After a harrowing night in Chennai, we landed into a very fresh and breezy morning at Trichy. And ominous of what lay ahead, as we exited the airport, there was a bright rainbow welcoming us into the city.
Surely, there was an exciting day ahead!
We were recommended Hotel Kannappa again, which prides in calling itself a "High Class Chettinnad Restaurant"...
Wow! Who cares for the broilers... when in Trichy, have the Nattukoli, or country chicken!
Now this was the special section of the menu, that they called "Forest Food". I wanted the rabbit, sadly, it was not in their stock today.... so I settled for the kaadai or quail!
Perhaps, it would be the gowthari or partridge the next or even the rabbit, which I haven't had since 1982!
Here comes my quail!
The most succulent fish chop!
And omelette, South Indian style with lots of black pepper and curry leaves!
There comes the mutton biryani!
And the non-veg thali, with amazingly hot chicken, fish and mutton gravies, alongwith rice, rasam, sambhar and greens!
Travel is perhaps the best way to get those deeply ingrained stereotypes out of your head. In the North, one always grew up with this concept in mind that south of the Vindhyas was a land of sambhar dosa and loads of vegetarians! Aiyyo!
But frequent visits to the South and to Kannappas broke that very ingrained stereotype!
We ended the meal and as the locals would scream with delight, we too said மகிழ்ந்து உண்ணுங்கள் (Magizhnthu Unnungal) or "have enjoyed"!
