Romancing the east coast

Each time our wedding anniversary came up, it gave us a legitimate excuse to pack our bags and go on a holiday. This time we set our sights on the temple town of Chidambaram and the places around it.

We left Chennai by 5 pm and after about ½ an hour of driving through heavy traffic found ourselves on the scenic ECR road. We let the car rip enjoying the sights along the way and decided to take a tea break at Mamallapuram. Hotel Mamalla where we went to seemed a nice, decent place but the food sadly was not up to the mark. As we made our way to Puducherry, it began to grow dark and driving then became quite a task as one tried to get used to the glare of the oncoming vehicles. The roads are also full of curves and navigating them tests one’s driving skills to the maximum. As one reaches Puducherry, one can glimpse a white monument erected here which perhaps signals that one has entered the union territory. Two things make Puducherry seem irresistible – petrol costs 5 rupees less when compared to Chennai and there’s a whopping discount on the liquor. So we ended up tanking the petrol in our car and buying liberal quantities of beer. After a quick dinner at Cuddalore, we were back on the road racing our way to our final destination, Chidambaram. An hour before midnight we reached the place and thankfully found some decent accommodation.