We woke up early to beat the queue and the crowd of the Meenakshi Amman Temple, largest temple complexes in Tamil Nadu After leaving our shoes, we entered the 52-metre high southern tower. We strolled for a good 2 hours admiring the magnificent and colourful towers.
After an Indian breakfast, we headed for the Thirumalai Nayakkar Mahal temple. We struggled to find an auto rickshaw. The Diwali brought so many extra Indian tourists in an already crowded city. As we were waiting for our driver, we met a French teacher. He showed several poems he wrote, so we missed the only taxi we found. It didn't matter. The gentleman, Professor Mohammed Siraj, was so enthusiastic about his passion we enjoyed reading and correcting a few typos in his compositions.
Constructed by the King Thirumalai Nayak who ruled the Kingdom of Madurai in 17th Century Dravidian-Islamic palace has lost its glory. We ventured in the remains as most sections have been demolished. We left the badly maintained palace and wandered in the streets. India needs to conserve and restore their monuments or in a few years, their heritage will be gone forever.
To escape the street chaos, we went to the roof of the Sunset restaurant which offers beers and a panoramic view of the temples, the elephant rock and Kodaikanal. We laid back with a kingfisher and let the day run out...