Travelling Wilburys - End of tour for the time being.

Last week we traveled to Neyveli by car. It took nearly six hours to cross a stretch of nearly 400 kms. We drove through Hosur, Krishnagiri, Thiruvanamalai and Villupuram to reach Neyveli. This time we started early in the morning so as to spare the adventure of traveling all night long, as we did on our way to Dandeli.
We stopped at Thiruvanamalai, famous for the Arulmigu Annamalaiyar Temple.
The temple has a Lord Siva lingam and devotional tourism has made this small town out of nowhere buzzing with activities. As far we could count there were more than 12 ATMs in this small town. All such temple towns have a legend associated with them and I found the story of Thiruvanamalai quite interesting.

“Lord Bramha, the creator of the Universe and Lord Vishnu (Thirumal in Tamil), the Protector entered into a controversy among themselves so as to ascertain who was the greatest. Lord Siva was asked to be the judge. Lord Siva told them that whoever was able to see his crown as well as his feet would be termed as the greatest. Then Lord Siva transformed himself into a Jyothi (a column of fire) touching the heaven and earth.
Vishnu took the avatar of varaha (wild boar) and dug deep into the earth to find Siva's feet but at last accepted defeat. Bramha took the form of a swan and flew to see the crown of Siva. Unable to see the crown, Bramha saw a ketaky (thazhambu in Tamil/ Screw pine in English) flower which had decked Siva's crown falling down. He asked the flower as to the distance of Siva's crown whereby the flower replied that he had been falling for forty thousand years. Bramha, realizing that he would not be able to reach the crown asked the flower to act as a false witness.
The ketaky flower acting as a false witness declared that Brahma had seen the crown. Siva became angry at the deception and cursed that Bramha should have no temple on earth and that the thazhambu flower should not be used while praying to Lord Siva. The place where Lord Siva stood as a column of fire to eliminate the ego is Thiruvanamalai.”

I find these mythological stories fascinating because of their use of “magical realism”. I believe all writers of “magical realism” are influenced by the stories of Upanishads or simply by Ramayana & Mahabharata.

The stretch of Tamilnadu we passed through is full of mango orchards. My friend told me that the region boasts of at least twenty different types of mangoes.

The Neyveli Township is quite small compared to the townships of Bhillai, Bokaro or Rourkela. The township is abundant with cashew trees and next to lignite; cashews are a big source of income for Neyveli Lignite Corporation.
The next day we went to mines and saw the man machines in action. Bucket wheel excavators, stackers & reclaimers, all sizes of five to six story buildings working in the open cast mines.
They have dug the earth so deep that it seems like you are on the top of a hill when you look down at the machines in the mines.
We could not take our SUV inside the mine, as we needed to do a particular brake test, as per safety guidelines. The driver who took us to the mine told us that the temperature soars to more than 45 during peak summer and it’s a nightmare working in the mines then.

Pondichery is only seventy kms from Neyveli. We drove down one evening to Pondichery and strolled along the cornice. The cornice was neatly maintained. The tea/coffee vendor requested us at least thrice to throw the empty cups in the dustbins. Pondichery was a French settlement and still all offices and streets (mostly along the sea) bear a French name. We could not go to Auroville, which is around ten kms from the sea beach. But there is always a next time.

In the last two business trips I have learned a lot about rural India. It was really an eye opener. The concept of village kids running after a motor car is in the archives of NFDC, picking up dust. The village people seem to be more empowered and they seem to know their role in this society.
They are proud of what they are and what they do.