A 1000 years or 10 centuries or 100 decades is a long time
in the parlance of a human life, long enough to replace an entire era and
create history that only could be revealed and understood by the most
meticulous efforts of the succeeding generation. Anything that withstands the
passage of such enormous time and helps the new generation to infer what the
world was like during its creation is something to be raved at. I never have,
in the past, shown keen interest in history and always had evaded understanding
its contents. Opportunities crop up without notification and for me; it came in
the form of a friend’s wedding who was about to tie the knot in the temple town
of Tanjore – a
land bathed in the glory of mighty Cholas. Chola
Dynasty was one of the longest ruling dynasties of southern India and they
ruled in utter dominance between 3rd century B.C and 13th
century A.D with number of Kings at the helm during varying periods and each of
them contributing significantly to Dravidian literature and architecture.
The Chola power reached its zenith under the great Raja Raja Chola 1 and it was
his creations we were about to witness during this short trip to the rice bowl
of southern India.
My dear friend Gokul has been my friend since we were 3 and it was a sort of
feeling as we kicked off our drive from Visteon’s Chennai Factory located
comfortably off the NH45. It was an
extremely hot evening as Indian summer was its peak and it was never the kind
of ambience that usually associates with my jaunts. After a delayed exit
from office, myself/R.S/Sunand and Mr. Wolf embarked on a sweltering walk to
the car, which itself imitated a microwave oven, as we waited patiently for the
air-conditioning to do its job. The temp
lowered as darkness set in and we felt more comfortable now as the metabolism
slowed down and the sweat glands went to sleep. It was after quite sometime
that I was embarking on a night drive and I failed to recognize the perils
associated with it as a very close shave from a speeding vehicle reinstated the
required levels of alertness. Mr. Wolf would disembark on the way to visit his
family and the remaining journey was to be pursued by R.S/ Su and me as this
became a valid reason to celebrate a bottle of alcohol. NH45 had developed to
be the heart of connectivity between the state capital and southern regions of
Tamil Nadu as the heavy traffic, after 100 Kms of drive, endorsed this fact.
When Mr. Wolf got down at his destination and walked towards the state owned
bus depot, it was all set to begin again
as I began the romantic night drive over the highway that fed my heavy appetite
when I was young and hungry for long drives, a decade back. Now she was safer,
well conditioned, brightly marked, professionally maintained, scientifically
laid out and at her best ever state but, the thoughts from the past prevailed
and indeed, bettered the present. We had started much earlier and the fact
that the total driving distance was little lesser than 400 Kms ensured we would
land up at the ancient capital of Cholas no later than 2:00 A.M early in the
morning.
The exit to Tanjore, from NH45, occurs just after crossing
the Kollidam (Coleroon in Colonial English and the northern tributary of River
Cauvery) Bridge before entering Tiruchi and this exit is smooth and well marked.
We stopped for a cup of tea on the desolate NH45 before this exit just opposite
the MAM Engineering College
as gust was surprisingly cool and strong for this kind of weather. MAM has a
special place in my heart for I embarked on the first night drive, in my car 11
years back, to drop few friends competing in an inter-state athletics meet. It was a special feeling to stand before
this college as I urgently created an imaginary stage that re-orchestrated
those memorable moments for me to savor, just for me. Smiled inherently and
kicked off the drive to cover the remaining meager distance of 50+ Kms over the
National Highway 67, a partly 4 laned
beauty that connects the coastal town of Nagapattinam (Tamilnadu) with
Gundlupet, the last town in southern Karnataka before anyone exits to Kerala or
Tamilnadu. The excellent infrastructure enabled us to reach Tanjore safe
and smiling as we checked into our room and fell on the mighty spring foam to
never bounce back. I was wondering how
it would have been if I had my legitimate girl for company as the soft bed
accommodated my body as a custom made cavity. The powerful air-conditioning
ensured we slept in comfort as the morning was already near the eastern coast
of China
and just 3 hours was left before dawn. The next morning was seen with a cup of
hot coffee as Mr. Gokul showed up at our room to inquire about its comfort
levels. We had a brief chat before parting ways and when he was gone, I was wondering how we had remained friends from
3 to 30 in a world that doesn’t allow certain married relationships to last not
more than a couple of years and it was when, I realized how powerful a relation
through friendship is. I always love darkness, extreme cold and bizarrely
averse to sunlight; which god seems to have understood well as the sky above
Tanjore was unusually cloudy and the temp was surprisingly low for a day in the
month of Northern Hemisphere May. After a brief break-fast, we retraced the
footpaths of Mr. Raja Raja Chola 1’s son, Mr. Rajendra Chola 1, to rave at his
proud creation in the mystic village
of GangaiKonda Cholapuram.
I was electrified as we were about to
walk back into the pages of History, which I never have attempted in the past,
and the feeling of understanding ancient times from the ruins rather than the
book was an eye-opener. The narrow country road to GangaiKonda Cholapuram (GKC) seemed to be long but, the feeling of walking back in time made us
ignorant of the distance – either in Kms or centuries. As Su was attempting
his first drive through the mesmerizing country side of the delta region, I was
trying to visualize how this road would have been centuries back and the
distant sight of the majestic Brihadeeswarar
Temple kindled the
nostalgic thoughts of Cholas and my 3 decades old friendship with Gokul…
Delta region’s influence was prominent with greenery
dominating the landscape and occasional rivulets cutting across beneath the
narrow state highway. The road to GKC
traverses through Kumbakonam, the Cambridge of
south India,
and once past it; there’s a special kind of isolation as the number of people
and intensity of activities reduce subtly towards GKC. Few Kms across, the Lower Anaicut
(which is a dam/ Bridge built across Kollidam) made its dominant presence felt
as we were forced to wait in the queue to cross to the other side. The super
narrow width ensures traffic is one way and this is coordinated by the “walkie-talkie
held” policemen at either extremity of the bridge. It is noteworthy to mention
here that Granite stones were removed from the temple
of GKC
to build the Lower Anaicut, which distributes
the water of Kollidam into various waterways for the purpose of irrigation. After
Lower Anaicut it was a breeze to drive through
and we reached GKC within few minutes to walk back few centuries in time. My
Knowledge of ancient literature and temples is negligible and all I was
interested in was, to capture this historic marvel through the modern day
Optics. As experienced in Belur, Karnataka, the feeling of being inside a temple close to 1000 years old imparts a
significant emotion that makes us to forget the outer world and submerge in the
past. The efforts gone in to the creation of this marvel elongated my breath as
I went breathless over the meticulous efforts incurred to achieve perfection
that was capable of making time irrelevant. GKC was founded by Rajendra
Chola 1 to commemorate his victory over the Pala Dynasty and the name literally
translates to “The Chola who brought Water from the Ganges”.
Mesmerized by the architectural marvel, we embarked on the return journey that had an emotional event attached with it. R.S.S’s
father completed his tenure on this planet in the month of March and he had
been waiting for the past two months to set free his beloved father’s mortal
remains and what better place than the religious Kollidam to do that? I
accompanied him to the banks where he delicately set afloat his creator’s
remains and it was as emotive as the day the death occurred. This was the first
time in life I had the painful opportunity of witnessing a man’s final journey,
to a place not known to mankind. Few minutes later we were walking through
the old world streets of Kumbakonam in search of a mess to quench our hunger,
before we could explore the Airavatesvara
temple built by Raja Raja Chola 2 @ Darasuram. Past noon we found ourselves
within the quiet confines of this less visited temple dedicated to Lord Shiva
and it was here I got the valuable opportunity of shooting a set of pillars
arranged in a linear manner, a long time dream. After quite a long stint with
couple of archeological wonders, we made our way back to Tanjore to be present
for the wedding reception of Gokul. Post reception we relaxed in an air-conditioned bar before bouncing on the big spring bed
in our room to spend a night of quite sleep, thinking quietly about what could
have caused the collapse of GKC and where the Mortal remains of R.S.S’s father
would have reached...
The next morning was reserved to witness Gokul
tie the most responsible knot in any
man’s life span as he transitioned from 1 to 2 and the entire gathering
blessed the couple with flowers and words. Gokul was one of the last remaining bachelors
of our ageing gang and it was obvious to view this event as a touchy one. We
expressed our share and made an exit to visit the mighty Brihadeeswarar temple
in the heart of Tanjore town. Claimed to be largest temple in India, it was
only obvious that this ancient wonder was thronged by tourists. After
witnessing GKC and Darasuram in absolute silence, the prevailing ambience was
in stark contrast to the mind set-up I had developed over ancient temples.
Adding to the chaos, sun was in full glory and the sweltering heat hastened our
analysis of this mighty creation. After a walk around and few shots we
retreated back to the hotel, unable to bear the heat, and geared up for that
inevitable departure. Post lunch we hit the scorching NH67 and bid bye to this
temple town bathed in ancient glory. Notified Gokul, through a SMS, of our
departure and continued our drive back to Chennai under the merciless Indian
summer as I was obliged to think how these structures have passed “a 1000
summers” and still stood tall and proud? Remarkable feat indeed…As any village
or town that had found place in my Heart, the delta region of Cauvery had
inscribed a difficult to express feel deep within the heart. I wouldn’t say I would be coming back here
in the years to come for Iam never attracted to heat and light but, an
indestructible connection had been established between some remote corner of my
heart, unknown to me, and the great living Chola temples of Tanjore. Someday
when circumstances dictate my life, who knows, I could be traveling to these
ancient structures to photograph them with better equipments and skills.
Also the fact that one my best Friend’s Dad undertook his final journey here
would have a lasting effect on my thinking and views about the delta region. As the Indian summer comes to an end and
gives way to the mighty monsoon, which at the moment is extremely speculative,
I would be busy making love with Western Ghats and the thoughts from Tanjore
would be buried to ruins, to never raise their heads again unlike the Cholas
– who have managed to conquer time and
exist for ever through their stunning architectures. What a life they would
have lived?? Power, glory and achievement in an era that didn’t have the
fraction of technological assistance which exists today. It’s only an Irony
then that very few people touch the Heights the mighty Cholas managed in
today’s world that’s completely networked and get’s things done at the speeds
hitherto unknown. As we were nearing
Chennai that evening I was wondering what it takes to exist forever, if not our
mortal remains the immortal portion as a minimum and very quickly cropped up
the next question – what is immortal?? Hope the Cholas knew the answer one
thousand years back as this one trip concluded with the toughest question
that none of my previous Jaunts have challenged me with…
