100 days in Namakkal

I do not know how many of you had heard about this town, located in the valleys of the Kolli Hills but am sure you would fall in love with this place if you do not wish the buzz of cities and hesitate to step down too rural. The town has the goodness, the fresh atmosphere and modest set of people everything else of a village and sophisticated enough for a town living person. Not an attempt to put all the good facts together :), should I explain how comfortable the palce keeps me?

Today marks the 100th day of my stay in this cute town. To celebrate this I planned to visit the major spots of the town.
Honestly, I was awed to learn about the historic importance of the town only while preparing this post. If only the government took some measures to encourage the tourism in this place!
Namakkal is for definite, one of the kind!!

You can never miss this majestic fort if you happen to be in Namakkal.
The historical Malaikkottai or the Rock Fort is in the middle of the town. The small town has expanded around this fort, over the years.
More about the history of the fort is here.

A close up shot of the entrance up the fort.
The maximum my lens could zoom with me stuck to the same position as the previous image.

Your Namakkal visit is incomplete without the darshan of the18 feet tall Anjaneyar.The 'alangaram' is done on festivals, which I couldn't witness during my stay. This picture is from here. 

Very near to the Hanuman temple is the Sri Namagiri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple built in the 8th century, that is, 1300 years ago!

Entrance to the shrine

I presume this Garuda, on the temple wall.

Vetrilai Maalai or the betel leaves garland for the diety.

Ney Vilakku or diyas filled with ghee are said to be an important offering to the Temple Goddess.

The board in front of a temple side shop which sells more offerings for the dieties!

Ganesha temple at one end of the street facing the temples at the other end

and located in the middle of the street is Sree Aadhi Parashakthi Thirumanamandapam, the age old marraige hall that has witnessed thousands of weddings.

The golden roasted rice puffs are the speciality of the town!

The sweetened and coloured rice puff balls are a delicacy.
*though we would dare to sample ;)*

Namkkal Selamba Kounder Poonga is a well organised park in the middle of the town.

Its location at the foot of the castles makes the park all the more attractive!

The well organised park is madly crowded in the evenings and I was surprised to see the park maintained well and clean in the morning when I shot this!


Twenty feet aside the park is the Uzhavar Santhai or the farmer's market.

The market was about to get packed up when I entered around 8.45 in the morning. The lady was seriously counting her day's sales when got a bit distracted looking up at me.

The banana section was at full swing, though.

The girl who was selling brooms and coriander leaves vanished, packing her goodies.
But this lady got lucky. All in a minute!

Muniyamma at stall no:14 still has a few bundles of her drumsticks and bottle gourds to be sold. Nadesan at stall 15 had sold off the last scrap!

This old lady interested me. She was sitting under the tree near the entrance selling small packets of jasmine buds, but I noticed her only while hurrying out. The camera was almost running out of charge when she spoke to me so pleasantly and refused to smile totally when the lens kissed the pretty wrinkled face before blacking out!
 Love her sweet stubbornness :)

The town has countless fast food and drinks on wheels . I was awed to see ladies selling hot breakfast on such small mobile vehicles in the mornings

The Manikoondu or the bell tower is the major land mark, located right amidst the town.

Turn 180 deg to capture the busiest junction of the town! The over bridges are said to be recent constructions to favour the pedestrians

If you ever visit the town, don't miss to peep into the road side shops in the evenings..

Namakkal Parottas are really famous.
I was offered a hot parotta right from the griddle and I fell in love with the crispy outsides and the soft insides! It was one of the most delicious parathas I've honestly ever had!!
One of my cousins in the town had been telling about the love affair of Namakkal  inmates towards these parottas. They love to have them even for breakfast!

I don't know how far it is true but am eager to hear the comment of a Namakkalian who would probably read this post :)
Also, I would appreciate if anyone of you could correct me with the pictorial explanations if incorrect.

I'm planning to visit the Saturday market which is something special about the town, this weekend for shopping and shots :)
Will do a 'part-2 post' about it soon!



pending----spell check...alignmnt of txt and imgs.. proof reading..final editing

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