A CTC Eye Cam Heritage Temple photo walk: Walking through the silhouettes of the past
How many times have I felt hung up on something and couldn't move on for some time. When I look back it reminds me of the moments missed while I was frozen in a matrix-bullet-time effect. Increasingly, being in the moment is made possible only by those people and places that are adamant to create long lasting memories for me.
My recent photo walk to Thiruvaalangadu was an example of one such irresistible adamancy. All it takes is, gather a few souls eager to create evidences through their lenses, put them in a sub-urban train and transport them back in history to a tranquil little place wrapped in mythology.
To start with, the team got to witness a plethora of scenes around the tank overlooking the historic temple complex. With graceful geese making a parade, a calm old man trying his luck with a fishing rod, an eight year old showing off her swimming techniques and a young white lady looking for solace, there wasn’t any dearth to feed our lenses.
While some of us took a dip in the tank, rest of us shared stories that lure people to come to this place.
Once a forest filled with banyan trees, this is the place from where Karaikkal Ammaiyaar, one of the saivaite saints and a great figure of early Tamil literature, started her journey to Kailasam. The story goes that she witnessed Lord Shiva’s cosmic dance in this location. Considered to be built by Cholas in the 12th century, the main temple has shrines for Shiva and Parvati. I was particularly intrigued by the name of the goddess—Vandaarkuzhali. That’s a beautiful Tamil name and while I was trying to figure out what it means, the team walked towards the Sandhai, the local market.
Following a brief encounter with the shopkeepers, we moved to chase the sun, as it slowly got engulfed by the dusk.
While I’ve spoken enough, the pictures being the official evidences of friendships formed and memories created, would do the remaining task at hand. Thanks, Vijay and Pramod for pulling the strings and making this trip happen.
Write Up: Srimathi Sridharan
Photo Contribution: Srimathi, Shaji, Hariharan & Pramod
Organizers: Pramod Chakravarthy and Vijaykumar Duraiarasan
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