Pondicherry to Trichy

From Pondicherry I take a day trip to Tiruvannamalai to see the Arunachala temple and Sri Ramana Ashram. This place is mentioned in the book I've been reading 'A Search in Secret India' (thanks Aroop!). Written in 1930, the author ends up in Arunachala after searching India for a guru. He meets Sri Ramana Maharishi and is impressed by his philosophy and approach to life. Both the temple and the ashram do have a certain special energy about them - they sit at the foot of Arunachala hill which in Hindu mythology is where Siva appeared as a column of fire creating the original symbol of the lingam. At the temple I meet an Indian family who are taking their son there to be blessed. Both father and son have their heads shaved. Despite stilted English and a complete lack of Tamil on my part we have a good chat.


Also most of the temple vistors are wearing red because it is the 'Om Shakti' festival. I've chosen today to wear a bright green t-shirt, so couldn't stick out more!


On my last day in Pondy I meet up with Raleigh 'host country venturers' Vieni, Manju and Jagad who live in the nearby town of Villapuram. It's fantastic to see them all again.


Vieni cooks us biryani for lunch (those in alpha 2 will remember how good her chicken biryani is!) and afterwards we go back to Vieni's village to meet countless friends and relatives. Someone shins up a coconut palm so we each have a fresh coconut to drink. After that it's back to Manju's house to meet more relatives and a chapati dinner. I'm overwhelmed by their hospitality, it's lovely.


Now it's New Year's Eve and I'm at my next port of call, Tiruchirappalli or Trichy, where I've visited yet more temples - the Rock Fort temple and the Sri Ranganathaswamy temple complex. The latter is massive, possibly the largest in India, with many 'sub' temples surrounding 7 concentric walled courtyards. It's quite confusing. I meet up with a German lady, Anita, so we negotiate the Rock Fort steps and Trichy's bus system together.


Hmm, not sure how I'll be celebrating the New Year - by the sound of it the hotel has some dodgy disco music going...