We left Thanjavur at 7.00 am, as planned, and we wanted to halt at Karaikudi, 2 hours down the road, and then carry on to Rameswaram, reaching by 1.30 pm. The weather was actually lovely for driving - cool, windy, with a few spatters here and there - and the Tamil Nadu roadwork living up to its reputation of being butter-smooth, whatever the rank of the road.
We travelled today through the heart of the Chettinad region, made prosperous by the Chettiyar business houses, who brought with them their own architecture, culture, and food.
Thousand Windows House at Karaikudi (9.30 am)
We stopped for breakfast around half an hour before the town of Karaikudi, at Jeevan, for a home-made dosa. What attracted us to this establishment was the quaint Chettinad-style look of the building.
Karaikudi was home to many rich Chettinad honchos, and the Thousand Window House, though a bit of an fenestral exaggeration, lived up to its old and aristocrstic look. Driving down the surrounding roads, we saw a few more instances of past aristocracy, jostling with a few upstarts whose newer creations stood out like sore thumbs. Apparently, in the Chettinad area, 7000 such old bungalows have been found, usually 80-200 years old, mostly made with a mixture of lime, jaggery, white of egg and Myrobalan plant (competition to the gingerbread house, what?).
Palace at Athangudi (10.30 am)
This palace, some 14 kms from Karaikudi, was built in 1912 by Dr Annamalai Chettiyar, and is a very well-preserved house where the decorations still glow and shine through efficient preservation. We pushed through a lot of rain to reach this place, and were pleasantly surprised to find many visitors wandering about, thoughtlessly hogging our selfie spots. Apparently, there are other palaces at Kanandukathan and Pallathur, which are also gorgeous, but we did not have enough time today to attend to all of them.
Hotel Sri Annapoorna at Rameswaram (2.00 pm)
It so happens that 20% of the times, our efforts at online booking falls flat, like the lead rower of the Oxford team catching a crab on boat race night. This hotel in Rameswaram was way below our expectations, and made us flex muscles of fortitude that are a mainstay in the arsenal of road-trippers. Ah well, it happens, it happens.
Land's End at Dhanushkoti (5.00 pm)
Have you seen a picture of the "Creation of Man" by Michaelangelo? That's Dhanushkoti, the fingers touching. Of course, it might be an absolute coincidence that the land formation is called Adam's Bridge. Currently India and Sri Lanka are not touching, of course, and Dhanshkoti is sort of jabbing in the air like a blind man looking for an urinal.
We pushed off from the hotel for the half an hour drive. Weatherwise, it was a washout, literally. Land's end is famous for both spectacular sunrises and sunsets, and Renoir practicing water colours with a grey palette was not a canvas where orange sunsets would find place. So we ended up enjoying the windy weather, huddled in our raincoats (aka hazmat suits) and squinting into the needlelike rain. We passed on the way Kothandaramasway temple, where Bibhisana was supposed to have sought refuge at Rama's feet.
What amazed us was the number of tourists merrily cavorting, as if on a beach in sunny Hawaii, while looking to all intents and purposes like Macbeth's witches on the heath, with hair asunder and pallus flapping like brooms. We marked our presence for 30 mins, before a hot cup of tea in our hotel room crept into our imagination and we in turn crept into our car, to live and fight another day.
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Kanyakumari, and hopefully, better weather.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray