The great stories of Kings and Queens have always intrigued me, so when there was a mention of the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam, Madurai, I loved to hear how the temple and the associated structures were built by the King Thirumalai Nayak. The tank or the pond is said to be connected to the Vaigal River. Towards the centre of the tank is the Mandapam or the Central Mandapam, which has the Vinayakar Temple. The temple is surrounded by lush gardens, which pleases the people who visit it.
I spent considerable time there but the more I discovered about the place, I missed coming here during the Float Festival that is in the months of January and February when the entire temple premise is lit up for the occasion. The deities of the other temples are also supposedly here in large floats and that I am sure they would have been an amazing sight. Madurai as such is an amazing place with beliefs and faiths of the people that keep the people together and makes up for the culture of the land. No other city in India is quite close to the experiences that I felt here. There is peace and quietness, order and piety and people just do not visit the temples, they believe in them with all their hearts and it is the way of life for them.
As I made my travel arrangements back to my city, I too felt like a part of the city. I feared that if I would have spent any more time in the city visiting the holiest temples like the Vandiyur Mariamman Teppakulam, Madurai, I may even convert myself like the locals and be completely influenced with their ways of life. But for me life cannot be just living in this land of beliefs and temples, it also requires me to get back to reality where my job waited and my family too with their expectations. The urban city was a far cry from the way of living of the locals here and I would never be prepared for anything like this.