India 2015 - The Deep South Part 1

What is this blog about?

It is about curiosity in understanding the nature of things.

It is about a happy journey.

  It is about a very short snapshot of life in India.

Its basic theme is plurality.

Plurality is embedded in India. You can see it everywhere in India; from simple lives of millions to the overindulgence of the rich, from atheist to polytheistic views, and from genuine happiness to unbearable sadness. It implies that the distance between two extremes of a population is huge (statistically speaking) and we struggle with its implications. Neither extremes make much sense at the surface and this can force us to ask some basic questions. The rest of this series of blogs is about these questions and attempts to answers them.

India 2015 - Thirumal Nayak Palace Part 3

This is the last of the 3 part blog on the Thirumal Nayak Palace in Srivilliputtur.

The Audience Chamber
This is the grander chamber of the two. It has a pretty cool vaulted ceiling and a graded, rectangular-shaped dome.

The vaulted ceiling.
A symbol commemorating Queen Victoria is on the left side of this picture. See Part 1 for a full picture.

Looking up towards the ceiling in the audience chamber.

A picture depicting how the palace used to look.
The audience chamber is directly under the rectangular shaped roof.

In the center of the chamber there is a small prison and a witness box that were used by the British and Indian courts.

The witness box and prison. 

A farther view of the chamber showing the witness box and part of the prison.

 The chamber is supported by 10 pillars. Here is a view of the space in between the pillars and the wall.

This picture was taken just behind the prison.

I decided to write about this less-known palace in Srivilliputtur to show that buildings get repurposed and continuously evolve. In this particular case, the Archeological Society of India deemed this building to be a historically significant one back in the 1920s but because it was still being used by the courts, proper care and maintenance could not be done until the courts moved to a different location. I am glad that in a country as old as India there is still some importance to preserve history but I can only wonder how many such buildings have been ruined in a rush to the future.

India 2015 - Thirumal Nayak Palace Part 2

Continued...

King's residential chamber
As you enter the residential chamber, you see a replica stupa and some boards explaining the palace and the king in detail.

Residential chamber

I found the main attraction to be is its octagonal ceiling, which is covered with a colourful simple design, and lit by 16 windows.

Ceiling in residential chamber. The outer dome is circular.

The arches leading to the ceiling are simple yet pretty.

8 arches for 8 sides of the ceiling. The edge of the arches have stucco floral designs. 

The pillars surrounding the centre of the chamber.

Some of the original paintings can still be seen on the walls.

Some original wall paintings have been recovered, which is quite amazing given the fact that it was pretty much destroyed over 400 years. 

Painting of a dancing girl? I imagine some dye last longer than the others (looks like the red and black lasted).

Original painting

India 2015 - Thirumal Nayak's Palace Part 1

King Thirumal Nayak's Palace located on South Car street in Srivilliputtur is a hidden gem. It is a perfect example of how a building from 1600s underwent transition from a king's temporary residence to a functioning court house until 2007. It was renovated and is now open for public as a protected monument by the Archeological Society of India.  Here is the first part of a series about this palace and the King himself.

The palace as seen across the street. You can climb up a small house across the building to see the domes. There is a limit on the height of buildings in the vicinity. No one seems to care to follow this limit but most importantly there is no enforcement of this limit.

The palace as seen across the street. The verandah in the front was added later.

The palace from an angle. The Andal temple is to the left of this picture.

The palace was used by the king when he visited the deity in the nearby Andal temple. This palace is quite moderate compared to his palace in Madurai. It covers approximately 15,000 sq. ft.

Palace layout

Palace layout that shows to the chambers at the back while there is a large open entrance in the front. 

As you enter, you are greeted by these majestic pillars and arches.

The entrance. The logs in between the column of pillars of were added later to support the building.

The palace has two large chambers; one for the king and one for his audience.  The audience chamber has a vaulted roof and is supported by 10 pillars and arches.

The larger chamber was used to receive audience.

 The residential chamber is an octagonal structure supported by 8 arches.

The smaller chamber was used by the king. A replica of a stupa (in Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai?) is placed in the centre of the chamber.

The palace was used a court at least since 1870 by the British and then by the Indian government after independence. The British modifications are very easy to spot:

The vaulted ceiling in the larger chamber that this inscribed to commemorate the reign of Queen Victoria, the Empress of India at the time.

Srivilliputtur also lost its sons for the distant great war in Europe. I imagine volunteers from here signed up mostly for the pay rather than out of patriotic duty.

A small structure built for the coronation of King and Emperor Edward VII (Queen Victoria's son) in 1903.

There was room with this title. No idea what it could have been.

India 2015 - Pennington Library

One of the oldest libraries around this area of Tamil Nadu is the Pennington Public Library in Srivilliputtur. It was founded in 1875 and named after then collector of Thirunelveli, Mr. Pennington. It currently contains about 75,000 books under English, Tamil, Reference, Children and Archives sections. This library is a must to see for its influence in education in this area.

Entrance is just right of this picture.

Entrance. The man on the right is like a guard. You must log in to register before entering.

Library committee members and Lydia

The library is not very big but historically important.

Right next to the library is this gorgeous school (The Hindu High School). There are two of these buildings on either side of the road. One for boys and another one for girls. This one is for boys. The girls' school hasn't been renovated yet.

The Hindu High School.

India 2015 - Bike Ride 1

Srivilliputtur lies on the foothills of the Western Ghats mountain range, which known to be a hotspot for biodiversity. It is close to a wildlife sanctuary for the endangered grizzled giant squirrel, which is locally known as Senpaga Thoppu. It is about 10k from my house.  On Aug 6th, Maven, Lydia and I went on a bicycle ride on the road that leads to this sanctuary. Within a kilometre of the ride, the intense noisy traffic disappears and you start to see rural life and wilderness. We rode about 2k before returning back. Lydia took all these photos.

Path to Senpaga Thoppu (as you leave Srivi). Notice how little traffic there is.

Cemetery. Lydia commented how even the cemeteries are crowded here.

A herd of goats. The herder said he has about 200 goats.

Stopped alongside a reservoir before heading back. This pool of water is a hotspot of bird watching, but don't be surprised if you see people using it as their public washroom.

The traffic on this road is mostly from people who work at the farms near by.

Returning back home (my street). My house is on the right closer to the temple on the middle of the road.

India 2015 - Arrival

Our trip preparation started a week before our departure and went quite smooth. We left Ottawa on Oct 30th for Chennai via Toronto and Frankfurt. The plane ride was as awesome as it could be with a toddler. We arrived in Chennai on Nov 1st and stayed there till the 3rd. Chennai was crazier than I thought it would be. It had grown exponentially for the past few decades and like all other cities in India, the infrastructure development lags quite a bit behind the commercial growth (and population). If you are a tourist, Chennai is a good place to start your exposure to India as you can get all the amenities, ranging from cushy toiler paper to mega shopping malls and over-the-top luxury. We are not tourists and our intent for a stopover in Chennai before heading to my hometown, Srivilliputtur (Srivi), was to reconnect with family and to rest. Indeed, we had a great time in Chennai but the crazy traffic was getting to us. We left Chennai for Srivi on the Pothigai Express train (overnight journey covering roughly 600km) on Nov 3rd.  We had reserved seats (+ beds) on coach A1 (AC, 2 tier). The train journey was rough as we had to share our narrow hard bed with a toddler, who was jet-lagged and over-stimulated. But one thing I love about Indian trains is the ability to open the door while moving and peek out to get some fresh air. So I did in the morning. It had rained. It was lush greenery and pools of water everywhere. It was quite awesome to experience cool morning breeze. We could taken a flight from Chennai to Madurai, which is about 80km from Srivi but you don't get experience a country over the air.

We reached Srivi at around 7 AM on Nov 4th. Here are some shots I took as we took an auto-rickshaw from the station to the our home.

Lydia is so excited to be here that you can't see how jet-lagged she is.

Road to my home in Srivi. You have no idea how crazy this road will be just an hour.

School kids starting their day