AN ENCHANTING TALE OF OUR TOUR OF SOUTH INDIA-PART 9 of 20

My mother’s alertness in saving a gold ornament from being stolen and other stories.

We boarded an evening passenger train from Tanjore for our next destination, Tiruchy. The journey of about 50 km was to take about one and half hours. But due to some reasons, the train got delayed enroute, and we chugged into Tiruchy, quite late in the night. So, instead of going out to the city in search of a hotel, we decided to stay in the waiting halls. The waiting halls were spacious, clean, and had comfortable benches to sleep on. The only hitch was that there were separate waiting halls for gents and ladies. So, my mother and my sister had to sleep in one hall while my father and I slept in the next hall. There were railway staff manning the entrance to the halls and so it was considered safe.  

 

My mother’s alertness in saving a gold ornament from being stolen

 

My mother had laid down on a bench that was just a few feet away from the one in which my sister was sleeping. My mother is normally a very light sleeper. Even at home, she wakes up at the slightest sound. Given the above, in these new surroundings, one can imagine her degree of alertness.

 

At around 3 a.m., she heard the sound of a heavy tread, and she immediately was awake. She found a rough looking guy bending over my sister, trying to unclasp the gold earring that she was wearing. Immediately, she got up and challenged the person, who quickly walked away. My mother went outside after him. The lady staff who was manning the entrance was nowhere to be seen. By that time, other lady passengers who were sleeping in that hall became fully awake and started creating a racket. The commotion brought a couple of RPF personnel to the scene. Hearing the commotion, my father too stepped out to see what was happening. But, alas, by then, the miscreant had disappeared.

 

The lady staff manning the ladies' waiting hall arrived after about ten minutes. She sheepishly admitted that she had gone for a cup of tea, as she was feeling quite sleepy. The miscreant must have taken that opportunity to slip in and try his luck. Needless to say, my parents and sister spent the rest of the night without even sleeping a wink.

 

I, on the other hand, slept through the whole drama and came to know about it only in the morning. 

 

Digging the riverbed to find water, take a bath

 

In the morning, we had our usual breakfast of sweet wheat dough. But we did not have a bath in the waiting hall. My father said we will proceed directly to Srirangam, about 15 km away, and have the bath at River Cauvery. I have read a lot about the river but have never seen it. Cauvery feeds the rice belt of the Tiruchy and Tanjore districts. It has been featured in many Tamil novels, too, both historical and modern. Naturally, I was very excited.

 

When we reached the banks of the river, we were in for a huge disappointment. The river was quite barren except for some narrow streams flowing at the banks and in the middle. As the stream at the bank was quite crowded, we trekked to the middle of the riverbed. The sun was blazing, and it was very difficult to walk on the sand, even though we were wearing slippers. However, there were not many people around the stream here.

 

The water was quite cool and was very soothing as we dipped our feet in it. But the water level was only just above our ankles. We were in a fix as to how to take a bath here. Then, we saw a local scooping out the sand with his bare hands to make the water level a little deeper. We followed suit, and then we slid into the stream horizontally, just like a bathtub.

 

Even in those shallow waters, many small fish were swimming around. They pecked at our toes and other parts of the body with their tiny mouths to eat dirt or whatever organisms that were adhering to our skin. We enjoyed the tingling sensation, too. It was like having a pedicure in a spa, without having to shell out lots of money. It was a wonderful experience indeed. I earnestly thanked my father for this idea of having a bath in the river.

 

 

After having a refreshing bath, we visited the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam dedicated to the reclining form of Hindu God Vishnu. This temple is the largest functioning one in the world.

 

In the next episode, I will share how we had a miraculous reunion with a family friend with whom we had lost touch for more than a decade.