The Tirunelveli Diaries - Madurai

I did not realise it but when we made the final we were supposed to be put up in Madurai it self and travel to Natham where the ground was - a good 40 kms away. So we hopped on to the bus for a three hour journey from Tirunelveli to Madurai. Jyo had to leave because of Ganesh Chaturthi which they celebrate in a big way at his place. It was a pleasant journey and by 12 pm we were at Hotel Royal Court or something like that. It looked like a nice enough place though slightly cramped but the main thing was that it was right in the middle of the town - a 5 minute walk from the railway station and a ten minute walk from the Madurai Meenakshi temple.

Meenakshi Amman temple

Having freshened up and having partaken of some amazing buffet with delectable non veg dishes, Chatterjee and i set out for the temple at about 5 pm. We walked along the narrow roads, checking out other hotels nearby. Lots of places which had a bold red sign BAR written across. Soon we were in the vicinity of the West Gate of the temple - it has four entrances. No phones allowed so we kept phones in the locker (a very efficient system), chappals in the chappal place and walked in. We bought some speed darshan tickets and walked in - it was quite empty surprisingly. I led Chattu to the Meenakshi temple first and then the Sivan temple and then all the other parts of the complex that I remembered from my last visit - a mere five days ago. We bought some prasadam, walked into the thousand pillar temple for a fee of 5 bucks (2 bucks for children).

Old theatre

Old building

Koodal Azhagar temple

On the way out I found a book store which was apparently started in the 70s and bought two books - one about the hijacking of flight 814 and another which was about a lady travelling across India in 80 trains. I have finished four books during this trip which is quite an achievement. Back at the hotel we chilled out and then hit the sack but not before a walk around the neighbourhood.

Teppakulam

Thrumalai Nayakkar palace

Next day the team went for practice and I stayed back and wandered around Madurai. For starters I walked to the Koodal Azhagar temple which was only 15 minute away. Then I found myself a rickshaw and hired him for a few stops - the Mariamman Teppakulam which is a lovely mandapam in the middle of a tank, the Thirumalai Nayakkar Palace and returned back by lunch time.

Srikanth - gem of a person

One of the most memorable parts of this leg of the tour was meeting Srikanth Narayanaswamy who is a good friend of Chandra and who dropped in that evening. Srikanth has such disarming simplicity and he just blew me over with his good nature. He had played club and college cricket, was in the Combined district team for the Buchi Babu tournament in his days, played all the university games that I did, played for TVS with Chandra in Madurai, worked for Vizag Port Trust for three decades and played cricket in Vizag, speaks Telugu like a pucca local Vizag boy and actively coaches three teams for TVS in Madurai. He was busy watching his boys play a match that afternoon and if I was not tired out by my exertions of the morning I would have gone to watch. Anyway Srikanth came with his protege Madhavan abd spent time with me and Chattu on almost all the days. He and Madhavan also took me to Kumar Mess one day, for jigarthanda at Famous Jigarthanda and even dropped me off at the airport on the last day. His knowledge of cricket and his awareness of the finer points is immense and he and Chattu really hit it off on the coaching parts. I loved his passion for life, envied his life even, and am so glad I met him. I intend to stay in touch with him.