Madurai Vacation 2009

Madurai, famous for 'Meenakshi Amman' temple is commonly known as the 'Temple City' for the most obvious reasons. Most of my childhood memories of the city are confined to my grandparents home spending time with my cousins during summer vacations. This recent trip to Madurai brought me back a lot of childhood memories and also showed me the other dimension of the city which I never took time to appreciate.

The heart of Madurai is the temple around which the narrow streets were built. The business streets are always crowded and busy with stores overflowing with crowds from nearby villages getting their shopping done for the upcoming wedding or festival. There are a lot of wholesale shops for clothing, pulses, flowers, cooking oil, stationary items, vegetables, fruits and just about anything. The bypass road which used to be considered the outskirts of the city is becoming a commercial area with new shopping complexes and hotels.

Other notable changes - few of the cinema halls have been remodeled. When I was growing up, 'Maapillai Vinayagar' used to be the only theatre that has the AC on for the entire movie. There were other theaters with AC but after the interval they used to just open the doors for ventilation, hoping that the audience will be too engrossed in the climax fight scene or the emotional family reunion or lovers proving their eternal love, to notice that the AC is not running any more. If you are lucky, sometimes they turn on the fans.

In Madurai the most famous drinks during summer are 'Padaneer' (a drink from the sap of palm tree) and 'Ilaneer' (coconut water). The real taste of padaneer is savored only when drunk from the 'Panai olai' (leaf from the Palm tree). The Palm leaf which is thick is made into a boat like shape and the padaneer is poured into it from the terracotta pot in which it is traditional stored. It didn't appeal to me that they have padaneer in plastic bottles in the shops rather than the good old way of vendors bringing them in mud pots, and serving them in 'olai'. 'Nongu' is another, very famous refreshment in summer, which is the edible jelly seeds from the palmyra palm.

January is a very important month for Tamilians. It is the harvest season and the most important festival for farmers, 'Pongal', falls on this month. It is a season for the farmers and the planters to take the time to thank nature. It is a season to take a day off and go out with the family after all the hard work. There are lots of festivities associated with this festival. However, for me this is the season to savor 'Panang Kizhangu' which is usually overshadowed by 'Karumbu' (Sugarcane), also famous during this season. Panang Kizhangu is a sprout that grows on palmyra palms. It is long and slender with a tapering end. The best way to eat it is to boil it in water with some salt and get off the thick skin which almost falls apart very easily. The thin layer of fiber on the sprout has to be torn using hands and teeth. Then it can be split in the middle and broken into pieces. The 'kuruthu' in the middle is the best part of the Panang Kizhangu.

All in all it was a perfect vacation and a much needed one to commemorate forgotten memories.