at a distance of 175 kms away from Madurai. The legend bestowed upon the land is that at this place Lord Rama rested and prayed after his triumph over the demon King Ravana. My wife’s and my earlier visit to Rameshwaram were when we were not married. In the seventies of the twentieth century the road bridge had not been built and the only connectivity to the island of Rameshwaram was the rail bridge.
The two bridges side by side give a magnificent look. The rail bridge is smaller in height but has been built in a manner that it opens at a point whenever any ship is to pass. As against this, the road bridge has been built with such a height that ships could easily pass underneath.
At Rameshwaram, we could see much change since our last visit almost 35 years ago. It has become thickly populated. One exception about sea here is that it has no ripples. We took a quick dip at sea and thereafter snans at 22 wells inside the premises of the Rameshwaram Temple. Thereafter, we went for the jyotirlinga darshans. One cannot have darshan in wet clothes, therefore a separate space especially for lady devotees has been provided inside the premises of the temple to change clothes.
After darshans, we went for sightseeing around Rameshwaram Temple. These included Ramjharokha or Ramanathaswamy Temple, Kothandaraswamy Temple, Dhanushkodi beach. Though Ramjharokha is at quite some height, one does not get the feel of an island about Rameshwaram because of heavy growth of trees all around. The sea however was visible at a distance on one side. It offers an excellent view of the countryside. There is a footprint here believed to be of Lord Rama.
The sea at Dhanushkodi beach is quite violent in pleasant contrast with the one at the foot of the Rameshwaram Temple. Although the tranquil of the sea at the foot of the Rameshwaram Temple has geographical reasons the mythology relates it to the composed nature of Lord Rama. The beaches are inseparable part of any visit to south of India. However, during our present visit, it was only at Dhanushkodi beach that we enjoyed the sea.
Kodaikanal
Next day morning on 6.12.2010 again we left early, for Kodaikanal (called Kodai by locals). Although the distance from Madurai to Kodai is less than two thirds of what it is to Rameshwaram, it takes longer to reach, most of it being hilly. Some of distance from Madurai is however plain. We broke for our breakfast before the hills started.

The journey resumed after breakfast. Crossing numerous landscapes and two important waterfalls, we reached our destination at Kodai at 11.30. It was a nice cottage at some height consisting of two rooms and a drawing-cum-dining room with a TV. After depositing our luggage there, we restarted down for sightseeing at Kodai. These included Silver Cascade a beautiful waterfall, Kodai Lake, Coaker's Walk, Bryant Park, Kurinji Andavar Temple, Green Valley view, Pillars Rock, Shenbaganur Museum. In between we broke for lunch at Astoria Hotel. Silver Cascade is the most beautiful and popular waterfall in Kodai. One can hear its sound before seeing it, as did we. It is located on the Ghat Road about 8 km from Kodaikanal. The overflowing water of Kodaikanal Lake comes down here as sheer drop of 180 feet high falls leaping over a steep cliff, crashing into a pool beside the Ghat Road. We spent some time there and did photography.

Kodai Lake is a magnificent lake with star shaped glittering water, in the midst of evergreen lush slopes. The lake is spread over 60 acres and surrounded by fine tarred road of 5 kms length. The boat club provides boats on hire. We hired a boat and enjoy its ride. The greenery surrounding the lake made the ride very enjoyable.

Coaker’s Walk is a narrow pedestrian path, constructed by Lt. Coaker in 1872. It is a one kilometre mountain road which runs along the edge of steep slopes on the southern side of Kodai road. One can have very beautiful view of the valley from here. There was an observatory with telescope about halfway along. But we didn’t try it due to heavy mist all around.

Bryant Park is noted for flowers, hybrids and rafts. Its a very big and beautiful park. Varieties of flowers can be seen here in the month of May.

Kurinji Andavar Temple, situated 3 kms from the lake, is a famous shrine dedicated to Lord Murugana. In Tamil literature Kurinji means 'hill region' and Andavar means 'God'. Hence Lord Murugana is referred as 'God of hill'. This temple is associated with the Kurinji flowers, which carpet at hill sides and bloom once in 12 years. From this temple one can have a view of Palani and Vaigai dam.

We couldn’t have a view of Green Valley and Pillars Rock due to heavy fog in the afternoon.

We returned to the cottage at 4.30 in the evening and had our coffee in the lawns of the cottage. We also took our dinner at the room only. It was exceptionally cold at Kodaikanal. Being habitual of thick quilts at Delhi during winters, we found the blankets provided as grossly insufficient.

The next morning found us comfortable initially. The sun was visible for a few hours. However, as day rose, it started raining and the temperature dipped. Again we were at odds with the chills. After our breakfast at room we went for a small stroll around. The walk however could not warm us up sufficiently. As the temperature dipped further, we decided to start our return journey early with plans to spend some time at Kodaikanal market. The mist however did not leave us and the visibility all along was very poor.
We made small purchases and again entered the Astoria hotel for lunch. The lunch as usual was very tasty. We again spent some time at market. However, weather had grown worse with the visibility becoming poorer. As we had one more point to visit on our way back to Kodairoad railway station, and fearing slow speed due to rain and poor visibility, we started back at 3.00 pm from Kodaikanal market.
The Shenbaganur Museum, situated about 5.6 kms from lake was enthralling. It has an impressive collection of birds and butterflies. The wide ranging collection of birds seen at the Shenbaganur Museum can be classified into ground birds, water birds, tree birds and large high flying birds such as Black Eagle, Bengal Vulture, and Honey Buzzard. A new collection to the museum was a Besan who killed itself by falling down from a height. Our plans to spend some time as Silver Cascade water fall were foiled by heavy rain as we could not get down of our vehicle. On way back we halted at a hotel for coffee and some snacks.

We reached Kodairoad railway station more than an hour early. The waiting time was elongated as our train got late by almost half an hour. While the tickets had been purchased up to Bangalore we were to get down at Hosur, almost two hours before Bangalore. Against the normal time of 4.20 am, the train reached Hosur at 6.05 am.

The Hosur is in Tamil Nadu while our destination at Bangalore was in Karnataka. Thus, on way, we changed states. At Bangalore we were very short of time. Within the ten hours at our disposal we had to meet many friends and relatives together as well as separately. The visits at various places at Bangalore were therefore very short.

The flight back to Delhi at Bangalore airport was initially on time. However, as soon as the aircraft reached the flying strip, it was announced that some technical snag had developed in one of the generators. The aircraft thus withdrew to its hanger and soon a team of engineers was grappling with it. Within an hour, the aircraft took off from Bangalore. It reached Delhi late by an hour. After collecting our luggage and taking a pre paid taxi we reached back home at 9.30 pm.

From next day we three were back into the humdrum of our respective lives.