Temples, goats and potholes – Ride along from Pondicherry to Thanjavur

Leaving the cyclone behind, day 2 on the Rickshaw Challenge took us away from the coast into deep Tamil Nadu, into the mysical world of ancient temples, goats that eat everything, friendly locals, terrible roads and of course, more breakdowns. 
Day 2, Pondicherry to Thanjavur
 After a night of partying, most of our teams slumped in the hotel lobby nursing a hangover during the briefing. While the ride to Pondicherry might have had its challenges, our teams had no idea just what the country roads of inland Tamil Nadu had to offer for the day.
The teams sped through Pondicherry’s labyrinthine streets over to the seafront for the flag off from the Gandhi statue, although, the event wasn’t without chaos. Amidst the members of the Indian press and our participants, street salesmen flocked over with mini chess sets and statues of Ganesh, shaking things up a bit. In the pandemonium, South African team Hakuna Matatu lost the keys to their rickshaw. They must have found them though, since next we heard from them they were making friends with locals who helped them during a breakdown.

"It's the mayoral send-off at the beach front and team Hakuna Matata has lost its keys..." photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu
“It’s the mayoral send-off at the beach front and team Hakuna Matata has lost its keys…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu

On the road to Thanjavur, we stopped off in two towns famous for their temples. I ran into some of the teams having lunch in Chidambaram in what looked like a converted garage covered with a corrugated roof and simple tables and chairs. The food came served up on a banana leaf, a delicious mix of rice, vegetarian curries and hot pickles, and made us forget the dodgy look of the place. It was packed with locals, which as a rule of thumb means the food is good and less likely to incur the infamous “Delhi Belly”.
Chidambaram - The Temple of the Dancing God
Chidambaram – The Temple of the Dancing God

The Nataraja Temple, dedicated to Shiva as the Dancing God, was unfortunately closed until 4pm, however, we managed to catch a glimpse of the towering gopurams, gateway towers leading into the temple. We had to make do with snapping photos through the bars barricading the brightly coloured Dravidian structure. Then at the small market area outside the temple, a goat dragged a string of flower garlands off one of the tables, only to have the owner chase after the goat to get them back. This, however, was not the only flower-hungry goat encountered on the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2015, but the Bavarian Barbarians also snapped a photo of a goat eating more flower garlands off the Wacky Racer’s rickshaw!
"Of course you can eat the decoration..." photo by Martin Schmidmaier from the Bavarian Barbarians
“Of course you can eat the decoration…” photo by Martin Schmidmaier from the Bavarian Barbarians

Our next port of call was the mystical town of Kumbakonam famed for its temples and fortune tellers. It might look like any other local junction town, but it was once a seat of medieval power, and has a number of spectacular temples. At the entrance of one of the temples, some of the women stopped us, pointing to our shoes, indicating we had to take them off and leave them at the steps.
The Kumbeshwara Temple in Kumbakonam.
The Kumbeshwara Temple in Kumbakonam.

I braved leaving my shoes and peeked inside the temple. Wandering around, it’s hard to gauge just how vast the complex is, where pilgrims sleep under the colonnade and a group of women in sparkling red saris disappear down the candle lit corridors. It was only after leaving, when I heard from one of my team members that the corridors lead to a huge lake, where the women went to bathe in their garments.
After a swig of coconut water, I hopped into the Ambassador car to trail the teams back to Thanjavur. We broke down somewhere in the country side about 15km outside the city, pushed the car for about half a kilometer before getting towed into town by a truck with a motorbike, a TV and a guy sitting in the back.
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“Back street surgery…” photo by Mandy Ramsden from team Hakuna Matatu.

We only broke down once, but most of our rickshaw drivers reported a breakdown count of more then 20! Eat My Shawdust got lost on the way to Thanjavur, and Princely had to go and rescue them. Game of Horns made it back late, since they turned into a taxi service for the locals en route, and so did the Christmas themed Aussies Mighty Mouse and the Triangle, who tipped their rickshaw not far from the hotel. Fortunately a big crowd gathered around and tipped them back upright – an event worthy of a feature in the local newspaper.
Group selfie on the road! Photo by The Trashbags
Group selfie on the road! Photo by The Trashbags

We all made it to Thanjavur safely, some later than others, but we’re hoping the road to Madurai will be a smoother journey.
Check out who is in the lead to be the winner of the Rickshaw Challenge Classic Run 2015!

 

Trips

Mumbai Xpress

Deccan Odyssey

Malabar Rampage

Classic Run

Tamilnadu Run

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