The leaves of acacia,dry and purple and fallen
Faded,with many a springs' dreams
looks back into a time of songs
sung by old wanderers and pilgrims.
And the northern wind takes them leaves,
into those places of unheard hymns
through the ancient muddy roads
of lost civilizations and decayed kingdoms
and rustic memories.
For,after the long flight of the leaves
there are new tales and sweeter songs
and a new spring.
Awaiting.....
Chapter-1
I got down at Vridhachalam. It was just barren land with occasional population and cultivation for many hours before I got down there.A small, crowd less, two-platform station.I walked out through the exit into a dusty ground to find an auto-rickshaw. Just about 10 minutes drive to the bus stand, and with the help of a man waiting for his bus, I spotted the bus which would then take me to my first destination. Chidambaram.
I had with me a knapsack, a camera and two books(about which I'm mentioning in the coming chapters). The bus was crowded and worse still it was playing an old tamil movie which was unbearable by any standard of patience. But the two sides of the road came as a surprising solace. Long swathes of paddy fields with intermittent shades of green and yellow. The young fields were dark green and the ripe ones, golden yellow,swayed gently in the wind.Thatched huts,small tea-shops,ponds,water-bodies with wild flowers completely enveloping them,trains of bullock-carts were the images on the way which still freshly lingers in my mind.
Long and narrow roads came in and went past for the next couple of hours. And then the bus entered into a dizzying crowd.Packed roads,high frequency sound,traffic lights,concrete buildings and all these typicalities of an unplanned town along with an English sign post made me conclude that I've reached Chidambaram. It was almost 8'o clock in the night. I walked to a nearby hotel and asked for a room and they smilingly replied that there are no vacant rooms.Without any anxiety i walked into another hotel.And then another 5 hotels. It was almost 10'o clock and i was still without a room in the completely unknown and soon-to-be-utter-black streets of Chidambaram.With a thorough outsider look i found myself very strange in that place and the staring glance of the people reinforced my belief. After some more time i had started to get those dubious and prolonged stares from some 'not-so-good-looking' locals.I was still without a place to stay and this time the first semblance of fear gushed into my nerves...To be Contd...
