Gopro to Gopuram

Feb 2023

Vanakam, vaango and welcome back to yet another blog!

This time, the blog is a narrative about our hybrid cycling trip. The destination- back home to Dakshin- the South of India. Over 30 friends (travelling from across the pond, the UK, Dubai Mumbai to Chennai), an assortment of riders and non riders (our first true hybrid ride) set out to explore the traditions and temples of Tamilnadu, India.

A tribute to Ram.

His vision of cycling the Ponniyin Selvan trail years ago created a template for cycling in the South of India covering some of the magnificent Chola temples. Add Madhu (yes the same Leh trip creator for whom what is uncharted to most is home for him) to the concept. Then spoon a huge laddle of South Indian hospitality at our family home in Salem. The result, an unique and bespoke custom made, hybrid trip on cycle and coach from temple to temple. As always, Ram’s eye for the perfect imperfections of the journey added a soul to concept.

Next three 3 key components- dear friends , dearer cycling, dearest traditions.

As I gaze at the laptop screen weeks later, trying to relive this journey, I reflected deeply .. I realised that this trip represented a “True Me”. I was equally at ease with the 6 yards of sari or the bib shorts, tender coconut or isotonic fuelling gel, cycling up the Alps or along the banks of the river Kaveri. The “Kovil-cleats- Kaapi” combo bridges everyday mundane to the spiritual eternal with a cycle .

Lived it!

Loved it!

Cycling

340kms. Flat land except for the Yercaud hills.

The route- commenced in the temple town of Kanjeevaram, covered parts of Ponniyin Selvan land, (made more popular by the timely Mani Rathnam blockbuster release, PS1) and made its way towards our hometown of Salem and ended in the Yercuad hills

The path was along some well-paved roads via bird sanctuaries, east coast roads, some busy and some quiet country roads along the emerald fields by the river Kaveri and finally up the zig zag hairpin bends of Yercaud hills.

The bikes arrived in untraditional tempo travellers! And the support vans were a couple more of the same bright yellow tempo travellers! Madhu smiled confidently after the traditional coconut breaking and flag off. And,

The GoPro was on!

Early starts at dawn meant lesser danger on the roads. As riders, we were pretty disciplined. As riders of Indian origin, our basic instincts and reflexes on roads were right back with us within the first half day of cycling. Apprehension was soon replaced with cautious confidence. We all unanimously loved it!

My daysack had Amma’s Kanjeevaram sari, a bindi and some flat footwear instead of weatherproofs, arm warmers and inner tubes. My headphones had Vedic chants and an audiobook of Ponniyin Selvan instead of hip-hop and jazz. Our pit stops had tender coconuts instead of water and were at small roadside idli stalls!

We stopped cycling well before midday and eagerly looked forward to joining our non-rider friends for lunch and the sights. The helmet on the head was rapidly replaced with the jasmine flowers on the hair. A transition that I loved!

We managed to cover grounds in the history of the Chola empire on two wheels -a golden era of the South Indian past. In spirit, for some of us cyclists, this was a ” golden era of our cycling ” – back to our origins and cycling in our home territory.

On the penultimate cycling day, will remain “THE” most memorable day in my cycling memory. Pedalling along the lush banks of the Kaveri river, I reached my 190-year-old ancestral home belonging to my grandparents. Funny, I never even had a dream to achieve this. One word to sum up this coronation moment in my decades of cycling- I felt-“overwhelmed’ The experience renders me fumbling for words and then, of course, paved the way for this blog!!!!

Sharing pictures as I. am still fumbling !!!

Finally, the hairpin bends of Yercaud

Kanjeevaram Korvai

Our carefully curated trail commenced at Kanchipuram( the iconic town with the maximum number of “Gopurams” or temple gateways). For some, it was at the famous Kamakshi temple, others at the Kancheevaram idli house and for most at the exclusive sari shopping retailer!!

Like the warp and weft of an iconic kanjeevaram sari, this blog is intertwined and locked with timeless memories and unusual experiences. The tale is woven with korvai. “Korvai” refers to the nimble way a border and Pallu is attached to the main body of the 6 yards of the body of the sari. It also means “being in sync” as Amma explained. A korvai sari gives freedom to splash colours to the body of the sari, experiment with new and old border patterns- the annam, peacock and plays with contrasts in the pallu and pleats. So much like cycling. Cycling unleashes the free spirit, explores contests of the world and weaves patterns form spiking peaks (the tower) to giddy zig zags linear flats.

Every single one of us succumbed to the allure of the silk in the silk sari shop. Each one had an unhinged desire to take home a sari fresh off the looms. Linda and the retailer made the experience truly exclusive. Face time calls to wives in the UK, no inhibition haggling, some of the men even modelling some rich weaves with surprising grace, the rummaging of the entire stocks in the shop for “that” perfect sari…etc made the atmosphere at the store a huge form of retail therapy!

I paused. I stepped back and took in the displays. Certainly was an Instagram sensation. The narrow streets of the holy town spanned countless gopurams (temple towers) and my eyes roamed over several gopurams on the sari borders and the temple motif continued on silk. Weaving meets worship. Seamless!

And thus, the scene was set with the Gopuram backdrop for the days to come. The GoPro captured the Gopruram on the road and we bowed in salutation as we biked.

The korvai continued to intertwine with the kovils as we adorned in saris to most of the temples visited.

Kaapi

Coffee is a beverage.

Kaapi is an emotion.

Kumbakonam dabara kaapi is a kick ass life loving experience.

Morning Kumbakonam dabara kaapi in Mantrakoodam is celestial.

As a child on summer vacation, I watched my Thatha wrap a thin towel around his steaming hot stainless steel tumbler and froth up his decoction kaapi. Breaking the Brahmin orthodoxy, I have caught up with barista coffee, Vietnamese egg coffee, Italian strong brew, civet coffee, Turkish coffee, Costa Rican coffee tasting, to name a few. But, have reverted full circle to the first Filter Kapi with South Indian coffee powder, as the morning brew at home!

The Kumbakonam degree kaapi for the uninitiated is a strong frothy filter coffee with the purest fresh undiluted milk brewed with carefully selected chicory beans. The “degree’ suffix stands for the degree of purity of milk -using a milk meter.

Mantrakoodam- our CGH Earth resort at Kumbakonam was a perfect setting to wind back time and take a sip of the brew early in the morning at daybreak watching the fog drop on the Paarvati shrine in the resort. The chettinad breakfast was being laid out as I waited for Vijay to go to Uppaliappan kovil and dare I say, I percolated in the moment.

Chapter two of coffee calling was set in the stunning 100-acre Irish Tipperary estate in Yercaud. The cycling route took us into the coffee plantations. Coffee was grown, roasted and packaged in-house. Sathy, the humbly proud owner of this slice of nature’s heaven perched on the very edge of a hill, shared his estate with all of us. By day we took in the experience. By the evening, every single one turned a poet or singer by the crackling campfire. In fact, it was our own “Sound and Light show” by the nostalgic embers of the bonfire.

A hospitality unparalleled.

Well, the natural progression from kaapi to tiffin in the South Indian household takes me to write about our “saapadu”(food). Of course, idli, dosa and sambar were an integral part of the week. Having eaten a few thousand dosas in my lifetime and having listened to the word being pronounced in myriad ways by my friends from Texas to Chennai ( at times it sounded like Homer Simpson’s “Doh”sas even!!), it regained the top favourite unanimously. Tongue-tingling delicacies three times a day, interrupted by snacks on the bus and the insatiable urge to constant munching did damage to our waistlines and Bhuvan will single-handedly vouch for this! Eating Chettinad-style saapadu in Lakshmi Vilas made me satiated enough to write a thank you note in Tamil. The palm fruit on the street vendor cycle(nongu), goli rose water sodas, delicious hazel nut cake from Vandana, the road side Biryani in Ramaligam hotel, Sathy’s live open kitchen in Yercaud, Jay’s last supper at 10.30am which was a wedding meal to mention a few. My priceless moment was sharing a Mysurpa with my Periappa in my grandfather’s home with some dear friends. A taste of the good life and an aftertaste to linger forever indeed!

Kovil

Kovil=temple

Madhu’s bespoke itinerary took us back by 1000 years to some spectacular temples of the Chola dynasty covering the land which was the mother of history, grandmother of traditions and great godmother of legendary temples. As the GoPro commenced from Kanchi Kamakshi temple Gopuram, we headed to the sand-eroded shore temples of Mamallapuram, Chidambara tillai Nataraja temple, Kumbakonam temples, PS1 famous Veeranam lake, Kadambur kovil, Gangaikonda Cholapuram (GKC as nicknamed by Solihull friends), Tanjavur Brihadeeshwara temple and my personal favourite of Darasuram temple to name a few

The imperial Chola dynasty reached its zenith in the 11th century AD and masterpieces of architecture “The great living Cola temples” was aptly bestowed on the last three temples mentioned above.

The Shiva Lingam in the sanctum sanctorum of GKC temples was lit up by the sun rays reflecting from the massive Nandi standing guard. Even if all lights in the sanctum are put off, devotees can see the Lord in the sunlight.

Darasuram. As we stepped across the temple threshold, my gaze is drawn to a stone-carved chariot with a charging horse which seems to hold the temple wall on the left. the Gopuram is tiered in a fluid pyramid and the attention to detail on the microarchitecture was perfect, to the last manicured nail and anklet details. A masterpiece!

Sculpture is indeed the art of intellect.

The “Big temple” of Tanjore has made it big among temples. Chitra Madhavan, an archaeology master calls it “the most monumental” among monuments. The Gopuram here has a massive single obelisk of a stone weighing close to 100 tons in the Vimanam. We walked down to admire the Nandi, soaked in the temple premises and took a piece of history as we headed home.

Whilst this blog provides no value to an arm chair South India tourer or an aisle seat reader enroute to India for the first time, it is a sharing of an unique journey on a cycle for a keen cyclist who has a thirst for history. A full circle moment where a marriage has happened between cycling and seeing the world with friends who have left India decades ago and come back for a rediscovery of their home away from home. Hope this inspires my reader friends to take that OCI card out!

Having dipped our toes in the River Kaveri, where my next landing page will take me!? Keep moving, keep moving with a smile..as they say..