Amarambedu: A pit stop

On Sriperumbudur Main Road, Amarambedu would roll past without drawing a whisper of discussion — but for a stone structure. In Kundrathur block, Amarambedu panchayat consists of a collection of villages, but the locality has a somnolence that sets back time, the chatram actively engaged in that process. From Amarambedu, the temple town of Kancheepuram is a 42-kilometre roll of the tyres away, and in olden times, this chatram served as a pit stop for pilgrims to rest and recharge their batteries for the walk ahead. Just as at the chatram in Mahabalipuram, the roof at the Amarambedu chatram sports squiggly snakes, one of them gobbling an orb, suggesting the depiction of an eclipse.