Senjikkottai Vaalibargal

I was looking up on the weekend getaways from Chennai during one of the long weekends in October. I wanted to go this place called "Senjikkottai" aka "Gingee fort". I wanted to get there with my TVS Wego but ended going to Kancheepuram, instead. That was one heck of a 140 km ride. I just couldn't imagine myself riding 140 km to and fro, Gingee. I buried that plan and went ahead with life.

Suddenly one night, I rang up my friend, Machiss and asked him whether we could go to Gingee fort the next day morning. The plan was made in a matter of minutes and we were good to go. Things have not been easier. We parked our bike at CMBT and boarded a bus to Gingee at 6 in the morning. It is not the most comfortable way to travel, but it is my most favorite way to travel. When traveling in a public transport, you get to see the different cultural subset of people from various suburbs and towns around Chennai. They have their own routines which are ethnic to them. It is very interesting to stick ones head out and notice the landscapes through which one is traveling and also listen to chatters in the bus, at the same time. When you have your friend beside you, it is even more fun.

We reached Gingee around 10 in the morning and had our breakfast, the quintessentially Thamizh way, on a banana leaf. The fort was only a km away and was at a walkable distance. On our way, we saw a community gathering of school kids and old people, to plant trees along the banks of a dry lake. We also witnessed the kids having their morning breakfast and throwing the wastes into the said dry lake. This is how most things in life and society operate. We then proceeded to walk and notice a Koozh shop and juice shop. In our mind, that is where we would come and rest after climbing the Gingee fort.

We bought our tickets and started our ascent to the Rani Giri fort. Thankfully the weather was amazing. It was cloudy and cool winds were lashing on at us. After climbing a series of steps, we were out of breath. The steps were very steep and we had to stretch our legs to climb each step. We somehow made it to the halfway mark and halted at a "Mandapam". The view was breathtaking. It was worth all the effort. I could see a huge spread of fields and trees and boulders and boulders of mountains beyond it. The winds were hitting hard and I couldn't wait to get the top of the hill.

We huffed and puffed our way to the top of the Hill only to see a guy carrying his kid like a boss and a bunch of middle aged ladies getting down. I felt so inconsequential seeing that. We were just spellbound by the view and calmness of the place. We wandered off to the various ruins, formerly structures of a functioning fort. The fort was a strategically important place for many wars which were fought in the yesteryears

It was already 12 noon and we had very little water left and we had no idea of leaving this place soon. I rested for some time, while Machiss was taking photos of the place. He encountered a peculiar guy while photographing. The guy was a college student studying in an engineering college in Coimbatore. He was originally from Madurai and he had randomly traveled all the way to this place. He was telling Machiss that his goal was to travel to all the districts in Tamil Nadu. That is something I want to do as well. My philosophy has always been to know oneself first before moving on to external things. It is only pertinent to explore one's own State which is very rich in culture, first.

We stayed there till 2 pm taking in the beauty of the place. We were able to see miles and miles ahead. The landscape was so beautiful, the experience was totally unique. It is a pity that they don't allow people before 9 am and beyond 5 pm, for security purposes. It means we will never be able to witness the amazing sunrise or sunset because dang in the middle facing without obstructing the east or the west. I was looking up on the nearby Lakes that we could visit and stumbled on to a place called Uranithangal which was 6 km away from Gingee, en route to Chennai. There were Ancient Jain Caves/ Stone beds on a hill which was situated there. We decided to first have a look at the Rajagiri Fort, from the foothills and then go to the Jain Caves.

We couldn't find anything in the foothills of Rajagiri, so we took an Auto to the Koot road, had Ragi Koozh and juice and continued our journey to Uranithangal via a paltry Share Auto. None of the locals at Gingee were aware of the so-called "Jain Caves". We started walking into the village only to notice that we had strayed afar. We asked a couple people and they were referring the Jains as "Nayanaar". It was quite intriguing, I have never heard anyone use that term for a Jain. Contrary to popular belief, Jainism was not only limited Rajasthan. Jainism aka Samanam was quite a thing back in those days. They were also considered to be atheist, were viewed as bad social elements and were ostracized. I myself remembered reading a bunch of poems in Thamizh, during my school days to that effect, as a part my curriculum. We finally found some local who knew the place. They showed as a huge rock on the hill and told us that, it was the place we were looking for. I was flabbergasted and couldn't figure a way to get there. They called that place "Bandha Patti" and asked us to be careful, as the thorn trees had grown after the recent rains. We were told to take the left next to the "Transmaram" (that is how they refer to "Transformers" in this part of TN) and walk along the tiny pathway below the hill, to find an opening to climb to the rock.

We reached the said place and found a calf tied to a tree surrounded by thorn plants everywhere. One local guy helped us and showed the way. He climbed to the rock rapidly, wearing a Hawaii chappal, through the thorns. We tried to keep up with his speed to eventually lose out on our breath. He left us up there and got down. We took a few moments to relax. It was really an amazing feeling. I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't come with Machiss. I am sure I wouldn't have pushed myself this far. If I had visited this place, I would have turned my back after the seeing the rock at the top. But then at the moment, I was sitting in the cave with one of my most favorite people in the world with a feeling of contentment. I could just do this over and over again.

We got down scary stretch down and headed back to Gingee. The tea shops there did not known about the concept of a black tea, I then tutored one of the tea masters to make me a cup of black tea and drank it. We waited for the bus and then went to Thindivanam and from there we took a bus to Chennai to avoid the crowd. 

There are few things in my life that give me such immense satisfaction. One of those things is the company of my beloved friend Venkatesh aka Machiss. I always feel like that we more or less echo the same thoughts, anger, urge and everything. It is very rare to connect with anyone on such a deep level. Every movie, every bike ride, every discussion is something to savor and it is always special. More than anything, the closeness of two people is not defined by the constant conversation they can have, but the length of the silences, without it feeling awkward. That was how our bus journey was. We were silent drifting onto our own thoughts.

I was listening to the chatters of a group of students and the two P.E.T Masters who had boarded the bus at Thindivanam. I gathered that they were returning back to Chennai after a sports meet. I was observing the dynamics of the group and how the P.E.T ruled the roost. It was very reminiscent of how it used to function when I was at school. The P.E.T master was always the tough guy who reigned over us and struck fear at school. This P.E.T master was so macho, that he did not sit through the whole journey and made sure all his students were seated. They all got down at Oorapakkam and it started to rain.

The rain came down very heavily for about an hour or so. The driver was driving through the fierce rain in the Maduraivayol bye-pass and by the time we reached CMBT, it resembled that of a lake and rightly so. It was once a lake, wasn't it?

The day ended with us having thattu idly at the thattu Idly kadai at the first floor of CMBT and driving through the rain. Senjikottai has thus been captured by the VENXUS (partially, because we still have the Rajagiri to scale)