Dear Sriram, Some time back (Oct 29th) you posted a message asking if someone can calculate the walk time for various places and check if it is consistent with the movement of characters (mainly Alwarkadiyan) in the novel. OK! here are my calculations.
Walking from Tirupathi to Tirumalai takes 3:30 to 4:00 hrs. The total distance is 14 Kms(uphill). This gives the walk speed (uphill) as 3.5 Kms/hr. But the comfortable walk speed for an average adult in plains is given as 4.9Kms/hr. For our calculation let us round this off to 4.5 Kms/hr.
Pa(l)ayarai -> Nagaipattinam 69 Kms 15:20 Nagaipattinam -> Kodikkarai 55 Kms 12:13 Kanchipuram -> Veeranam 210 Kms 46:40 ===================================================== * Veeranam - Veeranarayanapuram. * Anaikarai - is the place where Vandyathevan and Alwarkadiyan Nambi cross Kollidam.
I think it is reasonable to assume that one can walk 6 hours a day normally and 10 hours if there is an emergency.
Now, those of you who are interested in this topic are welcome to post their thoughts. It will be nice if some one can compare these figures with the events in the story and check if there are any inconsistencies.
Walking time calculations are interesting. Also I wonder what kind of food these folks ate to maintain that super stamina of walking for 6-10 hours.
My grand dad used to speak of walking some 50 km in a day's time. This was humid and wet Kerala. Tamil Nadu has been hot and dry for centuries. Did we think of walking when it was too sunny :)
Hi Deepa, I am not sure if they were on any special diet. I assume they had the usual food. In the fourth volume Kalki describes what A(l)warkadiyaan and Vandya Thevan ate. On their way to Kadambur A(l)warkadiyan Nambi starts a debate with the non Vaishnavites and wins the debate for the Vaishnavites. The Vaishnavites in those region invite them home for lunch. They both eat the following .... Puliyodarai, Payasam, Tayirsadam.
About walking in Tamil Nadu, I don't think it would be different from Kerala. Tamil Nadu has been hot for centuries but it was not dry, certainly the Tanjavur region was not. During those days there were trees everywhere. Highways had trees on bothsides.
These days people who walk to Tirupathi from their home town, travel not on the highways but through mud roads connecting villages and most of them travel in the night when the sun is down and rest during the day time.
Hi Anand, Thanks for your lovely mail. In Parthiban kanavu, Ponna's wife makes these dosa's (with jolam if I remember right) and serves them with Spinach gravy. Any thoughts?
We are all forgetting that being a spy that Alwarkandiyan could be using horses in places or times which would not have been the important to describe..
So, in fact he could cover most of the places in horses, and be walking by foot, in places where he would not have to show up his contacts.
Dear Nanda, Thats true. Since Alwarkadiyan follows Vandya Thevan from Kanchipuram and reaches Veeranarayanapuram earlier than Vandya Thevan we have to assume that he must have travelled by horse.
He does so in Srilanka and on other occasions. You are right.