Due to solidly booked out buses, and in a desperate attempt to get to Puttaparthy but also avoid another dreaded sleeper-bus, we set out (against the recommendation of every travel agent in town) on an epic 2-day journey, via Madurai and Bangalore. An early start and we were down to the border between Kerala and Tamil Nadu to catch one of the 50-year-old state buses on the 5-hour journey to Madurai. The 'road' was under construction - this was the first time we've been off-roading in a bus!!! About half-way through the bum-numbing but extremely interesting journey through nearly every rural village in Tamil Nadu, a couple of villagers decided to strike up a conversation with us. Amazingly we were quite successful in communicating with our mixture of English, Hindi (no more than 10 words known by either party) and hand-gestures - although, when the conversation became a little too complicated, they reverted to the tried and tested method of putting on an odd accent and speaking as LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE! (In Tamil, obviously!) :o/ We arrived at the Madurai bus stand to be swarmed by taxi and temple touts. Amazingly we managed to get an autorickshaw to take us direct to the train station, 5 kms away, with no stops at his mate's silk emporium! With only 3 hours before the train left for Bangalore and holding very little hope of securing a ticket on it (you normally have to book weeks in advance), we lined up at the special counter reserved for tourists, lepers and freedom-fighters (seriously!!!) and amazingly, after filling out countless forms (and paying a little extra) they found us 'emergency-quota' sleeper-compartments for the 12hr overnight trip! Not believing our good luck, and with 2 hours to spare before the train departed, we decided to explore the main attraction of this pilgrimage town - the Sri Meenakshi Temple. Our guide-book had warned us of particularly aggressive touts and unqualified guides in the temple area and sure enough, walking down there we found (and disappointed) a load of them! The temple itself was spectacular - it's towering gopurams a mass of vividly painted gods, goddesses and demons. We wandered through the temple and visited the little museum filled with lewd statues and ancient temple artifacts. Wizened old men kept wanting to read my future - they doodle chalk on the floor and tell you secrets and auspicious dates that only their mystical talents can reveal...auspicious? We were suspicious...so avoided them too! Nikki found a gorgeous 7-yr old elephant who gave her a blessing (from Ganesh, the elephant-headed God) - although much smaller than the one who blessed me in Hampi, his breath, sadly, was just as smelly - very cute though! With Nik's forehead still wet with smelly Ganesh-blessing, we hurried off for a quick bite before the train. For those of you who venture to Madurai...forget the touts - beware the mutter paneer!!! It is booby-trapped with whole green chilies and the resulting heartburn doesn't feel too dissimilar to a heart attack!!!