First trip “out” of Chennai

‘You eventually find a way where you ought to be.’ This is actually what happened to me when I took the leap of opportunity to finally move out to a different city with thousands of years of history. Yes, indeed, I’m talking about the Abode of Temples or commonly known as the City of Temples – Kanchipuram. This place has never failed to fascinate me, be it in its richly vast culture and history or still the magnificent ancient temples.

Let me give a brief introduction prior to the visit of the city. From what I have heard, the city reverberates with the glorious temples of the past. Being very inquisitive about history, culture, languages and ancient temples likewise, I have always fantasised about visiting the “Kashi of the South”. Those beautifully crafted temples with intricate carvings and rich in traditions and rituals really amplified my interest to visit the place at least once.

One fine Saturday morning, I got a message from my friend. “Let’s go to Kanchipuram”, she said. Reading this, I was a little bit confused. Was I happy or too lethargic to be happy? I seriously had no idea. The fact was, I wanted to go but then it was too sudden that I couldn’t figure out what I exactly wanted and the consequent plans I should be making. However, because it was a long pending wish to go that place, I set aside all the confused feelings (except for the happy ones), to finally take a dive.

We decided to take a bus; one because it is cheap (about ₹50/person) and second because we wanted to enjoy each and every aspect of our trip. It was roughly a 2 hour journey from Ponnamallee Bus Stand to Kanchipuram. The journey up till the city was a flabbergastingly awesome one. I witnessed the gradual progression of settlement from Chennai to Kanchipuram. Once out of the city, you could see the lush green vegetations all around, beautiful lakes, rivers, less chaotic roads and very simple lifestyle of the people. All of that made me realise that happiness lies in the simplicity of life.

Enough of this philosophical outlook; let’s get going! Closer to the city, you could already see small temples across any road or street. Then once inside the City, one can draw a lot of comparison to Chennai. The same chaotic roads, merchants and a bustling city life. At first, I thought, “Ok, so what’s the big deal?” However, as we walked through the serpentine streets, the differences started to be more apparent, in the sense you could feel the warmth of the people (even though they are not talking to you) and the streets will not be that crowded, as opposed to Chennai.

The first temple that we decided to visit was Sri Kanchi Kamakshi Amma Temple. Moving through the streets was a real trouble. We couldn’t figure out where the temple was actually when we could actually see it from far. However, Google Maps proved to be very handy! We walked and walked and when we finally found the temple from a distance, we felt relieved. Reaching the temple, I somehow felt a deep sense of completion because finally the moment I have been waiting for, was just staring at me. The humongous dome structure (Gopuram), at the entry, was an eye catching masterpiece of art - not to miss. The gopuram was a “mini-playing ground” for the local monkeys. Everything was perfectly in place until one of them attacked us. They robbed our offering that we bought for Devi. So, we had no other choice than to take another one again. While going inside, they judiciously kept on following us, but we managed to be cautious and match their level of intelligence this time. As is the norm, we clicked some pictures and then rushed inside the temple to avoid further “confrontation”.

Inside the exaltingly beautiful temple, we saw even more eye-catching designs with Sanskrit, Tamil and Prakrit mantras engraved on the walls (Mind you, taking pictures is forbidden). We walked along the alleys of the temple and we then reached the garbhgriha (seat of Devi). I was so elated to see the beautiful posture of the Goddess and pay obeisance to Her. It was such a blissful feeling! After this, we roamed inside the temple trying to be as much inquisitive and explorative as possible. The inside of the temple was really a beauty not to reckon with. Our exploration enhanced when we decided to venture outside the main temple. Construction works were going on but that didn’t stop us from taking some awesome pictures. The beauty of the temple really thrilled us all. I would definitely visit the temple once again given another chance.

To conclude our journey, we visited another famous temple, Varadharaja Perumal Temple, one of the Vishnu temples in Kanchi. It was already getting dark but nevertheless, we couldn’t afford to leave this place without visiting this one temple. What actually sparked my curiosity, are the gold and silver lizards that are said to adorn the temple. I don’t know how much this is true, but it is commonly believed that if you touch them, no harm will come unto on you if a lizard happens to fall on you. However, that was far from the reason why I visited the temple. Entering in the temple, I saw a lot of Brahmin men mostly decked with the veshti waiting for the evening aarti. We didn’t stop there for long; we explored the entire area of the temple while heading to the main chamber of Lord Varadharaja. There, we saw the deity, pleasingly gracing all the devotees and then we went to the “Lizard spot”. For that, we had to buy ticket at around ₹10/person. So excited as I was, I quickly rushed on the spot, and witnessed the mysterious lizards at the top of the ceiling; we had to climb a few wooden stairs to be able to touch them. Of course, it is an opportunity not to miss if ever you visit the temple.

After this tiresome but enthralling ‘temple run’, we finally decided to go back to Chennai. We jumped into the next bus and took a sigh of relief. It was truly a very positively culminated day. We enjoyed every aspect of it. Looking forward to visit this place again.

Until next time, stay tuned!