To koiladi

We sped smoothly and swiftly on the quadrilateral high ways for several kms before taking a detour towards our destination ---Koil adi --an ancient temple on a small hillock in the corner of a village , beyond which flows river Kaveri, silently and gently.

River Cauvery , one of the panch ganga's ,blue in colour flowed close to the inner rickety road , all the way through. On the other side were paddy fields , hidden behind thick undergrowth,that bordered both sides of the road. The ripening grains glowed golden in the light of the sinking sun ,whilst a column of peacocks walked in a straight line over the clay bunds, in a solemn procession.

We broke journey mid way at Kalanai ,the dam that Karigala chozhan , the legendary early chozha king [1 cent Bc---1 cent AD]had built 2000 years earlier ,to stem the floods of the river and harness it to water agricultural fields. This is a massive dam of 1080 feet of length and 60 feet of breadth built mainly of unhewn rock.It is one of the oldest dams in the world which is still in use!

Is it a co incidence that all the rivers I happened to pass by in the past few months ,are all in full spate, as spectacular sheets of water rushing by in a terrific hurry ?Be it Ganges, or Vaigai and now this aquamarine coloured river Cauvery, the life line of agriculture hereabouts!

The dam wore a festive look , being the Republic day and there by a holiday.Large groups of people , families , friends, young couples were either taking bath or simply admiring the speeding water disgorged in churning white froths, by the dam.

I had to cut short watching 3 black water birds waiting patiently to pluck a unwary fish or two , sitting atop a projection into the middle of the attractive bluish waters , as the sun was dipping and the temple timings for the evening rituals was brief.

As we proceeded further on I saw farmers and their women beat paddy on the tar road and brush the grains into heaps on the road itself. There is much truth in the old Tamil saying ,

'Chozha nadu sor udhaithu'

meaning ---The land of Chozha's is rich in food.

The cabbie had to slow down and go around them .The bullock carts that I thought had gone missing from the country side , were in good numbers, mainly carting sand and mud.

On our way back from the temple , darkness fell , hiding from view the already hidden villages with a mix of pucca, katcha and mud houses ,as there were no street lights , even the grey solar panels I found in other districts was missing here.

We suddenly came upon ablaze of activity conducted with dim lights, the threshing of paddy by a machine, occupying half the road. The silver haired cab driver , who nevertheless drove as rashly as a young lorry driver , slowed down and aired his disapproval of using threshers as that would remove all the nutrition from hay and then said with a resigned note:"Who rears bullocks these days? What does it matter?"the rice with their husks were poured into sacks and were loaded on to a mini van .