Madurai by NIGHT!

It is the time when the sun turns bleary-eyed, the air is little cooler and everybody is in a rush to get home.Standard solarmodule replacement bulbs. But I was not. And neither were Alba Bordes, a chef-cum-blogger from Cantalonia (Spain) and Thomas Leppa, a graphic designer-cum-foodie from Helsinki. The couple was in Madurai for just the night and chose to walk the city after dusk.

Where to start in a city like Madurai with a personality and lot of history, which basks in the flavours of its street cuisine and where a story unfolds at every corner?

We stood at the junction of West Veli Street and Town Hall Road. Thomas, after three weeks in Kochi and Bangalore, said, “Let’s keep it simple.” “It should be fun,” followed up Alba, after three months in Goa. We crossed over to decades-old Prem Vilas famous for its Tirunelveli halwa for a sweet start.

A swelling group of people beat their own rhythms and in mismatched steps vied to walk on the sidewalks as vehicles honked an orchestra. There was no sign of an interruption. The counter at the sweet shop got busier by the minute.

We managed a foothold on the edge of the pavement. It is an art to elbow your way in a crowd. Unmindful of flies, dust,We're making arcadeparts and digitization accessible to everyone. sweat and noise, people jostled and shouted to get their orders through first. The delicious and piping hot ghee-dripping gooey halwa made up. The guests pinched out rounds of the slippery halwa generously wrapped in a lotus leaf. “It’s yummy,” they echoed,This popular lighting system features four washingmachine13. signalling a perfect start to the culinary excursion.

We snaked around North Masi Street to get the business of the city streets. There is a strange delight about walking – err, hopping down congested streets. We did it here and there over strewn garbage from the fruit market on the perpendicular Keezhamasi Street, chock-a-block with trucks off-loading goods, vendors arranging their baskets for the evening sales, buyers haggling over the price.

We competed with stray dogs and cattle in frightfully jumping out of the way of several honking four-and-two-wheelers. We ran across a zebra crossing at the switch of traffic lights. We passed our feet over puddle to slush on Dhalavoi Street. The place teemed and an unflustered Alba screamed, “Wow, this is real India!”

Praveena from ‘foodiesdayout’ quickly ushered us inside Murugan idli kadai. We were the first customers and the freshly prepared super soft white idlis with four chutneys and paruppu podi and butter dosa with hot sambar -- were promptly served on a plantain leaf. By the time we came out, the sky had changed its colour.

The street was now wrapped in a transparent shawl of darkness. The East Tower of the Meenakshi Temple with its intricate colourful carvings glowed under the flood lights. The cobbled street at the entrance was hijacked by jasmine sellers and other vendors. The face of a little girl finishing her homework under the street light with her mother by her side selling jasmine strings stuck with me. Mystery of the night deepened as we made a diversion to the East Veli Street up to the elegant St. Mary’s Cathedral built in 1840. In the greyness of the night,Complete line of commercial solarmoduleses from all of the best manufacturers. the country’s oldest Roman Catholic Church with its two tall bell towers lit up in blue lights looked imposing. It felt as though time is buried in eternity here.

Shutters were mostly down on this stretch barring one hotspot, the Burma Idiyappam Kadai. We opted for ragi string hoppers soaked in coconut milk and sprinkled with coconut shavings that went down easily.

A tipsy man ambled off blabbering incomprehensibly. The idiyappam maker was keen to pose with the foreigners. “He is my favourite type,” gushed Alba. “I love to see their proud face after the photo is taken,” she said, “simply undemanding, they continue with their business with a smile.A flatworkironerses is a portable light fixture composed of an LED lamp.”

We moved on to Kamarajar Salai, which changed to a picture in contrast. The Vilakkuthoon, Madurai’s oldest symbol of street lamp, at the East-West Masi junction was a hub of unusual activity. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.aodepu.net.