Yes, Vandana. I shall follow your advice. I also wish to add a little about the town of Tiruchirapalli.
This town has grown into a big city. It has a current population of around 12 lakh people. There is the fabulous Renganathar temple, which is a major tourist attraction. The climate here is always hot, except for the two months of November and December, which are the rainy months. In these months, the rain comes and it goes.
There is a Mariamman temple, some 11 kilometers from this city and this city is just two hours from Karaikudi. Hence, if one is planning a trip to Tiruchirapalli, one can always combine it with a visit to Karaikudi, and enjoy the Chettinad architecture. To give a quick connection to this lovely place called Karaikudi, another nice town called Sivaganga, and a slightly outgrown village called Kanadukathtan, one has to just go to Google and type the names of these places and the information, including photos of the Chettinad type of architecture can be seen.
Please do note that all these towns and villages are highly connected by hundreds of buses up to around 10 PM at night and then the long-distance buses are there throughout the night. However, after 10 PM, such night buses will always be crowded. The beauty of many villages is that the people pour enough water on the terrace. Some old lady will burn camphor and a huge bunch of dry neem leaves and a few other herbs as well, to virtually kill all the mosquitoes. The entire family will lock the house and happily sleep on the terrace. In the month of April and May, only those in the big cities use the AC. In the villages, none will use the AC. One has to contact the Tamil Nadu Tourism Corporation to check if they can arrange houses where one can stay. These homestays are okay, though sometimes the hygiene is not so good.
The food is homely, as it is always prepared for a maximum of twenty people, who stay in this homestay kind of accommodation.
So, to reach Karaikudi by the night train, one must book in advance by the Chennai to Rameshwaram Express or book upto Tiruchirapalli by any of the 8 odd trains and then spend three days in Tiruchirapalli, and see the temples. In the morning, one should wake up at 5 AM and go to the Srirangam Temple. There are hundreds of buses and please do not take any auto. The buses start from the Central Bus Stand, come to a place called the Chatram bus stand, and then go towards Srirangam. The food served at Parthasarathy Vilas, a lovely traditional restaurant is very good and one should enjoy the Gee Dosa in this restaurant. There are other good vegetarian restaurants as well. The Lord can be seen by 8 AM. It is also possible to go by bus to a placed Vayalur and worship Lord Muruga there.
By 11 AM, one should come back to the hotel, put on the AC, and take a rest. Tiruchirapalli has too many good vegetarian restaurants and the ones near the Central Bus stand are very good. Irrespective of where you stay, you will always find buses to go to the Central Bus stand. Even a small amount of English is enough. 9 out of 10 speak English and it is possible to identify educated people so quickly. As already mentioned, the end of December and early January is too good to visit Tiruchirapalli, but the numerous villages come alive with the annual festivals only in the months of April and May every year, mostly after the 20th of April, as all schools and colleges would close for the Annual holidays.
The temple festivals are also for socialization and for caring and sharing. Plenty of food is cooked and served at so many places and the poor do use these opportunities to enjoy themselves. The temple prasad is also huge and it is distributed to all. The rich sponsor the food. The State Government itself has introduced the community feast in so many temples and this is called "Annadanam". Annam means food. Danam means free donation. The countless rich people always donate some money. The temple collections are also sometimes used to feed devotees.
