7th July 2004 It all started when Sanjay (Subrahmanyan) called me one morning to say that he was performing in the float festival at Tiruvarur. Immediately, visions of the huge Kamalalayam and the temple beside it (both of which I had never set my eyes on before) floated up. The town of the Trinity! My drab office appeared to have become roseate in hue and nagaswara music was making itself heard. In a slightly raised voice, so that the nagaswara could not drown it out, I could hear myself telling Sanjay that I would tag along.

So here I am in the train, with Sanjay, S. Varadarajan, K. Arunprakash and K.V. Gopalakrishnan. T.M. Krishna put in a brief appearance before boarding another coach. He and his party are on their way to Kumbakonam by the same train. Sometime later, a Bharatanatyam dancer from Singapore puts in an appearance. He too is on his way to Kumbakonam. Quite an arty train this one. Conversation is mainly on mobile phones and their idiosyncrasies. Sanjay is quite the expert, with young KVG being a big time whiz.