I was still half asleep or rather just waking up when the train pulled into the station. The station, I thought, was an important one, for a lot of people seemed to be alighting. A closer look made me realise that it was not a lot of people who were getting off, it was everyone. It was MADURAI, my destination. My mom had booked the ticket for me and i didn’t know that it was the destination for this train, nor did i bother to see the ticket to understand what time the train was bound to reach the temple town.
Finally, after hurrying myself out of the train, i started walking towards the exit. Indoors, there was nothing fascinating or different about the station, it was similar to the many other stations I had been to in India-loads of people (families, rather), tea stalls, book stalls, fruit stalls, phone stalls and selling-everything-from-a-toothbrush-to-a-torchlight-stalls. However, outdoors was a different sight altogether. Right outside the station or rather on the station wall was a huge LCD screen airing one South Indian commercial after another. The screen was strategically placed so as to not miss anyone's eye. After living in Mumbai for so many years, I could not remember noticing such a screen outside VT, Churchgate, Dadar or Mumbai Central; which probably see the highest human traffic on railway stations anywhere across the world. Talk about progress trickling down to small town India! This certainly seemed like a good superficial example.
Also, a statue of two fishes adorned the station garden or whatever it was supposed to be. I said to myself, ' strange place man, they seem to be interested in some different sort of architecture. Why would someone want fishes outside the station?' Later, I realised that Madurai’s resident goddess was Meenakshi, which I already knew, but she was known so because she was fish-eyed (Meen-akshi). So, I think this is the reason why people are so fond of fishes to put it up as the first thing for visitors to see. Somehow, i still find it strange; Tamil eccentricity is comparable to the Chinese.
A walk away from the station took me into the by lanes of the city where cows walked around freely, which made it fit perfectly into the western backpackers stereotype of an Indian town- narrow lanes, dusty streets, small hotels, restaurants and a cow! Wow, this is India!
After fighting through the way with a so-called agent/tout/cheat; I managed to get into a hotel which fit my budget-Rs. 250 a night. The room wasn't too bad, to say the least. It had a clean bathroom. Without wasting too much time, I prepared to bathe and get out. The reason for my hurry was that it was incidentally my birthday; although I had not planned it this way, I had got leave during this time. Ascertaining, that the trip to Tamil-Nadu was a long time coming, I decided to carry on to the disappointment of my mother and a couple of friends. My mother extracted a promise out of me, that I would visit the temple as early as possible once I reached Madurai on my birthday. This must have given her some sort of compensation, for not being able to meet her son on his twenty-fifth birthday.
I stepped out of the hotel at about 08.00am in the morning, which was early, considering it was me. There was a small busy restaurant called either 'New Sabari Express' or ' Sree Sabari snacks', I fail to remember the name. It remained the best thing about my hotel for the rest of my stay in the town. My breakfasts and a couple of light dinners were enjoyed here. The first breakfast was a safe, no-risk option of idlis. Those fluffy, soft rice cakes, which melted in mouth before my teeth could venture anywhere, near them. If that was not enough, the heavenly palm-sized goodies came with delicious sambar and a variety of five chutneys (tomato, coconut, green, tamarind and pulses). This delightful breakfast ended with a steaming cup of bitter tamil coffee, which will remain my one of my recurring cherished memories from the trip.
The road to the temple was quite simple and I caught the first glimpse of the temple gopuram between the rows of buildings that threatened to run over the temple in the near future. The first reaction to the sight of the gopuram was that of amazement....of exhilaration.....of beauty. The moment will remain with me for a long time....the soft hyms of carnatic music and the towering gopuram with beautiful Indian colours splashed all over on asuras, gods, dancers, mythical creatures...the story of a religion. A story of fantasy or fact laced with myth, of collective creativity par excellence of a country which seems to have lost the art somewhere along the way. Sun's rays fell on each of the figures with big, mystical eyes, illuminating them and bringing them to life.
What followed next was a beautiful journey of two days in a city which was simple yet so complex, generous but not enough. Like most Indian cities, this one too is a study of contrasts. But, Madurai is special for many reasons, its architecture, its roads, its people, the food, the sights and the smells. It is everything that you should ideally expect from a Dravidian South Indian town and more. For it is a tale of love for art and the almighty. And, the name of the tale is Madurai- sweetness.
