Selective Amnesia There was a point to this. But I forgot.

People, places, palaces.

An old man just concluded a talk with his friends by the road and prepares to set out to wherever that is he goes. I asked him if I could take a photo of him, but he didn’t hear me from across the road. I clicked anyway.
AVN Telecom, somewhere between Neyveli and Gangaikonda Cholapuram. STD. ISD and PCO. But their best product was the sweetest water I’ve tasted. These two were sitting there, probably waiting for the next traveller to give them some business. I stopped, and even though I had a mobile phone (well, OK, a prepaid that was fast running out of talktime) I called home and assured my folks I was alright.
4 little girls in a ruined temple outside of Kumbakkonam. Running around, chasing one another, following me as I went about shooting the ruins, asking me how my camera worked, why would I shoot this dead place and trying vainly to answer my questions about the age of the temple. I asked them if they would like their photos taken. Immediately, they stop prancing about and gathered themselves into this tight knot.
In Darasuram, the ASI has cleared a huge area outside of the main temple and put up lawns and flower beds and the like. They also have fences to keep out dogs, cats and goats. This guy cycles up to a fence, vaults over the ropes. He proceeds to light up the Suruttu (tamil for cigar) and makes himself comfortable in the shade of the tree.

---

F I S H I N G in troubled waters

The river Cauveri splits into two near Trichy. One arm of it, the Collidam, travels northwards to empty at the Bay of Bengal not far from Chidambaram.



My route to Kumbakkonam took me near the Kollidam, where I saw this old man fishing. I told myself that this was exactly the kind of thing Claude Renault, a fellow Flickrite would look for. And though I was running late, I stopped and clicked 4-5 shots. And then I went and showed it to the man who was delighted and surprised to see somebody would shoot him, and more specifically show it to him immediately. He still hadn’t come to terms with photography, let alone Digital photography.



I have 1000 other stories like this from my trip yesterday. Eventually, I think, i will put them all down.

The Kollidam

Vada Cauveri/Kollidam/Coleroon – Call it what you will, this is one helluva river. The most important arm of the Cauveri, and its largest distributary.

Birilliant Kaapi Bar

In Seergazhi, a coffee place that lived up to its name